on the 272nd step

I was tossing and turning, and when I knew I couldn't sleep, I started cleaning my camera gear. Thankfully, I had a 1 hour shut-eye time before waking up at 4.20am.

Theng Wei ( Pontian --> Subang --> Kepong ) arrived superbly early, at about 4:36am. Without getting lost. Amazing what they can do, these village people.

We had a little something to bite, and headed out to the MRR2 to wait for the Chan Brothers. My dad's little detour was surprisingly clear, we had no problem with getting there or parking. Ivan even bargained for the illegal parking fare.



We were all Thaipusam noobs. It was my first time at Batu Caves, I'm not sure about them. Sadly, I have to say it could be my last.



As exciting as the whole festivity was, the manly men we are were freaked out to our very bones. We got a culture shock in our own country, but it was definitely an eye-opener.



We may not understand why and how things were done, but we were very excited about everything, constantly calling out to each other, pointing at jaw-dropping sights.



It was very easy for us to get separated from one another, we had to make sure we could count up to 4 each time we turned our heads. The crowd was OVERWHELMING. Never have we experienced anything like this before. A "pasar malam", the whole elevated highway shut down for the processions, a fun fair (with a ferris wheel and the whole deal), the different smells, the climb into the closed down pedestrian bridge, etc.



For me, it was a photographer's haven. I don't know about Theng Wei, but I felt constantly intimidated by the bazooka lenses those photographers at Batu Caves have. The more each photographer pushed the limits to get a good shot, the more it encouraged me to get right smack in front of the action to get what I need.



However, we were all very grossed out by how dirty the whole place had become, we even had to check our soles at one occasion because we thought we could smell.. Erm.. Chocolate.



I'm only gonna be showing a series of summary shots, still got more to come. Don't know when I'll post em, but it was really amazing to be able to get shots like these and not get slapped in the face.



But Theng Wei and I were getting used to squatting 1-2 metres away from our subjects without getting permission to photograph them. As weird as it would look in a mall or at a cafe, it was all doable at Batu Caves.



I'm very proud of myself to have climbed the 272 steps up into the cave. It was a million times easier than I thought, just that we had to squeeze, push, duck, etc all the way up. WE even got stuck for a while in the caves before we decided to go back down.



I'm glad to have experience Thaipusam at its very best for once in my life. Don't reckon I'll do it again, but the shots I got were worth the trouble.



Kudos to all the kids who endured it all. You guys are stronger than we city brats are!

more from pudu

This last photo, I plead you to click here to view a larger version of it to really see the wrinkles on her face. Poor ol' lady.

forgiven

ritualistic caffeine

Last Sunday after church, I wanted to try this new place out. Well, new to me, at least. Too bad I decided not to bring my camera out that day, so these photos were taken with my sister's Canon IXUS 95 IS. Yes, Canon, suck that in.



It's in Section 14, PJ, near Digital Mall. IT's not hard to find, but parking can be a bit of a hassle. When I stepped into the place, I was immediately blown away by the aroma. They use Segafredo Zanetti here, a familiar brand to Melbournians.



I was very impressed with the fact that they also serve coffee made in syphons, which is a pretty new "trend" brought into Melbourne by the Japanese.



This is a pretty old photo from the TFT archives. It's Ben's syphon, but they use the same ones at Coffee Ritual, and a few others more.



The food was OKAY, the price VERY reasonable, but you kinda have to order dessert to fill your tummy. Or mine.



But let's get back to what this visit was all about - the coffee.

As I've mentioned before, Malaysian milk can never be the same as Australian's (I sound like a snob), and that only means coffee can never be as good. But since Malaysia has this drawback, let's forget it for a while and judge it according to the barista's skill.

I was very impressed, slightly skeptical, perhaps, that they said they learnt it all from the INTERNET! But it's really believable, since YouTube pretty much taught me latte art.

The latte had too much milk in it, and they weren't very consistent with the amount of foam. But it tasted sightly better than Bangsar Village's Espressamente Illy. They probably need an extra shot to please my taste buds, and a shorter glass.

The cappucino, I didn't try. But I like the texture of their steamed milk, pretty smooth! No large bubbles like +wondermilk.



The Espresso Macchiato? At least they served it in the right vessel, unlike Kota Kinabalu's Little Italy. It was actually DRINKABLE! None of that bitter powdery nonsense. And I don't remember tasting any overwhelming acidity. At least now I know there's decent coffee in KL/PJ. They could maybe work on serving the drinks right after they're made. All in all, an above average experience. To give Coffee Ritual a visit.



Well at least I learnt that the IXUS takes decent photos.

i wanted vintage. he pOpped pudu.

Last Saturday, Jason, Eugene and I went to Pudu for a photowalk. It was probably the HOTTEST photowalk I've ever had! We were sweating like bucket-loads of H2O, Jason and I even got darker.



We took so many photos but let me just show a few first. We started out our day with hakka noodles on Jalan Sayur. My dad said Calvary Church started around there, pretty cool stuff.



Anyways, the noodles were AWESOME! Ah pOp brought us there, and although we had to wait ages under the matahari terik, it was SO worth it.



I love handmade noodles, too bad I only ordered a small bowl.



We then walked around the market, going into Pudu Plaza multiple times to replenish on "supplies" like tissues to wipe our sweat, and finally to Pavilion.

please vote for me!

I just entered this competition and found out I'm a bit late! THE DEADLINE'S on 1 FEB!

I really need your help to vote for me! I'm sure you have Facebook!


YOU CAN VOTE DAILY OVER AND OVER!

Hopefully you'll set it as your homepage and do it first thing everytime you get online!

HERE'S HOW!

CLICK HERE! And you should be able to see this page if you're signed in to Facebook.



CLICK ALLOW and then you'll see this.



Click VOTE and you're DONE! Unless you're so kind as to SHARE IT ON YOUR WALL and get people to vote for me as well.



PLEASE HELP! I'M A BIT LATE! DO VOTE DAILY! Check out the other photos and you'll see why I should win. ;)

THANKS, YOU GUYS ARE LEGENDS!

dinawan island, what a crappy name

So my cousin got us 4 tickets to an exclusive island. Apparently only one travel agency can get you there - Exotic Borneo. Okay, the place wasn't that great, bad maintenance. But I had fun anyway, snorkeling was free, there was a buffet lunch, and the 30 minute boat ride to the island was pretty fun.





Didn't know that my dad knew about the rule of thirds when he took this shot.

It was a good place to just take off your slippers and run around, lie in the hammock, and play under the sun. Too bad KK didn't get a lot of sun while we were there.





We did so many jump shots we almost had to pay smashpOp some royalty.




Snorkeling was okay. It was my second time, and it's good to learn how to snorkel here like my sister did because you can walk around in the water, it's pretty shallow. But there were so many fishes swimming around us, the coral reef was pretty impressive too.








I must admit, when I did this shot, I almost broke my Havi's. :s





I was trying to do a jump shot here but lost my balance. Sigh, fail.



Since Poyo was gaining fame, sis wanted her penguin to be exposed too.