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The main reason I had wanted to be in KL the previous weekend was to witness the hot air balloon festival. But it turned out to be a side dish as more interesting things happened.

Started off with Friday dinner of a very sinful Japanese buffet.

Went with a colleague and Cyrena. I was never good in eating but I guess both of them fully unleashed their belts and stomach sphincter. Ate like nobody’s business! I think they served good food. And the best is it is unlimited, and you just order whatever you feel like having on the menu.

But of course, for every 100gm which you left over, you have to pay RM5.

The next day went out with bro to Petaling Street for breakfast and jalan jalan.

This time he introduced me to some good food instead. Haha. It is good to see how he grows up, and I guess it is the same way for him to see how I grow up as well.

And later on meet up with Phooiyan for chit chats the whole afternoon. Err.. for the first time.

And at night went to Putrajaya for this.

See the darth wader.

And lots of firework!

And the next day went out with Cyrena to get her precious.

Took some time before choosing one. It really stands out from the others. Constantly moving around and ’standing’ up, climbing up the side of the cage, very abnormal for a rabbit.

But I guess abnormality is what we like?

And went to the mother of all flee market, just adjacent to Petaling Street.

The entrance.

You will be surprised of what they sell. From used underwear to stolen handphones. From milk powder to porn. From used newspaper to broken light bulbs. You name it, and it is there. It is as if people are selling whatever things that they can lie their hands on.

But if your eyes are sharp enuf, you might find something worth the bargain. Cyrena spotted one Amcorp mall flee market seller wondering around there. I guess it is an easy business to buy and sell. LOL.

We spotted 2 original phones, blackberry curve and nokia E71, both stolen/grabbed/whatever, selling at RM700. It was a bit chipped, but I think our conscious is doing some good. Never buy stolen goods.

It is nice walking around Petaling Street in the morning. You see life, and nice unique life.

Imagine how disappointed we were when we failed to wake up for the next day’s hot air balloon fun fly. Missed the morning round, and the evening round was canceled because of bad weather.. Sigh.

Conclusion, didn’t even see those balloons in the sky!

Mana itu balloon?

Anyway, since I was quite happy with the long fireworks on Saturday night, this trip is still worthwhile.

KL. Love the lights.

Paid 2 Ringgit for car park, 7 Ringgit for entrance fee, and I’m already in the zoo, ready to shoot headshots.

Basically I think the collections are good. With an emphasize of species of kancils and deers, and surprisingly more tigers than national zoo!

Since my zoo frenzy wasn’t quite over yet, plus I visited the crocodile farm with very close contact to birds and etc, this visit to the zoo didn’t really wow me much.

I went around 4pm, hoping that the animals would wake up from their afternoon nap, but too bad, most of them are still napping. Grrr..

However, have a look at what I’ve got.

The birds collection is good. But I have the fences. The openings are SO SMALL! It is like not bigger than 2cm x 4cm. Too tight lah, and my lens can’t really focus properly. Grrr.

The glass panes aren’t clean properly. Wish large patches of whites which I don’t know is due to what. Making photography a pain in the ass.

And I have to take a pic of this Iguana. Shit. They let it lie around freely at the area where people are suppose to put their hands when they look into the pond to see what is there. I seriously got a fright that the f word almost flew out from my mouth. So damn ugly.

Cute red panda. To balance back that ugly iguana’s aura up there.

Another cute creature.

And I’m happy I capture some of the kings of the forest.

I think I generally like predators more. Hmm :)

A well spent 600 Ringgit for a 55-200mm Tamron right?

Sorry for the long hiatus without any post. Had been busy and am happy that I survived my first ortho oncall. It was almost nightmare. Note the word ‘almost’.

Anyway, Cheryl came to visit me last weekend. And me as the 5 month old pseudo malaccan, brought her family and her around this small town.

On the first day, I woke up early and manage to get some morning view of the town, as warm up.

If you are truly melaka people, try to guess where this above pic is taken. Haha.

The entrance to the red town at 8.30am in the morning. Very peaceful and full of those ‘morning’ feel. I don’t know what I’m talking about.

They arrived around noon, and I brought them to Jonker street for some durian chendol and rendang mee at shop no.88. They seem to like the food, those kind of food that I like.

And we had a walk and visiting shops along Jonker street. It was noon, hot, but that was the first time I actually have a look at what they are selling inside those shops (usually just walk by).

Some random paparazzi frenzy.

Brought them to eat Asam Pedas in Kota Laksamana after that. No pictures taken. Was day dreaming :)

The next day, woke up and brought them to You Ee for breakfast. Later on visited A Famosa and those area around that.

Lunch was in Makko. Again, no pics because I was day dreaming. The heat is too much to bear. However, they certainly like that sago dessert with lotsa gula melaka.

Went back for nap, and afternoon, when I was on the way to fetch them out for dinner, I saw this.

So many people playing kites! One day, I will fly mine, with my wishes written on the kite. Hehe. I bought one half a month ago and it is still inside my room, awaiting time for departure.

Sigh.

Dinner was in Portuguese Settlement for seafood.

Pictures before meal.

Later on, went back to Jonker for that Melaka river boat ride!

And said bye bye at the entrance of Jonker street early at night as I have to be oncall the next day :(

Anyway, some shots of that beautiful night, with its big big moon.

Good night!

Waiting for next tour guide experience!

Well hidden from the construction building of Pulau Melaka, this piece of architecture is a nice spot to take pics. I wish I could have a wide angle lens so there are more to it. Usual sunsets would be the time of the day for a nice photo!

If you think that Bukit Cina cemetery is nothing more than a regular eerie place, try to change that idea.

I went there last time, it was in the morning, and it was indeed, quite eerie as there was no sun light. But this time, I venture there during the evening, when a lot of people are having their evening jogs, and even kids cycle up the hills, ignoring all the tomb stones and offerings. With that evening sun, even the tomb stones look warm and benign.

Put these into HDR, because can’t really resist the dramatic sky.

Would one day attempt to climb up there before dawn and see how it is like. I guess besides C4 ward of Melaka hospital, that would be the highest peak in Melaka.

Had wanted to visit the Taman Rama-Rama but when I drove all the way there, what I saw was just a construction site. I guess they are still managing. I wonder where is that old Taman Rama-Rama. Anyway, I was quite sceptical about the Taman Buaya actually. It is small, and well, there are lotsa crocodiles but they are all bored, hiding in the shades from the afternoon burning sun.

Air yang tenang, jangan disangka, tiada buaya.

I took loads of buaya/crocodile pics. But I guess not everybody is a fan of crocs. I like the eyes but I don’t really like the whole idea of this creature. They are kinda… well… ugly.

Haha.

And they have a small collections of snakes and lizards.

Nice? Hehe.

And I was surprise to find this big cage in the croc farm with some beautiful parrots, birds and ducks.

Like fake right?

But beautiful ducklings do exist, who would care to be a swan. LOL.

Would like to name this pic the 3 brothers. Very very colorful and cheerful creatures.

They even french kiss, tongued each other..

Of course, some 100 pics were taken. And I think these are some of the nice ones. Enjoy!

Happy groom.

The 2nd roll from Zenit 3M proves to be better than the first. The few differences compared to the 1st roll is that this time I used a black & white film in the camera. And I found a place in Melaka which actually develops black & white film. However, this time, the boss printed the pictures on color papers (without my consent), thus I’m having lotsa pictures with hues. He did promise that black & white paper is possible but will take longer, and it is going to be almost 2 times the price that I’m paying for color papers.

According to him, even color films can be printed into black & white. I’m not sure, but I’ll give that a try. Bought a roll of expired film from him, and hopefully it is going to show some good pictures.

These are some of my current favorites.

The hues actually make the pictures special. Having each individual characteristics. But I think I’ll try to transform these few pics into real black & white, just to see how it turns out to be. I personally like the grainy feeling of each pixels. Nothing is better than holding a nice pic in my hand, something that digital could never give. It is the feel of the authenticity. Sheer physics - lights, lens, film, chemicals and photo. No photoshop, no pulling of levels, no curves. Even if the picture is imperfect in term of outlines, shades, exposure and etc, but I guess this is all a part of learning, and nothing beats the next coming good photo.

I learned how to tackle the shutter speed.

Using film is not at all scary. In fact, it gives you the anticipation for the result, something which people in modern life comes to despise - the wait.

Seremban lake garden.

Definitely changed a lot since the last time I was there.