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My journey

Jun 28

Perry’s journey – a tale of two sites

By My journey

Before posting my trip to Krabi with friends, let me share the amazing journey of Perry Gan to north Sulawesi for underwater scuba diving trip. Perry is a friendly and nice guy I know and also an amateur photographer and diver (that was what he told me humbly, though he just got his PADI master diver qualification). I met Perry in photonian‘s gathering and that was when he shared his interesting diving experiences and underwater photos he took. After having chat with him, I discovered that Perry is also a nature lover and always encourages others to protect nature and preserve life.

Two weeks ago when I met Perry again, he shared some underwater photos he took during scuba diving. Those shots are really fascinating. So I made a request to post his photos sharing with other friends and he agreed. More to that, he also shared with me this tale of the two sites (Bunaken and Lembeh) in northern Sulawesi of Indonesia which he experienced. This is the story of a wonderful marine park, some interesting people and a remarkable adventure:

Surface Interval: 3rd Row: See Hian and Greg 2nd Row: Tee, Lee, Helen, Siong, Teng, Perry, Jack. 1st Row: Lily, Ginn and Loy

Surface Interval: 3rd Row: See Hian and Greg 2nd Row: Tee, Lee, Helen, Siong, Teng, Perry, Jack. 1st Row: Lily, Ginn and Loy

North Sulawesi has long been hailed as one of the finest dive destinations our world has to offer. Being a rookie I had come to this place with a brimful of dreamy images conjured up from the centerfolds of diving magazines. Wanting nothing more than to bookmark the flora and fauna; and to put ticks next to images in fish ID books, I ended up getting much more than what I had hoped for. I returned with a very different outlook on the reefs and the sea and now consider myself a convert as well as a macro aficionado.

Spinecheek Anemone fish

Spinecheek Anemone fish

Bunaken and Lembeh, are definitely more than meet the eyes. These are places where the incredible and unusal come together. It is perhaps premature and presumptuous for a newbie to crown this place with such superlatives, not having been to that many dive destinations around the world. I, however, found it simply impossible not to be in awe of the grace and diversity of the sea. What I saw and experienced had enriched me as a diver, as well as made me a human being much more appreciative of the world he lives in. Here is an account of my “fun-tabulous” and “muck-elicious” trip…

Back in May 2008 when I confirmed going on this trip, I had only logged about 50 dives. While in Redang, Tee took me to Sandy Bottom to do my first muck dive. That particular dive yielded many surprises. Apart from the sighting of a pretty sea horse, there was also a tiny painted frog fish, apparently a first in Redang. I was also made acutely aware that buoyancy skill was the determining factor to a good muck dive. A good “honing” session with Tee during that trip proved invaluable.

I later found out that I was actually going with a bunch of “old salts” with an average of 300 dives under their belts. Although a little concerned about how I would measure up, this bunch of “EAD”s proved my worries unfounded and were in fact lots of fun to be with. (EAD: an acronym only known to this particular group, should hopefully be explained to me on my next trip to Anilao.)
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Jun 11

武来岸山（Broga Hill）@ Semenyih

By My journey, Photography

踏上武来岸山的感觉超棒 (连鞋子也断了^^)

武来岸山（Broga Hill）也称茅草山，因为山顶上尽是茅草和一块块的大石头。 

那天相约了Kok-Liang, Tracy, Meng-Hong, Lawrence, Hock-Hwee, Yi-Xian 和我到武来岸山一趟。听姐姐说那里的天空很漂亮、日出很美、空气特别清新，所以决定好要去。还是第一次天还没亮，就起床准备爬武来岸山。大家都兴致勃勃的，我想大家都很期待这一次爬山的旅程吧！ 

从蕉赖加影大道出发。之后再取加影SILK大道直接通往士毛月（Semenyih）。到了士毛月后，跟着武来岸路牌指示，只要顺着路牌指示，其实并不难找到武来岸。武来岸山入口处是一片油棕园，其对面是一间白兔园。 

我们在40分钟完成攻顶任务。武来岸山虽然没有人造梯级，某些地方还得四肢并用。这次的爬山任务都很成功！大家互相帮忙等待对方，依我看，这次的爬山旅也可以成为友谊之旅咯!

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May 26

Bangkok: Chinatown

By My journey, Photography
The street of Chinatown of Bangkok

The street of Chinatown of Bangkok

The last day in Bangkok before we departed to Krabi, Boon-Huat and Wei-Seong left us back to Malaysia in the morning and didn’t join us to Krabi. Wee-Peng, Meng-Hong and I would not want to waste our last morning in Bangkok, so we decided to get to the Chinatown of Bangkok, one of earliest Chinese community’s areas in Thailand.

Meng-Hong (left) and Wee-Peng at a Chinese lanterns stall in the Chinatown of Bangkok.

Meng-Hong (left) and Wee-Peng at a Chinese lanterns stall in the Chinatown of Bangkok.

Originally a community of Chinese traders relocated and settled here in Chinatown from Rattanakosin (the old City) in the 1700’s, and continues their own traditions and religious practices. The area is quite unlike the rest of Bangkok, relatively untouched by modern development. To us, it seemed like a little Hong Kong with Chinese businesses and Chinese characters’ signboards everywhere and it was not difficult for us to shop for Chinese goods.

Jewelry and gold shops and pawnshops are very popular in today’s Chinatown and can be found almost anywhere. Besides, there are also morning markets with stalls selling garments, textiles, stationery, souvenirs, second-hand parts and equipment, electric goods, computer parts, antiques, imported musical instruments, and local delicacies at a bargain, often at wholesale prices. We had packed up our belongings and so we didn’t plan to buy anything, but to do a leisurely stroll through the morning market.

Another common sight in Chinatown is Chinese food stalls. These stalls set up by the roadside offer a wide variety of quick inexpensive meals or popular Chinese food from simple bowls of noodles and soup to grilled meat, fresh seafood, sweet cakes and the locals’ favourite roasted chestnuts. Though we had a very simple breakfast at one of these food stalls of bread with condensed milk and teh tarik (literally pulled tea), and they were really sweet. Thais are really strong-flavour lovers.

It was only a half day tour in Chinatown then we headed off to the airport and took a flight to our next destination, Krabi. The whole trip in Bangkok for 4 days was so fun and pleasurable to witness and experience the Thai’s culture and customs, Songkran water festival, the Red Shirts, shopping, nightlife and people-watching. May the people in Thailand find peace and be happy.  🙂

Some of the photos I took in Chinatown of Bangkok:

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May 22

Bangkok: Chatuchak weekend market

By My journey, Photography
Chatuchak weekend market - a boy was doing double "teh tarik"

Chatuchak weekend market - a boy was doing double "teh tarik"

Taking a break from all the temples, we decided to do some shopping to the Chatuchak weekend market, the largest market in Thailand. The market is sprawling 35 acres and comprised of more than 15,000 shops stalls. It’s perhaps one of the largest weekend markets in the world too. Though it is not available everyday, Chatuchak weekend market opens on Saturday and Sunday, and it’s believed to attract over 20,000 of visitors each day. Fortunately we had a weekend in Bangkok when we could visit the market.

A less fortunate child and his mother at the Chatuchak weekend market

AA less fortunate child and his mother at the Chatuchak weekend market

Chatuchak weekend market is a shopping paradise! There is a huge range of products including household items, books, trendy clothing, Thai handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectibles, foods, and live animals. We were surprise to see how huge the market is and the varieties of merchandise sold there, nearly everything under the sun. Like a sea of infinite possibilities, we navigated through Chatuchak’s army of stalls and tried not to get ourselves disoriented. Sarcastically, almost all of what we had bought and had seen in our shopping for first few days in Bangkok and Pattaya could be found from the market and at good bargain too.

We would prefer to have cheap street food than classy and expensive restaurant’s meal. Hence Chatuchak weekend market would be our best choice to have our lunch. The foods offered are very variety and cheap. Thais are strong-flavor lovers which results their foods or drinks being usually sweeter, and more spicy, sour, and salty than other cuisine, yet delicious. So we started our feeding frenzy there. Within 2 hours, we had a bit of everything including fried chicken, spicy stir fried pork, meat and fish balls, satay, mango sticky rice, pineapple, coconut juice, teh tarik, iced blended coffee, durian ice-cream, snacks and much more.

Chatuchak weekend market is one must never missed in Bangkok. It was totally worth our time to discover that its wealth of culture provides for good opportunities to make wonderful finds. The market too attracts a colorful crowd of hawkers, tourists, beggars, street artists which provided me with interesting sights for photo taking:

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May 17

Bangkok: Wats, the temples

By My journey, Photography

Gate to the Grand Palace

Being the capital city of a Buddhist country means that Bangkok is full of some of South East Asia’s finest temples. Therefore our visit to Bangkok would not be complete without seeing some of these famous temples (Wats in Thai). On the second day and fourth day in Bangkok, we visited a couples of temples:

  • Wat Traimit (Temple of Golden Buddha)
  • the unknown temple (we got blessing from a Luang Pu monk)
  • Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace (The Emerald Buddha)
  • Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
  • Wat Pho (Temple of Reclining Buddha)

Boon-Huat, Wei-Seong and Wee-Peng at the steep stair of Wat Arun's central prang

These temples we visited are the spiritual part of the capital’s heart and soul and each of the temples is unique like no other as the architecture and decoration are awe-inspiring. It would be good to share the story of each temple together with the photos I took after the jump:

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May 11

Bangkok: Chao Praya River tour

By My journey, Photography

The scenic river, Chao Praya River

On the fourth day in Thailand, we went onboard for a river tour with an express boat along the Chao Phraya River tour from Grand Palace to our destination, Wat Arun. It was drizzling but it did not stop us from visiting the Chao Praya River of Thailand. We could feel the breeze, rainwater and river water on our face.

Boon-Huat (left) and Wee-Peng on the boat ride of Chao Praya River

Chao Phraya is a major river in Thailand and the largest river in Bangkok. Centuries ago, Bangkok waterways were the main routes of transportation, thus much of the Thai history can be traced along the banks of the river. Many canals have now been filled in to make ways for roads but the Chao Phraya River still runs through many Thai lives. Therefore, it became a must in our checklist to visit.

We were the only group on the small express boat. The boat driver could not speak English so we had to make our guess on the landmarks we saw. We had a great insight into a different perspective of Bangkok: hotels, temples, palaces, beautiful houses, run-down wooden houses and local line the banks. It was a very scenic ride.

The river itself is a hive of activities. We didn’t have the time to visit the real floating market of Damnoen Saduak which is located 110km from Bangkok, yet we could experience it right on this river: the traditional way of selling and buying fruits, vegetables, crafts, and other merchandises from small boats, and also the way people live and travel by boats. We purchased some jackfruit from a small boat which came to us, and enjoyed its sweetness on our journey.

There were boats going up and down the river and it was kind of interesting to see how the people reacted to us when they saw us: gazing, waving, and smiling. Likewise we enjoyed looking at the people interacting with each other and what they were doing.

Some photos I took on the boat ride:

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