Azri Azmi - A Photography, Travel & Adventure Blog

My First Orchids

2012-01-15T17:08:00.000+08:00

While driving back from Terengganu a couple of weeks ago, among things that was on my mind was Orchid. I had never thought of it before but surprisingly I was seriously thinking of starting a new hobby which is collecting orchids.

With a help from a friendly orchid blogger, En Imran (Alang Bidara Orchids), I bought my first orchids yesterday at an orchid nursery here in Melaka. The nursery owner is very friendly and helpful even. And she suggested me to have 2 orchids for a start. She also had given me many tips on how to care of an orchid plant.

I bought an orchid from the Phalaenopsis and Oncidium species. One is blooming while the other already shows a few flower buds that I guess will bloom in 3 to 4 weeks time.

So, here are my 2 orchids :-

Phalaenopsis

Oncidium

I hope that my interest on orchid will grow from time to time and I am dreaming now to have an orchid garden with varieties of orchid species which I will buy staggeringly in future.

Thank you.

A Busy December

2012-01-14T12:38:00.000+08:00

Hi,

It has been quite sometimes that I haven't put up any post on my blog. December 2011 definitely was a busy month for me as I need to cover my working colleague position covering the East Coast projects on operational matters.

I had been traveling for more than 10,000km to and fro Melaka, Kelantan and Terengganu for almost 1 and a half month. This was due to the fact that my working colleague went to Saudi Arabia to performed his Haj. Alhamdulillah, he is now safely back here and my work load is now stabilize as before.

Nevertheless, during those busy month, I did actually had some opportunity to shoot some photos whenever I was free (limited leisure time I would say).

And here's are some photos taken during that period :-

A friend invited me to his son F1 in School Competition and they designed a prototype F1 car called Zealous.

I had also took some photos for the company new website which will shows some routine works related to the services that being provided :-

This shot was made while driving from Melaka to Jeli, traveling on the PLUS Highway to exit at Kuala Kangsar.

A rare signboard spotted on East West Highway (Gerik). A good sign of alerting drivers to be cautious on this protected wildlife.

Pity the turtle. Lots of turtle eggs still being openly trade here in Pasar Payang, Kuala Terengganu. Nevertheless, it is legal to trade turtle egg in controlled quantity even. Please stop buying turtle turtle egg. When the demand is low, surely the amount of turtle eggs collected will decrease as it is.

A replica of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Taman Tamadun Islam, Kuala Terengganu.

The dome of the Terengganu's Crystal Mosque (inside view)

A fungi spotted at Belukar Bukit Forest in Hulu Terengganu.

A beautiful fungi called Cookeina tricholoma a.k.a the Cup Fungi spotted in Hulu Terengganu

I went to Kuala Sungai Linggi on the 26th December 2011 and I think I had found a colony of this common yet a beautiful bird called Red Wattled Lapwing.

Common Sunda Toad / Common House Toad

Duttaphrynus melanostictus

I shot this one on my house yard even. Cute eh?

And on the last day of the year 2011 (31st December), I went to Tiara Golf Resort, visiting my friend's house to explore his garden and backyard just to look on dragonflies and other insect species. Here I found varieties on dragonflies species even + some bugs :) :-

Blue Dasher

Treehugger

Yellow Barred Flutterer

Assassin Bug

Firebug

A spider with BIG appetite !

Goodbye 2011 and welcoming 2012 .... my mission on photography for year 2012 will be as follows :-

Getting the Sigma 150-500 or a Spotting Scope
Getting the next upcoming D800 (if there is one .. )
Getting a Go Pro
Attending 2 nature related trekking to captured photos of birds, insects and fungi. (my target is Taman Negara Kenong + Temenggor/Banding)
Joining 2 serious dive drip to capture the underwater sceneries and living species. (target is Tioman + Payar/Perhentian)
Enable to photographed at least 15 new lifers (bird)
Getting a 70-200 VR Lens (I wish I will have the luck to get this, this year)
At least 1 nite this year, I will be able to see and photographed the Milky Stars !

Until next my next post then .... thank you !

Kelantan Trip (October 2011) - Photos

2011-11-20T18:20:00.001+08:00

Hi,

Again I went to Kelantan to performed some tasks related to my full time job. I won't be writing much about this trip. Just photos with some captions of it will tell the story. **smiles**

On my way to Kota Bharu, I made a stop at Gambar R&R for lunch

This lunch cost me RM9.70. Expensive !

My staff, Imran thinking "how can the food here is so demn expensive ha?"

We reached Kota Bharu around 8.30pm and we stayed at Flora Place, Kota Bharu. A twin bedded room cost us RM127.00 per nite. Small room indeed. Decided not to continue to stay here on our 2nd night. The room is clean and the staff were friendly, the only setback is the room is too small.

View from the window of my room at Flora Place, Kota Bharu.

2nd day, we decided to stay at a more familiar hotel to us which is the Ridel Hotel. The room size is almost the same as Flora Place but the interior setup is much more better and looks elegance. But the best is that the hotel is situated just beside the Kelantan River and a few good eating places is much more nearer.

Ridel Hotel lobby and reception area

Friendly staff and very presentable indeed.

This is the newly build Watch Tower (for flood) which is situated just next to the Ridel Hotel

On our 2nd day in Kota Bharu, we went to Bachok (30 minutes away from Kota Bharu) to visit the most popular beach here in Kelantan, Pantai Irama. As it was holiday, I think more than 500 people were here visiting Pantai Irama. Most of them were local.

A warning signage to visitor as the sea will become rough during monsoon season from November to March.

This is the main reason why we went to Bachok, to taste the famous Maggie Ketam or Instant Noodle with Crab. As the stall is only starts to open at 730pm, we went to Pantai Irama first. The location of the stall is quite tricky for those who are not familiar with road in Bachok.

Imran's enjoying the Maggie Ketam. The verdict? Hmmm, I won't say that the meal is superbly delicious. The instant noodle taste the same, the only highlight of this meal is the crab. I think I can make this at home even. Will I repeat? If I happens to be around Bachok then I might but to drive to Bachok from Kota Bharu just for this Maggie Ketam ... I don't think so. Nevertheless, the stall is always packed with customer. During this visit, we waited for almost 45 minutes before we get our Maggie Ketam. The price? I think its around RM20.00 per dish as the total cost for 5 Maggie Ketam that we had here that night was RM97.00. A must try for those who haven't yet tasted this special dish & mud crab before.

On our 3rd night in Kota Bharu, we visited a fishing jetty at Tawang as we were invited by a friend of mine to experience the environment of a deep sea fishing vessel unloading their catch.

There were 2 boats that docking in on that night. This PAF 4141 belongs to my friend's father in law even.

The owner showed on of the fish that being caught by his boat. He is such a humble and friendly man.

Surprisingly, the owner did take some of the fresh seafood and brought it to the nearby restaurant for them to cooked, later served us with delicious dinner.

The highlight seafood of that night, the Sand Lobster / Slipper Lobster or the local name it as "Udang Ketak". I love the taste of this lobster, very sweet and juicy even.

On our 4th day, after we did our task in Pasir Mas, we went to the border, (well we actually cross the border) and visited a small Thailand's village called Mundok. My target here is to buy the famous Thailand's fragrant rice. I managed to bought 10kg of it at a price of RM35.00. I had cross to Ban Buketa previously on my last visit to Jeli. What I can tell is that, Mundok is a bit bigger than Buketa and the river to cross is wider. The security is much tighter in Jeli-Buketa. And from what I heard, Mundok is more popular as a shopping destination for local Kelantanese compared to Buketa.

We did some shopping. We got 2 local from Pasir Mas to escort us. :)

From Pasir Mas, we went to Tanah Merah and stayed at this 'corporate' hotel of ours, the E'mage Park Inn. I think this is the best hotel / motel that one can find here in Tanah Merah. This Family Room that we rented cost us RM120.00 per night. Its a big room alright but the owner of this hotel/motel need to make some touch up to this hotel as it looks a bit old, both inside and outside. I think I have been staying here for more than 10 times already and that is why I name this hotel / motel as my corporate hotel. :D

After spending 2 nights in Tanah Merah, we went to Kuala Krai and then proceed to Gua Musang as there are no suitable hotel/motel for us to stay in Kuala Krai. In Gua Musang, we always stay at the Fully Inn Hotel but we wanted to try a newly build hotel called Myhome Hotel. I got to know this hotel while browsing on internet before I started this trip. My review of the hotel? Well, I took a Family Room at RM120.00 per night. The room is small and worst is the design of the bathroom. The bathroom is not covered up to the ceiling as you can see on the above photo. Yes, there is LCD TV inside the room but it is a cheapo one, worst we can't control the channel even. Right after checking in, I decided that we will need to change our hotel on our 2nd night in Gua Musang. I don't feel comfy at all.

View from Myhome Hotel

And here's a short video recorded during driving back from Kelantan to Melaka.

Thank you !

First Outing with D7000

2011-10-02T20:08:00.001+08:00

Hi,

This morning I went to the Taman Seribu Bunga (Garden of A Thousand Flower) here in Melaka to seriously test upon my newly obtained D7000, pairing it with the new AF-S VR Micro Nikkor 105mm f2.8G IF-ED and the Nikon Close Up Speedlight Commander Kit R1C1. My aim was on macro photography and to shoot mainly on flower.

I went out a bit late as it was cloudy and drizzling started early in the morning up to 830am. I drove to Taman Seribu Bunga which is situated somewhere near Ayer Keroh at 915am. I had made a quick stopped at Mydin Hypermarket looking for CR123A battery as to spare it from the R1C1 system. I do not want battery exhausting issue will jeopardize my shooting as the CR123A battery is not easy to find.

When I reached the Taman Seribu Bunga, I can't see much people / visitors around. I can parked my car easily. The place was quite empty and very peaceful. I only can see a few visitors which I counted lesser than 20-30 people.

Sadly, I did not find any unique or interesting flower to shoot although the name of this place is Garden of A Thousand Flower. Yes, I can say that they do have a thousand flower but all are flowers that can be found commonly on the roadside and at home. I think they should try to get and planting some unique / uncommon flower to ensure it suits with the name of the place. But one thing that I did noticed is that the place do offer good landscape layout both soft scape and hard scape. Its a perfect place to shoot portraiture and a very potential spot for outdoor wedding photography.

I can't find much insects either as I think this garden is well taken care of and pesticide usage is on schedule basis unable some species of insect to live here. So, between common flower and common insect, which one that I shoot more? Of course the common insect such as dragonfly and bees.

Below are some photographs taken this morning at Taman Seribu Bunga, Melaka.

#1

The one and only flower that I think is unique for me to photograph it.

A type of fungi found here at Taman Seribu Bunga

A bee at work

A species of bee also at work

A Variegated Green Skimmer

A Common Scarlet

A species of Damselfly

A Crimson Dropwing posed himself on a small branch with superb background

And I also took this opportunity to shoot a video of a Common Scarlet. Still on learning mode on this video thing. :)

After this first initial outing to test my new setup, I feel very comfortable in using the D7000. On video mode, we can hear the sound of focusing as I guess that the audio recording mechanism must be build near the lens. And auto focusing on video mode still a trouble for me. How about the photography features and function? I love it very much !

Welcoming The D7000

2011-10-02T15:26:00.000+08:00

Hello,

D7000 is actually not on my list to have as I was about to seriously jump back to Sony in getting their latest DSLT, the A77 which I think would be the best non-full frame DSLR as to date. Looking at the review for A77 at various sites, I decided to get the Sony and say farewell to Nikon.

But as I had recently obtained a 105 VR Macro Lens and the Nikon Close-Up Speedlight Commander Kit R1C1, I am now decided to get a new Nikon instead of the upcoming A77.

In dilemma whether to choose a D300s model or the D7000, I decided to go for D7000 as it used far advance technology / features compare to the D300s.

As I am from Melaka, I would prefer my purchase to be locally in Melaka as well. This is to ensure that I will get the camera as soon as I paid (COD) and easy to lodge direct report/complaint if there is any faulty on the new camera. Surveyed a few places and I choose Pro Image Photography shop which in situated in Dataran Pahlawan to get my D7000. I knew that in Kuala Lumpur, price of the D7000 body can be as low as RM2,900.00 but in Melaka, the best price that available is RM3,050.00 and it's being offered by Pro Image Photography.

So, just right before Friday prayers, I went to Dataran Pahlawan and obtained the camera. I haven't had a chance to fully test the camera. In fact I was actually just snapping a few shots and proceed with the purchase without testing all the function and button before paying for it. Its a bit risky and not recommended if you didn't know the shop well. But Pro Image is a well known shop here in Melaka and also on online photography community such as PhotoMalaysia and Lowyat.net.

My actual and serious test of the camera started after 9pm on the same day. Compared to my D300, the D7000 is much lighter and personally, holding D300 feels good compared to D7000. :) But the features on D7000 is far way more better and advance from the D300. I haven't got a DSLR with a video function before and this D7000 is the first.

At some point of my serious testing, I almost believe that my D7000 is not 100% working as it should be. I suspected something is wrong with the shutter mechanism causing loud clicking sound whenever I pressed the shutter half to focus. I also encountered twice 'hang'/'freeze' issue on my SD card causing the camera froze which makes me feel uneasy and frustrated. But after a while, I knew what is the cause of it and took necessary steps to avoid the so called 'faulty' and I am now happy to say that my D7000 is working fine !

I took a few photos and look at the result. Well, at 16.4mp, the photo looks nice. Shoot both in Jpeg and NEF RAW, I found out that my version of Photoshop (CS4) is not able to read the format of the D7000 RAW file. I had notice that there is no solution on this and the only thing that we can do is to purchase the CS5 or converting the RAW file to DNG before opening it on Photoshop which is very time consuming.

Below are some initial shot made by the D7000 plus I did tried to shoot a movie on macro subject just a few hours ago. Shots made were random for testing purposes only.

#1

A talcum powder belongs to my son.

My favorite biscuit, the Ginger Nut.

Hand Sanitizer, got it free during Toilet Exhibition Expo.

A chicken ?

The one and only Alpha Lens Cap left with me

A toy (from Kinder Surprised Egg) which belongs to my kid

And this would be the initial movie test on D7000. As I love Macro, I straight away test the movie on Macro subject even. Need to learn more skill on this as I am still new in DSLR Movie mode so my focusing, framing and white balance were bad ! Will do better hopefully from time to time ...

New Macro Setup

2011-09-21T18:17:00.002+08:00

Hi,

On 17th September 2011, I had obtained a new macro setup gear to catered my passion in Macro Photography.

Its the Nikkor Lens 105 Micro AFS F2.8G VR dan R1C1 Macro Flash System Set. Once I got the lens, I started to test it and I was happy with the result even.

The R1C1 Macro Flash System & Nikkor 105mm AFS F2.8 Lens

The R1C1 System comes with a bag

Inside the bag, we have the major component which is the SU800 Commander and 2 unit of SBR200 Speedlight plus many other accessories.

The Nikkor AFS VR Micro 105mm f2.8 lens

Mode on the lens (VR Function and Focus Option)

And below are some of the initial shot of this new setup :-

A house fly sipping water

A Variegated Green Skimmer

A wasp say "don't come a little closer or I will sting you !"

The R1C1 is a bit tricky to set especially for those who is not familiar with Wireless Flash setup. I will take a while to adjust the setting before it can flash. But once you got the rhythm, you will realized that it is such a great system to catered the need of macro lighting.

The 105mm AFS VR lens is great. It is sharp for sure. And the focusing is build in and silence while focusing.

I will explore more on this new setup and surely will utilize it frequently even.

Cheers,

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

2011-09-08T18:10:00.003+08:00

Ramadhan had passed by and now come Syawal.

And Syawal is a month of festivity after muslim completed the fasting responsibility which is one of the Five Pillars in Islam.

I had celebrated Hari Raya with my family here in Melaka and I was so happy as this year all my siblings did managed to gathered at my parents place on the morning of the1st Syawal.

I would like to wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri or Eid Sa'eed (Happy Eid) to all my family, muslim friends and muslim visitor.

A Lost To Birding Community

2011-09-08T18:00:00.003+08:00

I was shocked and sad to know that a friend of mine had passed away on 24th August 2011. The news received on 25th through his Facebook account and I had to read it more than once to realized that the sad news was true.

Choo Tse Chien, a bird lover and one of the best birding photographer in Malaysia. He was a mentor in giving advices to me on bird photography.

My friendship with him was a short one. I knew him for only about a year and we only met once. That one time that we had met was not a 'friendly' kind of meeting. We only shake hand, introducing our self and talk about birding photography gear (his gear mostly as he had this 600mm F4 Nikkor Lens and I was only with my 400mm f5.6). Yes, it was a short meet-up as coincidentally we were birding at the same spot in Fraser's Hill. After that, although I got his business card, I had never called him up and almost forget about him. Even I can't recalled his name.

Then after a month, through a relative of mine, he introduced me to a birder that he met during the Langkawi Bird Race through Facebook. I adored my new friend passion in birding photography and also his adventure in bird watching. Through Facebook we communicate either through his wall and my wall. Even we exchanged private messages mostly talking about birding. After a while only I had realized that hey, this was the guy that I had met in Fraser's Hill. I accidentally had his photo while birding in Fraser's Hill and asked him whether the man in the photo was him. And yes, he also shocked to see the photo and recalled our meet up.

After that, we kept communicating with each other and he was planning to come over to Melaka for birding. I had also planned to purchase his Sigma 150-500 lense and he introduced me to a flash enhancer called 'Better Beamer'.

Although I only managed to knew him just for a short period, he was a very kind person and I feel his lost even. I guess that his other friend and buddy that had knew him for a longer period will deeply sadden as I am positively sure that he was a great friend to them. A lost of a friend and a lost to Malaysia birding community even ... may you rest in peace Chien !

Our first and only meet - up @ Fraser's Hill

For those who had missed his work, you may visit his webpage at http://www.aviannaturescapes.net

FASTING MONTH

2011-08-11T15:15:00.000+08:00

Well, its Ramadhan and muslim all over the world is now concentrating on fasting.

Here in my place in Melaka, we need to fast up until 725pm before we can break our fast. After 725pm, we are allowed to eat / drink until the next 540am. It will be continuously practice for 29 days as for this year.

There is not much activities as for this month and I am not planning anything special, even photography outing to respect the month of Ramadhan.

One interesting news that had been going around the Sony Alpha community is the upcoming Sony Alpha DSLT, the A77. I am planning to have it after the model is available here in Malaysia. I think it would be somewhere in September / October this year.

To all my families and muslim friends ... Happy Ramadhan !

Birding : The Malaysian Plover

2011-07-07T09:56:00.000+08:00

On November 2010, I had joined 2 senior birder from Malaysian Nature Society, Negeri Sembilan & Melaka Branch to Kuala Rompin, Pahang Darul Makmur for a birding trip. I was told that Kuala Rompin is one of the best spot to look for a Malaysian Plover.

From Melaka, we drove to Kuala Rompin by taking the Tangkak - Segamat - Muadzam - Kuala Rompin road. Once reaches Kuala Rompin, we went to look for a place to overnite and choose a budget chalet runs by the Persatuan Nelayan Kuala Rompin. They don't have many chalet, I think they have only around 10 chalet located just next to the beach. The room that we took cost us RM90.00 per nite. The room is clean and tidy.

After we checked in, we straightly went out for birding. We're looking for waders and we went to a few beach site to look for them.

At one of the spot, I saw my first Malaysian Plover. I had been told that we can't find Malaysian Plover on the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, so the only chance to see them would be at the East Coast. I saw quite a few of them and took some photographed using my Sony A550 + Tokina 400mm + 2x Tamron Teleconverter in Manual Focus Mode.

The Malaysian Plover can be classified as near threatening species as the population estimated is only at 10,000 individual.

On this trip, we're not only encountered the Malaysian Plover but also some other waders species and gulls.

This 2 days and 1 night trip was a good trip for me as I had managed to get a few 'lifer' and got lots of tips from the senior birder. I would definitely return to Kuala Rompin for waders even.

Kuching - Here I Come Again

2011-06-27T11:01:00.000+08:00

The last time I visited Kuching was 2007. It was a great 4 days 3 nights trip. The trip was full with activities covering City Tour, Sarawak Cultural Village, Damai Beach, Sarawak Museum, Pasar Satok & a border town named Serikin.

Recently, I opened up my email and saw a mail from Air Asia promoting RM0.10 fare to some local & asia countries. Looking at the 10cent fare, I can't resist to clicked on the link and start looking a flight. My aim was either Phuket, Bangkok or Siam Reap. And it was a very hard and tiring process. I tried almost for 1 day and a half but still can't secured any ticket. The Air Asia computer network was so packed resulting in continuous time out. I was trying to book for myself and a friend of mine. And on the 2nd day of trying, I stopped and gave up somewhere at noon. I said to myself, this is so impossible. Only lucky one will get thru.

On that night, while browsing the net at home, I suddenly got this feeling of "why not I just give a try for one more time". This time, I did not put Phuket, Bangkok nor Siam Reap but I put Kuching as my destination and I put 2 adult, 2 kids and 1 infant as the passenger (my family). Surprisingly everything went great. I managed to get the 10cent ticket to Kuching.

Logically, RM0.10 x 5 passenger x 2 ways, the charges should be RM2.00 for this trip. But at the end of the session, I had paid RM580.00 ++ for the air fare. Why? Only 4 of us are eligible to get the 10 cent fare, infant charged at RM50.00 as the offer meant only for adult and kid. Other additional charges were insurance, seat selection, baggage capacity (I took 15kg per person, so I should have 15kg x 5 = 75kg per family) and on flight meal (for my 2 kids). But still, I believe that RM580.00 ++ paid for 5 person to and fro is cheap indeed. I had made the same booking for my boss (5 person) before this (2 weeks before I had made mine), the cost of flight to & fro Kuching paid was RM2,700.00 (Firefly as Air Asia cost RM2900.00).

This time, it will be a 5 days 4 nights vacation. Ground arrangement haven't been made because it's still too early to commit on that. Date of travel? February 2012, another almost 8 months to go. Hahaha. So Kuching, here I come again ...

Pencinta Alam Oh Pencinta Alam !

2011-06-23T18:30:00.001+08:00

Minat saya untuk menjadi aktif dalam aktiviti pemuliharaan alam semulajadi baru dalam sekitar 'setahun tiga empat jagung'. Bermula daripada minat mengambil gambar - gambar yang berkaitan dengan alam semulajadi, timbul satu kesedaran bahawa alam semulajadi perlulah dipelihara demi masa depan generasi yang akan datang dan yang paling utama adalah demi kesinambungan kehidupan kita, manusia ... Homosapien.

Dan untuk menyokong usaha ini, saya pernah menyumbang dana bulanan kepada Organisasi World Wildlife Fund (Malaysia) selama beberapa tahun dan kemudiaannya menyertai Malaysian Nature Society untuk bergiat lebih aktif lagi dalam memberikan sokongan terhadap pemuliharaan alam semulajadi.

Dalam tempoh perjalanan saya di dalam aktiviti ini, saya telah menemui ramai aktivis lain dan turut berkenalan dengan aktivis - aktivis yang sememangnya pakar dalam pelbagai subjek alam semulajadi seperti pakar tumbuhan, pakar mamalia, pakar serangga, pakar burung, pakar reptilia, pakar ikan, pakar terumbu karang, pakar pepatung & rama - rama dan pakar - pakar yang lain.

Boleh saya katakan yang Pencinta Alam turut mempunyai 'level' iaitu bermula dari pendatang baru (newbie) hinggalah ke 'level' pakar (master). Biasa la, di mana - mana pun 'level' ini akan tetap ada.

Namun, saya juga perhatikan ada segelintir aktivis yang disamping 'berjuang' sebagai seorang aktivis atau 'naturalist' (bukan naturist :D) turut membawa agenda lain bersama perjuangan mereka. Bak kata pepatah, sambil menyelam minum air. Antara agenda - agenda tersebut adalah untuk mendapatkan populariti, menjana sumber pendapatan tambahan, menjawat jawatan yang tinggi di dalam organisasi dan lain - lain.

Saya turut menemui beberapa individu yang pakar dalam bidang mereka namun telah membuat satu jarak di antara mereka dan pencinta alam yang baru. Mereka tidak melayan persoalan atau pendapat seseorang pencinta alam yang baru kerana mereka berfikiran yang mereka lebih bijak dan lama di dalam memperjuangkan pemuliharaan alam semulajadi. Yang lebih mengecewakan adalah mereka tidak mahu berkongsi ilmu seperti membantu dalam pengenalpastian spesis dan jika dimaklumkan pun, ianya adalah tidak dengan penerangan, hanya sekadar memberikan nama. Adakah mereka risau yang satu hari nanti rakan pencinta alam yang lain akan mencapai tahap pengetahuan yang sama seperti mereka. Lupakah mereka bahawa matlamat semua pencinta alam seharusnya sama iaitu untuk mendalami ilmu alam semulajadi, mencintai alam semulajadi dan seterusnya memulihara alam semulajadi?

Namun, tidak semua 'pakar'/aktivis bersikap demikian, kebanyakan serta majoritinya adalah amat membantu dan peramah. Mereka turut memberikan dorongan serta penerangan yang baik terhadap setiap isu / persoalan yang diajukan. Malah ada yang turut meluangkan masa untuk membawa rakan pencinta alam yang lain ke lokasi - lokasi tertentu untuk memberikan penjelasan & pendedahan yang sempurna.

Pada tahun yang lalu, saya pernah bertugas secara sukarela untuk satu kempen berkaitan dengan alam semulajadi. Saya yang mewakili MNS berkongsi satu 'booth' bersama WWF yang diwakili oleh agen mereka. Wakil dari WWF bertanyakan kepada saya akan mengapa saya tidak meneruskan sumbangan dana untuk WWF. Saya memberikan justifikasi saya akan mengapa dan beliau memaklumkan yang isu yang saya bangkitkan telah diselesaikan serta memberi jaminan yang ianya telah dibaikpulih. Dengan penjelasan beliau, saya berhasrat kembali untuk menyumbang sekali lagi. Namun, setelah berakhirnya hari tersebut, saya tidak menandatangani borang sumbangan. Mengapa? Ceritanya adalah setelah saya bersetuju, saya turut meminta agen tersebut menyertai MNS. Saya sebenarnya tidak serius, hanya sekadar untuk melihat apakah reaksi agen tersebut. Beliau seakan serba salah untuk sertai MNS. Saya menerima 'keserbasalahan' tersebut tetapi satu jawapan daripada rakan agennya memudarkan hasrat saya untuk memberikan sumbangan. Rakan agen tersebut berkata "Kita WWF MNS sama la, tak payah kita masuk MNS la sebab WWF bagi sumbangan lagi banyak dari MNS". Saya hanya tersenyum mendengar kata - kata agen tersebut. Dan pada akhirnya, saya mengambil keputusan untuk tidak memberikan sumbangan akibat daripada 'statement' kurang bijak rakan agen tersebut.

Kesimpulannya adalah setiap yang terlibat dalam penyokongan pemuliharaan alam semulajadi perlulah bersikap rasional, terbuka dan sedar bahawa matlamat utama perjuangan adalah sama. Tak kira tua, muda, pendatang baru, pendatang lama, berpengalaman, tidak berpengalaman dan tidak mengira dari organisasi mana kita wakili, semuanya adalah untuk sati matlamat. Ketepikan ego dan berusahalah dengan ikhlas ke arah kejayaan dalam pemuliharaan alam semulajadi.

Redang Diving Trip - PADI Open Water (Part 3)

2011-06-15T17:56:00.000+08:00

I woke up quite early just before 0600 hours. Once awake with the leisure dive on my mind, I realized that I had forgotten to secured my rash guard, swimming short and some of my clothes from the verandah (heavy rain last night). I quickly jumped out my bed and went out to the verandah. I took my rash guard and squeezed the access water from it, then my swimming short follows by others. Well at least, the clothes were now damp not soaking wet.

The chalet verandah is the best place to dry out for wet clothes

Frustrated by no sunrise on the day before, I just had a quick peeked from the chalet verandah to the beach and saw ... wow. The sun was rising so beautifully. I went to my room, took my camera and took some photos of the sunrise.

The sun has risen beautifully @ Redang Island

Done with the sunrise, I took a quick bath (again due to nonfunctional water heater), put on my swimming short & rash guard and called up the other 2 divers to wake up as we need to go to dive. But surprisingly, they told me that they decided not to dive as time constrains. Yes, I knew that. We need to check out at 0815 but if we start our dive at 0700, we can still surface at 0800 and proceed with our check out at 0830 max. But decision had been made, they did want to dive. As we had already made our promised with the Instructor to meet up at 0700, I went straight to the Dive Centre around 0655. Hmmm, I waited until 0715 but nobody was around at the Dive Centre and worst, the Dive Centre was closed. I called up the Instructor and told him that I was already here in front of the Dive Centre. He told me that he will be having a class at 0830, so he won't be able to dive with me. I was getting a bit upset now as promised had been made but cancellation done without early notice. I told him that I still want to dive. It was not my idea even to dive on that morning, it was theirs but after I had made my commitment, they wanted to cancelled it at the very last minute. If I knew the dive was meant to be cancelled, I won't woke up as early as 0555 hours. As I insisted on the morning dive, the instructor told me that he will try to asked another instructor whether he is free or not to dive with me. No Buddy mean No Dive. 5 minutes later, the other instructor came out from the dive centre. I told him the situation. At first, he told me that we was also scheduled to have a boat dive at 0830 but then he said "okay, let's gear up. we're going for a dive". I was happy and thanking him for his willingness to take me for the dive. He is a great instructor, mentor and friend even. I knew that his decision to dive with me was due to the fact that they had made a promised (although it was not him that make that promise) and he was trying at his level best to kept the promise. And he did. Thank you.

After we had geared up and did our buddy checking. What is a buddy check? The buddy check is a procedure carried out by Scuba Diver using the buddy system where each diver checks that the other's diving equipments is configured and functioning correctly just before the start of the dive. What to check? Well, the instructor taught us to remember the BWARF.

BCD
Weight
Air
Releases
Final Check

In order to remember this, he gave us this sentence of easy remembrance "Bangkok Women Are Really Fun". Hahaha, what a sentence but hey ... it works !

We walked to the shore and enter the water. Although the time was 0725 hours, the water temperature was not that cold. So, I dove in Tanjung Tengah for my 4th time as for this trip.

It was a very enjoyable, relaxing and fun dive even. The instructor was really fun and guided me all the way showing various marine life including some macro. I felt more confident under the water, my buoyancy seems to be improved and at level best where I glided easily using my breath to control positive and negative buoyancy. We even glided over corals and not just finning next to the coral as previous dives. I had enjoyed this dive very much and managed to take some 'good' photographs even. My buddy, the instructor was great ! We finished our dive somewhere at 0815. I thanked him very much even. If you are looking for a great and fun diving trip, you may visit www.scubaamigo.com to check on their diving calendar and packages. Look for Instructor Tee Kok Yau.

Tanjung Tengah, Redang Island

My Instructor, Tee Kok Yau showing me a morray eel hiding under a coral

Always looking / searching for something to show me. I really enjoyed this dive with Master Tee Kok Yau.

Freckled Goat Fish or its scientific name Upeneus Tragula

The Crown of Thorn

Pteraeolidia Ianthina common name is Serpent Pteraeolidia.

A video that I had made from the combo of photos & video while diving @ Tanjung Tengah

Once reached the Dive Centre, I did a quick yet a full clean-up on the scuba gears and straight away went to my chalet for check out. At that point, my other 2 room mates had already checked out. I met the resort representative and gladly she accepted my apologies for the late check out (0845). The best was she even reserved my breakfast and asked me to have my breakfast before proceeding to wait for the boat which was scheduled at 0930-1000. Ayu Mayang Resort is the best !

Done with my breakfast, I went and waited for the boat at the dive centre. We boarded the boat somewhere at 1040 The boat that took us back to Merang Jetty was not Pelangi Princess, it was a smaller boat. I think only 15 passenger can board the boat. But the speed of this boat was superb ! If we take the Pelangi Princess, it will take us around 1 hour 15 minutes ride but taking this small boat, the boat ride only took us somewhere about 30 minutes to reach our destination. Hahaha, but it was rough. Not recommendable for pregnant lady for sure as the speed + bumpiness may cause miscarriage. I can't even take a sip of my mineral water which I brought along with me.

The boat safely reached Merang Jetty somewhere at 1115am and the resort bus had already waited for us to take us all back to Kuala Terengganu. I took the opportunity to buy some T Shirt here at Merang Jetty. But as the time was too short, I can't really shop with ease. It was only a 10 minutes shopping looking for nice and suitable T Shirt before the bus started its engine. I was the last person to board the bus. Sorry ya to all other guest on the bus, it was not intentionally done as looking for a good design with an XL size was quite difficult. :)

Now, as the bus reaches Kuala Terengganu Bus Station, I was in dilemma. This was due to the fact that my ticket back to Melaka was scheduled at 2100 and the time now was 1230. I gotta wait for another 8 hours in Kuala Terengganu even. Why did I bought a bus ticket scheduled at 2100 to Melaka? I actually got no choice. If you are in Kuala Terengganu and looking for direct bus to Melaka, the schedule available are only in the morning and at night. There are non bus operator that offer a direct bus ticket to Melaka between 10am to 9pm. So, I really got no choice other than the 2100 schedule bus. The bus ticket that I bought was actually the same ticket as my 2 others colleague. I rang up a nearby hotel, the DJ Citi Point Hotel and made a reservation for 3 person. I was planning for a short stay at the hotel checking in at 2pm and checking out at 8pm. But my 2 other colleague did not to stay at the hotel instead they wanted to stay at the resort office which open up until 8pm. At first, I thought of doing that also as at least I can save my $. But I had noticed also that the resort office is also a place where 2 dogs (belongs to the owner) freely moving in/out. I do not want any trouble with the dogs especially as a Muslim, if the dog accidently touches our bag / body etc, we need to perform tanning/purify process. So said to my 2 colleague that they may stay at the resort office while I will proceed with my plan to stay at the hotel.

I checked in at DJ Citi Point somewhere around 1330 and for the first time I checked in into their Deluxe Room. I am a regular guest for this hotel. Every time I went to Kuala Terengganu to performed my official work task, I will surely stayed in this hotel. And my choice of room is the Citi Suite. But on this trip, it was the first time that I stayed in the Deluxe Room. The room was quite small but clean. The bathroom is great but the toilet flush was having a problem, the water kept on running and making a loud sound. I need to fully shut the bathroom door to minimize the sound. I did not make any complaint as I knew that I will staying in the room for just a few hours before checking out.

How did I spend my 8 hours in Kuala Terengganu? Once checked in, I called up my staff in Kuala Terengganu and had a good lunch with him. The we went to Pasar Kedai Payang and i bought a few more clothes / souvenir to bring back home. One thing that i noticed was that the T Shirt that I bought earlier in Merang Jetty was much more cheaper than the Pasar Kedai Payang. Same design, same brand being sold at RM20.00 in Merang Jetty but here in Pasar Kedai Payang the best price they gave me after bargained was RM25.00. So, if you want to buy Redang related T Shirt / Souvenir, buy it at the Merang Jetty even. After finished with buying souvenir, I went back to my hotel room, took a rest, had a good hot water shower and checked out from the hotel somewhere at 1920 hours. Right after checked out, I went straight to the bus station and had my dinner which was the Mc Value Meal @ The McDonald's :).

The bus, MARA Liner was already there at the station and I boarded the bus at 2050 hours. The bus journey started sharp at 2100 and at that time, it was raining. The bus ride was quite a thrilled as the driver did drove a little too fast in heavy rain. But there were too many stopped that being made. I reached Melaka Sentral at 0610 and took a cab back home.

Overall, the trip was a good one. New experiences and new friends met. I am back home as a Certified PADI Open Water Diver. Thank you Scuba Amigo for the great arrangement and lesson taught. And thank you to Ayu Mayang Resort & Redang Pelangi Dive Centre for the great service & experience.

When and where would be my next dive? .... Perhentian, Tioman & Payar maybe ... and Redang definitely will be re-visited as this is where I became a diver ...

Redang Diving Trip - PADI Open Water (Part 2)

2011-06-14T19:40:00.003+08:00

On the 2nd day, I woke up early at 0545 to witness the morning sunrise. I took a quick bath (due to nonfunctional water heater) and walked to the beach with my camera to captured the moment. I think I was at the beach as early as 0610. I waited up until 0715 .... no spectacular sunrise even. I was frustrated. Maybe it was due to the weather. It was cloudy.

No so called 'spectacular' sunrise on 7th June 2011 due to cloudy weather.

From the beach, I went to the restaurant and had my breakfast. I was scheduled to meet up with my instructor at the Dive Centre at 0815. I had a light breakfast as I was trying not to consume too much oily menu as my next immediate dive would be my first ever boat dive.

At 0815 sharp, I was already at the Dive Centre feeling energetic and excited. And of course there was a bit of nervous inside me thinking of my first boat dive. Briefing was made and the instructor told us that we will go to a dive site named Tanjung Tokong situated on the north site of the Redang Island. Scheduled to board the dive boat at 0830, we were only managed to boarded the boat somewhere around 0930. This was due to the fact that there were 2 of other student who supposed to join us woke up a little bit late.

Redang Pelangi Dive Centre

My scuba gear (not really, but it was mine for 3 days :D)

The boat ride from the dive centre to Tanjung Tokong took around less than 10 minutes. We were taught on how to enter the boat by performing roll back entry. Yeah, it's surely looks simple but believe me, when you did it for the first time, it was not that really easy. Nevertheless, I did well on my roll back entry even.

Once we entered the water, the instructor signed us to decent. We decent slowly and I guess I was the last person who decent. I can see my instructor at the bottom with the other student. Why my decent was slow? This was due to the fact that I did not want to failed on my equalization process. I need to get my equalization right so that I will not facing an uncomfortable later. Then when we were almost at the same level deep in the bottom, we started to fin against the current. The current was quite mild but the deeper and further we go, the current started to became faster and faster. I was with my camera on this dive. I managed to took some photo at first but somewhere in the mid of this dive, I had lost interest to photograph. Why? Because of fast current and poor visibility. I need to concentrate on my diving and of course staying close to my instructor even. At some point, the current was too great for a newbie like us and we were really struggling against it.

My first boat dive : Tanjung Tokong

Only enjoying the dive at the beginning of the dive, after that struggling with the strong current + poor visibility.

Another Instructor and with his student were with us

And as expected, due to the anxieties of the first boat dive and busy with the camera, the first person that reached low air level was me. :) Signal my instructor and he just looked with me with a shake of his head. Then we were all begin our ascent to 5 meter level and did our 3 minutes safety stop. As we are new diver, hovering was not an easy task even. With the gauge on my left hand, I kept on moving up and down between 7 to 4 meters struggling to stay leveled at 5. 3 minutes felt like 10 minutes for me.

After the safety stop, we slowly ascent to the surface and the boat was there already waiting for us. We then stepped into the boat and headed back to our dive centre. On the boat, my instructor told me that I consume my air too fast like a Ferrari. Hahaha, I admitted that but what more to expect from a newbie who did his first boat dive + first time at 18 meter depth + first time trying to play with a camera underwater + feeling nervous. The boatman told us that if we go a little bit early, the underwater current would be mild.

Did I enjoyed my first boat dive? Not really but it was a great experience and exposure to me. I can't concentrate on the corals, fishes and other marine life as I was too busy with finning against the current, watching out my instructor in order not to get lost, watching out my buddies who were also new and equalizing the pressure.

We reached back at the dive centre and took an hour rest before we were on the boat again for our 2nd boat dive. Briefing made by a Dive Master representing the Dive Centre and not by my instructor. We will go to a dive site called Southern Tips.

On the boat, we were joined by 2 other experience diver who I think are from Europe. Once reaches the dive site, we did the roll back entry and entered the water. Instructor ordered for a decent and to the bottom we go. One thing I did noticed here was the mild current. Easier that the first dive but the visibility was kinda bad. I brought in my camera again on this dive but did not managed to take good and clear photo due to the visibility.

This time, I had told myself to controlled my breathing technique not as per my first dive. I did enjoyed the dive. Although I did not managed to take good photograph of this dive site, I was happy enjoying the view of the corals, fishes and marine life. Poor visibility? Yes, but I was happy as I can control my finning and movement easily now. I dove as almost as the same level as my instructor this time compared to the first dive where I dove mostly 5 feet above him.

Saw an underwater photographer performing underwater portraiture photography in style

A group of sea anemone sighted at Southern Tips

When the time came to ascent, my air level was still good. The 3 minutes safety stop went well. I can managed to controlled my buoyancy steadily. My Instructor even took a picture of me during this 3 minutes stop.

3 Minutes Safety Stop : Photo taken by my Instructor, my pose inspired by Wing Chun Master, IP Man. :D

Once I was at the surface and waiting for the other to get into the boat, I started to get dizzy. I was thinking to myself "oh oh ... I am getting seasick now ... " And yes I did, while in the water, I told my instructor that I did not want to get into the boat yet, let me stay afloat in the water while waiting for the 2 European diver to get on the surface. But my instructor told me that he need me to get into the boat and I obeyed. I think I was on the boat for about 10 minutes, struggling to overcome the seasickness before the European diver got on the surface. Luckily I did not reach the level that I need to vomit. :D

Although I was on seasick, I did managed to captured the moment of the boatman helping divers to board dive boat

When I arrived at the dive centre and right after cleaning up my diving gear, I straightly went for lunch. The menu served were good. After my lunch, I went to the chalet and took a bath. We rested for about 1 and a half hour before we were called up again to go for our last official dive as for this course. Somewhere before 1400 hours, the instructor started to teach us on how to use a compass to cover the Basic Navigation subject. We did a few land navigation before he told us to gear up for a shore dive.

It is quite a distance walking from the dive centre to the spot that we will do our shore dive. Actually it is not really that far but as we had done 2 boat dives, walking towards the dive spot with full gear seems to be tiring for me. The instructor told us not to dive first, he wanted us to swim to a deeper water before we start to decent. At this point, while swimming towards deeper walking, I had realized that there was something wrong with my left leg. I was in the mid of getting leg cramp. So, I was the last person who reach the spot and the last student who did the surface navigation test. I told my instructor about my leg and paused my movement for about 2 minutes before proceeding with my navigation swim.

Then, to the bottom we go. We dove at the depth of 10 meters and kneel down at the bottom. Here the instructor asked us to do the CESA (Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent) and Underwater Basic Navigation. I did well on both subject without any delay / trouble. The CESA was done at the depth of 7 meters. Navigation was easy as it was a straight forward test from Point A to Point B and back to Point A.

After this 2 test, we leisurely dive and scuba around. On this last official dive as for the course, I had really enjoyed the dive. I was a bit upset not able to bring my camera along as this dive was a test/lesson dive. The most memorable moment on this specific dive was my first underwater encountered with a giant stingray. I regretted not to have my camera along to photograph this beautiful fish.

For about an hour later, we slowly swam back to the shore. Once out of the water, I'd smiled to myself as I really did enjoyed the dive. Back at the dive centre, we cleaned up our gear and store them properly as there would be no more official dive for us. We had completed 5 official dive consisting of 3 shore dive plus 2 boat dive.

I went back to the chalet, took a bath again and went to the restaurant for an evening tea. They served donuts covered with sugar, curry puff and wheat porridge which is a favorite of mine. From the restaurant, myself and the other 2 student went back again to the dive centre ... this time was to seat down for our final exam.

We were required to answered 50 subjective questions and being told that the passing mark is 75%. Lower than that, you gotta repeat the whole course again. So, without wasting any time, the Instructor handed over the question paper and we started answering. It took me around 30 minutes to finished up the paper. Most question were simple but being asked in a tricky ways. I was struggling a bit with the mathematical chart questions. Our paper being checked on the spot by the instructor and we straightly knew our result there and then. I had 44 right answers out of 50 and I had been officially congratulated by my instructor as an Open Water Diver.

Later on that evening, I walked along the beach to enjoy the scenery. I saw lots of tourist on the beach and mostly were locals. I also tried to look for some souvenir from Redang to bring back home especially aiming to buy some T Shirt but from what I can see after walking around a few shops (not many souvenir shops even), I think I better buy the souvenir at Merang Jetty as there are more choices there than here on the island.

Taking some photograph, experimenting the newly obtained Canon S95

Took a photo of one of my room mate

Hanging around at the Dive Centre, passing time.

At 730pm, I went to the restaurant to enjoy my BBQ dinner. I did not expect much on the dinner as the resort BBQ dinner is being bundle with a 3 days 2 nights package. But to my surprise, the Ayu Mayang Resort BBQ dinner that night was superb. They served Spaghetti with minced beef sauce, fried chicken wings, grilled lamb shoulders, chicken sausages, baked sweet potatoes and varieties of salads. This was the best menu that I had during my stay in Ayu Mayang Resort. I am not saying that the other menu served were not good but from day 1, the menu served were mostly cooked in Chinese Style (Halal as cooked and prepared by Malay). I did enjoyed the food but from my opinion they should served at least 1 dish to catered Malay taste e.g a good sambal or at least sambal belacan, masak lemak kuning, asam pedas etc. But I did not blame the resort even as in real fact, most of the tourist I had found on the island/resort were Chinese even. :)

Ayu Mayang Resort did served a very good BBQ menu even.

Right after we had finished our BBQ dinner, we met up with our instructor and he gave us our wall certificate. And at the same time he invited 4 more new student to joined the table as they will need to get brief later. For me, personally I think the certificate should be given in a more merrier way. But hey, we were the student and no doubt as long that we had passed the exam, obtained the license and got certified, that will be enough to make us happy.

After our temporary license and wall certificate been given, my room mates talked to the Instructor about having a leisure dive on the next morning. They told me to join in and I agreed. After enjoying my final official dive, who could ignore an invitation for a leisure dive. Well, of course it won't be a free one but the Instructor had set a minimum fees to be paid as for the leisure dive just right in front of the beach (Tanjung Tengah).

I went straight to the chalet after that and heavy rain started to falls. After a tiring day, a good dinner, passing the exam with highest mark, received the license and certificate, the falling rain was a bless even. I went to bed eagerly waiting for tomorrow's leisure dive but I need to wake up early as we were scheduled to met at 0700.

Redang Diving Trip - PADI Open Water (Part 1)

2011-06-14T18:30:00.004+08:00

After 3 fun & enjoyable pool sessions, the time has come for me to take my Open Water Diving test at Redang Island, Terengganu Darul Iman from 6th until 8th June 2011. Arrangement of my trip was done by my Dive Master from Scuba Amigo.

According to my Dive Master, it ain't necessary for one to use a wetsuit while diving in Redang unless the water is too cold. So I packed up 2 of my swimming short plus 1 newly obtained Akona Rash Guard as to become my dive suit during the diving trip.

As there were only 3 student that will travel to Redang from Melaka including myself, I decided not to drive to Terengganu as it will be surely be a tiring journey. The other 2 students are still in secondary school ages 17 and 14 so passing the car steering will not be an option during the journey if I happens to falls tired. So, decision made that I would take an express bus from Melaka to Kuala Terengganu even.

On the 5th of June 2011, I boarded the MARA Liner Express Bus at 2130 hours to start my trip from Melaka Sentral to Kuala Terengganu. Melaka Sentral was quite busy with crowds on that night as it was still on school holidays. The bus condition was great and clean in the inside. My seat was a single seat and it was quite comfy. But from what I had noticed, those who were on the double seat were not that comfortable because of small room legs spaces in between the rows.

Crowd at Melaka Sentral on 5th June 2011. A bit busy as its school holiday season.

Right after I had settled down on my seat, I took a flu/cold medicine to help me falls asleep. Then, I think I slept like a baby right until the bus reaches Kuala Terengganu somewhere at 0600 hours. I called up the resort representative to let him know that we had reached Kuala Terengganu so arrangement of our pick up can be made. It is happened that the resort branch office is situated just right in front of the Kuala Terengganu Bus Station so we were instructed to wait at their branch office. We met the resort representative and being told that our pick up bus will start to depart to Merang Jetty at 0730 hours. Beside myself and 2 of my colleague from Melaka, I think there were another 10 guest on the resort bus. The resort bus then departed to the Kuala Terengganu airport to pick up a few more guest before heading off to Merang Jetty.

The Redang Pelangi Resort bus ready to pick us up at Kuala Terengganu Bus Station.

From Kuala Terengganu Bus Station, the bus made a quick stopped at the Kuala Terengganu Airport to pick up more guest.

Merang Jetty was very busy on that morning. Busy with tourist and crowds even. We were told to paid RM5 each as for the Marine Park Fees collected by the resort representative. Here, we waited for another 30 minutes as our boat (Princess Pelangi) was on fueling mode. I can say that the boat is a 3 and a half decked boat, more like a mini ferry. Guest can free seat on the bottom deck, 1st floor deck, 2nd floor deck (same level as the captain's deck) or even on the top deck with open-air. I choose to seat on the 2nd floor deck as I think it is more comfy and if I want to get an open air, I can just climb up 1 stair to the top deck to get fresh air.

The Pelangi Princess boat.

Inside the Pelangi Princess boat. There were enough life jacket inside the boat but some passenger seems not to care about safety and ignored to wear them.

One may choose to seat at the same level as the Captain's Control Room.

The journey from Merang Jetty to Redang Island took us around 1 hour and 20 minutes. The sea was calm and weather was nice. It's a non-smoking boat but I saw a few passenger just ignored the non-smoking signage and smoke, well even the Captain and his assistance smoked. As a smoker, I did not bothered much but pity for the non-smoker guest even. Once reaches Redang, we had notice that it was on high tide. Although there is a floating jetty, we need to jump into the water (knee high) to go to the shore. Those who were wearing long pants / jeans / skirt will definitely get wet. The check-in process was good. Both Pelangi Resort & Ayu Mayang Resort staff were already at the shore calling out names. Myself and the other 2 student was set to share a chalet at the Ayu Mayang Resort. The resort staff brief me on the 3 days 2 nights itinerary. Most important part here is definitely the 'makan' time.

Before we get into our chalet, we met our assigned Instructor and he told us to get rest and our class will start after lunch somewhere at 2pm. The chalet that we were in was nice. First I had noticed that there are only 2 single bed inside the chalet but after a few second we found another 2 single bed situated on the 2nd level inside the chalet. So, I will be staying on the ground level while the other 2 youngster will be staying on the 2nd level.

Inside the chalet, there are 2 single bed at the ground floor.

There is a ladder to climb up to the 2nd level inside the chalet.

2 more single bed on the 2nd level. So basically, this chalet can catered up to 4 person per room/chalet.

The bathroom is small. Clean with acceptable water pressure level. The only setback was that the water heater was not functioning. I did not lodged any complaint on the heater as I knew that the reason I was in Redang for this trip is to dive. So, either it's hot water or cold water, it doesn't really matter.

After my bath, I went to the resort restaurant to enjoy my lunch. They served plain rice with 4 different menu as side dishes. The taste of the food was okay (not too good and not too bad).

The Ayu Mayang's Restaurant is just a steps away from my chalet. This would be the buffet line where Breakfast, Lunch, Evening Tea & Dinner are served. They also accept a la carte order.

I thought of taking a quick nap after the lunch but as I knew that my 1st dive will take place in another 1 hour, I just laid on the bed resting, I did not sleep. Then just before 2pm, I got into my swimming short & puts on my rash guard headed to the Dive Centre.

On that evening I did 2 session of Shore Dive just in front of the Dive Centre and the chalet. The dive site is called Tanjung Tengah. I did not bring my camera as for this first 2 dive as the session were meant for me to revised the skill that I had learn during the pool session plus some new skills being taught by the instructor.

Some important lesson I had learn on my first 2 Shore Dive session :-

Mask clearing underwater
Removing and wearing mask underwater
Fin Pivot (getting neutral buoyancy)
Removing BCD and wearing BCD underwater
Right way of finning underwater
Underwater hand sign
Regulator recovering
Cleaning & washing up scuba equipments

Did I enjoyed my first dive into an open water? Well, I can't say that it was a total fun dive, its like a mixture of fun and adventurous feeling where the mind was on full alert mode. You did not want to make any mistake and you need to gain as much knowledge as possible either its being directly taught or you learned it by yourself. On the 2nd dive, during the point of decent, I actually felt like my vision was circling upside down then I had realized that I should not get carried away with the feeling, I yelled to myself to concentrate and overcome the feeling. It was just like 10 seconds kind of upside down, then I gained my confidence and got back to the normal state of mind.

At 7pm, myself and the other 2 student had our buffet dinner in the restaurant. We were really hungry, maybe it was due to the dive that we had made. After dinner, we had a quick revision on the blue 'PADI Open Water Manual' with our instructor before we stopped somewhere at 9pm. My immediate dive instructor went straight to his room after the session, leaving me with another dive instructor(from the same dive operator). We talked mostly on diving especially on his experiences. The chitchatting ended somewhere around 1130pm. I had a very good sleep on my first night in Redang Island ...

Attending Wedding, As Guest, Not Photographer

2011-06-04T19:27:00.005+08:00

Today is a Public Holiday as we are celebrating the King's Birthday.

I've got an invitation to a wedding of my friend's son in Rantau, Negeri Sembilan. Previously, when I was actively doing wedding photography, being at a wedding event is a norm for me. But today, I am attending wedding as a guest. The best thing of being a guest is that you can have your own sweet time enjoying the event and the food of course. :D

To go to Rantau, Negeri Sembilan from my place is quite a distance. So with a friend of mine, we started our journey as early as 1140am. Supposed to be 1130am but I need to make a stop at my office as I forgot to bring the invitation card along. Why the invitation card is important? Because I do not know the address of the event and the map is in the card.

We set our GPS to the said address and the GPS took us to the old interstate road. The traffic was smooth but the roads were narrow. It took us about 1 hour before we reached at our set destination. The wedding was held inside a medium size Community Hall. The deco was great and the food was okay.

The Groom & Bride in purple theme.

One of the deco that I think was being well prepared. The Carved Fruit Basket at the main dine table.

After having our meal and as we're not planning to go anywhere else, we drove back to Melaka. But this time, we're not going to rely on our GPS instead we planned to use the PLUS Highway back to Melaka as the old interstate road that we took earlier was narrow and making it difficult to maintained speed.

So, we drove towards Pedas Tol Exit and headed to Ayer Keroh. Just before Simpang Ampat Exit, the traffic was getting slow and crawling. After we passed Simpang Ampat, it became worst. Vehicles on the highway moving slower than a snail I should say. Now, we're really regret on our decision to use the highway, interstate road should be much-much way better.

Instead of 1 hour, the journey took us almost 2 hours. I guess now the time that PLUS should seriously look upon Melaka toll exit. The Chief Minister of Melaka did told PLUS to upgrade the toll exit of Ayer Keroh early this year but nothing happens. What we can see now at the Ayer Keroh Exit is some construction is going on but we don't think it is for adding more toll booth and widening the exit lane. I hope PLUS will act on this issue at the immediate as Melaka is one of the top tourist destination here in Peninsular Malaysia. This traffic issue might jeopardize the tourism industry in Melaka if people started to think that going holiday to Melaka will stress them especially during peak season.

Lucky we're on Smart Tag even. If not, we will be facing 'looonngg' queue started 10km back from Ayer Keroh Exit.

Open Water - Go Scuba

2011-06-03T11:32:00.004+08:00

I had been interested to do Scuba Diving for quite sometimes.

On 2007, I had enrolled for a Scuba Diving Open Water class here in Melaka. The certification body was NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors). I managed to know the diving instructor through one of my contact in Kuala Lumpur. The plan laid by the instructor was 3 nights of theory, 1 day of confined water and 3 days of Open Water. I attended 2 nights of the theory classes but after that I got transferred to Kuala Lumpur and missed my class. And as time passes by, I realized that I can't actually commit to the class schedule and training due to my work and health issue at that moment as I was suffering from a Cervical Spine Injury. My hope to get certified fades away.

Recently on April 2011, my interest to go scuba emerges again. After browsing the net looking for a certification associations in Melaka, I had encountered an advertisement of PADI Open Water Course. Without delay, I contacted the Dive Master and set my appointment.

The PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructor) laid programme is totally different from NAUI. The Dive Master told me that the programme will consist of 2 Confined Water Dive, 1 Theory, 2 days Open Water on a selected island,1 theory while on the island and of course the final exam will be done on the island. I straight away agreed with the programme and paid the fees. I knew that if I delay my decision, I might not be able to become a certified diver forever.

On my first pool session, I was a bit nervous. Yes, I am an experience swimmer but not in diving. Diving is a totally new thing to me. I was lucky as my first pool session was just between me and my Dive Master. With only myself, the Dive Master can 100% concentrate his teaching on me. The class went well and on that first day, I dive to the deepest pool area at 4 meter deep. From what I can remember, below are some important lesson that I had been taught :-

Always breathing normally underwater. Do not stop breathing or hold your breath as it will cause lung injury.
Introduction of scuba gears. How to assemble and dissemble them.
Right method of finning
Mask Clearing
2nd stage (regulator) recovery
Technique to ease leg cramp underwater
Positive, Negative and Neutral Buoyancy Control using Weight & Buoyancy Control Device.
Equalization Technique

My first pool session was a straight 3 hours session. The most thing that I was worried was the equalization part but I was very lucky to managed to performed the equalization technique with no issue at all.

A few days later, an Instructor came from Kuala Lumpur and taught me on theory. At first, I thought the theory session would definitely be a boring session (like going back to school). But I was wrong, the theory class being done in a very relax and friendly way by the instructor where he threat me as his friend, so I felt very comfortable in absorbing the lesson. And again, it was a one on one lesson.

My second pool session was delayed as my wife gave birth to my 3rd child. I think I stopped for about 2/3 weeks. On 29th May 2011, I went to my 2nd class (3rd time) with confident. Not over confident but confident enough to feel comfortable with the depth and using the scuba gear. But yet, still I can't maintained the performance of getting the neutral buoyancy with ease. I think I will learn this more during island session. On this 2nd class some important lesson that being taught :-

Buddy breathing
Clearing Mask (again)
Finning (again)
Open BCD and Wear BCD Underwater
Open BCD and Wear BCD on Surface
CESA (Control Emergency Swimming Ascent) - Horizontal & Vertical

The best part of all, the Dive Master allowed me to used my newly obtained underwater camera set during the last part of the training before my air went low.

And on this session, confirmation of my island trip had been made. My island session will be held from 6th June 2011 up to 8th June 2011 in Redang Island, Terengganu Darul Iman. At first I thought of it would be either Lang Tengah or Tioman, but Redang also will do-lah as long as I can get certified.

I hope that everything will goes well and smooth in Redang. I am eager for the trip. The only thing that worrying me is the motion sickness / seasick. I will spare some motion sickness pill and consumed them accordingly to avoid this as if we get seasick, surely we can't concentrate on diving especially for a newbie like me.

Below are some of the photo taken during my pool session :-

The Pool - Ayer Keroh Country Club

Testing the housing for leakage - Kid Pool

The Pool - From Shallow to Deep

My Dive Master tested the new Camera on me, teaching me the half water half surface technique

I am underwater

From left : Myself, My Dive Master and My Buddy

Kelahiran Cahayamata Ketiga

2011-06-02T22:14:00.004+08:00

Salam,

Syukur kerana pada 3hb Mei 2011, telah dikurniakan seorang cahayamata lelaki yang sihat. Lahir dalam sekitar jam 2.50 petang di Pusat Rawatan Mahkota, Melaka. Baby ketiga ni agak berat sikit berbanding dengan anak yang sulong dan yang kedua. Beratnya 4.1kg. Alhamdulillah both mom and baby sihat adanya. Dinamakan Muhammad Adam Zafri Bin Azri.

Doktor pakar yang menyambut kelahiran Zafri iaitu Dr. Wan Yoke Har serta kakitangan Bilik Bersalin di Pusat Rawatan Mahkota telah menjalankan tugas dengan begitu baik sekali. Terima kasih semua.

Agak mencabar apabila Zafri mula menunjukkan tanda Jaundice pada hari ke 3. Bacaan Jaundice meningkat ke 10++ pada hari ke 7 namun Alhamdulillah kembali menurun dan sihat sepenuhnya pada hari yang ke-sepuluh. Pelbagai petua yang dicuba, antaranya sentiasa memberikan susu ibu, mandi air rebusan sengseh, memberi serbuk mutiara, memberi minum air kacang bendi dan memberi minum air sengkuang cina.

Kelantan & Terengganu Trip (Part 9)

2011-06-02T18:28:00.003+08:00

On 14th of April 2011, we reached Cukai Town in Kemanan. Hospital Kemaman would be our final project to be visited on this trip. As recommended by a friend of mine, we stayed at the Homestay Hotel in Cukai Town.

This is definitely the best hotel that we had stayed throughout this trip. The hotel is new and I took the Double Deluxe Room costing at RM148.00 per nite. The room is very clean with modern deco. Free Wi-Fi and best of all, the TV set is 42 inches of LCD TV with many Astro Channel.

I would recommend this hotel to any traveler that seeks accommodation here in Kemaman. No doubt that this is the best hotel in Kemaman even. One may visit their website at www.homestaykemaman.com

On Friday, 15th April 2011, we visited Hospital Kemaman.

After days of eating local and traditional foods, the urge of eating fast-food took over. So at lunch, we went to A&W Restaurant in Cukai town and ordered the newly introduced Long Coney Dog. :)

We continued to complete our job in Hospital Kemaman somewhere until 4pm. If we stick to our schedule, we were supposed to travel back to Melaka on the next day but after discussion with my staff, we decided to drive back early to Melaka. So, once done we drove quickly to Kuala Kemaman looking for some dried local food and had the famous local dish called Sata at Aziz Sata Restaurant.

Sata is a dish made from fish, spices and flour. If you're here in Kemaman, it is a must to try the Sata at the Aziz Sata Restaurant. Beside selling Sata, they do have varieties of menus for their customer to choose.

We drove back to Melaka from Kuala Kemaman. Made a stopped at Cherating to look for some T Shirt then continued our journey driving to Kuantan - Gambang - Muadzam - Segamat - Tangkak - Ayer Keroh - Tanjung Minyak. I reached home somewhere at 930pm and that's the end of the first round Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip for Batch 1. I will again visiting the same hospitals on the next 6 months.

And as for this trip, we had traveled almost 1,500km in total.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 8)

2011-06-02T17:35:00.003+08:00

On 13th April 2011, we checked out from the DJ Citi Point Hotel and headed off to Hulu Terengganu / Kuala Berang. The journey took us around 40 minutes.

Before we visited our workplace at Hospital Hulu Terengganu, we stopped over at a local restaurant for a Nasi Dagang. I had been traveling all over Terengganu since 2008 and this place offers the best Nasi Dagang that I had ever taste in the whole Terengganu, can I say Malaysia? (my taste). So on this trip, I would not want to miss the opportunity of having the Nasi Dagang at this place.

We took a longer time here in Hulu Terengganu but this time not because of it is a huge project to visit, but due to lack of facility specifically internet connection. Available but crawling like snail. Worst, we need to Full Restore the whole system due to virus.

As we were already late and we knew that our next stop would take us longer hours, I was in dilemma whether I wanted to overnite here in Hulu Terengganu or proceed to drive south to Dungun. At last, decision made, to Dungun we go.

We reached Dungun at dusk. In Dungun, we always stayed at the UiTM Dungun Hotel, so once reaches Dungun, we drove straightly to the hotel. And we were shocked to know that the hotel was fully booked.

As it was already dark, we quickly drove along the beachside to look for a good hotel/motel. Lastly we found a resort which from the look of it, looks great & luxury. The resort name is Mayangsari Resort.

I went to the reception counter and was lucky to know that few rooms were still available. They offered me 2 type of room, one at RM90.00 and another one at RM140.00. As we were tired and I wanted a good room to ease the tiredness, I took the RM140.00 room instead of the RM90.00. After they hand over the room key, we went to our room and were totally disappointed with the room.

What kind of RM140.00 room is this?

Small set of TV with only channel 1, 2 and 3. You can also see the dirty floor tiles.

The RM140.00 was not worth at all. Ants were everywhere. The air conditioned system failed to function where we can't controlled the temperature and worst, the water pressure was too low making impossible for us to take bath. We were 'fighting' with mosquitoes all nite long even.

Mayangsari Resort concept is great and the outside of the resort looks beautiful, so is the lobby. But I think the maintenance need to be improved. The resort is not well maintained. I took a RM140.00 room, I wonder what would be the RM90.00 looks like? Nevertheless, the staff from gardeners, front office, waiter and waitress are friendly.

The next morning we woke up and had our free breakfast. Not many choices of foods even. And during checked out, I was told that they can't provide me any receipt as their printer was down. I told them to provide me with a manual hand written receipt but they said they can't do that as they do not have a manual receipt book. They promised me that they will email a copy of scanned receipt by 2 hours once their printer is functioning. Gave them my email address and after 2 hours while at Hospital Dungun, I checked my mail, no email received. I got worried as I need the receipt so that I can claimed my stay. Waited for another 1 hour, no email from the resort. As I really need the receipt, I drove back to the resort and the reception staff told me that the printer is now okay and she can print the receipt. I was totally disappointed with this resort and I will definitely not going to stay again in Mayangsari Resort, Dungun.

During the lunch hour, I went to Dungun Wet Market in Kuala Dungun to buy some spices. There is a ridge in front of the wet market which I think is very interesting for photography but due to lack of time I only managed to take 1 photo of it.

After done with Hospital Dungun, we drove south to Kemaman / Cukai Town.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 7)

2011-06-02T17:02:00.004+08:00

Our task in Kuala Terengganu was a bit tiring as Hospital Kuala Terengganu is a huge hospital. It is indeed in a category of General Hospital. With big number of local staff, my training to them took longer hours.

We had a good lunch here in Kuala Terengganu. I was brought to a Chicken Rice Restaurant located at the Batu Buruk Beach. The name of the restaurant is Nasi Ayam Yunnan. Each one of us ordered the Special Chicken Rice. The taste? Just okay, the best thing was only the chicken potion as the potion for the Special Chicken Rice is huge for each person. Took a while to finished up the whole plate.

Later at night, we were again by the local staff to a restaurant called Sri Wangsa Seafood located somewhere at Padang Midin, said to be famous for its Thai Cuisine. Ordered some dishes but only think that their Fried Quail with Chilli is good. Others are so-so. Will definitely come again just for the quail.

After having our 'heavy' dinner and the stomach was full, we headed to Kuala Terengganu town area just to see the night scenery of Kuala Terengganu. We went to a place behind the Kuala Terengganu's China Town and took some night scene photos.

Along the road, we met a few car owners showing off and playing their expensive car audio system.

Then we drove up towards Kedai Pasar Payang along the river and enjoyed the beautiful night scenery of Kuala Terengganu.

Just before midnite, we came back to the hotel and went straight away to bed.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 6)

2011-06-02T16:06:00.004+08:00

In Kuala Terengganu, we checked in at the DJ Citi Point Hotel.

Although it is a budget hotel, the location of this hotel is superb. It is just a walking distant (less than 10 minutes walk) to the famous Kedai Pasar Payang. Plus the staff are all very friendly. I also like the room concept and it is cheap compared to other established and well know hotel here in Kuala Terengganu. As you may already know, the hotel rate in Terengganu is higher than Kelantan.

Previously, I used to stay in various well known hotel in Kuala Terengganu such as the Primula, Batu Buruk Beach Resort and Felda Residence. But last year, I had accidentally encountered this budget hotel via Facebook. Managed to communicate with the them and booked the Citi Suite Room which consist of 2 double bed inside one room at a price of RM99.00 per nite. A very good deal indeed. I had stayed there for 4 nights and I was very satisfied with the room plus the service. Please do not expect a luxurious setup and grand deco in your room as the price itself is RM99.00 per nite. But it is worth of RM99.00 even. The only setback is that if your room is at 2nd floor, you will need to climb the staircases as there is no lift available. And of course, the RM99.00 comes without breakfast.

Why DJ Citi Point Hotel?

Worth your money
Room, bed and pillows are comfy and clean
Hot water shower and air condition system functioning very well
5 Stars Location (walking distance to shopping, restaurant, bus stand, clinic, bank etc)
Friendly and helpful staff
Free Wi-Fi

One may visit http://www.citipointhotel.com/ for more info.

Right after checked in, we took a quick rest and went out to Pasar Kedai Payang to do some shopping. Kedai Pasar Payang is a shopping place for local product such as Batik, Clothes, Fish Cracker etc.

Many shops selling Batik & Clothes

Local made dry food can be bought here

It is sad to see turtle egg openly being sold inside the market. Turtle is an endangered species and is protected by law. But law also allowing the selling of the turtle egg with some terms and conditions.

After I bought a few items inside Kedai Pasar Payang, I went out just to see a few durian seller selling durian like there is a durian fiesta going on. I can't resist the urge to taste the durian, bought a few and had it in front of Kedai Pasar Payang itself. The taste? I love durian but sincerely I was disappointed with the quality of the durian that I had. Too watery and some were tasteless. :(

We went back to the hotel and planned to go to the famous "Air Buah Gelas Besar" Restaurant in Seberang Takir for our dinner. But before that, we stopped over at the Crystal to do some photography session.

A bit unlucky as not all light had been turned on that night, so no spectacular shot of the mosque. But was happy at least some lights were available.

From the Crystal Mosque, we can clearly see Sultan Mahmud Bridge which is beautifully light-up at night. The reflections of the colorful lights are so beautiful.

And as planned, we went to the "Air Buah Gelas Besar" Restaurant to have our dinner. This restaurant is famous for its varieties fresh fruit juice in various sizes of glasses from a small glass to XXXL glass which is the same size of a mop bucket.

After a tiring day, we went back to the hotel as we're scheduled to go to Hospital Kuala Terengganu next morning.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 5)

2011-06-02T15:07:00.003+08:00

On 10th of April 2011, somewhere at late evening we reached Bandar Permaisuri a.k.a Setiu. In English, the direct translation for Bandar Permaisuri is Queen's City. Although the name is city, the city is actually a small town indeed. Still lots of development need to be done before it can be really categorized as a city. In fact, from my observation, I think the town of Besut/Jerteh is much more larger than the Setiu town.

In Setiu, we can't locate any hotel/motel. So with the help from one of our local staff, we managed to booked the Council Rest House situated just next to the Setiu Hospital. The rate is RM90.00 per nite. The room is huge. They do have a VIP Room but outsider can't book the room as it meant only for Council Staff / Member. The room that we stayed in the Rest House is huge and clean. The staff assigned to take care of the facility is very friendly even. So, if you're in Setiu and looking for a room, e, this is the only place that you can rent for overnite.

On 11th of April 2011, after done with Hospital Setiu, we moved south to the city of Kuala Terengganu, the capital city of Terengganu Darul Iman.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 4)

2011-06-02T14:21:00.004+08:00

In Pasir Puteh, Kelantan, if you are looking for a place to eat either lunch or dinner, I recommend that you go to Restoran Herba. I can't remember what is the name of the road/address but you may asked around to locate the restaurant. It is quite near to Hospital Pasir Puteh.

What is so special that makes me visit this restaurant on each of my visit here in Pasir Puteh? Their Eel Soup or "Sup Belut" is the best ! Their other dishes such as Tomyam, Ayam Masak Halia are great too. On this trip, I went to the restaurant twice. First visit was dinner and secondly right after we had done our job here at Hospital Pasir Puteh. On both visit we had their delicious Eel Soup. A bit spicy but rich with herbs and the most importantly the eel tasted so good without any unpleasant smell.

The Restoran Herba or Herbs Restaurant is a must visit restaurant here in Pasir Puteh. Offering herbs menu and drinks. Also next to the restaurant, they have a Herbs Shop selling varieties of fresh packed herbs.

We had a glass of fresh Pennywort juice to accompany with the eel soup.

The specialty dish, Eel Soup. Don't judge a book by its cover. It is truly delicious. Just like Andrew Zimmern said "if it looks good, eat it", hmmm but someone may find that the eel doesn't looks good even. :)

Okay, from Pasir Puteh we drove south to the state of Terengganu to Jerteh also known as Besut. In Besut, we stayed at the One Utama Hotel located in the heart of Jerteh town. This would be our 2nd times staying in this hotel.

Before that, we used to stayed in a resort called Bukit Keluwang Beach Resort in Kuala Besut. The resort is superb as it is situated right next to the Bukit Keluwang beach. But the only set back is that the resort is quite far from Hospital Besut (our working station). It will take us around more than 30 minutes drive to get to Hospital Besut from the resort. So last year, we decided to looked for a hotel which is nearer to our workplace and found the One Utama Hotel. We were very satisfied as the hotel was very clean and the location is 5 stars.

Unlucky for us, when we reached the hotel, we were greeted by heavy rains. The rain continues from the evening we were there until the next morning. So not much activities can be done except watching TV & rest. As for dinner we had a soup called 'Sup Gearbox' at a walking distance place from the hotel. I can't remember the name of the place but it is a stretch of food stall covered in one big canopy (like an open air food court concept). And of course the soup is delicious although it's a little bit salty. The knee bone served was too large for both of us to finish it up.

Gearbox Soup a.k.a Sup Gearbox

The next morning, after done with our task at Hospital Besut, we drove down to Setiu.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 3)

2011-06-02T12:48:00.003+08:00

After safely return from Ban Buketa, Thailand, we drove towards east to our next destination which is Tanah Merah, Kelantan.

Tanah Merah is a small town but the town size is bigger compared to Jeli. In Tanah Merah, we choose to stay at our most favorite hotel/motel, The E'Mage Park Inn. I had been here several times, I can't remember how many times I had stayed here at the E'Mage Park Inn but I guess more that 6 times. For me, from all the hotel/motel in Tanah Merah, the E'Mage Park Inn is the most established and presentable. But on each of my visit and as time passes by, I can noticed that the quality of the rooms are getting worst. Maybe due to lack of scheduled maintenance causing the rooms looks old and not clean. Worst, on this trip was when I entered the hotel to checked in, I can't find any reception at the counter. I walked further in a bit to saw one couple romantically 'doing something' and they were surprised to see me. Acted like nothing happened, the guy walked to the reception area and checked me in. :D The room that I was in is directly facing the main road. The windows can't properly close and the vehicles noise was unbearable. I requested to change room and they gave me a back room which is better than the previous room. But yet, no doubt that the E'Mage Park Inn is still the best hotel in town and I will surely return as a regular guest to this hotel/motel. And the room rate is RM70.00 for a twin bedded room.

The next morning, I went to Hospital Tanah Merah to performs my duty.

After done at Hospital Tanah Merah, we drove south east passes Machang and reached Pasir Puteh somewhere at 7pm.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 2)

2011-06-02T12:15:00.003+08:00

On 7th of April 2011, we visited Hospital Jeli and performed our duty.

After lunch, the local staff asked me whether I am interested to go for a shopping in Thailand. I told them about my concerned upon the safety of visiting the Malaysian-Thailand border as a few areas in southern Thailand still having some conflicts between the people and the Thai government. The local staff said that the place that they would like to bring us for shopping is free from the conflict and safe. They even mentioned that they will contact their Thai relative to accompany us while shopping inside Thailand. With that statement and assurance, I had agreed to cross over to Thailand once my job is done here in Jeli.

We finished our task somewhere at 4pm and went to Bukit Bunga and took a small boat crossing the Golok River that seperated Malaysia and Thailand. We paid RM1.00 per person to the boatman. The river is a very narrow river that took less than 5 minutes to cross.

As we landed on Thailand soil, we had to make a climb up and passes a Thailand Military Post with 4 Thailand army inside the post. They looked at us and talked to us in Thai language. We had been told to just nod and smile to them. They let us passed thru and wow, we're in Buketa, Thailand. I did some shopping mostly on household items. Just for a comparison, I bought an adult size mosquito net here in Buketa at RM28.00 and in Malaysia, they sold this mosquito net around RM45-RM50 per net. Its almost double the price here in Malaysia compared to Thailand. I can say that it's a worth trip and shopping experience. And as told by the local staff, we had been accompanied by 2 of their Thai relatives. Although I felt safe, I do not dare to take out my camera and take photograph. I was worried that the Thailand army/police may seize my camera. I took a photo while inside a small restaurant (took a shot of the menu that I had) and a few photos while crossing the Golok River back to Malaysia. And all those shot made using my Blackberry and not my DSLR.

A dish that we had called 'Mee Celup' was so delicious and cost us only RM16.00 for 6 bowls of it.

We only spend less than 1 1/2 hours here and will definitely re-visit Ban Buketa on my next visit to Jeli, Kelantan. The local told me that the best day to visit is Saturday as most of the shops will open on that day.

Kelantan & Terengganu Road Trip (Part 1)

2011-06-02T11:25:00.006+08:00

Hi,

On 6th of April 2011, myself and a staff of mine started our Kelantan & Terengganu road trip as to complete our first round of Planned Preventive Maintenance Programme for East Cost (1st Batch).

We started our journey somewhere around 830am from Tanjung Minyak, Melaka. Drove to Ayer Keroh and using the PLUS Highway straight to Kuala Kangsar, Perak Darul Ridzuan.

After exiting Kuala Kangsar, we headed to Lenggong and had our lunch there at the Jambatan Raja Muda Nazrin Shah which is situated somewhere near Tasik Raban.

After finished our lunch, we drove to Gerik and stopped over at a petrol station to top-up our fuel. Then from Gerik, we started to climb the Banjaran Titiwangsa to cross over from Perak Darul Ridzuan to Kelantan Darul Naim.

On the top of Banjaran Titiwangsa (Timur-Barat Highway), there is a rest area that offers a great scenery of the Malaysian Rainforest from the bird eyes view. We made a quick stop here just to enjoy the view and fresh air before proceed with our journey to our first destination, Jeli, Kelantan Darul Naim.

We reached Jeli somewhere around 6pm and checked in at a motel called Jelita Inn. Jeli is a small town and not many choices of hotel can be found here. As a frequent visitor here in Jeli, I can say that there are only 2 acceptable hotel/motel that we can stay overnite. Beside Jelita Inn, we can also stay at the Jeli Inn which is just opposite of the Jelita Inn. Jeli Inn is a new hotel/motel compared to Jelita Inn. There are few more hotel/motel here in Jeli but it is advisable to stay either in Jelita Inn or Jeli Inn as this 2 hotel/motel is the best that one can get here in Jeli.

Let's talk about Jelita Inn. I had been staying in Jelita Inn for the last 3 visits that I had made to Jeli. Managing by the Koperasi MRSM, they have a few VIP Rooms that will only cost us RM90.00 per night. The VIP Room is spacious and can catered more than 4 person per room. It has a separate section of hall and bedroom. This is the reason why I choose to stay here on each of my visit. But during this visit, the water heater was not functioning and the water was so cold causing difficulty during my morning bath.

Jelita Inn is situated @ the Jeli R&R

Combo of photos showing the Main Bedroom & the Main Hall inside the VIP Room

The main toilet inside the Master Bedroom

Each guest will be given a bath towel and a 'cheapo' May body soap.

After traveling and driving more than 9 hours, we took an early dinner and went straight to Zzzzzz !

Klebang Beach, Melaka - The Sunset

2011-06-01T17:35:00.005+08:00

Klebang Beach is one of a few well-known beaches here in Melaka but not suitable for swimming as the water quality is low and quite murky.

Usually people come to this beach for beach-walking and look at the sunset.

As my house is quite near to Klebang beach, I took the opportunity of photographing the sunset. Nothing special about the sunset here in Klebang beach, but what I want to show here is a normal sunset photograph being edited quite heavily in order to make it interesting.

Thank you.

Education Out Reach Program

2011-02-24T11:35:00.004+08:00

I had been invited to become the official photographer for the Education Out Reach Program initiated by the Krishna Balaram Society of Melaka.

The event is an event of charity as the society with the support of Oxford Fajar Sdn Bhd had given numbers of free exercise book to all Tamil Primary School in Melaka and some students from other schools as well.

Highlight of the event was the opening ceremony by Datuk Seri Wira Mohd Ali Rustam, the Melaka Chief Minister.

As an official photographer, my sole challenge for this event was the stage setup as the light from the projector was kept on projecting visual to the main screen where the main action of the event was taken placed. Although I had requested the organizer to turn off the projector but it kept on until the end of the event. :)

Nevertheless, lots of primary and secondary student were there and its an opportunity for me to take some children photographs even.

Below are some of the photos taken on that event :-

Early morning before the event @ Dewan Seri Negeri

One of the vertical banner outside the main hall

Datuk Seri Wira Mohd Ali Rustam

Speech given by the Chairman of the organizer

Puteri Beach / Pantai Puteri

2011-02-14T09:56:00.002+08:00

Hi,

Went to Pantai Puteri / Puteri Beach on Sunday's evening with my brother to take some sunset / dusk photos.

Saw a guy flying a kite and as the sun was about to set down, I guess that it would be great to photographed the scene. I tilted my camera a bit so that i could captured the man and the kite plus the wonderful sunset moment.

Yeap, I broke the rule by tilting my camera but if I captured it in straight landscape composition, it would be just like many ordinary scenery without the touch of uniqueness. :)

Thank you.

Training New Supervisors

2011-02-11T20:19:00.000+08:00

Hi,

Today we trained a batch of new supervisors on Management Information System and basic of Quality Assurance Programme.

After done with my part of introduction & QAP, I made a shot with my dslr and post processed it by adding 'advert & corporate' feels on the finishing.

Thank you.

Visiting Hospital Kluang

2011-02-08T20:52:00.000+08:00

Today, I went to Kluang for a site visit and while performing my job & routine rounding, I took some photos of the hospital.

Hospital Kluang, Johor Darul Takzim

The entrance towards the Dental Department was being nicely designed and build.
I

While in the Dental Department, I went inside a False Tooth Maker Lab and find that the workspace is so interesting.

Masjid Selat Melaka, Melaka

2011-02-07T22:46:00.000+08:00

Just came back from Pulau Melaka shooting the famous Masjid Selat Melaka which is well known as a good spot for shooting to all photographer.

I went there around 630pm as I wanted to photographed the mosque with the sunset as the background.

.

Nando's Ayer Keroh Restaurant - Service Counter

2011-02-07T17:00:00.001+08:00

I went for a late lunch @ Nando's Ayer Keroh which is located inside the Jusco Mall in Ayer Keroh.

As my camera was with me, I took this shot of the service counter which I think is being well designed.

And 2 staff in the photos were chit-chatting among themselves but no to be blamed as there were not many customer actually at that specific time.

I would love to photograph the Peri-Peri Chicken Set that I had ordered, but I was with my ultra wide.

Mahkota Medical Centre

2011-02-07T16:41:00.000+08:00

Today I visited the Mahkota Medical Centre in Banda Hilir Melaka for a routine check-up. At first, I was planning to spend sometimes photographing the hospital building in various angle but due to time constrained, I just made up 1 quick snapped before I went back home.

Should had done better next time with different angles even.

Panning Technique

2011-02-06T13:46:00.001+08:00

One of the technique in photography that is interesting to play with is the panning technique. Its a technique that need you to shoot in slow shutter making your main subject sharp but others seems to have an effect of a motion blur.

The tips here is to focus on your subject, click your shutter and follow your subject movement by panning.

Below are some shots made by this technique :

Shutter : 1/25 @ 50mm

Shutter : 1/25 @ 45mm

Shutter : 1/30 @ 35mm

and lastly, panning my son while he was riding a 'toy' car :)

Shutter : 1/15 @ 30mm

I hope someday I would be able to pan an F1 Car during the Malaysian Sepang Grand Prix. :)

Melaka Cultural Night

2011-02-06T13:17:00.000+08:00

I had been invited to become the official photographer by the Hare Krishna Association of Melaka for the Cultural Night "One Nite of Fine Arts" organized by them.

The show performed by the performers were 1st class and entertaining. As I made my shots, i had enjoyed their performance very much.

Bowling ... after almost 20 years ...

2011-02-06T13:01:00.000+08:00

The last time I did my bowling was somewhere in 1991? or is it 1992? it had been almost 20 years now and out of the blues, I had decided to go bowling.

So myself and a friend of mine went to Melaka most famous bowling alley, the Melaka International Bowling Centre and go bowling-lah. Of course to get back the rhythm on how to bowl made me struggle a bit. But after the first frame, the other 3 frames came easily and I did made some strikes and lots of spares even. :)

Melaka International Bowling Centre have the most bowling alley in Malaysia.

Testing Slow Shutter to capture the action

Melaka Studhuys on Chinese New Year 2011

2011-02-06T12:16:00.000+08:00

Being a Malaccan, I knew that one most important rule is that not to go out into the lung of Banda Hilir on every weekends and on any public holiday because of heavy traffic and looking for a available parking space would become a nightmare.

But as I had recently obtained a new Ultra Wide Angle lens, I need a good spot to test it and I had decided to ignored the rule and went to Banda Hilir on 4/2/11 (Chinese New Year) to do some test shots.

Below are some 'test' photos taken using the Tokina ATX Pro DX 11-16 f2.8 :-

Summerset Resort, Rompin, Pahang Darul Makmur

2011-02-05T21:32:00.002+08:00

I visited and stayed at this resort somewhere in April 2008. At that time, I was having a meeting in Muadzam Shah. From Muadzam Shah to Rompin, driving will take us around 50 minutes to 1 hour journey. Up until now, I am still wondering why the organizer had put us up in Rompin. Maybe hotel & motel in Muadzam Shah are not up certain standards?

The resort at that time was at its peak of glory and well maintain. Surrounded by beautiful natural swamp and mangrove.

I did not missed the opportunity to take some photos of the resort and its surrounding.

My First HDR Attempt (Once Upon A Time)

2011-02-05T21:16:00.000+08:00

One the reason why I am obtaining a DSLR is that I was thinking of HDR Photo. The exposure control in DSLR is much more better than a compact camera. Naively, I always think that HDR is a process of stacking same photo with different exposure. And to do that, I must take at least 5 photos with different exposure so that I can do the stacking process.

Below are 2 photos of my first attempt on HDR :-

At that time, producing such photo as above really excites me a lot. Its a motivation to learn and improve the way of processing HDR.

Cheers,

Penn GTI 321LH

2011-02-05T21:10:00.000+08:00

Before photography becoming a serious interest of mine, I was an hardcore angler. And above is my favorite reel, the Penn GTI 321 LH. It is so special as it is made to catered left-handed anglers.

The reel is still with me. It has been almost more than 10 years now. Since I captured this photograph somewhere in 2008, I haven't use it anymore.

Cheers,

Crystal Mosque - Taman Tamadun Islam

2011-02-05T20:36:00.000+08:00

Each time that I went to Kuala Terengganu doing my routine task, I am surely will not missed the opportunity to visit the Taman Tamadun Islam and the beautiful Crystal Mosque.

My first visit was in 2008 and I am very impressed with the architecture of this mosque. And as usual, photographing the Taman Tamadun Islam & the Crystal Mosque is always in my agenda.

Below are some photographs took with my Casio EX Z750 and Sony A200. Can you see the different?

With Casio EX Z750

With Sony DSLR

And of course this is not a fair comparison as the wideness of the lens and post processing done were totally different.

But as you can see, both cameras are capable of capture great photos and do not underestimate the capability of a compact point and shoot camera in producing good photos.

Cheers,

Inscribed Stone of Terengganu

2011-02-05T12:39:00.000+08:00

The Batu Bersurat, Terengganu or Inscribed Stone of Terengganu constitutes the earliest evidence of Jawi writing (writing based on Arabic alphabets) in the Malaya Muslim world of Southeast Asia. The Stone is a testimony to the spread of Islam offering an insight to the life of the people of the era as well as depicting the growing Islamic culture subsumed under a set of religious laws.

The origin of the Batu Bersurat is from Hulu Terengganu, Terengganu Darul Iman. I had my first opportunity to visit the district of Hulu Terengganu in 2008 and I took the opportunity to visit the site of this inscribed stone.

At the time, I was traveling with my compact camera Casio EX Z750.

During my visit here, I had managed to had a long chat with the keeper of this historical place and being told that the inscribed stone placed here is not the real / original inscribed stone. The original inscribed stone had been transferred to Terengganu National Museum in Kuala Terengganu to ensure that it will get better protection and maintain safely.

The site had been well managed and maintained. It is not a 'hot' tourist destination that attract crowds and such as I think Hulu Terengganu is a small town that is kinda outskirt from other tourism spots here in Terengganu. The nearest most popular tourism place here in Hulu Terengganu is the Kenyir Dam.

If you are around Hulu Terengganu, you might not want to miss the opportunity to visit this historical and significant site. And if you got extra time while you are in Kuala Terengganu, you can drive here to Hulu Terengganu which approximately will take 40 to 50 minutes drive from Kuala Terengganu.

After the 2008 trip, I had re-visited Hulu Terengganu more that twice. It is such a quiet and peaceful town and I love the food here especially the Nasi Dagang & King of River Fish, the Kelah Masak Gulai.

My DSLR

2011-02-05T00:21:00.000+08:00

Inspired by my compact digital camera, Casio EX Z750, I began to think about upgrading from a compact camera to a DSLR. Although post processing / editing can be done by software, some elements still ain't up to my satisfaction making myself eager to own a DSLR.

My First DSLR is an entry level DSLR, Sony Alpha 200.

With Sony Alpha, I had obtained these followings lenses to support my photography needs :-

Sony Kitlens 1870
Minolta 50mm F1.8 (Crossed X)
Minolta 70210 F4 (beercan, which you can see on the picture above attached to the A200)
Sigma 1020 F5.6 (Ultra Wide Lens)
Tokina ATX 400mm (Prime 400mm Lens)
Tamron SP90 1:1 F2.8 (Macro Lens)

And as I was very happy with Sony Alpha, in a year plus, I had upgraded my Alpha body from Alpha 200 to Alpha 550 somewhere in early 2010.

Just about a year using the Alpha 550, again I had decided to make an upgrade. But only this time, I had decided to 'jump' from Sony to either Canon or Nikon. Why? I love Sony and I love Minolta's range of lenses but I guess that I need to migrate to another system due to 2 factors that I would discuss on one of my future post.

And as decision had been made, I sold off all my Sony / Minolta related gadget and I am now using a Nikon D300. Still on my learning curve on features + buttons on Nikon system as it is totally different from what that I am used to before.

Let's Get Started

2011-02-05T00:04:00.000+08:00

I'd created this blog somewhere in early 2008. But it seems that the blog was becoming dormant for almost 3 years. The reason why I did not update nor writing on this blog is due to the fact that I do have another blog in Wordpress and I do not want this blog to be a redundancy of the said blog. But as I am getting busy and busier on each and everyday, my Wordpress blog had also now became dormant with no input / writing on it since more than a year.

As my passion into photography is becoming more serious and it is my major hobby that I am concentrating now, I had decided that I should maintain a photo blog with journals, photos and write up about photography.

And since I have not publish any photos here before, the photos that will up would be mixed between old and new photos plus write up even.

I hope you guys will enjoy the blog as much as I am enjoying having and maintaining it.

So let's get started ...

Flickr

2008-01-27T16:43:00.001+08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.