Chinatown - Chinese New Year 2015

I went to Chinatown to take some photos of the Chinese New Year decorations and also some shopping for goodies, especially the black groundnuts... something unusual....!

I went there a bit early and the decorations were not lighted up yet so I returned 2 weeks later.... and it was a bit too crowded to my liking...!

For more photos, click on this link below :

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152833619243127.1073741849.740248126&type=1&l=943104e7d3

Travel Photography

I was awarded a Pass with Credit for my Travel Photography Course that I attended in October 2014.

The class was conducted by the Photographic Society of Singapore (PSS) ;
http://www.pss1950.org/

The following photos were submitted for my class assessment :

 Seagulls were taken along the beach in Sorrento, Victoria - Australia

 Bird was taken in Cranbourne Garden, Victoria - Australia

 Pillars in the Concourse Building at Beach Road

 Colorful old shop houses and a new building in the background

 Fencing of a mosque in Georgetown, Penang

Tower inside Melbourne Central station

The photos are mounted on a black cardboard and submitted to the PSS for assessment before they award me a certificate with their grading. Beside my course instructor, there are at least 2 other instructors who would judge the photos.

To-date, I have attended the following classes to further my interest in Photography:

- Digital Basic ( Foundation ) Photography ( using a DSLR camera )

- Digital Basic ( Night & Lighting ) Photography

- Adobe Photoshop CS5 Image Editing

- Studio Lighting Photography

- Digital Basic ( Travel & Techniques ) Photography

I have also attended a 1/2 day workshop on how to maintain ( ie. clean the camera body and lens ) my DSLR camera gear.

I look forward to my next class, Macro Photography in 2015.

Happy New Year ... 2015.....!!!

Time flies and here we are... welcoming another new year in 2015...!!!

Click on the link below to see some photos of Christmas in Singapore.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152709800778127.1073741848.740248126&type=1&l=ea070afa59

It is amazing that there is supposed to be 12 days of Christmas celebration but I am seeing Chinese New Year decorations replacing the Xmas decorations in some shopping malls already since the New Year....!

2014 Reflections & Welcoming 2015

Another year is coming to an end and time really flies........ !!! 

Here are reflections of my year 2014....

There are 2 items that I wanted to do in 2014 since Jas is in NS and does not need our attention so much.

1) To get serious with my Photography hobby taking up some classes and go in depth into it.

I joined the Photographic Society of Singapore last Dec and attended the basic modules on how to use a DSLR digital camera. I am happy with my knowledge gained and I am using my Canon DSLR to take better photos.

It has broaden my knowledge and I am now pondering whether I should go deeper into DSLR category or remain as a pure hobbist and stay in the prosumer arena ( eg. buy a prosumer digital camera and used it for daily and travel purposes ) as the investment in the DSLR equipment and accessories ( eg. time to upgrade my DSLR camera body and buy more lenses and filters,etc.... ) and  is huge and I must make good use of them. Also, while equipment is important, it is still the man behind the camera once the techniques have been mastered.
I will make that decision in early 2015.

In 2015, I like to spend more time mastering the techniques in using Photoshop CS5 and maybe explore Lightroom 5 too.


2) We wanted to travel overseas twice a year, excluding my frequent trips back to Penang to visit my parents and sister.

We visited Melbourne in Australia in July and realized that as we have aged, the cold weather is not for us anymore.... at least not winter... ha... ha.... !!!

We also visited Sichuan in China and saw the UNESCO Heritage sites - Juizhaiguo and Huanglong, not forgetting Mt Emei and the Panda Sanctuary too in October.

In 2015, we planned to visit Hokkaido and one more place to be determined in coming months.... maybe Vancouver + Alaska cruise or Santorini...?


Jas turned 21 and my niece, Amy Cosby, got married this year .... !!!

We did some upgrades to  our home; namely, replaced the old fluorescent tubes with LED tubes and there has been significant savings in our electricity bill since then, replaced our main wooden door and downstairs toilet door, replaced the curtains in the upstairs rooms, bought new mattresses for our bedrooms, a ergonomic chair, robot vacuum, electric sewing machine and washing machine.

I started my Apsotheraphy treatment in late Feb and was able to walk without my bulky knee brace in May. I was so happy with the progress BUT unfortunately, I hurt my left knee again while alighting from the bus in Dec and I am now back to square one with the treatment..... sigh 
Luckily, it happened after my trip to China. I am working towards recovery by end 1Q 2015.

It was a bad last quarter though as my mother fell and had to replace her left hip ball bone, followed by my father's fall and needed 5 stitches to the back of his head.

2014 has not been too bad though could have been better.......!

So let's look forward to a better new year in 2005, wishing all of you out there  

A Very Happy New Year and Best Wishes too.....!!!

Dad Fell Down.....!!!

I received a call from my sister in Penang that our father fainted and fell down hitting the back of his head when he was having his breakfast outside. He has been admitted to Penang General Hospital but eventually sent to Lam Wah Ee (LWE) hospital, where his cardiologist and other Dr have been looking after his ailments. This was on Sunday 21 Dec.

I immediately booked my flight back to Pg for the following day, Mon.

He had 5 stitches for the open wound at the back of his head. 

 When I arrived the following day, he was looking better and eating well.

Waiting to do his echo scan and see his cardiologist in the evening, before discharge.

Dad was so happy that nothing new was found in his scan and allowed to go home that night.

My sister and I took a break and went to have a Xmas Eve lunch at Gurney Plaza.

I dropped by Georgetown to run some errands and saw this preparation for the countdown to Christmas at the road closed between Prangin Mall and 1st Avenue.

I quickly grabbed a bowl of Assam Laksa and Ice Kacang in Prangin Mall and took a bus home to avoid the crowd.

Well, I ended spending Christmas in Penang as I only flew back on Christmas night.

BTW, I was told that upon my arrival in Pg, it started to rain for the following 2 days. Similarly, it rained when I landed at Changi airport and it rain until the following day too. The monsoon rain must be following me around.......!

Unfortunately, Dad came down with flu just before I left Pg but recovering now after taking some antibiotics.

What an ending to my 2014.......!!!

My Mum fell in early Oct and broke her hip ball bone and the my Dad fell in Dec, all in the last quarter of the year.

I injured my left knee again when alighting from the bus and slowly healing again but all my effort with the Apostherapy treatment is back to square one.... sigh

I hope we will have a better 2015....... so wishing all of you out there a Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year...!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year....!!!

Sichuan - China Trip 2014 More Videos

Here are more videos taken during our recent trip to Sichuan in October 2104, they were taken with just a compact digital camera so the quality could have been better if taken with a better device like a camcorder but  they are still good enough for viewing and it brings back memories of our trip.

So I hope you will enjoying viewing them too ......


It was so crowded with visitors, mainly the locals, and we were being pushed by them..... young and old, male and female......especially while walking to the Pearl Shoal Fall.....!!!


This is the Guests Welcoming Pool. 


The blue sky with the clouds was lovely, at the beginning of the video.


We have to travel on these roads along the mountains to reach places like Jiuzhaiguo and Huanglong, and at about 4,000+ meters at the highest point and very cold outside too. I think it is quite amazing how the roads were built along the mountains.


It was drizzling when we were at Huanglongxi Ancient Town. I like the greenery shown in the last part of the video. 


It was still drizzling when we took the small boat across the river to see this huge Buddha statue. We were allowed to go to the open deck on top of the boat though it was a bit rocky and still drizzling.



We visited 2 monasteries, Baoguo and Fuhu, at Mt. Emei before we hiked up to the Golden Summit the following morning, which was the most challenging walk of the whole trip as it was wet and so misty but then quite an experience though.

Sichuan - China Trip 2014 Photo albums

I finally reviewed the many photos taken during the Sichuan - China trip and put them into Facebook albums for sharing.

When the Facebook album of photos is displayed, please click on the first photo and it will be displayed individually. You can then forward it by clicking on the > sign on the right.

Go to this link for more photos of Juizhaiguo https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152614239878127.1073741842.740248126&type=1&l=0a9cc29394

Go to this link for more photos of Huanglong https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152615068888127.1073741843.740248126&type=1&l=51e38b50f7

Go to this link for more photos of Dagu Glacier https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152615643138127.1073741844.740248126&type=1&l=a2448b1ecb

Go to this link for more photos of Mt.Emei https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152615958483127.1073741845.740248126&type=1&l=b722ea5575 

Go to this link for more photos of the Panda bears https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152618830208127.1073741846.740248126&type=1&l=fc9a55b45f 

Go to this link for more photos of the Face Changing - Sichuan Opera https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152619787338127.1073741847.740248126&type=1&l=942727d00b

Sichuan - China Trip 2014 Videos

Here are 4 videos taken during my recent Sichuan trip that should be of interest.......!

So enjoy them......



We visited the Panda Bear Sanctuary in Chengdu and caught these 3 panda cubs playing ......




This is the famous Sichuan Face Changing performance, the main attraction of the Sichuan Opera that we attended one evening.



This is the acrobatic performance from the Sichuan Opera.



This is the puppet performance from the Sichuan Opera.

Jiuzhaiguo - Huanglong - Dagu Glacier - Mt Emei - Chengdu , China

We went on a 9 days trip to China to see the UNESCO sites in Jiuzhaiguo and Huanglong, including the Dagu glacier, Mt Emei and the Panda Sanctuary in Chengdu.

The scenery in Jiuzhaiguo was unique but the others were a bit over rated, I think.

Unfortunately, 8 out of the 12 people in this customised tour were  not well from altitude sickness... including my wife and I.

Here are a few photos from the trip..... enjoy!

Five-Colored Lake, Jiuzhaiguo

 

 

Huanglong

 

 

Dagu Glacier

 

Mt. Emei

 

Panda Sanctuary, Chengdu

 

 

There were 3 highlights from this trip..... good and bad...... ha...ha....

 

 

- Jiuzhaiguo park was lovely and the main highlight of the trip.

 

- The challenging walk up and down Mt. Emei with the wet, drizzling and misty weather.... about 45 minutes walk one way.

 

 

- Altitude sickness.... headache, vomiting and some diarrhea too, 8 people fell sick on the trip at different times....!

 

 

After this high altitude experience, where we went up 4 mountains and above 2,500m.... I have no intention to visit any more mountains this high.....ha..ha....!!!

 

I took many photos and still in the process of reviewing them and select a handful to make a photo book for easy of viewing and safekeeping.

 

Definitely, a very good experience but no more altitude sickness though.....!