From here to there - Lapide: 03/01/2006

Here's a gallery of Penang which I took in February when I was up there overnight to shoot coconut smashing activities the day before Thaipusam.

Click here!

Kuala Lumpur, February 2006
Also just added a gallery of pics of various places in Kuala Lumpur in February 2006, when I went home to visit my folks. Apart from the first three pics in the gallery, the rest were taken on Tuesday, February 21. Some people do last-minute shopping, I went last-minute shooting, (shooting pictures, that is) as I didn't really go about town to take photographs. So I visited the bits of the National Mosque, Railway station, Merdeka Square, KLCC Petronas Twin Towers and a Buddhist Temple (pics in earlier blog msg). All this while trying to juggle lunch with a friend as well as needing to pic my sis up from her work place. What a hectic day!

Click here for gallery.

Kuala Lumpur skyline on a hazy day.

Warwick Castle
Pictures from last weekend's visit to Warwick Castle can be seen here. All images have been resized. Click here for slideshow of selection of images.

I was up in Sheffield on Thursday and was able to meet up with some old friends there. Most grateful to 'Bash' and family for letting me crash over Wednesday night. Bashie and his daughter.

Fatherly Love

I had many little projects in mind to photograph while back home in Kuala Lumpur in February but this was one of them 'spur of the moment' events. It was done after squeezing in lunch with a friend, while wanting to do some last minute shopping before flying off and also before fetching my sis from her workplace all in the same day!!

Dharma Realm Guanyin Sagely Buddhist Monastery, Kuala Lumpur, February, 2006
A newly restored Buddhist temple in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city, the Dharma Realm Guanyin Sagely monastery on Jalan Ampang, boasts an impressive selection of bronze Buddhas up to 16 feet tall. A branch of the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, which originates from America, the temple will be officially opened on March 18, 2006. In a multicultural society such as Malaysia, one can find an array of temples, mosques and churches in the city.

Enter the temple and come face to face with a bronze ‘Guanshiyin Bodhisattva’ with a ‘Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes’ statue approximately 3.3 metres tall. The devotees believe that although the statue depicts a thousand hands and eyes, it is believed that they are infinite. With his infinite hands, he pulls living beings out of the sea of suffering and sets them on the other blissful shore. With his infinite eyes, he beholds all living beings and rescues those who are in difficulty or danger. Made specially and shipped from the Fujian province in China, the giant statue is covered with gold leafing and weighs a tonne.

The main prayer hall located behind contains three other giant bronze statues of various Buddhas. Syikamoni Shakyamuni, Medicine Master Buddha and Amitabha Buddha. From afar, each of the three Buddhas look the same but look closely and one will see that each one is holding a different object, a chalice, lotus flower and pagoda respectively. The statues are approximately 5 metres tall and weigh between 4-5 tonnes each.

The temple is open in the early morning until the late evening and admission is free. It offers various mantra chanting, meal offerings and other various Buddhist activities. Devotees are also able to offer light incense to express their veneration for Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and also as a reminder for good conduct. The Temple Abbot is the venerable Heng Jang.

How time flies when you're having fun! Another weekend just gone by. Spent this weekend down at Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. It was to celebrate (in advance) Simon & Lauren's birthday on Tuesday. I'll keep this short and sweet, Happy Birthday folks and many happy returns. Gonna miss my travel buddy! Remember Wales, Prague, Peak District..in no particular order...hahaha...

More pics of the lovebirds here.

I've just been to a place today that I would classify as spooky. Passing along Lower Braile High Street made me feel as though as I was on a Hitchcock movie set or The Omen. This place had so many crow nests and crows flying about, my imagination was running wild, hahaha...

St. Patrick's Day this weekend! Lots of lil' green things, people and building. Even Selfridge's turned green as part of the local council's drive to promote Birmingham & St. Patrick's Day.

To see actual pic used on Korean site, click here

Doggone tired!
What a long and tiring day. First I had to drive down to Cheltenham to do some Cheltenham Festival preparation pics which starts on Tuesday. There was hardly any people around the race course doing anything significant when I got there so I had to wander around looking for something interesting on the huge grounds! As I was driving back, the hand-me-down vehicle that I have got now, decided to just keel over its engine. Just on a main crossroad in the city centre and in the middle lane, the car stalls! Luckily for me, traffic was stationary and a kind soul helped to push the car into a side road.

I managed to get in touch with a buddy from work, Dave. Off we went in search of a pair of jump cables to jumpstart the car. He discovered that a cable to the alternator was loose and promptly fixed it. I barely made it back to the office before it decided to misbehave again. Now at this point, I have pictures from this morning to sort out, a car to jumpstart again and I was also down to cover the 115th Cruft's Dog Show, Best in Show category tonight!!!

So I ditch the car, get a lift from my boss to the NEC Arena, get the pics and try to send them in. As luck would have it, the servers in the office do not pick up my calls and I can't wire them in!! So I miss my deadline and my pics are, of course, late. Poo..

Actual picture link on the Daum website here

My health plan from the weekend:

Two apples, one lime and a bunch of bananas.

I was lucky that Vincent was able let me tag along for some shoots while I was back in Malaysia. Here are some pics of MotoGP 'winter' testing at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia, February 2006 that we went to.

Valentino Rossi (ITA)(Number 46)

Nicky Hayden (USA)(Number 69)

Tony Elias (SPA)(Number 24)

I've never photographed MotoGP before and this was the first opportunity to do so. Rossi's pic is quite soft and not so sharp, unfortunately. A word of advice to those who's never been. Always bring earplugs whenever taking pics of motorsports!

Nice to know that even when you're on holiday, sometimes your file pictures still get used. :)

Guardian

Daily Mirror

Financial Times

Last night at half past midnight, a policeman knocked on the door. It was regarding my housemate who lived downstairs. The PC explained that he was picked up for a misdemeanour and held at the local station for showing a rude sign to them and was thought to be under the influence of alcohol. The PC wanted to find out more about his mental background. So I woke up the whole household as they lived there longer and possibly knew more about him than I did. As he is mentally challenged, (to what extent I do not know), he was let off without a caution and sent home. The next morning, I told him about the police knocking on our door asking questions about him and all I got was 'I don't know' replies from him! Not even an apology for the inconvenience caused to the other people living there. How retarded is that!!! Not to mention he supposedly works as a business analyst for a gas company!!!

By the time I got home, Chinese New Year(CNY) was pretty much in full swing. I hitched a ride with some friends heading down Singapore and met up with relatives & friends during the first week and came back to Kuala Lumpur for the remainder of the holidays. Didn't do a lot of CNY pics. Did cover two days of Thaipusam, a Hindu festival, with a day in Penang and Kuala Lumpur each. So much for my beach holiday.

Thaipusam in Penang