The Qinghai-Tibet railway or Qingzang railway is an alternative to flying in-out of Lhasa. My first 2 trips to Tibet was from Nepal, crossing the Nepa-China border at Zhangmu located in Nyalam County. The road condition here is pretty bad and during bad weather it’s a nightmare travelling thru this section but thing has changed after the recent earthquakes and it has not been use by tourist since then. Continue reading
Category: Camera equipment
Spending a night at one of the world’s highest point
Everest rising above the rest of the peaks on a clear day.
After a long journey of bumpy and muddy road from Namtso Lake we arrived late in the afternoon into Shigatse, where we spend the night before heading to Everest the next morning. The problem travelling in Tibet even we already had a Tibet entry permit, there are many check points and we still need to apply another permit to enter into the Oomolangma (Everest) National Nature Reserved. The hassle of getting this permit in Shigatse is that we lost precious hours waiting for this to process especially if there are many tour groups. Continue reading
Cherry Blossom season in Japan
There are many countries that have cherry blossom but no one country attract the kind of interest like Japan do during their Cherry Blossom in spring. Hotel prices shoot thru the roof and so is the airlines ticket. This is one season you really need to plan in advance if you want to enjoy the cherry blossom in Japan. Continue reading
Macro
Is a small small world
close up of white pheony flower
Macro photography is a genre of photography that you’ll either love it or will give up totally after your initial try. This is photography that requires a huge dose of patience and probably a strong pair of legs. I remember I was really amazed with photos of insect with extreme close-up revealing details that I’ve never seen before and wonder how it’s possible to capture those minute details and colours that’s not visible to our naked eyes. Off course shooting extreme close-up of insect is not everyone cup of tea but there are more to this as I have friends who have shot beautiful macro shots that defies your imaginations.
The Year of the Fire Monkey
The Chinese Lunar Year starts on the 8 of Feb for 2016. The beginning of the Fire Monkey year.
People lighting up josh sticks and candles at Guan Di Temple in KL China town
On the eve of the Chinese New Year after their reunion dinner with family members, many Chinese will go to the temple to give thanks and pray for a better year. Continue reading
Nine Emperor God festival
九皇爺 or Kow Wong Yeh (in cantonese)
Chinese opera performer putting on make up
The Nine Emperor God festival is a nine-day Taoist celebration starting from the 1st day of the 9th lunar month. At the Nine Emperor God temple in Ampang, Selangor it is always a huge celebration where thousands of devotees goes to pray for blessings and to give thanks giving. Devotees observe a vegetarian meals even before the start of the festival. Devotees will be dressed in white will be at the temple, praying, lighting up huge incense and candles. Throughout the nine-day festival the temple ground will take on a carnival-light atmosphere. Many people will go to pray and seek divine guidance. Traders cash in to the occasion setting up stall selling anything from vegetarian food and drinks and toys. Continue reading
The wild Himalayan Cherry Blossom
The Wild Sakura of Thailand
My first trip to see the Northern Thailand’s wild Himalayan Cherry Blossom was in end Dec 2011 but it turned out to be too early. After a long and winding road trip up to Kun Chang Kiean, we arrived at a small village park and all we saw was one tree with Sakura flowers. The whole mountain was still vivid green without a trace of pinkish flower. Continue reading
Chinese New Year
The year of the Goat
The Chinese New Year or Lunar New year is the most important of festival for the Chinese people all over the world. Most Chinese will make an effort to be back home with their family, to have the traditional Reunion dinner with the entire family. Chinese homes are cleaned and decorated with things that are red, which is considered a auspicious color. But in recent years due to many people having to work far away from their family home, may not be able to go home during this festive period. Over the years, the festive feels of the Chinese New Year has lost some of the traditions… Continue reading
Thaipusam 2015
The Thaipusam festival at Batu Caves
On 3 Feb 2015, The Malaysian Tamil community celebrated the Hindus festival of Thaipusam. This festival commemorates the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a Vel ” spear’ so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman. Every year Batu Caves will be filled with thousands of devotees, curious tourists and a whole lot of photographers.The atmosphere is one of sights and sounds. Colourful kawadi carry by devotees accompanied by furious beating of the drummer group. together with devotees carrying milk pot over their head amidst the cry of ‘Vel vel’ as they made their way up the 272 steps to the top od Batu Caves where they pay offerings to Lord Murugan.
