(:

Wow, this is a bloody depressing blog (:

SO! I've been doing quite a bit lately...

Such as going out with my sister for an entire day and spending more than $200 on clothes, for a wardrobe which is filled to bursting point. Getting clothes in it involves a lot of pushing and shoving and perspiring. I guess shopping gives me a workout at home too. I've also been "spring cleaning" it, which basically involves pulling most everything out... and then deciding I want to keep 99%, of which i only wear 30%. I am somehow getting very worried about moving back to my homesweethome cos the wardrobe there is about... 1/2 of this one...

BUT anyway I've been up to some stuff (:

Such as knitting this hat for my dad:



I think he wanted a robin hood look here. And, he's wearing shorts yes.

I've also, lately, been wanting to tear out someone's hair. Specifically, someone from Ruby Photo (or who develops the film) cos this is what happened:



Its dreamy yes, but its also known as bad development.

I like to be positive though. I tell myself its another reason pointing me towards buying my own darkroom equipment. Hehe (:

Photos were taken at Borobudur, Indonesia.

I love the colours here:



The monster is unbelievable. I love it, i love it, i love it!



I don't know if I'd ever sell this camera. As much as I want a Hasselblad (just for its good looks)

And my favourite all-time monster photo:



The chendol man at Malacca!! This guy's chendol is unbelievable. Me and my dad we eat two or three each visit to the shop. Which probably explains why I leave Malacca scared of chendol hehe (: His stall is... I think a mangosteen or a coconut. Oh wait that was a decade ago ):

Wouldn't mind one now!

Barrage/Kites/Skies/Flyer

As mentioned in the last post, here are some slides which I took at the months ago picnic and scrabble outing (: Unfortunately, I realised near the end that I had not set the ISO, and it was on 400 instead of 100 - resulting in 2 stops underexposure (: I've tried my best to save them! They look super saturated :D





It was a CROWDED day. VERY crowded day (:





Which made me very surprised because the previous time I went (before this outing), the Barrage was pretty empty! Just a few lonely sheep (:

Detail lost here from underexposure is pretty bad, but try to make out the many uncountable heads there..



EAGLE!









I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY (: film photography





Happy Miak the jumper (: @ Haikou, China



Colour shift... I don't know why





And unfortunately it ends here! Cos I happily finished my roll in China, thinking I had another new one in my bag... Yes they were in my bag. My main luggage bag, not the camera bag! Oh well (:

Storm Clouds

Click HERE to view large (:

Still need to figure out how to get a certain size uploaded for my shots ):

Anyway! This landscape was taken in Jasper National Park (if my memory doesn't fail me), Canada. It was a very beautiful place; I was on a bridge over this fast-moving icy river. The gorgeous blue-green colour of the water is due to glacier silt. Just a short distance away, there was a huge black bear ambling on the road, and I was rather apprehensive of getting out of the car to take this shot. He soon disappeared into the woods though (: Beautiful beautiful place. If only the weather was better during my trip.

Day Two at Siem Reap (part 3)

In the midst of studying for Media Law and my Final Theory Test (of which I flunked the first!), I had a sudden revelation that I HAD to complete posting my photos of Siem Reap, Cambodia.

I suppose its due to reasons like this that I do not do well for tests. Well, let's just hope and pray a miracle happens for my second FTT tomorrow (:

In case you've not been reading on the Cambodia series, here are the first few posts:
Day One
Day One (part two)
Day Two
Day Two (part two)

Let's continue from the end of Day Two (part two), which was when we left the temples and had a BREAK! Hola, lunch!



Meet the Continental Cafe & Guesthouse, a cheap yet good place to get some local / western eats.

This is my Mixed Fruit Shake - which is seriously yummy, chock full of fruits that sucking on the straw makes you feel like your mouth is getting a workout. Mango is definitely a main component of the shake - and its only $1! (:



Here's a Beef Noodle Soup, also $1, but although it looks good, it apparently doesn't live up to its looks! Oh well, still cheap (:



We also had the Chicken w Pineapple Rice, of which I forgot the price. But so far, the food here is really rather affordable... and we came back for seconds (:



After a short nap (cos of the scorching heat), we were back at Angkor Archaeological Park.

The weary tourists trudge on...



Meet Ta Prohm, famous site of filming for Tomb Raider, I think.



Not that I watched it. But this site was allowed to remain in its overgrown state, with large trees growing out of the remnants. It was pretty much held up by a lot of wood beams.



Which, IMO, spoilt the photos!

The trees had particularly shimmery bark too, which means you should photograph there NOT during noon. As you can see, I was facing a lot of shiny reflective problems.







The ruins were particularly interesting though, as compared to the reconstructed / repaired buildings from the Angkorian era which although beneficial to the public, was not how it looked when adventurers discovered the place.



Rubble and tree roots...



Probably restored carvings:



Pardon the flare here, and stare at the gorgeous humongous tree with its roots encircling the ruins. BIG!!! :D



A place of worship within...



Nature regains its stranglehold on the ruins





A very naughty boy who KEPT HITTING THE ROOTS and making a commotion! I actually wished the tree would kinda come to life and swallow the kid whole like in the Lord of the Rings. Alas, none of that happened except in my vivid imagination. Neither did his irresponsible father give the boy a whooping.



And then, I catch a glimpse of the elusive monks in their saffron robes. Maybe their elusive only to me.



Sure, they are going away from me.



Some even run away, with a polite smile on their face.



Oh well, maybe I look scary to monks (:

The next post will bring us to Angkor Wat!

Day Two at Siem Reap: Angkor Archaeological Park (continued)

Finally, a continuation on the Cambodia trip (:

After our visit to Bayon, the state temple of Jayavarman VII during the late 12th to 13th centuries, we headed to the nearby Elephant Terrace and Terrace of the Leper King.

Similar to Bayon, the Elephant Terrace was built during the reign of Jayavarman VII.



Three hundred metres long, the terrace is decorated with elephants (yes, you guessed it), multi-headed horses, naga balustrades and garudas.

Elephants



and garudas



The terrace seems to be crumbling though, sadly.

However, it should be noted that both the Elephant Terrace and Terrace of the Leper King have 'hidden' walls (if I remember correctly) which have better preserved carvings.

When you visit the Terrace of the Leper King, do not just climb to the top to visit the copy (the original is in the National Museum)



but go into the hidden reliefs by walking into a thin sort of trench.



It sometimes gets flooded though, so the whole short distance is not walkable.



Next stop was Bapuon. The temples are all very close together in the enclosure of Angkor Thom.

Built in the middle of the 11th century, the causeway towards the entrance in the east is supported by short pillars.



We did not visit the temple though, for it was under renovation.



Instead, we got a bit lost walking towards Phimeanakas...

But were pointed the right way by a cripple selling paintings in the middle of nowhere.



Don't ask me why its slanting (:



This mini pyramid is crumbled on the top, and VERY small. Meaning you climb up very steep steps, for not really much of a view either on the pyramid, or of the surrounding areas. Not recommended.

Next post will have the famous Ta Prohm temple!