After 3 photography outings last week, I itched to go for another one today. In the end I ended up in the KL Bird Park.
The weather wasn't that good though. What a shame, after paying RM24 for both myself and my wife. One thing I found out from this photography lesson - it's very difficult to capture birds as they tend to be very active. A lot of shots came out blurred.
Anyway here are few of the better shots.
On a lazy Saturday morning, I had one assignment to do - deliver my parents' passports to them by hand from KL to hometown. They have forgotten that they need to go to Singapore, after applying for US visas on Tuesday.
I board the bus at 10am. The weather deteriorated all the way from KL to north. Somewhere in between Tapah and Ipoh, we managed to avoid a speed trap. However, moments after exiting the Jelapang toll, we were stopped by police. I'm not sure whether it was a speed trap or what, all buses were stopped at that point. That was the hilly terrain between Jelapang and Kuala Kangsar.
5 minutes later we were on our way again. 2 or 3 minutes later, the next thing I saw was our bus driver stepping on the breaks, at full force. The back of a big trailer started to fill up the windscreen. Due to the rain and the slope we were at, our bus just kept slipping towards the trailer. For a while it was scary. But I realised we were merely slipping so it wont' result in a big crash. Seconds later, the bus hit the trailer. Just a small touch, resulting in cracks on the left windscreen.
I looked further to find out why the trailer had suddenly stopped. Right in front of the trailer, there were two vehicles - one red proton iswara aeroback and the other one a 4-wheel drive facing the opposite direction - an accident. A mak cik came out from one of the vehicles and fell down immediately. She must have injured he leg or ankle. The bus driver and the trailer driver decided that each should be responsible for their own loss. Seeing that no one is seriously injured, we moved on. The bus driver stopped twice on the emergency lane to inspect the windscreen to ensure it's safe for us to travel.
Immediately after Kuala Kangsar, there was a traffic standstill in front. The sky was pouring at that time. I knew it must be another accident. True enough. This time involving 3 cars. One of them is quite badly dented but luckily no one seem to be seriously injured.
From then onwards our bus sped all the way back to destination. It was quite a scary experience especially in heavy rain. However, we managed to arrived unscathed.
I witnessed two accidents today and one the night before.
Malaysians have one of the highest road accident rates in the world, despite our good infrastructure. It just goes to show how bad our drivers are. It's not about the skills, more about the attitude - selfishness, carelessness and lack of courtesy. As long as these negative attitudes are not checked, we will continue to live in a country with first class infrastructure complemented by law of the jungle.
While I was engaging in photography at KLCC last night, I saw people being evacuated at around 12am. At first I didn't know what was going on until nearly half an hour later, yes, nearly half an hour later when fire engines started to arrive.
I managed to learn from the crowd that a fire had started from screen 8 of Tanjung Golden Village Cinema at 11.45pm. I even overheard one guy saying that the fire department personnel didn't believe him when he called in to report the fire. Probably that's why it took the firemen more than 45 minutes to arrive. I could even smell smoke from outside of KLCC.
By the time I left there was still no indication on the damage and casualty. Hopefully nothing serious.
Yesterday was my first time having a serious photography outing since the arrival of my new Canon S2. Johanna and I requested for the help of her friend Adrian to guide us.
We woke up at 7 and arrived at orchid garden at 8am. After breakfast near Jalan Petaling, we went back to orchid garden and started shooting. Johanna used my old camera, Canon S30.
I was very excited to see the Egyptian lotus in the pond, even though felt a bit cheated by the size. I thought it is big based on the photos posted in LensaMalaysia.
Anyway I won't go on narrating what I shot in orchid garden. Let the photos do the talking.
After orchid garden, I went to Dataran Merdeka to shoot Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad before going home.
Overall I was quite happy with the shots in orchid garden. As for buildings, I think there's still a lot of room for improvement.
I love some of Johanna's compositions. She has photography genes in her. Just need to build up on technical knowledge and she could be a good photographer.
Many thanks to Adrian for offering advice and accompany us through the morning.
Some shots to share...
Seems like everyone is profitting from Mawi's triumph in Akademi Fantasia 3. In the latest development, a couple have named the Raya cookies they are selling - Gelora Mawi. Wonder if they have obtained the permission from Mawi to use his image.
Guess what is this... got addicted to the guessing game in lensamalaysia.com. Great website for Malaysian photography lovers.
My condolence to Ong Ka Ting and Ong Ka Chuan who lost their mum yesterday.
The Ong family has requested wellwishers not to send wreaths or condolence advertisements.
Will probably pay a visit to Ka Ting's residence today or tomorrow.
It's a week of loss for the presidents of the two leading parties in Barisan Nasional.
Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, wife of Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, died at 7:55 am today.
My deepest condolence to our PM. May he get the strength to go through the tough times.
Try this...
Lately I have been on site in Kurnia Insurans for inspection. Today, out of the blue I saw Wei Cheong while on the way up to Kurnia building. I managed to track him down at 22nd floor. He has been employed as the General Manager of Actuarial Department to start up actuarial operations in Kurnia Insurans. Today is only his 2nd day. He has just got back from UK last week, after working with Watson Wyatt and Prudential for a number of years upon qualifying as Fellow of Institute of Actuaries.
Wei Cheong is a senior of mine at City University. He was pursuing his MSc. in Actuarial Management when I was in the first year of my degree. We played badminton together occassionally with other Malaysians and also had a chance to travel to Brussels and Amsterdam together in May 2000. I still remember the great photos he had taken during the trip.
Anyway, happy that Malaysian has gained back another qualified actuary, especially one with a lot of experience and knowledge from UK.
