2009

Welcome 2009! I wish everyone a great and wonderful year ahead. May joy, peace, prosperity, good health and the good Lord’s abundant blessings be upon you, your family and our nation!

A brand new year, a brand new beginning.

Filed under: Message

Din Tai Fung @ The Gardens

After the Dragon-i luncheon at Pavilion KL sometime early of the month I could not wait to have food therapy at Din Tai Fung after that. So I gathered a few friends of mine who did not know each then for a simple dinner at Din Tai Fung at The Garden in Mid Valley City, KL. What a relief for me to have the some of the dishes I had been craving for. Personally, I prefer DTF to Dragon-i.

The famous xiao loong bao. Love the broth in the dumpling!

Cha jiang mien.

Shanghainese drunken chicken. One of my favourite dishes here.

Shrimp dumplings. Love these.

Fried rice with shrimps & pork. I could not believe it is really good! They use Japanese rice for this dish.

Tofu, century egg & chicken floss. I like this dish a lot too.

Check out the rest of the photos here.

Photos taken with Nikon F-70D and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS lens on DNP Centuria 400 film.

Filed under: Food, Photography , Chinese Food, Din Tai Fung, Dinner, Dumpling House, Film Photo, Shanghainese / Taiwanese Cuisine

Duck King @ Jaya One

Had year-end celebration with two friends at Duck King in Jaya One complex in P.J in middle of this month. The food, not too bad. Advice to those who have not tried, come eat in a big group of people or else the money is not worth spent only on a few dishes. Good for family reunion dinner, I think.

Our main dish – BBQed meats whicj consist of duck, pork & jellyfish

Claypot lamb brisket with beancurd. Something I personally am not too used to the way it is cooked in this manner.

Tofu & Seafood in XO sauce.

Tea

Photos taken with Nikon F-70D and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS lens non DNP Centuria 400 film.

Filed under: Food, Photography , Chinese Cuisine, Dinner, Duck King Restaurant, Film Ph, Film Photography, Jaya One, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Klang Bak Kut Teh

A good friend of mine and I decided to revisit Fong Keow Restaurant in Taman Intan, Klang since our last visit about two years ago, for a Klang Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶) dinner. The restaurant interior has been revamped since the last time we were there. Still prefer the old kopitiam look before.

A claypot bak kut teh.

What’s in there – pork lean meat, fat meat, stomach, foo chok (dried beancurd) and lettuce in broth.

Golden mushrooms in bak kut teh broth.

Steamed tofu in soy sauce.

Assam fish. Not too sure what fish is it. I am bad with names of fish.

Dragon fruit juice.

Photos taken with Nikon F-70D and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS on DNP Centuria 400 film.

Filed under: Food, Photography , Assam Fish, Bak Kut Teh, Dinner. Tofu, Dragon Fruit Juice, Film Photography, Golden Muchroom, Klang, Selangor, Taman Intan

New Pink Pajamas

A surprise Christmas gift from a good friend who gave me a pair of pink and white striped pajamas! Sometime ago I was hoping to find myself a pair like this and since I am quite a lazy shopper I never got around to find one. And I did not expect that I would get this lovely pair this Christmas. Now, I have a new working attire for the new year! I am a proud designer-in-pajamas! Thanks you, boss!

Hang it like you hang a real working suit.

See that Apple mouse? The pajamas belongs to a designer.

Photos taken with Nikon F-70D and Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 Micro lens on Fujifilm PRO 400H film.

Filed under: Art + Design, Photography , Apple mouse, Christmas Gift, Pajamas, Pink, Stripe

Your presence is my present

I am no longer interested in Christmas shopping, gift wrapping or whatever the thing that people usually do during this time of the year. Christmas celebration is such a commercial thing nowadays. As I learned about the pagan origin of Christmas I am not here to condemn those Christians or non Christians alike who celebrate it whether for the reason of remembering the birth of Jesus Christ or just a year end get-together with friends and family. I do enjoy the part of catching up and spending time with friends in a season such as this, nevertheless.

Filed under: Message , Christmas, Gift, Gift Exchange, John 3:16

Paul Hendricks

Paul Hendricks, a South African friend of mine who has already left KL for his own country (for good, I suppose) last month. Here are some photos of him when we met up in The Curve, Mutiara Damanasara PJ.

Paul and his cuppa @ Gloria Jean’s Coffee

Paul and his grilled chicken drumstick @ Waroeng Penyet, an Indonesian fast food restaurant

The rest of the photos are here.

Camera : Nikon F3
Lens : Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS
Film : Konica Minolta Centuria Super 400 (Expired)

Filed under: Food, Great Talents, Photography , Farewell, Friend, Gloria Jean's Coffee, The Curve, Waroeng Penyet

Four Photo Kaki

I will be writing about some past events and photowalks I have missed blogging for the past few months when I was abandoning my old blog. The posts in this blog will not be in chronological order.

Sometime in October a few friends I got to know over Flickr and Facebook had decided to meet up for street shooting in Petaling Street (Kuala Lumpur Chinatown) and Pasar Seni (Central Market).

The Egyptian style of posing. L-R : Ong, Sherrina, Eddy and Behn

Freestyle posing. L-R : Ong, Sherrina, Eddy and Behn

Stuck and kicked in the ass!

As our wrap for the photowalk we went to a market kopitiam in Imbi Market for some Hainanese coffee, kaya butter toast buns and soft boiled eggs, which was recommended by one of the guys.

Hainanese coffee

Kaya butter toast buns

Soft boiled egg

Eddy eating away his toast

Check out the rest of the photos I took on this photowalk here.

Camera :Nikon F3
Lens : Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS
Film : Konica Minolta Centuria Super 400 (Expired)

Filed under: Food, Great Talents, Photography , Film, Imbi Market, Kuala Lumpur, Pasar Seni, Petaling Street, Photowalk

Luncheon @ Dragon-i, Pavilion KL

This is the season of celebration and eating. How can a celebration be a celebration without the food, so as a Malaysian speaks? This is a recent luncheon we had in Dragon-i at Pavilion KL.

I will try not to turn my blog into a food blog even though I am a fussy eater and can be quite critical if what I eat is not up the standards of my tastebuds. The food at this restaurant all I can say is not too bad but there is nothing to shout about either. I was yearning to have a food therapy at Din Tai Fung @ The Gardens after eating here and I just did last two days ago.

Most importantly, though, we had a good time at the lunch table. All thanks to the four beautiful ladies!

Dragon-i sticker on the glass wall.

How to peel the skin of the bun delicately.

It is a salted duck egg yolk filling inside the bun.

Group photo. I am not in there, of course.

To see the rest of the photos click here.

Photos taken with Nikon F-70D, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS lens on Fujifilm PRO 800Z film (could be already expired).

Filed under: Food, Photography , Film Photography, Fragon-i, Kuala Lumpur, Lucheon, Pavilion KL

A day off

Imagine yourself coming all the way to an old kopitiam expecting to see a busy scene of elderly customers eating, drinking tea or kopi and chefs running around serving food, but the moment you arrive at the entrance you see closed door, all empty inside without a single customer and you find out that it is their weekly day off. How disappointing.

That was how I felt initially when a few photography friends and I arrived at an over 60 year old kopitiam, Sek Yuen Restaurant in Pudu on a gloomy Monday afternoon. Peeping through the closed metal grill shutter door, firstly, greeted by a barking huge old brown dog that ran right up to us and then came the friendly owner who is also a chef who told us they are closed on Mondays .

Have you ever wondered what do restaurant runners do on the days like this? The photos taken on that Monday afternoon show a different side of a kopitiam story. Scenes of a chef doing spring cleaning, empty messy kitchen, smelly fridge, chef scooping out ashes from the clay stove, owner’s dogs walking around, drying hand towels on wooden tables and chairs, and the noise there is from a bunch of old folks playing mahjong.

Some old folks playing mahjong.

Two lonely eggs in the kitchen.

The chef cleaning the kitchen.

Cans of rat glue – used as an old fashioned way to catch rats. Yea, where there is food there will rats be also. It is expected in an old restaurant like this.

Bamboo broom by the fridge.

Pink hand towels sitting on the tables and chairs are the customers.

View the rest of the photos including the black and white ones here.

Photos taken with Nikon FA and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS lens. Colour photos – expired Fujifilm Superia 1600 (at ASA 400). Black & white photos – expired Agfapan APX 400.

Filed under: Photography , Film Photography, Kopitiam, Photowalk, Pudu, Sek Yuen Restaurant

Pudu Market

I cannot help but to fast forward in time from my Laos trip in January to the present month to share about my most recent photowalking experience with a friend to Pudu in Kuala Lumpur on one Saturday morning. We went with an intention to take pictures at a old kopitiam but ended up discovering something far more happening – the Pudu Market. What I like about photowalking is pleasant surprises we do not expect to get. Having lived in the Klang Valley for more and a decade long I have to shamefully admit this is the first time I stepped my foot into this place. Did not take that many shots as I should, only two rolls of 36 exposure films and spent most of the time observing the scene and people in the market. Amazingly old shops, old kopitiams, old people… that the best images can only be captured by the mind and not by any photographic devices.

Here are some of the selected shots taken with Nikon F-70D and Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS lens. The two types of film used are Fujifilm PRO 400H and Lucky Super 200.

Frying fritters.

An Indian man excitedly showing off a paper thosai made by his friend who proudly puts his thumb up.

A little kuih stall run by a camera-shy old lady (the one in the background).

A fruit seller and the persimons he is selling.

A Chinese medicine man.

An old lady at her chicken stall (view through the cage).

Click here to view the complete Pudu Market photo set.

Last but not least, a picture of a sexy peanut seller wannabe, Mandy, who had her picture taken posing with a huge pot of peanuts in front of a sundry shop without permission from the owner. Thankfully the shop owner did not chase us away with a broom! Nah, just kidding!

Photo taken with Nikon FA and Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AIS lens on an expired Samsung 200 film.

Check out Mandy’s Pudu photo set here.

Filed under: Photography , Film Photography, Kuala Lumpur, Pudu Market

Travel : Laos

My trip to Laos in January this year was quite an unforgettable one. Had good and bad memories. Good ones – beautiful scenery and the local people. Bad ones – food poisoning and bumpy dusty roads in northern part of Laos. Flew into Vientiane, the capital city. Traveled by road to Vang Vieng (beautiful sunsets, mountains and the sound of flowing water at Nam Xong River), to Luang Prabang (combination of French, Indochinese and Lao styles architecture and Mekong River) and further up north to Luang Namtha (picturesque view of wide span of rice paddy fields). The mountainous route I traveled from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang was so magnificient that there could only be a wow expression on my face and no picture was taken during that journey.

Here are some of the pictures taken in Laos.

Sunset @ Mekong River in Luang Prabang, Laos

Sunset @ Mekong River with an accidental light leaking effect on my film

Elderly Lao man on the route between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang, Laos

Cool, quiet and misty morning at Nam Xong River in Vang Vieng, Laos

Boats on Nam Xong River in Vang Vieng, Laos

Rice paddy field in Luang Namtha, Laos

Some Lao kids eating tomato-like fruit on the route between Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang, Laos

For more of my Laos trip photos please click here.

A picture taken by some Lao kid with my digital camera at Nam Xong River in Vang Vieng, Laos

Filed under: Photography, Travel , Film Photography, Laos, Travel

Starting it anew

Actually, the contents in my blog are not new, not the last entries I posted this month, though. I opened this new blog and transferred over some of the old entries which were previously on my old blogs.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Add new tag, Blogging

Diva Belle on a crazy Sunday

My second time having a shoot with my sporting friend, Belle, who calls herself a Diva in a Viva (Perodua car). Had this shoot at the KL Orchid Garden and her apartment last month. We brought along some props like telephone, bowls, chopsticks, plastic frame spectacles, teddy bears and scarves to the garden. The sky on the day was not so beautiful, unfortunately. But thankfully we were able to do the shoot without any distraction from security guards and visitors despite of all the silly poses we did and the noise we made. Shoot at Belle’s home was not in the original plan. I saw the ambient in her room was beautiful and she was already in her home clothing, that kind of giving some crazy ideas of the photos I wanted to take of her. We had so much fun.

Filed under: Photography , Film Photography, Kuala Lumpur, Model Shoot

Diwali @ Masjid India

It has been a long time that I have abandoned this blog, I know. Some projects were keeping me busy. I have been going out and shooting quite a bit since my last post. Will update all my overdue photos slowly but surely.

This is the batch of photos taken during the Deepavali festive season in November. Was out to Masjid Jamek / Masjid India area in KL with my friend, her hubby, her son and a Hong Kong friend who was in town for a short visit.

The photos shown are the street scenes and people at the temporary Deepavali stalls set up for the Hindu Indians at Masjid India area selling tit-bits, sweets, women accesories, sarrees etc. My two friends had henna done on their hands and arm. Photowalk ended up in Coliseum Cafe. Check out the interior of the restaurant – totally classic.

Photos taken with a Nikon F3 and my favourite lens Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIS on two types of films – Konica Centuria Super 400 (Expired) & Fujifilm PRO 400H.

Filed under: Photography , Film Photography, Kuala Lumpur, Masjid India, Masjid Jamek, Photowalk