Sunday, October 19, 2008

Macau & Hong Kong Trip (9 - 12 Oct 2008) - Day 1


Overnight at KL LCCT on 8 Oct 2008 after last flight from Penang at 2230.


Woke up 4 something in the morning, saw this guy like expressing himself to Uncle McDonald - I'm LOVIN' IT!

I'm Lovin' IT

Reached Leal Sonado - crowded place with not-so-good-weather. The sunlight was harsh and I couldn't find any visible cloud with blue sky

Macau - Leal Sonado

After checked in hotel, we went nearby to have our first lunch at Macau.

My first lunch in Macau

We are heading to Ruins of the Church of St. Paul
Macau - Directions

Local hawker. Look at the imaginative spinning "cannon" with fire under it. I imagine the small cannon ball will spit out at anytime :-P Oh another imagination - buffalo mixer, remember? it looks exactly like it. Oh my god :-)
Macau - Local Hawker

You will never find this in Malaysia for unique road sign :-)
Macau - Road Sign

The directions sign is helpful - with walking distance you can reach the destination. The planned walking tour is about 4km, so it took about 1-2 hours to finish :-)
Macau - Directions

One of the door of St. Dominic Church
Rest

Inside St. Dominic Church
Church of St. Dominic

Church of St. Dominic

Church of St. Dominic

Take a moment to rest - I was still shooting around :-)
Church of St. Dominic

Me & my wife portrait
Church of St. Dominic

Bought a cup of milk tea to sooth the thirst
Macau - Shop

Saw this kung fu stance photographer have low horse stance to shoot photo initially, informed my wife to capture this :-P
Kung Fu stance photographer

Ruins of the Church of St. Paul - stunning building structure indeed!
Ruins of the Church of St. Paul

Pillars stand still

Beside the Church of St. Paul - locates the 100+ years Chinese small temple - Ne Za Temple (大三巴哪吒廟)
Macau - Ne Za Temple

Macau - Ne Za Temple


澳门大炮台 (Fortaleza do Monte) - 中國現存最古老的西式炮台建築群之一部分
澳门大炮台建于明神宗年间(公元1617年),原为耶稣会大三巴教堂(即大三巴牌坊的前身)的祭天台,保护耶稣会在澳门的产业,后被澳葡政府转为军事防御设施的大炮台城堡。大炮台的建筑历时10年,1626年才完成。大炮台与妈阁炮台和东望洋炮台组成一道坚固的外围军事防线,以防范海盗之用。

经历了300年的沧桑历史,终于在1966年解禁,成为向公众开放的旅游景区。大炮台后来改建为澳门气象局,于1996年澳门气象局迁至氹仔。1998年,大炮台的中央建成澳门博物馆。~ from Internet

Fortaleza do Monte

Fortaleza do Monte

Bell that rang before...
Bell that rang before

Macau Museum
Macau Museum

Garden beside Macau Museum
Garden

Me & My love one
CN & SP

Cannon mark
Mark

Wheel
Wheel

Candle lights in St. Augustine Church
Candle Lights in St. Augustine Church

Outside St. Augustine Church
Rest - St. Augustine Church

Beside St. Augustine Church - there's Bishop's House
Bishop's House

We took bus again to head to Venetian Casino. Venetian Casino is the biggest casino in the world - 3 times larger than Las Vegas Casino - oh my god! Inside casino, photography is strictly prohibited - we only able to shoot the Venetian "City" :-)
Inside Venetian Casino

Venetian Bridge?

Street Performer attracted my attention to go for photo shooting - too bad - most of the pictures were quite blurred - I didn't intend to use flash - only push up higher ISO.
Street Performer - Why you so like that? :-P

I had pork burger as dinner while my wife had Portugese Curry Chicken - no spicy at all.
Pork Burger

Portugese Curry Chicken

The steam milk was the best in terms of aroma and taste :-) Love it indeed!
Steam Milk

According to local Macau people - the Casino business is too competitive until they have their own shuttle buses to fetch you there and back in fixed route. After Venetian Casino, we took the free of charge bus back to Barrier Gate.

Based on historical information - This Macau Gate build of granite stones traditionally marked the border between this former colonial possession of Portugal and China. Erected in 1870 to thwart the impeding Chinese nationalistic upsurge from inflowing to Macau.

Barrier Gate

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Abstract Exploration


Blade, originally uploaded by Hong CN.

Location: Wat Carok Padang, 7km from Sik Dalam, Kedah
Len borrowed from Ee Kheng: Sigma 50mm 1:1 Macro

Hardly tell exactly how did I discover this beauty of abstracted composition. Was attracted by the reflection of multiple colour by the broken bottle edge. Broken bottle edge? Yup. :-)

The green and brown bottles' colours gave me a comfortable feeling on combined harmony. Minor edit with little bit of under-expose in post processing to provide assumed emotional appeal. Overall composition - looks like a blade - IMHO.

Hope you like it, anyway :-)