Oh Singapura!

Saturday 6 pm, Le General and I flew off to Auckland to catch our flight to Singapore. Because of my knee problem I requested for an aisle seat and was told by the Air New Zealand guy who handle our check thru that there are none left! And that is for a flight SIX hours away? I protested and was told to see SIA in Auckland!

When I explained my predicament to the smiling SIA lady in Auckland at 10 pm, she fixed my request in 2 minutes; without question! I am very disappointed with you Air New Zealand! Again! It is no accident that SIA is our preferred air line every time!

We flew off from Auckland at midnight and landed on the "Garden City" at 5 am local time. One hour ahead of schedule!

The last time we were at T3 (Terminal 3) it was just open, what an impressive terminal it is!

They even have our favorite breakfast of "roti kawin" and local coffee, 24/7! And the delicious fare is served by the famous Killiney Kopitiam in Singapore!

My Leica E-P2

What?? I can hear you scream... there is no such camera as a Leica E-P2! April 1st was 19 days ago!

The camera above is my "Leica E-P2", ha ha ha... it is actually a Olympus Pen E-P2 with a genuine Leica lens!

In my younger days with the papers, I used two Leica-M rangefinder cameras; I still have the M4-P and M6 Titan and FOUR lenses. Sad to say after adopting digital I have not touch my Leicas for years!

Legend has it that Leica lenses are the BEST in the world! At the present price of NZ$2-3,000 per lens, they better be!

The PEN Mightier than...

The PEN is mightier than, NOT the sword; duh!

The "PEN" in this instance, an Olympus Pen E-P2 compact point and shoot digital camera which is mightier than my Canon G7.

According to Wikipedia Olympus Pen is a family of half-frame cameras made by Olympus from 1959 to the beginning of the 1980s. Aside from the Pen F series of half-frame SLRs, they are fixed-lens viewfinder cameras.

When I was a photography student in Melbourne, 1967; I dream of owning an Pen F! But alas it is too much for a poor student, so I bought a used Nikkormat instead :(

Olympus Pen FT with a 38 mm f1.8 lens

The compact Pen look like a rangefinder camera is actually a half-frame SLR!

Wide (why) Not?

In my write up about my "Neglected Gem", the Nikon Coolpix 8400; I showed super wide snaps taken with the optional WC-E75 wide-angle converter lens.

The WC-E75 make the build in zoom lens even wider to an unmatched 14 mm (equiv) of ultra-wide coverage!

I like what the combo can produce, except the 8400 is extremely slow when you are shooting RAW!

How slow? How about 5 to 6 seconds after you click and worst still, the camera just lock up while the image is uploading to the card! First time when I used the camera in RAW nearly gave me a heart attack!

Photographing the launching of the New Zealand "Super Car" in Jan 2007 with the 8400, timing is critical when you know there won't be a second shot because your camera took 5 second to "recover"! ;)

Getting Personal

According to Malaysia Today, it seems that the obsession for a nice number plate in Malaysia is hitting fever pitch with the latest ‘TAY 1’ hitting six figures. According to the Terengganu RTD (Road Transport Department), that number plate received RM220,000 (NZ$94,607.00); the highest bid in the country ever!

POOR-RICH Malaysians! Are they mad? Or are they willing suckers for the RTD?

Well, in New Zealand you could have got that plate today through "Plates.co.nz" for NZ$ 799.00 (RM1,858.00). The amount paid for the Malaysian plate can buy you a Ferrari to wear that plate!!

When I check at the on line site today. "TAY 1" was taken but you can have "TAYONE" for the same amount, as a matter of fact you can have any combination you want as long as it is available for NZ$799.00!

Not only that, NZ Plates offer various design options! For instance, your TAYONE can be:

Children of the Dam

Today, Sunday; March 7 is 10th anniversary of the Children's Day in New Zealand.

On this day I remember the "Children of the Dam"...

They were taken at Kuala Kubu Bahru, Malaysia; just before their homes and village were taken away to build a new dam.

Did the local wanted the dam? Was there a referendum? Are you kidding me, refer-what? Was it in the name of progress? Was there a hidden agenda?

As a photographer, I am only an observer; sigh :( But there are plenty who speak out against the dam, against dislocating the tribes that has lived there for eons!

A question was asked, "Would the RM2.14 billion Sg Selangor Dam follow the fate of the Sultan Abu Bakar Dam in Ringlet, Cameron Highlands in ten to twenty years down the line?"
You think the authority give a dam (damn)? I remember the children of the dam....

Putting on a brave smiles, these Orang Asli children are going to loose their village soon to a new dam. The price of progress?

This shot was taken with a 15mm fish-eye from a high perspective to portrays the "little people" theme. Kuala Kubu Bahru, Perak; Malaysia. © C.Y.Leow

M'sians Celebrate Yr of Tiger in Wellington

Malaysians and friends celebrated the eve of "Chap Goh Meh" with a grand dinner at the Regal Restaurant in Wellington.

According to Wikipedia:

Chap Goh Meh or Tzap Goh Mei (Chinese: 十五暝; pinyin: shí wǔ míng; literally "fifteen night") represents the fifteenth and final day of the Lunar New Year period as celebrated by Chinese migrant communities. The term is from the Hokkien dialect and refers to the fifteenth day of the first month, which is the occasion of the first full moon of the New Year.

The dinner was organised by the New Zealand Malaysian Society, well done guys!

I am not going to bore you with all the usual dinner snap shots but to show you the BEST lion dance I ever see! In moving pictures!

This is a video grab from the clip I post at YouTube. When you are watching it, take note of the delicate movement of the lion; see how his ears flap and how he "scratch" his back!