I know some of you might be getting bored with the third posts on animal shots but I really do love them zoo residents! What can I do? I take a lot of shots and out of 200 or so from a single outing, I narrow it down to 20 on a lucky day. As I said before, Taiping Zoo is quite a beautiful zoo and once all the improvements are done, I am sure that it will be quite a draw.

One of the things that I like is the vast space given to the animals (bad for my photography since my 300mm has lesser reach) but it is really good for the animals. For example, the birds get to make their own nests, in a big pool of water, and no disturbance from the rest of us. Except for the constant gawking.

Birds of all kinds are perched on the tree, there were hornbills as well but I was too slow in catching them while they were flying around so you have to be satisfied with shots of these blue and white egrets? I think they look like egrets but I could be wrong. These egrets were everywhere near the “Savannah” area, with nests on trees, in the water and they were just observing all of us. While we were observing them, wonder if they think we look funny.

And then of course, there were plenty of flamingos and I got a chance to get close to them. Once I was that close, I decided to take a shot of their feathers and just look how soft they are. I don’t know if they will peck me if I tried to touch it. I also saw a monitor lizard swimming in the waters they were at but I didn’t take a shot. Now I regret not taking one :(

I am a fan of owls and one good thing about the Melaka Zoo was that the owls were outside. No big cages to stop me from photographing them. I doubt owls will claw my eye out so we don’t exactly need to stuff them inside cages. This one was inside a cage, and very far back.

Generous cropping helped me get the look I wanted. And there you go, the feathered friends of Taiping Zoo. An interesting bunch but it will be a while before I get acquainted with them again.

It is true that many zoo animals appear lethargic, tired and well, no enthusiasm for about anything that is happening. After all, when your existence is taken care of and there are no immediate threats, why bother right? So, it is no surprise that some of the residents of the Taiping Zoo looked a bit tired.

In the case of the wild cat, can’t blame it as I believe it is a nocturnal animal. Just wait when the sun comes down, it might be jumping around.

The Orang Utan is also not the most active animal you can find. Even in wild conservation areas in Sabah and Sarawak, you will still see them sitting on top of the trees most of the time. At most, you will see them spread eagle hanging on the trees.

This beauty was kind enough to flash me a smile even though it looked like it was dozing off to a good afternoon nap.

The lemurs in Melaka Zoo was jumping around and running around and was looking alert. It was quite a different scene here in Taiping Zoo as the lemur was not all interested with what was happening. The most you can get out of this creature is a semi-interested look with its head tilted upwards slightly. That’s about it. Count yourself lucky if you witness that.

It is a hot period in Malaysia, and that might contribute to some of the general sleepiness around. I know I am sleepy everyday. YAWN!!!

Recently, I took an almost 3 hour drive up north to Taiping just to see what the Taiping Zoo is like. It was a good zoo, not as good as Melaka Zoo but definitely better than the National Zoo. They were changing some of their cage displays to glass viewing areas except the glass weren’t too clean.

Animals placed in open area also had very big compound to roam but that made photography a bit more difficult. My 300mm definitely felt shorter than before ever since I changed to a FX system. I’ve never really captured a lot of gibbon photos so this time around, I was surprised I got a few more than usual.

I spotted about four gibbons and two were quite active. I believe one was the youngest one as it kept climbing up and down. Pretty quick creatures and the young one even went up the pillar a few times for the mother or father to check on him.

I am always intrigued by their long arms and their funny style of walking but among all the primates, other than the orang utan, I think the gibbon is the next best one to photograph.

I spent a fair bit of time with the gibbons and finally left when I thought I had pretty good pictures of them. And of course, will share the rest of the Taiping Zoo shots next week! So keep reading for that!

Have a good weekend everyone.

She really went wild on my bed. I knew I had a lot of toys on my bed but I didn’t expect her to go so wild. But its ok. She had fun, and I’m happy. So it mutually benefited us. And I am cool with that.

But I bet you didn’t expect to see a picture of a baby when you read the headlines. Well, its more of my niece except these were taken a while back. That is why she probably looks different from the recent CNY post, and with a lil less hair too.

Well, it didn’t take long for her to get bored. And after going crazy for a few minutes, she decided that she wanted to be carried downstairs. At least I get to sleep.

You know I shifted from film back to digital but of course, it is a must that I at least bring the film camera to the zoo. Armed with the Nikon FE, a 300mm lens and a roll of Fuji film, I knew I only had 36 clicks to make the visit worth it.

Of course, in the end, I got only a handful of usable shots, but well, better than zilch!

While I have been happy to shoot on film because its quite carefree, when it came to the zoo, I felt totally different. Somehow, the inability to check if I got the shot got to me. With other subjects, it didn’t really matter to me. But when it came to animals, well let’s just say I am a bit more particular.

Having said that, was it fun shooting on film? Yes it was quite fun. Was the results good? Let me just say that I was pleasantly surprised with some. Which also meant that my skills are not too bad lah! At least it didn’t turn out to be a complete washout in terms of pictures of acceptable quality.

And another definite plus for me is the colour of the shots! I have so far been unable to replicate the same tone in my digital pictures. This was saturated, yet subtle at the same time. My search goes on but I am sure Photoshop will let me do such thing. If anyone knows how, let me know :) Thanks!

My client was going to hold an event at Subak so we went there for a small food tasting session and to have our own lunch as well. Subak is a restaurant somewhere in Penchala (full address at the bottom of the post with a link to their site which has a map). The ambiance is really nice if you are into the whole nature thing. I believe it will look even better at night.

We were first served with the Mussels and Baked Cheese which is something not on the menu. This was good, and they should certainly look at this making the dish a permanent fixture on the menu.

Next we were served another portion of another dish to taste: the Marsala Lamb. Now this was also pretty good. Not too spicy, just enough to give it flavor. It was really tender too. Not too sure if its Marsala but its something like that :P

It was time to get my personal order of the main course and I went with a Stir Fried Udon with Vegetables and Meat which cannot be more specific in its name. I would have preferred a black pepper version though as this one was a bit too bland for my taste.

Overall, Subak does serve pretty good food, and the ambiance is pretty nice if you are into the whole nature thing. The pricing is a bit on the high side, but they need to work on getting their food out while it is piping hot. They are doing a good job of serving everyone their meal at the same time but the chef must have missed the memo that all the dishes must be cooked at the same time as well.

If you are interested in going to Subak, the details are:

Subak Restaurant
Lot 3213 Jalan Penchala Indah
Bukit Lanjan 60000
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 7729 9030 / 31

http://www.subak.com.my

The last time I was at Thean Hou Temple, they didn’t turn on the lights. So, yesterday, after a bit of stress, I decided to head there to de-stress and hopefully catch Thean Hou Temple with all its lanterns lights on. It was! And it was indeed quite a sight.

It was just so red everywhere! Very, very CNY mood.

As you can see, it was just rows and rows and rows and rows of lanterns and they are absolutely beautiful when its all on! Of course, there are some that malfunctioned so you can see some that are not turned on.

The only way to describe the lanterns would be a sea of them! If I can swim on electric wires, I would be swimming in them. Not that I am a great swimmer…

When you are there, make sure you don’t just sit at the main temple area. Climb up a few more steps and you will get to enjoy a different view. While I was up there, I’ve heard people said that they have never been to the area before. Its amazing what a few flight of stairs will give you when you are willing to climb.

And since I was there, I thought I’ll try some ermm “artsy” shots. Don’t think I am much of an art photographer. The shot above was suppose to say that the two roofs were meeting each other. They were quite far apart in actual fact.

I was pretty satisfied with my second time around, and with my new toy, the AF Nikkor 18-35mm :) Now, who said FX lenses weren’t affordable?

Say hello to my niece – Audrey Ng! I had the chance to trail her with a camera during the recent Chinese New Year, and well, it was fun. Because isn’t she the cutest thing? :)

She is quite attached to her grandpa and grandpa was busy carrying her, and help her ride on those animal-ride thingamajig. I think he had some back pain after that :P

Of course, since she is my niece, I must of course take a shot of her with my sister, so here is my sister and her very precious daughter. Audrey even gave me a big smile for this shot. Can be framed up, don’t ya think?

And my final favourite shot of her this Chinese New Year, when she looked out the glass door at my uncle’s place. I thought the reflection was pretty cool :)

So, say hello to Audrey, my fellow readers!

Everyone knows Funan Digital Mall in Singapore for its IT and gadget stuff. Very few talk about it for food. But there are some pretty nice places to eat in Funan itself and Paradise Inn is one of them. Serving Chinese food, one can expect the usual affair with good taste at a decent price.

I am a big fan of the err braised (?) peanuts, so any restaurant that serves me that, and it is done well deserves a good mention.

Sharon tasted a bit of this dish the last time, and she wanted to eat it again. I am also happy to give this dish a second go. It is pretty much soup, with poached Chinese spinach and a combination of egg, salted egg and century egg – all in a superior broth thingamajig.

This is really good and a dish I would recommend to anyone. I believe some of them call it “seong tong”.

Sharon loves century egg, and so do I. Not a big fan of pickled ginger though, so I usually down the egg by itself. You can’t really mess this up.

Take another dish that you can’t go wrong like Sweet and Sour Pork, add lychees to it and you have a combination that will satisfy me. It is not a “must eat” but it contains two of my favourite ingredients – pork and lychees so yes, it is good. You probably won’t be able to differentiate it from any usual sweet and sour pork though. Until you bite into the lychees, then you taste lychee :P

We moved on to desserts and the first was Ah Baling with Red Bean Sago. Not too sweet, and the filling was nice, substantial enough to call it filling. This is a good dessert to have, at least better than our next.

The Sweet Taro Paste with Sweet Potato looks good on paper. We were excited to try it until they served us one that has gone bad. That was a pity, it was so promising but all we remember of it now is the sour taste. They refunded us but we will try it the next time. If we dare.

So, there you have it, Paradise Inn in Funan Digital Mall, Singapore. If you are hungry after shopping for gadgets, then this place could help you appease that hunger.

Paradise Inn
Funan Digital Mall
109 North Bridge Road #02-10/11, Funan Digitalife Mall Singapore 179097
(+65) 6338 4018

It is late, very late but finally decided to sit down and compile my Top 10 Shots of 2009. Not surprisingly, pretty much dominated by shots with animals in them. Got to start diversifying a bit more :)

1. The above was shot in Zoo Negara and well, what more can I say? Tiger swimming and patience again paid off.

2. The classic composition of the gentle giant. Everyone seems to have this shot, so I must have one as well.

3. Most of my wildlife shots have been rather err static. So when I got one that has a bit more action, a bit more dynamic, let’s just say that I was very proud of myself :P Now my next target is to get one of the young ones to jump into the water and capture that.

4. Not one of my sharpest ever macro shots but I was always fascinated in capturing water droplets. This one, nestled in between leaves, made it my favourite although not technically perfect.

5. This was one of the very first time I used the 300mm f4 for a proper outing. Fell in love with the lens and this is the factor that made me stick with Nikon through thick and thin. Absolutely solid lens, and bought for me by Sharon! I know, I am so lucky :)

6. Brought Sharon to Cebu to check out our wedding venue, and visited the island of Olango. Beautiful place, clear water, blue sky, what more can I ask for?

7. My very cute niece, and one of the best shots I have of her. Of course, I have a few more extra this year. She turns 1 this month and I am sure I will get more shots of her soon enough.

8. Same outing as the owl shot, but this was through a cage, and of the eagle. For RM2000, this is easily one of the sharpest lens I’ve own. Shooting it wide open at f4 is not a problem at all.

9. Penang is pretty much a location that has been done to death. I was looking for something different and almost went blind trying to get this shot at Khoo Kongsi. I thought it was pretty different, no?

10. Birds in flight? I think we all wish we could capture it in a photo. And capturing this eagle in mid flight was a personal achievement. These birds fly fast! Will give it another go in future visits to Jurong Birdpark :)

And that’s it, my Top 10 of 2009. Not too shabby eh?