-

-

19 February 2017

Photography: My first attempt of street photography

Masjid Jamek @Kuala Lumpur
I've started my hobby in photography since few years ago starting with my first DSLR Nikon D40, then upgraded to Nikon D90. Since then, I've always wanted to do street photography (or some people call candid photography) taking photos of random people in the street. Well, there are many opinions out there about street photography but I think a real or good street photography is not just a photo of a street view but with candid people in it. I think the photo will be more meaningful if you add some life into it which make you not only appreciate the beauty of the photo itself but life of ordinary people as well. 

I find street photography is another interesting challenge of a photographer where one has to take candid pictures of other people randomly in the street at the right time at the right place. It does sound easy, where you just go to a street of snaps whatever in your way. But believe me, it's actually harder than it sounds especially for a beginner like me. 

My first attempt was at Jalan TAR or Masjid Jamek area in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday evening. I chose this place because it's crowded, and pasar malam (night market) is held that night. With that said, I thought I might have many chances to take various interesting characters of people in a busy street, right? Well, not quite. Reality is not always the way we wanted to be.
*I tried to stick with 50mm lense in my street photography. 😁

Confidence

Before I left home, I was thinking to begin my first street photography on my way to Masjid Jamek LRT station from KL Sentral. I imagined myself taking good pictures of random people at the LRT stations or in the train. In reality, I didn't have that much confidence even to take out my Nikon D90, yet taking pictures of strangers until I arrived my destination. 😫 Perhaps, it is a good idea to bring a friend along.

This is one of the earliest picture I took right after I took out my DSLR.
I took this random picture just boost my confidence to snap more after that.
Walkway

Timing

When you saw an interesting scene in the street, by the time you raise your DSLR to take the picture, you miss it. I saw many interesting people doing interesting stuffs in the street, but not everything happen at time when you are ready to snap pictures. 
There was this talented guy in front of Sogo, doing art with spray paint and fire technique. (If you are familiar with this art, it's an art of painting pictures with spray paint only, no sketches, at some point they use fire on the painting.) During the fire technique, it was fun and cool to watch, perhaps it would be much more cool to take a photo of it. But, when I was ready with my DSLR, I don't know why he didn't do the fire thing. I waited for 5-10 minutes but still no fire. Eventually, I just left & went somewhere else.
Well, I waited for the fire technique but it never came. Frustrated. 😞
A busking nearby the artboy. 
 That man facing this way once I snapped this picture. Is this perfect timing? πŸ˜•

You just wish to be invisible

When doing street photography, I have this feeling of taking photos of people as candid as possible. Meaning, taking their photos without them to realise somebody else is taking their photos. That, in my opinion, is a portrait of real life in a motionless picture. However, I always felt so worried that the person will scold me, I ended up taking less human pictures.
At one time, I tried to take this photo of a homeless sitting, just doing his thing. I didn't want him to notice me snapping, so didn't raise my DLSR but aiming at him without looking in the viewfinder, then snapped few times. Well, I thought I got it but the result, you see it yourself.

At this end of this walkway, I saw the homeless.
I aimed for the homeless but failed. If you look closely on the top of this photo, you can see a very little image of the homeless's black trousers (I think). I should have aimed higher. πŸ˜“

14 February 2017

Travel: Phuket Trip, Night Market

Going to night markets is a must when you travelling to Thailand. Phuket is no exception. Phuket has a few of night markets that worth visiting. During my 3N4D trip in Phuket, I managed to visit 3 different night markets in each night. If you are planning to visit all of the night markets, you should do your research and plan your trip properly because every night market operates on different days. They do this to make sure less competing between the night markets.

Indy Market (a.k.a laad ploy kong)


Indy Market or also known as "laad ploy kong" by the locals located at Dibuk Road just next to Limelight Avenue (a small shopping mall), walking distance from Old Town Phuket. This is the first night market I went on the my first night in Phuket since my hotel just nearby.

The first moment I went here, I just felt in love with it. It was so clean, something I usually don't expect at a night market (especially in Malaysia 😬).  Indy Market operates on Wednesday to Friday every week from 4pm-10pm. The time that I found the most happening time was around 7pm to 9pm where live performance by local buskers is performed on a small stage built for the market.


In front of the stage area is decorated with lots of fairy lights made you feel welcomed, cozy and relaxed. A nice place to chill while enjoying the music performance. Also, definitely a perfect place for those who likes selfies & photos. Speaking of selfies, I noticed this market is more popular to high school students & young adults compared to other markets.

Indy market is not a big, so it lacks of choices in term of shopping. Most of the stalls sell women shirts, jewellery and accessories. If you are planning to do shopping, I suggest you to go to the Weekend Market instead.


Chillva Market

On my second night, I went to Chillva market from Phuket Old Town by motorcycle taxi for 100 baht. It was about 10 minutes distance. Similar to Indy Market, Chillva Market was also bright decorated with lots of fairy lights but much bigger and crowded. Thus, it has more choices of food and stuff to buy compared to Indy market. They do also have a stage and live performances.
Why people have to sit here blocking the sign?! 😑

Love what they did to bring this market alive. 😍

Chillva Market is a more like adult or family friendly compared to Indy Market (which is more high school kids friendly). They have container restaurants serve variety of food; local foods, burgers, sushi, yakisoba (Japanese noodles) etc. The price are standard price, but if you wanna much more cheaper, perhaps you wanna buy some food at the stalls and enjoy the meal in front of the stage while watching the live music like I did.

I spent almost 2 hours there but I didn't buy anything because I was hoping to do my shopping at the weekend market the next day.  Most of the stuff here are for females, women outfits, jewelleries, cosmetic products, handbags etc.


Overall, I think this market is great place to chill but not a heaven for shopping lovers. I recommend you to go here not for shopping but just to chill and relax. It's worth your time. By the way, Chillva Market operates every Thursday to Saturday, from 5pm to 10pm. The best time to go there, is at 7pm or 8pm.

Weekend Market (a.k.a Naka Market)

Weekend market located quite far away from Phuket Old Town. On my third day, I actually went to Patong and in the evening, from Patong I took a local bus and stopped at Central Festival shopping mall, then  I walked to the Weekend Market. It was a 20 minutes distance. Weekend market is something you will expect when coming to night markets in Thailand, the Asian style.


Most of the shops are under the roof, so you doesn't have to worry when it's raining. Still can do your shopping. Fortunately, the sky was clear when I got there.

This is a good place for you to get some cheap souvenirs, t-shirts, bags, and other several interesting items. I recommend you this market for shopping due to its variety of items. But since you'll find repeating items, it would be a good idea to browse around before you decide to buy anything just to compare the price. No need to shy to ask the shoppers the price if no price tags. Once you find the cheapest price, try to bargain the best price they can accept.

Weekend Market, as its name suggests, operates on Saturdays and Sundays,  4pm-9pm.

30 January 2017

Travel: Phuket Trip, Transportation (Part 2)

This is part 2 of my experience sharing about the transportation while I was travelling in Phuket in the middle of January 2017. In part 1, I was talking about the cheapest way to move from Phuket International Airport to various popular destinations. In case of you miss my Part 1, you can check it out here. πŸ‘ˆ
In part 2, I'll be talking about some transportations choices to move around in the main area. πŸ˜ƒ

Motorcycle taxi

Just like in Bangkok, motorcycle taxis are also available in Phuket and widely available at Phuket Town and Patong. This is a cheap & efficient way for you to reach your destination faster especially during rush hour. You can easily find this taxis around the time especially in front of convenience store (7-eleven, Family Mart etc.). The drives are easily recognised wearing red or blue vest. 


But not sure if they are willing to take passengers for a long distance trip like Patong-Town. The price depends on your destination, but mostly for foreign tourists, they demand from 100 baht. Make sure you negotiate and decide your price before using their service. I took motorcycle taxi from my hotel to Chillva Market (about 4km away) for 100 baht. The taxi was about 300 baht. However, if you are travelling in a big group, you might wanna consider to take a taxi or tuk tuk instead.


Local bus

I think the local bus is the most suitable transportation choice for low budget travellers. The price per route is less than 50 baht. Even though it's cheap but it's slow because the bus will make some stops before reaching your destination. I personally like the bus because of its uniqueness using wooden floor open traditional blue buses. Some buses do not have AC and you still able to see electronic fans in the bus.The buses operate between around 7am to 6pm everyday. No timetable is available. 
I think it's actually a lorry transformed into a bus.


The interior of the bus. You can see the electronic fans.
I took this bus from the Town to Patong just for 30 baht per person. You can find the bus stops at Ranong Road, a walking distance from Thalang Road. They don't have a specific terminal building or bus stop signs for the buses but you'll recognise them parked beside the road waiting passengers. Different buses will have different route and you can see their destinations written on the bus. But sometimes no English name, so don't be shy to ask the bus drivers for your bus. Or else you'll wasting your time and money going to other places. 😜

These are the popular bus stops if you are travelling from Town to Patong or vice versa:
*There are also some other stops as well along the way.

Town (Ranong Rd.) → Central Festival Mall → Jungceylon Mall/ Bangla Rd → Patong Beach

Tuk Tuk

Tuk tuk is very well known in Bangkok and is considered a cheap public transportation but NOT in Phuket. Since the main income in Phuket comes from tourism, tuk tuk drivers place ridiculously high prices to the their passengers eventough the distance is just about 2~3km. Unlike tuk tuk in Bangkok, mostly tuk tuk in Phuket are modified small lorry and they are usually coloured red.

If you are a solo traveller or a low-budget traveller, I don't recommend you to use tuk tuk. The cheapest price that I can get was 500 baht one way from Patong to Big Buddha. So round trip will be 1000 baht!!! 😑I'm going to spend that kind money just to see a Big Buddha. I can take another 1-day island tour with the same amount of money. Eventually I didn't take it. Plus, I was over-spent too. πŸ˜“

At Patong beach, you can see many tuk tuks along the road every time you passes them, each drivers will approach you promote their mini-tour. Sometimes it gets annoying but don't stressed out 😝, a polite "no" will be appropriateπŸ˜€πŸ‘.



Taxi/Grab Car

If you are planning to travel in a group of more than 3 people or money is not an issue to you, just use a taxi. Mostly that I aware, they are using Toyota Camry. The cost are is quite expensive but reasonable. Sometimes, you'll find that tuk tuk is much more expensive compared to taxi. My experience, a tuk tuk asked me for 700 baht from Patong to Town, but when a Grab Car (a taxi) has a fixed price of 460 baht. So, you might wanna compare these prices before deciding which transportation to take.

Even though Grab Car service is available in Phuket, unlike in Malaysia, they do not offer Grab Car (economy), the one that offers ride on a stranger's car like Uber, but rather you are calling a taxi or limo. Well, the good thing is you just don't need to argue to use the meter or negotiate your price because the price is fixed as decided by the app. But you would hardly find Grab Car taxis in the Town area compared to Patong.



26 January 2017

Travel: Phuket Trip, Transportation (Part 1)

Based on my experience during my trip to Phuket for 4D3N, there are limited options of transportation available to move around in Phuket. Since the attraction spots in Phuket is actually quite separated from each other, you might wanna prepare enough budget for transportation cost. It might be costly especially if you are planning to travel solo.
I'd like to share you some of transportation choices I learnt while in Phuket based on my personal opinion. I hope it will be useful.

Minibus

This is the cheapest transportation that perhaps you can get especially departing from Phuket International Airport to various destinations. The price is less from 200 baht per person. Just right after you exit the arrival hall, you will immediately notice some booths selling tickets of the minibus. You won't miss the booth.

The price from the airport to Patong beach costs you 180 baht per person. If you wish to go to Phuket Town, the ticket price is 150 baht. The price varies depends on the location. The prices are displayed at their booth. I wish I could show the price list of other destinations but unfortunately I was too excited when arrived and forgot to take one. 😭

Image source: Google
http://www.khaolaktravelcenter.com/


The minibus was quite comfortable. It was a big van with AC. It took us around 40~60 minutes to reach Patong beach. There are nothing much to watch along the way, but if you are a first-timer in Thailand, it might be fun the stay awake and watch the busy road of Phuket.

However, there is one thing which I don't really like with this minibus. In my case, the bus will make a brief stop around 10~20 minutes at a travel agency. They will ask everyone to get off the bus to. Then, the some travel agents will approach us asking our accommodations. I was informed that they need the accommodations details so the driver could send us directly to the place. Then, they'll promote their island tour package but we politely refused then returned back to the bus.

I was so afraid that I took the picture of the travel agency just in case. πŸ˜‚


First, I was afraid that this might be a scam to force us joining their tour package, but when we googled (luckily we bought SIM card at the airport earlier), it seemed to be a common practice for some minibus companies to make the stop and confirm back the exact location of the passengers' hotels so they could plan their route properly. They should've mention this before getting in the minibus. 

Since my hotel was in the Phuket Town, we just mentioned them to drop us at Patong beach instead of to any specific hotels. They dropped us in the centre of the Patong area, at Bangla Road near to Jungceylon Shopping Mall.

Overall, quite satisfied with the service, worth the price, comfortable and safe. Except if you experience the brief stop at the travel agency, a polite "no" might be appropriate. If you are interested to join the tour packages, do not rush. There are still lots of travel agencies at Patong with much more cheaper price.

.....stay tuned for Part 2

Continue reading to Part 2



12 January 2017

Resolutions

Why do people do make new goals or resolutions every time a new year is coming? People said it is a motivation for one to be better than the year before. But does it have to a new year? Logically, if someone wanna be better, they should start now instead of waiting a new year. Procrastination is thief of time. The more you procrastinate, to more you lose. Time never waits and never stops. What I’m trying to say is if someone wants to be better, they set new goals to that direction, don't wait. Just do it.

But to start something is easier said than done. For most people, we usually like the idea of a new year’s resolution because we feel much comfortable with the feeling of starting something new in a “new” time. As if we start a new life where you start something clean. I think we have higher motivation to achieve our goals in the beginning of the year.

Me, myself have made some new resolutions for 2017 (which I’m not gonna expose here). At the same time, simultaneously continuing my 2016’s. I’ve always wanted to achieve something big but I don't want that achievement is judged by the incomes I earn, amount of money nor materials I have. I want to achieve something that is meaningful to me and everyone else. It just that I still don't know what is that I want to achieve.

In the meantime of exploring my potential, I think I’d like focus on myself. So, I’ve decided to set motto of the year.

BE SELFISH
BE INDEPENDENT


I wish to describe more what is the meaning behind these, but I don't think I can explain very well. (I’m such a bad writer.) So, I leave it to you figure it out. You are freely to think whatever you want.

05 January 2017

My 2016

Well, like always everyone around the globe celebrated the countdown New Year’s Eve, then some probably have thought about to start new resolutions for 2017 to live a better, happier and more productive life than the year before. But actually, to be better, we don’t need to wait for new year to change, in fact we can change anytime we want. Yet, I believe most people prefer to make major changes in the beginning of the year. Perhaps, most of us just love the idea of starting new in a new year, giving us the feeling of starting all over again (because you can’t rewind your own life.)

I just beat 2016!

Eventhough we’ve already went through few days after 2017, I hope it’s not too late to write something about my 2016. I’ve learnt a lot in 2016 about how to be independent and be myself. Most of the time, we restrain ourselves from doing something we might want/love to do because we are too afraid of what other people might think of us. So, I kept reminding myself to “Just do it!” just like the Nike always said and I stop living in other people’s opinion too much.

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt in 2016 was making choices. No matter what happens, bad or good, we do always can choose of what person we want to be. You can choose to be sad, be happy, mad, productive, etc. This is something that I should’ve known before, the power of decide.

Keeping those in mind, I decided to go for travelling. With low budgets, in 2016, I managed to travel 4 countries nearby in separated trips. I went to Siem Reap (Cambodia), Bangkok (Thailand), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), and Yogyakarta (Indonesia).



The most adventurous trip was in Bangkok which my 4D3N trip was a solo travel. My only guide were my phone and my travel book. Most of the time I walked instead of taking tuktuk. I woke up early in the morning, went out early to see how a sleeping city woke up. People starting their daily routines. Seeing people went to work, open their shops, cleaning the streets, delivering flowers to the temples, taxi/tuktuk drivers waiting for passengers, the monks started to pray in the temples etc. Each person was playing different roles is what created Bangkok. But like other cities or countries, people do what they do because of one similar reason, to survive. Made me wondered why we should hate somebody or group of people just because they are different from us. Plus, they never chose to be different.

Well, I don't wish to elaborate too much about my trip, but that is just one of few things what made me thought deeper than before while in Bangkok. The issue is not new, but if something really happens in front of your eyes and experience it, it affects deeply.

As folks say don't judge a book by its cover,
don't judge me by the books I've read.

Other than travelling, I decided to start reading. I’m not a fan of books but I encouraged myself to read something. When I did, it was strangely a satisfied experience. A friend told me that reading could make your mind occupied and make you forget the problems you have for a moment. I thought that was ridiculous but after experienced it, I have to admit she was right. Still, I had difficulty to finish few books as I lost my reading motivation in the middle of reading which eventually I didn’t finish reading the book. Here, I’ve learnt a trick in reading. Just stop read the book, then buy and start reading a new book you interested in. The more you force yourself to read a book you are not interested in, the more you’ll waste your time making reasons not to read.

Those are few things happened in my 2016. Just to shared some of mind. How’s your 2016?