Wantunn mee

Infrared, originally uploaded by wantunn.

First try with my IR converted 20D. Still having problems getting the focusing right but this one turned out ok.

Random Macro , originally uploaded by wantunn.

Been doing way too many macros these days.
This shot of random insects (ants?) on a random plant taken in the Singapore Zoo, with my 100mm/2.8 and 580exII on manual with the deflector out.

Pygmy Hippo, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Have not been to the Zoo without the kids for as long as I can remember. Had a pretty fun but sweaty time today shooting with netjackal and the other members of the 1000d club.

Happy Birthday!, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Another year, another cupcake.

Year of the Cow, originally uploaded by wantunn.

It’s my year next year. The year of the Cow. Unfortunately, it’s supposed to be a bad year every time your animal rolls around, i.e. once every 12 years.

Curves, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Something a little different this time, went for a walk from Hort Park to Vivo city instead of the usual sit down and eat (although we still sat down and ate, too much, at the end).

Extra Joss, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Spending the week in Manila doing some training and was introduced to this item: Extra Joss. It’s like red bull in powder form, just add 200ml of water.

Food wise we’ve been pigging out. Huge selection and the prices can be really cheap, e.g. pan pizza with soup and drink @ 99 pesos from Pizza Hut.

Need to go to the gym more!

IMG_2848, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Went for the practice day (Friday) thanks to a free ticket from Varfie. We were seated in the Padang area but on hindsight, walking around would have been better for the 2 of us who were mainly there to take photos.

Overall, the event was very well organised although the fencing was really high in most areas making it difficult to get good photos of the cars in action. Also, there were loads of people walking around in the grandstands that made for more then a few accidental “headshots”.

Food was aplenty, from food republic stalls to hardrock cafe. The catch? Kopi-O cost $2.50 and a chicken rice set, $10. Thankfully, you could exit and re-enter so more then a few people (us included) hopped over to Funan for dinner.

The crowd level was bearable although it did get bottlenecked at spots. Kudos to the police handling crowd control for reacting pretty quickly to that. At one of the choke points, they opened a new exit for people looking to leave the race area while stopping additional people form going into the choked area.

The weather was pretty ok for Singapore, no rain, not too hot either. However, the usual humidity meant I went through 3 t-shirt changes before I got home.

So did it make a fan out of me? Nope. I still have not much inkling on the whole race but it was certainly fun to be there to soak in the atmosphere.

Hop over to Flickr for more.

Harris, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Back from my short short break to Batam. Stayed at the harris batam (http://www.harris-batam.com/). Hotel was a little old (they’re building a new extension now) but the spa was recently renovated and the price unbeatable. $218 for a 4 hour spa, and get this, 1-for-1 for the month of September.

Anyway, we went for 2 4-hour sessions and learned the following:
- Hot and cold stone massage sounds better then it actually is. The stones were either too hot or too cold
- If the water level in your jacuzzi keeps dropping, it’s not magic. Check if someone stepped on the draining plug and accidentally dislodged it.
- 4 hours is a long time.
- Short thin women are actually quite strong and can give rather painful massages.

The recently renovated spa basically occupied the top floor of the building and consisted of a bunch of individual massage huts with curtains and bamboo blinds separating each other and basically each hut is built for 2 persons (couple huts). During one of the sessions, we heard 2 guys in the hut behind us. From their conversation, I guess they were having the complimentary spa and did not know it was actually a couple hut. So two guys in a couple hut having a massage and then they realise that there is only 1 jacuzzi which they had to SHARE. Thats when they couldn’t stop giggling and one of them loudly proclaims “Wo zhe meh gen wo de lau po jiao dai” (translated: what am I going to tell my wife).

Other thing we overheard was a couple making out in another hut. The girl couldn’t keep her ah-hem, volume down. It got cut off real quick when the masseur came by to tell them their time was up. She switched from moaning to “hang on, we’re still changing” real quick.




P.S. Coffee soda sounds better then it tastes.