IMPRESSIONS AND IMAGES: 2007

So generally we like to visit different places while on vacation but when some of your best friends travel half way round the world for business, well you gotta visit them. Right?

So we met up with Jen and Dean and hung out at Starbucks, shopped, got lost in crazy malls, almost left Jen C for dead (starvation) in the crazy mall, ate at Pizza Hut (when we finally found it in that crazy mall), had coffee at Starbucks, took taxis everywhere (because it's just too cheap to consider anything else), went to the Singapore Zoo, and had Starbucks, oh and Jen and Dean spent a lot of time in the hotel elevator!

After I took this shot the bee turned around and started to attack me. The Jenns and Dean thought it was funny. I however, did not!

Smiling or Angry? Who can tell?

I love rhinoceroses.

Here is Jenn taking shots on 'her own' digital SLR.

I must say her shots are VERY impressive too!

Not sure how this little bugger injured his finger but it healed in a peculiar way don't you think?

I was amazed how human-like these parents treated this little rascal. He was trying to push the boundaries and they let him go just far enough, without leaving their parental safety net.

One of these things is JUST like the others. One of these things is EXACTLY the same!

Look at the professional grip Jenn has on her camera. Dean's left handed, so don't give him a hard time about his grip

I don't care what the sign said about the "red gluteus maximus" meaning the baboons were in heat, if my arse looked like that I would be seeking immediate medical attention!!!!

Not sure what this guy is called, but he was cool looking.

Check out the beads of sweat on Jenn's face. Even in the cool season, it is hot and wet in Singapore as it sits right on the equator.

The last time we visited the Singapore Zoo, this little guy jumped on my camera. However, with only one SLR back then, we could only CLAIM it had happened. Now you know.

This great photo was well-spotted and perfectly exposed by Jenn and her own Digital SLR

But once the little buggers are within arms length, Jenn can't help herself and must touch them (despite the warning signs asking people not to touch the animals)

Jenn got pretty close to this ostrich to grab this shot. Perfectly focused on the eye, even with such a shallow depth of field.

Jenn also noticed this creature skulking around.

The composition and depth of field are awesome - look out national geographic

Sadly, Jen C did not have her own camera, but I don't think she was too upset 'bout that...no distractions from just watching the animals.

In the Bugis Market you can find pretty well everything and if you look hard enough you might find the perfect watch. But only if you look REALLY hard.

The architecture was all over the place.

You can see old European style buildings and Uber-modern sky-scrapers.

Like this crazy all-black building.

And you can't go to Singapore without visiting this massive multi-level electronics store. Especially when you have a gadget guru like Dean in tow.

Duncan set up a long exposure shot to capture the light trailers of the traffic.

We headed out for a drink and were baffled when this pub had a whopping 3 kinds of beer.

Speaking of (or in your case, reading of) drinking, everyone has heard of a Singapore Sling. We read in our travel book that the Sling was invented in the bar at the Raffles Hotel. Since Raffles was only a few blocks from our hotel we headed down there to have a real Singapore Sling in Singapore in the place it was invented.

The actual bar had loads of character and pushed you back to a time of plantations and colonial style buildings where the rich would relax on the veranda and smoke cigars.

Here are the Jenns reactions when Dean told them the price of out 4 Singapore Slings. That's right, $100 Singapore Dollars for 4 drinks. To put it into perspective, we drove for close to an hour in a taxi to get to the Singapore Zoo and the taxi cost $15 Singapore Dollars including tip.

Y'ouch!!! Thanks Dean for the most expensive drink we have ever consumed.

And when that happens all you can do is laugh. Or is that a tear being squeezed out of the corner of Dean's eye?

This shot was taken an hour after we were served our drinks. All the ice had melted but Duncan was still too shocked to let more than a few drops touch his tongue at any one time.

So we headed our from our apartment and took the KCR from Hong Kong to Shenzhen China. It usually takes about 50 minutes on the train and to clear customs. BUT when we got on the platform pictured below is the scene we were faced with.

Panic shuddered through our bodies as we still had an hour long taxi ride to the Airport. And to add to the pressure, because we booked an uber-cheap vacation package on a discount airline, if we missed the plane we would have to pay for another flight or say "bye-bye" to our money and vacation hopes.

But we made it and were soon basking in one of the poshest 5 star hotels we've ever stayed at. The grounds were beautiful, they turned down our bed at night and I "stole" some of the most comfy slippers I've ever worn.

Postcard perfect grounds at the Nexus Resort on the Borneo side of Malaysia.

Our package included breakfast and this "Snake-Skin" fruit was delicious. You can equate the taste to a combination of strawberries and grapes with a bit of a chalky aftertaste.

Yummy

So we sat around the pool for a day or two before Jenn said "STOP taking my picture" and headed into the town of Kota Kinabalu.

Now, this was the first place we have been with a massive population of Muslims in the traditional clothing.

It was a little strange at first to order my Grande Latte at Starbucks or haggling down the price of souvenirs from a 15 year old girl wearing a Hijab .

We found a small handicraft market full of "stuff". The "stuff" was the same as one finds in most South East Asian markets but we were so surprised at how little touting there was in Malaysia.

After watching the pro chess players on the street, it was time to play on the massive outdoor chessboard back at the resort.

As you may have heard, Duncan is now the proud owner of a Canon 40D, which means he is not hogging "Jenn and Duncan's" camera the WHOLE time on vacation. In fact Jenn purchased her very own camera bag and gets to use her digital SLR full-time. Even in the rain if she so chooses.

So we set up the tripods and took some cool sunset shots.

The sunsets were very purple and blue. Perhaps it is the time of the year, but the tumultuous weather set up some cool clouds for our shots.

The 17mm wide angle worked a treat to capture the clouds and sea rolling in. With a long shutter speed, this shot shows a silky smooth ocean.

Only at the very end of the light could we get the orange and red sunset hues.

There was actually next to no available light in the shot below, which is why the ocean looks so flat and smooth. I think the shutter was open for more than 10 seconds.

This shot was shot in near darkness too. I love how the dark clouds look so foreboding. If you're wondering what that red smudge is, it is a buoy to show the safe swimming boundary .

So after driving into Kota Kinabalu and seeing some very cool mosques, we hired a taxi driver for 3 hours to drive us around so we could take picture. Jenn caught the attention of some local boys (as usual).

Once they knew what she was shooting, they all started doing crazy stuff like this chap jumping backwards into the water almost landing on his buddy.

There were a few Mosques we saw earlier so when the taxi driver went in the opposite direction to the Mosques we wanted to shoot, we wondered what was going on. The driver wanted to show us the State Mosque and I was really happy that he did. The architecture was very cool.

So after we left the State Mosque we headed to the City Mosque and asked the driver to drop us off so we could shoot the Mosque across the water.

Jenn took this cool shot through the concrete wall that surrounded the moat that surrounded the white and blue City Mosque.

Again the weather was threatening to storm all afternoon but held off. Very cool skies though.

Here is our "evidence of location" shot. Look Mum, we were in Malaysia and I didn't download this photos from iPhoto.

One night the sunset was so surreal I'm sure most people would think I used Photoshop magic to insert the skies, but I did not. The light had an eery feeling, similar to the hour or so before a tornado when the sky turns a yellowish colour.

Here Jenn is looking for a water monitor that liked to swim by our belcony. She is also wishing she had a 100mm Macro lens to take shot of flowers and insects.