Sibu Sarawak

Tam Coc .. part 2....

Entrance to one of the water grotto....
Inside the grotto....the cave ceiling just touching your head....
the exit and continuing journey....
local tourist also taking the weekend break to relax... 
at this point.. there are still 1 hour 30 minute more to go. Most of the boatman and women, old. So if you kind enough, just give generous tips.

Tam Coc, Ninh Binh, Vietnam...

Last weekend I visited Tam Coc, in Ninh Binh province, about 2 hour plus bus ride from Hanoi. It cost around USD18, including bus ride, lunch, boat tiket and English speaking tour guide.. barely. There are many tour guide operator around Hoan Kiem Lake. You can bargain for the best price if you wish so. 

The journey start around 830am, reach there 2 hour plus later. The boat ride will be around 2 hours. But I bet you won't notice the time passing by. There's additional visit to the historical temple. I advise you to bring along hat as the sun is scorching hot... 
For foreigh tourist, the boat operator only allow 2 person per boat.... so bring your partner along. I have no partner that day, so I have to wait .... 

This is what I found in wikipedia.

Tam Coc - Bich Dong (Vietnamese: Tam Cốc - Bích Động) is a popular tourist destination near the city of Ninh Binh in northern Vietnam.

The Tam Coc (“three caves”) portion is a three-hour excursion by small boat along the Ngo Dong river, beginning at the village of Van Lam and proceeding through a scenic landscape dominated by rice fields and karst towers. The route includes floating through three natural caves (Hang Ca, Hang Hai, and Hang Ba), the largest of which is 125m long with its ceiling about 2m high above the water. The boats are typically rowed by one or two local women who also sell embroidered goods.

Bich Dong is a pagoda on nearby Ngu Nhac Mountain dating to 1428, comprising three structures: Ha, Trung, and Thuong Pagodas, in ascending order. Guided tours generally cover historical points and end with a pleasant view from the top.

The boat crusing the local village along the river.
Natural washing machine...
Cyling the boat oars... a rare talent... 

Panasonic Lumix FZ28

I finally bought Panasonic Lumix FZ28 camera, a bridge camera.... after long consideration. I hope with this camera I can better myself in my long forgotten hobby.

I have to prepare myself first and get acquainted with all the tips and tricks before settling with DSLR. 

For now,  my photography experimentation will  begin with this camera.

Maybe I should get bridge camera....

It's has been quite some time that I want to upgrade my Pentax A20 compact digital camera to a better camera...  better compact camera. I am not ready yet to carry around a heavy camera, complete with all the the complicated accessories, each time I go on travelling.....

For all this while, my compact partner has been doing his job well above my expectation... but we human as always can never satisfy.... 

My Pentax optical zoom at 3x is inadequate.... I need zoom 10X or more... 15X is better.... Sometime during travelling, we need to zoom or super zoom, to capture the moment we desire....Like photo of human face expression, photos of action etc....I faced difficulty in getting good close up natural shot of beautiful moments without disturbing the subject.....Once a moment lost, it's lost forever....

And standard 35mm is not wide angle enough... I need lower than that..  28m maybe or 18mm would be better.... So I don't need to step back again each time I need to snap photo of close subject....

At first I am thinking on buying compact digital with 10x zoom and wide angle as per my previous blog entry. But this camera manufacturer company..... they're really intelligent and professional in getting your money, especially from people like me who are not yet keen in owning a complicated and expensive DSLR ....  

They created a new category (not so new actually lah....) of camera in between compact camera and DSLR.... a bridge camera. 

This is from wikipedia... 

Bridge digital cameras are a type of high-end digital camera. They are comparable in size and weight to the smallest digital single-lens reflex cameras (DSLRs), but they lack the removable lenses, larger sensors,^[1] mirror, and reflex system that characterize DSLRs. The term "bridge" characterizes the way in which these cameras fill the niche between the DSLRs and the compact digital cameras. Although bridge cameras are closely related to consumer compacts, they are sometimes confused with DSLRs due to their similar bodies and large zoom lenses. Almost all bridge digital cameras feature full manual controls overshutter-speed, aperture, ISO, white-balance and metering. Generally, their feature sets are similar to DSLRs, except for a smaller range of ISO sensitivities due to their smaller sensors (a DSLR has a 35mm,APS, or 4/3 size CCD or CMOS) and fewer expandability options (such as interchangeable lenses, battery grips, and wireless flash options).

For better details.. read wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_digital_camera

For me, the reason perhaps the following:

• Reasonable pricing, in between compact digital camera and DSLR
• Single zoom lens for macro, wide angle, zoom and superzoom
• Can capture movie... this option is available in compact digital  and high end DSLR...
• no need for me to invest on additional lenses...
• Smaller and lighter then DSLR....

Jogjakarta Visit: Photo series 2....

Photo of local silver handicraft not far away from Candi Borobudur....

Candi Mendut.. located not far from the famous Candi Borobudur.... it's older than the Borobudur... During festivities, local Hindu still conduct ritual from this Candi to Borobudur...
Restoration work ongoing at Candi Borobudur... one of UNESCO world heritage....
One of the view inside one of the Borobudur levels...  if you noticed, the stone blocks were placed interlocked each other... there's no cement or concrete used. That's why the restoration work is a tedious work... the stone need to be  sculpted into a interlocking block shape...manually
Buddha idol inside the stupa.
View from one the 4 steps to climb the Borobudur.... the weather was not so good that day.. if not, we can see Mount Kidul not far away... mystical mountain in Javanesse tradition...
Buddha statue inside the stupa.....
The stupa that contain and protect the statues.........

Jogjakarta visit: Photo siri 1

Dear readers....

Two weeks ago I visited Jogjakarta or Yogyakarta or Djogjakarta... There's no standard spelling for the town, as mentioned by the local...

The following are the photos I managed to snap with my compact camera... some of the photos were snapped by the friendly local, as I a am a solo tourist...

This is Jalan Malioboro, the famous street in Jogja... famous for the roadside stalls selling Javanese Batik, handicraft, Dagadu T-Shirt, delicious street food...You can find many hotels along the road, the luxury or the budget hotels... for the budget hotels, the room is clean and service is good...
Bank Indonesia colonial style building... beca (trishaw) is common transport in Jogja... you can hire the beca for affordable rate and they are kind enough to give you a ride around town...

My advise is, take the beca ride early in the morning, so you can enjoy Jogja beautiful old scenery.....You can see quite a number of old people cycling using old fashioned 'Speda Ontel'.... by 9am the good old scenery will be polluted by modern transportation especially motorcycles...

This is Taman Sari... Once were the Java Keraton forbidden garden and private bath area... during the heyday, it was told around 20's concubines lived together here....
The main entrance of the Taman Sari... as you can see the entrance door is quite low... this was politically built on purposed.. so that that anyone who enter, must bow down... especially for the 'bule'...
Photos captured inside the underground mosque, inside the Keraton area... it was told during Dutch colonial era, the Muslim Java Keraton have to perform the Islamic ibadah not openly.... so they built the underground mosque complete with place to conduct Jumaat prayer....
one of the view inside the Underground Mosque...the 5 stairs represent the 5 pillars of Islam and the 9 steps represents the Wali Songo....
Gamelan musician and singer performing during shadow playing (wayang kulit)... in Classic Java language which I do not understand at all.....

The Keraton Guards taking breaks....