3rd Jan 2010 Chinatown Walkabout Gathering

I organized a photography walk last weekend with a group of photographers from Shutterasia.com via facebook invitation to Petaling Street which is Kuala Lumpur's version of Chinatown. I chose it to be in the morning as it seems more authentic in the morning rather than in the afternoon and evening as there are more foreigners such as Nepalese, Burmese, Indonesians manning the stalls.

We met up at 7.30am at Hon Kee Porridge stall. No pictures as I forgot to bring my flsh and my camera doesn't take good photos in low light. There were 10 of us in total as LY joined us at last minute.

This was Hon Kee Porridge stall's upstairs level...very old school feel..

After breakfast, we took a stroll to the wet markets. Market transactions were aplenty here.

My photo was overexposed...sigh...

I was told that naughty bunnies who steal will end up with chopped paws like these...*gulps*...

Maybe it was because of shyness, I didn't take that many photos in the market. I wasn't sure if the sellers like their photos being taken or not...

This was taken just outside Madras Lane. Traditional shoplots run down but still intact.

It's Sunday. The parking rules doesn't apply on Sundays and Public Holidays.

Just as luck would have it, I forgot to charge my camera again (1st time was in Sekinchan) and my power was flickering out as we walked to the back to Kwong Siew Temple. Once we reached the temple, there were a couple of beggars waiting outside. Word of caution, give each beggar individually if you wish to be charitable.

They look like siblings, right?

This Taoist temple was built in 1886 and is a temple dedicated to the deity, Kwang Ti.

These were taken from the temple.

This would have been perfect if I had shot this from the bottom-most but Hunny scare me till I didn't dare to stand directly underneath it.

This Dragon Robe was cropped from a robe meant to be burnt to worship the higher ranking deities in the temple.

After the temple, we walked towards Petaling Street for drinks at the foodcourt. We sat directly under the aircond...it was noisy but cooling. That was when Tangachi joined us.

After drinks, we headed towards Central Market and shot around there. EK, a newbie to the forum hurried me over and pointed excitedly at the puddle.

By then, my camera was on high alert on serious shutdown time. I offed my camera and went ahead to visit Central Market. It has been 5 years since I last stepped in to Central Market and was pleasantly surprised how commercially transformed it was. It's really beautiful. We even went to the annexxe and visited the art exhibition there.

After Central Market, we adjoured for lunch. WaiSikMeow led us a big round to Lai Foong Kopitiam. He had gotten it mixed up with Zhing Kong Kopitiam. Lai Foong is famous for their beef noodles but I tried their Freshwater Prawns Yee Mee and was disappointed by the taste as it was so so so bland! It wasn't cheap either at RM13 a portion.

Photo by Hunny

The rest had Char Kuay Teow and Roasted Meat rice whereas Tangachi and WaiSikMeow ate thru 1.5 bowls of beef noodles and just the "liew".

It was a memorable and fun outing. More photos can be viewed at these urls

here
&
here

Thanks to Hunny, Li Lian, WSM, Tangachi, Ah Fai, OM, Eugene, Lee Yin and Kenny for making it to this outing. Hope to see you all at the next outing to Pudu!

Bunny Learns at Jetfynn's Studio in Ipoh

Wasabi and Vixen wanted their passport photos taken for member and student card purposes and off we trotted to Jetfynn's Studio. Jetfynn is our acquaintance through the local photography forum shutterasia. We normally chat online but most of our friends have never met Jetfynn in real life before.


Jetfynn is currently lecturing at a college in Ipoh on top of his job as a full time photographer. He was kind enough to invite all of us into his studio for an inpromptu lesson in studio photography. He is also very professional in taking all photos as he is not those run of mill photographers who do not take decent photos. Jetfynn always captures poses at its best. Here's some of my shots.

Here is Wasabi posing...

Jetfynn is really an excellent photographer and his rates are affordable. Many couples and families look for him to take their photographs and he is very patient and motivational. Do give him a call if you are interested in getting any event photography done.

Bunny's Ipoh Makan Trip With Friends

Hunny took Bunny to Ipoh for a brief breakaway in early September. We were joined by friends from KL and PJ for a eating trip. We started off by having breakfast in Foh San. Foh San is famous for their fresh and tasty old school dimsum and was housed in a very old building (read Breakfast Day 2's entry) but they have shifted to their new premises this year and have lost its charm as well as modernized their menu...*sigh*...another heritage gone. Gone is another era of the old time feel where once we could see old timers bring their birds in cages to show off whilst having a cup of chinese tea and some dim sum.

I didn't take too many photos but you are welcomed to see another friend's blog on Foh San as he took the most pictures.

This is one of the modern dim sums which is made from bitter gourd and minced pork. I like it as it has a hint of bitterness paired with fatty saltiness. A some what healthy steamed dumpling.


The steamed fish balls. My Hunny said it tasted nice and fresh.

The Yam and Pork Deep Fried Dumpling (Wu Kok). Char Siu like pork encased in yam, battered and deep fried...not too oily and it's yummy.

The Char Siu Bao...fragrant with a mixture of fatty lean meat.

The Big Bao (Tai Bao) is often eaten as a meal of it's own due to its big size. You can smell the fragrance of the ingredients and chinese wine when it is served.

The interior....WOW!!! A hard boiled egg and marinated chicken meat and some preserved sausage cooked with chinese rice wine. I only ate the skin...not the filling...

Another view of the Big Bao.

Here is a full table shot of what we had.

All the enthusiatic photographers taking a shot of the dimsum.

The Dim Sum meal for 7 of us cost RM85. We were saving our tummies for more food.

Next up, we went to Ching Han Guan which i visited last year and they were busy making mooncakes. All the mooncakes are still handmade and not mass produced by machines like the other brands in the market. They are sold out on certain types everyday and hence need to make alot to cover the market demand.

Here you can see the sifu (skilled master) working non-stop flattening the dough, filling it and shaping it into little balls filled with the yam paste.

The balls are then pushed into the wooden block moulds to create the square mini mooncakes that will be baked.

6 pieces for RM8.80. Very nice and not too sweet. I love the yam paste filled mini mooncakes. Yummy!

Next up, we went to Kek Lok Tong to walk walk and shoot some photos. We then went to Loke Wee Koi and Kong Heng of which I left the photo taking to WaiSekMeow as he has not eaten at these places before. We had ice cream soda float and pang dai woon juice (Pennyworts/daun pegaga besar) and shared some Gai Geok Bao (Chicken feet skin wrapped with chicken liver and gizzard which is then roasted and marinated with a char siu like sauce)

Next up, Roger wanted to get his passport photo taken and off we trotted to Jetfynn's studio. Jetfynn is another photo member of shutterasia.com of whom we are of acquaintance with. I will blog about him in another entry.

After that, we drove about 60km from Kampar to Tg Tualang not knowing that it could have been accessible from Batu Gajah's way. Tg Tualang is famous for their freshwater prawns. We had 2 types of freshwater prawns and that cost us RM155 for that 2 dishes. Freshwater prawns in my opinion tastes best if cooked like Sang Har Meen (egg sauce noodle) style. Hunny don't fancy them as they lack the prawny taste that sea prawns have. Please read WaiSekMeow's blog for a full review.

After the prawns, we drove back to Kampar for their famous charcoal claypot chicken rice. When we reached there, my mood was spoilt by my Sales Manager who called to scold me for the absence of my Sales Promoter and that really marred my mood. I was so angry that I couldn't take any steady photos or even enjoy the claypot chicken rice. From now on, if I am on holiday, I will make it a point not to pick up my phone if it's work related. As usual, do read WSM for full review.

From what I have eaten, I felt it was nice because it had the nice charcoal heat taste but other than that...it tasted normal. My Hunny enjoyed the "Farn Jiu" (crispy rice pieces) that are usually found at the bottom of the claypot.

That concludes my Ipoh makan trip with friends and all that we ate came up to roughly RM48 per person. Some foods were hits and misses but it was the company that we enjoyed the most. I can hardly wait for the next trip. It was fun going out with this group :)

Bunny Goes To 1st Hot Air Balloon Festival at Putrajaya

Last Saturday, Hunny and I went to Putrajaya to shoot the 1st Hot Air Balloon Festival. It was the 1st time for me to be in Putrajaya at daytime. Here are some of the pictures that I took...

The setting up of the 1st Hot Air Balloon - Nescafe












The fire heat was very very hot....I could feel it even though I was about 20 to 30 feet away from it.

There were throngs of people there by 7am...majority armed with DSLRs.




The authorities only let us in at 7.30am and we only had 15 minutes to shoot pictures before they shooed us out.



When they shooed us out, Hunny drove us towards PICC where the balloons would be landing nearby for a shot in the sky view. We parked at the VIP parking right in front of Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) and the view was breathtaking.

Too bad my camera's zooming abilities were limited but here are some of my best shots.






That's all from my Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Coverage.