the unfortunate life of mr. pai
paikia
A Malaysian blogger, software developer who lives and works in Singapore. Typical Otaku (宅男). Love photography and traveling. Involved in iPhone apps dev, content delivery system and web sites development.
Posts by paikia
Cameron Highland: Steamboat @ Restoran Highlands
Sep 2nd
The chilling weather made us want to have something that can keep us warm. Steamboat dinner was the best choice! Steamboat here wasn’t eat-all-you-can, it came with a fixed portion. The price at Restoran Highlands was RM16++/person.
Waiting is always the most painful moment, especially steamboat, still need to wait the soup to boil. I’m hungry!
Cameron Bharat Tea Plantations – Orange Pekoe Tea
Aug 30th
We went to two tea plantations on our 2-days Cameron trip. The visit to Cameron Bharat Plantations was on the first day. This plantations was well-known for their Orange Pekoe tea. They have their website and now you can order online! http://bharattea.com.my (not good, a heavily flash site)
This was also the first time I put my Colkin Gradutaed Neutral Density filter to field test. It mainly reduces the light transmission and darken the sky instead of getting a overly-bright sky.
Cameron Highland: Hotel Check In
Aug 15th
By the time we reached our hotel – Strawberry Park Resort was around 3pm. We took the route from Simpang Pulai. It is much wider than the original Tapah way. At least there are 2 lanes for up hill and road is less winding.
At the very last minute, we adding in 2 more persons, but the hotel have run out of room, so we need to squeeze 7 persons in an apartment. Luckily the apartment was spacious enough, 2 big bedrooms and a large living room with 2 additional mattress.
I guess morning glory is the most easiest growing plant in Cameron, can easily spotted anywhere.
Cameron Highland Trip: In the Peugeot 308
Aug 12th
During the Singapore National Day long weekend, we went up to Cameron Highland. 7 of us taking 2 cars. I was with EngChin new French car Peugeot 308.
We woke up in the early 6 am and went for Dimsum at a kopitiam in Johor Jaya and then started the long long 7+ hours journey to Cameron Highland.
Marina Promonade
Jul 29th
This bunch of photos was taking during last time the NDP NE2. Almost forgot about it.
After the fireworks, we scrolled to the Marina Bay Sand. Part of the Double Helix bridge was closed due to the rehearsal at the Float.
Braun Buffel Wallet
Jul 27th
For the past 10 years, I have changed 4 wallets. All of them worn out after long hours crushing by my butt .
Recently bought a new wallet on TGSS2010, two recommendations from my friends for Braun Buffel. They said this Germany brand is durable. Well, will update you, if it survives after 2.5 years.
NDP2010 NE Show 2 Fireworks: Photos and Tips
Jul 19th
On last Saturday, I went out with Marshall and Elfred for the NDP2010 NE2 fireworks photography at Marina Bay area. This was just a NDP rehearsal, officials said the fireworks on NE is just 10% of the total fireworks to be set off on actual day. Too bad NDP that day, we will be at Cameron Highlands.
In the next few following weeks, there will be still fireworks. So don’t miss it.
- NE3 – 24 July 2010
- Preview Parada – 31 July 2010
- (of course!) NDP 2010 – 9 Aug 2010
We set up our tripod and camera in front Esplanade around 7:45pm. The first fireworks was quite short, just a few bursts. Turn out that we were consider too near to the fireworks! Above photo I managed to get the Marina Sands inside, but the firework was cropped.
At the same spot, after slightly angle adjustment to my camera and we had waited another half an hour. Finally, the final round fireworks started. It was a 3-minutes long fireworks. Hm.. Imagine the actual NDP will have a 30 minutes long fireworks show.
Good Sony Commercial Photo Comes from Canon?!
Jul 14th
Sony announced the newest TX9 and WX5 camera lately. However the EXIF extracted from the whole series of commercial photos show that they were taken using Canon 5D Mark II. This is quite embarrassing for Sony.
Although this is common to engage 3rd party advertising film to do the photography. For Sony, maybe next time you should ensure the photographers are using Sony Alpha DSLR, or even more simple, just remove EXIF before exporting.
This is another déjà vu situation like the last time Microsoft commercial was being processed on Apple.
Phuket Big Buddha
Jul 6th
Visiting Phuket Big Buddha was not inside our schedule. Just because on the way visiting Wat Chalong, we had already spotted the prominent big buddha statue from far far away. This place was still in the middle of construction, it was so new that the database wasn’t even in the GPS yet.
After we left Wat Chalong, we drove into a small road off Chao Fa Road East and all the way leading up the hill. It was a 6km crooked road drive.
Phat Heineken
Jul 1st
A convenient store was just right next to our hotel. 7 days in Taiwan, I had been loitering there daily to check out interesting snacks and drinks. I also noticed that Taiwan carbonated soft drinks are more gas than ours.
Found this 750ml Heineken fat edition is cute, just make me want to drink beer more. Why don’t we have this in Singapore too?
