Colours

Aerobics

2008-11-06T16:51:00.006Z

Awhile ago, there was an aerobic session just outside my office. On that day, I had my camera with me at the office and I managed to snap few pictures. I will share one or two here.

It's been a long time since I've posted anything on this blog. Many things happened over the last few weeks that tends to have slowed down my thinking a little. Generally, there are people who say I am a little lagging anyway, that I had to think hard for what to say or what to do sometimes. Well, just feel it's funny getting comments like that for various reasons....

Welcome Back Gathering

2008-07-28T20:03:00.002+01:00

About two weeks ago, a few of my colleagues organised a small gathering to welcome Tsuey Lin and me back to Brunei. There were food, drinks and a lot of karaoke. For me, my job can be quite stressful but one of the best things with it is that I have great colleagues who're also good friends. They're a bunch of fun people who love life.

If any of you is reading this, thanks for being such wonderful people. You rock...!!

KB Food

2008-07-23T19:43:00.002+01:00

It's good to be back in Brunei. It's business as usual in Kuala Belait (KB). One of the things I like about KB is the food available here. There are so many choices of food that sometimes I just get so lost when making my order. From noodles to all types of rice dishes, the standard of food from restaurants and foodstalls here is very high.
Here I'd like to introduce Butter Milk Prawn from Cottage Restaurant (located along Jalan Pretty) and KB famous Duck Rice from a foodstall near KB ChungHwa Middle School. For the latter, I don't know the real name of the stall but the locals call it 'Lou Fu Zai' Duck Rice (Little Tiger's Duck Rice). Both of the dishes are among my favourite KB food.

Butter Milk Prawn from Cottage Restaurant

'Lou Fu Zai' Duck Rice

More Madrid

2008-07-01T04:29:00.002+01:00

It's just a few days before I will fly back to Brunei. The work experience in UK has been great. In Brunei, work have always been very tedious, coping with ever changing plans and new emerged problems. Such are the challenges I'll have to face once again.
Anyway, below are few remaining selected photos of my Madrid trip.

More Street Musicians

In an indoor market. I don't know the name of those meat hanging there. Any idea what they're called?

Some random shots to share.

Look at those flowers and look at the sky. I thought it would rain but it didn't. Only that part of the sky had dark clouds but the sun was pretty bright behind me nevertheless.

The Royal Palace

More graffiti that I thought were quite nice :)

Madrid

2008-06-21T21:48:00.027+01:00

Just wanna share some pictures I took yesterday while walking in the streets of Madrid. I reached Madrid yesterday and first thing that struck me is that the weather here is as warm as Brunei which is a contrast to Aberdeen. It's not as humid as Brunei though.
Anyway, hope you'll like the pictures I took.

The exterior view of the hotel I stay.

The room I stay in. It's quite nice.

First thing I had once I left the hotel is a cup of tea.

After tea and some food, I went to Puerta del Sol area and this group of musicians were playing some classical tunes. They are really good.

While I walked on, I came across this couple, who were performing in the street. They were sitting still but what's interesting is that they were covered with mud all over their body. Everytime someone puts a coin in their jar, which is placed in front of them, they will robot move for a few seconds and then go back to being still again. I wonder how much they earn a day like that.

Some snapshots of the buildings. Look at the cloudless sky.

These two guys must be trying to make some special effects with their photos. I just assumed that because the subject is posing in front of green papers that they put on the wall prior to taking the photos.

Cinema. All the hollywood movies are translated to Spanish

I came across this lady who was floating. All the time she was posed with a buddha stance and clinging on to the bamboo next to her. She looked like she was floating or supporting herself with just one arm. Curious onlookers intrigued by this, approached her and she'd introduce them to whatever she's trying to promote. There's a lady behind her video recording all the curious faces around. It looked really real but of course it's fake.

Later, I came to an area where there's a promotion being held. Free shandy were handed to the public. Very refreshing.

There were artists doing graffiti on the wall too. Look at the many cans of spray paint they need.

The artists at work.

There will be some more pictures which I'll post over the next few days. In the meantime, have a good weekend!

Portrait of Myself

2008-06-16T09:51:00.007+01:00

Happy Father's Day to all dads and of course especially to my dad. I could only greet and wish him on the phone, but he sounded happy anyway.
Ok...weekend was quite quiet for me. I went out to get some stuff in town and stayed in my flat most times. I'll be leaving Aberdeen and travelling home to Brunei in three weeks time...hooray to all the food and getting to see my family I miss but boooo to going back to work. I dread to think about work but....life without work commitment is quite boring and demotivating as well. Challenge in life is to keep ourselves happy no matter what the situation is like. Easier said than done :)
Enough of that. Photo I have here is a portrait of myself. I browse through a photography website sometime ago and came across a picture which I think is interesting. In that picture, there are other pictures in it and they were presented such a way that they visually 'pop' out of the picture.
I decided to try that on my picture, something I feel is different from the norm. I am quite satisfied with the result.

The picture on the wall is an actual picture that is hanging on my flat but the other three on the floor are pictures taken by me and digitally put in. Notice I'm wearing my new shoes and dressed up for the shot (wink). Proper right?? I like it!
The shot was taken with a bouce flash from my camera, 18mm f/4.0, ISO 400, some warm ceiling light (that's why there are some yellowish and reddish tone) and some light from a nearby window.

Dinner Special II

2008-06-09T15:11:00.006+01:00

Yup this is a sequel to my post dated 17th March 2008, Dinner Special. Well, it is because miss Yap TL again invited Alex and myself to her house for dinner on Saturday night. She was away in Glasgow for a 2weeks work assignment and only got back on Friday. Still, she could prepare dinner for us the next day.

Well, this dinner is actually to celebrate Alex's belated birthday. Look at the food in the picture...nice. She made curry beef, fried noodles and spring onion pancake. We took our meal with some wine. It was a great night.

Food prepared by T Lin. Tasty!

Alex with his cake.

Puff.....
Trying to get an artistic shot...brrr....

New Pair of Shoes

2008-06-05T09:11:00.009+01:00

Last week after going into a few shoe stores in Aberdeen, I bought a new pair of shoes for myself. I chose this one as it kinda look old-school to me. It's been a long time since I bought a pair (one I wear now) and I have to say, I like this one.
So here, I've taken photos of it. Fabulous right?

Sunny Day Out

2008-06-02T11:07:00.006+01:00

It was another sunny weekend. Was out at Culloden Battlefield. It's an interesting venue but a little bit flat for me (my own opinion!) to take any landscape pictures with my 50mm lens.
However, I did take some portrait photos outside the Memorial Centre.

Stuart, Alex and John.

Stuart

Alex

BBQ Outing

2008-05-21T09:11:00.012+01:00

Yesterday wasn't a sunny day and was very cold but I had a desire to be out for a picnic or something. It's a funny thing but I just thought it'd be weird if you missed a bbq in the UK. Being very unpredictable as usual, the weather the day before yesterday was great with lots of sunshine.
However, the bbq was planned yesterday and a very last minute one (very typical of me!). Probably it's a good thing to apologise right here, to those who turned up on the short notice. One guy had to cancel his prior arrangement...won't mention names.....Sorry Alex but great you made it :)

Anyway, it was also quite a rush as food had to be bought right after work, we getting changed, setting up, etc. Initial plan was to have the BBQ at Duthie Park but we found out that it's not allowed there. So we went to Torry instead. In my opinion, this turned out to be a better place.
It was a nice small gathering, four of us, food, and a frisbee.

Look at those delicious beef patties...yummy.

Lighthouse View in Black & White

Frisbee throwing people (Tsuey Lin and Eric)

Our Shoes

Looking at UFO or simply watching out for seagulls spray....ahhh those evil things.

Alex posing

Enjoying the fresh air. I need a haircut. Thanks to Alex for taking the picture of me.

The day ended with four satisfied people. The food turned out to be just the right amount. The view and the surrounding was pleasant. It surely was a good last minute planned outing.

New Lens, New Possibilities

2008-05-13T18:03:00.009+01:00

Few days ago, I bought a Canon EF 50mm f1.4 lens off the internet. Yesterday, it arrived at my doorstep. I've read a lot of good reviews about this lens before I finally bought it. It's not particularly very expensive, but also not very cheap either. However, it should be something that's worth it...at least this is what I keep telling myself.

So what's so special about this lens? To be honest, I only know that it has a big aperture and so it's quite good for low light photos and that it could give a nice blur (bokeh) background to your photo. If you read more about it, I'm sure there are many more technical properties you can find that the lens possesses.

Above picture shows an example of the nice blur the lens produces. This pic was taken at f1.6, 1/800s, focusing on the white tribal ring. Btw, I bought that ring from Camden Town, London. Quite a nice ring, right? :)

As for my new lens, I am very excited about the many possibilities it could do, and hopefully from it I'd come out with better pictures.

A Wonderful Place - Dunnottar Castle

2008-05-01T12:56:00.010+01:00

This is a wonderful place to visit, rich in history. Recommended if you are looking for a nice seascape view because it is really breathtaking. The walkway leading to Dunnottar Castle is narrow and slippery so shoes with good proper grip is preferred. I know because yeah...I slipped and fell, scratching part of my palm and my jeans :) Time to get a new pair of shoes.

Adventurous Weekend

2008-04-22T12:22:00.017+01:00

This picture overlooking the sea, cloudy sky lighted by the rising sun was taken at around 6 30 am (figured is yours truly, Stuart, Tsuey Lin, Alex). We woke up at around 5am on a Saturday morning! to be in time for a glimpse of the sunrise. It is certainly not one of the things I would normally do....in fact hardly. Unfortunately on the day, the sky was so cloudy for any good view but it cleared up eventually later on the day. You can see we were posing nicely for the shot.

By the way, Stuart came up to Aberdeen from Stirling and it was really good to see him after so long. He looks younger than I last saw him 2 yrs ago :)

After the little trip around the sea side, we went home to continue our sweet journey in Slumberland.

Middle Pic: Alex, Stuart, T Lin, Jane and me.

We had dim sum for lunch together. After that, we journeyed on to a place called Forvie, a huge area of sand dunes. Forvie is located twelve miles north of Aberdeen. The drive there was pleasant as the weather was perfect. People on the trip were Alex, Stuart, T Lin, Jane and me.

While there, we were walking through fields and sandy areas. At one point it felt like I was in a desert...it's a whole new experience for me. I probably will try walking along the white sand of Tutong area when I get back to Brunei. Of course I'm only kidding. The heat will probably get to my brain and patience before anything.

The fine weather continued on Sunday. What a beautiful day it was. Seeing this, Stuart recommended going to a place called Torry- located at the south bank of Dee. It's just about 5 minutes drive away from where I stay. From here, you could see a picturesque view of Aberdeen. There is a golf course there called Balnagask Golf Course. Nearby there's a lighthouse which adds to the nice scenery of the place.
We were there for a while before Stuart returned to Stirling.

It was another good weekend!

Sound Of The Waves

2008-04-16T12:18:00.007+01:00

It was just a random thought at the time. I called Alex, - what you doing? - Just making some food just now - Up for a ride to the beach for some sunset shots - Btw, does the sun sets that way? - Let me see, west this side, east....oh the sun sets on the other side man..the town side - Oh well, we'll just see what we can get - see u in 15 mins.
We arrived at the beach and it was very cold. There weren't a lot of people at the beach that time. I had brought my tripod along. Being quite a begineer at photography, I didn't know what to expect. Nevertheless, more practice shouldn't do any harm.

The feeling of just walking on the shore, eyeing on things that you think might be an interesting subject is just very challenging. You know there is no right or wrong ways....it's just your way. Throughout, the sound of the waves brought along a sense of calmness. It was freezing however. Although there are no sunset shots available, we did take one or two silhouette pictures at dusk.

Speedy Hobby

2008-04-10T08:42:00.012+01:00

My 'Pocket Cube' and 'Standard Cube'

I think most of us know the Rubik's Cube or Magic Cube. It was very popular in the 80's. Nowadays, there are various shapes and sizes of these puzzles available.
I have always been fascinated by people who were able to solve it. Last year, while I was at the office, one of my colleagues had a 3x3x3 cube with her. I borrowed it, searched for the solution and was determined to be able to solve it. While searching for the solution, I came across speedcubing, where it is an activity of solving the cube as fast as possible. Unbelievably the fastest world record for solving the 3x3x3 cube is just under 10 secs!!! I'm proud to tell you all that my personal record is 90 secs...well, it's nothing compared to the world record but still, it was a fun experience and a good achievement.

A Walk In The Town Centre

2008-04-03T09:22:00.003+01:00

(Pic added)

I stay just about a kilometer from the town centre in Aberdeen. With the longer daylights during this time of the year, everything else just seem more colourful and cheerful. Yesterday, after a few prior attempts, I finally dragged myself to bring my camera along to the city centre. I had agreed to myself just to take close up shots so I had on only my 70-300mm lens. Boy, photgraphy is something I have yet a lot to learn about.

Anyway, above are some of the pictures I took of parts of the city centre. Aberdeen is a beautiful place! I hope you can see that through my camera lens :)

Easter Egg

2008-03-26T10:21:00.001Z

Happy Easter day!!! Have you ever wondered why eggs (Easter eggs) are always associated with Easter day? The reason is that the eggs signifies new life from the ressurection of Jesus. The bright colours painted on them represents spring time as Easter usually occurs in spring.
So now you know.
By the way, I won an Easter egg (pictured) in a lucky draw from my office restaurant yesterday. It's a nice package and I was really surprised to have been lucky. This is actually one of the few times, maybe 2nd time in my life I've got something from a random lucky draw. The rest of the time I got something were from lucky draws with 1:1 odd or near that, and it never had been any of the top ten prizes.

Dinner Special

2008-03-17T11:51:00.000Z

Another week has passed so quickly here in Aberdeen. On Saturday night, Tsuey Lin had invited Alex and I to try out her curry. She said she'd never cooked curry before that and it was her first ever attempt. I didn't know what to expect but nevertheless, I was happy as I didn't need to prepare anything on my own ... hehe. I just brought some beer; easy.
Well, the curry was really good. It was curry beef with tomotoes and potatoes. The meat was tender and very juicy. I'd say well done, Tsuey Lin. That was really good.
She'd also prepared Tang Hoon with minced turkey, which's also very delicious. It was a good meal thanks to Miss Yap's magic.

Being ambitious myself or should I say, inspired, I tried a little experiment on my own. I attempted to prepare (for the first time) nasi lemak on Sunday. I went to the Chinese supermarket just nearby to get the relevant spice, etc. The outcome.....see above picture. Nice yeah? I hope it tasted as good as it looked but I was just being hopeful. It tasted horrendous! The rice had a funny taste and the sambal....I'm not sure if it's sambal haha... it was just a disaster.
At the end of the meal, I just had the wings (my favourite), eggs, ikan bilis, veg and 2 tablespoons of the coconut rice. All remaining ended up in the bin, including the untouched sambal (so called). I'll definitely attempt to try again. Afterall, you need to learn to crawl before you learn to walk and subsequently run :)

Duthie Park, Aberdeen (Spring's Coming!!)

2008-03-12T16:31:00.000Z

Flowers booming!!!

Boy on a kick scooter chasing after a ball

Alex with his camera

Tsuey Lin overlooking some nice flowers

People walking around the park

Who's shadows...? Guess lah..

Yup, spring's here. It's more sun and longer daylight as compared to the dark, freezing winter times. Don't you just love it? People in Brunei might think it's so much like the weather at home but nope, it was really cold even with the great sunshine....grrrr...! Nevertheless, it was a nice sunny day to grab some pictures.

I was together with Alex and Tsuey Lin at Duthie Park after we had some Chinese food at Yangtze River Restaurant.

Well, attached are some of the pictures I took that day that I'd like to share.

My Ride

2008-02-29T16:25:00.000Z

Vrooommm.......I wonder how my boy is doing back home. Have anyone seen him lately? I'm sure he's home enjoying the warm breeze. Hang in there!

Portraits

2008-02-20T08:37:00.000Z

I was editing some pictures when I came out with these effects, which I thought is quite nice. By the way, the first guy is David, followed by Alvaro and then me. Haven't seen them in a while now. David back then was a bit chubby. So guys, have I gained weight by the look of that picture? I hope not. I haven't been weighing myself lately but I doubt I'm any lighter or heavier.

Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T12:27:00.000Z

Steve showing off his double sock
Aberdeen VS Bayern Munich Ticket
Balloons Released before the match.
Nice Aberdeen Mascot
View of the stadium
Banner being put up.

One of the supporters for Aberdeen 'The Dons'.
Paul, Richard & Steve

Yet another Valentine's Day is gone, but this year however, there's no candlelit dinner, no romantic music, no dancing.....so was it that sad for me?? Not at all! Instead, I got a chance to watch Aberdeen played against the Mighty Bayern Munich at Pittodrie in the UEFA cup challenge. Went with my mates and it was my first ever live international football experience and what an experience it was.

Twenty over thousand people went to see the game. Well, Bayern Munich were expected to win the match and they are the UEFA cup favourites, in fact. My mate Steve and many other Aberdonians told me that Aberdeen might be trashed at least 4-0. That is how strong the German side is.

I have taken some shots of the stadium and some parts of the match and attached them here. I seriously haven't been to a stadium with so many people around. Fantastic feeling and the singing, the excitement of all those around me, just add to create a wonderful atmosphere.

Aberdeen played really well that night. They were leading 1-0 and 2-1 at one point. I remembered when Aberdeen scored their first goal, everyone including myself were jumping up and down, hugging each other...it's unbelievable. The whole stadium just went crazy! No one was expecting Aberdeen to score first and it was a beautiful shot. Few minutes later, the German side scored to equalise. During the 2nd half, Aberdeen scored another one to go 2-1 up. At this point, I don't know how to describe it anymore. I remembered just jumping, shouting out loud...it couldn't have gone better...or should I say, Krazier. Too bad I didn't grab a shot of the people's expressions.

The game ended with a 2-2 draw. Bayern Munich had scored from the penalty spot to equalise. For me it was my first ever live football match experience and it was very worth it. Nobody had expected a result like that.

After that match, we went for Chinese food and I had fried kuey teow. Yummy...it's quite rare to get that sort of food here.

So I'd say it was a good Valentine's day for me this year. Don't you agree??

More Pictures of London

2008-02-15T09:00:00.000Z

One of London's underground tubes on the move.

Tower Bridge

Big Ben

The London Eye

Above 4 are few street performers at Covent Garden.

Well, some more pictures taken at London for sharing. Been busy these few days but finally, all these pictures are uploaded.

What's Going On?

2008-02-08T22:36:00.000Z

With the recent news of the Hong Kong celebrity sex photo scandal, I'm really astonished to know how stupid people can be. If you have dirty personal pictures (yourself included) in your laptop and you're bloody rich, would you bring it to the shop to fix it? Common sense tells me that whoever is fixing it will go through the hard disk and see what's inside. If it's that important and had to be fixed, I'd spend the whole time with the person fixing it just to make sure.
Rule of thumb is that you don't save anything secretive like that in your laptop. Shoot them and view them in your phone or videocam and delete straight afterwards, stupid.

Well, just the other day I was talking to a friend and somehow the term 'Friends with benefit' was mentioned. I didn't understand it at first. Somehow my friend explained it to me. For those who do not understand that as well, you can find out more from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia started explanation like this:......
"Friends with benefit may refer to: Casual Relationship

Casual relationship is a term used to describe the physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have a sexual relationship or a near-sexual relationship without necessarily demanding or expecting a more formal relationship as a goal....."

Ok.. in my opinion this is kind of a dump thing to do. I despise the idea completely. Good thing it's not an open thing in Brunei, though a lot of people are doing it, especially youngsters nowadays.
While the consequences are not obvious now, in the future when you look back at your life, you'd think how stupid it was and not only that, it might even ruin your life.
Hmm....enough said...it may or may not sound very interesting to you but I just wanted to share my thoughts.

The Day Before The Chinese New Year

2008-02-07T11:42:00.000Z

The famous Double Decker bus of London

Decorations in London China Town

Trafalgar Square

Some pictures taken at a park (Dunno the name)

More pictures of the park

Buckingham Palace (Top)

While everyone else in Brunei (rest of my family) is busy preparing for the Chinese New Year, I went out for some photo shoot in London. I don't know what else to do...hmm. Ok, so if you're celebrating this new year of the RAT, I'd like to wish you a prosperous & joyous new year. Enjoy!

Four Seasons Roasted Duck

2008-02-05T11:57:00.001Z

This is definitely the best roasted duck I have ever tasted. Well so far, most of my friends have the same opinion as I. For those who decide to go to London and likes roasted duck rice, Bayswater Four Seasons Restaurant is definitely the place to dine in.

Frosty Night in Aberdeen

2008-02-05T11:31:00.000Z

It's the first frosty day in Aberdeen since I got here. I was on my way back from meeting my friends for a few pints, that I decided to snap some shots down. Bought some fries too as I was feeling hungry (took that pic too).

Aberdeen Fun Beach

2008-01-28T16:08:00.000Z

Just something to do in Aberdeen during a weekend. It's one of the unusual sunny days during winter time you get here. It wasn't very cold as well, just nice and cool wearing a jumper and a jacket.