nya camera

yo~~~ 新欢新欢~
absolutely loving this hottie already~~~
tell you it's story...

wanted to get a Nikon Coolpix L11 (yes i'm attached to nikon) which costs ~RM500 for sales price, but it's out of stock and the shop keeper said when the stock comes in it'll cost ~RM750... tipu la...

so got a better L15 instead~ costs a bloody RM650 at de sales price (originally also ~RM750). these two months kena ikat perut adi... but consider 2.0 megapixels, 200 ISO + vibration reduction, and 0.4 inches LCD worth of better quality, RM150 ok la... (ouch, still hurting...)

see testing~ my room becomes test yard~ de lack of light is perfect to test de vibration reduction ^^

din get de effect i'd like, but i was lazy to try a few more shots:P


my 自恋照 again lo... expose 0.75s, my dark room bcomes so bright. de pics looks so crisp at this size, vibration reduction working hehe~ de larger version is a bit blurred...


i'll really look like 风 in JP when i go home in june already... uni time keep de tail, now keep the 半面遮, wahaha... thanks to 风's original creator + stylist -- miss June Tan.

right, de old camera was nick named Alberta, after... well... de Alberta in RO. i decide to name this one Abisko, after the place i first met aurora ^^

preCNY

7th next month. 10 days or so to go?

imagining the shopping centres and streets back home. must be full of decorations in red by sight; full of musics with drums and gongs by hearing; full of new year cookies loaded with sugar by taste; full of detergent for the cleaning by smell; and well, you have to touch all these lanterns and CDs and flour and water to make the above valid :P

CNY in melbourne is relatively happening and merry. there are so many chinese over there. lion dance, dragon dance, big red lanterns, events, performances, it's a carnival every year :) here, there's not a sign of it creeping close.

but it's great to see ppl anticipating for the festival even when it seems so far away. i'm almost grateful to see a message dropped by aik yean to go out for a nice meal after the class on 7th. my chinese friends are also arranging some home cooking on 6th, though at the moment i decide to only supervise ^^ or maybe you can suggest some msian CNY special that i can introduce them?

even woei mentioned about CNY, ha... seems like the situation is not any better in NZ ^^ but at least we are going to do something and not let it pass without a mark yeah?

well, i'm sure those in msia are going to enjoy it in some way or another. so, for those who are away from home, wish you'll have a nice one :)

electric flow

recently saw a few potrait collections from msian photographers... sweats... pluck two of my fav to post here.

Ken by Geo about two years ago. now his standard is too high i dun understand :P







more, see Nira by ks...







nO, can fight with YiFei?

so desu ne...

when june complained about the lack of reply because of the setting on her travellogue, i didnt really understand wot she meant. well, it's enough to see how many ppl reading wot you've written, to share your experience and feeling... or simply just to have a place to write something, as how i treat this blog - a graffiti wall.

but now i bloody understand why... since i couldnt write that crazy trip to arctic down in Engelska, i started to write something in Kine. ofcoz not here, in Cari. then i got all these replies from these random ppl, and cant possibly stop writing now :) almost 100hits a day and so many encouraging words. wow...

encouraging words from mom to continue scribbling on this graffiti wall too, lol ^^ as lisa my coursemate says, "moms are the best!"
so are dads, helping me to find 续弦 since the unfortunate event that marks de camera's death, hehehe...

nah... the moan isnt over yet. it can wait. sigh, do you know i first use that camera in my first ever backpacking trip? under the co-witness of Orion and the Southern Cross. then it was in every single trip i've been to. feel like making a tribute... de best pictures with this camera... so fitting it has to go under Orion again, this time with Southern Cross replaced by Ursa Major. so poetic ^^

每个平凡小事 变成永恒故事

过马路会牵着我的手的是谁？^^
把相机给我一直叫我拍多多照片的是谁？^^（真的sorry，弄坏了。。。）
要把“亲密好伙伴”绑在飞机上的是谁？^^
一起吃绿茶冰淇凌的是谁？^^（死未？这个够经典~）
要投资我玩具店的是谁？（被看得起了。。。等着收钱吧！^^）
大老远跑去Senawang参观工厂的是谁？^^
要把myvi变transformers的是谁？^^
那个可怜的被推进游泳池的是谁？^^
迟到结果竟然被上海饺子店老板教训的是谁？^^（我要笑死了。。。）
睡觉前要把自己包成sushi的是谁？^^
驾车会跟着音乐节拍踩break的是谁？（笑到没有力了。。。^^）
每次叠罗汉最下面那一个是谁？ (这次又垫一下上面的11个罗汉吧。。。^^）

小事不少，故事永存 :)

祝广宏顺利完成儿时的志愿，悬壶济世，妙手回春。
附上一首他最喜欢的歌：

歌曲：最重要的小事
歌手：五月天 专辑：为爱而生

我走过动荡日子 追过梦的放肆 穿过多少生死
却假装若无其事 穿过半个城市 只想看你样子
这一刻最重要的事
是属於你最小的事
世界纷纷扰扰喧喧闹闹 什黱是真实
为你跌跌撞撞傻傻笑笑 买一杯果汁
就算庸庸碌碌匆匆忙忙 活过一辈子
也要分分秒秒年年日日 全心守护你
最小的事

我就算壮烈前世 征服滚滚乱世 万人为我写诗
而幸福却是此时 静静帮你提著 哈罗凯蒂袋子
这一刻最重要的事
是属於你最小的事
世界纷纷扰扰喧喧闹闹 什黱是真实
为你跌跌撞撞傻傻笑笑 买一杯果汁
就算庸庸碌碌匆匆忙忙 活过一辈子
也要分分秒秒年年日日 全心守护你
最小的事
最重要的事

你笑得像个孩子 每个平凡小事 变成永恒故事

hang over

lazy to write anything more about the trip, write about my hang over instead.
back for a week but mind and soul are still living in the polar world...
that god damned aurora and glacier canyon gave me too big a shock... cant remember the last time something drove me berserk like this... emotional wise, a good match is probably the futsal final 15/07/07, the winning goal that maya scored... ^^ wase, that's almost half a year ago already...

done very little... even lazy to cook... salad, eggs, milk, red beans and bread for the whole week. body became very restless... solo lepaks almost everyday... if not lepak then stayed at home and 吸收日月精华. in short, kept to myself for the whole week beside phone calls home before mom's going to scream at me ^^ sorry for keep forgetting the existance of telephone...

right, camera... dead in the coffin. adios coolpix3700... haih, how do i live without you, i want to know; how do i breathe without you, if you ever go... it has been so convenient for me, a kind of bridge between my eyes and yours :P nv imagine another loyal servant will just go like this... 5 seconds silence...

6-0 in a half

we have no mercy~~
i want to write a song for ronaldo~~~

sorry arsenal, we'll take the top seat again, hehehe...

HIGH latitude (part II)

wah~ many many photos :) pls visit my flickr account~

this post is mainly about the lucky 5th of Jan 08. we decided that we've had enough of kiruna and would like to spend a day in Abisko National Park, around 1hr20mins train ride away from Kiruna and 20-30mins away from de Norwegian border. we were late and ran all de way from the youth hostel down to kiruna C and not more than 5 seconds after we board, the train started to move ^^

Abisko is such a small stop and there was only one way rail, which means we had to get off the train from the other side. so we missed the stop and got off in Björkliden instead :P but we were so lucky there's a train going back to Abisko in 20mins. and we took in as much as possible wot Björkliden has to offer.


When we finally got to Abisko, the tourist centre was closed. Great! Saturday! but there were ppl chatting beside the tourist counter and we still got the map we needed ^^ and just after we finished our packed lunch, and refilled my water bottle, they shut the whole place down... i dunno wot kind of luck were we in...

anyway, we followed the map and decide first to see the Torne Lake, 4th largest in Sweden. I had to believe it coz the scenery was dominated by this lake for more than 30mins on the train. For some reason, the lake has a colour of very dark blue, close to black. and when we got close, it's not unlike the sea in the north pole we so used to see on TV.


there is a very interesting illustration on the map which says "canyon". and there was where we were heading after deciding that we better make good use of the remaining sunlight and not to get too carried away by the magnificent scene at the lake ^^ it was a good decision. as wot we saw at the dight was totally out of this world... i was constantly yelling "let me die here! let me die here!"


camera cant depict the depth of the canyon, and the frozen part, the flowing part, the sound of the waterfall, the glacier, the clear water of green, the snow on the ice, the hot spring coming out from the steep wall... it made me thought "aurora or not, it doesn't matter anymore..." and i totally hate these pictures as they dont bring out a tenth of the beauty of the place.... but there's nothing better to show...


we continued to hike to the entrance of the canyon. pass it, and until de day got pitch black. we then follow the faint light refelcted on the snow back to the train station. hiking is good coz with so much exercise, my toes didnt freeze :) we arrived at the station around 3.45pm. rested for a while and decide to go into the woods again to look for a Sami Camp indicated in the map. it was rather disappointing with only 3 storage houses but we saw ursa major! (北斗七星) it was getting very cold suddenly, so we went back to the station.

but combination of clear sky and sudden drop of temperature are welcoming signs of the arrival of aurora! so i wouldnt go into the waiting room and kept staring at the sky which drove my travelmate crazy :P but before his third complain, the show begins...






it started with a faint curtain of white, then the curtain shifted. some parts becomes brighter than others. then they disappear all together, and reappears again in a matter of minutes. then the white curtain narrows into a white band... and it suddenly turns green! it has to be aurora!!!!! we were shouting and shouting like maniacs, running for the camera. it was quite static in the beginning, only narrows and expands as a band. then the climax came, and it was shifting in shape, winding like a giant dragon as seen in the pictures above ^^ for these pictures, camera exposure time was around 7-9 seconds. we din have any tripods so they are a bit blurry. but ursa major is still captured in sequence 4 and 5, see if you can spot it ^^

it died out rather quickly after the big ending. we've been meeting a lot of other travellers. from US, france, mexico, china, japan, spain, england, australia, and even malaysia and singapore! everyone talks about the northen light and the ice hotel. most of those who've seen the aurora saw it outside kiruna, coz there's too much light in the town. but none that we've heard from had seen a big show like this ^^ wot luck! charmed~ charmed~~

another dream came true... though the original dream consists of different characters in the story, but i'll take this :)

(to be continued...)

HIGH latitude (part I)

Kiruna, a town 200km in the arctic circle, exists only for one reason - europe largest underground iron ore mine. For the same reason, railways are built to this part of the world, and provided us, those with a curious and advanturous heart a gateway into a world of white crystal.


it took the train 23hrs to get to Kiruna from Gothenburg. The opportunity to see Sweden from South to North couldn't be missed! And there was I maintaining a pose comfortable enought to stare out the window for N hrs. The little houses scattered in the snow clad world, spilling out warm and cosy Christmas lightings are not very unlike those in the fairy tales. The flora varied along de way. Pine takes over at a certain latitude, and then at another, it is no longer common and tree are only 3-4m tall. The tree line does exist!

Polar night happens in week 50-52 in Kiruna. Since we arrived in week one, the sun is still very shy and wouldn't climb too high above the horizon. Here we had sun rise at 11am. We couldnt see the sun for more than 1hr but the snow reflects any light they get and the city was bright for around 4-5hrs a day.


As a material engineer, it's quite impossible for me to miss the underground tour in the mine. It costs 140kr and we were driven down to the mine by bus. Modern and traditional mining methods were introduced. And the original look of the now highly deformed Kiirunavaara (Kiruna mountain) is remembered in the black and white pictures.


It is hard to find a tourist in Kiruna who does not also go to Jukkasjärvi, a village on the Torne River bank, 30 minutes bus ride away. The Ice Hotel is a huge tourists magnet. As the name suggests, the whole hotel is made of crystal clear ice and "snice", which is a mixture of "snow" and "ice".


Located right at the bank of Torne River, all raw materials of the hotel are borrowed from the river. When summer arrives, everything melts and returned to the river. Every year, artists from all over the world come here to construct the rooms in October. When we were there, it was nearly at the end of construction. But we somehow still got half price tickets at 117kr. Ice furnitures and beds are layered with reindeer skin for the visitors' comfort. Many are decorated with lights.


There is also an Icebar in the hotel where glasses are also made of ice. They serves alcohol and non-alcohol drinks. I had a juice made from Lingonberry, a kind of berry which only exists in the north of Sweden. There are also snowmobile and dog sleds where one can ride on the frozen Torne River and travel to Kiruna Airport from there.


My camera went kaput just after coming out of the Ice Hotel. All pictures took along the frozen Torne River wasn't stored in the memory card. And after that, the camera just refused to function anymore... Still wondering if it is due to the low temperature. It would be a shame if I'm going to loose it now and forever >.<

Anyway, more pictures in flickr. and part II will come as soon as my travelmate pass me the photos in his camera. Be prepared for a story consists of snow hiking, glacier, reindeer meat and aurora borealis!!! ^^

p/s: snow in Kiruna are really hexagonal flakes! with all the dendrites growing in different characteristics, every single flake is unique! it's unbelievably beautiful when they dances with the rythm of the wind ^^
p/s 2: if you dont have a good pair of boots, it doesnt matter how many layers of socks you wear. your toes just freeze and cant move until they get warm again. but you can still walk ^^
p/s 3: sauna + cold water shower + rolling in the snow then go back to sauna again then cold water shower again then rolling in de snow again and go back to sauna again and do it again and again and again... drained all my strength... but i was as fresh as ever waking up the 2nd day, weird...
p/s 4: blah!!! there are so many things to talk about I dunno how to put them all in texts. and everything havnt really sinks in yet. it's de same feeling like how i gave up on writing a detailed travellogue after de indochina trip ^^ but it'll be a long time before i can share this one with you face to face, so bear with it~ bear with it~ ^^