It's a Wonderful World : [Nature] Vol 1

These photos wouldn't be possible to have appear here if not for Ong's continual posting of his D90 photos, which in a sense, makes me wanna show off as well. Apart from that, I'm also in the process of reorganizing my photos and revisit some of my best memories via these photos : )

Enjoy the photos ! They are in no apparent order, nor any thematic arrangement except that there are all related to the great mother nature : )

[If you happen to read this and you have any travel-related questions regarding some of the destinations I've been, feel free to drop me an email or a comment ! I'd love those : ) ]

Lake Tekapo, South Island [New Zealand]

Mountain Cook, South Island, Highest Mountain in New Zealand [New Zealand]

Mountain Cook, South Island [New Zealand]

Halong Bay, Hanoi [Vietnam]

Abisko National Park, [Nordic Sweden]

Abisko National Park [Sweden]

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona [USA]

Plateau Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona [USA]

Ribbon Falls onlooking the canyon, Grand Canyon National Park [USA]

Sequoia National Park [USA] <--Compare the size of the tree with the person on the left

Yosemite National Park [USA]

Yosemite National Park [USA]

: )

Actually I'm considering moving all my post away and have my own blogspot page. But I figure since .. well , lol there's not much going on here in this blog, I might as well commandeer this space.

Cheers !

XuShen

Photo Story #2

These 2 places share so much similarities yet so different : Ice Hotel Kiruna [Sweden], Wieliczka Salt Mine [Poland]

ICE-Hotel , Kiruna is the first such hotel to be built in the world. Situated in the nordic sweden village of Jukkasjarvi, the hotel only exists between December an April each year. You may ask, so where did it go in May to November ? As Strange as It may sound, it melts. As the whole Ice Hotel is built by Ice ( the chair, the bed, the reception table, the chandelier, everything) , it melts when summer comes and the temperature hits 5C and above.

As it is built anew each year, the IceHotel you will see in the future when you come to Sweden will not be the same as the one that I saw. Designers, artists and architects are brought in each year to give the IceHotel a theme, and some 32 of the rooms are designed by designers all around the world.

You may want to try to sleep in one of the room : 1300 ringgit for 2 person a night, you will be given a sleeping bag and sleep on top of a reindeer skin , where the room temperature range from below zero to 4 C. If a night in the Ice Room doesn't satisfy you thirst for novelty, you are welcomed to enjoy a cocktail in the ICE BAR (well, incidentally, it is made of ice) that's served in a , urr , well, u guessed it, ICE Glass.

Ask me whether did I lick the wall of the church. Yes I did. And Yes, It is Icy and tasteless. : )

Wieliczka Salt mine, Wieliczka :

One of the oldest salt mine in the world (2nd oldest), has been operating since 13th century. It has 9 levels underground, and it goes as deep as 327 meters ( a standing Petronas tower is 378 meters tall) and all the tunnels add up to a total of 300 KM , almost the distance from Johor to Kuala Lumpur. Interestingly but not surprisingly, everything inside the salt mine is made of salt, rock salt as they call it, or crystal salt.

Statues, Sculptures, the floor, the ceiling, the chandelier, everthing are made of salt. The picture above is the cathedral underground, still being used for services and worshiping. Not only there are numerous cathedrals underground that are carved out by rock salt, it even has a lake underground.

Ask me whether did I lick the wall of the church. Yes I did. And Yes, It is salty. : )

This is one of the 12 original UNESCO World Heritage Sites when the list started in 1978. It is worth a visit if you ever have the chance to visit Poland.

Cheers,

XuShen

p/s: argh ... can't wait for the switzerland trip next month . darn.

Photo Story #1

I'll be writing these stories based on what I've seen, heard and learnt during my travel. All that of which the story is told may not reflect the truth, the fact, or the actual situation/circumstances as I've learn/heard/Seen.

A Trabant (I hope I'm correct) as seen in Budapest, Hungary

Trabant, manufactured by East German automaker VEB, is seen as one of the few symbolic 'artifacts' of the communist era in the old Communist Bloc. Surprisingly, this car poses stark similarity with that "little yellow car' owned by Boey. The emphasis of 'everything-being-equal' by the communist government and its effort in cutting down cost so that everyone will be able to own a car leads to the car's simplistic design. Even simpler is its functionality, 2 cylinders, 26 Horse power and a dreadful 21 seconds to go from 0 - 100 KM/hour (perhaps Ivan's Kancil can do better? ) .

The guide of my tour, who incidentally grew up in that era, shared his love and hate of the car. It was the era ( 1970s, before Poland , among the first of the communist bloc to ditch communism), that everyone only allow to drive one such car. No import of other cars were possible, and it was a funny wait of 5-6 years after you first ordered and paid for the car before you will get it. ( Wikipedia says usual waiting time is 15 years !) He lovingly recalled the moment when this car arrived at his doorstep, and how his family of 4 would just squeezed into this tiny little car and go around. He went on to praise the lifespan of the car , which is a staggering 30 years before it will fail you like the 7 years old proton, amazing, isn't it ?

Iron Curtain, Artwork found on the street of Budapest

Iron curtain, refer to the ideological and physical boundary that separates Europe into two after WWII. To put it simply, the democratic, independence, UN-led west and the Russia-Soviet influenced communist east.

The carvings on this artwork says

"Shall we live as slaves or free men?" ,

"It isolated the East from the West" ,

"It Took Away Our Freedom" ,

"It Held us in Captivity and In Fear" ,

"If finally fell"

Traveling through central Europe, You can't help but notice the great influence of communism on its history, and how it leaves traces in the society and how people are adjusting out of it. Walking down a street in Budapest, you can almost notice the variety of architectural styles of adjacent buildings: gothic, neoclassic, baroque, and communist, etc. It's very interesting to note that communist buildings are the easiest to tell: They simply have no decorations on it, and the paint is always grey-ish , or, put it this way: you just have to pick the dullest buildings out of them and you'll most probably get a communist-designed building.

XuShen

P/S: LoL I notice I always have P/S in my post. .. anyway , I wrote this to relief stress of studying.. haha

Photos from my Trip

Haha, You guys wanna turn this blog into a photoblog meh ?

Devin's castle , Bratislava, Slovakia


Palace of Art and Science , Warsaw, Poland

Wilanov Palace, Warsaw, Poland

Royal Garden of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

Royal Palace of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

Academy of Science, Budapest, Hungary

Chain Bridge, Budapest, Hungary

Royal Palace of Hungary, Budapest, Hungary

Saint Stephen's Basilica at night, Budapest, Hungary

Saint Stephen's Basilica at noon, Budapest, Hungary

All captured via LX-3 during my last trip to central Europe, too lazy to do post-processing, and I know nothing about PS anyway. lol .

Enjoy ! I wish to post prague's photo too as soon as I got back my photos from my friend.

Cool ~!
off
XuShen

*~~Spark~~*

i actually wanna burn the mosquito coil~ then suddenly been attract by the spark~ holding my note for the next 10 min~ but keep think how to capture perfect spark~ lol~

THEN~~~

ISO1000+1.6"s+F11

ISO1000+1.6"s+F11 with fake BOKEH effect ~

Lol~ now i satisfied de~

2 more exam to go~ good luck to me~

by atlantiz 9

starbuck coffee in trouble with the rising of........

McDonald's

In the other corner in the Red trunks is McDonald's

McDonald's was born in 1940 when brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald decided to open a restaurant that delivered food fast in San Bernardino, California. However, the modern day McDonald's that we all are familiar with was built up under the watchful eye of businessman Ray Kroc. McDonald's first franchised restaurant was opened by Ray Kroc in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955. Currently there are over 31,000 McDonald's restaurants worldwide.

reference from

http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/09/12/starbucks-problems-with-mcdonalds-may-be-worse-than-thought/

by atlantiz_9

black and white water drop~

This is not as easy as i think~ wow~ the natural light is to hard to catch~ this is the only 2 which i personally satisfy after 300++ shooting... and yet still not close to those shot done by professional~ bahaha~ got time i will do again~

It is so damn challenge without external flash.big aperture.and micro lens~

I choose black and white shooting cos the exposure is too dark for such high speed shooting, kinda ugly with fade colour for me~ haha~ i some more add contrast in this 2 picture in PS~

ISO 1600+1/640+F4+3.0exposure D90

ISO 1600+1/640+F4+4.0exposure D90

By atlantiz 9

lighting thieve~atlantiz 9 in B82

Sit outside the of balcony( those safety zone) of setapak Ria condo for catching all this~ Super dangerous but i just like it~ woWWww~~ 20 mins of pik pok pik pok pik pok of my little fragile heart~

Firstly i wanted to capture just the double rainbow only~

ISO 400 + F13 +1/2 sec

who know~ the other end of the sky got something i wanted so capture long time ago~ woow... of course i retouch the sky with purple colour~ i like it~ nothing much~ bahaha~

ISO 800 + F20 +8"sec -2.0 exposure

too bad my timing is off all the time~ maybe due to 5 years autohorn training~ sweat~ this is the oni 2 picture that u can see something on the sky after 20 min waiting,trying ~ but is good experiences for me~

ISO 800 + F18 +6"sec -1.7 exposure