Land Of The Giants

My petite Panasonic GM-1 is dwarfed by a giant leaf in an isolated and remote rain forest trail. I was on my way to the unknown Sungai Sendat Waterfalls located in the Batang Kali Forest Reserve. In the land of giant leaves and trees, the Lilliputian GM-1 camera belies its sophistication.

It is a very capable m43 mirrorless system camera. Serving as my backup and secondary camera.

My love and fascination for giant jungle leaves started when I was a kid spending my school holidays up in Cameron Highlands. My uncle worked at the power station there and he would stop his car for me to marvel at giant fallen leaves strewn by the roadside. For a young boy, everything was gigantic in Cameron Highlands, from giant trees, giant leaves, massive waterfalls, very wide Rajah Brooke birdwing butterflies to enormous rhinoceros beetles.

Penang Peranakan Mansion museum director and author, Lillian Tong, is seen here using a giant leaf as umbrella or shade. Picture copyright Lilian Tong and used with her permission. I will feature some of her dressed up pics in future.

The gorgeous Peranakan (nyonya) culture expert from Penang is normally prim and proper in stunning kebayas. You can read more of her expertise at her Naughty Nyonya blog http://naughtynyonya.blogspot.my/ She was in a jungle trek in Teluk Bahang near Batu Ferringhi and Monkey Beach of the Penang National Park. She went for “jungle bathing” – a new hipster fad or trend, I think.

The giant leaves are disappearing like old culture and is getting harder to see with the depletion of primary jungles.

Love for the environment and nature ought to be inculcated from young.

Happy Earth Day.

See over 132 hotels in Cameron Highlands here. In Ringlet, Brinchang and Tanah Rata. Availability may depend on your booking dates.

#earthday #jungle #rainforest #nyonya #penang #selangor #pahang #cameronhighlands

La La Land Again

He correctly noted that the original image of Lala or clams fried with bee hoon or vermicelli from the Asus phone (on Facebook) could do with more DOF or depth of field. It was his polite and tactful way of saying it was not perfectly focused. Nice guy. 🙂

I looked at the image back home on a big screen and try to figure out what went wrong. We sat at a table at edge of the restaurant, where there was too much sun spilling in. While the free lighting was appreciated, it also meant one thing.

The Lala Fried Vermicelli’s image on the phone was glared out on the screen. It was near impossible to judge focus. Good thing, I took a shot with the GM-1. This GM-1 image had better depth as it was running with a smaller (deeper) aperture, plus the camera has an array of audio and visual focus confirmation.

It was still not ideal as the GM-1 has no viewfinder either, only LCD. I was using the 12 to 50 mm OM-D 5 kit lens and the lens is still crazy sharp considering the abuse it received. In comparison, the phone was running at f2 and was too shallow for its purpose.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 320, f6.3, 1/250 sec.

Restaurant Seafood New Hock Heng Huat Tanjung Sepat.

#clams #lunch #lala #seafood #tgsepat #m43 #dof

The Rusty Bridge

I was told there is a nice waterfall and hot springs in the jungles of Kerling. There is a sign by the main road but it turned out to be quite a long road in. The drive started parallel to a railway track, twisted through rustic villages and ended up alongside rolling hills.

With such picturesque scenery, is easy to miss a follow-through sign, if there was one in the first place. At certain crossroad, road split or T-junction you are on your own.

You can either make a wild guess or an educated guess. At one sign-less junction, I stopped by the roadside and waited a bit. Sure enough, two helmet-less village girls on a motorcycle came flying out. They were speed-drying their wet hair in the wind. By following the road they rocketed out from, it should take me to a swimming area.

The deeper I went, the narrower and lonelier the road became. I think most people driving alone would have turned back. Somewhere along the way, I saw a rusty bridge over a river. Was quite wobbly to walk on but its appearance against the sunny landscape today made the stopover worthwhile.

Panasonic GM-1, ISO 200, f10, 1/400 sec.