Tag: tourism

The Beach Boys Of Morib

Morib beach is so idyllic, secluded and near yet nobody comes here on a weekday. Except for the beach boys, a group of monkeys having the esplanade to themselves. Glad to see wildlife co existing.

Delightful to see them swinging on Casuarina trees. Morib is the nearest real beach for us landlocked KLites. You will cry if you come here on a weekend as I previously did. The amount of litter and garbage strewn about and left behind by visitors was shocking.

Panasonic Lumix GM-1, ISO 200, f16, 1/250 sec.

#pantai #pantaimorib #morib #beach #sea #ocean #monkeys #wildlife #nature #casuarina #landscape #goldcoast #selangor #tourism

Going Home For Raya

I started on this journey on Federal Route 1 on March 29. I have since covered Rawang, Serendah, Ulu Yam, Rasa, Kuala Kubu, Kerling, Kalumpang, Hulu Bernam, Tanjung Malim, Behrang, Slim River and many tiny places in between.

To tell the story, I visited quaint little towns, rustic villages and wandered through dusty roads and jungle trails. Camped in tents, stayed at dodgy ‘rumah tumpangan’ (lodging houses) but also at comfy hotels, chalets and motels. Met friendly and warm people from all walks of life.

In between, I have also traveled back to my home base in KL several times to replenish and to attend to paying work. Where possible, I try to continue again the next day. Quite tiring but it kept the sense of adventure and exploration fresh in my mind.

I’m going to take a short break to visit the Ramadan bazaars in KL that I love, break fast with friends and make way for the many cars in the upcoming exodus. Will continue with the road trip where I left off after the Hari Raya holidays.

Another reason I need the break is that I must make my new website catch up with the daily pics. Before I can finish adding some of the missing older ones, I ended up acquiring even more new pics and stories to manage.

Nevertheless, the website gives it the much needed interface of systematic sorting, categorization and tagging of subjects befitting an epic travelogue. And unlike Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, topics are easily searchable and there are related links in every article or post.

Look out for more unique images and stories of awesome people, nature, animals, food and places on the route after the break. We’ve only just begun.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f4, 1/320 sec.

Wesak Day – Bokeh Paradise

At the Buddhist Maha Vihara Termple in Brickfields is a tent where hundreds of oil lamps are kept lit. It is a photographer’s paradise.

Some newbie photographers think ‘bokeh’ is as simple as an out-of-focus background. It is more than that. It is how the lens render the out-of-focus point(s) of light in relation to the part that is in focus. There is an aesthetic and subjective quality that depend on the lens, aperture and distance.

Here, I manually set the focus of the Sony FE 70-200mm G OSS lens onto the middle row of glass lamps. The blue blobs are daylight from outside and the orange is a monk in saffron robe.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 160, f4, 1/250 sec.

Wesak Day – Eternal Flame

Silhouette of a volunteer topping up the oil lamps. Love how the camera handled the colour balance of warm colors from the flames and cooler bluish daylight seeping through.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 100, f4, 1/125 sec.

Map – Federal Route 1, North of KL

What was supposed to be a 100 km journey for this stretch took more than 1000 km as recorded by my GPS and odometer. Every town or place on this route is like a treasure chest waiting to be discovered and opened.

The extended mileage was because of the multiple up-down trips back home and to various accommodation locations. There were also numerous detours and excursions to branch roads and such.

Sub-trips sometimes yield little for the camera but were still worthwhile for the additional info I gather from locals about the geography and history.

Here’s a gentle reminder again to not make armchair suggestions. I wrote about the methodology, or lack of, in an earlier post.

As well meaning or well intended and appreciated as they may be, I view them as spoilers. That’s because I work entirely at random. No script, except for what I already know from previous trips.

In fact, as I explained before, I will not even view any other pictures in advance so as to have a clean slate or state of mind with no-preconceived notions.

Every stranger you see featured, I met by chance and it is them, the locals, who drove the direction of the journey by suggesting the next place.

It is not a tourism promo or a paid junket packaged as a travel story for a newspaper or magazine. It is one man’s journey and his honest perspective; simple as that.

This first leg of Selangor (north of KL) has about 70 pictures. The stories were all written on the go, on the fly, on the road and usually, minutes before I post. Please view the series from the start to fully understand how each town connects.

Big thank you to the wonderful people I met so far. Big thanks too to you followers and friends for joining me on this ongoing journey.

You can also follow the series on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, all under @tvsmithmy