Tag: jb

Rise And Shine

Not to spook some people who use the idiom regularly, it of biblical origin. This may surprise some sensitive Muslim friends who use it innocently and regularly. “Rise” means to get up and “shine” in its normal context meaning to “wake up. act lively and do well” at least, without digging deeper. I used to think it is a soldier’s command. Rise and shine your boots. The internet kills the romantic notions.

The earliest use of ‘rise and shine’ in print allude to a biblical reference, in Isaiah 60:1. King James Version, 1611, gives that as: Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
`
~ the Phrase Finder http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/303000.html

Just Another Causeway Sunrise.

Too lazy to drive out to Desaru coast for the sunrise view in the morning. Even in JB city, I had to leave my hotel at 5:30 am to scout for an ideal location east of the causeway.

By line of sight, here’s looking across the Johor Straits through to Admiralty Road on Singapore island, to Sebana Cove on the eastern gulf and onwards to the South China Sea.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f8, 1/400 sec.

#sunrise #landscape #morning #dawn #clouds #causeway #straits #johor #jb #singapore #olympus

Getting A Smile From The Stoic Baker

Getting A Smile From The Stoic Baker.

The proprietor and original baker of the 70-year-old and famous Salahuddin Baker in JB is a pious and stern looking man who sat behind rows of fresh curry puffs, and with the sublime light from outside illuminating him. I asked him if I can do an environmental portrait since the scene had so much character.

I presented the portrait to him on a later trip and he cracked a very rare smile. Sharon helped me print and frame the picture in advance. Earlier, we presented a framed print to an Indian lady tailor who inspired the idea.

When I asked for permission to photograph her in her shop without walls and doors, she complained: ‘Every time a stranger photographed me, I never get to see any of the pictures”. Awww.

She, just like the baker, were surprised and happy. That made me happy too.

#jb #city #baker #salahuddin #portrait #documentaryphotography

Behind The Scenes At The Barber

Behind The Scenes At The Barber.

My friend Cy Leow said the barber didn’t look very happy in the earlier post. I think the poor barber was overwhelmed by the presence of cameras and continuous clicking sounds. I was holding an Olympus OM-D EM5 while Sharon Teo was armed with the smaller. lighter and newer OM-D EM-10.

We turned a haircut into an event and this candid summed up the moment succinctly.

#barber #jb #johor #candid #mirrors #omd #em #olympus #documentaryphotography

My Kokomo

Someone booked the Aman Sari Hotel in Bandar Penawar Desaru recently. I don’t know who it was. Normally, friends who booked will tell me in private but is non-obligatory.

Desaru is pronounced as Day Sar Roo. Coincidentally, I wrote about my liking of the beach recently too. Desaru went through a ‘renaissance’ after the opening of the highway from JB. Unlike Bali, the 22 km of beach here has no rowdy drunk Aussie tourists, as told to me by Rian Maelzer, who visited Kuta after Ubud.

There are no beach bars or peddlers with an ice box here, fortunately. Still unspoiled like how it was when it captivated a handful of Singaporeans in the 80s.

The tranquility may be shattered soon. I hope not. A massive refinery and petrochemical complex is being developed in Pengerang town at the southern Johor tip facing Singapore. Singaporean cycling friends reported seeing heavy heavy vehicle traffic on the old truck road.

There are a dozen other Desaru hotels listed at MyCen Hotels. Kokomo is a fictional place as sung in the hit song Kokmo by the Beach Boys. It supposedly is in the Caribbean or off the Florida Keys. 1st pic: Sun painting shadows on windy Desaru beach.

#desaru #johor #amansari #kotatinggi #kokomo

Review Of A Malaysian Love Hotel

Japanese love hotels are well known for their water beds, vibrating beds and mirrors on ceilings. If you are into it, you can find one locally. Before you get your hopes up, you may want to know it is in Danga Bay, JB. It is few doors from Tune Hotel JB, where I was staying earlier. I was fortunate to chance upon the Malaysian version of a love hotel when Tune was fully booked after I came back from Pontian. To my surprise, the toilet and shower cubicles had doors made entirely of transparent and half height frosted but translucent glass. One glass shower cubicle didn’t even have doors. Many hipster hotels are installing glass bathroom doors these days. Not so good for straight guys sharing a room with a hairy male colleague. Haha. There is a (somewhat mini) rain shower which I love and there is a standalone bowl type hipster wash basin that I hate.

Anyway, this room had true all-glass partitions and you will discover how your girlfriend, who is the “save the planet NGO type”, likes wasting a container of toilet paper just to wipe after ever drop of pee on the porcelain throne. Amazing what transparency can reveal. At this hotel, lie back on the very soft bed and zoom in on your girlfriend as she poops, pees and showers. So make sure your partner is sufficiency kinky or uninhibited. It is the voyeuristic twist that is supposed to be the erotic draw here, I guess. Depends on the individual or the mood, of course. There is no adult channel on the room TV nor is there hentai tentacle sex wallpaper.

Although, the hotel is possibly Ah Beng owned, the wallpaper design was chic and tasteful. After all, the boutique hotel moniker is much abused these days. Unlike Japanese sex motels. there is no discreet checking in or out here. The receptionists were as annoyingly loud as greeters in a TGIF restaurant. Requests for S&M gear and they’ll probably hand you an electric iron or an electric heater coil stick for boiling water. LOL. I asked my then girlfriend if I can tag her while writing this and she said “no way” since her mother reads her FB, it seems. The other day I was writing about another girl’s fondness for meat and she told me her Dad was very upset after reading what I wrote. Problem is; many dads think their daughters are as chaste as Susan Boyle when she’s more like Linda Lovelace from his youth. For goodness’ sake, if one of your parents reads your wall, please enable Timeline Review.

Book Zoom In Boutique Hotel, JB via this link:

http://www.mycen.my/review-of-a-malaysian-love-hotel/

Some things may have changed as I stayed here circa 2011.