Tag: jb

Hua Mui’s Hainanese Chicken Chop In JB

That Thing They Do.

That famous Malaysian invention: Hainanese chicken chop from Hua Mui. Yumz.

Photography Tip: You can control lens flare without a lens hood or mattebox.

Use one hand to shade the light. In this case, I like the flare from the morning sun as it gives it the ambience.

To control or shade it a little, I can also use my friend Sharon’s iPad Mini as a ‘french flag’ or light cutter.

Hua Mui Restaurant is at 131 Jalan Trus, Johor Bahru and is certified Halal.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 320, f8, 1/200 sec.

#huamui #jb #chickenchop #johor #foodphotography #breakfast

The Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque

The Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque.

Another very beautiful Johor Bahru landmark is the Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque. Constructed in 1892, the architectural design incorporates Victorian elements in line with the Anglophile sentiments of then Johor ruler, Sultan Ibrahim ibni Sultan Abu Bakar. It is truly majestic photographed early in the morning when the sun lights up the minarets elliptically.

Thank you Johorean Sharon Teo for taking me there one morning 3 years ago…

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f10, 1/500 sec.

Flag Vault

Flag Vault.

The Chingay part of the annual Johor Bahru parade is seldom photographed before sunset. By the time the temple procession and floats move into the city, it is usually way past nightfall. To catch the giant flag bearers in daylight, I went to the starting point in a village. That turned out to be near impossible as every surrounding road was closed for the massive event.

Me and JB resident Sharon navigated through a maze of back roads and shortcuts before finally ending up at the village where the procession assembled. We still needed to walk a long way to the starting point as there were like a million people already there.

Bewildered and unaware of what was going on, we discovered a site where there were 4 different Chinese operas of different dialects and where worshipers congregate to pray. It was human crush just moving along there among the crowds.

Even though I had plenty of experience covering cultural processions, it was to be one of the toughest stints on foot, starting from 3pm to 3am.

Chingay is the street art of balancing and vaulting giant and heavy flags. The Johor Bahru Chingay Parade is said to have a 140-year history. It is happening in JB tonight.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f6.3, 1/1000 sec.

#festival #chingay #parade #culture #johorbahru #johor #jb #malaysia #olympus #tbt #chinesefestival,

Raise The Black Monopod

I was taken aback by the sheer number of monopods fighting with joss sticks for space at this temple procession. The new crowdscape of raised cameras is an inevitable sign of the times, I suppose. For the uninitiated, a monopod is a one-legged telescopic camera stand, as opposed to the three-legged tripod.

Many of the dSLR video shooters were using monopods to get a higher P.O.V. or simply to get above the crowd. The trend will become even more prevalent as more new cameras come with remote control and monitoring via smart phones.

The street parade was part of the annual Taoist Chingay festival at the old Chinese Temple in Jalan Trus, JB. Title inspired by “Raise the Red Lantern” by Zhang Yimou.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 320, f6.7, 1/1000 sec.

#chingay #jb #johor #taoism #procession #streetphotography #jossticks #monopods

Multi Faith And JB

Three years ago I caught the sending off or launch procession for the Chingay Festival from the temple in town to the prayer site off town. The JB Taoist procession passed near the very old Catholic church.

I positioned myself and waited for the juxtaposition of icons from the two different faiths. The annual event took place this morning. There was another religious harmony factor involved which I found out when I visited the church a few days later.

The church was built on land donated by the late Sultan Abu Bakar and was then known as the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes. There is also a marble statue of Mother Mary gifted by Sultan Sir Ibrahim Abu Bakar and it is still standing at the church’s front courtyard.

#chingay #jb #johor #taoism #procession #streetphotography #jossticks #church