Changi Village

Changi Point Jetty

Changi Village is a place which evokes a sense of nostalgia in me. As a child, I remember spending school holidays in the area. My parents were civil servants and would rent one of the beach front chalets for a week. There were 2 lots of bungalows - one along Telok Paku Road and the other along Netheravon Road. Those along Telok Paku Road were elevated black and white coloured buildings. I assume they were orginally built for British army officers during the colonial era. The bungalows along Netheravon Road were more modern looking.

The week-long breaks at these rented chalets were filled with adventure. My cousins would join us and we would spend the week fishing, swimming, rowing a sampan, climbing trees (occasionally falling from trees). This was the 1970s. It was a simpler time without the distraction of computer games and social media. Recreation was mainly outdoors and we played hard. We would dare one another to swim out to the sailing boats anchored about 40m from the shore. There was "No Fear". The theory was that if you can swim and tread water, you can swim as far out as you wish. If you cannot swim, you used a float, which was the inner tube of a car tyre! Nobody was left out. We learned very quickly that there was something called water current and it is a force you do not mess around with. Thankfully, no harm came to us....just frayed nerves :)

In the evenings, the boisterous boys would sleep in the same room and there could be up to 6 teenagers. We shared jokes, riddles and of course, ghost stories! This kept us up late into the night and I am sure there were strange noises from under the wooden floor at night. I later realised that the young teenage mind is a fertile ground for vivid and wild imagination. We literally frightened ourselves by our own thoughts and unfounded fears.

As I grew into my late teenage years, I was part of the canoe club and used to frequent Changi for our weekly canoe adventures. We would take bus number 2 to the bus terminus and walk to the canoe club. The canoes were made of fibre glass and whenever we did a capsize drill and had to mount the canoe, we would get pricked by the fibre glass thread. It was a really unpleasant sensation.

Later on, in my first job with the airline, my office was a stone's throw away and we would frequent the hawkers' centre during lunch. There was a little pub called Charlie's Corner. This guy had a great selection of beers and pub food like fish and chips, chicken wings, etc. It was a popular hangout joint with airline folks.

Changi Point Jetty is where you would catch a bumboat to Pulau Ubin. The fare was a couple of dollars and the boat would leave when there was a decent crowd. For the die-hard mountain bike enthusiast, you can bring your own bicycle there. No extra charge for the bicycle :)

Bumboat to Pulau Ubin

The area is also great for photography. I caught some of these photos during sunrise. The photographs below do not do this place justice. I just head back to get more flattering shots of this piece of nostalgia.

Sunrise over Changi Creek

Changi Creek

Morning Puff

Cat with an Attitude

Ko Samui

We took a short trip to Ko Samui in late November. It was my first visit there and I was expecting that it would be not too different from Phuket, Krabi our Hua Hin. It turned out to be quite different. I think it is one of the nicer resorts I have been to in Thailand. Definitely worth a re-visit.

We flew SilkAir and I must say it beats all budget carriers (rightly so) and even full service airlines hands down. Although it was a short flight, the inflight entertainment is impressive. I had my iPad and was able to stream movies directly to my device. The picture and audio quality was great too. Frankly, it is better than what full service airlines with entertainment systems offer. I guess nothing beats a retina display :p Some passengers were watching the movies through their smart phones.

Audio and Video streamed to my iPad

When we arrived, we were greeted by a quaint and rustic airport. I love the thatched roofs and the resort feel about it. There were no aerobridges and we were transported to the arrival hall in a tram car, it reminded me of Disneyland.

Are we in Disneyland? Love the tram cars

We stayed at the Chaweng Regent Beach Resort. It is a very nice resort located by the beach and at the same time, literally across the road from "action". I understand that Chaweng offers the best beaches in Ko Samui. The sand is fine and the gradient is very gradual. The resort had two decent sized swimming pools. The reception counter was charming and the rooms were very nice.

Beautiful swimming pools - 2 of them :)

Reception counter looks like a throne

Our abode for 3 nights

Feeding frenzy at koi pond

The hotel sits right smack in the middle of the action in Ko Samui. There are shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, a boxing ring, cabaret shows (including Tiffany Shows), massage places, pharmacies, etc. Incidentally, medication is much cheaper in Thailand compared to Singapore.

Shop and eat till you drop

One lobster, please.

There are many stray dogs in Ko Samui. I met a few of my "best friends" at the beach and also at a fresh market. Some were overly friendly.

He came over and posed for me :)

Playful fella

We visited a fresh market and the sights were awesome. I could have stayed there all day taking photographs.

This scene reminds me of a time gone by

Soaking in the atmosphere

They pass the packages of vegetables like they are playing volleyball

Pak Cik grating coconuts

Thai desserts, anyone?

The seafood was great and inexpensive. Typically, you pick your fresh seafood and they cook it according to your preference. The presentation is great.

Check out the presentation

Pick your indulgence

Oh, we also had our required portion of vegetables

Barbeque by the beach

The beach was very nice. Managed to take a couple of interesting photographs.

Roasted corn

Boats are home for the day

Lonely out there

A storm's brewing

He is reading a book !

The trip would not be complete without photographs of the sunrise. These were some of the better shots.

Our first sunrise at Ko Samui

The boats complete the sunrise 

Saw this coconut and made it a part of the scene :)

Sunrise - Day 2

Love that red sun

As with all good things, they come to an end and soon, it was time to return home. I arrived in Ko Samui expecting it to be like Phuket but was pleasantly surprised. It was much better. It is interesting to note that there were quite a number of service staff who come from Myanmar and Philippines. I did not expect this as I felt that the Thais are extremely service oriented. Looks like they too have their fair share of foreign workers :)

This is one destination I wouldn't mind going back to. I hope it does not get too commercialised over time.

Sunset

Sunrise at Punggol

I love sunrises and sunsets. Maybe it is the anticipation of not knowing what to expect. For a photographer hoping to capture a sunrise or sunset, there is about a 5 minute window between darkness and the sun rising or when the sun sets beyond the horizon. 

You never really know what to expect. Some days, you are greeted with a wonderful hue which splashes the sky with hues of orange and red. It almost feels like the sky is speaking to you through a painting in the sky. On other days, the sun rises or sets uneventfully like someone turned on or turned off the lights.

Last weekend, I took my trusty range finder camera to Upper Peirce Reservoir to capture the sunset. It seemed like an uneventful sunset which was going to go out with a whimper. The photograph below says it all.

Not a bad reflection

As I was about to lament my wasted effort, the sky seemed to have heard my thoughts and injected a tinge of red hue which tickled my fancy.

That's better !

Before long, the red hue turned into a spotlight and casted an orange tint on a patch of adjacent clouds.

As red as Rudolf's nose?

This drama lasted barely a couple of minutes and before long, it was "lights out".

As I was taking the photographs, I took a couple of shots with my iPhone and the results amazed me. See it for yourself. 

Taken with my iPhone 5

My trusty range finder camera

The photograph taken with my iPhone 5 is crispier and appears to have more depth. There is a reason for this. I had the HDR (High Dynamic Range) option turned on. HDR is particularly helpful when  the photograph has a broad range of lighting exposures. From what I understand, the camera captures several images at different aperture settings. It selects portions of the photograph which is correctly exposed and combines the results into one photograph. This gives the photograph great depth. To see samples of HDR photos, just type "HDR Photo" in google and check out the awesome images. If overdone, the photos look "overcooked" but if done well, the photos look almost 3D. I am not a big fan of HDR as I am a purist. I don't even like filters. Admittedly, I do tweak my photographs slightly with a photo editing software, akin to "light make-up".

 

Reflection...noitcelfeR

Awesome Reflection as rendered by a Nikon D700

In case you are wondering what the second word in the subject header means, it is "Reflection"spelt backwards. Hmmm.....that did not go very well. The human mind is a funny thing. It can sometimes spot minute details in a split second but other times, it stares us in the face and we still don't get it.

Such was my experience some weeks back when I trekked to Punggol end at 5:30 am to photograph the sunrise. It was pitch dark when I arrived at the beach and armed with my tactical torchlight, I could barely make my way along the rock strewn beach. I set up my camera and sat, perched on a rock waiting for mother nature to turn on the lights :) Yup, she turned it on alright, but there was no oomph. The sky lit up gradually, as with every morning for the last I don't know how many thousand years. That morning, there was no pizazz. The lights came on and there was no drama of daylight erupting into life. I took more than 100 shots in the hope that I would catch something. Alas, this was not to be.

OK, if you want to see the best photo of the lot, it would probably be this:

Not worth Printing ... don't waste paper

Sad eh? Only one barely usable photo from the pile. I would not even print it on paper as I feel it is a waste of photo paper :p

Dejected that I had voluntarily deprived myself of sleep that morning, I decided to cut my losses and reward myself with a well deserved Dosa Masala. On my way to the car park, I chanced upon one of the most beautiful reflections I have seen for a long time. (That's the photo at the top of the page.) My son has a better rendition of it because he used an ND (Neutral Density) filter (see below). I thought it looked great. I have never been a big fan of filters, thinking that most things can be fixed post production. I am a convert now :)

Reflection with ND filter as rendered by a Nikon D800

What was my reflection of this Reflection? I was reminded of two quotes:
 "Life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get." - Forrest Gump
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." - Dale Carnegie
I have since come up with my own:
"While you are making lemonade, don't forget to smell the roses."

Remember, life is what we make of our journey on earth and not about the destination. Have a good life, everyone :)

The Sky is our Canvas

As I get older, I have begun to appreciate the wonders of this world, and my life. I first took up photography in my late teens. As I got into the army, studies, career, family, etc, I put it aside. Sometime around Christmas 2003, as I was rushing around with my son to buy Christmas presents, we were sitting at a traffic light waiting for the light to change. My son remarked that the sky was beautiful. I acknowledged with a "Uh huh" without even glancing at the sky. He made another comment about the cloud formation and when I glanced at it, I was in awe. It was a awesome looking evening sky. It then dawned on me that nature provides - We sometimes look but not see :)

That was when I decided to pick up my old hobby. Over the years, I allowwd the various priorities to overcome this  hobby and I had become a "rat" in the rat race of life. I got myself a DSLR and reignited my passion for photography once again. I dabble in all types of photography - scenery, macros and the odd social event. I am usually the unofficial photorapher at family and company events :) "Unofficial" so there is no pressure and I can enjoy what I do.

I decided to dedicated this blog to the scene that rekindled the joy of photography - the beautiful sky. As I said, I am no expert and all feedback is welcomed. Some of the photographs may have appeared in some of my earlier blogs.

One afternoon in London - Love the looming clouds

Ominous looking clouds over Trafalgar Square

Arc du Triomphe seem to be the centre of cloud activity

Ray of Hope

Early morning at Seletar

Something's brewing

Crack of Dawn

Like a splash of water colours

Not a Fisherman



This scene remind me of the childhood story - A Fly Went By

Another Day in Paradise