Pulau Pemanggil

Taken when we were just leaving the jetty into the open sea. Spill lights from the town still visible at the sky in the background.

- 30secs, f2.8, ISO 200 -

In the middle of last June, I had the chance to go on a fishing trip with some of my friends at Pulau Pemanggil. The island is located on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, about 60km from the fishing town of Mersing. The island is one of the last three islands within the archipelago of Johor's and Pahang's island before it opens to the open water of South China Sea.

The built-up towards the day of the trip generated a lot of excitements since we got to do this with a bunch of long-time friends and we anticipated to have some good times at sea while fishing. Me, being an enthusiast in photography took it as a good opportunity to capture some worthy shots and being that, it has become a habit for me to always check the weather forecast for the place where I'm going. Our local weather forecast service allows us to check on the weather for the upcoming seven days and bearing that in mind, just exactly a week before the trip, I was already browsing through the website of Malaysia's meteorogical department. The forecast was good with sunny days and clear sky at nights, initially. A day prior to the trip, a revisit to the website resulted in a grim forecast - for the three days and two nights that we're going, it was going to be days and nights of heavy rain and occasional thunderstorm. I wonder though to this day, how could it changed from good to worse (or worst as I don't know what possibly could be more worse than a thunderstorm?) in such a short time?

I mentioned this to my friends I'm traveling with from the city but it only resulted a temporary worry because a mere cancellation would just rip us away the opportunity of a probably good and never had before outing for the some of us.

We arrived at Mersing on the evening of Friday the 17th of June after a 5-hour ride from Kuala Lumpur. We took the Ayer Hitam exit from PLUS highway and continue the journey on federal road towards the east through the town of Kluang and few Felda settlements. As we were reaching Mersing, I could see from my driver's seat that the sky over the direction we were heading was dark. To ease the worry, I kept saying to myself that probably it was just a normal shower.

The boat was scheduled to leave Mersing at 10pm the latest, to suit the tide of the river. We arrived early after being reminded constantly few days before by the trip's organizer. We visited a fishing accessories shop and later we decided to look for a place for dinner. However, it was really frustrating not being able to locate a decent seafood stall in this town, a fishing town. What frustrated us more was that we ended up settling down in a city-like bistro next to the main jetty. What a way to get away from the city life.

The other members of the trip came from the south - Johor Bahru. About an hour before the scheduled departure, we already met up, ironically except the reminder himself. In the end, we sailed to the sea an hour late, just in time before the tide receded. Here where the journey began - a ride on a typical fisherman's boat with 10 hopefuls on board to Pulau Pemanggil, hoping to experience the excitement of fishing at the open sea.

However, it wasn't a normal day to go out to the sea.

To be continued...

iMed! iMac!

It's a long overdue decision finally made. I really need a new machine for me to continue being productive. I have been at delay for quite some times with works especially on an album for a client who has been patient enough to accept every excuse from me.

My previous workhorse has been a lifeline for me to continue exist in the digital world. As mentioned in my earlier postings, my first desktop is considered an introduction for me to the digital world and the previous one brought me to another level. I am very much thankful, words can't describe how grateful I am for their contribution to my life.

A life span of four years for a computer could be well considered as a living dead, most likely everything is in obsoleteness and suppose to be dead and yet, still my PC has been able to suck some blood, especially in producing wonderful colors for my images. All those images that have grabbed many attentions were produced by that PC.

Parting with it the other day was sentimental. I have personal attachment with my belongings especially when it has performed as it should under great circumstances.

Now, I have acquired a new machine after given up very much thought in deciding to buy it. A PC or a Mac? I have always been a PC user except during my early years of employment when the office I was working at was on Apple's platform. The option was still undecided because with the same amount I could have buy a well equipped PC. It wasn't until I was given a brand new PC at the current office (also at my previous office when I was in the PWD). Anything new is always good at first but for a PC, that enjoyment mostly wouldn't last that long. I always hate it when it starts to become complicated, unknowingly. Soon enough, many pop-ups will appear warning me of whatever possible threat. Based on my years of experience using a PC, probably a constant watch day and night updating the latest anti-virus software will only free me of worries of my PC being infected, if not fatally, in a way it will somehow still affect the speed performance of that PC.

Now please welcome, my new workhorse - the new iMac (at time of published), launched less than two weeks ago. Still a lot of tricks to learn and I am eager to know it. And Johanna, definitely you'll going to get your album soon. I'm sorry.

Race Day!

It all started when I received a phone call 3 days before race day. A friend on the other line offered me a ticket to watch the F1 on race day. It wasn't an immediate yes until he uttered the next golden words - it's a grand stand seating. That prompted an instant yes! yes! yes! as the answer.

I am not that keen to watch an F1 race day at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) (that means I am still open to watch the race day at any other venue, definitely who wouldn't) due to some bad experience I had before. Though I was very much grateful to my nephew when he offered a free ticket during the 2005 season, I lost my wallet and had to endure a 2-hour traffic jam getting out of the venue. The seating, on a hill that forms one of the corner for the track, provides me with only almost a second of F1 experience, out of one minute and the half taken to complete a lap at SIC by an F1 car. The cars came out from our right before quickly disappeared on our left.

But this time, it was a big upgrade. At first I wasn't really care about the price of our ticket until I received a call from a former boss, who was also attending the race and wanting to know where I'm sitting. I mentioned whatever written at the back of the ticket when he mentioned that I have an expensive ticket. A confirmation by the ticket provider that the ticket was worth over one grand. Never in my life, unless, after when I already own a Ferrari, that I would only buy an F1 ticket at such a price.

The whole experience was carnival-like with lots of people already thronged the circuit by noon. Entering the parking was already hell enough, to pay an amount that can fill up 3/4 of my tank with petrol just to park under a palm tree really sum up the leeching we had. The price of the food was marked up out of proportion. No outside food or drinks allowed.

Anyway, what made it's worth to get a grand stand seating, apart from its hefty price tag is to damage your hearing, by purposely had it exposed to the high-revving engine sound during start of the race. My seating was just next to the starting grid. I really love the roaring sound of an F1 car!

Finally, big credit due to Jim for the free ticket. Though I know I will have to endure another 2-hour traffic jam just to get out of there (just as what I had endure for the two races I've attended) if he happens to provide me with another free ticket next season, the prospect of getting a corporate suite wasn't really much a deal, isn't it?