Road Sweeper.

Keep Kuching Clean and Think before you throw.
There is a never-ending barrage of the above channeled to us through our government sponsored television adverts and campaign posters about ‘keeping Malaysia clean’, yet it seems that the efficacy of the above mentioned remains somewhat of a mixed bag.  I was once told of a lawyer who even declared that is his ‘right to dump his rubbish wherever he pleases’ as we pay taxes to have the council clean up our streets. I don’t see this as doing justice to our road sweepers. While Kuching can certainly claim the spot for being one of the cleanest cities in the country, this habit is becoming entrenched. All too often, I see drivers who wind down their car window and dump their rubbish onto the streets, with a carload of kids.

Media Visit for Pesta Babulang (Lumba Kerbau) Limbang. Part2.

Before I write about Pesta Babulang in Batu Danau in Limbang .I thought it is better for me to insert the photograph that I shoot during our trip to Merarap Hotspring in Lawas & my experience traveling off-road journey with gravel, riverbeds, mud, rocks, and other natural terrain.Our guide and experience off road driver is Chong Teah Lim (Mr Lim) from Borneo Touch Ecotour and Encik Amirul (Paul) from Sarawak Tourism Board base in Miri.

Upon arriving Lawas, Sarawak, we drove another 15 mins to the entrance of the forest. The journey to get into this hot-spring took us another 2 hours. Partly because it was an off-road journey with gravel, riverbeds, mud, rocks, and other natural terrain as you can see from this album. One mistake you could be in disaster. Only experienced 4WD drivers dare get in (for now). Along the journey, I learned a couple off-road driving communication signs especially to oncoming trucks and 4WD. Since its deep rainforest, phone lines are yet developed. Whether you’re Maxis,Tune Talk,Celcom or whatever telco..all zero.

Actualy from Lawas to Merarap our journey started late evening after Magrib prayer and dinner & the photograph that I share here is shoot during our return trip from Merarap.We arrive quite late in the evening and almost midnight as Mr Lim could not drive faster due logging truck activity also active during the night.We arrived safely. From the entrance of the Lodge, I heard water rushing loudly. Curious me.I saw a huge muddy river with powerful water that brushes over stones. From my judgement the width of the river is at least 100ft wide. It rushes from left to right. Its already very late and we are tired so everyone say goodnight.When I woke up next day ..wow !! I see such a beautiful scenery this place is blessed with various attractions.. from diverse flora and fauna. Nevertheless, it is still largely unknown to the rest of the world, even to most people of Sarawak or Malaysia.More effort need to be made to promote this region. It's world class.. we should be proud of it..

Encik Amirul enjoy the hotspring spa.

• Get closer to nature.
• Enjoy the surrounding at the same time enjoy the nice cold weather.
• Enjoy beautiful scenery along the long and winding road on a 4 wheel drive from Bakelalan to Merarap Hot Spring.
• Take a dip in the lukewarm water in the pools.
• A great place to relax and rejuvenate your body and mind. Do bring along your reading material; here you can rest and read comfortably at the common area while listening to the sound of the stream nearby. 

End of part2 & next part3: On our way back to Lawas from Merarap Hot Spring we stop by Tagang Long Lidung Eco-Tourism.

Classic Barbershop.

A classic, quality barbershop shave always includes a "hot towel," which goes on your face prior to the shaving. The experience is not only relaxing, but the heat and moisture from the hot towel serve to open your pores and soften your face skin.

The old school barbershop a place which is slowly being replaced by the new and swanky hair salons which have gained so much popularity in the last decade or so. I wonder too whether establishments like the one in the picture still exist in the big cities. Many of the younger generation  prefer to have their hair cut in the 'newer' establishments, most of which are unisex.

 Horizontal position for a good old fashion shave.

 Remember these old barber chairs? Would you go for a traditional hair cut and shave? It will only cost you RM8.00

They Call This Human Interest.

Photography had never been as flourished as it is now in digital era. Most people I know, they carry their own DSLR camera, and I found it really interesting. We are all photographer in this age of time, telephone becomes mobile, mobile becomes camera-phone, camera phone becomes smart-camera-phone where image can be processed, printed and shared to community directly from it. Everyone carries camera nowadays, everyone is a photographer.First thing first, in my early days I was a little bit confused in getting differences among many terms:  journalistic photography, human interest photography and street photography. They are almost the same yet have a slightly different approach.

Human Interest Photography.

To photograph human activity, their interest, social lives, theme, story etc. A direct derivative from journalistic photography. The main purpose of this type of photography is to capture human activity. It is more into their social life than anything artistic or journalistic. To emphasize the HUMAN BEHAVIOR, their interaction with other human, with  nature and with their surrounding etc. It is all about human life, their theme, agenda, an idea of story and we make it extraordinary to show it  to the world.

 Below are example of my human interest photography:

 In spite of his old age he still work very hard to meet his daily needs. They call him 'The Gas Man' or 'The Iron Man'

 The Street Magician.

 The Fisher Man.

 The Delivery Man..
 

Usual Crowd on Last Day of Sunday Market in Kuching

The usual crowd of weekend shoppers thronged the  Satok Wet and Weekend Market popularly known as the Sunday market here yesterday but it was not business as usual for the traders there. “Why are there so many reporters here today? Something big going on?”No.no I'm just a man with camera and anxious to record the end of an age.One of the petty traders  remarked to me "Its has been almost 30 years I do business here. Sad but happy because I have new place to do my usual business in the new location,there were many memories made here in the Sunday Market.