On a recent trip to Adelaide, finally managed to revisit my favourite Argentinian restaurant "Gauchos" for a really superb meal.

Sydney 2009

Yes, it really has been a long time since I've posted anything on this blog... Still not too sure if I'll do some catch-up posts, but in the mean time, I thought it would be nice to just keep going forward.

Here's a picture I took recently on one of my now many visits to Sydney. Its actually a photo that's been long overdue in the making. I used to just walk to Circular Quay and the Rocks and gaze over the harbour towards Luna Park thinking to myself that it would just be great to get over to the otherside to photograph the landscape behind me.

Well, finally got off my a*** and figured out how to take the train over and spend a few hours taking photos.

What I've posted is just one of the numerous shots I took that evening.

Hope you like it. As usual, if you click the title of this post, it will take you to my flick site where you can see more of my work.

Thanks for stopping by...

MacAlfie :-)

Hullo???

Errr... Not DED. Haven't been kidnapped or gotten seriously lost or anything... Just been down with a serious case of LAZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEE !!

But fortunately (or otherwise) I feel I might be up to posting stuff again...

Stay tuned... or connected... or.. well, I think you get the point.

Ciao!

Krabi

This is a somewhat unusual post, in that the pictures you see are not on my Flickr site yet.. hence there's no link associated with the title. The trip itself was a little unusual as I booked the tickets way back at the beginning of the year once I knew that my leave was approved... so what's the significance of this holiday?? Well.. we wanted to get away during my birthday... sort of a 'birthday holiday'.

So we went... took a flight directly to Krabi and a relatively short cab ride to the other side of the island where the resort was situated. We weren't really planning on going anywhere.. kind of a similar deal to the Phuket holiday we did last year.. but decided to keep our options open. In the end, we did just the one excursion, to Phi Phi Island and spent the rest of the trip basically at the resort or at the nearby surrounds. We did venture to Aonang Beach on the 30th to check out a restaurant but it was closed. Nevertheless we did have a good dinner at another place in town.

Overall, it was a nice, short trip but our sunburnt lips was a painful lesson on how too much fun in the sun can hurt!

M@cAlfie

Pictures, top to bottom...

1. Tiger Airways Airbus... our ride to Krabi and back,
2. Waiting for a taxi in the resort lobby... going for my BD dinner!
3. Posing on the boat enroute to Phi Phi,
4. The surprise cake...
5. Tubkaak Resort by night.

Kyoto Holiday

Its been a while since I've posted anything new and I won't be surprised if anyone thought I'd given up the idea of documenting my travels. Here's my long overdue entry...

We went to Kyoto for a week, from 26th April to 2nd June. Instead of the play by play (or day by day) account of what we did, I have decided to do the whole trip in one (hopefully not too big) post, so here goes...

We arrived in Kyoto City by coach from the airport and could not check-in so we went looking for Mei Lan's SOKA association HQ and also our first meal together in Japan. We found the association's building without much problem and were warmly welcomed and given a tour by one of the helpers there. Then it was chow time. Ordering food, as we discovered throughout the trip was an interesting experience. After a good meal and much needed rest we headed out in the evening to 'explore' the town... and more food! Took the bus.. that took some effort but we were to learn later that their public transport system is really excellent.. efficient and most importantly.. punctual. There wasn't really anything on our agenda so we meandered around the little streets looking at what was on offer... we did chance upon a small temple in the middle of the shopping street where I took a few photographs. As we were planning an early start the following day, we headed back to the hotel after dinner.

Over the next 4 days we went to the 4 corners of the city visiting all the various landmarks, namely the Golden and Silver Pavilions, the various gardens, shrines and temples including Kiyomizu-dera, a temple that was recently featured in our local newspapers. There were also a few accidental excursions, most notably on the last day in the city... We initially thought of visiting just the Fushimi Inari Shrine to the south-east, which is famous for the long rows of red "Torii". After we finished we thought it would be a waste to just chill for the rest of the day so we took out the map and elected to visit the Arashiyama district... for no other apparent reason than it looked interesting on the map! It turned out to be a very rewarding trip as we spent the whole afternoon chilling in a very scenic location and eventually decided to stay and catch the sunset and have dinner as well.

Which brings me to the food. We loved it and the experience acquiring it. Its not like we're new to the cuisine but the process of getting it was really very exciting. Two of the most enjoyable dinners we had were chance finds.. just walking into a quaint little restaurant, smiling and ultimately allowing the chef and his assistant to prepare the dishes. Many of the dishes served we had never seen before but watching the whole process of how it was prepared as just added to the enjoyment of consumption. One of the night's after dinner we were at the Gion district and ended up chasing a Geisha to have pictures taken with her.

On the second last morning we set off for the Kurama district, about an hour north of the city by train to experience staying at a Japanese bath house. THAT was a very interesting adventure, especially since there are quite a number of 'rules' to follow so you don't offend the locals. Ultimately, it was a very enjoyable stay and I would like go stay at one of these Ryokans again..

Alas... like all our holidays, this one seemed to end too soon, but I'm sure that it won't be the last time we visit Japan...

The photos, from bottom-up are:

1. Mei Lan outside the SOKA building,
2. Posing in front of the Silver Pavilion,
3. Kiyomizu-Dera,
4. The Golden Pavilion
5. Dusk as seen from the Arashiyama District

Stay tuned...

Californian Beaches

Another of my marathon walks.... got into LA ahead of schedule and when I saw the clear skies I felt rejuvented... so instead of crashing out for a couple of hours I decided to get my gear and head out to the beach. I was initially planning to take the bus.. but as things usually go.. I walked.. as usual. Initially it was kind of boring as there really wasn't much to see but as I got neared to the beach area things started improving. Honestly I didn't really have a clue were I was going to end up cos I didn't really bother to check the map. All I knew was I wasn't that far (yeah right!) and it was due West. Fortunately I met a nice guy who enthsiastically gave me some good advice and I ended up walking along Hermosa and Manhattan beaches.

After walking for almost 5 hours I finally found a spot to set up and wait for the sunset and also watch the locals run or blade by the boardwalk. I decided to take a cab back to the hotel after the shoot and it was only then that I realised how far I had really walked and why my feet were killing me! Needless to say I had a really good night's sleep!

Naritasan Shinshoki Temple

Lucky me. It initially started out as a rather bleak day... light rain, a little foggy and also a little cold. Not exactly weather conditions that will get someone to jump out of bed and go take photos... fortunately it cleared later in the morning and i managed to go take some pictures at the temple. Sadly some of the buildings are being refurbished or restored so I couldn't capture all the buildings in their full splendour but it was nevertheless a beautiful compound.. much larger than I expected.

Cherry Blossoms

Howdy... am currently on my way to LA via Narita. Got here early this morning and after catching up on some much needed sleep, decided to venture out (finally) to this 'big' shopping area called AEON. Supposedly... there's this camera shop (what else) that might have some good deals on lenses and stuff.. so armed with some sketchy directions.. I headed out to explore.

Needless to say.. I never found the shop. At least I don't think I did cos the description of the shop and the directions given made it hard to tell as I did find some joint which was actually a large electronic store with a small section selling cameras... but nothing interesting enough to tickle my fancy or wallet.

Instead.. in the aimless wanderings I spotted this area where the Cherry Blossom trees were in full bloom and the breeze was causing the petals to fly all over the place. Obviously I didn't need a second invitation, whipped out the camera and started shooting.

I'm off to LA tomorrow evening but am hoping to wake up early enough to take a walk to a nearby temple to shoot some pictures as well as tire myself out so I can get some sleep before work. Then it's off for a relative short (hopefully... fingers and toes crossed) hop across the Pacific to LA where I'm hoping to practice some sunset shots and also other landscape captures at Redondo Beach as part of my 'work-up-training" for the upcoming BIG holiday :-) Again... the recent reports of the weather there are not exactly encouraging but I'm hopeful.. as ever...

Catch you later.

M@cAlfie

Frankfurt

Everytime I visit one of these destinations where we start 'sharing' with our sister aircraft type I find myself wondering if I'll be back anytime soon. There wasn't really enough time for a photoshoot excursion to one of the neighbouring towns so I restricted myself to the city and brought the little P&S instead of the 'horse'. Here are just some samples of the photos I took. By now you should know where to find the rest :-)

One of the highlights for me was finding the cherry blossoms... in full bloom.