Gunung Stong

Well finally only six people including myself were confirmed in going to Gunung Stong. We could not get train tickets so we had no choice but to drive,,.... the drive will take us to Bentong, Gua Musang and finally to Jelawang which is at the fringes of Kelantan.

The drive there was quite interesting..... we left at 10.30pm from Vads Plaza in TTDI where we picked up Azrul and his two pals. We reached the Bentung turnoff pretty quickly but there was a jam getting into Bentung Town. We where stuck like for more then 1 and a half hours…. My clutch leg was really killing me…. The Long Holiday exodus of Chinese New Year was really showing itself… there was a lot of cars on the road and we were averaging about 70 to 80 kph. We stopped at a petrol station for a toilet break only to find the queue so long we were there about half hour…

We took turns driving and thankfully we reached Jelawang town safely about 7.30am. Stopped for breakfast as Azrul called the guide to inform him of our arrival. Judy, Dono and me had coffee while the others had breakfast... the coffee tasted strange so i only had a few sips and thats it...

My odometer was showing slightly more then 400km (My petrol gauge is busted) so i decided that we shld get petrol..... we found out that the next petrol station was about 60km away.... but the shop owner informed us that we could buy petrol from a house nearby that had a small hand pump operated petrol tank.... before that we picked up our guide at a bus stop nearby.... Jani (our guide) then showed us to the house that sold petrol

check out the petrol pump.... very similar to the pumps in the 1920s

Part of the tour is to visit a few caves in that area. This was part of the reason I agreed to join this expedition. Turns out these caves are situated away from Jelawang, nearer to Dabong town. The caves were pretty good but not as nearly as good as Gunung Senyum and Jebak Puyuh….

After we got out to our cars all dirty and muddy we stopped at Dabong Town for lunch....

Thats Dabong Train Station in the background......

You can get a train at KTM and Central Station KL to Dabong station..... we couldn’t get tickets, being Chinese New Year and all everything was fully booked.... Wish we got tickets because driving here has made my legs ache like hell even before we reached Jelawang.... not to mention jumping around at The Police concert in Singapore.... my left (Clutch) leg was painful....... oh dear....


Jelawang Forest Reserve...... you can see most of the peaks which make up Gunung Ayam, Gunung Stong, Gunung Tera, Gunung Saji, Gunung Koh, Gunung Baha, Gunung Beirut and Gunung Che Tahir and Stong Waterfall from the Dabong Station.... you can do a six day hike to cover almost all the peaks but we were only hiking up Gunung Stong.. the most accessible of the bunch.......

After parking our cars and distributing the food among ourselves ..... it was time to start our 2 hour hike to Baha's Camp....... My legs were already giving way..... but i pushed on.... if i were you i wld make sure to come here by train instead of Driving.......

The waterfall was an awesome sight.... stunningly breathtaking.... powerfull......... the pictures dont do it justice.... you have got to be there ........... Halfway there..... i was holding everyone up.... but i think they didnt mind waiting for me to catchup....

my legs were cramping very badly.... i wobbled and jiggled my legs into place... inch by inch.... the guide let the others go ahead and assisted me.... he had those muscle spray thingys which he used on my legs....but that was useless….. about almost 200 meters to the entrance of Baha's camp...my legs just started shivering and cramping and locking stiff..... it took me an added 40 minutes or more, on top of the normal 2 hours to get to the camp..... Interestingly there is a tuck-shop of sorts which had soda up at Baha’s Camp... most importantly 100plus...... it wasnt iced but it was good.......

well I can go on and on but hey why don’t I let the photos do the talking….. Click HERE
to view more photos our trip to Gunung Stong…

The beautiful view as the sun rises on Baha's Camp

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mo

THE POLICE live in Singapore!!!

What a week I have had.... At the last minute we (Donovan, Rose and I) managed to snap up 3 tickets to go watch THE POLICE live in Singapore last 4th of Feb. The concert was pretty much sold out but due to the overwhelming ticket sales, they opened up the seats facing the back of the stage. The sound wasn’t too good and some of the stage lights move into different position throughout the concert, sometimes blocking our view. Luckily they had 2 projectors facing us.

Nevertheless the concert was good but very Stingyfied’ if you know what I mean. It’s supposed to be THE POLICE concert!!!... Anyway the opening act was pretty good. They were called Fiction Plan… but were disappointed when I found out a few days ago that the front man of that band is Sting’s son…. He sounds just like any other rock band… not unique like his father. Oh well…..

Singapore was a little boring…. It rained pretty much all the way there, and it was gloomy and windy… reminded me of Melbourne… well I guess that’s better then hot and sunny. But what was worst is that my camera was giving me problems……. You see… I had dropped it on the floor on new years day and broke the battery latch…. Now its kept shut with a raffia string…. Yup very high tech wan…. So I taught I will just take my SLR… and as I was taking some shots on the bus I noticed a big black scuff on the photos… AARRRRRRRRRRRggggggggHHH… there was dust and this this this big black dot on the processing chip (CMOS)…. And I didn’t bring any camera cleaning equipment stuff with me..

Rained almost all the way to Singapore......

At Pagor rest stop...... hmmmm whats that black smudge to the right of the lights????.....

MRT.... the life line in Singapore........

Look!!.... its a giant tad pole..........

The Science Centre was pretty cool.....

The Giant Tad Pole is attacking Singapore.... where is Ultraman when you need him....

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They didn’t allow any professional cameras into the stadium, and seeing that my compact camera was out of commission, I only snapped a few shots of the concert with Rose’s handphone…

We left for Singapore Saturday evening 2nd of Feb, and reached the apartment at about 11pm.We were bored so we visited the science centre and ofcos Orchard Road. The concert was on Monday the 4th of Feb. We walked to the stadium becos the buses and taxi stands we crowded. It turned out to be quite a walk from the MRT station; and after the concert, it was even worst…. We managed to walk back to the MRT station to catch the last train but we had to ran across to the other train during the interchange at City Hall. We pretty much walked a lot during our stay in Singapore and I was worried because I was leaving for the Gunung Stong expedition the day after we got back from Singapore….. and boy was I tired……

mo

Ravin Turns Two 19 Jan 08

Proof that Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes is a real Kid. Hansome little Ravin turned 2 years old last month. For enquiries and bookings to pixelate your special moments, please email me at pixelatedmo@gmail.com or geraldmc8@hotmail.com

Usha & Sanjay Engagement 19 Jan 08

From Klang to Nilai for a colorful engagements. For special moments pixelated in time, please email me at pixelatedmo@gmail.com or geraldmc8@hotmail.com for enquiries and bookings.

The Secret Paper Project

For almost a year i toyed at the idea of making a figurine for my good friend Donovan. He has always remembered my birthday and takes great trouble to get me something really nice... every year..... i on the other hand am a doing lah (not on purpose of cos) ..... so last year (Sept 06) i decided to make him something i saw over on the net. It was a figurine of the witchking riding a fell beast from the Lord of the Rings movies....

I researched for almost a year..... ofcos...most of the time i did alot of procrastinating lah ... then on the 1st day of September 2007 i started on the project...... what i thought wld take a few days to make, (his birthday was on the 15th of Sept) turned out to be a hell of a task ....of cos there were weeks where i didnt work on it at all.....but all-in it took me almost 4 months to finish it....

THe idea was to use any kind of material available to me for as minimal cost just for the heck of it.....So i used newspaper, MAsking tape, bits of wire, lots and lots of tissue paper, one small mecha figurine, Aluminium foil, a piece of nylon string and an egg crate. Apart from the mecha warrior, the most i spent on this secret project was poster paint and lots of PVA glue..... The hardest part of this project was to keep it a secret for so many months........... but i actually had fun making the figurine and it turned out well.... but me as usual kept trying to make it better, not satisfied with the outcome....so it took alot of effort to stop and except how it looked, otherwise it would have taken a few more months ...

For more photos of the making of this secret paper project...... click HERE

Betty & Egmont 5th Jan 2008

A simple wedding with a Hawaiian twist...... congrats Betty & Egmont... may your life together be filled with joy...


--mo

A Short Pixelated Christmas Story

So.... December has been ...very interesting (lack of a better word)....... and seeing that i cant put everything down in writing.... (Actually i can but im lazy) i thought i'd just post it with pictures..... (this blog is called pixelatedmo after all...... right.......

APM sang carols at that place next to Mid Valley.... (Yup i still cant remember what its called).... Gardens!!!!!!! yup Garden or the Garden or someting...... hmmm correct ah? Anyway... thats the same day i took the shot 'Dancing on the Skylight'...... hmmm APM didnt do too well the first day but they warmed up and did well on the second day..... fantastic....

Hmmm... seemed to have spend alot of time in Mid Valley in the days leading up to Christmas..... Rose and I found this fantastic curtain material in Kamdar (in 'the' Mid of the Valley) which we bought and had it made into lovely curtains...... i just love it..... a little sheer but ah... very very nice........... gives the living a nice colour.......

Did alot of cleaning and decorating and shopping and present wrapping and washing and shopping and carolling and photographing and shopping..... APM on the other had was busy practising Christmas carols....

We went house visiting and sang carols for two days.... and i got to practise using the Nikon D70 SLR.......... yup ....me with a digital SLR for the very first time...... i'll save that for another post.... anyway a big thank you goes out to my long time friend from school... Adrian Elliot for lending me his D70 to use for my wedding assignments......... thanks dude, i really really appreciate it........ (BTW girls he is single and available)....

Rose went all out with the decorations this yeah..... it really felt like Christmas after she finished..... :) We also bought those snow spray thingys .... but we didnt have time to do anything with it..... Then on the 26th of Dec i woke up and just went out and sprayed the sliding door with the snow spray... armed only with a rough sketch and my finger......

i guess its a little late....... but .... Merry Christmas Everyone and a Happy New Year to all my readers........!!!!!!!!........!!

END

Picture of the Month Dec 2007

Skylight Dance......... Ok its not very christmassie... but i got this shot when i was at midvalley because APM was hired to sing carols in errr hmmm 'Whats that new place next to Midvalley?' anyway, i was alerted by Arron that there was a guy on the skylight at the centre court..... its always good to have 10x optical zoom....

Two other shots from the same series.....

END

Christine & Adrian 22nd Dec 2007

If you are looking for a Photographer to capture your special moments..... like Engagements, Weddings, someones Birthday, your pets birthday... anything lah.... feel free to email me at geraldmc8@hotmail.com ...... or leave a comment on this blog.... or call me if you have my number.

Pixelated Mo is for Hire......!!!

New Year Resolution... Wanted !

Hmmmm... I should be writing something more christmassy but i need to make an announcement ........... I finally did it....... i resigned from my company of which i have been loyally serving for nearly 8 years!!!! yup i did it.... ..... 14th Dec was my last day, and it felt really strange.... actually the last three days in my company felt almost eerie... hmmm... i dont really know how to explain it....

Well.... to some of you from my company who are reading.... i would like to say that ... i am really going to miss you guys (well you know who you are).... and i wish you all the best....

... i am FREE.... i am FREE........ i am....... unemployed ..........WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! kekeke... i know its not funny but for some reason im happy but a little scared too.... hmmm...

Anyway.... If you are looking for a Photographer to capture your special moments..... like Engagements, Weddings, someones Birthday, your pets birthday... anything lah.... feel free to email me at geraldmc8@hotmail.com ...... or leave a comment on this blog.... or call me if you have my number. Pixelated Mo is for Hire......!!!

Here's a some pictures taken on my last day of work.... more then half were off or working on a different shift.... sniff sniff... miss you guys lah...

Even mister pinky came over to wish me a fond farewell.......

I didnt want to post all the picks cos theres just too many :) ...i will try an compile it and email it to you guys (my ex co-workers) soon....

Anyway... i promised you guys and gals more pictures of Mega Mall in my last post.... So i shall leave you guys with a shot of the creppy mega mall christmas fairies.... pouncing out of some kind of shrub.... picking an unsuspecting kids who where looking for Santa...........

Merry Christmas Everybody and to Everybody a Happy New Year.......

mo

Let the Shopping begin!

Christmas is almost upon us and shopping is in the air. Went to mid valley two weeks ago to help Rose look for curtains. The deco in Mid Valley was not too bad. They seem to do a good job... especially last year and the year before that. This year it seems its a fairy land of something..... but once the fairies came out and started dancing... i felt a little scared... but i braved myself and tooke a few pictures of the fairies.... .....scary looking fairies....
Caught this guy in a shop window....and i just love what they did with pvc pipes in the background.... so...cool...


Mo Mid Valley in my next post.........

Wild on Wheels

Went to the Wild on Wheels car show which was organized by the AMC club.... a really good turn out of cars but not a good turn out of spectators. I got there in the afternoon and found out that many of the participating had left.... even while i was making my way towards all the cars ... a string of beetles and a combi left :(


Anyway click on the picture to have a look at more pictures of the show... some really cool cars...

November 07 'Photo of the Month'

Praying in the Pantry

Apeture F2.8
Shutter 1/6 sec
Focal Lenght 12mm
Exposure -0.33

Beowulf

The tale of Beowulf has been told in so many ways much like Homer’s Iliad… … and so far I have seen three…

The first one I watched was a C grade Christopher Lambert movie called Beowulf. It was so cheesy and bad with its cheesy graphics and even cheesier soundtrack…… … and like cheese it was full of plot holes…… the only thing good about this movie was the introduction of Rhona Mitra…….. even with Rhona’s ‘offerings’ and Christopher Lambert’s silver hair… I give it a 2/10…and with that im being generous …..what’s with the science fiction twists lah? Sheeshkebabs!



Beowulf & Grendel caught me by surprise… I didn’t know much about it until I wanted to know more about Gerard Butler after his performance in the movie 300…… it was noted that he did well in this movie too… so I went and got it. Beowulf & Grendel was filmed very well and although it’s a myth and was made famous in a poem, it was however portrayed very realistically. Somehow the grammar in that sentence doesn’t feel right….. anyway I would recommend this movie with a 7/10…. But mind you it can get a little dull but intriguing nonetheless.

Now we come to the latest installment of the famous poem of this infamous Norse warrior. First things first…. 3D animation has come really far… it was just stunningly superb. Its really hard to see the difference between animation and reality especially the skin tone and body motion…. But I think the animation of ‘hair’ still needs some work…
The movie captures you from the get go and it’s a wild ride from there on after but they did change the story a little bit… I call this Hollywootism. First, Beowulf does kill Grendel’s Mother but it was rumored that Grendel had an offspring. Secondly he does not inherit a Kingdom. The Movie Beowulf & Grendel followed the story more faithfully but the 3D motion capture Beowulf was more entertaining. So it gets 8/10.

MO.....

Checkout my BIG tripod!

Last Saturday My mum and sister took me and rose out for dinner to celebrate my birthday at Pizza Uno in Taipan... food was ok only.... but i have eaten their English breakfast before... and that was the bomb.... Anyway after we got back, the guys turned up at my doorstep to surprise me with beer and cake.,.... i must have been grinning from ear to ear.... and they even got me a present..... it was a big ass can kill a dog tripod for my camera..... !!!! wunderbar!!!!

see...with a tripod i can be in the picture too

Ofcos ....the guys moved on to the important things in life.... stuffing ones face and watching LIVE english football..... you can see it in their eyes that they werent impressed with the player tactics...

the girls were less then impressed...

time to cut the cake.....

G... being a 'shifty' person came late becos of work......GGGGGGGGGG

here's the BIG sakura tripod..... its BIG and sturdy... and damn stable.... it will certainly come in handy. Cant wait to use it properly. But the weight is surely going to be challenging... I am not sure if i would want to be lunging around with it on holidays.....

Anyway guys and gals...especially Dono... Thank you yeah... God bless!