Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
28th April @ Local Market
10-20mm lens again this time.
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
Kota Kinabalu
One of the perils of living in Jakarta is that it can be difficult to find attractive locations to relax in at the weekend, away from the smog, bustle and people.
AirAsia recently came to the rescue by opening up a cheap new route from Jakarta to Kota Kinabalu which is in Malaysian North Borneo, near Brunei. There’s a massive mountain on the doorstep which is a popular climb, many national parks and also some beautiful islands 10 minutes from the mainland which was our choice of activity.
The islands allow camping, and although they can be a little busy at the weekend with snorkellers and day-trippers, at 4pm everyone disappears leaving almost nobody else there. Bliss!
The diving and snorkelling is reasonably good, we got to see a turtle, some rays, and all the other usual fish that you see in Malaysia.
I didn’t take my DSLR, just a Panasonic point and shoot (also with underwater housing).
Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park is just off Kota Kinabalu. You can see the mainland at the top left of the photo. Here, the plane is over Gaya island, we stayed at Mamutik island which is the tiny one near the centre of the photo. You can just see the beach where we pitched our tent. The island is almost opposite the airport on the mainland, and it’s a 10 minute speedboat journey from the jetty. Amazing!
Me, taken by Kate
Kate
A great angle of Jakarta from the sea, you can just see Monas on the left hand side above centre.
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
Today at the local market
Each day that I go to the local market for photos, I take a different lens. Today, it was my very wide-angle lens which caused people to get a bit alarmed when I got in really close for a photo!
Seconds before she burst into tears because of the scary man with the big camera! Oops.
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
How to prepare a chicken.
I went for another wander around the local market today, and happened to catch the chicken sellers kill a bunch of them and turn them into what I would see at the local supermarket. The process was quick and efficient, the Indonesians seemed to wonder why I had so much interest in something that was so everyday and mundane to them.
A quick slice to the throat before being passed the next victim.
Don’t pass me to the guy with the knife!
The chickens are prepared in hot oil.
This contraption is powered by a noisy motor that makes the drum turn round. The feathers come out of the bottom, and when the chickens are pulled back out, they look just like what you would buy at the supermarket (except with yellow feet!).
Game console graveyard on the top floor of the market.