This was during the school holidays in 2008, specifically Monday 17 November 2008. We went there on Cai Hong’s car, because we had a lot of things to bring along and using the Wira with the huge tank at the back will not do.

Cai Hong had a ticket for free stay at their bungalow, since she was an ex-staff there. We arrived there at about 10 am and proceeded to the resort without checking in first.

There was a lot of things to see and do. And a lot of interesting pictures to be taken.

Yan Yan was so scared of the guy!

If Yan Yan fear is bad, Ah Wen's fear is worse! She's afraid of the parrot!

Yan Yan was so excited, she wished to know everything she sees!

We went to see the animal show. It was kinda lame actually, but it was good enough for the kids. It really had them entertained.

The troop of animals on display

There were a lot of other shows there as well, such as the bird’s show:

Bird Show

However one show going for in the resort is the Wild Wild West Show. It combines hilarious slap-stick fun with incredible stunts and a lot of visual effects. Entertaining for both children and adults alike.

The Cowboy Show was very entertaining

The show reminds me of a similar Police Academy Show back in Warner Brother’s Studio that we saw in GoldCoast back in 2005. The one in Gold Coast is better of course, but this cowboy show is actually not bad by Malaysia’s standard. It really deserves a visit to A’Famosa, if only just for this show. I have a set of photos just for this Cowboy Show here.

The other places that we went to was the Chicken Farm, the Monkey Island, the Safari Ride and the Elephant Show.

Chicken Farm

Journey to Monkey Island on these floating drums

Safari Ride. Kinda reminds me of Jurassic Park (cue John Williams here)

Elephant Show where we see trained elephants dance and play ball...

... all sorts of balls! Ahem ....

It was already late in the afternoon by the time we have finished all the park visits. We went to our bungalows to check in. It was another fun-filled splashing time as we head to the pool. Too bad Yan Yan went to bed immediately after that, only Hui Yan still refused to sleep.

This was the bungalow that we stayed in. With a swimming pool too!

That night we went out for dinner. I don’t know what place that was, but it was about 15 minutes drive away. We immediately came back afterwards for more shows in A’Famosa. Yeap, there are more shows at night. One of them include the fire stunt show, and the highlight of the night, the Street Carnival followed by the fireworks display.

Fire stunt by the red indians. I think they are the same fellas from the Wild Wild West show earlier today

I didn’t take any pictures of the carnival parade or the fireworks. My lens is not long enough to reach them in the dark anyway. So there’s no pictures of those. After the parade, we went to the 3-D show, which again, no pictures were taken.

18 November 2008

The next morning was spent playing water! This time round, Yan Yan got to enjoy as much water as she wanted! Early on she went to the swimming pool in front of the bungalow.

Yan Yan drinking warm milk after her morning swim

After our breakfast, all of us went to the water park for some splashing fun! Obviously yours truly did not bring his precious camera inside the park. So no pictures were taken. But I can tell you, Yan Yan had a hell of a time in the water! It was like she was born in the water, she went crazy when she saw this great mass of water everywhere! The highlight of my water fun must be the 7-storey tall High Speed Slide! There are two version of it, the one with the straight down slide, and the 3 level slide. I flew on the 3-level slide, where there are 3 parts separated by 2 very heart-stopping apex. That means that there are 2 occasions in the middle of the ride where you feel like your bum is not touching the slide at all! Very scary, yet very exciting! I tried it, and yes, it was WILD! I couldn’t open my eyes at all with all the water splashing around me! By the time I reached the bottom, my swimming trunk was already dragged high up to my waist! I had to pull the trunk back in place to cover my bum! paiseh!

I didn’t try the other slide. The slide was too much for me. I must be getting old!

Anyway everything ended on a high note. Everyone came back happy. Yan Yan was so tired, she slept all the way back to KL. Hui Yan, as usual, did not sleep at all.

For more pictures, head on down to my gallery.

I’m bored. Melaka is a place that I go to almost every time I go back to Sagil. Photographically speaking, I have also taken almost everything there is to be taken in Melaka. So I have decided to do something really drastic.

High Dynamic Range imaging, or HDR as it is commonly known, is a very exciting process where you can expect to see images with a very wide range of exposure information, commonly from direct sunlit areas of the cloud to the shadowy areas under the tree, in one picture. Imagine this scenario. You are taking a picture of a building. Unfortunately the sun is directly behind the building. Chances are, your picture is likely to get either over or under-exposed, depending on where you are pointing your camera at that time.

Shot taken in RAW and tweaked to bring out the details in the cathedral in Singapore. If taken under JPEG, I doubt this image will turn out well.

If you have a camera that is capable of storing the images in RAW (not necessarily a DSLR, and there are plenty from Panasonic and Fuji), you may even push the range a little higher by processing in the computer. But nothing beats a proper multiple-exposure HDR.

What is a multiple-exposure HDR?

This is HDR image generated from more than 1 pictures of the same scene in multiple exposure settings. In a DSLR, this is easily achievable using exposure bracketing. This is different from camera to camera, but on my 350D, it takes three shots in a consecutive burst. One with -2.0 EV, one with 0 EV, and another with +2.0 EV. In layman term, it means it will take one picture with normal exposure, one which is darker, and one which is brighter.

Balanced Exposure Shot

Over Exposed Shot. Notice that there are more details in the wheel area

Under Exposed Shot. Notice that there are more details in the sky and the wind screen

As you can see, there are effectively 3 different pictures. If you scrutinize the picture properly, you may notice that the pictures are not really identical. When I took the pictures, my hand could have moved a little, skewing the composition a little. The best way to take these kind of pictures is to use a tripod, or at least resting on a stable surface. Nevertheless, using hand is still possible. You can merge the pictures together later using proper software. I’ll come to that later. For me, the Image Stabilizer on my 17-55 do a great job in giving me a proper jerk-free images. In any case, I am taking mostly landscape photos, which requires minimum focal length. That translates to relatively stable hand movement anyway. Even with the Image Stabilizer turned off, I am confident of getting shake free pictures.

The trick is in the software

Next up is where the magic is weaved; the computer. Or more specifically, the software to process the photos. By now you may be wondering why is the two seemingly spoilt pictures be any useful at all. There is in fact plenty of information that can be gathered from these over- and under-exposed shots. The under-exposed shots will reveal more details in the clouds, while the over-exposed shots will reveal more information in the shadowy areas without noise turning up.

My workflow consists of two main softwares. The first is the Merge HDR function found in Adobe Photoshop CS3. It’s under File – Automate – Merge to HDR. Specify the 3 RAW files to be merged. Don’t worry if the pictures are not aligned. Photoshop is smart enough to merge the photos seamlessly and crop the excess area.

The 3 pictures, miraculously merged together!

You will see a merged photo. At this point, the photo does not look like much. Do not worry, click OK in the screen above. The white point below the histogram will not affect the final output, as we’ll see later. Save this picture as a Radiance format, or .HDR file extension. This Radiance format is a 32-bit file that contains a very high range of information, from the lightest of the clouds to the darkest of the shadows. Your normal computer monitor will not be able to display them all in one place. For your info, a normal JPEG picture only contains 8 bit of info per pixel.

Save as Radiance format. Cool name eh?

The second piece of software I’d like to explain in my next workflow is Photomatix. It’s a really cool piece of software that can read the 32-bit file and “compress” the range of highlights and shadows into regions that can be displayed to the monitor screen and the human eyes. They term this as Tone Mapping. This has an interesting side effect. It makes the picture more surreal in areas where the image would not normally be seen by the human eye. Normally an HDR image will have its contrast and saturation bumped up to really give depth to the picture.

You can tweak for contrast and saturation here

Here in Photomatix, adjust the values for Strength (the contrast) and Color Saturation. The Luminosity lets you find the best exposure for the dark areas while Light Smoothing gives a sort of mysterious aura to the lights. Play around with the values until you are satisfied with the picture. After that you may save the picture directly as a RAW tiff file (in 16 bit format) or normal JPEG pictures for display.

And the result can be very stunning indeed! Enough theories, let’s see some results.

Before I remembered to use HDR. This is the view from our hotel room, Avillion Legacy Melaka

After I remembered that I can use HDR…..

My initial reaction when I saw this picture was WHOOOAAA!!!!!

St Francis Institution, before HDR

St. Francis Institution, after HDR

Before HDR

After HDR. Notice you see more details in the sky and the shadowy areas inside the A'Famosa replica

Some pictures are not suitable for HDR. For example animate objects such as human, animals or other fast moving objects. Look at the guy in the foreground in the below picture:

Notice the "ghosting" of the guy in red?

Some dudes was walking in front of the fort, damnit!

Of course I can always remove them using Photoshop, but there are just too much work to do.

My HDR skill is still at its infancy. Wait a few more rounds, and I shall be more expert at it. In the meantime, go and check out my gallery!

Went back to Sagil for the Mooncake Festival. We were already planning for a Melaka trip long time ago and this Mooncake celebration was a bonus for us. We were surprised that my parents agreed to tag along with us. Normally my mum will complain that it’s too far or too tiring.

It was also the second time that I used the Wira NGV to drive back to Sagil. It’s damn cheap, but the car itself is not holding itself. Half-way through the journey, the left headlights fell off without a warning!

The darn Wira is falling apart!

Anyway we had fun with the kids, each of them swinging a lantern in their hands. Walking in the dark, I accidentally stepped onto some cat poo! Ewww….

Walking in the night .....

.... accompanied by the big round moon.

Lanterns are always an intregral part of the Chinese culture

The next day we drove to Melaka. We stayed in Avillion Legacy Melaka. It was quite an old hotel. We still thought that Equitorial Hotel Melaka was a much better hotel. We had nyonya food for dinner. We heard that any nyonya restaurant in Melaka Raya will be good enough. So we stopped over at Ole Sayang, and the food was good, especially the rendang chicken.

For memory's sake

Next we made a pit stop to Jonker Street. Mei Fen and I have been here already a couple of times, so this place is nothing new to us. We came here because we wanted to bring my parents there.

Jonker Bonkers

Too bad, upon arriving, the rain came pouring down. We had no choice but to hide out for a while in a balcony while waiting for the rain to stop.

Waiting out on a balcony for the rain to stop

There was a karaoke competition going on at that time. It was ironic that some fella was singing 张宇 — 雨一直下. Not once, but at least 3 times, by 3 different singers!! And in a CD shop nearby, someone was blaring Frank Sinatra’s old song, Singing in the Rain! How very ironic everything was that night!

Mei Fen’s brother and sister, Wei and Cai Hong had earlier agreed to come to look for us in Melaka. We asked them to meet us in Jonker Street. They brought 2 big umbrellas with them. So my parents took the umbrellas and walked in the rain along the street. While I took the other umbrella and went on a photo trip myself.

Chinese clogs. These are almost an identity of Jonker Street

Masjid Kampung Keling, very classic mosque, and it's still in use!

We went back to the hotel after that. After making sure that my parents and Hui Yan have properly settled down, Mei Fen, Yan Yan and I went out with Cai Hong and Wei to explore further the town. We next went to this backlane shop that sells clams, oysters, squids and other sea creatures. It is located right opposite this quaint little CIMB bank that is located in an old colonial building.

Seems everything in Melaka looks old, even this bank. No wonder Melaka has been designated as a World Heritage City!

After that we went for a second round of suppering, Sate Celup Melaka! Although I do not really fancy these food, I went there anyway, just to take some pictures and saviour the atmosphere of waiting for 30 minutes before we were seated.

Early next morning, we went to the main attractions, the A’Famosa and the red house.

A'Famosa

Crazy Yan Yan on that cannon

It feels grand isn't it? To be walking in almost 500 years of history

This place gives me a lot of HDR image opportunities!

Went all the way to the top to take this picture

We came down to the Red House after that, the Stadhuys. Yan Yan and Hui Yan were enjoying themselves there.

Yan Yan blowing bubbles

While Hui Yan was just, well, happy!

After that, we crossed over to the famous Melaka Chicken Rice Ball, in Kedai Kopi Chung Wah.

Chicken Rice Ball in Kedai Kopi Chung Wah

Yan Yan is getting grumpy already. It's pass her nap time

And that concluded our trip to Melaka. We quickly checked out of the hotel, pumped gas, and promptly went back to our home in Seri Kembangan.

More pictures can be found here.

Melaka is not only famous for its centuries-old buildings and historical city. It also has one of the most famous food haven in Malaysia. There are a lot of things that you can try in Melaka. Here I present to you, in chronological order.

Nyonya food

Place: Any nyonya restaurant will do. The exact place that I went to was a place called Ole Sayang in Melaka Raya.

Restoran Ole Sayang, Melaka Raya

The place has quite an old school authentic feel to it, despite located in a modern shoplot.

Check out the really cool set of doors!

The restaurant was quite full at that time. It was dinner time

Rendang Chicken, yummy! The best dish that night!

Sotong, or cuttlefish, in oyster sauce

Tofu with fried bawang

And a dish of vegetable to complete the meal. Rather bland this one

Of course, a dinner wouldn't be complete without the rice in banana leaf

The dinner only cost less than RM50 for all four of us! It was cheap, the food was good and the ambience was nice. We couldn’t ask for a better dinner that night.

Supper 1 – Oyster and clam

Not many people know about this. We were lucky to have Cai Hong and Wei (my wife’s sister and brother respectively) who knows every nook and corner of Melaka. They brought us to this awesome place on the back lane of some shops. They sell steamed oysters, clams, squids and other delicacies.

Back lane clam shop. You've got to see it to believe it!

The special thing is that everyone sits very low on the floor, on little stools barely a foot from the dirty floor. Check this out!

They might as well just squat on the ground!

The table contains a hole where you can put your empty shells in a "rubbish bin"

So what does the food look like? Let’s just let the picture explains itself.

As fresh as you can get! With all the blood still oozing out!

Ohhh .... aren't they the juiciest things?

Sweet clams....

We added other side dishes as well. I don't have any idea what these are called

This is the name of the place. It was once on Ho Chiak too!

This place does garner a lot of attention it seems. Even Ho Chiak came here a few times I heard. But I did not eat any of these. One of the reasons was the fact that I do not have Hepatitis B immunization. So I should stay away from these seafood. Another reason was the hygiene reason. Apart from the obvious squatting so close to the dirty floor, there was a lot of rats everywhere!

Ratatouille in search of food! Excuse me for the blur pictures. The rat was too fast

Supper 2 – Capitol Satay Celup

This has got to be the place not to be missed if you are in Melaka looking for food. We went to the famous one, Capitol Satay Celup. Again we wouldn’t have located this place on our own without the help of Wei and Cai Hong.

Restoran Capitol Satay. Note the crowd!

It is not a good idea to go during weekends or holidays. The queue can get very long! We stood outside for a good 30 minutes before we were finally seated.

My pretty model Cai Hong, promoting the satay celup?

You pick as many satays as you can eat and dip them into this boiling mixture of saliva and bacteria

Wei and Cai Hong can really eat! Err... that's Mei Fen's giving the thumbs-up!

They are ready to be eaten!

Squids, bird eggs, prawns, and all things unhealthy. Urrghhh....

Note that my plate is still untouched

I don't mean to be a spoil-sport, but come on, can you really eat your food dipped in this? I just lost my appetite for 2 weeks

Chicken Rice Ball

Another one of this portugese town’s specialty is the Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball. The name of the shop is Kedai Kopi Chung Wah.

Kedai Kopi Chung Wah in HDR

It’s a simple recipe really. Steamed chicken with garlic rice rolled tightly into balls the size of golf balls.

Tightly rolled rice balls ready to be served with this dish of steamed chicken

Golf balls anyone?

5 of these balls are needed to fill a small plate, and they are not cheap!

Now the next time you go to Melaka, you know where to go for food! Happy food hunting!