The long overdue pictures from Bangkok is here, the Black and White series anyway. I still have some architectural photos (mainly temples) yet to be processed, and of course that juicy story from red light district and the other food hunts around the city. But anyway, here is my very small contribution to the world of photography.

The photostream at flickr is here.

showmanship

I was walking around taking photographs, and suddenly this ice cream seller started performing for me. He scoop up the ice cream, threw it up about 20 feet and drop it on the cup. This was his victory pose after performing his trick. It was a shame I did not manage to capture that in action, but at least we have this pose.

taxi stand

Tuk-tuk, the three wheeler “taxis” are omnipresence everywhere in the city. You can catch a short ride for as low as 20 baht. However, do be careful as some of them do conspire with shops in an attempt to con unsuspecting customers. The normal taxis, on the other hand, are very reliable and honest in Bangkok.

the line up

This photo is taken at the famous 4 faced Buddha statue (Thao Maha Brahma). It is said that many Hong Kong celebrities pay their respect at this place yearly.

the crowd, chatuchak weekend market

Chatuchak weekend market is a congregation of over 6000 stalls selling anything from bacon stick to foot massages to pet rabbits. The place is packed with bargain hunters and clueless tourists alike.

divers at chow praya river

These kids at chow praya river make a living by fetching and reselling animals released to the river. Here they are just warming up to start the day. It is a common practice for pilgrims to release animals to the wild. (for good karma?)

ringtone

A baby girl guided by her father to ring the bell at the temple, probably for the first time in her life.

guards - emerald Buddha temple

The guards at Emerald Buddha temple reminds me of those Buckingham Palace guards. They were completely stationary with only movements on their eyeballs. Respect.

fat boy supper

Day or night, you can find hawker stalls by every roadside. Bangkok is the city very favorable to food hunters like me, I just wish I had a bigger stomach.

Tags:  b&w,  bangkok,  black-and-white,  canon,  monochrome,  Photography,  streets

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

I want to wish everyone a prosperous rat’s year. Since you can already find a picture of rat/mickey/minnie/mighty on every other blog, I thought I’d just post some pictures I shot at Penang’s Kwan Yin Temple last weekend.

pigeons at the sacred temple

This Kwan Yin temple is the oldest temple in Penang island. Located at Pitt Street (now renamed Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling), it was constructed at the early 1800s by Chinese migrants.

the roof line

The building follows ancient Chinese architecture with carvings at every corner and beautiful dragon statues on the roof line. These creatures the guardians of the temple.

There are hundreds of wild pigeons around the temple everyday, casting a holy and surreal atmosphere. The birds are fed by devotees.

the dragons

Every year during Kwan Yin’s birthday, there are thousands of devotees flooding the temple to worship this Goddess of Compassion and the other deities in the temple. Thick smokes from josticks and the quite murmurs of prayers can be heard, it’s a sight to be seen, but I suggest you bring your goggles.

josticks

If you find yourself in Penang, do give this temple a visit. The wonderful architecture not to be missed, furthermore, there’s a stall selling awesome loh mee just next to the temple (I will post about that soon).

the lion guard

More information can be found at Tourism Penang’s website.

more photos at my kwan yin temple flickr set.

Tags:  architecture,  b&w,  black-and-white,  canon,  kwan yin,  Penang,  Photography,  temple,  tourism

Posted by KY | 9 Comments »

Happy Deepavali (or Diwali) to my Hindu friends.

I took the opportunity of the holiday to go down to KL and snap me some pictures. These shots were taken around Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, near the Maju Junction. The Canon 400D and Tamron SP90 were the gear used in this excursion, I was trying to see the effect of using a basically macro/portrait lens for streets photography.

anticipation

An old man anticipating the arrival of his bus as cars and bikes passes him in the reflection.

rejected

specks of gold

the spiral

In the older part of the city, you can find remnants of architecture from the bygone era. Do we still have dedicated fire escape routes in shop houses these days?

where do you want to go today?

There are a few more of these at my flickr set

Tags:  black-and-white,  KL,  kuala-lumpur,  life,  monochrome,  photos,  streets

Posted by KY | 12 Comments »

The reason this blog hasn’t been updated for the past few days is a sound one. I was at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam again, and the hotel wanted to charge something like US $17 per day for internet access, I guess I could live without going online for a few days. I had the chance to walk around the city a bit and take a few pictures from the street.

not going to school

There are still many under privileged children in this city, selling various items such as chewing gums, or like in this case, providing a shoe shining service.

buy from me?

This lady kept asking me to buy a coconut from her. I had no idea how much one would cost, and she doesn’t speak English either.

i want a bike

It seems like this guy, who appears to be a rat trapper, would very much love to be able to own a motorbike one day. Ho Chi Minh City has a very high concentration of motorbikes, pretty much like Penang in the 80s, except maybe 5x as busy.

breakfast?

A white lady is trying to figure out what’s for breakfast. I guess it wasn’t too attractive as she just walked past the mobile restaurant. You can find these sort of hawkers all over HCMC.

Tags:  b&w,  black-and-white,  hcmc,  ho-chi-minh-city,  photos,  streets,  Vietnam

Posted by KY | 7 Comments »