A quaint little town called Sungai Pelek

So on Sunday we (the family with the doggie, less the second brother and sister in law who’s about to explode with my second nephew) went to the parent’s “weekend house” in Sepang, near the airport. The drive took about 1 hour from where I lived and it was a pleasant one – albeit familiar as it was the same route taken to the airport.

Dad’s “weekend house” is a nice little “cottage” with the backyard facing a man-made lake.

To get there, we had to pass two little quaint towns, first one being the Sepang town proper, which is nothing more than a main road between two block of shop houses. The second one, Sungai Pelek town (Weird River) is slightly larger with pre and post war buildings flanking both sides of the main road.

There were cows…

Lotsa cows…

So back to Dad’s backyard – it’s HUGE, fronting the lake…

And as usual Dad with his green fingers has a variety of flora planted there – like Jasmine,

And it’s exploding pods with feathery seeds…

To pine-like trees…

To wild orchids…

And pine-like trees…

With pine-like needles…

And mango-like fruits – Kedondong, Malay or Hogplum (Spondias cytherea)…

At the end of the day, the family and doggie had fun…

The end…

Sunset at Lovers Bridge (HDR)

29 August 2008 – Penang

My escapades around Penang centered mainly around Georgetown – recently conferred the UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

Penang (pronounced /pəˈnæŋ/; Malay: Pulau Pinang) is a state in Malaysia, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. Penang is the second smallest state in Malaysia after Perlis, and the eighth most populous. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite.

Penang is referred to as one of the most liveable cities in Asia. This city was voted as one of the best cities in Asia by Asiaweek. It was ranked 6th in 1998 and 9th in 2000. Penang was also ranked as the 10th most liveable city in Asia in 2007, according to an international survey involving 255 cities in Asia by Employment Conditions Abroad Limited (ECA International). Back in 2002, it was placed 12th. A city is judged based on its weather, air quality, infrastructure, health services, housing, security and politics. – Wikipedia

A trip to Penang is never complete without savouring the array of delicious food – both hawkers and restaurants.  I stuck to my old favourites – Kek Seng near KOMTAR building, Zhong Hua – a Chinese restaurant on Burma Road, and New Lane on Macalister Road.

Being the first British colony in Malaya (now Malaysia), Georgetown has truly, magnificent colonial architecture.  Walking down streets in Georgetown will remind you of the Bund area in Shanghai – with signs in four different languages (English, Malay, Chinese and Arabic) often dotting the façade of many shops.

I also took this opportunity to try out the BRK feature of the camera (DSC-F828) – in simple terms, taking sequential pictures with three different exposures.  Used a software called Photomatix to blend these three pictures together to form a HDR (High Dynamic Range) photographs – results of which you are able to see below.

For more pictures, feel free to visit my online photo album – http://picasaweb.google.com/leo.lee.eu

Cheerios, Leo