Journey of a Million Miles

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Nothing is better than an explosive way to spend the weekend at the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition that is being held at Putrajaya. For this competition, teams from Australia, Italy, Malaysia and Japan will be competing against each other. Thanks to Peggy for fetching us there for the show. For those who wanna get there to watch the show, you better get there as early as you can. Being late will result in you being stuck in a jam or getting a bad spot as the authorities may close up the roads at the event area 1hr before the show starts. We were lucky though, being able to get there, and parked at the wrong place before driving off to another area before the event started. I think we are the last few ones who made it to the closest spot before the roads are closed.

Putrajaya
Golden
Bridge

THE
fUN
Fair

The
Test
Shot

The
Show
Begins

Fireworks
Display
.

A
Star In
The Sky

We double parked at a spot near the fun fair next to the Golden Bridge in Putrajaya. The Golden Bridge is where the event is held. It was fairly a good place to get photo shots of the fireworks but somehow, its too close for me as I wanna get the full view of the light display. The best place to shoot the fireworks is probably at the Putajaya International Convention Centre, which is located directly in front of the bridge. Here, one can get a full view of the fireworks display but you would have to pay at least RM30 to be there. Where we were is fully FOC.

Orange
Explosions
.

Red
Rambutans
?

Heavy
Explosions
.

The
Fan &
Buzz

.
Boom!
.

.
Bing!
.

The event started of at 10pm where the fireworks from Team Italy were let off in sync of the music being played. Wonderful! Besides the view, also loved the smell of burnt sulphur from the fireworks. Noticed one or two planes passing by when the fireworks were lit up. Wondered how the view would have been like from up there in the plane. The amount of fireworks let off was so intense, I doubt any bird would survive if it is stupid enough to fly through it. The event lasted for a mere 20 mins before we had to rush back to the car, join in with the traffic jams and reach home. Overall, GREAT! Hoping to go for another round of this, which would be performed by Team Japan. Heard that the Japanese team are the best, that is why they are set to compete on the last show.

.
Bang!
.

The
Last Few
minutes

The
Grand
Finale

Plants
After
Week 3

Growing
Big
.

water
Droplet
.

Y0n6Z 3:54 PM |

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Once again, Im out in the field watching students for the field trips. It’s the 1^st year students who are taking ENV1800 subject this time. Similar to the class last year, the class this year is that big, the field trip had to be carried out on three separate occasions. As usual, we would bring the students to the Kelana Jaya tin mine lake and the Gombak forest. Unlike the previous years, this time we had to take out one location in Gombak to save time showing the students around in the field.

Bird
At
Lake

K. Jaya
Tin Mine
Lake

Dragonfly
& Snail
Eggs

Apple
Snail
Eggs

Dr. Cathy
Sampling with
Students

A
Strangling
Fig Tree

Quite like the students this year as they are rather cooperative and show some interest in what they are doing in the field, unlike previous years where quite a few even would hesitate getting into the water. Brought my new camera around to subject it to the ‘Yong’ test. So far its only satisfactory results. Sometimes would have trouble making it understand what I wanted to focus on, especially in the macro mode. Or is it me having difficulty understanding it. There is still a lot more of each other that we need to get to know of.

Big Trees
in
Gombak

The
Forest
Floor

Dr. Cathy
Giving
Briefing

Trek
Through
Forest

Dragonfly
Cratilla
metallica

Damselfly
Heliocypha
perforata

I was feeling kinda bad as I feel that Im taking photos most of the time instead of really fully attending to the students. But heck! Im the official photographer for the trips and at least I still do attend to the new kids! Luckily, Dr Cathy didn’t mind (or at least I think so) and in fact did asked me to take certain photos for use in lectures.

Wild
Orchid
Leaf

Damselfly
Aristocypha
fenestrella

Sampling
in Gombak
River

The
Gombak
River

Fungus
Outbreak
?

Plantlets
after
Week 2

All the while (the past 2 – 3 years), I have never really realized how long I have been doing this until this trip. It hit me when I felt something was amiss at one of the sites where I later found out that one large tree is missing or fallen rather. It was then when I realized that Ive been around long enough to notice trees gone missing. Even the trails are getting narrower, overgrown with shrubs. I wonder how long will I be still be doing this.

Y0n6Z 6:50 PM |