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Some more shots from the trip. Maiga is the most beauiful island of the Semporna islands.Clear water. White Sands. Rows of coconut palm.

We paid a visit to the imam who is also the village head ( ketua kampong) of Maiga very tiny village of about ten huts, who has been ailing sick and bedridden for a while. It felt really touching to see him lying on his bed suffering and still extend his hospitability for his wife and son to give us drinks. Bless him.

Back in June, I went on Photo trek  to the Semporna islands with Ted Adnan. I first heard of the Semporna islands a couple of years ago, their clear water, blue sky and serene beaches are what came out from a friends description which is too good to be true. I stumble upon this trip a few months earlier on facebook and decided to book at first but eventually confirmed after several communication with Mr Ted.

The journey took us from Brunei to KK  with one nite spend at KK and then Tawau the next morning. On arrival, we met up with the Ted Adnan crew from KL who arrived earlier .

The road journey from Tawau airport to Semporna took about more than an hour through hills and palm plantations. My first impression of Semporna is a small fishing town, a reminiscent of old BSB in the 1980′s and with shophouses and a mosque in the town centre. Our first stop was Seafest hotel, the only high rise building in this town right infront of the fisherman’s pier and market. Dinner was at Semporna resort that evening a session to get to know each other with Ted Adnan and Rabani, a renowned photojournalist. Semporna resort was a start of a good evening with many photo op with various subjects against the setting sun.

The next morning we set out on a huge boat to the  sea, first stop is the Bajau’s or sea gypsy village at Omaga.

After a good 2 hours here, we then went to atoll island, Busungan inhabited only a handful villagers . Lunch was a short stop at Kapalai Sea Resort, a 6 star resort with modern huts and a popular place for the avid divers and holidayers in middle of the sea. Apart from having its own diving PADI centre, Kapalai has its own impressive waste recycling technology and water salination system, with flushing toilets and running water in the middle of the sea. Each hut has its own glass flooring that open up to the view of coral floor below. Beautiful.!

After the buffet lunch and exploring, we left Kapalai for Mabul island where we will stop for the nite at Jeff’s scuba place. Mabul is an island with several cheap homestay for the back packers and budget travellers as an lternative to the expensive resort. Mabul also has also its own 5 star resort.

Mabul is an island of a small village community. It has also its own police post which is the base-camp for all the islands around Semporna.  Sunset was a beautiful serenity….

Its been  a while, so many things happened in the course of time; where do i start.?

The main one being  my mum admitted to ER (RIPAS) and end up staying for 4 weeks in May.  It was a wake up call for the family, for me and most of all for her. It was emotional for me and  I bet my siblings too, seeing   mum, treated with daily doses of medications administered intravenously. She’s recovered and feeling better now with her weekly therapy session. We and especially her looks at life with a different view, eating healthy, staying healthy; which is a good thing that comes out of all of it.

I was invited to join a class on candid street photography by this inspirational photographer, Chot Touch. We had a small class briefing on his works Saturday nite prior to Earth Hour and a Sunday Morning outing in BSB. It was simply inspiring how Chot looked at the world thru his eyes and this is my take on the street candid;

More can be found on my Flickr.

World Water day falls on 22nd March 2010..thats like yesterday but it’s never too late to remind ourselves how precious water is to us. I have posted these pics before but I simply love it!

A recent work from my studio, STUDIO+360;  The make-up on Savannah is by a very young upcoming and talented make-up artist, Ina Alimin who I have come to do several collaborations with in the past couple of months. The beautiful model here is Savannah Harris who is simply stunning and I must say very professional.

Selamat Menyambut Kemerdekaan ke 26.

Early Morning for 1st day of the Tiger year…………

Once again the Thai community in Brunei celebrated the Thai Lunar year or Loy Kratong at the Brunei river@Damuan.

One of the things I relish every now and again is traveling, just going away for a break from home wether short or long  to an old or new destinations. I make it part of and a good way for me to unwind and get away from the high-demand work . A good way to get familiar with a foreign places prior to going day is to google and go on tripadvisory.com especially when deciding on where and what to a foreign land, accomodations.etc.

Siem Reap remind me of an old Hanoi before modernisation. It still has its French colonial influence from the abundance of baguettes, yes the bread and the french facade and design evident in the many villas around town. For a comparatively small town Siem Reap offers a good selection of restaurants,cafes and bars which can be overwhelming especially deciding what to eat for a meal.The number of tourist and backpacker is evident especially at night when the streets n bars comes alive and also at the hot spot; Angkor temples which can be frustrating especially during the peak hours of day and a photographer like me

The major mode of transport is motorbikes, tutuk and bicycles in that order. It can cost for a mere US$2 to ride on a tutuk around town or a good $1Us for a motorbike taxi, which u will notice as they hound you from every corner to the discerning tourist!  The streets from the airport  ride to town centre are line with hotels, from the expensive 5 star  to the cheap no star b& b which caters for the budget tourist or backpackers. I opted for the cheap locally run villa which isjust 5 mins to towncentre and have the basic necessities like internet!

Angkor temple is a park and is not just one temple, it is made up of several archeological temples ruins spread over several kilometers within the park. Therefore it is good to hire a tutuk a day, which for us 3 cost us abt US$18. The main temple of significant importance is the Angkor Wat, Bayon; where there is the significant buddha statues temple & Angkor Thom; where the huge old trees grew on the temple ala lara Croft set.

We started the exploration of the park as early as 0430am to catch the sunrise ( so did everyone else I tell ya!) and ended at 1930 hrs with lunch and excursion n power nap in between. Actually we were practicaly  chased out of Angkor Wat due to its closing time of 7pm, Oh dear!.Enjoy the pics…………