• Author: Jason Denning
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Mersing, Malaysia

I did a weekend photography trip with some fellow Singaporeans over a month ago that I completely foot to post about. It was in a small town called Mersing about a 3 hour drive from Singapore which has some beautiful coast to shoot, I was very surprised about how nice it was and exploring the mangroves there, a shot I had wanted to get elsewhere but never found the perfect setting. Of course I was the only photographer shooting film.

MERSING MANGROVE 1

It was an interesting change to Thailand where you can find nice hotels for £10 a night, here for the same money you get an old small room with a shower in the toilet only spurting cold water, thankfully zircon was provided. We rose early and stayed up late exploring and shooting waiting for the tide to get the shots I wanted.

MERSING COAST SUNRISE

LONE TREE

Sadly the trip was cut short by a day, as we were approaching a junction 2 12 year old girls on a motorbike decided not to stop at t stop sign and we hit them, it became a crazy day as all the locals thought I was the driver since I was the only white guy and at one point the father even came at me with a metal rod! Clearly they love foreigners. The car was in a mess so we all returned back to Singapore that night as they were scared of the village coming to find us even though it wasn’t the drivers fault. There is one thing I learnt from that, air bags are scary.

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My first travel Article Published in Jetstar

Since arriving in Asia I have been looking for new avenues to show my work, one pursuit has been airline magazines and it paid off with my first pitch to Australian Airline Jetstar.

I was inspired on a trip to the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand as we discovered an awesome hidden village that I called ‘The Secret Village’. The final articles title isn’t quite as mysterious but still great to know I can write.

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Hong Kong Part 3

The always say 3rd time lucky, however for me it seems to have been opposite this time. My 2 previous trips brought me several great panos of the city but this time I timed it all wrong as it was cloudy and rainy the entire week. My friend Singe was also in town from London and we planned some great hikes despite the weather that includes the Dragons back, Kowloon Peak and Lions Rock. It isn’t easy trying to persuade taxi drivers to go of the beaten track so we could get to our start points and even funnier when we get to the top of Kowloon peak to be greeted with no view at all because of the mist, at least there were pictures of the view so we could see what we were missing. Along the way I kept walking into spiders webs across the paths, the spiders had calculated for average height of Asian people and hadn’t expected a tall Englishman to come, they were huge scary looking slides too!

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HK 180MM c

HK NORTH POINT I did manage to get some nice shots when the mist cleared and the best thing about hiking with Singe is he takes some great shots of me I can use for my bio when his head isn’t buried in his phone. Our hike up to Lions rock was the worse of all 3 as it poured down most of the time so we got soaked, it was amazing to see the city as we walked above the clouds when the mist cleared occasionally. Singe sadly wasn’t as prepared as me as his bag wasn’t waterproof so a puddle formed inside killing his 6 month old Canon 5d Mark 3, thankfully after 6 months in a dry bag it is finally working again which gives me some relief since it was my idea to continue the hike in the rain.

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HK LION PEAK

There are some amazing hikes that I will certainly do again next time I am in here and shoot the city at night when the weather is better, it’s amazing how much outdoor space there is here and great to see lots of people running up the mountains, some very fit retired people in Hong Kong!

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Hong Kong Part 2

I can’t resist the opportunity to get back to Hong Kong, I got some great street shots last time but the ultimate cityscape eluded me. I am determined to get it this time.

Waking up at 4am for  3 mornings in a row I jumped in a cab and went to the peak, it’s the best time of the year to shoot the city because the angle of the sun is perfect as it rises giving the best chance for a great shot. The first morning the peak was covered in mist which gave some great dynamics to the shot below masking the sun and darkening the sky. I had got the perfect shot the first day but maybe it could get better which is why I went up the next 2 mornings.

HONG KONG DAY 1 SUNRISE

By 6.30am I am finished  but Yann is still sleeping in the Hotel  so I decided to kill some time and wander the Victoria Peak gardens, I didn’t expect to see much but was amazed by them, especially with the mist that frequents the area giving it a magical feel. It’s almost like I am in the middle of a jungle somewhere rather than a city path.

HK PEAK

After each sunrise I head back to the hotel for a big breakfast and a few hours sleep before getting up to explore some more. I decided a good way to see the city would be a big red bus tour, I’ve never done one before and maybe I’ll find something new as it takes me all over the Island. It was on this that I discovered they have a shanty town!

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I found one location on the ride but sadly it wasn’t a horizontal panoramic, but a vertical one. I normally shoot Slide film but contrasty scenes like this need negative film and its wide dynamic range to capture everything.

HK STREET VERT

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One the bus I also spotted a hill to the west of the Island that looked like it may be a great sunset spot, and after some google maps research pinpointed it to be near North Point and a trail up to it, so at 5pm I headed that way. I eventually found the start of the trail and only by luck spotted where to go through some thick bushes which took me out to the rocks for the view, sadly though everyone else seems to know about this as there was hardy anywhere left to set my tripod. Normally I would leave with this many photographers as I don’t want the same shot but it had taken over an hour to get here and I had no where else to go for sunset so decided to stay and see if something spectacular came. It was good but nowhere near as amazing as the Peak from the mornings, the scene is too far away and no interesting buildings nearby.

NORTH POINT

I even tried to better my shot of the Peak Tram from the first trip, but it just looks too plain without the thick mist, still a nice summers day version that I can try to sell to the tram company.

HK PEAK TRAM SUN

On friday Yann and I headed for Macau, only an hours ferry ride and if you didn’t know the gambling capital of the east. It is also a Unesco World Heritage City so there is lots to see however I didn’t find any great scenes to shoot walking around. We ate some great Portuguese influenced food though and gambled away some hard earned money.

We planned to visit the Big Buddha on the way back to the airport, however that plan was ruined as we took the ferry to the Airport Ferry Terminal thinking we could go from there to the Buddha as it’s closer then the Central Terminal. The terminal connects directly to the Airport and once we were there they wouldn’t let us leave for the 5 hours we were there which I thought was crazy and very annoying. Surely it’s my right to do what I want?!

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It’s just lucky Yann is a BA miles Gold member and we got to use the Cathay Pacific lounge and it’s private rooms with big tubs. The best lounge I’ve been to with great food and cocktails. I even used the time to find a shot of the airport.

HONG KONG AIRPORT

Arriving back in Singapore I realised it’s probably  the most efficient airport in the world, we touched down at 7.57pm and were in a cab with our luggage by 8.15pm. Crazy, of course the automated passport systems we can use help avoid the normal queues.

 

 

 

 

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A weekend in Malacca

Malacca is so close to Singapore in Malaysia that we can take a bus, the advertised journey time is 3-4 hours so not too bad and only S$80 return for the whole trip. Sadly however it actually took 5.5 hours, getting through customs was very slow and our driver didn’t seem to be in a rush with trucks and other buses passing us all the way.

We arrived at 12.30am and hadn’t had any dinner as we thought we could grab something on the way but we only stopped at some horrid fly infested toilets, see the lovely picture below.

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The nearest place open that was thankfully still serving food was the Hard Rock Cafe in Malacca, it’s actually a strange location for it in the middle of a Unesco Heritage Area, it’s the newest building around. The pulled lamb sandwich was very tasty. We are staying at the Paradise Riverside Hotel, sounds great doesn’t it? I booked it through Agoda and fell a bit cheated as nowhere did it mention it was shared bathrooms and even though it was clean it was too expensive for the tiny room and zero facilities. It was nice by the river though with all the painted buildings to walk by.

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Being a Unesco World Heritage Site I thought there would be at least one great place on the streets to get a shot but sadly it was just too messy and too much traffic. It was only at night when they shut the main Jonker Street for the night market but I wanted a shot during the day.

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My favourite place was the Malacca Straits Mosque, pictured at the top of this post, it’s a bit out the way and you have to take a taxi there but worth it to see the sunset behind the floating Mosque.

The food highlight was the famous Satay Celop for the area, you buy skewers of meat, fish and vegetables at 12 pence each and cook them in the boiling peanut satay source, if you love satay like I do you will love it!

I read online we should visit Ban Lee Siang as it’s favoured by the locals and not so touristy, however when we arrived there were two! Apparently owned by 2 squabbling siblings, we chose the one with the smallest queue obviously.

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Our table was at the back and we had to walk through the kitchen to get to it, this place would be shut down if it was in the UK, come to think of it most of the restaurants we eat at on our travels would be shut down.

The bus back took just as long but I used the time to try some new experimental shots. Sadly it’s probably the last time I will take a bus from singapore into Malaysia, it just takes too long.

PROJECT LIGHT 3-1

 

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur is only a 45 minute flight from Singapore, you barely getting to flying altitude before we are descending down to land. You would think it would be easier to take a train or bus but flying actually ends up slightly quicker and you can get flights for as little as £25. The cheap flights however mean you land in the budget carrier terminal which is an interesting experience. You basically walk out on the runways with the loud planes nearby, I found it quite cool and the walkway is thankfully covered for when it rains.

I could only find a few cool things about Kuala Lumper to make it worth a visit, the Petronas Towers and Batu Caves. No one else could tell me what else was worth seeing there. As with every city I want to get a shot that represents it, but here it was tough because other than the Petronas Towers most buildings weren’t pretty and during my 3 days I didn’t find the perfect shot, the heat here also makes it even harder walking around to find the right location.

A visit up the Patronas Towers was nice but a waste because of the weather sadly and they only give you 15 minutes up there unlike other buildings where you can spend as long as you want. The tickets sell out quickly so I had to book the day before.

The Batu (rock) Caves are only a 30 minute train ride from the centre and costs 20 pence! Lot’s of people online recommended getting a taxi there and having it wait for you but I wanted to take my time inside and the train station is right outside the caves so a taxi is just a waste of money. The train was just as easy as in London or any other big city.

As well as being a cave temple it is also a rock climbing destination and it is an amazing cave and a must see if you happen to be in Kuala Lumpur. There are 276 steps up to the caves full of yet again, monkeys, I would love to know what is so holy about them.

I wanted a shot that didn’t include all the man made structures so opted for a frame looking up so as to crop them out as they ruined the insides a little.

Water was constantly dipping in the opening of the cave and I wanted to get a shot looking up as the water dripped past, it was very hard to frame and you can only just see the water, not as powerful as I hoped.

This is the kind of shot that a true panoramic camera beats all stitched panoramas because you get the nice perspective as the rock walls come towards you.

BATU CAVES UP C

There is also a dark cave tour that I decided to go on, it was full of bats making incredible sounds all the way through. Other than the Dine in the Dark restaurant in London it’s the darkest place I’ve been to, when I turned off my torch I could not see a thing, and with all the creepy crawlies in there not everyone would like it.

Strangely though the train back to the city centre is double the cost of getting here, I thought the conductor was conning me at first.

You can get some great cheap food in KL, on the way back I stopped in a park and ate with the locals to have Nasi Goreng, I didn’t actually know what it was and just ordered a name I recognised from Singapore on the menu. The waiter was ecstatic when I gave him a 30 pence tip, he was very nice and honest as I thought the price was double what it actually was and paid him too much.

I then walked through the city hoping for a great shot for my last night here, but the best I found was this.

The Patronas Towers look amazing lit up at night so I decided to walk all the way to them to get a closer shot, I almost wish I could take a night shot high up in the towers like my day shot but I would be shooting through glass and they don’t allow tripods up there so it would be no good, I may have to try to arrange a shoot up there on the open terraces another time.

PETRONAS NIGHT LIGHTS

For dinner I tried out an interesting restaurant called T-Bowl, where you get to sit on toilets and the meals come in interesting bowls.  Mmmm those ice creams look yummy. The food was good though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bali, Indonesia

Everyone talks about Bali and being so near I had to go and see what all the fuss is about. We booked 5 days there and with the help of a friend back in London and lots of research decided on 2 places to stay during that time and 2 days of touring.

We flew out of Singapore on friday night, this was my first night flight and the hundreds of ships lining the coast looked beautiful all lit up into the distance from the plane window.

As we arrived we were haggled by all the taxi drivers outside the airport, as it was our first time we stuck to airport taxi system of queuing to buy a voucher even though it’s the same drivers offering the ‘deals’. Our first 3 nights are in Ubud, an hours drive away. We chose to stay at the Alam Indah Hotel in a room with a balcony overlooking beautiful gardens and an open air shower, amazing. Whilst I didn’t see it when we arrived, as soon as I woke I got the Bali feeling, I felt relaxed. I could instantly see what people loved about the place and the weather was perfect coming from Singapore, not too hot.

 

The breakfast sat in the gardens was wonderful, it’s just a shame we had places to go so couldn’t sit and enjoy it for long.

Our first day was spent at a cooking class learning how to cook classic Balinese dishes, it starts out a local market which is an amazing sight before we head back to the family home to show our skills.

I love the look on her face above, classic! Bad day at the market maybe.

It was interesting to see a Balinese home where we cooked, it really is a perfect life with a temple and lots of outdoor space. Only something that can be really enjoyed with the weather here.

The class was great and I enjoyed learning how to make satay, I always find it funny bad people are at cooking at these classes, sadly the worst were Singaporean, I think they eat out too much at the Hawker centres!

After the huge meal eating everything we had made we went to the Money Forest which was nicely a 2 minute walk from the hotel. As soon as we entered we got to see how crazy the monkeys can be as one stole Yann’s water from her hands. They are not scared of humans at all. If you put your hands into your pockets they come running towards you wanting whats inside.

I was hoping to get a great panoramic shot with the monkeys but they weren’t in the right place and moved around too much for my long exposure times but I did find this amazing bridge by the river. I had to wait ages for all the tourist to get out of the way as they kept taking pictures on the bridge.

Our second day we had arranged a downhill bike tour, and would you believe it was pretty much all down hill for 3 hoursother that a few small uphill at the end, which still people complained about. It was great to see what real Bali is like along the quiet back roads and we even got to try a spot of rice bashing in one of the fields, I took this as an opportunity to show up the other men and their pathetic attempts.

I wouldn’t want to live in the compound behind these trees, the spiders were as big as your hand !

I had arranged a tour of Bali for our third day with a local driver, Dewa Alit, which would end at our second hotel, the Pan Pacific Nirwana resort near the famous Tanoh Lot Temple on the west coast.

Our first stop was the beautiful Ceking rice terraces, I only wish I had more time to hang around for the perfect light in the afternoon but we had to be in Tanoh Lot for sunset.

Driving is quite slow through Bali as the roads are narrow and lots of traffic so we could only visit 3 places that day even though they weren’t too far apart. It took 1.5 hours to get to Lake Beratan only 35 miles away but seeing the temple was worth the journey. Again though not perfect light but an interesting and moody picture.

Motorcycle is the main choice of transport for locals as it’s cheap and quick. I have never seen so many on the roads but apparently this is nothing compared to Vietnam. I was even more impressed with what the managed to carry on the bikes.

Our last stop was the Jati Luwih rive fields, I wasn’t as impressed as the Ceking Terrace from the morning but i was a nice walk through them even though we got a little lost at one point. Yann got very scared when we saw a fresh snake skin along the way. I didn’t tell her it was fresh at the time.

We made it to Tanoh Lot just before sunset and whilst it was pretty I wasn’t as impressed with the temple, you could hardly see it up on the rock which made a sunset silhouette a rubbish shot, I didn’t have enough time to find a better spot in time. There was also hundreds of people around as I expected which limited my options even more.

It was now time for the real relaxing to begin, we had no plans for our last 2 days on the west coast and spent it it doing as little as possible as other than the temple there was much else to see nearby.We woke the next as the sun shone into the room and got up early to walk around Tanoh Lot again, it was surprisingly busy again due to it being low tide with tours from Java.

A few people asked to take a picture with me, at first I thought they wanted to take their picture, but no they wanted me in it as it seems they haven’t seen many white people, I found that out when one person walked away laughing saying “Sorry it’s casue you are so white.”. Nice.

I did find time between all the posing to get a shot of the arch nearby just before a surfer jumped off the rock, I wish I had been here for sunset last night.

We had breakfast on our balcony in the hotel room, I was really happy because I booked a deal without breakfast on hotelclub.com and thought we would have to pay a fortune but it turns out ordering room service is cheaper that going down to the buffet or booking the room with breakfast included. It’s just a shame the beef, pork and chicken sausages all tasted and looked the same.

We spent most of the day by the pool and enjoyed the water slide, ordering fresh fruit juices to add our duty free bought vodka to. I am always on the lookout for a picture though and left Yann to relax whist I took some shots.

We had a 2 hour massage and body wrap arranged in the afternoon in one of the hotel Bale that looks out to the ocean. It was certainly the best location for a massage I have ever had with the sea breeze, the massage was great too! This is a Bale if you didn’t know….

That was when I had the idea to arrange dinner to eat there too, even though it’s not something they normally do they arranged it for me to eat from the Pool Grill menu. I know the name doesn’t sound like a good restaurant buy my word the pork ribs were good. It was a perfect romantic setting for our last night in Bali as the sun set. I did run out to take one last picture though, it was just too perfect not to take! Sorry Yann. I could have slept out there all night it was so relaxing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hong Kong


Yann’s new role is the Financial Director here in Singapore which oversees the whole of the Asian market, this is good news for me because it means she goes on plenty of trips to the offices that I can tag along and see more of the world.

This would be a quick 3 day visit to Hong Kong, that Yann would be working late each day which means I could explore fully and take as many shots as I like. We both flew Cathay Pacific this time and one huge benefit was that since Yann was a gold BA member that counted with this airline as they are both part of the One World Alliance so we got to use the 1st class lounge and get priority baggage.

The Taxis here all look very old, but all amazingly run on clean LPG fuel, as far as I know Toyota still make them in this style.

It was nice weather in Hong Kong but sadly the pollution spoiled most of the view from the airport in the taxi. For more money than Manila this Novotel Hotel room was tiny and not as extravagant, but that’s what you get in Hong Kong.

It instantly made me feel like I was in an Asian New York, very busy and dirty with little green space. The first thing we did was jump on the trams that run across the Island, it’s a great way to see and photograph the city since the windows all open and they double deckers. I love that they use bamboo for scaffolding here .

 

It costs about 20p a trip and you pay on exit,  you need exact change which we didn’t have so when I waived a HK$20 bill in front of the driver he pointed to the slot, but I wasn’t going to put that much in so just got off and the driver looked astonished but like he didn’t care enough to do anything about it. You can also pay with the Octopus card so I must get one of those to make it easier.

As it was a sunday it was all the helpers day off here so the streets are full women sitting around having a good time, as they aren’t allowed to have relations with local men they would all look at me because foreigners are not off limits, apparently it’s heaven for single guys in the right areas. They seem to like to hang out outsider the expensive shops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a late lunch at a Michelin Star Dim Sum restaurant called Din Tai Fung, there is always a wait here but atleast you get to watch the Chefs make the food.

A visit to Hong Kong is not complete without going up the peak tram for the best view here, the visibility wasn’t ideal but it is Yann’s only chance to go up. The queue was long since sunset was near but after 45 minutes we were at the top. You can also use octopus cards here which would mean we could have jumped the queue a little. Whilst the view is good on the viewing platform it’s very crowded and I preferred walking 20 minutes along Lugard Road, not as high but a pretty walk with no people. The view is also better too.

The next day as Yann went to work I set out to explore with my backpack. The first thing I did was buy an octopus card with HK$300 on it, more than what I would need since trams are HK$2 and MRT HK$8.

I then went all the way across the island and back on the trams, it’s perfect for shooting because it’s so slow and high up, I ended up spending 4 hours on them. It even went down this busy market street.

For the afternoon I went to check out Hong Kong’s cheap camera shops in Mong Kok on the mainland so I ventured on the the MTR, the trains are so long here, possibly double the length of singapore. Other than that they look exactly the same and are of course very clean.

My friend Singe who has visited many times sent me a list of shops and malls to visit full of new and used cameras and all sorts of gadgets, I didn’t intend to spend any money but ended up buying 45 rolls of film, batteries, a memory card and other camera accessories.

Monk Kok has some crazy looking streets so I waited for the sun to set so I could shoot them with all the lights on, I found a high walkway to be able to take this shot.

I then went exploring at street level looking for a street with even more colourful signs, I came upon this shot below which just as I arrived the taxi parked up whilst the driver parked for dinner which gave me just enough time to set up and wait for the right moment for traffic to stop. Barley 2 minutes after I pressed the shutter to capture the moment the taxi was gone.

I love to try new food but the problem here is that not everyone speaks good English and so I found myself pointing at stuff that looked interesting on the street stalls and just trying it, thankfully nothing was too spicy and I got to try some great cheap local food, please don’t ask me what I ate though as I still do not know.

When it’s home time people love to queue here for a bus, crazy!

I love this street scene and I wanted to capture it on my panoramic camera but there isn’t enough going on to make an interesting composition in that format. It reminds me of Blade Runner.

Since the fog made visibility poor up at the peak I wanted to go back again early one morning and waited until my last day hoping it would clear, sadly I was out of luck because this fog was actually smog and I would be very lucky indeed to get a day without that this time of the year. When I woke it got even worse, it was raining. I headed up anyway in the hope of something moody that would produce a different shot to my usual cityscapes. At the top I couldn’t see anything, not a single building. I decided to wait in the hope that it would clear a bit and after an hour it did just as the rain began to fall on me. I waited for the moment when the buildings on the mainland were just revealed to press the shutter.

The tram taking you up to the peak goes up some very steep hills, the ride is so much fun I decided to do it 2 more times since it’s so cheap and I had too much money on my octopus card. I walked back down from the top so see if there was anywhere along the way I could shoot the city and the tram all in one shot and amazingly I was not disappointed.

It’s a nice walk down through the stations along the way and popular for those who want a good work out running up.

I was planning to go visit the huge Buddha that day but apparently on a cloudy day you can’t see it so I am going to save that for the next time as I am sure Yann will be back here again soon.

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Five nights in Manila, Philippines

Yann, my girlfriend, is heading to Manila in the Philippines for work so I decided to tag along and check out a new city.

Manila isn’t on my to do list, and most people say to avoid this city and I can see why, it’s not a place you want to go jet lagged with lots of baggage as it’s so busy and dirty and hard to get around. Luckily I was not jet lagged and only had a back pack so I found the city fascinating, even though it is essentially a shit hole. It’s a shame as apparently once it was a great place to live.

I flew solo because as usual Yann was on an expensive airline with work, she would meet me later that evening. Upon landing we had to wait for 30 minutes on the plane waiting for a free gate, only to have to get on a bus, I’m not sure what happened to the gate. Getting through customs was fairly efficient but the airport is not pretty.

The airport has no public transport so you have to get a taxi for which they have put in place a set fair which would be around 800 Pesos to the centre. I had done my research so walked up to the departure level and jumped in a cab, something I read that wasn’t recommended for you first time in Manila, but what the hell. So i walked from taxi to taxi saying Meter until one of them agreed, it they don’t agree to the meter they will only rip you off. It was half price than the airport taxis on the meter and I got dropped at the Intramuros, the oldest district of Manilla, but coming from England the old spanish buildings didn’t interest me, what did was the people and the way they lived.

All through the streets locals would shout trying to sell me a ride on a horse and cart or a cycle tour.

What I was most interested in to photograph here was the Jeepneys, they are the cheap local transport and I just love how they are all customised. It became my main goal to get a good shot of them for the next few days standing in spots along the road where they would pass regularly, it was very hit and miss waiting for the right moments.

You can tell most people here are very poor, most of the city is a mess with pockets of shanty towns everywhere, which is why I thought it was fascinating to photograph because it’s a new experience for me. I didn’t get to wander freely like this  Nigeria.

As the sun set it was time to make my way to the hotel to meet Yann, I asked a passer by the directions to the MRT and he was kind enough to help me get a bus as he was going in that direction anyway, he even paid my fare which I didn’t expect especially since the fare was so cheap at 10 pence.  It was a very slow ride with the crazy traffic so I asked Sherwin many questions about Manila, from my reading up on Manila I didn’t expect to meet such a nice man on my first day.

I jumped off the bus at the Makati City which is the new and pretty area of Metro Manila, it felt like I was back in Singapore except for the security guards with guns throughout the park I walked through. Manila is very cheap which is great for any traveller, I ate dinner at a gourmet cafe at the cost of £3. Expensive when you can eat a good lunch for only £1. Sat in probably the safest park in Manila a young local lady walked up and sat next to me and started a conversation, I already knew where this would go especially when she said she wanted to buy me a drink. She could be one of two things, what they call an opportunist that sees my white self and thinks she can make some money, or a thief who planned to spike my drink with some friends steal my belongings, I almost wanted to play it out to see but declined and headed for the hotel. Yann’s flight also ended up being delayed into Manila, it’s starting to look like the airport isn’t very well organised.

The Oakwood Premier Hotel we stayed is one of the nicest I have been in, especially for £90 a night, it was a big one bedroom apartment, everywhere in Asia so far has had King size beds so it’s going to be hard if I ever have to go back to a queen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst Yann went to work I continued to explore the city, this time venturing onto the MRT. There is only 3 lines here and they don’t serve much of the city but it is cheap at about 15p. However this is a cash only system as none of the ticket machines work and the prepaid systems for each line are different, t really is a third world system. I had to wait 10 minutes in line just to buy a ticket, then a few more minutes to go through security where they glance in tour bag with a magic wooden stick. This terrible security makes me feel less safe. With most buildings you walk into here you get your bag checked or go through a metal detector, even the malls. The MRT is crowded and dirty but thankfully there is AC.

But atleast I was really getting to see Manila now even with all the public transport annoyances,

In the picture above on the right you can see a red building, this is a hotel chain called Sogo which stands for So clean So good, it is very cheap and apparently the rent rooms by the hour. I wonder if it’s as good as Motel 6 in the states?

Everywhere I walked I was the only tourist around and I got plenty of strange looks like they had never seen a white guy before, maybe they hadn’t in these parts because I was later told by locals they would never walk around the areas I had been to. These areas were the only ones I wasn’t hassled into spending money. I loved this street below as it has so much going on, whilst waiting for the right moment to take the shot kids were coming up to me and saying “give me money”. You can see one in the photo I took, he was trying to get in shot and ruin it but the bike distracted him for a moment.

Holy Week started on my 3rd day here which is a big holiday and meant the MRT was no longer running which meant I got to experience to bus again, on my own this time though. I just jumped on one heading in the right direction and jumped off when I could see on my Iphone map I was in an area I wanted to be. Smart-phones are a godsend for days like this, otherwise I would be lost. This bus had no AC so it was open on the sides.

I arrived near the coast and stumbled up on a market that had a walkway above it. The walkway was closed but I found a way up anyway as it looked like a great vantage point to take some photos of the life below. Every so often a mini jam would happen and I would take a shot. I ended up spending 2 hours there just watching life go by.

Yann has an old school friend here in Manila so we spent the weekend with them and they drove us out to see the Taal Volcano 100km south of the city. We set off at 5.30am since it was a 1 hour hike and not something you want to do in the midday heat. Getting to the volcano requires a boat ride across Taal Lake, the breeze was amazing.

The hike up followed a dirt track where horses also went and all the way up they would try to sell us a horse rife up the hill to make it easier, they literally followed us up behind hoping we would eventually give up.

It’s an incredible view at the top with the green water, I wanted to walk down to the bottom but I knew I would regret that with the steep hike back up, it’s just too damn hot even at 8.30am.

Thankfully at the top, as always there were stalls to sell sell you drinks and other rubbish but luckily it had some shade to cool off before heading back down.

In colour my cheeks are incredibly red in the picture below.

 

It was great being with local people because they knew where to go and what to eat, but that also meant I had to try Balut, a local delight you can only by on the street in the evening. Maybe that has something to do with needing to be drunk to want to eat them. They are basically fertilised duck eggs that are cooked once the chick inside has grown a little.

I thought I was going to throw up but it  was actually quite tasty, like a meaty version of an egg. Yummy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In Jason Denning - Landscape Photographer, Jason Denning - Photography Travel Stories

A new life in Singapore

I have jumped ship again! On Friday March 1st my girlfriend and I arrived in Singapore, she was promoted within her company and I thought it would be a great opportunity to see a new country and obviously photograph asia.

I know it’s taken a while to write this first post here but I have been very busy, now you may be wondering what I have been doing with no job but looking for an apartment became a full time job, well for 3 weeks anyway.

We landed at around 7pm which meant it was dark so I didn’t get to see anything of singapore just yet. As soon as I stepped off the plane I felt the instant sweat of the humidity here, although it had just been raining so this was a more pleasant version apparently. The airport here is very efficient and we didn’t have to queue long and was surprised that border control didn’t say a word to me, just stamped my passport and let me through. We had both brought 2 big suit cases with us, the rest of our belongings are getting shipped which includes my film scanner so sadly that means any pictures I take on film I won’t be able to show you until I get it, which means until then you will have to make do with snapshots taken on my digital camera.

For our first month Yann’s company had organised a serviced apartment for us near her work, this was perfect as it gave us plenty of time to find somewhere to live. The taxi ride took us near the Marina Bay so I got to get a great first view of the city at night. Amazing.

As soon as we arrived we unpacked all or our summer clothes and soon the nice clean apartment was in a mess, I would not be needing the jeans and jumper I left London in for a long time.

Once we had our shorts on we went for a long walk all the way to the Marina Bay, we really needed it after 14 hours on the plane and I had my first experience eating food at the very cheap Hawker centres here in singapore. You can’t complain about a good S$4 meal. Along the way I spotted the location for a great shot that shows off all of Singapore that I will be coming back to shoot one sunrise.

Our Apartment for the month is near the famous shopping area Orchard Road which is full of Malls, I can see why they like them so much here because of the heat, so we spent the saturday exploring them and I bought some Linen shirts, I quickly realised all my usual tops where not going to cut it here so I bought 5.

As monday came and Yann headed off to work it was time for me to do my job, find us a nice place to live. Singapore is known for being expensive when it comes to property, we have a budget of S$4000 so I wanted to explore all the options and areas to see what that could get us. We wanted a 2 bedroom place so all our friends that said they would be visiting would have somewhere to stay, and we also wanted to have a pool and a gym. We think this may be the only country we live in where we can really enjoy a pool so we may as well go for it all.

It works a little differently here to the UK when renting apartments, most people find an agent who then finds properties from other agents and they all share a commission which I have to pay for a 1 year lease or the landlord pays for a 2 year lease. We had some recommendations but after waiting for them to get back to me I decided to just do it myself and went about starting the search. www.propertyguru.com.sg seems to be the best site here so I started arranging appointments and soon had 6 in the first day and soon started compile a nice collection of agents business cards. I have done some research online and have been told to be careful of agents and landlords here, as we aren’t as protected as in the UK, apparently they will try to screw you out of your deposit, and I’m the guy who has always got his full deposit back.

All the property agents I met seemed to be happy that I am English, maybe because it means I have money or maybe they just think they can try to screw me, time will tell!

As with anyone moving somewhere new we didn’t know which area to live in so I looked at all sorts of properties all over. I thought since this is such a small island we could live by the beach, however it also needed to be convenient for Yann to go to work which the east coast here wasn’t. My idea of a 5 minute walk to the beach wasn’t going to happen.

The beach isn’t so great anyway, and since this is a huge port there are hundreds of ships all around.

I looked at all kinds of places, some brand new but tiny, some old and huge. One even had the kitchen outside as you can see below, this was an apartment that had been split in 2 and apparently the toilet was inside a wardrobe, for some reason I wasn’t allowed to see it. That also meant it didn’t have a proper entrance and I had to walk across water pipes to get in, it’s amazing what some people will try to sell you. I even looked at a place that had part of the kitchen in the hall way.

The landlords here don’t like the idea of you cooking inside and stinking up the place as many apartments didn’t have any cookers and would point to the microwave when I asked. The place below was advertised as heavy cooking allowed becasue the kitchen is enclosed by glass, this wasn’t standard the landlord had just fitted it.

I even looked a place with a Jacuzzi but it was old and ugly looking and didn’t work. I found myself saying “nice” sometimes when it was horrible, or finding other good things like “it’s spacious” to say. I even looked at some places way below our budget to see the options, once above a mall and damn is was grim in there.

The prize for the ugliest bathroom, possibly I’ve ever seen, goes to this apartment. I wonder what year this was cool.

It was tiring walking in the hot weather between all the viewings, I can see why most people engage an agent as they will drive you around and do all the work but any I met just didn’t show me what I was looking for, and this was a good way to see Singapore and also know the different areas and how easy it is to walk to them from the public transport.

Another feature of all modern developments here is a bomb shelter, pictured below is the doorway to one, all new apartments have to have them and it is a crazy waste of space in some of the tiny apartments I looked at. It does mean they all have lots of storage space as they are about 2×2 metres inside.

Amongst the bad I saw plenty of very nice places with great facilities, there was always something wrong though, whether it be no oven, tiny kitchens with no counter space, the 2nd bedroom too small to fit a double bed, construction work nearby as everywhere in Singapore seems to have it, no gym, too far for Yann to get to work, ugly area. I even found a complex with badminton courts, my dream come true since I love to play but the apartments there were very old and not worth the money.

This apartment had a cheap looking open wardrobe concept going on in the bedroom.

There is so much construction going on in Singapore with not system like in the UK that there is no guarantee that a new building won’t poop up anywhere, the view from an apartment below for example, the agent told me she was pretty sure nothing would happen in the next year, and that was only because it takes that long to put it in motion. I saw so many apartments with views ruined by newer taller buildings.

I’ve no idea how you could cook in this kitchen.

I even looked at an apartment in The Sail which is right next to Marina Bay with amazing facilities. 3 Pools, a water excersize area with gym equipment in the water, an amazing view from the common areas onto the bay. Sadly though the apartment had a view looking into another building and was a studio with only glass doors between the living area and the bedroom. It made me want to arrange viewings for expensive places though, maybe I’ll do that once my search is over and waste their time pretending to be a rich expat wanting to spend S$40’000 a week on rent and have them buy me lunch.

This was the best pool I saw on the roof of the building, it was also the longest so you can swim a proper lap.

We wanted to try and find something that was perfect. A good size, a nice area with places to walk around and go and eat, and good facilities, near to a nice park. Many areas I looked at where just lots of apartment locks around malls which is not our cup of tea, it’s a shame because we saw many nice apartments around the Novena area which is just like this. We soon settled on trying to find a place by the singapore river, it was central, pretty and I have always wanted to live on the riverside, something that would cost more in London. We found a complex called river place one weekend, it was right on the river with a resort feel to it, big pool and gym and the apartments were old enough to be big for the same money as elsewhere, but not old enough to look like crap. The first apartment we looked at was ok but now we had found the perfect spot we wanted to see all the options available in the complex, I had looked at over 60 apartments so far and not one was perfect, so it felt like we were at the last hurdle.

On the second weekend I arranged second viewings for my favourites for Yann to see hoping we could decide that weekend, we had a choice of 4 places in the complex. One was a 2 bed for S$4200, over our budget and un-furnished so lots of money to spend, the others all 1 bedrooms some with horrid furniture built in, some with noisy pool views that didn’t feel private. They were the best of all I had seen but we found it hard to decide between them which meant none of them were perfect. We had one last viewing of an apartment I arranged last minute and almost forgot about, and when we went to see it knew it was the place and took it straight away. It was ground floor with a direct river view, the largest of all the apartments in in the complex and the biggest kitchen too. We were very excited and got it for our budget price of S$4000 when they were asking S$4400. Supposedly the last tenant payed S$4200 but then I’m not sure if I believe these agents.

I’ll start with the view from the apartment, as it was one of the best I have seen.

And if the pool wasn’t cool enough, we also have 2 tennis courts. But when I think we are paying over £2000 a month we had better have tennis courts!

After 70 apartments I’m glad to have found home, I had seen it all in that time from Hello kitty stickers all over the flat to gaudy 1980s bathrooms but glad I saw so many as it means I know we have the right place. It was also interesting to get a picture of peoples lives here in Singapore and how messy people live. I must go tidy up now!

 

 

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San Francisco – New Release!

In recent trip back to San Francisco I found my self searching for a unique way to shoot the Golden Gate Bridge and capture the city at the same time. This is not an easy task, there are only so many vantage points and they have all been shot to death. You can see why when you arrive, it is a beautiful view and as the sun slowly sets it just gets better.

Over 2 evenings I came back to the same spot as the weather was perfect so I wanted to make sure I nailed it.

To get the perfect balance between the city lights and the sun light I had to wait until the perfect moment to press the shutter and capture the scene for 2 minutes. I took one shot before this which I actually messed up because someone was talking to me at the time about my camera so I didn’t concentrate.

I also wanted to take something more unique in the city, and since it was a port city I searched from an interesting angle from the many piers. I woke up 2 mornings in a row at 4.30am to capture the shot below.

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