My Year Living With Covid-19

Sorry I didn’t catch Covid-19 for a year, it is just a sensational title like everything in the news these days! As far as I know I haven’t had it and I do not even know anyone that has either, but we have all been living the last year affected by Covid-19 in some way.I have tried to keep busy during all our lockdown so this is going to be a long read!

I came back to England in June 2019 with the intention to see my family after 6 years in Singapore and photograph my home extensively for the first time. I had planned to be here around a year, then our first lockdown came in March 2020, all my fairs cancelled in Singapore and I was stuck here. I could have still travelled but I chose to do the right thing and avoid flying during these unknown times.

It has however a blessing in disguise, I haven’t spent this much time with my parents since I left home 18 years ago at the age of 21, other than odd weekends trips from London, so it has been nice to get to know them again.

North Yorkshire dales scene in England — ‘THE HILLS OF SWALEDALE’ Keld, North Yorkshire Dales

I have been lucky to get stuck in the England where as a full-time landscape photographer I have been free to continue my work, which as always is just me and nature. The lockdowns made it feel like going back in time with less people around, it now makes me wonder is that is one element of what the good old days is that people mention – less people and smaller closer communities.

Dent head viaduct England — ‘THE DALESMAN’ Dent Head Viaduct, England

Spring

I explored and captured the Yorkshire Dales where I was living, with my favourite area being the Howgill Fells below. I love all the narrow valleys that create the beautiful ripples in the earth and that the usual stone walls haven’t been built all over them, so they look untouched by humans.

A panoramic aerial print of Howgill fells and the calf in cumbria — ‘WINDING THROUGH THE DALES’ Howgill Fells, Yorkshire Dales

I have never photographed Spring before so I intended the most of being here during the changing seasons. Micheldever Forest as the bluebells bloom is truly incredibly to see as you can see below. What started as a 2 days ended up being 4 capturing every angle of this forest. What made it even more special is I had it all to myself.

A panoramic print of bluebells in Micheldever forest — ‘SEA OF BLUEBELLS’ Micheldever, England

I visited Norfolk for the first time to see the windmills, it’s a place so much more beautiful from the air since there aren’t many hills to walk up. These lakes, canals and rivers are rarely empty like I witnessed, being a popular holiday spot to rent about and cruise the waterways.

How Hill mill in the Norfolk Broads national park — ‘THE NORFOLK BROADS’

Summer

Once restrictions had eased and I could travel into Scotland I took a road trip around the highlands and the famous NC500. I wasn’t the only one with this plan though, as many Londoners had taken a train and hired a car to do the same, which meant many drivers not knowing the rules of single track country roads. Thankfully they didn’t stray too far from their cars meaning once I got up the mountains I was all alone again to enjoy the beauty of the landscape.

Stac Polliadh, below, was my favourite sunrise hike. I sat at the top of the mountain taking in the incredible untouched views to the ocean whilst listening to classical film scores for hours, it is one of the best views I have seen in the UK.

Polly mountain in the Scottish highlands — ‘STAC POLLAIDH’ Highlands, Scotland

Even though I have been to the Isle of Skye twice already I couldn’t help myself and had a 2 day detour since I was so close. I didn’t intend to shoot the Old Man of Storr for the 3^rdtime but as I passed by the epic pinnacles drew me in with lovely afternoon light after a storm.

Isle of Skye aerial — ‘OLD MAN OF STORR’ Isle of Skye

After 2 weeks I decided to head back to Yorkshire once a week of bad weather came, Scotland is no fun when it rains all day! You can see my Scotland collection here.

I had planned to take a long 3 month road trip to Norway over summer, but as August came I realised it wasn’t going to happen this year. Instead I took a ferry over to Ireland for the first time. I had no schedule to stick to, I just wanted drive the entire coastline along the famous Wild Atlantic Way and see as much as I could.

panoramic print of Malin Head at sunset — ‘MALIN’S LIGHT’ Malin Head, County Donegal, Ireland

Wow is all I can say about the Irish coast, standing on the edges of cliffs and seeing the huge Atlantic waves crashing is just incredible. The wind was unrelenting too which caused my tripod to blow over 4 days in and break a lens! The best thing is it was so quiet even in the usually busy spots and I rarely saw anyone else, I guess the English weren’t taking ferries. The Giant’s Causeway below has probably never been so quiet.

panoramic print of the giant's causeway in Northern Ireland — ‘PATH TO THE ATLANTIC’ Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland

Capturing this scene a huge wave crashed against the rocks and splashed my camera, this trip was not looking good for the health of my gear so early on. The last time this happened on a boat in the Philippines my camera started acting up and needed the top plate replacing.

aerial panoramic print of clew bay in Ireland — ‘THE ISLETS OF HOPE’ Clew Bay, Ireland

This was one of my favourite shots of Ireland above, taken in Clew Bay. I waited 3 days for this light whilst it rained most of the time. It was so peaceful there on a calm day, I don’t think I have even been somewhere so quiet. It must be lovely to live in one of the houses on the hundreds of islands with the small community feel. I was there waiting so much they the local residents would walk by to check on me and we would have little chats.

panoramic print of sunset on the single peninsula — ‘CALM GATHERING’ Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland

I loved exploring the Dingle Peninsula where I walked 27km of the rugged coastline and camped along the way. What made this road trip enjoyable was that I had no schedule to keep to, so if I found somewhere special I spent as much time as I wanted there before moving on. Dingle got the most of my time with a whole week there. I also picked the perfect month to visit, the locals kept telling me the weather up until now had been terrible with barely a summer to be seen.

a panoramic print of a flock of sheep on the dingle peninsula — ‘THE PASTORAL LIFE OF DINGLE’ County Kerry, Ireland

Food options along the way was mostly Irish Pubs in the villages I was passing through, so everything came with fries and I was sick of them about 2 weeks in. I was so happy every time I passed near a larger town I made a point to visit a good restaurant even though I had no other reason to stop there.

I completed the Wild Atlantic Way in 4 weeks having driven 4086 miles and was back in Larne where I started to take a ferry back to England. My timing was perfect as on the last 2 days it suddenly got bitterly cold which coupled with the wind took away the pleasure of exploring. You can view the whole Ireland Gallery here.

Autumn

I spent the autumn in Yorkshire and the Lake District to capture the beautiful fall colours, I missed it last year whilst on my road trip through the Italian and French Alps. Whilst they can’t be compared to mountains in the Alps, the woodlands and lakes are a wonderful place to walk anytime of the year. I walked so much through them during the year that they felt like a home away from home.

‘ENCHANTED FOREST’ Nidderdale, North Yorkshire

I would love to live in on this Island in Derwentwater, it must be so peaceful. You can view my Spring and Autumn Gallery here.

panoramic print of Derwent isle in fall in Keswick — ‘TONES OF DERWENTWATER’ The Lake District, England

Winter

Last winter I stayed with my parents for my first Christmas with them in 12 years, I also hoped I could capture Yorkshire covered in snow. It ended up being a mainly cold, dreary and rainy winter, which is very uninspiring for photography as Yorkshire just looks dead with no leaves on the trees. This year however, I was lucky my plans to be in Asia couldn’t happen as we finally got a real winter with snow that stuck around for days and I made the most of it capturing all my favourite Yorkshire scenes. All the time spent exploring over the last year came in handy for knowing exactly where to go when the snowflakes started to fall.

Sheep are a feature of the Dales, so naturally I have been capturing them in my scenes, but it is very rare that they are the main feature as they never quite do what I hope, no matter how long I wait. This first day of snow in January however I was very lucky, as I walked passed a field they all ran to me hoping I was the farmer bringing them some food, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect formation that they stopped in when the realised had none. It is the perfect Yorkshire winter scene and I love their cute faces of confusion.

winter snow in the Yorkshire Dales — “HE FORGOT OUR FOOD” Yorkshire Dales, England

It was nice to finally have so much snow had the time to capture all the places I wanted to, you can view the rest of my winter gallery here.

Winter 2021 – The Lake District

The Lake District has always seemed mysterious to me and photographing it completely felt like a huge challenge, with so many hills, mountains and trails to explore. It is the prettiest part of England so I wanted to create a collection that showcased that.

In 2020 I visited often, camping when the weather was nice, but I found that being 2 hours away I would miss some great conditions as the weather predictions aren’t always accurate. So in February 2021 I decided to move there for the duration of our current lockdown and I rented a lovely little cottage in Ambleside, right in the heart of the lakes so I could really enjoy and get to know the area.

Tarn hows covered in snow — ‘THE FROZEN TARN’ Tarn Hows, The Lake District, England

Lake District mountains in snow — ‘FROZEN EDGES’ Helvellyn, Striding Edge, Swirral Edge and Catstye Cam

The first week I arrived I couldn’t believe my luck, there was snowfall. I wished I had a 4×4 as my car struggled up slippery hills! The wind is brutal up in the mountains during winter here too, it has been a while since I wore so many layers and felt this cold.

Lake District on a foggy day as birds fly past — ‘REFLECTIONS’ Rydal Water, The Lake District

I also had 7 amazing mornings of cloud inversions, which are hard to capture as they can disappear quickly. Being able to wake up 40 minutes before sunrise and look out my window at the weather then be lakeside in 10 minutes is wonderful.

What makes it even more special is how quiet it has been due to the lockdown. Being the most beautiful part of England that is a rare thing and something that may never happen again, so I feel lucky for being able to enjoy that. It is also nice to leave winter fitter than when I started with all the hills and mountains I have been hiking up, usually I lose my hill walking legs as the cold months progress!

Panorama of a Lake District valley from a mountain top — ‘SHADOW VALLEY’ Great Langdale Valley, The Lake District

My favourite morning in my 10 weeks was completely unexpected. I got up early to capture Ullswater at Sunrise and as I set up on the shore a group of swans swam over to me and peacefully swam around creating the perfect scene that is far better than what I planned to capture. Eventually another man turned up also dressed in black, set down a little seat in the water and sat with the Swans and started stroking them, this was Andrew. I then learnt that he had been coming here everyday over winter to spend time with them since first came to him a few months ago when he was paddle boarding in the lake, two of them have even jumped on his paddle board! So now everyday at sunrise they come to the shore to look for him and they spend the morning together, so beautiful.

Swans swim in Ullswater lake at sunrise — ‘WAITING FOR ANDREW’ Ullswater, The Lake District

You can view my complete Lake District collection here, which went from zero in 2019 to 50 today.

I tried to make the most of the year despite everything that is going on, walking 2’217km with 22432m of elevation gain up all the hills. My England collection has expanded from 10 in 2019 to 119 today which I am so happy about, and very proud of the work I have captured of my home.

I hope you, your family and friends have been safe and well the last year.

Jason

By Jason DenningIn Jason Denning - Landscape Photographer, Jason Denning - Photography Travel Stories

Cambodia and the Tonle Sap Lake

December 31, 2016

For the last 3 years I have been working for BBH Singapore as a Photographer and Film Editor, and this year marks their 20^th anniversary! To celebrate, the entire company of over 90 people travelled to Cambodia to build houses for the charity Tabitha. Their aim is to help the countries poorest communities.

Our company had arranged for all ninety of us to stay in Phnom Penh which meant a 3 hours commute to reach the village where we are building the houses for the community. Along the bumpy muddy roads, I had my camera ready looking out the window the whole time shooting the scenery that passed by.

I loved shooting the village life in between house building, they stood around watching us fascinated, just as I was fascinated with them and their simple and lives.

When you don’t use a hammer often it is hard work on the forearm, and all these houses require is lots and lots and lots of nails meaning its non-stop. One side I was putting up the side panels was up against 2 trees so I had an added problem of placing the ladder and climbing up between the branches. It felt great to be helping the community however I would have loved to be more involved in the building that just the flooring and side panels.

Despite having to travel for 14 hours in the two days, we completed 30 houses, and after a night getting drunk everyone flew home the next day.Of course I wanted to see more of the country so I planned a trip for another 5 days. I started by exploring the streets of Phnom Penh, from the markets to the back alleys and just wandering until something caught my eye.

I loved the markets the most, they were so gritty with raw meat laid out all day, motorbikes navigating the tiny walkways to collect and deliver goods, and people having an afternoon nap amongst the chaos.

The city reminded me of Vietnam with its hodge podge of slim buildings scattered across the city, creating a beautiful mess to photograph.

This is my second visit to Cambodia. On my first visit, I explored the temples of Angkor Wat for 4 days.. This time I wanted to see the country’s other amazing landscape, the Tonle Sap Lake- the largest in South East Asia. It was the perfect time because rainy season had just ended so the lake is at its highest, flooding the surrounding forests and villages.

To see the lake I headed back towards Siem Reap on a bus, I jumped off early where I hopped on the back of a motorbike to take me to Kâmpóng Khleang, where few tourists go. I had booked 1 night at the St 63 Homestay here.

I loved exploring and learning about the village as the father of the family took me out in his boat. The simple stilt houses were wonderful to photograph and I got constant smiles from everyone.

The best view, however was at the homestay looking across at their neighbours. I set up my camera all afternoon and waited for the families to arrive home to capture the moment. The daughter who was the only one who had good English told me how once the lake was 1 foot above their floor! It must be surreal to grow up in a place like this, where they didn’t have electricity until she was 10 years old.

The next day I hired a Tuk Tuk to take me to the next village, Kampong Phluk, which was much more touristy since it was closer to Siem Reap. The cost of the village tour alone was as much as my 1 night stay, food and tours in Kleang!

It was a slow start as the boat I was on did not work properly, so the young lad stopped our boat and went swimming to bring over another. After 30 minutes we were on our way again. forest which was beautiful to paddle through on the small boat. Luckily the day before I had learnt to say “stop” so I could direct the lady to get the pictures I wanted. Of course now I have completely forgotten what that word is!

On the way back, my boat captain decided he wanted to go home to get something so rather than waiting in the boat I used the opportunity to walk around the village as some parts were still dry. It was nice to be able to see both dry and flooded parts, but nothing beats the romantic view from a boat looking down the rows of stilt houses.

Once my tour was over I headed into Siem Reap where I was staying for 1 night. For my last whole day in Cambodia, I am taking a boat from Siem Reap all the way to Battambang. The journey will takes me through the lake and winds through villages along the Sangker River for 8 hours.

The entire time I sat on the roof right at the front with the best view, it was beautiful and relaxing listening to classical film scores the entire time as the landscape changed, villages came and went. These places were truly remote with no roads at this time of year.

Because the lake was at its highest for the year we could go down some narrow channels that during dry season would not be possible, which made for a fun journey avoiding the odd branch and small boat along the way.

http://youtu.be/RVQlNHfyKnM

Once I arrived in Battambang, I had hours to kill before my night bus would take me back to Phnom Penh to fly home. The town was small and fairly boring so I killed the time by checking out 3 restaurants and getting two massages, one of which was from a blind woman and sadly was one of the worst I have every had, she basically dug her elbow into me for an hour.

The journey back to Phnom Penh was a bumpy one, so bumpy I do not know how I slept, but I eventually did and woke up at 6am as we arrived.

I killed some more time exploring the streets again before getting another massage just so I could have a nice shower before getting a Tuk Tuk to the airport for my 3pm flight home.

Rural Cambodia is a beautiful place to photograph, amazing to see what life was like for all of us before technology and cities took over. It makes me excited for the next place on my list to visit, Laos!

By Jason DenningIn Jason Denning - Landscape Photographer, Jason Denning - Photography Travel Stories

3 Years in Singapore!

March 1, 2016

This month marks 3 years that I have lived in Singapore so it’s a good time to share all my shots from this small but jam packed Island. Living here gives me plenty of opportunities to capture the scenes in the best light by going back again and again until I feel I have nailed the shot.

The first shot I wanted to capture when I arrived was an impressive cityscape; something that shows the best of Singapore. I discovered this spot the on my very first walk after the long 14 hour flight from London. I have been back over 30 times all around Chirstmas since this is the time of year when the sun sets behind the scene. For the first 3 years the best I had got was the one below.

Whilst it’s pretty, it’s not the shot I have imagined so I kept trying and finally got the shot in January 2016 close to my 3^rd anniversary in Singapore I was determined to nail it this year and foolishly with a 30 minute double exposure- something that has failed many times. All the effort paid off and I captured the beauty below.

With some locations, however, I am much more successful. This shot from the east marina at sunrise I only had to visit once, which I am thankful for since it means getting up incredibly early, I am definitely a sunset person. I used a 10 stop ND filter for a 4 minute exposure to get the rushing clouds in the sky. I was very lucky as the beautiful light you see shining on the buildings was only there for 6 minutes,the rain clouds moved in soon after.

To capture the sunset of the same scene I only went 3 times before getting this beautiful light with a 45 minute exposure using 16 stops of ND filters in front of my lens.

Singapore has a unique CBD that viewed form the right angle across the Singapore River is a wall of buildings with no sky in sight, one of very few of my shots that don’t rely on the right light to take it.

The Gardens by the Bay only opened months before I arrived in Singapore. It’s a beautiful place to spend an afternoon, and the Supertree Grove is a must for any visitor during the evening light show. I was lucky to for this shot to turn out as so many people surrounded me I was worried the shot would be blurry.

The Shophouse is something unique to Singapore and Malaysia, a mix of Malay, Chinese and European architectural details that have thankfully not all been knocked down to build a new hi rise condo. Many can be found in Chinatown but have mostly been ruined with restaurant signs, but these on koon Seng Road keep their original charm. There are bins the ruin the look of the scene so I moved these out the way for the shot. I have since searched and searched for another set of shophouses to capture but none can beat.

Something unique to Singapore is the F1, its the only race held at night and last year I grabbed walkabout tickets and spent hours shooting the cars as they rushed by. Out of the 300 shots I only had a handful sharp, it’s not easy shooting at ½ a second exposure with the speeds they drive, and you wouldn’t believe the how loud it is. I could only bare standing so close by using ear plugs.

Chinese New Year is a huge celebration here and I love going to shoot the events with all the lights and lanterns, there are so many great vantage points to be found with many accessible buildings, and car park rooftops.

I love the docks that surround Singapore, because of their location so close to the city there are so many great vantage points to shoot them. My favourite below was taken from the roof of a newly built condo, the Skysuites. Its a great spot to watch the sunset and shoot and I ended up going up on 7 different occasions for these 2 killer pictures. A total of 10 hours up there snapping away!

24 HOUR HARBOUR - SINGAPORE — Singapore harbour

My friend Sandra has a great view of the City from Sentosa Island, and I found myself on her balcony a few times trying to capture this angle at its best, seeing the huge ships come into the port is an amazing sight with the skyscrapers behind.

Living in Singapore during the SG50 celebrations was an incredible experience with all the shows to photograph, and I couldn’t miss getting the perfect shot of the fireworks, the most spectacular the city has ever put on, with my panoramic ratio perfect to showcase the whole display.

It’s been an incredible 3 years here travelling around Asia, but I think I may have neglected shooting Singapore too much since my collection of images is smaller than Hong Kong. On that note I think I will go out and shoot right now!

By Jason DenningIn Jason Denning - Landscape Photographer, Jason Denning - Photography Travel Stories

Exploring the Temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia

January 22, 2015

Siem Reap is the gateway to the amazing ruins of the Angkor region, a place I have been looking forward to exploring since I arrived in Asia 2 years ago.

I booked 3 days which would give me plenty of time to explore every temple and get the shots I wanted since they were all in a small area and easy travel between.

I landed on a Saturday afternoon where a Tuk Tuk driver sent by the hotel was waiting to collect me, I headed straight out to the temples wanting to make the most of my time here. My first was location was Angkor Thom.

Angkor Thom has lots of intricate details which wouldn’t be seen if captured in wide angle, but it’s great to capture up close. I spent 2 hours just wandering around as the sun set, and as most tourists would be at the sunset point now. As a result, I had the whole temple to myself before it got to dark.

I wanted to avoid the crowds as much as possible on this trip to have people-free shots, and my research told most follow a standard route. This route starts at Angkor Wat for sunrise, then onto Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, before heading to the sunset point of Bakheng, so I avoided those places at those busy times. I was looking for almost untouched temples as many had been restored, but Ta Prohm was one that was still close to the broken state it was found in, so I headed there first at the crack of sunrise to avoid the crowds.

It wasn’t long though before people trickled in and I found myself waiting for clear scenes in some of the wide open spots, but others I had all to myself. I loved Ta Prohm so much that I decided to come back each morning at sunrise to make the most of all the impressive sections.

I found my favourite shot from Ta Prohm on the last morning, pictured below, and the hour I spent there I only saw 2 people walk by, it was so peaceful and I took my time to find the perfect angle and exposure to capture the amazing ruins. The light was perfect as it filtered through the trees.

There were so many nooks and crannies to discover with every turn, I almost felt lost inside as I spent at least 10 hours shooting this temple alone over the 3 days.

I loved travelling between the temples on the Tuk Tuk, watching the local life as I flew by shooting with my circular lens. I set my shutter to 1/1000 and shot everything that caught my eyes as I rushed by.

The busiest temple, Angkor Wat was a little uninspiring for me compared to the ruins of Ta Prohm as it was too nicely restored, along with crowds of people walking around the main areas I found it hard to find a beautiful scene to capture. The east entrance though was completely quiet, literally walking through a doorway took me from queues of people to no one where I sat and waited for sunset. Whilst the temple in full light didn’t inspire me, the silhouette of its pillars against the sky was beautiful.

Ta Prohm certainly stole my heart, but there were other temples I visited along the way that had some charm, some that were so peaceful as they were rarely visited, shown by the lack of stalls outside trying to sell me souvenirs. Gave me an idea of what it would be like to explore the area years ago before it became so popular.

For my last sunset, I explored the Prasats Suor Prat, which many visitors passed right by barely giving them a glance. I was again alone amongst the beautiful 12 towers, wandering as the sun set searching for the perfect composition.

On my final day I my flight back to Singapore was at 5pm, and after so much time inside temples I wanted to see something different so I asked my Tuk Tuk driver to take me around some local places. He took me on a tour of the most interesting places he knew. I have visited many markets in Asia but still this one amazed me with the way they sold the meat, I just love how their feet sit amongst it. Such a great array of colours to capture as I wondered shooting for an hour amongst the local people.

It was nice to spend 4 days shooting the intimate scenes or Angkor Wat, but also frustrating at times having to avoid the crowds. I also find it sad they are rebuilding my favourite temple, Ta Prohm. For me, it’s the ruined state that gives it the charm and magic to photograph and I wish all the temples had been left that way, being over taken by nature like a lost kingdom as they were once found.

By Jason DenningIn Jason Denning - Landscape Photographer, Jason Denning - Photography Travel Stories

Japan Road Trip – Kyoto – Izu Peninsula – Mount Fuji – Alps – Tojinbo Coast

April 18, 2014

I love to go on road trips and when Yann said she wanted to see the Sakura (cherry blossom) in Japan I began planning a 9 day holiday starting in Kyoto and doing a big 2000km circle through the Izu Peninsula, Mount Fuji, the Hot Springs of the Japanese Alps, Tojinbo Coast and then back to Kyoto to fly home. As much as I love to leave things to chance the short amount of time and cost meant I had to plan the trip perfectly to make the most of it.

We arrive at Kansai Airport late on a thursday night, the car rental office is closed so we have to stay in a hotel nearby for the night and collect the car in the morning. It’s a 1 and a half hour drive to Kyoto along the expressways all of which have tolls, it cost $40 just to get to Kyoto! I have planned a full day of sakura sightseeing because we are arriving at the tail end of the season, so it’s the only way to make sure we see the best of the blossom on offer before it all falls to the ground.

Starting in Daigo Temple we visited the Kleage Incline, Kiyomizu-dera temple, Nanzen-ji Temple and ended the day wandering along the beautiful Philosophers walk full of cherry blossom and eating Japanese snacks from small stalls along the way. We had made it just in time and Yann was happy. One of the great things about Japan is it’s sat navs, you can search by phone number which makes it so much easier to find the pretty spots of Kyoto from my master plan without having to misspell the names all the time. At lunchtime whilst we were sat by the river eating some of out snacks, a bird, possibly a hawk, flew down and stole Yann’s lunch right from her hands, it was a crazy moment as I just felt this woosh as it’s wing brushed over my head. Now on top of dogs from her bite in Vietnam Yann is scared of birds.

For the whole trip I have booked the traditional Japanese style Ryokan which you can see above, this means essentially sleeping on a futon mattress on the floor and difference in price is crazy for the same quality in in and out of the city. I had made a map of various trip advisor highly rated restaurants around and for dinner we decided to visit the one I had labelled ‘beef’, called Kyo no Yakiniku Hiro. It was probably the best beef I have ever eaten, we had raw beef with egg picture above, beef shushi, and their best fillet that we cooked above hot coals at our table that melted like butter in my mouth, and it only came to $70. It was so good we booked a table in 9 days when we will be passing through on our way back to the airport. For our remaining 2 days in Kyoto we visited many more temples, to the point we became all ‘templed out’ so then went to check something completely new, a local Bamboo Forest. We arrived early at 9am so I could get a picture without any people in, I got my shot just in time as the tour buses drove in making it difficult to shoot any more shots with the path in the composition. It’s actually quite a small area, I had hope we would be exploring paths for hours but we walked it in 5 minutes.

When you look at pictures of Kyoto online all you see are the pretty temples and parks, what you don’t see much of is the actual city which isn’t very beautiful as a whole when you wander the streets. So I didn’t take a single picture of it myself as it isn’t a city to fill my Cityscapes collection so all you will also see here is the pretty pockets on offer too. I had read that parking was expensive in Kyoto but I wasn’t quite ready for the reality, in our 3 days we racked up atleast $200 in parking costs, the most expensive during our beef dinner at $12 an hour, quite a shock from a Londoner used to free street parking at night.

The last place we visited was the beautiful Fushimi Inari Shrine that winds it’s way up the hills, it was both a dream and a nightmare to shoot, so many angles to choose but so many people walking through frame to ruin it, we arrived too late and it was getting dark so I plan to revisit when we pass through Kyoto again.

On the road our next stop is the small town of Tago on the Izu Peninsula, 360km away which meant $80 in road tolls, it was worth it to see the pretty coast and eat best Unago ever in the small fishing town. It is going to be an expensive trip but atleast now we are out of Kyoto we won’t have to pay for parking anymore. There were many interesting coastal formations to explore but my favourite are the 2 arches I was able to line up and shoot below.

Mount Fuji is only 100km away from Izu so we had a nice scenic drive along the coast and stopped at the impressive Shiraito Falls nearby, it was a real pain shooting the panorama because the wind kept blowing water on to my lens but with some persistance and lots of cleaning I nailed it. The timing was perfect with the light illuminating half the waterfall.

We explored the 5 lakes around Mount Fuji at sunset and stayed the night at Lake Kawaguchi, I planned this so I could get a sunrise picture but the sunset was so nice I didn’t wake up early, luckily for me it was overcast so I didn’t miss a beautiful sunrise.

On our way north into the the Japanese Alps we stopped by some wineries to see how they make Sake and my favourite, Plum Wine, buying a few bottles to drink at our next stop, the Okuhida Hot Spring Villages. I was surprised to see that apparently playing music to the sake can change the taste, or something like that. Obviously only classic music though.

We stopped for dinner at a renowned Unago place in Matsumoto City called Matsuka, however it just didn’t compare to the eel I had on the Izu Coast and was twice the cost. I had booked us into a Hot Spring Ryokan in the mountains called Okada Ryokan for 2 nights which included a huge multi course breakfast and dinner both days. We went up the nearby mountains in the morning on the cable car and then hiked for an hour in the snow, Yann didn’t look very happy all the way up as it was steep and slippery and we only had hiking trainers on however coming back down made up for it as we slid on our bums most of the way beating the hardcore hikers with ice grips and hiking sticks. Back at the base we warmed up in an outdoor public Hot Spring which was so hot it felt like I would boil if I was in for longer than a few minutes. There was a old guy in with me who kept trying to show me a way to peek into the girls side, dirty old man!

Many of the roads in the area are still closed for winter which meant my planned scenic route to take us to Tojonbo Coast in the north was out of the question. The trees were mostly still bare anyway so it wasn’t so picturesque and we probably didn’t miss much but I could see the surrounding mountains would be amazing in autumn. We arrive at our last stop, Tojinbo, just before sunset and I rush around shooting what I could before it was too dark realising I would have to come back in the morning to shoot it again for the best light.

Having reached day 9 it was time to to head back through Kyoto to the airport, on the way we stopped at the cool Shirahige Jinja Shrine in the huge Biwa Lake for lunch, it such a beautiful spot but right behind us was a busy road.

Back in Kyoto I dropped off Yann to do some shopping whilst I headed back to the magical Fushimi Inari Shrine to shoot as much as I could in the 2 hours before I had to pick Yann up to head for our dinner reservation for more awesome raw beef. I had to be patient waiting for breaks in people to open the shutter for the 8 seconds needed on each exposure.

In the end we spent close to $4000 on the 9 days, similar to our trip to Italy 2 years ago but I remember italy being more fun, I think because there was more to see along the way. $500 alone was on parking and road tolls which is crazy but at least the roads were never busy, I am very happy at the number of great pictures I got though which outnumbered the italy trip but 3 times.

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Tokyo

March 17, 2014

I love Japanese food so naturally I was excited to find out Yann was going there for work. It’s february and having lost my tolerance to the cold here in Singapore I need to wrap up warm.

I love to look out the window of a flight watching the cloud formations that change by the minute, I always have my camera nearby in case something like the above appears. For such an advanced country I was amused to see the luggage belt, rather than an electronic screen displaying the belt info we had a lovely lady stood up there instead holding a board out with a big smile. I find it crazy how far away the main airport is having to take a 1.5 hour expensive bus ride to get to the centre, it got me thinking that maybe one day Tokyo will have expanded so much it will be at the edge. Even now Tokyo is such a big city it’s tough to be able to see everything in a short amount of time, something I always like to do so I know I am not missing out. I am reminded of London a little here, the kind of messy mix of architecture mostly from the 70s and 80s. When the sun sets and the city lights switch on is when Tokyo becomes beautiful and is when I will mainly be out shooting.

I wanted to capture the colourful streets and huge crossings, and whilst these are numerous getting the right angle was a challenge. Thankfully Yasukuni Dori in Shinjuku has an island in the middle so I could setup my tripod for the perfect shot.

I was recommended heading to the Mori Tower in Rappongi Hills by a friend for a great view of Tokyo and I wasn’t disappointed, I was up on the roof for 2 hours starting at sunset freezing my butt off to take the shot below. The city just goes on for miles.

I had bought a new lens for the trip that takes circular photos and thought this would be a good time to try it out wandering around Tokyo to get a different novel look to the city. Somehow it makes any picture interesting!

Yann was only working in Tokyo for 3 days and I needed longer so stayed for a whole week, I thought it would be fun to try out the capsule hotels that were famous, just for 1 night. They are actually quite comfortable! I also visited the huge electrical store at Akihabara called Yodobashi Camera, it seems like they sold anything you could ever want there and I was impressed to see a huge selection of film too.

For my last 2 nights I wanted to be nearby the Rainbow Bridge as it looked like a good area to get a great Cityscape, so booked the Grand Pacific Daiba where I am hoping I may be able to get a shot from the roof too. I found a great spot on the Rainbow Bridge however the don’t allow tripods and it closes just after sunset meaning getting the perfect city night shot would be impossible, I at least captured a fairly nice sunset of the composition. It was also very windy so it is probably a good thing I couldn’t get the shot as it would only have been blurry with the 4 minute exposure I needed.

Back at the hotel I went to see the manager to see if I could get on the roof the get a shot, they said no but could take me up to the highest floor, but that was no good as they wouldn’t turn the lights off on the function room so the shot would have been ruined, after that the assistant manager took me to the roof, I was ecstatic and rushed t get the shot so as not to waste his time.

With plenty of great Tokyo shots in the bag I was happy to head back to Singapore to warm up, even the taxi ride back was interesting as the driver had lots to say about the second world war and his father helping the brits. He was such a character I had to get a shot of him.

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Hong Kong Part 4 (Lets pretend Part 3 never happened)

February 7, 2014

My 4th visit to Hong Kong in the last year has made me forget about the washout in July, it was clear everyday and I made the most of it by hiking the kowloon peak and lions rock again to take the shots I wasn’t able to. Singe was here again so joined me as we shivered when the sun set waiting for the city lights high in the hills. Sadly his Canon 5d Mark 3 was still out action after getting wet at lions rock last time. We had the same difficulty in pursuing the taxi drivers to take us to our hiking points, only after offering double did we get anywhere.

One of the things I love about Hong Kong other that being surrounded by mountains is the Trams and is something I have been trying to get a great shot of. This time I was determined to find the spot and be there when the light was nice. I waited over an hour for the Trams to line up just perfectly worried the angle of the sun would change and I would lose the great back lighting, but I got the shot just in time.

I am left still wanting more from Hong Kong, it is a great city to shoot however I have certainly got plenty of shots to fill my Asia book!

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The Great Wall of China

December 15, 2013

When I got the chance to go to Beijing in December to work for a week I jumped at the chance wanting to photograph the Great Wall of China which is nearby along with ticking another city off my list. Other than Hong Kong which doesn’t really count this is my first time in China so I need a visa to enter which requires a flight booking before I can even apply.

I spent the first few days in Beijing exploring the city, sadly it’s freezing cold this time of year and 10 months in Singapore has ruined my tolerance. This also means coal fires are ablaze and the Beijing smog is ruining my attempts for a great city shot, but I see this as an opportunity to shoot it both with and without so long as it clears before I leave. Amazingly on the same day I shot the lost city below the winds came and the evening was clear to take the next.

The smog seems to have also taken it’s toll on the Olympic Park, I would have thought it was built in the 80s walking around seeing the poor state it’s in. So much for the Olympic legacy 6 years on.

It’s an interesting city to wander and see how people live differently, quite happy to hang their meat next to the laundry on the street. It has a huge art district called the 798 Art Zone full of interesting sculptures like the cow below. China’s lack of copyright laws was apparent with Jessica Alba on the box of a vibrating condom and a toilet with a famous painting and the tag line “feel the art life.” Oh boy I had never felt so artsy sitting on a toilet.

There are numerous sections of the Great Wall near Beijing so I had to do my research on where to go for my 4 days, I ended up choosing Mutianyu and Jinshanling because they were not as touristy as Badaling meaning I wouldn’t have to worry about people walking through my pictures and Simatai was currently closed. I tried to reserve hotels there but couldn’t find any way to do that online so decided to wing it armed with google translate. To get there I had joined a tour so if I couldn’t find anywhere to stay I could just head back to Beijing on the bus. My tour to Jinshanling set off at 8.30am but when I arrived they said it had been cancelled as I was the only person, I was devastated. The good news was they had a tour to Mutianyu leaving at 8.30 too, so it was lucky I had no hotel bookings and also wanted to visit that section.

I was in my element wandering the Great Wall for miles, the weather was perfect and once the few people that came for day tours had left I was the only person on the wall for sunset. At every corner there was something new to see and loved every step as I left the restored sections of Mutianyu into the old of Jiankou. I loved the mountainous backdrop and being able to see the wall traverse the mountains for miles but this mean a hell of alot of steps that I got bored of at the end of only day 1. Atleast getting down was easy as they have a toboggan from the top for a fun exit. I spent the whole day wandering the wall buying extortionately priced snacks from sellers on the wall, I didn’t really mind since they had made alot of effort to get up here.

I was told by the tour guide that a local restaurant may have a room I can stay in a with luck they did for 150rmb. It’s a shame the food was pretty terrible but the subway nearby was no better. The best thing was the owner would drive me to the 2 hours to the Jinshanling section of the wall for 750rmb and arranged a hotel for the 2 nights there.

Jinshanling is by far the prettiest part of the Great Wall, just as I thought when I was doing my research. The hotel was nice and quite new and the owners home cooked food was surprisingly good, it’s a shame I have no idea what the hotel is called to recommend it. The owner and I would talk by pointing and using google translate to get by. Each morning I woke up early for sunrise and spent the whole day on the wall walking as far as I could, heading back to my perfect spot twice for sunset to make sure I nailed it.

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Chiang Mai and the amazing lantern release

November 26, 2013

It’s been almost 6 months since my last blog post and I’m scratching my head as to why that is, I have been travelling alot since then but still I’m not sure I have a good excuse for why I didn’t share this trip to Chiang Mai in Thailand sooner. The good thing is I have since visited Beijing, Vietnam, Hong Kong (yes again), Tokyo and Kyoto so you shouldn’t have to wait too long for the next post!

Every year in November there is a mass lantern release at the Mae Jo University in Chiang Mai which is part of the Yi Peng festival. Naturally being so close we wanted to see it since everyone said how amazing an experience it is. When planning the trip the release dates hadn’t been announced and we had to travel a specific weekend as we were meeting Yann’s friend Joseph, it was around the main festival as we though at least we would see the rest of the celebrations that take place all around the city. As our trip came closer it was announced the event would take place the saturday we arrived, however our flight lands at 5.30pm and the release starts at 6.30, there was little chance we could make it but we would try.

As we exited the airport to jump in a taxi we were met with a 1 hour wait and told they wouldn’t take us to Mae Jo where it would happen, I ran around all the car rental companies thinking that could work but all booked up until the last one said his friend runs a local car rental company in town so he called him and within 15 minutes we were on our way, as we drove closer we could see lanterns into the distance so we though it had already happened but continued on in the hopes of at least seeing something as releasing our own, following the lanterns I managed to find a place to park in someones home for $1 which turned out to be right around the corner and within minutes at we were amongst the crowds trying to get into the main event. It was now almost 8pm and I was sure it had happened, lost of lanterns were in the sky but as we got in the countdown to the release began, I couldn’t believe we had made it just in time!

It really was an amazing and unique experience that you won’t see anywhere else, I was skeptical at first reading how people cried but I almost teared up myself with the beautiful visual of the floating lanterns, the music and the happy people all around. All the lanterns floated to make a perfect, almost galaxy like visual that I was excited to capture in my panoramic. Sadly this is one shot I can’t capture on film due to the slow shutter speeds so this is a rare digital panorama.

It was a beautiful event to wander around, some of the monks wanted to get a picture with me so I made sure I matched their happy poses for the camera.

On the first night the trip was complete for me, I could go home happy however we still had 3 more days to spend here filled with temples, an elephant park and Tiger Kingdom, a place you can actually pull on the tail of an adult tiger! It’s amazing to get so close and be in the enclosure whilst they play fight.

Hiring the car turned out to be a good decision as it allowed us to travel up into the mountains into Doi Inthanon National Park and see some waterfalls and the Great Holy Relics Pagoda which overlooks the valley below.

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5 days in Myanmar (Burma)

November 6, 2013

Until 2 years ago Myanmar was closed to tourism, making it the second most isolated county after North Korea. It’s a great time to go before it gets tainted by the tourist industry to see a county as it truly is.

With only 5 days that gave us enough time to visit the capital Yangon, and Bagan where 4000 temples sit waiting to be explored. Everything is cheap here except for 2 things, hotels and internal flights. Apparently it’s because of supply and demand for our western standard rooms, you basically end up paying what you would in a European city. In Thailand by comparison $20 US Dollars can get you amazing rooms in some parts of the country. Our short 50 minute internal flight from Yangon to Bagan cost us the same as our 3 hour return from Singapore, but it did come with a free danish. Local spirits however are incredibly cheap at only US$1 for a small bottle and tasted better than the mass-produced western versions.

Yangon is a nice city for a tourist to visit in 3rd world Asia because you don’t get hassled yet to buy anything like many cities as a tall glowing white man. It’s an interesting city just to walk around with monks crossing the streets, barbed wire barriers, street sellers and bright gold pagodas shining in the distance. In chinatown we ate the best fish ever and it only cost $1, I need to find out how to make that fish! It’s very easy to get around with cheap but descent taxis everywhere and they didn’t try to rip us off like they would in Bali or Thailand.

The main attraction is the impressive Shwedagon Pagoda, it felt like Disney Land walking around with all the gold, but also a special place with local Burmese coming in their thousands everyday.

The highlight for me was the Yangon circular railway, it’s a $1 slow bumpy 3 hour ride around the city with open windows to stick your head out of and take in the city. There is so much going on with people walking home along the tracks, markets at stations, volley ball games. I even saw a dog that had been crushed by a train.

I would get smiles and waves along the way, like they were seeing something new just like I was, I shot almost 1000 pictures in the 3 hours alone.

Flights to Bagan all leave around 6am from Yangon so we had to get up early, at least it gave us a full day of exploring the temples on bikes. I am glad we came in low season as this is one of the touristy areas or Myanmar and apparently it can get very busy in peak season. Most of the day we didn’t see another person as we wandered in and up numerous temples. The crowds came out for sunset when everyone heads to see it in the best high spots looking across the valley.

For sunrise the next day we hired a horse and cart to take us around for few hours for $12, my chosen spot was nice and quiet and thankfully Yann was entertained by a young girl whilst I was busy taking pictures. We even got some Thanaka put on our faces by her mother, it’s a white substance made from ground bark the women wear because it has a cooling effect. Apparently it’s just for women but I wanted to try it.

I love how it looks like a lost kingdom in the shot above, it was my favourite viewpoint in Bagan giving a great sense of the time that has passed since they were all built. I still wanted to find the perfect shot for sunrise with the temples in silhouette so I continued exploring but it turned out I had already visited the perfect spot, it was the first temple we climbed but it took me visiting every other one before I knew that. The sunrise the next morning was spectacular and it was the first day of the season the hot air balloons were in use so my timing, or rather delay in finding the spot was perfect.

It was interesting to see the land around the temples being farmed and I found this great location above, where after a bit a waiting the scene came together perfectly. Bagan is certainly an amazing place to get lost in and we had awesome weather considering it was the tail end of the rainy season. One day you may not even be able to climb to the top of the temples as the government are slowly closing them to preserve them, and I am sure tourism will change this place eventually so I am glad I got to see it now.

On our way back home to Singapore I was glad to see not everything in this country is stuck in the past.

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Mersing, Malaysia

November 6, 2013

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.

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.

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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Hong Kong Part 3

August 23, 2013

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!

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.

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

July 9, 2013

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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?!

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.

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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Top 100 Travel Photographers

July 9, 2013

About a month ago I was reading the Chillisauce blog on the Tope 100 Travel Photographers, I didn’t get far down the list as it wasn’t until today I discover I was in it!

http://blog.chillisauce.co.uk/top-100-travel-photographers-in-the-world/

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A weekend in Malacca

June 10, 2013

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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