Chandelier of Versailles

Chandelier of Versailles, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

This is one of beautiful chandeliers in Versailles Palace. The palace is very grand and so beautifully decorated with paintings, arts and chandeliers.

I'd love to visit again.

Where is the Sunset?

Where is the Sunset?, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

Looking forward to view sunset... But.. :-(

Monk - Studying

Monk - Studying , originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

On the way back to the Mahagandayon Monastery from U Pain Bridge, we saw a young monk studying on the platform surrounded by water, under a banyan tree.

I don't have any idea how he got there without wetting his feet.

Two Main Actors

Two Main Actors, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I think no photographer would miss to take this shot from U Pain Bridge.

Stand Strong Japan

Stand Strong Japan., originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

Together we stand strong with you, Japan. My heart is with you all.

Kuthodaw

Kuthodaw , originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

The background is Kuthodaw Stupa and the foreground is one of the 729 stupas which house stone inscriptions, known as the world's largest book.

Monk

Monk, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

After going around the monastery, I saw a westerner taking photos of the monk and the guide requesting the monk to act.

I piggybacked their work and took this photo. :D I smiled and say thanks to them.

Tripod, Sunset and The Lake

Tripod, Sunset and The Lake, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

A friend gave me useful information that a place near to KaRaWeik Hotel is very good to take photo in sunset. After meeting with some friends, I decided to go to KanDawGyi Lake in an evening even though the time was a bit late. And I didn’t plan to go on that day, so I didn’t bring tripod with me. It’s troublesome to bring a tripod all the time especially you are travelling around the city by taxi.

I placed the camera on railing, hold breath, and took the photos. As the result, the photos are not great especially the focus. I am sharing one of the best photos I got on that day.

Thank You!

Filter, Clouds and Trip

Filter, Clouds and Trip, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I went back to Yangon last month for holidays. Just before going back, I bought a Polarizer Filter to get better landscape photos. I didn’t have time to try that filter after buying. So, when I get onto the plane I just open the packing and fix the filter on the lens to take some clouds photo as I thought I will get better photos with it.

I am luckily enough to get a windows seat because the flight was nearly full. As it was the morning flight, the sun is rising and there were clouds as well. When I take photo, we are crossing the ocean, so morning sunlight was reflecting on the ocean to make the cloud in 3D effect. Frankly speaking I am not familiar to use it yet.

More photos will come later but please do not expect to see very stunning photos. :D

Ciao!

Yangon Rain

I walked to the Submit Parkview Hotel from my home on the other day. When I was about to reach the old parliament building, It was beginning to rain. I thought it was going to be a heavy rain because this time is rainy reason in Yangon, Myanmar. Luckily, it was just a shower.

When I look at the umbrella, the rain drops were there beautifully placed. I took the photos with my HTC Hero. 

When I get older, I will be stronger

When I get older, I will be stronger, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I am just giving the title as I am having World Cup fever. I really like that WAVIN FLAG song which is very energetic with very good words. I really want to be stronger when I get older. Of course, stronger in term of mentally. When I get older I definitely will be weaker in physical as those sunflowers.

I am still using the photos taken during last year vacation because I don’t have nice new photos yet. I edited this photo with masking layer in GIMP. I previously do not like to edit photo with software but now I am enjoying it a bit more. Using software is also part of modern photography, isn’t it?

Golden Paddies

Golden Paddies, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

After looking at Ko Ye Tun’s sunflower photo , I remember that I took photo of paddies and sky. When I look at my photo it’s not very nice as Ko Ye Tun’s photo. But I would like to post it here to share. I took this photo on the same day as Golden Fields

Simply Alone

Simply Alone, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I took this photo on the way to Mt. Fuji. I didn’t crop and leave it as it is. Just change level to enhance the brightness.

Princess and photographer

Princess and photographer, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I visited Thailand last year September with my parents on the way back from Japan. We planned to visit Ayutthaya City as my mom is very interested in history. I also wanted to see how Ayutthaya City is because we had heard about that city since we are young.

By the way, we are proud to be Burmese but we disagree on destroying the city and killing people when Ayutthaya was conquered by Burmese in 1767.

We rented a car to visit Ayutthaya City from Bangkok. The car owner is a Burmese living and working there. So it’s very convenient for us to ask him the places to visit in Ayutthaya. He drove us to visit Wat Phu Khao Thong (means Golden Mountain) pagoda first. It was built by King BaYintNaung of TaungGoo (Myanmar) in 1569 to celebrate the victory.

I climbed up to the pagoda to take some scenery photos. When I reached up there, I saw my dad was taking photos of my mom while she was taking notes at the foot of the pagoda. It was a sweet moment and I took their photo.

We had spent good time together in Thailand. I am longing to back Yangon to meet them soon.

Thank You.

Tōdai-ji Temple

Tōdai-ji Temple, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

“ Tōdai-ji (Eastern Great Temple), is a Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. Its Great Buddha Hall (aibutsuden), the largest wooden building in the world, houses the world's largest statue of the Buddha Vairocana, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu .” (ref: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%c5%8ddai-ji)

I went Tōdai-ji temple with my parents alone as my sister didn’t come with us. The main reason she didn’t’ come with us is to save the cost. You know what; the transportation cost in Japan is very high especially if you are taking Shinkansen (bullet train). We bought one week unlimited ride tickets, called JR Rail Pass, from Singapore, which cost about S$420 at that time. So we can take unlimited ride to any JR trains, Buses or even Ferry with that pass. Oh yeah, we exchanged the pass with the ticket in Tokyo just before taking first Shinkansen.

Ok, back to them temple. There are many deer roaming freely around the temple. They are not afraid of people but my mom was afraid of them.

We can buy a stack of cookies to feed deer. You have to be careful when you feed them because deer can be very aggressive. I didn’t have to go near to them to feed. They surrounded me once they saw me buying cookies. They even pulled my backpack from behind while I was waiting for my change. It was a bit scary even for me. While I was feeding one of them, another one will be trying to get cookies. I had to quickly feed and run away :D . They are very smart, they didn’t follow me because they know that I don’t have any more cookies for them.

I was wondering why deer are there but not other animals. I know after reading Wikipedia that deer are regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion, that’s why they are allowed to roam the grounds freely. I don’t have good photos of deer as I was busy feeding and running away from them. :D

Ciao!

Miss You

Miss You, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

The traffic in Bangkok is notorious. I didn’t have experience of it until I was there in September 2009. I went there with my parents, after coming back from Japan, to visit.When we came back from Ayutthaya it was late to visit The Emerald Buddha, which is close at 5:30 PM. So we decided to go to MBK Shopping centre to buy souvenirs and have dinner.

After getting back to Bangkok, the rain started falling. It was raining cats and dogs later. The traffic was so bad that we could barely move. We took about 3 hours to travel about 3 km. If it hadn't been raining, we would get out of the car and walk to the shopping centre.

While I was stuck in car in traffic, mom and dad fell asleep and I have nothing to do except playing with my camera. I took this photo of rear-view mirror from front seat of the car… At that time I was missing someone...

I think my feeling reflects on the photo.

Wild Grass

Wild Grass, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

This is another photo taken on the way to Yaku Shoji Temple. I saw wild grass roadside and took this photo with the background of blue sky.

I edited this photo with GIMP to get nicer blue sky. I am using GIMP as image editing software even though it is not user friendly. I want to use Photoshop but it is expensive for me. At the same time, I do not want to use pirated copy because I feel that I should be more sensible as I am working in software industry. This is just my feeling. No offence.

By the way, a friend from Japan visited Singapore on last Saturday. So last Saturday was like international friends reunion day for me. I met with New Zealander friends from Australia for lunch and this Japanese friend for dinner. He is very friendly and nice man. When I visit to Japan, he gave us a treat in a Tofu restaurant in Tokyo which is really exclusive. The tofu they served was fantastic as well as fish.

This is my turn to ask him what he would like to have for dinner. He said anything is ok. So I suggested we would have a nice Indian food for dinner which is delicious and not very spicy. I brought to an Indian restaurant in Boat Quay to have dinner. The food is good while the talk was better. We were making jokes and laughing until our cheeks were tired. The price of food is pretty expensive compare to the service we got. Too bad, I forgot the name of the restaurant but I remember if I see that again. I should take note shop information if I want to write about it. I will do that so in future.

Thanks…

Golden Fields

Golden Fields, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I went to Yaku Shoji Temple which is in a village near to Urasa Town in Japan. The main reason of visiting that template is to see the place where Dr. Ba Maw of Burma (Myanmar) hid during WWII.

Dr. Ba Maw was "Naingandaw Adipadi" (head of state) of Burma during Japanese occupation in 1943. He was regarded as traitor, at least by me, before knowing about him details. In fact, he is a patriot who helped to cover up General Aung San’s plan to expel the Japanese from our country.

On the way to the temple, we saw many paddy fields, in golden color, which were ready to harvest. I am told that the rice from this region is famous and expensive because the quality is the best. The view of golden color paddy fields with the background of blue range of mountains is stunning. I couldn’t stop taking many photos of the scenery.

Firstly I didn’t upload this photo because I thought the nice view was obstructed by overhead power cables. When I see this again, I feel that it’s a feature of Japan because we can’t easily find an overhead power cable in Singapore… So I am sharing this lovely photo to enjoy.

Thank You!

Cloud of Shan Plateau

Cloud of Shan Plateau, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I browsed my old photos and found this beautiful photo. I took this photo when I went to Taung Gyi City in Myanmar in December 2005 to attend my brother's wedding.

We went to interesting places around the city during the trip, including KatKu Pagodas. This place was not easily accessible in 1980s because it was stronghold of PaO rebels who were fighting for autonomous state. Now PaO signed cease-fire agreement with Military Government and are doing business in the region, so visitors can enjoy this kind of beautiful scene in Shan Plateau.

I took this photo with point-and-shoot digital camera, Nikon E4300, so I think the sharpness is not great but still beautiful for me.

Hope you enjoy this photo too. Thank You!

Sunset in InnLay Lake

Sunset at InnLay Lake, originally uploaded by ZackTwin.

I went to Taung Gyi, the city of Shan State, Myanmar in December 2005 to attend my brother's wedding celebration. The ceremony was held as in PaO traditional style as my sister-in-law is a PaO.

After the wedding ceremony, we went to InnLay straight away. We stayed at Golden Island Cottages Hotel (http://www.gicmyanmar.com/), a floating hotel in InnLay Lake.

Just after dropping my bags, I took out my first point-and-shoot digital camera, Nikon E4300, and took the sunset scenery. I found this photo in my HDD and edited a bit to make it brighter.

Now I have Nikon D60. I think I can take better photos than point-and-shoot. I wish that I can go back to this place and take more photos.

Photos always remind memories. That's one of the reasons to take as many photos as possible...