Mid Year Trip - Day 1

So, day one of the trip is almost over, and we are now on our way out of the country.

For those who don't know, I am currently on  mid-year, 20-something odd days vacation with the family. Main country to receive our motley crew is the People's Republic of CHINA. I've been to China before, once back in 2006 as part of a uni summer exchange program. I was only Wuhan though, which is a central hub between the coast and in-land China - it's a fantastic city bustling with activity (economic AND social). I went clubbing for the first time there, and let me tell you it was absolutely AMAZING!! Ahh... such memories *nostalgic grin*

Didn't have the brains to book myself a flight to the other cities, nor the cash, so this time, Beijing and Shanghai are on the hit list.

The trip is centrally the brain-child (and "heart-child") of my dad, who really wanted to see the Shanghai Expo. We're spending a total of 12 days in China - the rest are a number of transits and a brief stay in Malaysia and Singapore to see family and friends.

Recap:
Left Melbourne last night to arrive in Perth for our first transit - flying cheap has it's disadvantages. The flight to Perth was strangely unbearable - I'm usually great on flights, but this time, I just couldn't sleep, and I was fidgety. Even the book I'm reading - Spandau Phoenix by Greg Iles - isn't helping. Don't get me wrong it's a great intriguing thriller, but it just reads quite long. It's never taken me this long to read a 700 pager before, it's quite embarrassing. I'll just put it down to the fact that's it's a really nutritious read - in the sense that it's packed full of research and many many intersecting story lines.

Anyway, Perth was alright. It's quite small, and rather quiet - the fact that it's Sunday doesn't help either. The weather was great - not that much warmer than Melbourne but at least the SUN is shining here. Other than that, there's not much here - had Yum Cha for lunch of all things.

Anyway, have to get going - flight is calling

ciao

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DSLR Audio

Just doing some research on audio recording gear for DSLRs.

I am shooting most of my project on DSLR - my own Pentax k7 and Changas Nikon d3s. The audio on these camera are good, but sometimes, better audio via better microphones are needed, so I will be recording audio separately - back to the old school way of doing things. I was settled on doing the traditional clapperboard sync, but my supervisor, Paul Ritchard, mentioned a piece of software that can do automatic sync. I googled it, and have become quite impressed.

It is called Pluraleyes - it automatically syncs your DSLR footage to your separately recorded audio by matching the footage audio with the audio captured on the separate device.

A problem with this software though is that there is currently no compatibility with Adobe Premiere CS4, which is what I primarily use to cut my work. Only FCP and Sony Vegas are supported thus far. They say a CS4 version will come out soon, so fingers crossed.

After discovering this, I went on to look up audio recording gear, which I intend to get soon to support my other work. Currently using a Marantz Solid State recorder hired out from uni. It's good, but quite big since it is old school. Not huge, just.. not as small as some you can get now-a-days.

The site dslrfilm.com has an article listing their top audio recorders for DSLR video. The Zoom h4n seems to immensely popular, and I will be looking into where to get it here in Melbourne, and how much - so anyone with that information, please contact me!

Also, Phillip Bloom has a useful article on the subject of DSLR filming and audio recording. Check it out.

A microphone will be next to look for on the list too.... damn so much money to be spent. I am looking at purchasing a new sleeping bag as well as my current one, thought immensely warm, is much too bulky to be taken on treks. Kathmandu has a huge sale on at the moment, and I am eyeing the $200 one... as well as a sleeping mat. *sigh*

Anyway, just got back from a long road trip up to Stawell to help Changas on a photo-doco shoot on a rodeo that was up there yesterday on good Friday. He's gotten some amazing stuff, which should be up on his blog some time soon. I managed to get a few good snaps too, as well as some footage of some bull-riding etc. I think I will cut my footage into a mini doco on Changas and documentary photography. I had a nice chat with Changas on the ride there and back, which I recorded on the solid state recorder. Will go through footage and audio material tomorrow to see what I can knock up. It seems there is a connection as well to my honours project on Asian-Australian identity - we were the only two Asians up at the rodeo, and we stood out like sore thumbs. We didn't get into any major incidents, but the issue did crop up during some moments.

Anyway, really tired and need some shut eye. Photos and more info should be up here soon. Watch this space.

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Reflections prt2 + Asian-Australian Project

Part 2 of reminiscing.

In Malaysia, I stayed with my mum's family first. Whilst there, I shot a few videos of my Grandma preparing dinner. She was making Yeung Dao Fu, or.. the best way I can describe it is Stuffed To Fu.

Grandma in the kitchen.

I loved the natural light that the kitchen had, with the sun coming in through the back door. The wall int he above image is a little blown out, but I like that, especially in the videos.

This brings up something that I have noticed lately - I have noticed this general difference in preference of image quality between video and photography. When Changas was over, I showed him this awesome new plugin developed by the awesome guys at Video Copilot, called Optical Flares. This plugin allows you to add, yup you guessed it, Lens flares into your video footage so you can achive certain looks. The plugin is so comprehensive that it allows you to imitate flares from real lens irises, and even adding Chromatic Aberration, which Changas was quite surprised and impressed with. Changas is a photographer, and he says that most photographers go for the cleanest look they can, choosing lenses and photoshopping to remove any sort of Chromatic Aberration in their images, as well as removing grain. Whilst int he video world, you can find plenty of plugins that allow youto imitate certain film stock grain, and generally making the footage more dirty. I wonder where this difference of preference comes from?

Anyway going back on topic, I filmed my Grandma preparing dinner, and the footage I got was quite extensive and looked great. I am currently editing it into a short doco that I am making as part of my Honours project on finding Asian-Australian stories. I am intercutting the footage with footage of my mum cooking Chinese New Year dinner. The doco is currently titled 'Tastes of Home', and is just an exploration of my mum and her cooking. Themes I'm looking at exploring are generational influences, senses of home, how cooking is used by displaced peoples to recall home, whether it actually means that to the older generations of migrants, etc. I have the style already, just need to do a few more interviews, and I am considering introducing my sister into the story, so that I can explore the themes from 3 generations of Chinese-Malaysian women.


Changas was over to help me film some things on his newly aquired Nikon d3s. The above image was taken by him, me and my mum as subjects.
My k7 is currently non-funcitonal because I damaged my lens on the last day of the trip. It's in Japan now, getting fixed... I hope. But yes, Changas' d3s is a beautiful piece of equipment. Check his stuff out on his blog here: http://iamchangas.blogspot.com/
Thus I am stuck using uni gear, though the z1p is still a very ncie camera. But I'm waiting to test out the newly acquired z7p.

Back to Malaysia. Below are pics of the end results of my Grandma's cooking, and the relatives consuming the fruits of her labour. *note the box of roast duck was brought from take away :) *

Resting after the meal.

Getting all artsy... but i quite like the photo. I love the light.

Since my Grandma was already there, decided to do a kind of portait.
Shopped one in b&w for kicks.

Not sure if they're good though, seems way too dark in her face. What do you think?

Some more photos from my first stay in Malaysia.
This beautiful, succulent sambal sting-ray. My god I miss it...



Stay tuned for more next time

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Reflections

Sorry for the long silence... I've just been trying to recover from the trip - both mentally, and financially...
Anyway, it's time for the long awaited recap on my trip, and the uploading of the many photos that I snapped. My memory of the start of my trip is fuzzy as hell, but going through the photos really helps.

DAY 1: Departure



I was given a farewell dinner the night I left. Mum made a nice potato thing, I can't remember what it was, as well as a fish salad.

For dessert we had some sort of yoghurt ice-cream thing made by my sister. It was a really great "summery" meal and the weather held out pretty well - it was a really nice way to farewell Melbourne.

We then bundled my luggage and ourselves into the car and headed out to the airport for my midnight flight.

Some last farewell snaps.


DAY 2: Arrival in Malaysia

Arrived at KL LCCT. The flight was... one of the worse I've had so far. Mainly because I couldn't get to sleep, and the seat was... it didn't recline! I can usually sleep anywhere but I reckon the mix of excitement, and the economically fitted out seats of AirAsia, combined to create an atmosphere where my body and mind just refused to get some rest.

Anyway, whilst on the plane, I looked through the ticket for my connecting flight to Penang, and I had assumed it was at 7:30 when in fact it was 6:30. I began to get a little worried as I saw that I was scheduled to arrive just before 6. I couldn't get my eyes off the time that was displayed on our personal screens - yes AirAsia has personal screens now, but you gotta pay to actually utilise its full entertianment value.
As soon as the plane landed I was outta my seat, and I literally ran to the luggage belt. I was hoping and hoping that my luggage would come out first, as it usually does, but fate seemed to be having fun with me this time round.
I waited. And waited. And waited.
Luggage after luggage trundled past, none of them mine.
The time ticked on... I began to panic.
The crowd grew smaller and still... nothing.
FINALLY, a familiar black case emerged through the plastic drapes. I reached down, grabbed my bag and ran off. As i crossed the hall I rememberd to double check the suitcase to make sure it was mine. It was.

At the checkin counter, I had to pay RM20 (20 Rinngit-malaysian dollars) becuase mysteriously, my bagged gained an extra 2kg during the flight. I was in rush so I just paid it. As I ran off, it crossed my mind that it was a little suspicious - I just hoped that it wasn't anything sinister.
I passed through the security gates and emerged in the Domestic Departures hall.
It was empty for the most part. And it got me worried... did I miss my flight?
I checked the time again, and for some reason... I actually still had about 30 minutes left till the flight. All that rushing for nothing! Clearly, I overreacted...
Anyway, I spent the next few minutes taking some photos.

This was where I snapped the photo I posted earlier with the kid and his dad/gramps. I'll post the 3rd photo I took of them here.

Soon after, my plane arrived. Hopped on and 45 minutes later was heading out the terminal doors and into the hot humid air of Penang. Cousin picked me up and took me to a PC fair where I got a 4gb m2 card for my phone for about... $15AUD. BARGAIN.

The stadium where the PC fair was held.

My cousin and his girlfriend. The umbrella = sun protection.

Inside the PC fair. This was the inside - there were a whole bunch of other stalls in the hallways outside the main arena.

Inside one of the many malls that seem to spring up everywhere all over developing Asia.

One other thing - I had bought over chocolates for my cousins and my friend's cousins. I left them in my Aunties car when I went to see some things... I am still not entirely sure but I think those choclates were melted.. just a little. They felt soft when I returned to the car. Either way, my little cousins ate some anyway.. even if it wasn't for them...

More refelctions and photos coming soon.

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Back Home

Touched down at Melbourne Tullamarine International Airport at 10 minutes past 12 noon. 6 hours later, I'mat my computer blogging...

Just mkaing space on my harddribe now to transfer all the photos and video's taken on the trip... which currently stands at a whopping 335GB. It looks like I need to invest in another internal HDD.... possibly 2tb now...

Anyway, the airport was surprisingly all to east to get out of. After a few minutes at the duty free store, where I purchased 2 1 litre Johnnie Walker Black Labels (that came with a carry bag and hand towel), I moved on to immigration, where i found that the new ePassports are awesome and so hassle free. My bag appeared on the luggage belt just as I arrived at the baggage claim. Customs wasn't fussed at all about me having been a wilderness area in the last 30 days (Maliau Basin Trek - details AND photos at a later date). They just asked if I had taken back any plant or animal material with me (no), or if I had any muddy shoes (washed them clean), then sent me right through the door to the arrivals hall.

A few minutes later and my mum arrived, with Pip, my Bijion Frise, in the front seat panting and jumping with elation at my return (I hope). A quick stop at Hungry Jack for a whopper, some grocery shopping, then it was home sweet home.

I could reflect on the trip now.. but my eyes are dry and aching, and my mind is far too weary to make any sense of the last one and a half months and translate the memories into a comprehensible post. So I leave you with some snaps of the past 6 hours, and will be back later to fill you in on the trip, which currently stands as the major highlight of my life so far.


This is how fluffy my dog is now - he hasn't had a haircut since I left.


The duty free Johnny Walkers - just found out that they've been aged for 12 years! Will save them for special occasion... perhaps a welcome home drink session? :p

That's it for now. Ciao.

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Year's ending

So we have arrived at the end of another year. I am too exhausted now to reflect on my 2009, but I reckon that this Asia Trip that I'm currently doing is definately one of the best things I have done so far in my life.
I am cuurently sitting in an Internet cafe in Koh Phangan, Thailand copying over inages and videos from my SD cards onto a pocket drive I aquired in Wan Chai tech centre, Hong Kong. I have currently used up 188G out of 500GB on this trip, which is staggering, but the Pentax K7 shoots 720p HD video in a format that doesn't compress very well - and I have shot LOADS of videos.

The long absence from this space is terribly annoying, and I am wishing I had a Macbook Pro with me on this trip so I can be as active as my coleague Changas, who has been uploading some amazing images from his stay in Hong Kong.

Anyway, to make up for it I've uploaded a few images below as a recap of what's been going on in this trip so far.

Snapped these during my transit in KL LCCT Airport on the first day of the trip. The kid was so fascinated with the aircarft taxiing around on the tarmac, it reminded my of my childhood fascination with flying.

Ok I lied about the recap, but this is all I can upload for now. I really wish I had a Macbook Pro NOW!!!

recap later. ciao

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Open Source

Googling for free image editing software, and it struck me, again, how awesome 'open source' is. I was tempted to go down the piracy route and download a copy of Photoshop, BUT, I wanted to see what free stuff was out there, and also I am in a bit of a rush and couldn't be bothered scouring torrent sites for a good version of Photoshop nor waiting for however long i would take to download.

Anyway, the other night, 2 of my friends had to apply for their Cambodian visa's. They reached a stage where they had to print but we had no access to a printer. So, I tried to see if we could print to a PDF document, but the laptop did not have Acrobat installed. Then I tried copying to word document, but the copy of Microsoft Office installed on that laptop was illegal and had been deactivated... so 2nd time fail.
Finally, i got the idea to try Google Docs. And you know what, it worked like a charm. I was able to copy the webpage into google docs, and from there export it out as a PDF. I am so PRO-GOOGLE at the moment, I could shout it out from the rooftops... if I wasn't so self conscious.

Anyway just installed GIMP and giving it a run through, I should have images up very soon!

Laters

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10 days, and counting...

It's only been 10 days since I met up with the 3 others with whom I will be exploring South East Asia, and man, what a hectic 10 days it has been. It has been a mental, physical and emotional roller-coaster of a ride so far, and I am awaiting with pensive excitement to see how the other 30 plus days will unfold.

So far, we have covered just 2 countries - Maacau and Hong Kong. We still have a fair few days left in Malaysia so it doesn't really count yet. Macau and Hong Kong wre great, and we came away with a few highlights that have been perfect 'Mastercard Priceless' moments - you know the TV advert with the tagline "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard."
I've posted one here as an example, and also to makeup for the lack of photos in this post ;)


This one below is a spoof take on it =D



At the moment, we are all taking a break from each other, mainly because I am sick to death of them all - *jokes!* We've had to split up because we all have family to visit in Malaysia, so we're meeting up after all that family stuff is done with.
We are also recovering from what I suspect was food poisoning. Yes, in 10 days we have experienced all that life could throw at you, and I am still reeling from it all. I have yet to fully comprehend the mental and emotional impact it has/will have on me, and I suspect my travel buddies are in the same boat.

I guess life catches up to you when you least expect it, and though it may seem that it has dealt a random hand, I reckon it is as timely as it could ever be.


Stay tuned for a more detailed recap, which I will be doing as soon as I figure out a way to process my images.

Ciao

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needle and thread

Just finished replacing the missing button on my shorts. The button has been missing since I can't remember, and I have been meaning to sew on a new one... since I can't remember when... Yeh, so I only remembered when I packed this pair of shorts in.

This little exercise in handywork proves how diligent a student I am. Back when I was in year 9, which is almost 8 years ago now, one of our arts subjects was textiles, where we were all taught the art of dealing with fabric and needlework. The central project was to make a stuffed toy snake, which i still have lying around somewhere back in the study. Remind me to upload a photo of it some time.
Anyway, when it came time to assessment, (where to my memory I received a D - not distinction, but grade D in the order of A, B, C, D, etc.), my teacher's only comment to me was "Sew More".

And to this day, I have taken the suggestion to heart, and you will occasionally find me hunched over a damaged garment with needle and thread in hand, attempting to repair it to the best of my abilities. I'd be happy to help with yours if you so wish - just drop me a line! =D

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M.B.A.R.C

Whilst setting up this blog, I was asked, as we do, to select a url. I went through a whole bunch, as you do, including kiwisan, kiwispot, and anything else with a kiwi in it. If you haven't realised already, Kiwi is my nickname, the origins if which will come to light at a later date.

Anyway, I finally arrived at "mbarc88" - a simple anagram that details my origins, and reflects on how I usually identify myself:
Malaysian
Born
Australian
Raised
Chinese.

And 88 refers to 1988, the year in which I arrived in Australia as a young baby not even 6 months out of the womb.

I reckon that it's pretty cool the anagram can be pronounced "EMBARK", mainly coz I have recently 'MBARC-ked' on a one and a half month trip across South East Asia with my friends (which coincides with a desire I have of setting up a travel blog). It also builds on the idea of the new age of global migration, where people 'MBARK' on journey's to new worlds and new lives. Also, I just love to travel, which also alludes to the word 'EMBARK'.... well you get the picture - I just love this anagram/word I've created!

So there you have it, mbarc88.blogspot.com

A note about the photo included in this post:
For a mate's 22nd birthday, a friend and I decided to cook up a 10 course degustation meal - and yes, this was during or just after the MasterChef hype of Australia. One of the items on the menu was Picris, better known as Ox Tongue. This is what it looked like before it was served. I don't think we ever told the guests what was served on that particular meat platter.... I may have mentioned pizzle though...

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First Post

So, I have finally scrounged up enough motivation, and a few measly brain cells, to set up a personal blog from which my mind can secrete it's dribble of so called 'independent thought'. Oh and let's not forget the occasional overflow of soulful reflection on the inner self and life as this particular lost child of the late 80's experiences it.

This is my attempt at carving for myself a little space in this ever expanding ethereal vortex of piracy, instant messaging and sex, a.k.a the World Wide Web. As paradoxical as it sounds, this will be a somewhat personal space, and though it may cause me occasional sharp pangs of angst, I shall make every effort to keep it so.
I already exist in this digital universe on several spaces including facebook, msn, and an academic university blog. But I figured it was time for me to expunge certain thoughts into a space that wasn't so guarded by certain protocols and rigidity. It's not so much the spaces themselves but rather my own perception of those spaces that restricted me. How successful will this attempt be? Only time will tell.

And on that note, I welcome you to Kiwi's spot, which I may refer to occasionally as the K-spot, which is only 1 letter away from (your) G-spot ;)
Terimah Kasih.

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