Finally it’s the day to leave Lhasa town for a while and go on my way to the Base camp of Mount Everest. Yes, I will be traveling to a peak higher than Mount Kinabalu and the place I am going is nearly 6000m above sea level. It’s so gonna be cold up there.

Upon driving on the way, we made a stop on a site for photography, but amazingly we are also charged for stopping there. Each person was charged 30 Yuan (that’s RM15 in Malaysia). Just because there’s a lake which is so blue, it looks so fake. Yes, the blue makes it so fake  but what they mentioned was it was natural color and it’s not because of the sky, it’s due to some chemical in the lake. Amazing right. If you were to see it by yourself. Since I’ve already paid 30 Yuan, I just need to pose with the lake in the background.

Jeng Jeng Jeng. I love the solid background. No humans… darn red thingy at the side. Supporter of Liverpool FC all the way. Even in Tibet. Of course, I can’t get enough of just standing in front of the background. What about a JUMP????

I am here… woo hoo~~~ LOL.. Though it seems that everywhere I go, everyone is doing the jump. So not unique, I don’t want to be like everyone else. Why not do something else with the lake pose. Hmm… let’s do what Daniel does best. WEIRD POSE.

Hahaha… don’t know what I am doing. Not special but just want to do something different. Mission PHAILED. Ok done about this part.

Let’s see how it was before we (that’s me and the other 2 friends with me) got to the lake. We went on a jeep and below you can see the roads that were used to travel up.

A view from the jeep’s window

The road is so long and winding. Sometimes it can be very near the edge, the whole lot of us are praying the driver is driving safely. So anyway since the blue lake is there, we thought of going there nearer and nearer. So to see whether it’s really blue.

Here’s my friend here, Ek Wei with the so called dog of Lhasa, Tibet and with a local man. Now no alteration in the photo and yes, the lake is super blue even upclose. This is crazily weird. First time seeing a blue lake and it’s not an optical illusion.

So here’s another proof of the blue blue lake of Tibet. I just love the surroundings of Tibet. Superb sceneries, not many places you can find these kind of view and perfect sky.

Next this is the place we had our next stop. OMG, look at the height of the place.

5560m above sea level and we can actually see a snow mountain up close. Wooots… White white, something which I don’t get to see in Malaysia. What a way to play around and look at the clear white snow.

The surrounding area of Kharola Snow Peak which have the snow and yes, it’s just a 5 minutes walk there. Hmmm.. did some mini HDR technique on the clouds to avoid having just white background on the sky. Not so appealing but I just want to show you how the mountain looks like.

This is finally the end of the Kharola Glacier and Blue Lake of Tibet. The view is superb. I really love the view, oh my goodness, I wanna go there once again. What a day up 5000m above sea level. Who’s game for the next Tibet trip??

ps: What’s next? Food review? Bali travels? Kuching Travels? or more Tibet Travels? The decision is yours.

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After what have been a long time, it’s been overdue and this time I am trying to finish what I have been doing all these while. My last post talks about me in Potala Palace and what’s in store in there. Basically you will see Dalai Lama’s old place, the 3 Buddha statues (Past Buddha, Present Buddha and the Future Buddha).

Moving Around Lhasa Tibet
Monastery Visit Around Tibet
Drepung Monastery
etc.. do view more from the Tibet category under Travel.

The view up there wasn’t as spectacular due to the palace is situated right at the city. So what do we do after walking up like few hundred meters up the palace, I took photos…. of myself again. This time thank you Kenny for helping me shoot these series.

But before that I would like to have your eyes upon this layer of sticks. Yes, they are part of what the palace walls were made of. Made from wood and those papers you see stuck between the wood are Yuan notes (China currency) with the occasional of other countries currency. Well, it seems mostly locals donate their money to the preservation of the temple/palace this way.

Now after what seemed to be a long time of taking scenery and the palace itself, I just had to do a jump.

Kinda miss the long hair though. Is like I have a ponytail at the back. Well, if I wanted to tie, I could though. Now after all the walking, it’s time to go out the exit and we were surprised that we came out from another door.

Hmmm.. Potala Palace, if I were to go to Tibet again, I don’t think I would bother spending 100 Yuan to go up this palace again. Seems all you need is to visit it once. Finally it’s time for lunch. I miss modern food and decided to get something I used to drink. That’s when I called for Sprite. Guessed who was on the Sprite container.

JAY CHOU?????? Really =_=”" Sprite ambassador?

It got me thinking, why do people collect Coca Cola cans, but not Sprite? Then I find that it’s useless thinking these kind of stuffs. After what seemed to be a long rest, it’s time for the next temple to visit. This time another temple which cost us 40 Yuan. Why is every temple costing so much?????

Since we got used to temple structures all the temples almost look alike, I decided to scout for some main architectures and designs of that temple. This was what I found then.

Shot using the 55-200mm VR, I got this shot. Seemingly a zoom lens was put into proper use that time. Nothing beats posing with the background of the whole temple though.

I see Bruce Lee in Tibet~~~~ not… darn it was hot and I was squinting my eyes. What are those decorations or ornaments made of? They’re made of Gold! Yes…. real GOLD.

Of course I wasn’t the only person on top the temple worth shooting at. (paiseh *shy*) There’s also the occasional monk climbing on top the roof to go on to the other side of the building.

Unlike the houses and temples in Malaysia, the roofs here are mainly flat. No tiles. From far, the red garment makes it look like Spiderman was climbing up the wall. This monk seems to capture my eyes and I decided to capture it at the moment.

Now what about Tibetan people? All these time, it was architecture and scenery, what about the people? This is how a Tibetan woman from afar looks like.

Yes, this shot was taken during lunch time on the top of a building. Look at the Tibetan woman below. I think I need a 600mm to get close enough.

Of course, other than Tibetan woman, there are the occasional tourist from other parts of China. Suddenly I feel much at home.

A Female Tourist from China

Ngek Ngek Ngek Ngek……

Signing off – till next time.

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Is my blog moving? Hmm… well, after like a few months and promising that I’ll update my blog frequently, I did for awhile but only to neglect posting about Lhasa Tibet backpacking trip. Well, here is Daniel once again, in the middle of the street of Lhasa. Though it was about 4000m above sea level, it was also very hot.

Come to think of it, it was hot as the sun was shining so brightly. The breeze was there though, but I wouldn’t want to risk any sunburn on my own hand, so I got myself a sweater. Photographers would know that there’s something wrong with this picture though. Don’t you feel awkward?

Anyway it was one of the days in Lhasa and here in Lhasa, one of the famous place is Potala Palace (the place where the Dalai Lama used to be). Well, since I can’t go in the palace yet, I took a picture with the stone with writings. Can’t read them though. Strange how it feels. I feel so short compared to the rock.

I think during this time, I was already down by a kg. Yes, the constant walking and carrying my bag full of camera gears which consist of a Nikon D300, 55-200mm VR, 50mm f/1.4D and a Sigma 10-20mm. Not to mention the extra weight from the SB-800 which I think was only used once during my visit to Tibet. Flash units are kinda rarely used when one is traveling. Now enough of my photos, let’s see what the Potala Palace looks like.

On the left, the Potala Palace was built on the hill. The original hill was actually part of the road that you see now. Or rather the road was part of the hill before it was destroyed and now became a big main road. Well, now what do I want you all to focus on. The sky is indeed magnificent and yes, the whole view in Tibet is definitely somewhere any photographer would want to be.

The life here is pretty safe. I could just walk out at night and there would be police everywhere guarding the streets. Anyway since there is a lot of free time in Lhasa Tibet, the gang (me, Ek Wei and Kenny) walked towards the artificial pond or lake to take scenery shots. There are lots of shot taken over here but here I wanted to show 2 shots taken straight from the camera without using any HDR or any doctored job on the photos itself other than resizing and putting my blog link on it.

If you would love to see the EXIF of the picture, just right click and save and look at the properties of the photo. This is the setting I used to shoot this photo. Imagine how clear the sky was, how the clouds reflect itself on the water. But where’s the Potala Palace? Here’s the next photo.

Yes, Potala Palace is just around the corner. Why are we still here? Well, practically, a few of us are waiting for the sunset to capture the sunset scenery across the lake. How did it turn out though? Seemingly we have too many photos of the scenery that we find that we shouldn’t neglect ourselves.

Then we do what we do best. We pose to the extreme. Some of you might have seen this photo before though.

Now who can beat the top 3 posers.

Though if you have the chance to see the Potala Palace at night, it’s definitely a breathtaking sight. Well, that’s what we did and we walked at least 20 minutes from the hotel to reach the palace and took the photo……..

….. with me in it. Yes, it was this dark, and I just use the internal flash on the camera to shoot this. Then of course, that’s what you get for just using the internal flash and with not so “powderful” focus and setting. Now how about if you use long shutter and make it sharp and crispy.

The Full View of Potala Palace with it’s reflection

Why is there water? Well, it’s basically a water fountain show running at the same time. Just so happens that I got this shot when the water fountain stopped for awhile. Exposure time  is 13 seconds. Too bad the lights around it are giving the orange feel.

Finally it’s time to sleep and the following day, it’s finally the day to go up the Potala Palace itself. Now wait….. how much does it cost? It’s RMB100 or 100Yuan which is equivalent to RM50 in Malaysia. Ahhhhhh…….. this has better be good. It’s way way expensive compared to the other temples.

See the big blue square thingy. That’s where we roughly were when we took the photo of the 3 Heroes of Tibet. So now we’re entering Potala Palace. What is in there that are in store for us. Sad to say, didn’t really take any photos in the Palace as it’s FORBIDDEN at certain areas and also you need to pay photographer fee if you would want to take some internal pictures of the rooms and statues.

So what other things did we do there? I might say, that it’s good if it’s continued on the next post.

ps : I am back~~~~

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A few days back, I received an invitation from Wacoal regarding their Sensuala Calendar Girl 2010 event. After many months and days without attending any event, it’s finally time to attend one.

You must’ve wonder, lingerie? Yes, lingerie!! There are lots of crowd over there, though the only problem was, I didn’t bring my kit lens and all I got was my 55-200mm zoom lens with no fix aperture (my 50mm was under repair). So just have to stick with it and do some shooting the best I can. I still remember the last time I came here for an event was for the Malaysian Dream Girls function. It was a surprise to me though that the emcee for the night was none other than my favorite English Radio DJ, Serena C.

Hmmm.. when I saw her it was a total different makeover from the last event which was the Cleo’s Bachelor event in Year 2008. Still as wacky as ever and funny. Though at one time she did flash the Wacoal bra to the audience. (Sorry no pictures of this you people, even if there is, I’ll keep it LOL) So that’s all for today…….. *I’ll get killed for sure* So what are the people there waiting for? Since it’s Wacoal, it’s definitely a lingerie shot. Though first we were all introduced to the girls.

I have here only 2 notable ones (or rather cause all the photos taken, the photos did not turn out well).

Now tell me, who does the first picture resemble of? What about the second one?

Can’t think? Just put your mouse cursor on top the photo and you’ll find out the answer. How’s that for a change? One thing for sure, in an event like this, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get perfect photos with all the flash coming from left, right and with heads blocking the camera view. Though I wonder, how come were they wearing town short jeans? *strange*

You never know how interesting this event is, until you see a familiar face amongst the crowd and spectators. Who is it? Or who were they?

Ta dah~~~~ Recognise anyone?

So let’s talk less about this. Here are the girls. NSFW.

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