d e s m o n d c k w ◦ p h o t o g r a p h y

Showing posts with label Landscape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Landscape. Show all posts

Sunday, March 5, 2017

The Magical Iceland

Once again, I've been away for a very long time since my last post. My recent travel experience was quite a unique one which gives me the inspiration to write again :) Why is it unique ? Well, it's our first ever self drive trip in a foreign country, our first time seeing aurora, got to experience sunshine, rain, snow, sleet, strong gale, blizzard and even sand storm in a single trip. As you might have already guessed, it's ICELAND !

Iceland has been a very popular country for most travellers all along, perhaps it's the most popular country in recent years due to its 10/11-years solar cycle of the northern lights. There were a lot of rumours/reports saying that the lights are going to dim for the next 10 years so we didn't wanna miss that and went ahead to what may be our once in a lifetime trip !

I would like to begin sharing my experience with a photo as usual of course and some overview of the itinerary before covering it in depth in my next few posts.


As I mentioned earlier, this our first ever self drive trip. We did clock-wise round the island in 12 days, traveled for 2,755km, covered as much key sights possible and of course chased for the northern lights ! The road taken is coloured in blue in the following map.


It's been our daily routine to firstly check the weather, road conditions and aurora activity before heading out because weather in Iceland can change abruptly and rapidly. "If you don’t like the weather right now, just wait five minutes", people often says in Iceland. Glad that we were still able to complete most of our planned itinerary plus discovered nice foods along the way. Also, some roads closure due to snowstorm gave us a chance to travel the road in the most eastern part which in my opinion has the best view of all !

Iceland sure has its unique way to make it unforgettable and it is undoubtedly one of the best country we have ever visited ! In my next post, I'll share on how I got to Iceland and things I planned beforehand.  Stay tune !

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Hong Kong (Part II)


In this post, I'll share more landscape photos of Hong Kong. This time I had shot a couple of sunsets and sunrise as well.


In my opinion, the best sunrise view would be at Victoria Peak (太平山). I woke up early at 5:30 a.m. to get myself ready and also my equipment. The MTR services start at as early as 6:00 a.m. so I took a train to Central (中環) station and a taxi ride to Lugard Road (盧吉道). Along Lugard Road (盧吉道), the view is much better than the view from The Peak (香港山頂) and it's free of charge !

7:04 a.m.

7:24 a.m.

7:40 a.m.

7:45 a.m.

There were some others that early too...


After sunrise, let's enjoy some sunsets ! The following photo was taken in Mong Kok (旺角) which is near to the place I stayed.


I went up to sky100 Hong Kong Observation Deck capture some sunsets and night cityscape of Hong Kong. I purchased the ticket in advance so I can skip the queue and enjoy some online discount. The ticket costs HKD142 and HKD168 for online purchase and walk-in purchase respectively.




After the sunset...




There are a lot more night cityscape worth viewing and photographing in Hong Kong. I went to a few more other places around Central (中環) and Admiralty (金鐘) as there are a lot of beautiful skylines there.


And the last but not least, the best up-close view of Hong Kong city at Victoria Harbour (維多利亞港) !


Thursday, January 1, 2015

Happy New Year 2015 !


Another year has gone and a great year has just started. Let's us all have an awesome year ahead and Happy New Year 2015 everyone !

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Night Singapore II

Over the last 2 years, I've been taking a lot of night and long exposure shots around Singapore. There were a lot of events going on such as i Light Marina Bay, Sound of IKEBANA, Singapore Kite Festival and many more. Thankfully, I can see some improvement compared to my first post of Night Singapore 2 years ago. Hope you like the following photos which were taken quite recently and feel free to drop your comments !

Sound of IKEBANA
Sound of IKEBANA

i Light Marina Bay
i Light Marina Bay

i Light Marina Bay
i Light Marina Bay

Singapore Kite Festival
Singapore Kite Festival


Saturday, April 19, 2014

Tanjung Aru Beach, Sabah

It's good to be back here again to the place where I grew up... my hometown. Tanjung Aru beach is one of the best compared to beaches around Kota Kinabalu. It's only 10 minutes drive away from the city centre.


We went here to enjoy the sunset while eating snacks bought from the stalls at the beach area. There are many food stalls and bars along the beach so usually there are a lot of locals spending their weekend and picnics there.



Let's meet some locals here !


They told me that they were building a........ castle ! O.o?



Lastly, the real shooting of sunset ! The sun set quite early here compared to Singapore.

6:24 PM

6:27 PM

6:40 PM

Hope you love the sunset as I do ! Kota Kinabalu still has the best sunset ever !

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Mount Kinabalu, Sabah

I've stopped travelling for awhile at least to overseas since the year 2013. Hence, I start my vacation again for 2014 with a challenging trip that I've been wanting long ago which is the Mount Kinabalu climbing trip !

The planning and booking were actually started about a year ago as the responses are always good especially during peak seasons. So here we go ! A little briefing on the route, rules and safety precautions before the start.


So it began !


We were accompanied by 2 accredited guides as required by National Park regulations. There are two main trails for the climb which are the Timpohon Gate (6 km) and Mesilau trail (8 km). We chose Timpohon Gate and started climbing around 11:00 am :D


Kinabalu Park is home to a diverse array of flora and fauna that changes in nature as your altitude increases. There are still a lot of greeneries before reaching Laban Rata. Near the top of the mountain the trees thin out and give way to shrubs and stones.




The last 2km is entirely rocky and turned into a water course when the rain started. We stopped by at the fourth rest point for awhile due to heavy rain and thunder storm. We had to continue our climb later in the rain due to time constraint and finally we reached Laban Rata Resthouse at around 5:00 pm.


We then rested and had our dinner before we went to sleep at 8:30 pm. We slept for few hours and woke up at around 1:00 pm to have breakfast before the last part of the climb to the peak. We then started to climb at 2:30 pm. The distance from Laban Rata to the summit is 2.7 km hence there is only 1 check point at Sayat-Sayat Hut. We then rushed up again for the sunrise !






We stopped by behind the big rocks before started descending due to strong chilling wind.




Short rest for some photo :D


Started to descend at around 7:00 am.


We were back to Sayat-Sayat Hut again to check out !


Let's continue to take some more photos along the way...





The descend part is not difficult although it's really steep but we have to be extra careful. The journey down back to Laban Rata only took slightly more than 2 hours.






There are some stuff to bring along other than a good pair of shoe (Kampung Adidas) and warm cloths which are:

  •  Gloves/hat/mask
  •  Extra Socks
  •  Rain and wind gear, raincoat, thick windbreaker, rain cap
  •  Headache tablets
  •  Deep heat lotion (for muscle cramp)
  •  Headlight & new batteries
  •  High energy food (chocolates, nuts, raisins)

We booked through SUTERA SANCTUARY LODGES Kota Kinabalu if you are wondering. It costs RM 600 for Malaysian and RM 682 for non-Malaysian which includes accommodation, shuttle service to National Park, climbing permit, 5 meals, mountain guide, certificate and insurance.



There is a Via ferrata (or iron road in Italian) path consisting of a series of rungs, rails and cables embracing the rock face. There are a lot via ferrata routes around the world and Mount Kinabalu has the world's highest via ferrata. It is a challenging route hence they provide free rental of all safety devices like harness, lanyard and helmet.


Lastly, as always, would like to end this with an amazing view of the South Peak of Mount Kinabalu.