Damai

Right, not the “peace” kinda damai, but rather the Damai Beach Resort. After staying in KL for quite sometime and also working half dead like nobody’s business, I started missing what nature has to offer. Quite a fair bit of times, I day dreamt in the office, imagining I was on a beach on a cool, breezy evening. So, I didn’t hesitate visiting the beach resort when I was back in Kuching.

Anyway, I went to Damai with my family and Clare. It was a 1 night trip. We got outselves a family suite, which to me is relatively big for the price of RM 380.

I don’t know about you guys but I really like the room environment in a resort. It gives me this comfy feeling and that I don’t have to bother too much about cleaning. Someone will do it for me.

Even the toilet was kinda… errr… nice?

Nice innit? Unfortunately, Murphy must have followed me the other day. The blardy aircond wasn’t functioning and I felt as if I was in a sauna. So much for RM 380.

Oh, and the photo above, that is the room below. Yes, the suite has 2 levels. The level below is basically meant for kids. Even the design of the room itself is kinda childish, but you know what? I kinda like it. Hey, don’t laugh, everyone has a little child in him.

By this time, Clare and friends (oh Cheryl and ehem boy boy) were out playing basketball. Me being the lazy one, didn’t join them. I stayed in the room under the cold aircond instead. The one below was working. Nonetheless, I was still sweating like a pig.

Anyway, back to the room below. Oh, did I mention they even have a TV below and a cute little sofa set for people (kids?) to sit and watch sports cartoons?

I like the room but because the damn aircond above wasn’t functioning, we had to give the reception a call to change rooms. We got ourselves a fairly equivalent room for a change.

So, the new room looks something like the above and the below pictures.

Of course the room is actually much bigger than you’d expect. The photos I published here won’t do justice to the actual size of the room. The new room is actually more conventional but still, it’s equally comfy and luxurious.

And of course, this room has the advantage of a superb view of the beach. Serious, I am not kidding! Have a look for yourself:

It was still kinda hot and all, but I came to my senses. Hey, I didn’t pay RM 380 to be there to stay in the hotel doing nothing. So I gave Clare a call and we both went to the swimming pool with her friends, for a swim. It felt very nice to be swimming after having stopped swimming for ages. One thing, my age is taking its toll and I lost the superb stamina I used to have about 9 years back.

Alas, time past extremely fast. Without me realising, the sun was already setting. We went to the beach earlier on and got back for shower and prepared for dinner. The sunset was extremely beautiful and I couldn’t resist the urge to snap it with the dSLR.

Come dinner time, we were kinda hungry we downed the seafood and unknowingly didn’t take any pictures of the dishes. Sorry folks, no pictures of midin and prawns and crabs, etc. Needless to say, dinner was at Kampung Buntal. We met a bunch of French there. They were looking at us having a good time and greeted us with Bon Appetit as they passed us.

Then, minutes later, I saw the waiter going over to their table with a big plate of FRESH WATER CRABS!!! &*@!^#$*#@!@&^!@$!@#. Blardy hell, they enjoyed better food than we did. LOL!

We went back to the hotel after that, sitting at the lobby. About half an hour later, the same bunch of French came back to the same hotel. I couldn’t help but realised one of them was actually holding the same camera I did.

The way he took his pictures? SO WRONG! I mean, you look into the viewfinder to take pictures on the dSLR. The back LCD doesn’t provide you with a preview of the scene that will be captured. Blardy French didn’t even look into the viewfinder. All he did was set the dSLR to auto mode, and snapped away. It’s like shooting without aiming, if you know what I mean.

The next day, we woke up mid morning, proceeded for breakfast and then played in the cold river stream coming from the mountains. By noon, we were back in the hotel, showering and preparing for checkout.

That’s basically it. This post is getting kinda long. So I’ll end this post with a note that I got myself a sunburn for playing under the not too hot (so I thought?) sun for too long. Damn it, but nonetheless, it was still a great trip after a long long time.

dSLR

I haven’t been inspired to blog lately. It seems like as if I have run out of ideas to blog or rather I have been quite lazy of late. Any how, to make up for the lack of posts, I’m going to post some pictures taken with my newly bought dSLR.

Yes, in case you might still be wondering, yes, I did get myself a dSLR baby. It’s a beginner’s Canon EOS 400D. Of course I didn’t opt for the extra lens package, you know, being broke and all. So it came with the standard 18-55mm lens kit.

Anyway, having the itch to play around with my latest baby, I brought it around taking random shots of anything interesting or not interesting along the way. Don’t mind my lousy shots. I am still poor at taking photos and I am poor at framing my shots. I am a noob after all, so pardon me if they suck.

First, I took a shot of this mini fountain in the middle of the building I work at:

The slower shutter speed was intentional to make for the water movement.

I then walked around and I was just so bored, not knowing what to take around my work area that I took this:

I tell you, I am just so obsessed with the camera, I literally bring it everywhere I go. Come night time, I thought this neon lighted sign was kinda nice, so I took it anyway.

It’s kinda amazing how I can take night shots pretty easily now. With my previous camera, I had to be really steady else I’d be taking blurred night pictures. For some reason, this dSLR does a pretty decent job in getting nice night shots without the need for an IS (Image Stabilizer) lens.

I have pictures taken at night at ISO1600 which are kinda overexposed. The surrounding wasn’t exactly bright and this was what I got, without flash:

Pardon the blurness as I was shaking a little while taking this picture (This is where an IS lens would have helped). This was taken at midnight when no one was around. Trust me, the surrounding wasn’t even half as bright as what you’re seeing, but I love the brightness.

This picture of The Place was also taken with ISO1600:

Again, this is an overexposed picture but the effect is just superb. The only downside when using the ISO1600 sensitivity is that noises start creeping in and it’s pretty visible when printed large, but for the sake of blogging, it’s just fine.

At another time, I brought my camera to The Curve, hoping to take some beautiful night scenes. True enough, I took quite a few:

This picture is slightly blurred because I wasn’t exactly still, but it shows you just how nice The Curve is at night.

This was also taken at The Curve. Not something unusual but I find it kinda nice. The effect of the lighting and the water flowing is just nice.

This is another waterfall picture taken at The Curve.

I have no idea what to take so I took a night shot of Ikano Power Centre. Somehow, I just like night shots because the lightings just make everything look different. Pardon the noises in the image as it was taken with ISO1600, if I am not mistaken.

Oh well, another shot of the Ikano Power Centre. Isn’t the lighting just fantastic?

Last but not least, I particularly love this shot:

I simply love the dark effect against the Canon word. The light and the darkness simply blends. I love it, but that is just me, so it’s my personal liking.

OK, seems to me like this is a post just showing pictures with no particular purpose. Oh well, I guess that’s the point of this post, so enjoy! Do leave comments on the pictures so that I can improve. I know there are still lots of room for improvements, because I am a noob afterall.