Hong Kong in Monochrome

Just gonna post a few shots of my Hong Kong trip last November in monochrome. Too lazy to write a full post on the trip at this moment. Enjoy!

Mongkok at night


Joss sticks in Poh Lin Monastery


A seller at Tai O


Stilt houses on the water at Tai O fishing village


Signage in Senado Square, Macau


St Paul Ruins frm Na Zha temple




Wong Tai Sin temple


A typical street in Hong Kong




Central @ Hong Kong island


A lone boat out fishing during the rainy day


Spotted a couple on the way down from the Peak

Firenze, Italy (22-23 June 2008)

the most famous bridge in Firenze

Firenze or commonly known as Florence in plain English is the city where Renaissance started. The place is full of renaissance trail from the famous Uffizi to the Academia where the famous statue of David resides. There are plenty of museums for the museum lovers. For those who wanted to visit the Uffizi, it's better to book the tickets online as the line to entrance is extremely long.

I still remembered that we reached Florence from Rome in the afternoon and lined up almost two hours to get into Uffizi. It was good but my favourites are still Lourve in Paris and British Museum (for the free entrance). Remember I wrote something on the mishaps we had during the journey from Rome to Florence in the Venice post..it was related to train travel. We had bought the Euro pass for our Europe travel and didnt know that to get onto the Eurostar which is the fast train from Rome to Florence (takes about 1 hour) instead the slow train which takes about 3 hours, we need to pay booking fees which cost about 12 Euros. So we just hopped onto the Eurostar and little did we know, a few minutes later, the conductor came to check on our tickets. Since we did not have a valid ticket, we were quite panicked and decided to run off to the toilet or the cafe to avoid him. I actually passed by the conductor and he asked for my ticket. I just pretended I didnt know English and wanted to grab some food, I walked off to another coach. We loitered around the cafe for half and hour and to our horror there were many conductors/ officers chatting and eating in the cafe. We ordered for a coke and pretend to be cool. Later on, we went back to our seat (somehow no one booked the seat we had) and thinking that the conductor had gone, we were relaxed. After 10 minutes, the conductor came back and my bro being the very panic one told me to pretend to be asleep. I was dead tired and did dozed off but he was so stressed and panic and couldnt sleep. Luckily the conductor did not asked us for tickets as he had checked our coach. My bro even scolded me that I could sleep during that stress moment..haha..and to think of that incident, it was really funny now. So for the next train to Venice from Florence, we took the slow train which was free for the Euro pass. No more near misses..

Florence cathedral

the famous Uffizi

Ponte Vecchio at night


view fron Ponte Vecchio

Anyway, back to Florence, we went into Uffizi and walked for a few hours. I still couldnt appreciate museums but to maximise the money that we paid we just loiter around. After that we walked towards Plaza Michaelangelo which is at the top of a hill and the famous location for the TVB drama Triumph of Skies. From here you can catch the most panaromic view of Florence. We just chilled out and took some amazing photos. I highly recommend to walk towards the plaza instead of taking the bus as the view along the way was stunning plus you can burnt a few calories.

stunning view along the way to Plaza Michaelangelo

panaromic view of Florence from Plaza Michaelangelo

At night, we went back to the Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge in Florence which is near to Uffizi and shot some night views. The next day we went for a day trip to Pisa and then a visit to the Florence largest cathederal. Although Florence is not as famous Rome or Venice, she is one of my favourite city as the city is laidback and there are many spots to chill out by watching the crowd. We did our share of crowd watching by eating strawberries and gelato near the large cathedral.

Lastly, a Merry Christmas to all!!

Only in Peru....

What road sign is only available in Peru?

Llama crossings!

Peruvian Kids

I love taking kids photos especially their innocent expressions. Here are some of the shots I did when I was in Peru. I have converted them into monochrome as they give a more classic feel.

A girl sat on the bridge of the valley


A 5 year old boy taking care of llamas


Love her smile here

Potrait or Landscape

View from Oia, Santorini Greece

A very cliche shot of Machu Picchu if shot using landscape view

I think this is the common question to all when you are framing a shot. Naturally, potrait shot works well with people or when you wanna do a close up of a person. Landscape shot is usually for the scenary or wide angle shot. BUT, then rules are meant to be broken. For me, I love to take potrait view for scenary shots especially those with a small but distance subject that I wanted to make a contrast against the sky. It somehow potray a more dramatic, more focus and definitely more drastic view than the rather mundane landscape view.

However, the most important thing is, experiment and snap the shots both in landscape and potrait view. Afterall, it's the digital age. You dont incur extra cost for snapping away.....

Garden inside the Wong Tai Sin temple
A potrait shot focus on the traditional pavillion against the modern backdrop



Cape Peninsula at South Africa
A potrait view highlight the waves and the colours of the sky



Robben Island @Cape Town
I had the same shot in landscape view. A potrait shot focus on rocks and birds

Almost there..

Remember that I wrote something in my bucket list a while ago..well, I am gonna strike off one of the item soon..:) Many things to handle at the same time but can't wait!

La Serenissima

Venice, a city of water, well known for her canals and canals and canals.

The city is practically floating on water and during summer, these can be annoying especially the smell. But hey, smell or no smell, she's one must visit city in Italy besides Rome although you might see more tourists that locals.

I had a chance to fufill my dream of visiting this place when I was backpacking around Europe in 2008 after my business trip in London. Yea, I know, this was two years ago but I guess, good and significant memories do retain and photos can help much in detailing a story. At that time I still had my old camera, actually it's my bro's old ancient Canon camera and so all photos credit to him.

We left for Venice from Florence in the early morning and decided to take the slow train (Trenitalia) instead of the fast train because of an incident in Rome to Florence which I shall write in my Florence travelogue. We alight at St. Lucia train station and find our way to the hotel which was very very expensive. In fact everything in Venice is expensive.

first sight of canals


no, there no wedding, it's just the deco





water taxis, the main transportation mode here

the main canal


gondoliers fishing for riders






plenty of bridges at Venice

Oh btw, if you had visited Venetian hotel before, Venice is nothing like that. Venice is best explore slowly and getting lost along the way. If you are not lost, you are definitely not enjoying Venice to the max. Leave the map at the hotel and just follow your instinct and of course the crowd. At least that's how we managed to navigate our way to St Mark's basilica and back to the hotel :)

And yea we were lost many times but during these times, we found little gems around corners such as the less expensive magnets as souvenirs. They were a must buy and it's only found in Venice. I regretted not getting myself a Venetian mask due to the logistic problem. Venice was the third pit stop and we had like 10 more cities before heading back to London. Dont think I can carry a fragile mask that far.

St. Mark basilica

little girl playing with pigeons








climb the clock tower for the panaromic view of the square


Venetian masks, aplenty in Venice

For food, try out the famous black ink squid pasta. I wont disclose how it taste like here.

black ink pasta

And for those couples who fancy a ride in the gondola, go for it. I didnt go the last time as money was tight plus there nothing romantic riding a gondola with you bro though. Oh, dont expect the gondolier will sing for you. It only happens in Venetian hotel.

the bridge used to be a prison














St. Lucia train station @night





quiet night after the tourist crowd subsided