Photos: Sunset at Penang Teluk Kumbar Beach

When going to Teluk Kumbar (also Teluk Gombar) in Malaysia's Penang State for a dinner at a sea-front restaurant yesterday, I snapped these two magnificent sunseting photographswith Nikon D90 digital camera plus Nikkor 24-70mm F/2.8 ED lens.

Larger versions: Pic 1, Pic 2

Thai Hatyai Bird Nest Soup (7Ps)

A few years ago,I met a professor from the food science department in a university from China and asked her something about the swiftlets bird nests products promoted in the market.

Bird Nest Soup (large Version)

She told me although she couldn't say bird nests had no nutrition value but 100% sure that it must have been wildly exaggerated by the companies which produce the associated products or the salespersons who sell them.

Since then, I was no a believer in the products of Bird Nests. However, it is a huge industry in Southeast Asia where Indonesia, Malaysia & Thailand are all major players.

Last February when traveling to Southern Thailand's Hatyai the city is famous for bird nests, I tried my luck for the first time at a specialty products shop. As shown in the photo above, such a bowl of bird nest soup cost me a whopping 450Baht, or ~12 US dollars. Truly speaking, my feel was that the much-hyped bird nest soup is not even better than the sweet white fungus soup. So, no big deal!


Now I thought that Chinese professor could be right, read excerpts from madsci.org which was answering a reader's question What are nutrition values of bird's nest of oriental Collocalia sp.?

Chemical analyses by Massimo Marcone of the University of Guelph found that this bird's nest soup contains a protein similar to one found in eggs. He has found that this can lead to allergies. In fact, in Singapore, birds's nest soup is the leading cause of food allergies!

What you must realize is that this soup is simply hardened bird spit. Saliva is not nutritious, and bird's nest soup is no exception. It does contain some enzymes, salts, and mostly water. The saliva also contains some natural type of antibiotic. There is some research to see if the saliva can be used to control cell division. However, there really is no scientific evidence to justify any nutritional or health claims made for it.

In fact, it can be downright dangerous, as environmental contamination has turned up in bird's nest soup in Vietnam from arsenic. A Vietnamese man was poisoned from arsenic intoxication after consuming bird's nest soup! This was written up in the American Journal of Medical Sciences in April, 1999.

Oh, I probably would never buy expensive bird nests products again!

Scroll down for more pictures showing packed bird nests being sold At a Specialty Products Shop in Hatyai, Thailand

Light Bokeh Taken Using Nikon Nikkor 24-70mm/F2.8 ED IF Lens

Days ago I bought Nikon's high-end AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 ED IF lens for my photography hobby though my current skills are very poor. Tonight I tested the lens for the light bokeh pictures which were shot across the windows of my living room (see the overview below). The top image is the one I like the most.  The aesthetic quality of the blur from Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 ED lens is very entertaining.

Larger version: Picture 1, Picture 2.
All images were released under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License

Photos: Taiwan Band Power Station In Malaysia New Year Eve Countdown Concert

Power Station

Taiwan rock band Power Station (Yen Chih-Lin & Yu Chiu-Hsin) as the VIP performers were singing at the New Year Eve Countdown Concert at the Queens Bay Mall in Penang, Malaysia on December 31, 2009. Among those who joined the free concert sponsored by the lottery company Magnum was their Taiwan fellow, singer Tank, aka Lu Jian-Zhong. The threesome performed the last few songs after their respective assigned section. The singers were cheered by about 20,000 fans.

Here are a few photos taken on the scene, I release them under CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

Power Station In Malaysia on the new year eve of 2010

Larger versions, Picture 1 , 2, 3, 4

Happy New Year!

Lightbolt "Striking" Penang B-Suite Hotel

B-Suite Hotel in Malaysia's Penang Island is a quite new hotel which opened for the business only since 2 or 3 years ago. Because of its strategical position (2mins of driving to Penang Bus Station and <10mins to the international airport) together with its low price, B-Suite Hotel attracts a lot of tourists and those who are on the business trip.

On one day in 2008 July, when I went to eat at a nearby food court (now demolished for the properties development), I ran across a high school classmate who I didn't meet up for 12 years the second day he stayed in the hotel. He was then on a business trip from China.

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Everyday I can see the B-Suite hotel across the window of the house I currently rented but never took a picture for it. Several days ago, after a dinner with some friends who was going back to China, I brought my digital camera Nikon D90 to test the standard Nikkor AF 50mm/F1.8D lens. The night was rainy, an accidental opportunity made me picture a photograph of B-Suite Hotel as if it was struck by a lightbolt during a long (8') exposure. This was the first time ever I caputred a lightning in a shot. So surprised! Now I share it here.

The picture below was the original version which was directly converted from RAW to JPEG. And the top one was cropped, retouched and then converted a JPG using Nikon's Capture NX 2 software. Any kind comment are welcomed!

Lightbolt "Hit" Penang B-Suite Hotel

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

Larger version: Picture 1, Picture 2. All Images released under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 License.

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone, a very Merry Christmas!

Here are several photos showing singers and dancers performing on a make-shift stage for the celebration of Christmas Eve Party last night at Gurney Palace, Penang, Malaysia.

Larger versions: Picture 1, 2, 3, 4. All images are photographed using a Nikon D90 + Standard Nikon AF 50mm/F1.8 D Lens by the author (Fisherwy) of this blog.

Picture of Lim Guan Eng, Malaysia's Penang State Chief Minister, for Creative Commons

Malaysia's Penang State Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (picture below, L3) was invited to inaugurate the celebration of 2009 Japanese Bon Odori Festival on July 18 in George Town, Pulau Pinang.

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Hideaki Hoshi (L2), Consul-General of Japan in Penang received Lim who is Secretary-General of the opposition party DAP. Accompanying him were Lim's secretary Ng Wei Aik (L1), Penang State Excos Lim Hock Seng (R1) and Danny Law Heng Kiang (not photographed in the picture). The image (see original size) is now released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 License for free re-use as long as one gives appropriate credit to this site. It was taken on HTC Touch Pro smart phone with Windows Mobile 6.0 as its OS.

Hatyai Hansa Superclub Ladyboys Cabarets Photos for Creative Commons

Earlier this year, I had a wonderful trip to Hatyai, Songkhla province in souther Thailand. Being to Thailand, aside from feeling for its Buddhist atmosphere and Tomyam cruises, I had a getaway to Hatyai Hansa Cafe Super Club for watching the Thai Cabaret show. Of course, I was totally entertained by those gorgeous ladyboys' performance, though they just mechanically performed along with the melodies. From the beginning to end, I unstoppingly pressed the shutter button of my entry-level DSLR Nikon D40 which was equipped with Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm/f4-5.6 G IF-ED DX VR long focal length lens. Now I'd like to share those stunning (and some were joker-ish) ladyboys picture with all you guys. Feel free to re-use, because they are released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 License, as long as you give due credits to this entry. Enjoy!

(Hatyai Hansa Superclub Ladyboys pictures for Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 license)

Muhyiddin Yassin, Koh Tsu Koon Pictures Released For Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0 License

Random Citations release a few pictures of some of prominent Malaysia politicians, namely Muhyiddin Yassin, Koh Tsu Koon, and opposition politician current Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 license. Please feel from to re-use, as long as you give proper attribution to this blog.

Muhyiddin Yassin& Koh Tsu Koon

Photos here are Muhyiddin Yassin, then Agriculture Minister, and Koh Tsu Koon, a cabinet minister then as Chief Minister of State Penang, were invited to initiate the opening ceremony of 7th Asia Fisheries Forum back in December, 2004.

Shooting Photographs in RAW Format

CC-BY-SA 3.0
Dull, the picture was directly converted from RAW to JPEG without retouches, the exact one if it were directly taken in JPEG on my camera.

If you are (or are aspiring to be) a photography enthusiast who owns (or is planning to buy) either a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera or a high-end consumer digital compact one and has yet to set it to take pictures in the RAW format, you are strongly advised to do so rather simply choose JPEG as your primary format!

Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0
Nikon Capture NX 2 magic! The picture is netter when converted from RAW to JPEG with only after a few manupilation in NX 2.

Look at the two pictures above, the top one is directly convert from a RAW format without retouches which would be the exact same one if my Nikon D90 camera was set to photograph in a JPEG. It is so dull as there is much dark portion and a distracting orange dot. After a few retouches on the RAW image by using a trial version of Nikon's awards-winning Capture NX 2 software, a much more appealing version is immediately obtained. RAW pictures can retain as many details as a DSLR can as long as they are not overexposured, compared to JPEG pictures snapped under the same condition

There are already many books and magazine articles on the market addressing the advantages of RAW files, here don't repeat again. Go to have one, they are totally worth of a reading.