Of Primates & the People of Bali

This hairy little fella is enjoying his raw sweet potatoes whilst watching his fellow mates fighting over ... I am not even sure. They were fighting. 

The leader of the pack? He looks eerily calm.

I have been following this little hairy "monster" the moment I was in Monkey Forest, Ubud. He was so quick, it was difficult to get a good shot of him until he stopped to scratch himself. Phew. 

Bootylicious.

Miss Ayu failed to sell us ANYTHING but managed to coax me into photographing her. She got all excited she had her little sister's attention, too. 

This old lady carries her basket filled with prayer's items. She sells them to all the little shops in Central Ubud. 

Pak Cik selling fresh fish by the beach at Jimbaran. The nearby famous fish market in Jimbaran has all sorts of seafood and many locals buy directly from here. At night, Jimbaran is famous for its grilled seafood. 

These bunch of kids are simply adorable. They spotted me from across the road about to photography them and they spontaneously posed for me. Looking at them reminds me of childhood. Sigh.

Mr Fruity. Very willing to pose for a picture. Balinese are really nice people to some extent. 

Kids selling Tanah Lot's postcards.

To view more pictures, please log on to 11thshot's gallery.

*Over* Ready for Take Off

I am finally ready, really, ready to take off. No, not taking off my clothes and showing the ZafronAbs - I've decided to nick name it in hoping that I will one day achieve the ZafronAbs. LOL Si, I have digressed.

After months of weighing all aspects of  *clear throats* stuff, I am finally prepared to launch my website, 11th Shot. Some of you might have already been given the opportunity to preview it and much changes has been done ... there will be, definitely, a whole lot more changes to come.

www.eleventhshot.com

Navigation on my gallery can be quite "funky". Here are a few tips: -

1. To go to previous image starting from current, move mouse over the image and an arrow would appear. Start browsing thereonwards.
   
   
2. To leave any comments (please feel free), click on 'DETAILS' on the top menu bar. No word limit as far as I am concerned.
   
   
3. To change BACKGROUND COLOUR to black, click on the tiny little 'button' on top right (1st button from left) and voila!
   
   
4. To see archive, simply click on archive.
   
   
5. To write me a "love letter", email me at eleventhshot at gmail dot com (no spam pls, frenemies).

Thank you!

Preview of some of my Bali pictures - the first cos I am not uploading to my Facebook (just yet). Priority from now on will be my website.

Shot this whilst relaxing at Taman Ganesha. For the unbeknownst, Taman Ganesha is like this little garden, beautiful one I must add, along Seminyak beach that according to the beach manicurist in her sandy coarse voice, "Gay Beach". If you asked me, the most gay thing about this little garden is the Casablanca Lilies.

This was shot at Tanah Lot. The famous Tanah Lot temple esp. at sunset. Extremely touristy and many newly weds would take their wedding photos here. For what it's worth, it is really quite beautiful. Worth the ride esp if you're staying in Kuta.

xoxo

"Even in My Underpants, I feel Different"

This boy was caught running eagerly back to the strong currents with his surf board at Kuta beach after being washed back to shore. Kuta beach is very much the Gold Coast of Asia. Only that it has more charm.

That is how Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the New York Times Bestseller, "Eat, Pray, Love", quoted in the last chapter of her book. Her journey in seeking spiritual guidance led her back to the beautiful island that is Bali - she was sent there before she embarks on her epic journey to cover a story on the practice of Yoga. The book itself is very funny tho' prior to picking up the book from the bookstore, I was presumptuous in thinking that it is just another chic lic - it may still be just another chic lic to a lot of men out there, really.

The decision to go to Bali was not at all made based on the book. If truth be told, I've decided to pick up the book one fine day in mid September while our decision to go Bali was made only in late September or early October - at that time, Liz (as she is affectionately known amongst her friends) was still in Italy, I think. In addition, we really wanted to go for a vacation, anywhere, but Bangkok (it was really a tough decision cos Bangkok is still a city that is much love by us), and the Airasia *promo came at the right time ;)

Now that I am back in town, how much of Bali that I've missed or did I at all miss her like how I've missed my minced pork salad in Chatucak? It was a sad departure. Seriously. I love Bali like how I'd love Thai massage and minced pork salad. I love Bali like how I'd love to eat Ibu Oka's seriously good, seriously famous, Babi Gulung (Gosh, did I just sound like a carnivore or what?). Bali, as Liz has famously sums it up, "Even in My Underpants, I feel Different". I will, I promise, to visit Bali again by which time, I will go around the island instead.

I will post more pictures of Bali soon - I am really, really pleased with many pictures I've shot. Stay tune.

*Airasia is without a doubt the airlines that I will continue to like although there are many wanna-be urban haute bourgeois think it is an airline for the "poor". 

Bangkok Revisited ... Lastly.

Until then... Sawadee.

PS: To see the complete photo album (pics that are not posted here), you can go to my flicker.

Bangkok Revisited - Part 3

Day 3: It is 2008! We decided to visit the busiest places in Bangkok and that would be the temples. We didnt know the Thais have recently picked up a new belief (I read from their local paper) that on the first day of each new year, they will receive good luck if they visit all 9 temples within a day - that is, the first of January.

I read that only on the 2nd of January and of cos, we were quite lost in translation when we first got to the Grand Palace and then Wat Pao and lost our bearings on Chao Phraya. It was pretty tedious and we were imagining Amazing Race. LOL.

Now. Let's have the pictures speak for itself. I did plenty of potraiture & random people shots *shrugs* Dont ask. I went crazy cos my 1st time in Bkk with my dSLR :)



















































Not the end yet ...

Bangkok Revisited - Part 2

Day 2: Woke up on the last day of 2007 catching up some old movie on HBO which caused us missed breakfast at the hotel (thank God). Went str8 to the hip Thong Lor to look for H1 (failed) and ended up havin' breakfast at Au Bon Pain @ Villa Market - awesome freshly baked bagels & the weather was superfine. Someone should buy the franchise over to Malaysia. Start in Pavilion first - Connection level :)

Anyways, spent shopping at major shopping centres before heading down to Central World Plaza (prev. World Trade Centre) for the Countdown party. Policemen were stationed everywhere to avoid the bomb incidents that happened last year. The amount of ppl was OTT. We almost died when the crowd started pushing ... it was a very unpleasant experience, seriously. But we were up close and personal with this really good looking hip hop/rap Thai artist - he looks mixed Chinese Mat Salleh - who was also trying to escape.

Oh I think I missed the part of us having a really, really good shabu shabu NY's eve dinner at Central World :) We ate a tad too much this trip. Back to obese now :(







































To be continued ...

Been very, very busy. "Battlefield"