flower power
We visited Lloyd Botanic Garden in the early hours of the morning, because we appreciate and respect nature. This is clearly not true, judging from the number of wet wipes and tissue paper used so far. The real reason is because the zoo is yet to be opened at this hour, so to make full use of our time, we decided to visit a place that has no opening hours for nature opens her embrace to all of us, all the time.
The gates were not opened, so we had to squirm through the entrance at the side. Roger squirms through while Tim stands guard for signs of trouble from the ravenous monkeys. I stand at a distance and let them risk their lives first.
Got map can walk. But still got lost.
Once inside, we proceeded towards the flowers and began taking photos that can be used as desktop wallpapers. Guys, this is a good (and more importantly, convenient) source for pictures of flowers to be used for various means (e.g. birthday card, love letters written with blood) to placate (and bluff) girlfriends hungry for some show of effort, attention and lurrrvvvee.
For the geeky types, attaching explanatory notes for each flower might do the trick.
More heartachingly beautiful pictures of beautiful flowers. Whip out the Kleenex.
Glasshouse of neverending luurrrvveeee. The doors were closed, just like the windows of my heart.
Tim versus flowers.
The trees are HUGE. And they are coniferous trees. Which makes me feel happy and warm (deep inside).
The obligatory pair photo. It was cold. But our spirits were never dampened. With the map in the background anything is possible. Except maybe eating 18 momos at one go.
2 heads are better than one. But 2 phallic trees above head is even better.
The mandatory emo shot. This is good enough for our next Pakistani Hindi pop fusion album. Me trying to look like I don't care while Tim is not even half in the picture.
And the equally mandatory "what the heck is going on in this photo" photo. Tim searches for his inner child while Roger tries to pretend he doesn't care for Tim.
Roger is happy. I am just cold.
The view is GREAT. We can see a large part of the valley.
We than proceeded to ruin the scenery by adding ourselves.
Tim had to fart. I was too angry to look. Roger was too far to be affected.
After the fart, I was happy and raised my hands to celebrate the restoration of peace to the world. The rest looks in the same direction to emphasise the point.
Leaving the garden was never an easy task, given the loveliness of the place. Remember Hotel California? "You can check in any time you like but you can never leave".
It doesn't help when I tried to lead the guys off the edge of the cliff. I mistook the tents in the distance as our hotel.
The gates were not opened, so we had to squirm through the entrance at the side. Roger squirms through while Tim stands guard for signs of trouble from the ravenous monkeys. I stand at a distance and let them risk their lives first.
Got map can walk. But still got lost.
Once inside, we proceeded towards the flowers and began taking photos that can be used as desktop wallpapers. Guys, this is a good (and more importantly, convenient) source for pictures of flowers to be used for various means (e.g. birthday card, love letters written with blood) to placate (and bluff) girlfriends hungry for some show of effort, attention and lurrrvvvee.
For the geeky types, attaching explanatory notes for each flower might do the trick.
More heartachingly beautiful pictures of beautiful flowers. Whip out the Kleenex.
Glasshouse of neverending luurrrvveeee. The doors were closed, just like the windows of my heart.
Tim versus flowers.
The trees are HUGE. And they are coniferous trees. Which makes me feel happy and warm (deep inside).
The obligatory pair photo. It was cold. But our spirits were never dampened. With the map in the background anything is possible. Except maybe eating 18 momos at one go.
2 heads are better than one. But 2 phallic trees above head is even better.
The mandatory emo shot. This is good enough for our next Pakistani Hindi pop fusion album. Me trying to look like I don't care while Tim is not even half in the picture.
And the equally mandatory "what the heck is going on in this photo" photo. Tim searches for his inner child while Roger tries to pretend he doesn't care for Tim.
Roger is happy. I am just cold.
The view is GREAT. We can see a large part of the valley.
We than proceeded to ruin the scenery by adding ourselves.
Tim had to fart. I was too angry to look. Roger was too far to be affected.
After the fart, I was happy and raised my hands to celebrate the restoration of peace to the world. The rest looks in the same direction to emphasise the point.
Leaving the garden was never an easy task, given the loveliness of the place. Remember Hotel California? "You can check in any time you like but you can never leave".It doesn't help when I tried to lead the guys off the edge of the cliff. I mistook the tents in the distance as our hotel.
First Light Longings
We decided to wake up early today to get a good glimpse of sunrise from the topmost vantage point of our area - the imaginatively named Observation Hill.
Sunrise in Darjeeling is real early - about 4 to 430 am, which is hell for a late riser like me (i go to sleep at 430 am). Nevertheless, the problem was solved by me not sleeping at all, another great example of the kind of lateral thinking that has contributed many problems to solutions on our trip.
this is a shot of us in the nether period between dark and dawn. it's light enough so you can see our figures but dark enough so you don't see that we are actually freezing our butts off.
this is elgin and me pretending its not too cold to stand around and do nothing.
We actually had to start jumping up and down and running uphill in a bid to get our blood flowing and bodies warm. It was 45 degrees in Calcutta just yesterday. It was about 10 degrees thereabouts this morning. A change of 35 degrees in temperature is funny if you are reading this blog but not so if every breath feels like a mini brain freeze from a hastily drunk slurpee.
Add in the altitude (2000+ metres) and i felt as if i was running with a towel over my mouth and nose. I gave up after 300 metres uphill cos an old man was smiling at me.
This is a surprisingly good shot of player flags fastened to a tree at the summit. we have no idea how they got up there, seeing as there is a ravine between the two points. but i guess the nepalese or tibetian people don't let a minor thing like gravity get in the way of their business.
Finally, what we had been waiting for, the elusive Sun Bird.
As it gradually got lighter, the awesome scenery began to reveal itself. Words cannot do it justice, so i shall shut up and let you guys enjoy the views.
The people who live here rise very early. The streets were quite filled with people out for jogs and exercise in all shapes and sizes. All of them could run faster than us, be they old men with pot bellies or house wives. The kids here climb up half a mountainside to get to school everyday (which is why a lot of them are late) which is why they are so bloody fit. The picture below is the scene at about 430 to 445 am. Yes, it is that bright already.
Shops and eateries however, open much later at about 7ish for street food/makeshift stalls and about 9 plus for normal stores and shops. Hence, its kinda deserted at that time.
Because we had nothing much to do (before the zoo opened) we started wandering around and wandered into some posh hotel on top of a hill. It looks like something out of a european countryside.
We then wandered downwards into the poorer parts of the city. Unlike Calcutta, we were not accosted by any beggars, neither did we have irrational (or rational) fears about our safety.
We found this makeshift stall besides the road selling street food. We were hungry so we ate. 6 rupees for the vegetable roll (which was amazingly delicious) and 4 rupees for a cup of chai (tea). it was great for warming up the system and getting our day going.
A long queue means food must be good - another example of typical singaporean thinking. but we were right and the food was good.
A humble but owning breakfast.
You're looking at 1.80 SGD worth of vegetable rolls below:
Roger and me having a cuppa.
Elgin cannot take it anymore.
And now...i know you guys have been waiting for this: The Dog of the Day!
We caught these 3 snuggling up in the morning when it was freezing.
And also, the sign of the day:
Sunrise in Darjeeling is real early - about 4 to 430 am, which is hell for a late riser like me (i go to sleep at 430 am). Nevertheless, the problem was solved by me not sleeping at all, another great example of the kind of lateral thinking that has contributed many problems to solutions on our trip.
this is a shot of us in the nether period between dark and dawn. it's light enough so you can see our figures but dark enough so you don't see that we are actually freezing our butts off.
this is elgin and me pretending its not too cold to stand around and do nothing.
We actually had to start jumping up and down and running uphill in a bid to get our blood flowing and bodies warm. It was 45 degrees in Calcutta just yesterday. It was about 10 degrees thereabouts this morning. A change of 35 degrees in temperature is funny if you are reading this blog but not so if every breath feels like a mini brain freeze from a hastily drunk slurpee.Add in the altitude (2000+ metres) and i felt as if i was running with a towel over my mouth and nose. I gave up after 300 metres uphill cos an old man was smiling at me.
This is a surprisingly good shot of player flags fastened to a tree at the summit. we have no idea how they got up there, seeing as there is a ravine between the two points. but i guess the nepalese or tibetian people don't let a minor thing like gravity get in the way of their business.
Finally, what we had been waiting for, the elusive Sun Bird.
As it gradually got lighter, the awesome scenery began to reveal itself. Words cannot do it justice, so i shall shut up and let you guys enjoy the views.
The people who live here rise very early. The streets were quite filled with people out for jogs and exercise in all shapes and sizes. All of them could run faster than us, be they old men with pot bellies or house wives. The kids here climb up half a mountainside to get to school everyday (which is why a lot of them are late) which is why they are so bloody fit. The picture below is the scene at about 430 to 445 am. Yes, it is that bright already.
Shops and eateries however, open much later at about 7ish for street food/makeshift stalls and about 9 plus for normal stores and shops. Hence, its kinda deserted at that time.
Because we had nothing much to do (before the zoo opened) we started wandering around and wandered into some posh hotel on top of a hill. It looks like something out of a european countryside.
We then wandered downwards into the poorer parts of the city. Unlike Calcutta, we were not accosted by any beggars, neither did we have irrational (or rational) fears about our safety.
We found this makeshift stall besides the road selling street food. We were hungry so we ate. 6 rupees for the vegetable roll (which was amazingly delicious) and 4 rupees for a cup of chai (tea). it was great for warming up the system and getting our day going.
A long queue means food must be good - another example of typical singaporean thinking. but we were right and the food was good.
A humble but owning breakfast.
You're looking at 1.80 SGD worth of vegetable rolls below:
Roger and me having a cuppa.
Elgin cannot take it anymore.
And now...i know you guys have been waiting for this: The Dog of the Day!
We caught these 3 snuggling up in the morning when it was freezing.
And also, the sign of the day:
A guide to essential vacation photography skills
There are several photography skills that every self-respecting adventurer needs.
Thus far we've demonstrated a few of them. You can take a look at some excellent demonstrations in our earlier posts. These skills are:
1. taking shots of ourselves. we've pretty much mastered this skill. it's just more convenient to shoot ourselves instead of having others shoot us.
2. stealth photography, when it's explicitly prohibited. after an afternoon spent dodging watchmen and surveillance cameras at the indian museum in calcutta, we are almost expert spies. would-be employers, please take a look at our portfolio, which is displayed in an earlier post.
3. the commonplace scenery/statue/static object/pose snapshot.
the darjeeling leg of our epic adventure provided us with the opportunity to post some further instruction on more essential vacation photography skills.
4. the photograph as deterrent.
beggars come a-begging? cannot shake them off? taking a photograph of them does the trick. beggar will go bother someone more charitable-looking and less trigger happy.
5. shooting from a moving vehicle . there may come a time when the intrepid adventurer finds himself trapped in a moving vehicle, for instance, a jeep taxiing him from the train station to darjeeling.
so much nice scenery along the way and no way to stop, set up a tripod, and shoot something spectacular. so he must brave the elements and stick his hand out the window.
much foresight is needed to mentally chart out the obstacle-strewn road ahead and determine the exact moment that the shot should be taken. even then, his reflexes may fail him. or some unexpected thing may appear. Here are several problems he may encounter that will mar the photograph he has so carefully planned.
a. the kerb that gets in the way.
b. an offending shrub
c. the smothering mist
d. hideous fellow road users
when the heavenly celestial bodies, galaxies, stars, lampposts and road kerbs align and the mist deigns to lift itself, a nice shot of picturesque scenery is the photographer's prize.
bonus shot: posse of cows on winding road.
6. the last skill for now. photography with false targets.
should an adventurer find himself wanting to take a photograph of a potentially dangerous/shy/unwilling subject, he can find a prop very useful for disguising his intentions. by placing the prop at one side of the photograph and pretending to snap it/him while really capturing his true target in the other side of the photograph, one can avoid alerting the true target and encountering potentially problematic consequences.
consider this example. i am the prop. darjeeling schoolgirls are the real target.
Thus far we've demonstrated a few of them. You can take a look at some excellent demonstrations in our earlier posts. These skills are:
1. taking shots of ourselves. we've pretty much mastered this skill. it's just more convenient to shoot ourselves instead of having others shoot us.
2. stealth photography, when it's explicitly prohibited. after an afternoon spent dodging watchmen and surveillance cameras at the indian museum in calcutta, we are almost expert spies. would-be employers, please take a look at our portfolio, which is displayed in an earlier post.
3. the commonplace scenery/statue/static object/pose snapshot.
the darjeeling leg of our epic adventure provided us with the opportunity to post some further instruction on more essential vacation photography skills.
4. the photograph as deterrent.
beggars come a-begging? cannot shake them off? taking a photograph of them does the trick. beggar will go bother someone more charitable-looking and less trigger happy.5. shooting from a moving vehicle . there may come a time when the intrepid adventurer finds himself trapped in a moving vehicle, for instance, a jeep taxiing him from the train station to darjeeling.
so much nice scenery along the way and no way to stop, set up a tripod, and shoot something spectacular. so he must brave the elements and stick his hand out the window.
much foresight is needed to mentally chart out the obstacle-strewn road ahead and determine the exact moment that the shot should be taken. even then, his reflexes may fail him. or some unexpected thing may appear. Here are several problems he may encounter that will mar the photograph he has so carefully planned.
a. the kerb that gets in the way.
b. an offending shrub
c. the smothering mist
d. hideous fellow road users
when the heavenly celestial bodies, galaxies, stars, lampposts and road kerbs align and the mist deigns to lift itself, a nice shot of picturesque scenery is the photographer's prize.
bonus shot: posse of cows on winding road.
6. the last skill for now. photography with false targets.should an adventurer find himself wanting to take a photograph of a potentially dangerous/shy/unwilling subject, he can find a prop very useful for disguising his intentions. by placing the prop at one side of the photograph and pretending to snap it/him while really capturing his true target in the other side of the photograph, one can avoid alerting the true target and encountering potentially problematic consequences.
consider this example. i am the prop. darjeeling schoolgirls are the real target.