Monday, October 27, 2008

BRUNEI | Masjid Omar Ali Saifuddien

Masjid Omar Ali Saifuddien celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and an exhibition is being held at the Brunei Museum at Kota Batu to commemorate the event.



Photo shows the dome during the restoration process few weeks ago.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

TOKYO | Abstract One

Walking on the busy street of Tokyo,
Looking up high and down low,
Still wandering where to go,
Yet the mind can't get off the photo...


The Sign On The Stairs

Having a quick stare,
With the wind blowing over my hair,
And the eyes fencing a glare,
There it was The Sign On The Stairs....



Closed For The Day

Looking at the sculpture made of clay,
Painted with the colour of shade of greys,
Wanted to look thru and touch the displays
but what can one do if it's Closed For The Day....

Friday, October 17, 2008

JAPAN | Roppongi Hills

Roppongi is to Tokyo, as what Itaewon is to Seoul.

A very popular tourist area, as most of the tourist, foreigner can be seen hanging out at this area, which is also known as Azabu.

Famous for its restaurants, shoppings, entertainments and night-life, this is one of the places to be seen.


This is one of the famous landmark at Roppongi Hills Mori Tower.


Even the sign is an art of its own.


The famous Tokyo Tower can be seen from Roppongi Hills area.


Roppongi Hill Mori Towers, just before sunset.


Some of the big names in Roppongi include, TV Asahi (the glassy building at the very left), Yahoo! Japan and MTV Japan, just to name a few.



Chilling and enjoying the "out-of-the-ordinary" scene of Roppongi Hills.

An oh, if you are wondering, did I play around with the photos, with HDR or the likes, eerm, nope, it was really like that, fascinating isn't it? Was just merely adjusting the basic stuffs, i.e. contrast & saturations.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

SEOUL | Food Stalls & Origin of Ketchup

Food Stalls can be seen almost everywhere in Brunei, and dedicated areas will be set up especially during the festive seasons.

In Seoul, there is no difference, food stall can easily be found almost at every corner of the street, depending on one preference.


This one seems so familiar to those in Brunei.


But this one is quite special, why? Because, got air-con kali ah, split-unit some more !


This is the shy type, because the window is quite small, so malu one meh.


But this one reminds me of those Korean Dramas, the ambience feels like one, well, those type where they bump with each other, boy meets girl, then ketchup all over the clothes, one thing leads to another, so yeah ... and I also think the food vendor is an artist himself, look at the poster behind him, looks like him, don't you think so?

And oh, speaking of Ketchup, did you know what's the origin of ketchup? Obviously, spices do not originate from the west, spices were known from Asia, hence, It was stated that ketchup started off from China, called Katsiap, but it was made of fish! or anchovies rather.

Then obviously, the condiment were improvised by the Malays, yeup, Malay, that is where the word ketchup came from, Kecap, or, Kicap, but it was made of soy sauce. and as historically known, during good old days, traders from all over the world, came by ship to this exotic location to do their business, and along the way, they pick up this kecap thus they brought it along to the west.

It was then, there, they improvised it and "turned" it into today's ketchup, catchup, catsup or whatever way you wanna spelled it.