Joyce’s Photoblog

The Lost World of Tambun

It was almost 2pm when I got stuck in traffic near KLCC today.

I wouldn’t mind the congestion if that was the road to The Lost World of Tambun, and I was in the Mayflower tour bus with people from All Malaysian Blogger Project. The thought of going there itself would make me smile.

But I felt sad when I looked around. All I can see were cars or tall concrete buildings, with no signs of jungle or wildlife. I wasn’t anywhere near Tambun. I was going home after a day’s work.

I miss the days spent at The Lost World of Tambun. How could I ever forget it, after it took at least 3 of my first-times?

It was the Lost World of Tambun where I had my first experience in photographing Siberian tiger cubs, at the Tiger Valley.

The little “den of appearance” for them were shaded by trees and mountain wall. They were really cute (good for me) and active (bad for me). Inside the den, they would run around, paw and jump over each other like wrestlers all the time. That and the low light condition was really tough, as I tried to take their photos without using flash.

Just when I was about to give up and convince myself what I got (the photo above) was good enough, the gate of the den opened and the cubs were running back to their home. I stood facing the gate, in between of the gate leading to the visitors-prohibited area, that the cubs were suppose to go. I crouched immediately, and took 3 photos in a row when one of them stared at my camera’s lens. The perfect moment (at that time).

I still think I can do better if there’s more time. But until I visit them again, I’m happy with these photos.

The Tambun Hot Spring

It was the Lost World of Tambun where I had my first experience in hot spring bath at night. According to what I was told by the staff, the water from the pool flows right out to the nearby Kopisan River. After a refreshing swim, I stayed beside the pool with Matt, Asha, Alex, Elaine, and Hurley, doing nothing (also known as relaxing) for the rest of the night, until we went back to the camp site.

Oh, we slept in tents, by the way. We camped at the Monkey Village, and I shared a tent with Hurley.

Looking up at interior of Gua Datok

It was the Lost World of Tambun where I had my first experience in cave exploration. I had to choose between 6-miles tunnel and Limestone Trail, and I chose the latter - an exploration trip in Gua Datok.

I thought, jungle trekking and a little bit of rock climbing should be easier than going through knee-deep mud and chest-deep water inside the 6-miles tunnel. I’m claustrophobic.

But I knew I was wrong right after the moment I was asked to hang on to my life at a cliff, on a rope tied around a rock which looked kind of loose to me.

Maybe the rope was perfectly secured while the cliff was not really a cliff. Maybe it was a slope at a degree slightly higher than 45, and my eyes were playing tricks with my mind, since I’m have a little of acrophobia as well.

Others were taking photos and fooling around on their way up to the cave, and I was just following orders from the tour guide: hanging on to whatever I can grab and don’t fall. It was embarrassing at some point, especially when some offered to carry my bag.

But what I saw at the cave worth all the hard works and humiliations. It was really beautiful and impressive. According to the tour guide, the cave can easily fit a Boeing airplane. I assumed he meant a 747.

It’s a shame that my camera ran out of battery right after I took a photo of Elaine, standing at one of the entrance to the cave. I sulked for the rest of the trip, because I never got a chance to take a photo that would display the impressive space of the cave. This too, is my first encounter of not having enough battery power during a memorable trip.

Elaine Chong

It’s impossible to describe everything I went through during my stay at The Lost World of Tambun in a single post, since I went for almost everything they had to offer. I don’t have any plan to break the longest post record. If you want to know more about the place, talk to me in person, or even better: visit it and experience the gorgeous scenes as well as the adventures yourself.

Date: 19th of July (Saturday)
Time: 10am to 1pm
Duration: 3 hours.
Venue: Kota Permai Golf and Country Club (Kota Kemuning - check map below)
Registration fees: RM50
Photographers attended:
1. altecphoto
2. skarn
3. TheVoIP
4. myjunk

Alex, pretending to be okay.

“Don’t let anyone hold you back.” Jin Young said. He gave Alex a pat, and they started tearing.
Read the rest of this entry »

The approved synopsis included in the CD I got from… the lady in charge of registration:

Release Date: 14th August 2008
Genre: Animation, Adventure

What if mankind had to leave Earth and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?

WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) • is the last robot left on Earth, programmed to clean up the planet, one trash cube at a time. However, after 700 years he’s developed one little glitch — a personality. He’s extremely curious, highly inquisitive and a little lonely. WALL•E was one of thousands of robots sent by the Buy n Large corporation to clean up the planet while humans went on a luxury space cruise. He is alone, except for the companionship of his pet cockroach, Hal. WALL•E faithfully compacts cubes of trash everyday, uncovering and collecting artifacts along the way. In fact, WALL•E has amassed a treasure trove of knick-knacks – a Rubik’s Cube®, a light bulb, a spork – which he keeps in a transport truck he calls home. A bit of a romantic, WALL•E dreams of making a connection one day, certain that there must be more to life than this monotonous job he does every day. His dream takes him across the galaxy and on an adventure beyond his greatest expectations. WALL•E discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he encounters a sleek search robot named EVE. WALL•E and EVE travel across the galaxy and set into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.

Filled with surprises, action, humor and heart, WALL•E was written and directed by Andrew Stanton, produced by Jim Morris, co-produced by Lindsey Collins and features original and innovative sound design by Academy Award®-winner Ben Burtt (“Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”).

Christin’s synopsis:

Date she watched it in cinema: 14th July 2008
Venue: GSC Mid Valley (courtesy of Advertlets)

Very cute.

note: Post re-evaluated and edited on 6th of July, 2008, 11pm.

2 weeks of preparation, 3 hours of fast pace photo shooting, and 1 awesome moment. Some may not see it the same way I did, but I will still declare it a fucking successful not-bad-for-a-first-timer event.

Pardon the language. Tend to swear when I’m over excited. And high on caffeine.

It all started with a great day. Nice cooling weather. I enjoyed my long drive to fetch the models in the morning. But because of some untold reason, one of the girls was late, and the event was forced to postpone, to start at 10.00am.

13 isn’t such an unlucky number, really. The photographers waited patiently for us to arrive. They didn’t cast nasty voodoo spell on us (I hope) just because we were behind the schedule. A great bunch of people. All 13 of them.

They were arranged into 3 groups, each group had 1 model for an hour or so. The transitions throughout the event went way smoother than I expected. We managed to finish everything within 3 hours despite starting late.

I have to admit: I’m an attention whore. I love the attention these groups were getting during the sessions. Heads turned and people were wondering if we are doing some magazine cover shooting.

Being the manager I had to walk around to make sure everything goes fine, so I didn’t take any planned portraits of the models at all. But the look on people’s face made it all worth while. I genuinely enjoy having people enjoying my event, my show.

While most things went well - some even great - there were some regrettable moments made worse by us (me and the models) arriving late, like people had to leave early because of work or other reasons. Like Zio, who never had the chance to be with more than 1 model.

But overall it’s a satisfying and memorable day. Great models and great photographers. Total awesomeness. Will be updating this post with testimonials and photos after getting adequate amount of rest.