JT's world through photography: Taichung (Sun Moon Lake), Taiwan Free & Easy Tour ...

JT's world through photography: Taichung (Sun Moon Lake), Taiwan Free & Easy Tour ...: Traveling to Taichung is simple, we bought the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) ticket on the internet 3weeks before departure to Taiwan and e...

Taichung (Sun Moon Lake), Taiwan Free & Easy Tour Day 2

Traveling to Taichung is simple, we bought the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) ticket on the internet 3weeks before departure to Taiwan and enjoy a 35% early bird discount, alternatively, tickets can be bought at the Taipei Main Station, THSR counter. The journey from Taipei to Taichung takes only 54mins with the rail traveling at 298km/h.

Taiwan High Speed Rail

From Taichung HSR station, turn left and go down to Exit 6 and purchase ticket (NT $660) which includes boat ride, cable car ride, round lake bus from Nantou bus agent and travel to Sun Moon Lake which will take 1hr 20mins. Enjoy the scenery along the way, stops at Puli Station and Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village is also available, do check on the timing of the bus service.

Nantou bus service will drop at Shuishe Visitor Centre, walk down to Shuishe Pier and take a boat ride which will bring you to Ita Thao Pier and walk along Ita Thao Lakeside Trail leading to the Sun Moon Lake Ropeway (Cable Car).



Boat Ride view of Sun Moon Lake



Sun Moon Lake Ropeway (Cable Car)



Cable Car view of Sun Moon Lake

 From Ita Thao Lakeside Pier, we continue the boat ride to Xuanzang Temple Pier and hike up a 10min walk to Xuanzang Temple. At the Xuanzang Temple Pier, we enjoyed the performance of the Shao Native through their native songs.



Xuanzang Temple



Stone Sculpture outside Xuanzang Temple



Performance by Shao Native

 We took the boat ride back to Shuishe visitor centre and walk along the street where local food and souvenirs can be purchased. We bought some fruits and trust me the fruits are sweet and tasty, not to be missed. Finally, we made our way back to Taichung HSR station by taking the Nantou bus service and head back to Taipei.

JT's world through photography: Wulai, Taiwan Travel Free & Easy, Day 1

JT's world through photography: Wulai, Taiwan Travel Free & Easy, Day 1: 4th March 2013, We began our 5 Day Free & Easy Tour in Taiwan by arriving in the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Through airport ... Hope this helps if any one is going to Wulai, Taiwan.... Cheers!

Wulai, Taiwan Travel Free & Easy, Day 1

4th March 2013, We began our 5 Day Free & Easy Tour in Taiwan by arriving in the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Through airport transfer, we arrived at our hotel, Red Cabin Inn in Ximending, Taipei and left our baggage before leaving for Wulai.

Traveling to Wulai is pretty easy, take the MRT at Ximending Station (Blue Line), transfer at Taipei Main Station to Xindian Station (Green Line). Upon reaching, Xindian Station, proceed to Exit 1 and take bus 849 to Wulai bus interchange. It is a steep ride as the bus travel up to Wulai and along the way, do kindly give your seat to the elderly boarding the bus.

Bus information outside Xindian MRT Station

Once we reached the Wulai bus interchange, we took a taxi up (NT $240) to Wulai waterfall, alternatively a 45min hike up the waterfall is possible, passing by the Wulai old town and beautiful scenery up hill. We did not walk up as we arrive at 0830hrs in the morning and the Wulai old town opens at around 1000hrs. Instead, we walked down hill afterwards, which is much more easier than uphill.


Wulai Scenery



Wulai Scenery

When we reached Wulai waterfall, we took a cable car ride up to Yun Hsien Resort, this resort is situated on the top of Wulai Waterfall. Nice scenery and performance by the Taiya Native is available.



Wulai Waterfall



Scenery at Yun Hsien Resort



Scenery at Yun Hsien Resort

 Walking back to the Wulai Old Town took about 25mins, the scenery along the way is beautiful. At Wulai Old Town, we drop by the Long Men Hot Spring Inn for 2hrs relax hot spring bath before proceeding to Taiya Po Po Restaurant for lunch.



Taiya Po Po Restaurant





Taiya Native Food



Remarkable Double Prime Lens

There alot of fixed lens choices for users of micro 4/3, well it took me quite awhile to finalise my choice of fixed lens. When I first started using micro 4/3 camera, I was quite loss with the type of lens to use, thus I spent quite a lot of money to figure out what I actually need. I hope through this post, I can share my experiences which hopefully can help people who are really loss of what type of lens to buy and also skip the learning curve.





Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm F1.4 ASPH



This lens is perhaps one of the prime lens of the micro 4/3 lens series. This lens is really an every micro 4/3 user wish to have with them. Certified with the name of the world well known Leica, the outstanding brightness of this lens of F1.4, users will not have to use flash in low light environment. I would say this is a good piece of lens for street photographers.  

Photo taken using Panasonic Leica DG Summilix 25mm F1.4 ASPH

















Another piece of prime lens that I wish to share is this Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm F1.8. This lens has a large aperture, consider it a medium telephoto is an ideal piece of lens for portraits. The subject taken will be emphasize with a soft, defocusing background.


Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm F1.8







Photo taken with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm F1.8





JT's world through photography: Street Photography @ Little India

http://jtworldphoto.blogspot.com/2012/02/street-photography-little-india.html?spref=bl: Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, one of the icon of Little India, a holy place for the Hindus to worship their gods and ask for blessings. T...

Street Photography @ Little India

 

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, one of the icon of Little India, a holy place for the Hindus to worship their gods and ask for blessings. This place is packed with not just only the sincere worshippers but also many tourists who read about it on the internet or local guide books, a majestic temple surrounded by modern buildings.

Took these shots with my Olympus E-PL1, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 40-150mm F4.0-5.6 telephoto lens and 58 mm circular polarizing filter (CPL).

 

 

This place has a high number of Pre-World War II shop houses that are preserved behind as part of the country's heritage asset. Looking at the details of the exterior of the shop houses, you will find a combination of colonial mix with asian style architecture. Took a few shots of these shop houses in Sepia filter, hope it will bring back some memories.

 
 

Along the streets of Little India, you will come across many shops along the road selling strings of flowers, lime, pottery for storing of milk and oil as fuel for the oil lamps. These are the common items that will be used by Hindu worshippers to offer to their gods in the temple. Unknowingly, the fragrant and scent from these flowers, filled the busy streets with a touch of holiness and of course not forgetting the honey bees which travel miles to this place for a share of the flowers' pollen.

As I walked along the streets, I came across with this potrait, probably the images of two gods together. This potrait was done up nicely with proper frame but what was unique about it which drew me to snap a photo of it, was probably the way it was drawn. I find it very "alive" and perhaps trying to tell us a story. Don't you think so?

Haaa.... No one will leave this place without having a taste of the Indian crusine. Guess what I reward myself? Yes... It's Chappatti full set with Mango Lasil... Hmmm... What a way to end this photography trip. Must give it a try if you happen to come to Little India, Singapore.