We should be posting up some images of our awesome new place soon, once all the furnitures are in place. Currently we’re still waiting for the Sofa we indent (been about 2 months already), which is a piece of work designed by Philippe Starck. Personally I love it a lot, and I feel that it’s one of the most practical piece which fits our requirement. But anyway, today’s entry is about our Sydney trip which happened in Year 2009. Yes, two years ago, when we attended a Photography workshop in Sydney by Schembri (Ryan Schembri, Jessica Schembri and Martin Schembri). It was an awesome experience, beautiful place, genuine people, yummilicious food, perfect weather, and we learnt a lot from the workshop.

We landed in one piece few days before the workshop, grabbed our rented Toyota Aurion (comfy, sturdy, very good built-in GPS system) and explored the area.

We were actually super exhausted cos we were working like mad cows trying to clear as much backlogs as possible before the trip, and we were almost late for our boarding too. So we zonked out once we reached Comfort Inn North Shore, the place where we camped throughout the trip (except for later part where we drove to Brisbane after the workshop).

At quite a resonable rate, the place was really clean with big toilet, and every morning they’ll come over to tidy the room for us.

By the time we woke up, it was pretty late at night already. We took a bus to the CBD area as advised by our friends in Aussie, bought some Pizzas, sat on a bench and gobbled. I don’t understand why the pizzas taste so freaking good!! Is it because the grass is always greener on the other pasture or something?

I actually fell sick at the airport. Still remember I can only eat noodle while Raymond gobbled on a huge ass Burger King meal.

And it’s more eating and eating and eating. This burger always taste freaking good. They have a huge variety of burgers! Just like the Fergburger in New Zealand.

Then we hopped into a 7-11, wanted to buy instant cup noodle, but the price scared us off. :p

There’s a mix of old + new architecture buildings, and being Tourists, we have to take some shots around.

Took this while waiting for the Bus to go back to our motel. Other buses came, but end up all the buses doesn’t go to our place. We asked for directions, walked quite a long way to other bus stops, but got different answers. End up we had to take a Taxi back, which was pretty pricey too. And people say cab fare is expensive here in Singapore. -_-”

We met up with Raymond’s friend – Yao You who was studying in Sydney. Ate a tummy exploding meal at one of the restaurants where they served orgasmic pork knuckles!!!! And the waitress were dressed in milkmaid. Darn I cannot remember the name already.

We went on to a pub and had some drinks, ordered this Red Oak special reserve beer for Yao You as an encouragement for him to do well in his exams. This beer actually won awards, and if I remember correctly it’s the most expensive beer in the restaurant, and one of the most expensive drinks served. For our grand champion!

Then we went for a stroll, the wind was super strong!! Love the weather in Sydney, to me it’s super cold I had to wear layers and beanie and even mittens/gloves. But people around me are wearing tshirt and jeans, some even shorts. -_-”

Went on the explore, as suggested by Sam and Michelle (one of our wedding couples based in Sydney now) we took a ferry the next day to explore the beach area.

And we arrived at Manly to hunt for fish and chips!!!!

Unfortunately by the time we got there and received our order (long queue of people), the sky was already turning dark. We sat by the beach and munched on our food. We also brought our favourite drink - SOLO!!!

By the time we got back to our car which was parked near Luna Park, it was already pretty dark.

So it’s back to work at the motel, preparing for the workshop next morning. Here’s a picture of my favourite alcohol – Midori Illusion. Super duper love it.

Workshop was held at L&P Digital Photographic at Reserve Road, Artarmon, which was super near our place. First day we introduced ourselves, got to know more about each other.

Raymond had his hands on the PhaseOne digital back camera system.

And we also had some hands on experience shooting right within the workshop venue room itself.

This was our processing skill 2 years ago, not sure if you guys noticed the difference in our iamges now and how much we have changed/improved within the 2 years.

Raymond brought along 2 cameras, so I had fun with the other one as well.

Then we moved outdoor and had a photo challenge! Each of us had limited amount of time to think of where we want to shoot, how we want to pose the model etc, then share our best image for comments and critique.

We had a lot of opportunities to shoot and learn, and it’s so much easier when you’re working with gorgeous people like Jess and Catherine! So while everyone was busy listening, I was busy snapping. I love the behind the scenes, and I thought it’s interesting to see the 2 ladies holding up their gowns and walking to the next photoshoot location.

We walked to the next photoshoot location – a basketball court. Again everyone had a chance to pose the lovely couple Dennis and Catherine, and these are what Raymond shot.

The very talented Father and Son – Martin and Ryan Schembri!

Again while Raymond was photographing Jess, I had the world under my feet with the Fish eye!

Learning how to make use of Video light and white balance adjustments to achieve the in-camera effect.

I cannot explain why I took this shot, but I just like the clean defined lines.

And then we had a lesson on making use of reflective surfaces, and Raymond took this shot! Ryan only had eyes for Jess. Kekekeke.

The team was then split into two groups – one with Ryan, the other with Martin. Raymond and I followed Martin, and we roamed around the area near the Xsight Sydney studio for our lessons.

I think we’re very naughty students, cos whenever the teacher asked us to pay attention to this and that, and everybody starts shooting, we’ll wander off to see if we can get a different feel.

Raymond likes this one.

Then Martin started explaining to us how good light can make or break a picture, and also taught us on posing. I think our itchy mouths started telling Martin that it’s very hard to get the lovey dovey emotions out of Asian couples, SO, a demo was done with us as guinea pigs. -_-”.

I think Henrik took this shot for us, and I love how he managed to capture my roll eye expression! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Not easy posing, I think my neck almost broke with body leaning against the steel, ankle had to do this and look over the shoulder etc. We salute Catherine and Jess for all the sacrifices they made being our model!

Some of the very lovely friends we made at the workshop! That’s mini Karen, Deejai, Pete, Kylie, Henrik, Catherine and Martin! All very passionate, selfless and talented photographers.

More photoshoot opportunities! You really gotta go to one of these workshops to learn, and for 5 full days with a small group of participants (they actually control the number of participants to maximise learning for each and everyone), you actually learn so much more.

Alot of my pictures are about weird things, extracts of body parts etc, cos personally I believe most of the time the body speaks a lot more than the facial expression. Maybe cos there’s a whole lot more room for the viewer to interpret the image for themselves.

MUMMY KAREN POSINGGGGGG!! Until now I still cannot believe that she’s a mum already!! She’s petite, she look like a very young girl, so bubbly and so much fun to be with! A bit hard to picture her as a mum, but she did it!

Beautiful view.

SEE, the mum. -_-”

For some days we even had night shoots, and here’s one picture shot making use of the available elements.

Of course while Ryan and Martin taught us a lot on the shooting and posing aspect, Jess taught us retouching. Look, how’s my retouching skills??

While waiting for the rest to arrive, I took some shots for Raymond. I wanted him to be as emo and evil as possible.

Evil enough? And then there’s the peekaboo, and a picture of some remaining sweet in his mouth.

Totally random pictures I took, and I love my music shoes.

Part of the images from the night shoot.

And another shot making use of available elements.

We wished the workshop was longer, we totally enjoyed the company and honestly the lessons were valuable. Not only did it change our perspective, we also learnt a lot in terms of managing the business. There was no holding back at all when the Schembris shared with us their skills, tips and tricks etc. And you won’t believe it when I tell you the “goodie bag” given to us was an Xsight bag, and a folder of important information such as the details and structure of their rate card etc.

They’re really extremely talented people, and if there’s any chance for you guys at all to attend their 5 days workshop, do hop onto it right away. It might come at a price tag which will make you think twice, but always remember this initial investment will get you much more returns when you tweak your business model and shooting techniques with what you learnt to bring in more business.

Anyway, so after a good very late lunch/dinner, we bade our farewells, and drove all the way up to Brisbane! Cos previously when we were in Australia, we missed the seaworld. So Raymond promised that we’ll drive up to Brisbane and visit the Seaworld this time round. A pity we didn’t manage to attend any concert at the Sydney Opera House cos the concerts were like full house. Oh wel, next time then.

So we drove overnight, had horror encounters with drunk monster truck drivers where they road hog and when we finally passed them, they threw can/bottle at our car, blast their high beam and chase us from behind. So scary especially when the roads are long, dark, windy, and there were no other cars around. But glad we made it safely, and stopped by the candle factory for look see look see. They’ve got quite a few pretty candles, and we bought some back home.

We slept in the car for 1 or 2 nights, and it was freezing cold! Especially when it’s raining, and Raymond was the only driver. So we decided to take a short break at this interesting place called Nimbin.

Very interesting place, graffitti art all over, almost everyone knows each other by name cos the place is so small. We also went to their radio station and met their very interesting radio DJ who shared with us a lot of stories and history of Nimbin.

It’s a place where hemp is easily available, they have got hemp bar, hemp cookies, hemp chocolates, hemp products etc. I think it’s not exactly legalise, but it’s quite an open and known fact in Nimbin. You can try google for Mardigrass to read more on the annual cannabis law reform rally/protest. And again the people there are all so so so so nice and friendly!

Finally we arrived at Seaworld! I actually have to eat an icecream everyday despite the cold weather, and this is one of my favourite ice cream in Australia – the Golden Gaytime!!

Dolphin show, and people get to swim with dolphins.

It’s not very nice to keep the animals in their non natural habitat, and our attendance at the show actually indirectly contributed to the funding of the facility. This is my first dolphin show. Prior to this I’ve seen and touched a wild dolphin, they’re not beautiful like these dolphins. The wild ones have scars all over their body, and although they’re placed in a dangerous environment with predators lurking around in the open sea, but I think at least they’re happier. Much happier.

Next up, Raymond made me take this ride. It might look like a kiddy slope, but I tell you, it’s DAMN SCARY!! -_-”

There were mini ponds around for us to touch and feel the star fish and marine creatures.

And a polar bear enclosure with handsome + pretty bears! This particular bear was so funny, he kept swimming laps after laps non stop. Then at the far corner I spotted another bear chewing and dragging a piece of white towel. Next thing the bear did was to walk over to the handsome bear, looked at him, and it feels like they’re having a conversation.

Underwater aquarium, and we saw a lot of weird looking fishes!

We also bought our own fishing rod and gears, went to a random spot to fish! But unfortunately we caught nothing. -_-”

Last day already, slept in a car parked near Subway. I bought a Ukelele at the Murwillumbah music store, and we left for the airport.
We’ve been to Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, and we can go there a million times again yet not feel bored. There’s just something about Australia that makes us want to go back again. Can’t wait till the next time we’ll get to visit Australia again. Miss our couple and friends over in Aussie.
Okie dokie, till the next, take care!

Love,
Angeline

Raymond is not good with words, and usually he’ll get me to write/blog/fill in forms etc. But I was too busy to help him with that, half with the mentality that we won’t be so lucky to win, might as well give up. Furthermore it’s like one winner from one country…

Raymond decided to try anyway, and one day at shoot, he received a call informing him that he has won an all expenses paid trip to fly on the MiG fighter jet to the edge of space. He thought that must be a prank call, and almost wanted to hang the call. But luckily he managed to dig up some memories from his puny little brain and remembered about the contest!

So… here are some quick snaps from the trip (most from his camera, some from the representatives’ camera), itinerary by Adrenalin! I think he could possibly be the only one wedding photographer to go up to the edge of space and snap a picture! He actually had the choice to control the flight, but he chose to take pictures instead.

The first day he arrived at the Moscow Domodedovo airport in Russia, and there were representatives to pick him up from the airport. He checked into the Metropol Hotel, and was given the standard single room. The rest of the day was free and easy, so as usual he roamed around alone.

I don’t know if it’s me or is it true that the birdies overseas are all fat and pudgy!

Not sure if this is the Moscow history museum~
 

I like this building! It’s a pretty looking dome of the Okhotny Ryad shopping mall, one of the luxuirous underground shopping ctr in Russia, located on Manege square, just a quick walk from the Kremlin. It’s a pity Raymond didn’t manage to explore further, else we’d have pictures of the fanciful fountain from the inside of the mall. That’s a statue of Saint George slaying the dragon right on the top.

A picture of the red square~

Here’s the famous St Basil’s Cathedral.

More pictures of it…

Actually the architecture is really amazing, I think i will be super fascinated with the place. Simply amazing…

Second day while roaming around before his train ride, he spotted a dead body laying on the ground, with black trash bag covering the body. Liquid was coming out from the body, and it seems to appear like a normal thing to the folks. People were walking as per normal, some standing around the body..

His next itinerary includes a first class train ride to Nizhny Novgorod. Meals were included, and the entire journey took about 4.5 hours, where he stayed for the night at this Alexander Garden Hotel.

Next morning, he went to the Sokol Airbase to prepare for his MiG edge of space flight. Had to do some security clearance and pre-flight medical check before they suit him up for the flight.

That’s Raymond, all ready with jelly feet. Muwahahahaha!

A quick briefing~

Raymond pretending to be happy, but scared. :p

More checks and checks~

Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy~  The pilot did some acrobatic stunt in mid air, and Raymond said it was super exhilarating! The G-force was damn shiok, and before the pilot raise the G Force, he’ll actually check with Raymond first to see if he’s ok before he proceed. It was like having some beefy hunks trying to push you down and you have to try with all your might to lift up your hands.

And here’s the breathtaking viewwwww~ At one point the pilot after sprinting like bullet while climbing upwards, actually switched off the engine… and Raymond could hear the sound of the engine shutting down, you know… like major electricity failure the whole factory plant will go eeeeeoooohhhhhhhh… So his heart was like pip pop pip pop, I think it became so quiet that he could hear his own heart beating. Muwahahahaha! The MiG fighter jet was floating and Raymond’s camera floated for a few brief seconds too!!

THEN, the fighter jet started to tilt slowly…. and started to dip…. head down…. and before you know it, the fighter jet was falling down faster and faster and faster…. it’s like you’re gonna crassssssssssssssshhh…!!

I think the thought of poking that red eject button crossed Raymond’s mind… Hahaha! Next moment before you know it, the pilot switched on the engine, everything was alive again, and he speeeeeeeeeeeeed all the way down! FUWAH! It was good training for Raymond’s heart, and luckily he did not puke. Kekeke.

There’s even a certificate for his flight~

With the Intel and Adrenalin representatives! They’ve been really sweet and nice, very efficient as well! Raymond’s queries were all answered promptly, and when he had special requests, the representatives did their best to help Raymond fight for it. Awesome bunch of peeps!!

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The rest of the journey was free and eassssyyyy~~

That’s Mr Shiang-Chung Tseng, the winner from Taiwan! Raymond had a good time chatting with him (he has an interesting occupation!) throughout the journey, especially when he’s the one accompanying Raymond on the train ride.

The birdies are so big and pudgy they dont even feel like flying. Hahahahaha!

Beer anyone? Raymond flew back, and that ended the trip which he wished was longer.

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He came back with lots of toys for me!! I had fun snapping them one by one with my pok chui when Raymond was not around. LOL!!

This is a small little piece of chocolate from Russia. When he was in his hotel room, someone knocked on his door and gave him this chocolate. I said don’t eat!! So he brought it back to Singapore, I ate and it turned out quite yummy!!!

He also got this Danzka vodka which tastes pretty smooth, first saw it at Andy Wee’s place, yum yum! He also bought a bottle of Beluga Vodka which we have yet to open till now, but I’m sure it’ll be another awesome vodka! I got this Saxophone toy too!

Cannot remember the source of chocolate, but it’s yummy yummy! And a small tin container of color pencil. If only I’m good in drawing… always have a lot of weird crazy scenes in my brain, which unfortunately requires a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge production team to realise it. If only I’m able to draw them all out~

Next is a hand carved chess piece~




This is what happen when you don’t correct the white balance. :p

Shit, focus wrongly. Was using Raymond’s macro lens on my pok chui, and without tripod it’s so freaking hard to stabilise!

Here’s some of the army~

And the entire set~ With a beautifully carved box to keep the pieces.

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Hokie! End of my sharing,  wedding images coming up in the next post! cheers!

Lots of ♥,
- Angeline

 
Raymond Phang Photography has a BIIIIIIIG plan for coming year 2011, and this involves trottering to the land of the milky cows next year in April!! 

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I bet you guys must have watched at least 1 episode of the movie – Lord of the Rings. Well, few years back before the movie production started, we thought we could sneakily fly ourselves to them for the movie casting, get ourselves chosen and earn some quick bucks.
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Raymond was hoping he could land himself in the role of the handsome Legolas and all… but unfortunately his hair wasn’t long enough, and his botak head couldn’t hold the wig well, so he got kicked out. The director wanted to use his botak head as a prop or reflector, but Raymond declined the offer and continued photographing weddings back here in Singapore.
 
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Susu wanted to be Gollum cos she thought Gollum looked reeeeally special, especially with the husky voice that goes “my prrrrreciouss”…  But too bad Susu didn’t make it to the cut cos all she thought about was the Onion Ring from Burger King, plus the late night intensive gamings during the previous nights made her eyes looked ultra sleepy. Gollum was supposed to have bigger eyes, or should I say soulful eyes. In the end Susu got sent back, and reluctantly came back to RPP doing Digital Imaging work.
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I was eyeing to play Frodo. Being the most bimbotic of all, the reason I gave was simply because Frodo was supposed to be a Hobbit, and Hobbit sounds pretty cute, like rabbit!! Unfortunately I did not make the cut as well with that un-cute sausage lips of mine which looked like they chewed on land mines and exploded a million times over. So here I am, back in SOHO growing roots infront of the computer and expanding the base around my waistline.
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Life went on, and one fine day, the calling came for us to create our very own fantasy! We have finally decided to come up with this plan to fulfill our dreams. Come April next year, the LOTR rejected cast will set foot on the New Zealand soil (both the north and south island), to stage our very own version of the LOTR!! But us being weirdos, forever thinking out of the box and all, decided on our own movie title –  the Lord of the Onion Rings – The return of big fart king!! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
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Presenting the rejected cast of LOTR – original cast of Lord of the Onion Rings – The return of big fart king!!
MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! 

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Staring: Raymond as Arwen – maybe Legolas is a bit too far fetched, but Arwen has the long flowy hair too. Raymond has got like 4 months to grow his hair to be long like Arwen’s, so shouldn’t be a problem. Kekeke.
 
 
 
 

Susu will play Gandalf this time round, but because we will be working hard on the laptop at night when we get back to our inn after a day’s adventure, I guess Susu won’t be able to rid the sleepy eyes too. So this is Gandalf Susu with sleepy eyes, and still thinking about the Onion Rings.
 
 
 
 

I will play Gollum this time round. No special reason, well, maybe because Gollum sounds cute, like Goli (marble). Round round one… Muwahahahaha~!
 
  

We are inviting 2 pairs of couples to join us for a pre-wedding photoshoot scheduled in between our personal adventures!
 
  

We will be spending most of our personal time chasing cows, scaring sheeps, baking ourselves silly under the sun until smoke comes out, rolling all over the green green grasses and cow poo, drooling and snoring like sea and thunder,  stuffing our faces with food, dozing off on the road and trying to jab each other’s eyes to keep ourselves awake while driving etc.
 
  

Currently we have already garnered the support from Hero and Heroine like Colin & Emily for South Island of New Zealand, scheduled for 8 April 2011. The couple has been most helpful, sharing with us information and bought us pancakes to munch on when we met them on Wednesday!!
 
  

If you would like to join us for the pre-wedding photoshoot session at an attractive rate, email us now to contactme@raymondphang.com for further details and date schedule for the pre-wedding shoot (North and South Island)! This blog entry will evaporates into thin air right in front of your monitor within 5 seconds when the remaining 2 positions have been filled.
 
  

We are sooooooo looking forward to this adventure, and Raymond’s brains are pumped with tons and tons of creative juices!! Totally hyped up for this shoot, and I’m sure the images will literally blowwwwwwww your mind!!  Hehehe~
 
  

So email (contactme@raymondphang.com) / SMS (8138-3397) / call (8138-3397)  us now if you would like to have a pre-wedding shoot done in New Zealand next year in April 2011 by Raymond Phang Photography aka the rejected cast of the LOTR!! Muwahahahahaha!! Cheers!!
 
  

Lots of ♥,
- Angeline

A video of the process….
 

A gif image of the process…
 
 

And a huge image taken of it!! Susu lighted the bottle while Raymond took a video, and I took behind the scene, which was pretty hilarious cos Susu attempted a few times without success even after Raymond demonstrated a few times. But eventually Susu made it, and this attempt almost burned her eyebrows off cos the flame was so strong!!
 

Susu finishing the Vodka. Muwahahahaha!!
 
 

And here’s a sneak peak of the image Raymond Phang took from the edge of space with his Canon 5D mark. Simply breathtaking isn’t it?
 
 
 

And an image to end it off, which got him a Second placing in the Master Photography Awards 2010 for Yervant Bridal category. Well done!!
 
 
 
Lots of ♥,
- Angeline

Because my dad loves fishing and has his bunch of fishing kakis, they often visit places like Labrador Park, the kelong in Sibu, and also Sisters Island. Like all fishing enthusiasts, he has his collection of jigs and reels and rods and hook and what nots, and one of his favourite food is fish. If you’re looking for a fishing kaki, feel free to approach my dad cos Saturdays and Public Holidays are his self declared fishing day!
 

As for Raymond and myself, we got addicted to fishing when we went to Brisbane and tried their normal river fishing. That was when I caught my first fish and in my excitement, I broke the line and let the fish swam away laughing at me cos I’m a stupid idiot for reeling back the lines too quickly. Next, we tried deep sea fishing where the waters were really deep and choppy!! I experienced my first motion sickness mid way out at sea, but luckily I did not puke. Just very, very dizzy. I guess that’s when Raymond got addicted to fishing when he caught his first giant fish too!
 

The official first fish I caught after the one which managed to escape. Too small, gotta release back. Protect the environment!

Raymond’s try at the Yabbies pumping?

Raymond’s Brother-in-Law’s fight with the enormous stingray!

Raymond’s first catch @ deep sea fishing!

Raymond’s dad first catch @ deep sea fishing!

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Susu’s dad is a pro when it comes to fishing, and sometimes Susu will tag along to disturb her dad. He has all the equipment for catching any kind of fishies, so for the trip, Susu brought along some of her dad’s equipment to use. The most interesting one I call it the flashing bulb. It’s actually a jig to catch squids, but it blings and flashes non stop (er… to attract the squid??).
 

The 3 mums have never tried their hands at fishing before, and they wanted to tag along and experience the Kelong “life”. As for the rest of the “kids”, well, they just wana have fun!
 

L-R in clockwise: My dad in grey with waist pouch,  my mum, In**’s sister, In**, raymond’s mum, Raymond, Terence, Susu, In**’s mum.

Susu’s expression looks like the black and white freaky monster in the Scream movie. I like the expression on Raymond’s mummy’s (first lady from the right with finger pointing) face. Must be nagging at him to stop eating so much meat or stop drinking cold water in the morning or something else! :p
 

Here’s the group of 11-1 people having breakfast after clearing the immigration and customs. We actually booked a small bus (maximum seating capacity of 12) to bring us all the way to the ferry terminal. Everyone had to gather at the bus stop infront of Ten Mile Junction in the super duper early morning at about 4am or 5am (I can’t remember the exact time) to board the bus. The driver who was a malay lady drove like F1 racer!! The ride was bumpy with some mean and steep corners, but she drove the bus like she was driving on a normal straight road. Power!! Susu and I were joking about having to shift our body weight at the corners in case the bus overturns, which really felt like it was going to happen any minute!

Raymond gone mad.

Right after breakfast, we went across the street and bought some snacks + drinks and continued with our journey to the ferry terminal.

Finally reached the terminal, paid the “toll” for the ferry and board the little “boat” to our Kelong!

All pictures taken with my dummy camera, which is officially kidnapped by my mum.

I wonder what are they thinking……………..

Finally arrived!!!!!! A few of us are good swimmers, some of us can’t swim. We had to thread on this narrow path of the boat to the front, climb up the bamboo stilts and then climb further up the steep steps to the kelong! The boat was a little rocky especially with so many people standing on the same side. End up In**’s sister fell into the sea!!!!!!! She cannot swim, but luckily for her, she was calm and agile enough to grab hold of the sides of the boat, and the Kelong Man pulled her up quickly!! PHEW!! Thank goodness nothing bad happened to her!

Checking out our bunk. It’s an open bunk concept, 2 person to share one bed. The beds are clean and not as bad as I pictured it to be cos my dad asked us to bring unwanted pillow case to cover cos some of the people fish overnight without bathing, and they “bed hop” from bed to bed.

That’s my mum!

While the mothers are slowly taking their own sweet time to unload their stuffs, choosing their beds and snapping pictures, we rushed out to check the water and find our spots to fish!!

This kelong (Ah Yew kelong/Ah You kelong) is actually located the most far out in the Sibu sea, unlike the others like Ah Fatt Kelong, Hot Boys kelong etc, and they have recently expanded the area. I should have snapped a good picture of the entire place including the toilet for everyone to see, but sorry, too excited to fish! Hehehehehehe!

Luckily my mum went around snapping, but she didn’t snap the toilet. The toilet is interesting cos it has a hole and all your pees and poos actually goes right into the sea! Sometimes you can see pieces of poo floating past right infront of your eyes when you’re fishing. Pretty amusing to us, but to the regulars, I guess they’re already used to it.

Look at the fishes in the water!!

Because I always see my dad wearing long sleeves whenever he goes fishing, I decided to wear a long seeve top too! That’s my first catch of the day using the equipment my dad brought for me!! 3 little fishes all up, using the special “feather” hook, without any bait.

This is what we focus on catching in the night…

Meals are included for your stay – breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper! All people on the kelong eat their meals together at the same fixed time, and it’s an interesting sight to see how they clean up after all the meals! The leftovers are thrown into the sea and you’ll see schools and schools of fishes swimming in to fight for the food!!!!

L-R clockwise: Susu with food in her mouth, In**, In**’s mum, In**’s sister, naked Terence, naked Raymond, Raymond’s mum

Plain water is provided, but not canned or packet drinks. You can either bring your own, or buy from them. The boys taking off their clothes cos it was seriously too hot and sunny!!

Susu and In** sneaking basket to put their catch.

Look what Susu caught!!!

A boxy looking puffer fish!

Raymond trying to unhook the poor fella, and poking to see if it’s soft or hard since it’s boxy. When we finally released it back to the sea by a light kick by someone *coughs*, the fishy looked like it couldn’t swim anymore!!! It just kept on floating and drifting and floating…

Raymond’s dad doing up the bait. The sun was seriously super duper burning scorching bright and hot! The 3 ladies chose to remain indoors (in fact they spent 90% of their time indoors!!) while we chose to be stupid, let the sun burn us like mad, hoping to catch some fish.

Our catch so far…

All these fishes were to be used as baits to catch the bigger fish.

But most of them became hard cos they were dried up by the sun.

Next up, In** caught a cute little puffer fish!!!

It looked like a ball of balloon, and I felt like pressing it to see whether it’ll spit lots of water out or not, but I didn’t.

We always leave the guys to unhook the fishies we caught – just to make the guys appear a little bit more MAN and useful. MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :p

Look what Susu caught!! I call it the Shoe Sole Fish!!!

It’s damn long, sucky, and the head of it looks like the soles of a shoe!! Susu caught two of this, and we highly suspect it’s the same one since the second one came almost after she released the first one!

When it’s time for the sun to retire, the ladies come out to play…

My dad

So my mum went around snapping pictures!

It was time for dinner, and most of us were still excited cos we held high hopes that we’d be able to catch big fishes! So we gobbled up our dinner fast and furiously. When we were ready to leave, Raymond’s mum asked him to drink an extra bowl of Green bean soup. The soup was pretty burning hot, so he had to wait for it to cool down a while before drinking. Who knows during this period of time, a giant fish was also gobbling his bait!!! I think the giant fish must have felt a sharp pain so it swam all the way in (some fishes swims in, some out), far far in, and Raymond’s rod was pulled all the way down into the sea!!!!!!
 
Some of the guys witnessed the action and informed the Kelong Man. He had to use a super duper ultra long pole with giant hook to quickly fish up Raymond’s rod before it sinks too deep into the sea! We were told about it right after we finished our dinner and Raymond’s second bowl of green bean soup! DARN!!
 

And then…….. it’s time for SQUIDS!!! The Squids are highly dangerous creatures because when you catch them up to land, they’ll squirt their black ink far and high, and squirt until they empty their entire tank of reserves!! My white shirt has got tiny specks of the black ink from people standing pretty far from me!

Susu the Milk Pan from her super heavy sun burn!!

The Kelong will be super duper dark, almost 100% dark if not for the lights! You can’t even see what’s infront of you, and if not for the barrier, you can easily walk right into the sea at night and nobody can save you… super dangerous for those with sleep walking habits.

Now she looks like a ninja!

I actually framed Susu within Raymond’s arms and legs and body. Hahaha! I stopped fishing by the night cos I actually fished till my hand swell and it was pretty painful. Some people choose to leave their rod around and wait, but I held it in my hands almost 95% of the time. And maybe cos old already, all the stupid injuries and stuffs so the joints and muscles inflammed pretty easily. =_=”

Then I took a picture of the stars! I had no tripod, people were walking around, and this is what I go at the longest exposure and highest ISO on the dummy camera on complete darkness with a bit of light source from the Kelong. Blurry and noisy, but I kinda like it.

The folks showered, but the kids didn’t!! HEHEHEHEHE! So we had 2 days worth of fishy smell on us, all sticky and dirty! When I finally showered back at home, the water was dirty grey in color! Hahahahahahaha!!

L-R clockwise: Terence, Raymond, Raymond’s dad, Raymond’s mum, my mum, my head, susu’s head.

The lunch before we depart~

Journey back was a breeze. Nobody fell into the sea this time round, bus ride doesnt seem to be so bumpy anymore. We stopped by this place to buy all the local produce, and if you can see in this picture, In**’s tan marks were so visible, and Susu was caught SNACKING on don’t know what!!

Raymond brought his camera along, end up shot 1 or 2 image of his mum when we arrive at the kelong, and then the camera retired for the 2 days. =_=”

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It was a good trip, and a pity it wasn’t the right season when we went cos the fishes were all still in their puberty stage! Luckily we didn’t ask friends along, else they’d have been really disappointed like some of us were. My dad went again in July, and the fishes he caught were big ones! The tiny fishes we caught to be used as baits were big enough to be cooked and eaten, with lots of meat!! Now we’ll know what to expect and prepare for our next Kelong trip, and friends are more than welcome to join us!! Will let you guys know if we’re planning for another one!

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On a side note, my mum took a picture of this when the lens fogged up during her Batam trip the last weekend. I kinda like how the image turned out. Haha! I ought to hunt for a camera to replace the one which my mum has officially kidnapped soon! More on the next update! Cheers!
 

Lots of ♥,

- Angeline

For a snippet of their Actual Day wedding (morning highlights), click http://www.raymondphang.com/blog/2008/snippets-from-guan-lim-jeslins-actual-day

Their gatecrashing games was also one of the most memorable where Guan Lim had to lick off whipped cream from one of the brother’s toes. Muwahahahahaha!! Totally gross, but I like the idea! So I included it in my list of gatecrashing ideas entry. To the dearest evil kind hearted and innocent sisters or brides to be who are desperately seeking help and cracking their heads off thinking of games to play for Gatecrashing, click http://www.raymondphang.com/blog/2010/gatecrashing-ideas-inspiration-tips-tricks

Hehehehehehe. ;p

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Okie back to the Taiwan trip, it’s my first time in Taiwan, and Guan + Jes were kind enough to bring us around! They were so pro and familiar with the streets and lanes and alleys, so whatever you do, just follow closely behind them you’ll be on the right track! We went to soooo many places from Taipei （台北） to Tai Chung （台中）to most of the major night markets such as shi lin ye shi （士林夜市），shi da ye shi（師大夜市），rao he ye shi（饒河夜市）, the famous shopping belt (wu fen pu/五分铺)， 西门町 and IT Geek’s paradise guang hua shang chang (光华商场), my most favourite place jiu fen (九份)!!

Fuwah! I like jiu fen precisely because it is an old town. I tend to like things associated with old… but maybe not in few years down the road when I officially gain the title of Auntie-ship. :p

Some pictures taken with my dummy camera, some with Raymond’s camera. But because he had no time to look through and do the editing, I had to do everything this time round, so enjoy the pictures!

First time flying with Eva Air

Goofing around before we check in..

At Changi Airport – Terminal 1

Guan Lim and Jeslin waiting for boarding

The meal served… I finished the fruit, the bun and brownie cake!

Main course – Chicken with rice and broccoli.

Poor Raymond didn’t manage to eat anything because he was more interested in sleeping. He’s actually been working on a batch of editing, and finally completed about 1-2 hours before our flight time! So end up we had to once again, rush and drive a little faster than usual to reach the airport in time.

So nice of them to put a little sticker right infront of Raymond’s seat so that when he wakes up he’ll see this.

Landed, cleared customs, took a Taxi and since we are all youths, we checked in to YMCA Taipei! MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

The room was pretty big, with a bathroom in the living room, a huge balcony, 2 rooms, and 1 ensuite bathroom as well!

After we dumped all our bags and stuffs, we went trottering around the city.

First stop, one of the must visit stall for the couple whenever they visit Taipei!

This stall sells a huge variety of food poked through little skewers. You’ll have to pick the ones you like and place them in the red basket, the chef will then prepare them for you, by boiling them in a special pot of gravy sauce.

While the boys were busy queuing outside for the food, I snapped a picture of my bargain buy! A dual slot adapter for my micro SD adapter, and also 2 pieces of Sandisk 16gb micro SD card! I cannot remember the price, but it was a good buy so we grabbed them! It’s supposed to be placed in my PSP, but my PSP is currently rotting in one deep dark depressing corner… no time to play!

Here comes the foodie!! It’s actually two super huge plates of food consisting of yummy noodles, fishcake, mushrooms, egg, cabbages, chilli sauce, beancurd skins, luncheon meat, and the weird weird black looking thing which they conspired to cheat me into eating! We’ll talk about the conspiracy later, but more on the food now. Wah this plate of messy looking thing is actually power packed with lots of flavour!! Sooooo rich in flavour, the gravy is not oily and not sticky, the cabbage is soooooooooo sweet that it’ll make you suspect whether they’ve actually planted the cabbage in a plot of Sugar Land! The noodle looks like any ordinary instant noodle, but with the sauce, it really tastes heavenly! *drools*
 

This black piece of thing, is actually PIG’S BLOOD!!! They bluff me and say it’s glutinous rice… I didn’t quite like the texture, but ate it anyway… have to give face mah!!!

The two culprits!!!

Finished dinner, we went for walk walk, snacking along the way with fruits and ice cream!

The little tiny shops along the alley sells pretty unique clothings and accesories for ladies! We went into this shop while the guys were Q-ing for icecream/yogurt, there were tons and tons of beautiful hairbands, keychains etc! I saw a few that I like, but they were pretty pricey, so I see only. Then I saw another keychain which I super duper love! A wooden keychain with a picture of this cute little cartoon character. Didn’t get it in the end too cos of the price. Well I guess maybe because it’s a pretty popular spot with non stop crowd and very high flow of human traffic, so the rental must be pretty expensive too.

Next we went to a litte pub to chill out! It’s really little… very crampy at the upper level, the steps were super duper steep too!

Not forgetting the place was a little warm, even Jeslin had to bun up her hair~
 

We ordered some beer and while waiting, Guan was happily snapping away.

Reviewing the images~

One of the beer we ordered was super horrendous, smells like the chinese medicinal ointment, and tasted like cough syrup.I cannot remember what flavour the beer was, but in any case, they left the entire bottle pretty much untouched after that one fateful sip.

At ximending!! A place for the hip youngsters!

Outside the toilet within the compound of MacDonald’s.

One of the stalls selling cheap clothings! It’s really depressing shopping in Taipei if your figure is a little bit big. Raymond gave up finding shoes because he couldnt even fit into the biggest available size they have in Taipei. When he was browsing through some jeans, the shopkeeper came over and told us don’t bother to try because no matter how Raymond try to squeeze, he will never fit into the jeans. SO UPSET AND DEMORALISING!!!

But think of the bright side, at the very least the shopkeepers are honest! They won’t lie to you and tell you things like “Go ahead and buy it! This looks good on you, confirm can fit, don’t need to try!”

Raising my eyebrows~

The sharp shooter!

SO VULGAR!

It’s actually part of the banner hanging across the shop. Hahahaha!! It’s an exaggerated and vulgar way of saying it’s damn good to eat.

Hehehehehe… We also took some shots of Guan in various poses, but cannot share here! :p

Muacks muacks!

In the middle of the street, no cars! We strolled and shopped all the way till late night!

Some portrait of Jeslin against the graffiti wall.
 

I actually had diahrrea the entire night and couldn’t sleep well. Up till next morning, stomach still wasn’t feeling too well, so I had to stay in the room while they went down for brekkies first. So Jes made me this super bitter yucky chinese drink with damn potent powder supposed to stop diahrrea. I drank it all up and felt a little better, so we went out altogether. I wondered how come the air was so dusty and everything looked pretty blurry to us. End up my parents texted me that there’s news of Sand/Dust storm reported in Taipei.

Lunch at the Din Tai Fung in Taipei!

Resting aching feet at one of the drinks stall in Wu Fen Pu.

It’s a super messy place for first timer, and confirm you’ll miss out on one of the lanes, but Guan and Jes was so experienced!

Yeah, this is a motion blurred picture, but I like it.

Trying out more food!

Trying out steaks!

Wooooo, yum yum!!

The snacks they have are all sooooo delicious!! My favourite has to be the giant crispy chicken cutlet/chop, and also the hu jiao bing （胡椒饼）! Wah can never forget the smell and aroma… the ka-zi ka-zi sound when you bite into the pipping hot piece of crispy chicken. Sooooo crispy and the marination of spices makes everything tastes nice! The meat is not very tough, and definitely not very dry! Oh my hu jiao bing… Jes and I had to queue for quite some time to purchase 5 of the buns… crispy on the outside, soft and sooooooo chewy on the inside! I’m fascinated with the texture of the dough! How can something taste so Q!! The fillings inside the bun was pretty generous too, and you might want to be careful when you take a bite, because the soup/gravy/oil will pe-zi out unexpectedly! 

Which reminds me that it was also my first time trying chou dou fu (臭豆腐) too!!! Raymond forced me to take a bite and I was extremely reluctant to because the smell was too pungeant I could puke instantly if I take another whiff!! End up that one single bite I took confirmed my dislike for the smelly beancurd. Super duper smelly and I cannot understand why people like to eat something that is so smelly!!! What’s worse is the taste will linger in your mouth like forever even after you’ve brushed your teeth, scraped your tongue and also the insides of your cheek for the Nth time!! Horrible horrible!!

Raymond loves the shooting games. He had to use the air gun to hit all the ballons on the spinning wheel to win a prize.

Next up, Guan’s turn. He had to shoot the plastic holder and make sure it tears and drop onto the net in order to win the amount of money taped to the plastic holder. Bullets were cork pellet, not easy to aim and shoot!!

Then I bought a Harajuku Lovers perfume! I bought one in Aussie few years back and both the one in Aussie + Taipei is cheaper than Singapore! Also bought a few cans of giant beer!! Cannot remember how many litre was this!! One person cannot even finish, and we bought a can back for Raymond’s dad.

Reach back at the hotel, my stomach aches again. So I tried to negotiate business with the toilet bowl. Who knows this time it’s CONSTIPATION… Jes’ medicine was super duper potent indeed!!! O_O”

Took a first class train to Tai Chung! The train station and system was a little messy with a few different typs of train available.

But I was impressed with the first class cabin! The leg room is soooooooooooooo freaking spacious, seats were all clean and comfortable, there’s a train cabin master assigned to the first class cabin, free flow of peanuts/drinks. You can even bring your own food/drinks on board, and you won’t get a fine! Another amazing thing, you can actually turn the seats around to face the people behind you. Of course you do that only when you have your friends/family sitting behind, else it might be very awkward for the stranger having to face you for the whole journey.

Paul the Octopus when he was young? Hahahaha! I still think it looks disgusting!

The place where we had a good treat to authentic local coffee!
 

Crampy face

A different train on the way to jiu fen, but equally impressive too!! Very clean and spacious!

My favourite placeeeeee!!

The coupe deciding what to order. 95% of our journey was spent on eating. =_=”

The lu rou fan (卤肉饭) is something you must try in Taiwan! They usually come in a small tiny bowl, with a scoop of brown gravy and fatty meat on top. Very, very sinful, but very, very yummy!! Another rice you must try would be the you fan （油饭）. It literally means oily rice from a direct chinese translation. I love it like crazy. Although the name says it’s oily rice, it’s actually not oily at all! It doesnt have ingredients like prawns or carrots or ikan bilis insde, it’s just a normal looking plain brown colored rice. Nothing that will catch your eyes. But once you try it….. WAH!! You wonder how come something that looks so plain can taste sooooo nice!! I really wonder how they cook all the dishes… and I wonder why we cannot find such flavours locally in Singapore. I am also very amazed by the fact that so much sinful food, so much eatings to do, and the people still managed to stay so slim! Everyone of them!! *Jealous*

Choosing sour plums. So many varieties to choose from!

” Hmm… this basket want to bully me, wait till I chu my power! Touch me one more time and I….”

” Shit, I’m on camera… this idiotic botak human spoil my plan…..”

A nice group photo of us at this quaint little tea house. Very nice and serene atmosphere, and you’ll really feel like composing some chinese poems and sipping chinese tea at the same time. Too bad I had a glass of fruit juice, cos the grumpy me just felt like having some juices. :p

Final take!!

Wah i super duper love this photo if not for the cropped off lantern. I could have cloned it off, but it’ll look too empty there for my liking, so I left it as it is!

Another of my super love photo!

We went into this little shop call Lavender Cottage or something, and they sell very cute stuffs, all plants and Lavender related! Jes and I ended up spending a lot of time in that shop, buying quite a number of stuffs. Because I’m a person who likes music, and I’m also attracted to all things with music (probably explained why I picked the Music Harajuku Lovers in the first place), so when I saw they had acrylic photo frames where you can pull the tab and music will go off, I fell in loveeeeeee… What’s also special is that they music pieces are all unique and a few are composed by their in house pianist/composer! NICE!!

They also had a choo choo train set, nice lavender pillows for babies, and lots of other stuffs! I think I’ll go back there again if I ever visit Jiu fen the next time.

I love the old town flavour

MUWAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, Music stuff again! My pair of music flippers bought from jiu fen! Cheap cheap!!

That’s also where I got my caps! Mr Spongebob actually saw me through quite a number of pre-wedding shoots. Hehehe.

Back to more shopping since it was the last day.

I like this picture because I find the shapes pretty interesting.

At the airport, having our brekkies and ready to fly back home.

I like the warm and cold contrast.
 

A little overblown, but I like it anyway. Looks good enough to eat. Hahaha!

Okie dokie, that’s all for a personal entry! I’ll probably try to update a mix of work and personal related stuff from time to time so that you guys can have a better idea on who we are outside Photography as well. Hehehe. Good night everybody!!

Lots of ♥,

- Angeline

Actually I feel really blessed to have known them, especially couples like Guan Lim & Jeslin, Jack & Grace, Michelle & Sam, Desmond & Jolene, Jonald & Yutong, Andrew & Clarice, Richard & Wendy, Eddie & Aileen, Max & Mui Hui, Kok Meng & Cassie, Edwin & Eunice and a whoooooooooooooooooooolesome lotssssssssssssssssss moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! In fact we love them all for inviting us to be part of the special team for their biggest day, and also very appreciative that they engaged us because they genuinely love our works and not because we’re “spares”. Much more than that, we’re really really happy that we get to take the relationship further from being just clients, to friends and very good friends! So looking forward to Year 2010, and hopefully meet more interesting characters!!

Year 2009 was pretty fruitful with the achievements Raymond bagged from the [AG]WPJA – Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association, the MPA – Masters Photographer Association, establishment of the Wedding Photographers Guild, collaboration with the preservation of monument board and CDL in producing the book – Resonance Songs of our Forefathers, addition of Susulini the DI artist to our family, and lots lots more! Learnt a lot of things, widened our horizons a bit with the travellings and attending the Schembri workshops in Sydney, plucking enough courage to drive overnight from Sydney to Gold Coast within a day etc!

Come to think of it, even though Year 2009 has been 365 days of work for us, it’s actually still pretty colourful!

Now for my Year 2010 resolution: Stop work at 12 midnight, start work at 7am, find one activity to do together with Raymond (we’re pretty lifeless cos of work!), spend more time with family & friends, eat more fruits! That’s all for now! Maybe i’ll get susulini and Raymond to share some day!

Okie now, here’s some images from my personal snap snaps collection. Hehe.

I actually fed the machine with 2 dollars and out came this love struck looking froggie… I got this because Raymond was mad at me for some reason which I cannot remember. So next morning I went over to his place, outlined the shape of my hands and fingers, cut and folded them in such a way that the middle finger is pointing out, stuck it to the body of the frog and pinned the whole thing to his mirror!

I find it funny cos the whole idea of it is funny to me, and at the same time it gets to express my anger and frustration too… Oh well, things I do to “spice up” our relationship. :p

Bought this during our furniture hunting at IKEA few months back. Raymond likes it a lot.

Sometimes he’s really sweet cos he actually bothers to take time off work and divert his attention to me by doing little things like sewing my buttons back for me when it dropped off.

Interesting things we spotted together..

Having late night supper… it’s actually lunch + dinner combined in the middle of the night after 12 midnight!

Sharing a biiiiig mug of hot chocolate..

Yesterday I spent half the day accompanying my friend Shahidah. I call her Shark He Duck, or Duck for short.

I know I have a lot of emails to reply, but Duck is having some personal problems and she needed someone to talk to…

Raymond and I puts relationship above everything else, so instead of sitting down replying emails while she talk and share her problems, I felt that someone who needs a listening ear deserves all the attention…

Tried to cheer her up so I suggested snapping pictures!

Glad it made her smile…

SUCH AN OBSCENE PICTURE!

Duck and I knew each other since 1997, and she’s like one of my best friend… such a coincidence we’re both wearing checkered top!

Then I suggested playing with faces!

A picture of the naked face…

A picture of the painted face!

Duck has a big eyering, floral murals, bird (which I cannot tell!), stitched up wound, sun, and a Mr Pringles look alike face.

I had two uneven eyebrows, some wrinkles on top, double eyelid, arrow love, whiskers, pink nose, mustache, moles and eyebags.

This image is damn cool! Looked like I had fake teeth!!

That’s duck’s frontal view!

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And here’s two images to share from our piles of backlogs of wedding images!!

Taken on 3 November 2009 for Scott & Wee-Li for their outdoor pre-wedding. Susulini came with us on that day and assisted. Very happy that the images turned out to be pretty nice! Sweet and cheery, bright and pretty!!

Taken on 10 November 2009 for Qi Wei & Hsiao Hui’s outdoor pre-wedding. Susulini joined us too, and we had a yummy dinner of Botak Jones right after! Love this series as well, and we really think Hsiao Hui looks like Zhang Zi Yi from certain angles!

We have a whole lot of other backlogs to share, some of which are already completed long ago. Do keep a lookout for more updates ya? Back to emails! Merry Christmas to all!!

Lots of ♥,

- Angeline

I wore my pretty pink Timberland shoes, but when I returned to Singapore, it became camel brown cos I rode on the motorbike in the wild during the farm stay, and the sand from all over the ground flew up and grew roots on my shoes.

Welcome to Brisbane! I brought the bag Clarice got for me, and I’ve been using it as my travelling bag ever since! Cos it has so many compartments, I could easily sort them accordingly and grab anything I want without messing and fumbling or digging through the whole bag!

Our very first mission during all overseas self drive trip is to attack the supermarket such as Coles or Woolworths. Stock up on the mineral water, and some snacks/cup noodle. No karen, I didn’t attack the Vitamins! Haha! Though I went to Sporty’s Warehouse for great bargains!! Bought a lot of supplements at a crazy price, never before found in Singapore!

This is Raymond’s brother in law – Sunny Chua. He’s also someone who enjoys taking pictures, and currently he’s using a Fujifilm camera.

Raymond’s mother and sister. Our self drive trip was pretty much unplanned! The only planned thing about the trip is the car rental. Haha! We had to drive around to Tourist Information Centre to grab brochures and drive around to look for accommodation. It’ll be much cheaper if you get an apartment instead of a hotel. One good thing about the apartment is they have self contained kitchenette and laundry. You can cook, wash and iron clothes, bake cakes etc! Another advantage of the apartment is, since there’s washing machine and dryer, you can dump just 2 pairs of jeans and 2 tops into your luggage and fly there, but come back with a suitcase full of other stuffs! Muwahahahaha!

We went for river fishing, and both his brother in law and I managed to catch fishes.

Look at mine!

It was my first time fishing, and when I first caught one, I was too anxious! So I reeled back the line at top speed, and the line broke! The fish then swam away happily, half in pain and half sniggering, thinking I’m stupid. =_=”. Second time I got better, and here is my fish! But due to regulation, we have to set it free cos it’s too small to keep.

Showing Raymond the smug face cos he haven’t managed to catch any.

For those who didn’t manage to catch anything, they self snap. LOL!

Raymond’s dad.

Then Sunny caught something huuuge!

End up it was a sting ray! But we have to cut off the string and let it go after a good battle of struggling cos it’s dangerous to let the stingray come on board the little boat. There were kids on board.

Our fishing rods and flying prawns. Haha!

After a day of fishing, we decided to hide one corner and scare people. Sunny Chua = first victim. Hilarious expression, I like!

I like this picture.

Suck in your cheeks! That’s what you must do to look thin. Haha.

Botak and I.

Me at Myella Farm Stay wearing SOOO many layers of clothes cos it was toooo cold!!

Raymond and I tried horse riding during our farm stay, and a lot of other activities! Besides learning to ride the motorbike, there’s also time for us to milk the cow too! Okie, I have this phobia of height, but at least I was gungho enough to try horse riding! I was assigned to a horse (supposed to be the most gentle and tamed one), and his name is Speckles. Beautiful horse, and everything was nice until I brought it out for a walk. Halfway through the walk, Speckles decided to throw tantrum and stopped moving. I sweet talked it, pat on his head, tried to whisper other gibberish language which I hoped Speckles would at least understand one, but nothing worked.

Then when I was about to give up, Speckles finally moved! I stepped on the stool and sat on his back, WOAH! I WAS SITTED SOOOO HIGH UP! Although Speckles is not a very tall or huge horse, I find that I couldn’t take the height at all! SO SCARED I WANTED TO CRY! Before I could do anything else, Speckles decided to freak me out and walked off on its own to DRINK WATER! He lowered his head to take a sip, and I thought I was gonna slide into the big pool of water and die (I can’t swim too!!). Quickly I screamed my lungs out for the attendant to come let me down.

Throw my face, but at least I managed to survive, and at least now I can tell people I rode a horse before. Muwahahahahaha!

Celebrating Singapore’s Father’s day together with Peter and his wife, who are the owner of Myella Farm. Very decent and honest folks, friendly and generous! They always have a lot of stories to share with us during our meal times! Oh, they actually cooked every meal for us!

And that’s my favourite Mud Cake from Coles supermarket! Supposed to be mine and mine alone, but oh well, sometimes we just have to make that bit of sacrifice for the happiness of everyone.

Out on a yacht to deep sea fishing!!

I wasn’t in the best of mood that day cos I actually lost someone in the family the night before.

Not only feeling down and upset, I experienced sea sickness too! The effect started kicking in only when we arrived at the spot to fish. The current was pretty strong, and sometimes it looked like a big wave was gonna come crash in on us! Then I started having stupid thoughts again… Anyway, Raymond caught one big mackerel!

His dad caught one fish too!

I caught none, but managed to see wild dolphins swimming freely without any worries of stupid “fisherman” trying to corner them by hitting sticks and bamboos or whatever things and then catch them kill them for the meat!! URGH!! Has anyone watched THE COVE??

http://www.thecovemovie.com/
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/thecove/

So upset with what’s happening! Go watch it, it’ll make your jaw drop.

Birdie.

Then we went to Tin Can Bay to feed wild dolphins! If you want to see wild untamed carefree dolphins, go to Tin Can Bay! You can feed them with fresh fish! Just donate $2 to the save dolphin foundation and they’ll give you a bucket containing a fish to feed. But you have to prepare extra set of clothings cos you’ll need to go down to the very cold waters to feed them. We totally didn’t expect that, so I was in my jeans, and Raymond in his sexy shorts.

Bird managed to dive in and catch a fish. So easy.

The puppy from Africa… so poor thing chained out in the wilderness so that it can learn how to be brave and fight off wolves/hyenas who keep murdering the farmer’s sheeps.

Went to feed big birdies, and I fed so much until I almost flung my dummy camera into the waters!

Did some yabbies pumping too.

Catch a crab!

And had dinner at Cav’s steakhouse. The steaks are yummilicious good!! In fact we actually drove there from Sydney just for the steak durig our Sydney trip! Hahaha! My favourite piece has to be the Eye of the Medallion. Juicy like mad, and beats any Ribeye/Tbone/Tenderloin etc etc. Too bad both times we went there, the Wagyu wasn’t available. =_=”

Went to Pacific Fairway? I forgot which place is this already. The only day we have to shop.

Went to Chinatown to look for nougats. Strange that we couldn’t find nougats anywhere else!

Went to SeaWorld for the sake of taking pictures during the last day. Haha! The theme park was already closed by time we reached there. Which explains why we wanted to drive up to Brisbane when we were in Sydney… just to enter the theme park. HAHA!

Okies, end of sharing! Make it a very brief one this time rather than the many parts of Melbourne trip like last time. More random pictures at Facebook! Hmm… We don’t really have a company Facebook account, but more of our own personal account. Feel free to add us at:

Angeline: rubbish22@hotmail.com
Raymond: contactme@raymondphang.com

Oh we do have a Facebook Page though, but it’s pretty empty at the moment cos we just started playing around with it. Click to view: Raymond Phang Photography Facebook Page

Hehehe. Enjoy the weekend! Byebye!

Lots of ♥,

- Angeline

One of the Lagoon suites out facing the waters.

Somehow i have no idea how come the Bollywood theme came about. Wahaha. Must be the jet lag! (excuses) Oh and there is this bag of roses at the left hand side of the room. Over looked it until i came back home. LOL.

Look at how much rose petals we wasted. Their pillow fight ends up with plenty of roses instead of feathers. Haha.

Thinking about it now, i think i should just scrap the flower idea and just get the couple shot. Duh!

I bet it must have felt damn good because Russell really fell asleep! Haha!

Here’s Chris, Rachel’s companion and boy is this guy awesome! Helped me out by holding lights, tripod and other stuff! Bro you are a real gem! Couldn’t do the shoot without you man! By the way the Hermits are still surviving! And like i promised, i will bring back their offsprings to Maldives! Haha!

Thats Russell and his manager, Boa. Incredible woman with big friendly smile all the time! Lovely!

We were heading out on a sunset cruise and because the beaches are shallow, we have to take the smaller ferry (above) and “transit” to the bigger yatches (below) where we had awesome finger food and sipped champagne.

Thats to mark attendance that i am there. Haha!

One of our Taiwan visitors. Angeline says she is pretty! Me thinks so too! Muwahahhaha!

Dolphins, sunset and champagne…what else to expect man!

Did some casual shoots for Rachel & Chris!

Clubmed has free flow alcohol & food so guys who try to use the usual pick up line of buying drinks for the ladies don’t really work well here. Lol!

Endless partying!

Bayan tree. Even with the fisheye lens i cant capture everything. Imagine how big and old that thing is!

O_O!

The place is so nice and romantic that i think all married couples should go! The place speaks of FUN too if you are into water activities. A pity 1 out of 3 days was raining while we are there hence we didnt get any water sports shots.

Pretty heavenly place i would say! waking up breakfast in bed! Fishies can see you shower too! haha

Doing abit of yoga or like the locals called it, “sunset moves” although there wasn’t any sunset as it was pretty cloudy.

And then i saw it! Was walking along the bridge and peek down into the waters. It was pitch dark but there was this light shining into the water and i guess the stingray was attracted to it and lurk around for quite some time. Guess its feeding time for him! Nice!

Perfect logo for this location!

Village Chief, Gianni Merone, together with his team of GOs. That amazing guy can speak 5 different languages! (French-English-Italian-Spanish-Portuguese) and i taught him the 6th! Ni Hao! LOL!

Had some fun with them jumping.

Here they are asking you to GO! Go to Clubmed Kani for fun, sun and everything possible!

Regards,

Raymond Phang

We’re now in Terminal 2 waiting to board the plane. Flying off to Sydney for a seminar and back on 9 September! Will try to update once we have access to the internet. Meanwhile do take good care of yourselves, and have lots of fun ya? Cheers!

Lots of ♥,

- Raymond & Angeline