cong a.k.a jordana site of me and updates (will change soon)

4th week into my 2nd year school term, that was the first week I experienced full fledged 5-days “work-week”. I did not have the luxury of time to split my timetable to 3 or 4 days week due to my slow registration of my courses. But having the subjects spreaded evenly out to 5 days allowed me to have fair share of free time each day to do my assignments and revisions. Fortunately is also the fact that I would not benefit from having free time at home for assignments since I very much needed the dark room facilities in school to do them.

Deutsch is confusing at times, but I am eager without pushing too much myself to revise it. Sound design is something I have dwelled with before and learning the new software Pro Tools is not much of a problem for me, except maybe the lab is just too cold. Digital printing of photos is never really new to me, other than the confusing steps taught by my lecturer which I think is incorrect (UPDATE: all’s clarified ). I will discuss with him when I find the chance. Dark room is time-consuming, no doubt. Watching the clock ticking past during developing and printing is heart-aching.

All these sounds like complaints. But they are not. I love them. It is not easy to say passion drives you forward even when you are tired physically. But this time round I can convincingly say so. I just woke up from a 12 hour sleep, even skipping a weekend make-up lecture. I know I will revise it later as well as planning for next week hectic schedule again. My body and will is not dragging with unwillingness. Shooting a new roll of film this weekend is also in the agenda. And planning what to shoot for self-portraits is another ‘boring’ part. We tend to bitch about anything, but the underlying proportions of true feelings cannot escape our self-acknowledgment.

This semester does not seem as bad as I thought after coming back from my Western Australia holiday. Oh yah, where is my after-thoughts from the trip? It will be written, but something is occupying my mind currently. I thought fate is kind enough for me to meet her twice, within the same occasion. I am hoping for a third encounter, really, but which has so little chance of happening again. I want it 8/10 soon.

So I am done (perhaps) with my revision of History of Phtotography, Deutsch revision seems 80% done as well. But whatever it is, the mood now from the rainy weather and the question so furiously debated in Facebook has gotten me the mood again for some harsh reality check, probably both for me as well as whoever bothers to read this entry.

Among the group of professions, or maybe just practitioners, those who dabble in the field of arts and creativity always find themselves lost. Let’s make it ourselves instead. We so often questioned the goal of our passion. And I meant the ultimate goal. Maybe I sound too far fetch now for I am still 23 and not yet stepped into the field being a full time professional. But don’t we hold that flickering flame in us ever since we took out this practice to engage in a field of occupation so seemingly carefree with the creative-freedom we could be endowed that we forever distanced ourselves from desk-bound jobs most people are contended with?

Underlined the keywords above. Occupation. Carefree. Creative-freedom. Contended.

Occupation. Yes. We need to earn money. We need to be fed and have to feed others. Most notably our parents. So we can do whatever avant-garde, retro, contemporary (fill in any genre you so religiously sticked to) works we like, we love. The thing is the works must be liked and loved by others as well. And the others are sometimes none other than investors, employers, even simple passer-bys and audiences. They are indirectly our source of “zeroes” in our paycheck. So “commercialisation” is the big word on top of the umbrella, UNLESS you managed to put “Self-Employed” above all heirachy. And that is only sustainable if you still consider commercialisation somewhere.

Carefree and creative-freedom. Again, we can enjoy these if we are the bosses. Or at least the directors in a common commercially creative structure. Staying humble I think is the key. Talented we might be, in the eyes of others, especially the superiors, either we are deemed inferior (that’s why they are the superiors), or what we did was never enough or the best. I mentioned before, my former RSM said: “Don’t always think you had done the best, when in the eyes of others you had done just enough”. Strip the airs of “I know” and put on that jacket only when the environment calls. You will feel the comfort. Conversely, telling one self “I sucks” is not easy, but I think it helps.

Contended. I will always remember my professor for Understanding Singapore Society, Lim Chee Han, once asked, “So what if you study?” Get a degree. “So what you get a degree?”. To secure a good job in the future. “So what you secure a good job in the future?” To be rich? “So what if you are rich?” So we can be happy? This is a question of life and the answers will be similar most of the time for most people. Then is the process important since (maybe) contention and happiness are the eventual answers we sought?

Studying in Arts, Design and Media in NTU, maybe the order of the name gave away the clues. Arts (artistic development) in the foundation year, Design (conceptual development) in the 2nd and 3rd years, and Media (commercial development) in the final year. Ok. I am crapping. But I always feel ADM is too much of an artistic school for my liking than a design school which I am more comfortable with. So with people in my school feeling otherwise I am quite baffled. If they are right, I feel we should all feel blessed. In my opinion, a pure Arts school who can give you all freedom you wished for in your productions with no development of commercial intend is a degeneration to Arts they feel so attached to. I am capitalistic inclined. Pardon me.

So in the hoohah of self-identity search, my direction I gave myself is clear. Get the f**k out of school if I think I cannot get beneficial knowledge out of it. Simple. No point harping over what the school cannot provide over what I wished to be doing. I heard that umpteen times since my Poly days. If you think you have seen enough, you probably have not. So complaining over what one’s want to do but not getting them in school curriculum, maybe quitting is the resolution. If something stops you from doing that, answer to yourself frankly. Maybe it is just a transcript of the bachelor that holds you back. No surprise here in Singapore. Then revised Chee Han’s question once more. Lying to yourself is the greatest enemy to self-improvement. I still sucks in this myself.

Weekends can be spent sleeping all you want if that is what makes you happy. Pondering over the above all the time is not healthy. I am convincing myself too. So do what you like or something outside your major is. You might not even have school on all 5 weekdays. So any valid excuse? But always stop-check and braced youself against the harshest reality the society got to offer for us being adults are responsible for. And to my NTU friends, do take up some electives you really like. Busy-happy is better than slacking-piss.

My 2 cents.

After so long without blogging, I’m back. I have being too taken aback by what had happened since my school term started. Not somethings of bad happenings, but too much things were coming concurrently to really have my thoughts focus. So random. I am revising my History of Photography when the feel of blogging comes.

All’s good. I have yet to conclude my Western Australia travel experience.

Watch this space.

The above had been my MSN nick for more than a year. It held a deep feeling inside me after my 21st birthday.

Just for decorative purposes, the symbols and words could still be decoded, as intended. The deeper message lies in the container and the relationships. Geeky, it’s actually a short php code, which cannot be seen because <? & ?>, opening and closing tags of php, could not presented in the title. “!=” is the generic symbolism of “not equals to” in most programming language. There goes the message. It could be read now, correctly, if it had not been done so.

Well, it was a wish made on, or rather after, my 21st birthday. Something I had been trying hard to achieve for 5 months prior to my birthday. So in a way, I got a hand to that wish being granted. I was really happy. I really was. So finally a birthday wish could be so divine, probably it’s 21st, that it came true.

For the above message to be my MSN nick for over a year of course spelt the outcome of my wish. Granted is not equal to lasted. But the story cannot end just like that. Life is about learning. And from then on, having my intended outcome granted should not be the end of all hardwork or belief. Time is a factor in learning to cherish. We should always try to preserve whatever good things, good times to the longest our abilities can afford to, isn’t it?

The sad truth is, many a times, some things are just beyond our limits of control. And for that matter, “you knew very well, yet you don’t know anything at all, even if you are reading this entry written because of you. But I know you would not even chanced upon this”. YHL.

人活着有这么多第一次。 但是否一次就够？

好玩的， 不防多来一次。
可怕的， 为何多吓一次？
兴奋的， 多想期待一次。
紧张的， 还想冒汗一次？
痛恨的， 别再遇见一次。
伤害的， 就那最后一次。

世上那么多好坏之事， 给我们碰了一次， 未来想要几次， 多少我们心里有数。 只怕不在我们能力范围之内的事， 为了多那一次其实已付出了多少光阴。 五年， 八年， 十年？

如果等待能再来一次， 你愿意吗？

我还不如去寻找下一个第一次？

有时侯， 一些事真的一次就够。

但又有时候， 贪婪的我们总会说服自己： “就那最侯一次”。

Day 7 was early. I was shivering in bed on the upper deck. I did not bother to check the time. Neither did I bother to find out why the heater below was so poor in keeping me warm, when I thought this last night should be the best I would be spending in Western Australia.

It could not be help I guess. Margaret River was surprisingly cold. The night before while I was out to take stars exposures, I had to don my gloves on, the first occasion in the entire trip for me to do so. It was no doubt warmer in the morning. But our car parked outside the gate returning the key for our early check out said it all. It was like a metal meat brought out of the freezer thawing.

Budgeting done the night before showed us we had quite a substantial amount to spend for this last day before we departed for Singapore at 11.15pm. Good food would be our best bet. Our dinner got to be spent with Lester and Baoqi as well. About a 3-hour journey from Margaret River to Perth with more destinations to reach in between spell out the itinerary in between.

Urban Bean was our breakfast place. Directed again by Lonely Planet, it was an affordable meal, if not a filling meal, in Margaret River. Why I said that was because comparing to Keyuan’s order, Vincent’s and mine looked appetising and fulfilling. Streets were clear, so was the sky. Enjoying the breakfast in the cool sunny morning was heavenly. Talking about blending in with the locals, we seemed to do it at this very last day!

We headed back to the route taking us to Augusta. Although kinda inflexible, our budget allowed us to visit Jewel Cave, which cost AD$19.50 per entry! And Vincent and Keyuan were rather keen to visit. Having visited some caves in China Beijing and Vietnam Halong Bay, I somehow concluded all caves in the world are rather similar. Jewel Caves did not prove my hypothesis wrong either.

Jewel Cave was interesting only because the guide managed to create some interactivity with us by playing with the light switches. Maybe it scored in the area of injecting adventure as well since their walkway constructions were not too easy to navigate. But I was hoping the lightings could be more colourful with variations. It would result in more beautiful photographic shots for the tourists. And this brought me to another issue which disallowed me to use tripod while inside the cave. For what reasons I could not fathom.

Drove back up north again, this time we went to Chocolate Factory. Slowly we began to see more cars gathered. At least we were looking like really visiting some tourism spots. A short tour had to be done. Too much time was spent on Jewel Cave and upon reaching Chocolate Factory it was around 12.35pm. Anyway, it was just like a routine shopping stop with chocolates being the only products found to be purchased. But still, the adults would not mind, much less the kids!

Margaret River region is famous for their wineries. Practically it seemed impossible to gauge which one would be the best to visit with cellars and vineyards scattering so densely around the region. Clairault was what Keyuan chose in the end. Like our visit to the Chocolate Factory, free samples were given. Most will know I am more interested in this than chocolates! Cocktails are my field of interest. For wine, I still have a long way to go to fully understand the appreciation. After 3 samplings of Shiraz, Port and Riesling each, I guessed the owner could tell what a newbie we were.

Packed my Riesling into the car, we wrapped up our journey of Margaret River and continued heading North to Busselton. We looked well on time as it was 1+pm as we left for Busselton. But to reach Perth city around evening at 6+pm, we got to leave where ever we are at 3pm, the latest, and begin travelling back which can take 3+ hours.

The weather had been at its best all day. There was no clouds at all. Absolutely no clouds! Our visit to Busselton Jetty was only spoilt by the ongoing constructions midway through the jetty. If only we could go all the way to the end of the Jetty which was 1.8+km in length, we would be able to proclaim another ‘feat’ of landing ourselves on the ‘Longest Jetty in the Southern Hemisphere’!

There had the most crowd in a place of interest we had seen in our entire travel. As I mentioned earlier, blending in with the crowds was crucial, and especially in travels, you might more often be able to find good stuffs you otherwise might miss in places devoid of humans. So the gems we unearthed was actually ice cream! Held in hand by most people in and out of the jetty, ice cream had become our lunch.

Time was well clocked. Estimated time of arrival showed 6.15pm. We knew we had reached the end of our Southern Curl. Looking at the sceneries passing us as we travelled the final phase of this adventure was a reality strike. The heavenly feel of travel inevitably ends prematurely, always, with a hit of stressful realisation that routines will soon resume. As vistas and lawns of countryside sped past us, I seemed to think the past 7 days had only begun yesterday. You never feel the time until the end of a time frame.

We chased sunset once more on our way back to Perth. I was in 2 minds on where and when to stop along the highway. Either the rays were still harsh on my lens, or the foreground was not as good as the last we past by. I was in contemplation. I mentioned before missing a sunset was not the end of the world. But missing it the last time in Western Australia with time in my control would be a slap in the face. Vincent pulled ahead immediately at my request. After running straight to the fence, shutters were clicking non-stop. I felt I lost a minute or two. A sun setting does so real quick. Half of the ‘yolk’ had already been buried below the horizon. The silhouettes of the trees I loved to include in the frame could only make up that much.

So be it. I knew I cannot expect to be rewarded with such wishy-washiness. For I needed 3 days to fill my 8GB memory card, it took me less than half an hour snapping away a 2GB card inside the car out of the window, with the hope of salvaging some sunset frames. Fat hope.

Arriving at Perth was exciting for the first day. Arriving there again was terrible for the last day. After picking up Lester and Baoqi from their apartment, we cruised to their recommendation site for our dinner. 3 huge pizzas were shared amongst us 1 hour later.

Time was short. Immediately after our dinner, we proceeded to their campus for a shot of group photo in front of the main tower (or hall). It seemed to be a tourist attraction anyway, so why not? Last stop of our tour got to be a finale glimpse of the city we landed. Atop the hills at King�s Park was where everybody jumped about. The excitement was only secondary. Main reason was to fight the chilling wind!

Soon after snapping the night panoramic view of Perth city skyline below, both on my camera and on my mind, another group photo in front of the cityscape was the last frame my camera was exposed for this trip.

All was too familiar back at the airport. Returning the car was so swift we kinda regretted not renting it right from the first day of the tour. Got my liqueur. Checked. No souvenirs to be bought at the airport. Checked. Stomach filled. Not bothering me. The timing of the flight was just nice for me to pay back the sleep debt I was already in at Margaret River.

Day 8 at Changi Airport was cold. Place was cold. People were cold. Probably too early. Still, a quick wash up was done and we proceeded straight for a local breakfast (wanton mee!) after our DFS shopping was done.

My parents were expected to show up, despite my constant persuasion to them that the time could be well spent sleeping at home. I did not like the idea still, as I would be kinda stressful eating my breakfast while they were waiting. Fetching home from holidays at airport seemed like a ritual to them. But you cannot deny the fact of how relieve you will be, seeing your kin at the airport after so long away from home.

To cap this entire tour with a sour note, I lost my ice wine worth S$69! With things happening so fast, I only realised my ice wine was not in the cab after a mile away from the arrival hall. The cab driver was “kind” enough to bring me back, allowing me to ask the uncles handling the trolleys if I missed it there. What I remembered was the driver was very helpful in loading� my luggage up the trunk of the cab and he actually gave the trolley a hard push away. I am quite sure the ice wine was not left there after giving it a second look before I left. I did not doubt the integrity of the staffs at the airport as well. That could only bring the suspect to one person.

I swear the ice wine was in my trolley before I board the cab….

Anyway, last few photos for the final Day 7 & 8 of the trip are here in my Facebook album.

First photography shoot after back from Perth. I am guilty of not completing my Western Australia Travelogue. Last 2 days to go but some local photographic tonic was needed to keep the enthusiasm high. A slight break from W.A photos, HDR was in my agenda for this shoot.

Chong Wu and Audrey were the companions for this trip. Trio again for my photography shoot. Chong Wu led the way to OCH for he had been there before, alone as well! My first visit there was greeted by the huge compound I never expected. I snapped the enclosure keeping in mind with framings done for interior.� Bracketing functions were turned on, tripod was mounted. Not snapping away trigger-happy, I hope my careful selections of viewpoints could put OCH into perspectives. With the injection of HDR processing, beauty could be brought out from what we could only associate dilapidation and eeriness from such uninhabited and forsaken structure. Pictures shall take the stage now.

HDR has always been in experimentation for me. My growing interest was fed from Keyuan when this topic was discussed in depth after our trip from Perth. The limitations of digital photography has no doubt breed this form of processing similar to cross-processing in the film realm. Unless HDR is not being taken for granted with the envelope pushing till it becomes unrealistic, HDR is sure another avenue for aestheticism when digital photography is concerned.

Photos also can be seen at my facebook album.

I know I am kinda late in this. But personally I just thought I shall stand by all in unison for his memorations first as the world was then at grief for this tremendous loss of talent in pop music. Now listening to his ‘Heal the World’, repeatedly, his voice carries with him the compassion and love the lyrics so correctly spelt out. You can never be too uninspired listening.

Humans only cherished what they lost. Towards MJ, we are once again no different. Despite all the negativities he was portrayed by the press, let us forget all the ambiguious comclusions we tend to draw from these reports and remember only the craze he brought to us by his astounding moonwalk. If you feel your goosepimples beginning to tinkle watching his dance steps so excellently-synchronised with the zombies, or the gravity-defying 45 degrees leaning with the mafia, you are not alone. Millions around the world feel the same, and that will continue, as long as he stays in our memories, which I feel time has no say in this matter.

I would not go on too much. I am loss for words to carry on for just his songs playing in my earphone has cause me not thinking. Watching his dancing feats in Youtube just continue getting me mesmerised. Enjoyment of his works would be the best justice to him.

MJ, R.I.P. The world loves you. We miss you.

Day 5 began with the appointment with EuropCar, our can rental company. Scheduled to collect it at 8.30am, we did so at 9am. Having settled all the necessary bills and contracts, we packed our bags into the car trunk and rolled out!

Vincent was the sole appointed driver, as Keyuan being the other authorised driver did not bring his license along. It beats me how we actually managed to find a McDonalds for our breakfast, after setting our destination to Albany. Grabbing a bite was the utmost important thing that moment anyway. Mcdonalds� breakfast was good over there!

Hitting the highway soon was expected after our departure from McDonalds, as we sort of used the same routes in and out of Perth city. The definition of highway, as we soon got to understand, was by no means what we so used to seeing in Singapore. The hilarious thing was the detailed route map Vincent spent AD$7 on was left behind in Lester’s house! So in the GPS we trust.

I am the lucky one. Without driving license, I could sleep at the back. For half an hour maybe, after which I woke up, sensing something not so right. In the past few days of travelling in and out of Perth city, we could easily see clear and concise directions to the highways one could be heading. Looking at the map, we should long be driving comfortably on Albany Highway bringing us straight direct to Albany without all the turns. But we did not see any “Albany” written in the signs at all in our close to an hour of drive. Using the route markers as recognition points, it was amazing and astounding we were heading to the Great Eastern Highway!

Continue we went, we had to look for a turn that could diverge our way down southwards, and not eastwards! Luckily with the availability of the maps and brochures we had, though not precise, we at last managed to hit back to the Great Southern Highway which will ultimately connect to the Albany Highway. So slightly over an hour was lost on road we should not be travelling, the distance to cover seems immensely great at 450km+. And furthermore we targeted to visit some places of Albany before sunset. The projected drive-hours was 5+ hours, the time when we got the bearings right was 11.30am.

It was as if we left Perth only around 11+am, from the distance we still have to cover. The roads we travelled on seemed more straight forward. Great Southern Highway it might be called, it was a single-lane two-directional rather straight road after all. However, what was speeding past us began to take away any disgruntles we were making. The landscapes along Great Southern Highway were a joy to see. Wide meadows, long fences, lonely tree patches, countless sheep/cows/horses gazing with occasional looming mountain ranges under the clear skies. Wallpapers sceneries we too often see, they were there for us to be seen! If not for the rushing schedule, I would be taking some photos by the road side.

Continue we went, the journey was smooth sailing. The whole world seemed to be devoid of humans except us. That was how barren most of the roads and towns were most of the time we passed through. York, Beverley, Brookton, Narrogin, Wagin, Broomehill, Mt Barker etc. These are hardly any destinations tourists would normally chart in their itinerary map, unless they are really globe trekker. But they were important milestones to our journey, serving us with petrol as well as directions to our destination. Having security considerations, we did not spend much time idling in each and every town, except for toilet breaks. Time was not on our side anyway!

We were told the temperature would be colder as we head south. How true. Rain clouds were gathering upon reaching Mt Barker, edging closer to Albany. It was 3.30pm. Seemed like the timing was good. Did I leak out the speed which we were travelling in? Oops, fear not. Well within safety limits, Vincent was one seasoned driver. He would be more so after this trip with the mileage clocked. And as we began to find out, the GPS was hell of an accurate device in detecting our arrival time had the destinations being plotted correctly!

Heading straight to Mt Clarence which oversees Albany from atop, it was 4+pm. Light was diffused as clouds layered in front of the setting sun. Patches of land below were lighted up inconsistently. Presumably that was the golden hour for photography, narrow dynamic range of digital camera proved hard to capture the best out of it. Strong wind allowed the trees so much movement considerations for HDR were not ideal. So we shall left our portraits there instead.

Enough of the chilly wind, we rolled out to the next target, Two People’s Bay. These destinations we went were circled in our list of brochures the night before, heeding the recommendations by a tour pamphlet. Maybe the weather conditions were not met, we were actually rather drown with disappointment. But at least that was quite a South-eastern tip of Western Australia we could boast of going, with the 3 of us, apparently, being the only beings there at the corner of the Earth!

Albany Backpackers was the lodging for that night. Listed in Lonely Planet guide book, we headed there straight without looking for others. The town had gone quiet after 6pm, and we were just so hungry and tired after a full day of road tripping to recce for other accommodations for comparisons. Not a bad sleeping place after all. Comfortable and considerate house rules, the first few criteria for a good rest. Wolfing down the pizzas and kebabs was our dinner ritual for that evening.

Day 6 seemed like the actual tour of Albany. We went right away to Albany wind farm after our breakfast. We knew we had too little time to spare for day 6, for so many places had to be visited with so much distance to cover. A detailed timetable was drawn up the night before to keep track of our progress. That was some serious stuff!

Albany wind farm was not too far from our hostel. Our car was again the only vehicle up there. I swear it was a jaw-dropping moment of admiration in awe the second after we stepped out of our car. The wind turbine was planted, inaccessibly,� just approximately some less than 400 metres away from us! The distant I quote seemed faraway, however, do consider how often we see wind turbines standing majestically from afar, which we could only associate them with toys. Now they are right in front of us and we no longer could view them from above, but panning your head vertically up was needed to be amazed at the modern marvel! Like an aeroplane engine, each swipe of the turbine cutting through the air generated so much resistance that monotonous whirlings of “frooomphs” could only further enchant your stay.

(above: simply awesome! Picturesque.)

The wind farm was an unbearable place to leave. I really love that! But I am grateful that we were able to cover this visit as going on the guided tour would miss this completely. Turning back the route to where we came, it was not long before we reached the Blowhole. A long walk in was tiring, after much morning energy was spent at wind farm, much less with the presence of strong wind resistance. Standing atop the cliffs overlooking the Southern Ocean, it was dangerous, to say the least, after exclaiming it was beautiful. Advancing to the Blowhole needs all the extra care you will need, since a slip could be fatal. The steep drop which was obscured from your view together with thunderous slapping of waves against the rocks, was the worse of a hell you could land in this heavenly view, if you are not careful.

Too bad the Blowhole was not blowing on our visit. It should be, on occasions when currents bring the water spewing out of the rocks opening, like what a whale would do during their gaseous exchange. So we advanced to the nearby Gap and Natural Bridge. Rocks and cliffs again. Spectacular again as well. It would be a Geography blog if I go on to explain. Pretty self explanatory, and to put it simply and shocking, part of what we stood there was a jigsaw piece to another mass in Antarctica. Our mighty beloved Earth was the architect.

Revving up, it would be another long drive to the next destination, the Valley of the Giants. Away from the coast, but not away from the towering structures. Located in between Denmark and Wapole, west of Albany, we stopped over at Denmark, to my delight, for lunch. Initially we wanted to skip Denmark altogether, luckily we did not. I like the presence of cafes peppering around the relaxing region. We had our lunch over at one which was given by Lonely Planet as the best coffee served around there. Satisfying.

Entering into a world akin to the Lord of the Rings, the Valley of Giants houses a tree-top walk amongst the bi-centennial trees around the forested South of Western Australia. AD$8 for the entrance fee, it was a rather quick walk for us. Although we were at the highest point of 40 metres, the trees were still much taller! Do not look down for those scared of heights! Photographing opportunities with the “Tree Ents” were not to be missed back to ground level!

Pemberton was along the way to our venture westward. More magnificent trees could be seen there, as told by Troy. However, after spending too much time looking for the 48km drive-through which promised us of the glorious view, we had to think ahead and scrape the idea. Next 150+km to Augusta was crucial. It was 3.30+pm.

We wanted to go Cape Leeuwin. We had to be there by sunset to see, of course the sunset. By geographical theory, it should be the best so far in this trip for the sight, as it is situated at the South-western tip of a peninsular of the continent, Australia. Looking out is where the 2 oceans, Indian and Southern Oceans meet! A sight to behold, a breath to hold, as the time of arrival shown on the GPS was 5.48pm. Gasp!

After 5.13pm, the car was silent. Music was apparently loud. Vincent was driving a little bit faster. Time of arrival did not show much of an earlier time, 5.46pm. I expected we would miss the “yolk” of the sun completely, thus I could only hope the tinge of emerald and violet, which was harder to come by after sunset, to appear for that few seconds, at least. Sky was getting darker quick, our “yolkset” was viewed inside the car while travelling. With vistas completing the picture at least, it was still an awesome sight to remember.

The GPS was damn accurate! We hated it for that moment. Rushed down to the shore, my camera was already mounted to the tripod. Trigger, shutter, ISO, aperture, bracketing. I hated that inner soul of myself so obsessive of capturing that shot. I regretted not sparing some seconds to partake in the enjoyment of differentiating and viewing the vastness of the 2 Oceans.

Another blessing in disguise was installed, seemingly. As we travelled up north to Margaret River for the night, 30 minutes drive away, the mere 6.37pm was a completely darkness there. Trees were no longer accompanying us in the journey, the stars did. Thousands and millions of stars did! Even the Southern Hemisphere Milky Way did! Part of my lifelong wish was granted.

I might have missed the Oceans, the Milky Way was a pleasant surprise. Not enough of making exposures by the roadside en route to Margaret River, I took some more in the cold outside our hostel, Margaret River YHA, after settling down. The roads were pitch dark, though behind me was the bustling of the house mates. I was not alone; Keyuan joined me soon after. Still, under the Milky Way, I was not alone. My mind was full of people I could thought of. I really wished they were here, you were there, to share the sight with me. It was unexpected of me to see the Southern Hemisphere Milky Way first. I could never able to describe that purest of joy here in this blog.

More photos for Day 5 & 6 are here in my Facebook album.

I am writing this on a Monday. Local time now is 1.16am (GMT +8). So I might be wrong having the title titled Sunday. I might be wrong for what I am about to write as well.

This is written in between my travelogue, for I am quite tired, not so much of the writing, but the sorting of the photos. If only during the photo-taking stage I had taken a constructive measure, I would not have the headache now. Anyway, that is not important. This is just a post of the thoughts rushed in my mind within a day.

The usual morning breakfast on a Sunday with my dad was abit more special. I was trying hard to remember where I was the week before. Obviously I am in Western Australia. Just that I had no idea what day it was during the sunday when I was in W.A. Hope it did not sound too complicated. Anyway, I did not bother to recall deep. Ask anybody when was the last time they could not remember the day and date in any one occasion. My reply was when I am enjoying. So my euphoria was one last sunday, and more of the days before and after I believed. This euphoria was kinda late if I only realised now. But that was one euphoria to realise I once had the euphoria feeling, right? Great morning.

I always feel I am mature in my thinking. Once awhile, I thought not always though. But to put it another way, realising I am immature in some ways of my thinking was some way maturing. Then, seeing how people react to certain outcomings got me to think there are worse people out there in thinking their thinking has some form of maturity when they are not. Words are free expression, but they are not free of consequences. Wrong choices of usage got the author stripped of any initial, and partial, as we humans tend to reserve, impression. Tactful is the key. I might as well forget all these poor choices of words, but I in no way deserved them, all the more if I want to help through my words. There is no difference with spoken or written words.

A Chinese saying goes with “blaming the heaven, blaming the people”, which obviously is not the way teachings advocate. And I will always remember my RSM, (Regimental Sergeant Major) once said, “Don’t always think you had done the best, when in the eyes of others you had done just enough”. I am still short-sighted in terms of seeing the world out there. As far as I could admit that, I am always proud, for there are people pathetically supposed they are being owed a living, an explanation, or assistance. The world is huge. Thus I advocate travelling as it really does broaden the horizon. I will talk more at the end of my travelogue with this.

At some point during afternoon, I felt the real exhaustion as I edit my photos. I have to give the benefit of doubt to myself. I know very well it was a Sunday afternoon. That ticks. My true holidays of losing count of days had ended. Reality check. My school would not start until mid August. From now till then I would not lose count of days.

Take it easy.