London Mayoral Election 2008

Not long I registered for London Elects. I am qualified as I have already lived here for more than a year.

On 1st May, I casted my vote for Boris Johnson of the Conservatives, for his promises to reduce the rising crimes and more importantly to get better value for the taxpayers' money. He has got character and great sense of humour.


Boris in Top Gear.


Boris' great tackle on a Germany player in a charity match, in the rugby way.

I haven't even voted in Malaysia before. The mayor in Kuala Lumpur is not elected but appointed by the government despite of the uncountable complaints of its poor performance and corruption scandals.

Perhaps it's time to give the people a choice.

Spring in UK

Summer time has arrived in April but this morning when I look out from the window...

The surroundings were covered in white..

Breakfast in the snow.

Is it the climate change? I just hope there'll be a warmer summer this year.

Alpha 2008 Lineup Update

Early this year I've posted my 2008 line up. In 3 months time I have tidy up the lineup, adding few lens and sold the Sony A100 kit with the Dicain vertical grip.

So the updated 2008 lineup will be:

Back row: Sony HVL-F56AM, Minolta 70-210mm F4 'Beercan', Minolta 3600HSD (supposed to let it go but decided to keep it a little longer til I get a right price)
Front row: Sigma 10-20mm, M42 Jupiter 9 85mm F2, Sony A700 with Tamron 17-50mm F2.8, Tamron 90mm SP F2.8 Macro, Minolta 50mm F1.7, M42 Helios 135mm F2.8

The last thing I want on my list this year is the Sony VG-C70AM vertical grip.

Europe Day One - The Grand Place, Brussels

Brussels is relatively easy to walk around if you have a map in hand.

Eglise St-Nicolas, processed in HDR.

The Grand Place, the geographical, historical and commercial heart of the city.

Hotel de Ville, built in the 14th century as the town hall.

The main entrance and the belfry, I keep thinking why the entrance wasn't center aligned with the belfry...

Courtyard of the hotel with nice pavement design.

Entrace to the reception lobby.

The statue and landscape at the courtyard.

Le Renard and Le Cornet.

The Maison Du Roi, built in 1536, now home to the Musee de la Ville. Too many museums in Europe and I decided to skip this one. I went in almost every museum when I visited Paris and lesson learned - just visit the highlight and not to waste the precious time and money.

View of Maison Du Roi from entrance of Hotel De Ville.

With the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle, I can now take pictures of myself without others help or tripod! La Maison Des Ducs De Brabant at the middle of the background and Everard 't Serclaes on the right. Touching the bronze arm of Everard 't Serclaes is said to bring luck but too bad the place is closed for refurbishment during the period.

Godiva chocolatier outlet at the Grand Place, the premium chocolate manufacturer among the uncountable numbers of chocolate shops in Brussels.

Day One in Brussels

I'm still recovering from the 6 days trip in West Europe. Weather were terrible and my skin are badly dry out and cracking. Brought too many lens this trip and I didn't use the Tamron 90mm SP and Jupiter 9 at all. Taken nearly 1,000 pictures this trip and it's gonna take some time to edit all.

On the way in Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussels Midi on Thursday morning. Managed to grab pair of return tickets from lastminute.com for GBP55, it's always a good source for last minute deal as I couldn't find tickets from Eurostar website.

The bi-lingual city is often confusing with its French Dutch names for places and roads. Initially I thought Brussel Zuid and Bruxelles Midi are two different stations and apparently it's the name of the station in two languages.

The adventure begins with a Belgian cappuccino and pain au chocolat. I had not done much study before the trip, no booking on any accommodation nor intercity train tickets.

The Flying Ceiling (1976) by Pol Bury in Bourse station. Public transport in Europe is relatively cheap when comparing with UK. A day travel card cost 4 euros to be used on all metro, tram and buses. Actually there are no barriers or check on the metro and tram so you can try a few free rides.

La Bourse, Brussels' stock exchange, the stairs is a meeting point for people and also serve as speaker's corner for protests.

First Day In Brussels

Arrived in Brussels Midi Station this morning. Things went smooth and managed to grab the return tickets to Amsterdam tomorrow on a cheaper rate than the one I checked on internet. Had a nice Belgian cappucino and pain chocolat and started the journey in the city, with my 20kg backpack.

Just hang around the central area, the Grand Place and few other tourist spots and it started raining, in fact it's still raining, and it was quite heavy, worst than London! Can't afford the risk my camera under the rain so I started to look for accommodation, the one I plan to stay initially was fully booked.

Luckily found a 3-beds shared private room in another hostel. In fact it's quite crap, no towels, no hangers, no water, nothnig is provided and even have to pay for the internet. There's only another Korean guy there and he's quite friendly. We might head to Amsterdam together tomorrow.

Anyway, weather are not looking good over the weekend. Forecast says it's gonna rain through the weekend :(

Looking forward to explore Amsterdam tomorrow!

Nomadic in Europe 20-25th March

2 cameras, 6 lens, a tripod, few travel guides, few clothes.. I'm going to explore few more cities in Europe for 6 days stretch through Easter holiday.

What's in my hand now is only the return Eurostar train tickets to Brussel. I think I'm brave enough this round, didn't book any accommodation nor connecting trains to other cities, could end up sleeping in the train station.

Brussel and Amsterdam are the two main destination and probably will visit Bruge or Antwerp along the way.

Weather forecast over the weekend will be cloudy and rainy.. wish me luck!