Sunday, April 15, 2012

Some Night Views





Since arriving in Penang I have been aching to take some shots of Penang at night. Unfortunately, my tripod didn't make the cut at the last minute for the first trip over, so I had to wait until either Tica or I went back to Austin. So when Tica went home for work last month I begged her to find room in her heart, and our luggage for my tripod. And also mentioned that if she had additional room in her heart and our luggage, I could really use a new camera. And boy did she come through in a really big way. Not only did I get the much anticipated tripod, but also a ridiculously nice camera!

Here are some night shots with the new camera and tripod.

This first shot is from our balcony that looks south over Pulau Tikus. This shot was relatively easy to get as all I had to do was walk out the back door, jump a safety rail, ooch along a ledge with camera and tripod in hand and hope that a gust of wind didn't blow me or the camera off.


These next shots are of Gurney drive, the street out in front of our place. The Gurney area is an eclectic mix of both modern commercialism and traditional Malaysian shops. Offerings here range from high rise apartments with built in shopping malls (or vice-versa), and day spas, 4-star hotels, and movie megaplexes to small street stalls (hawker stalls) that sell local cuisine and small souvenirs. Getting these shots were a little more difficult.

I was too scared to brave the wilds of Penang alone at night, so I convinced a friend from work to meet up with me for some night photography. To get these shots, we had to jump a few fences, navigate a rocky sea wall, convince a pack of wild dogs that we weren't as tasty as we looked, trudge through some mud (I hope that is what it was anyway) all in about a mile or so. In the end we were pretty sweaty, but the obstacle course was worth it as we both came away with some pretty nice shots. Here are two of my favorites.



Friday, April 13, 2012

Mommy's Home!

Tica came home yesterday and with her came lots and lots of loot - including a new camera for Arves. To celebrate, we headed just up the street to the Penang Youth Park so Mommy and Emily could play in the park and Arves could play with his new camera.

The park is amazing and includes an obstacle course, a hindu temple, swings, slides, and pools and fountains to splash and cool off in. We'll be spending a good bit of time there in the future. Here are some photos from our day . . .

The reflexology path looks benign enough. That is until you take your shoes off and try to take a stroll along it! I think the only reason it makes you feel better is the endorphins that get released due to the pain.


This gentleman appeared to be cleaning the small shrine that sits next to the play park.

What's that? A poorly snapped photo? Nothing an overly cute little model and some creative license can't fix.

"Mommy-Daddy", is what Emily calls Tica these days, so you can actually see all 4 of us in this photo, I guess . . .

They have monkeys in the park as well . . .

And fountains

After the park we got hungry and headed up to Tree Monkey again for lunch. I love the views from this place!




We also found some ROCKS!!!!

It's good to have Tica back and to be out and about as a family again. Now if we can only get some of you to come and join us! We'll treat you nice, we promise.

Monday, April 9, 2012

What happened to all the updates?


Well . . . Tica is in Austin leaving Emily and Arves to their own devices . . . This little piece of destruction only took about 30 seconds to create.





We partied a little . . .


Played with money . . .



And did our best to get Daddy to let her do what ever she wanted - this look was particularly successful.