Would like to share some of the pictures I took during my recent holidays.

Comments are welcomed.

Four Sisters
Distant view of Mount Siguniang. Do you see the four peaks?
The highest peak in this area is Mount Fourth Girl. It encompassed 4 peaks perennially covered with snow soars high with maximum 6,250 m above sea level in the northwest of Western Sichuan Plain.



Abode of the God.
Close-up of the snow-covered peaks.The original Tibetan name of the peaks was Kula Shidak, meaning abode of the mountain god.

*Damn! I see a dust spot on the sensor



Autumn foliage against snow-capped mountains.


This post has been edited by ??!!: Feb 28 2007, 11:09 AM

Siguniang Mountain Scenic Area is situated in Xiaojin County of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, northwest Sichuan




Changping Gully
Vast valley within Mount Siguniang Park,
29 km long with an area of 100 sq. km. In the gully, there are ancient cypress ,and gushing waterfalls




Dead trees and their reflections in a lake.


This post has been edited by ??!!: Nov 3 2006, 06:32 PM

nice pics of moutains... prefer pic #5

edited

This post has been edited by benzene88: Nov 3 2006, 05:46 PM

wow...nice pic....and what a nice sences....

walao.. nice pic...
do know util when i can go there..
better go shoot hulu langat moutain

nice dust there

try this

my wife said you took very beautiful photos, especially of the cobble road.

This post has been edited by gold3knight: Nov 3 2006, 09:27 PM

my gosh....the scenery.......make me wish that i was rich to be able to travel around

then work for it
buy a D80, then start shooting

Thxs Ppl!...for dropping by and for your comments.

Knight,

Thanks for the link for the clean-up. I've used the blower when I locked up the mirror; but it's still there. Maybe ah mah mata rabun...don't see any dust/dirt, but the spot is showing up. Maybe kena masuk hospital liao.



tell your wifey I appreciate her appreciation of my pix. The walkway in Changping Gully is actually made out of planks. It was covered with algae and frost..and we kept slipping!

the dust on the cmos is invisible to our eyes. when I clean my camera, i don't see anything also, but it's there.

wow....cold place, nice picture

say that again , friend!...yeah, invisible, but it's such a big blob of a grey on the pix.

Thx!..you're right.It WAS cold...Luckily camera didn't die on me, like it did in Huanglong

More pix coming up:
Broad Plain Valley-Another site at Siguniang.

Tibetian villagers jostling for business, offering to take us up the mountain on their horses.




Local woman with colourful headgear



On horse-back to our destination on the right.
The wide expanse of sky and mountain gives one a sense of unsurpassed peace and tranquility.

Old Cypress
One of the many that makes up the ancient cypress forest in Siguniang


Easy way up to the mountain....along the river bed


Gutsy toddler
Alone on horse back, which is the only way up to the mountain.
Unless one wants to take the long trek up on foot ....
*why am I thinking of Knight's daughter?*



Taking a break at a clearing.
Looks like some scene of a Malboro Wild Country advertisement?


Baby Yaks


Finally....our destination!

maybe because I am the only one posting photos of my own daughter while the others are posting photos of other people's daughters

The Destination photo is beautiful.

nice pic you got there

True statement. You're about the only one always showing pix of your daughters. And your daughters so pretty one...sure always reminded of her, hor?

Thx!

The Mugecuo Scenic Area is 30 kilometres north of Kangding with lakes and hot springs scattered throughout.

Mugecuo Lake
The 350 square kilometre lake sits at a height of 3780 metres on the mountain. The azalea bushes on the banks are said to blossom only every two years. The Tibetan meaning for Mugecuo is "Wildmen's Lake".



I have taken different composition of the lake ( to make up for the ones I didn't get at Lake Matheson,NZ due to windy conditions )



Which one looks better? Help me decide...





* Haiya...vignetting at the edges..due to stacking of the Polarizer on top of the UV filter? Is it have to remove UV filter when using Polarizer? *

This post has been edited by ??!!: Nov 7 2006, 05:27 PM

I like the shot with people in it. Shows the scale of the lake. The one with the branches coming down from the top, have to rotate the image a bit. The horizon is tipping to the right.

I stack my PL ontop of the UV filter also, never remove the uv filter

Could it be the stacking of the filters on the wide angle lens?



I thought this one draws the viewer into the picture. But somehow the boat seems to spoil the sense of remote-ness that I like about the place. Ok...I am a anti anything man-made kind of person.

Would have loved to trim the hanging branches for the pix; but does not cherish the thought of having to have a taste of China's prison for spoiling their national treasure! The long branches on the left just seem to throw the whole pix out of balance...

The one without any framing just seem ....eer...too 'clean'; to the point of being uninteresting.

This one really killed my mood:

Man's Destructive Ways
Frost on an empty cigarette pack strewn on the otherwise pristine grounds of the Kham Highlands.

argh, the curse of tobacco companies, they're everywhere.

Nice pix u have there bro. Nice compo as well Love it !

I'll blame the litter-bugs and polluters of our environment. Smokers can poison themselves for all I care.

Thanks!

Gushing Streams and Towering Waterfall , besides emerald calm lakes; are the hallmark of Jiuzhaigou.

Wasted my time and energy carrying the tripod, no chance to use. Hardly have standing space and the hordes of ppl just made it impossible. Anyway, some shots I took, handheld...so not very sharp

Autumn in Jiuzhaigou


Towering Waterfall


>>>go makan dulu.....cont'd...nanti....

This post has been edited by ??!!: Nov 10 2006, 01:04 PM

walao.. nice waterfall shoots..
shoots waterfal izzit need to use low shutter?? 1/10 or ???

the first water terjun very nice, nicer if u have tripod and longer shutter speed!

ah leong, slower shutter speed is nicer for water flowing image, it will create the soft and blur effect of the water

Ah Leong & LanX,

Thanks for coming by.

Hahah...got tripod also no use...hardly have standing space also...want to 'par wai' to take pix also susah...everyone is shoving and pushing for space!!!!...I almost got pushed into the water. Luckily someone grabbed my jacket

LanX is right. I used Apeture Priority mode. It was quite misty and sky is overcast. Somemore most of the time, we are under heavy cover...lots of trees.
Poor lighting, no tripod, moving water. I also binggung...dunno what setting to use.

This one taken at f/22...smooth water effect:



This one taken at f/5.6...not-so-smooth water effect:

u have nice compo bro... nice place 2...very sharp pcs oso...thx 4 sharing bro.. ^.^

??!!, they were how many of them shooting at the same scene at one time? seem like a really big group

This post has been edited by LanEvoX: Nov 10 2006, 02:55 PM

VERY beautiful waterfall photos.
so unfortunate that you have to shuffle with other people for photo taking. having gone with a tour to shanghai before, I quite understand your situation. That's why a lot of my holiday photos has very little landscape shots. A lot of time, some fool would wander into the shot, spoiling it.
luckily your sensor not so dirty. otherwise at f/22, you'd see dark spots on the photos.

THX for your kind words and for dropping by.

My group not very besar...semua kenal sama sdn. Jiuzhaigou is like swarmed with ppl. To beat the maddening crowd, we were waiting at the park entrance at 6.30 am; to be the first group to enter. The waterfall portion was the last destination when the crowd had gathered. Had to walk on planks placed over the flowing water( like the foll pix.) This part where the pix was taken, it was not so crowded and I waited quite a while for the ppl to go away . Most parts of the way, I didn't have to walk, I just got pushed along.

Water is gushing out from every nook and corner.

#1 & #2, looked solid enough to walk on, (but just a photographic illusion )

this two oso handheld?
very nice

def not handheld. nice pics.. i needa find myself more waterfalls!

walk on the water??...oohhh..kena bawa current nanti!


Yes..

Thx!....

def=??

do they allow u to jump into the water?.. XD looks so cold..

I would think not. Srictly stay on the path.

Well, if you really want to jump into the freezing water, can always claim innocence and say that you fell or was pushed into the water

intresting long exposure shots. ths for sharing, nv had my chance to go china yet...

Thx for coming by. More pix:

Emerald Lakes and Autumn Hues @ Jiuzhaigou.

the water is so clear

It's so clear that one can see the bottom of the lakes..and the colours !...all shades of blue, emerald , turquoise. Very much like the waters off Redang/Perhentian islands.

Leshan Giant Buddha
The statue of a seated Maitreya Buddha with his hands resting on his knees.Standing 71 metres tall, the shoulders are twenty-eight metres wide. The smallest toenail is large enough to accommodate a seated person.



Steps cut into the mountain , leading up to the Unesco World Heritage site of Leshan Giant Buddha.



Close-up of the face of The Maitreya,Leshan; the largest stone-carved buddha in the world. Personally, I prefer the one at Bingling Temple at Xiahe.

Hailougou Valley Glacier located in Mount Gonggar.

Hailougou Glacier
The Great Ice-Fall - 1100 meters wide and 1080 meters in height, viewed 3 km away. It stretches 14.7 km down from the slopes of Gongga Shan.



Interesting Cloud Formation over Mount Gonggar. To get a feel of the height of the mountain, look out for the pylon on right of pix



Minute.. like Ants
Visitors dwarfed by the ice -formation at the base of the glacier. A 1,600-year-old massive glacial field of smashed ice. crushed rock,and mud

Local Girl taking a pix in front of Hailougou Glacier



Hengduan Mountains
@ Eastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Comprising 71 glacires in a total area of 255 Km², in Minya Konka.



Cicak in the sky?
Cloud formation that resembles a cicak aka gecko



Sudden cover of clouds over the mountain range where Hailougou Glacier is situated.



This post has been edited by ??!!: Nov 20 2006, 04:17 PM

there's no smilies to represent how I feel.

Breathtaking.
takes my breath away.
i feel so insignificant now compared to the glacier.
I need to find time to go there to visit.

stormrider ...

Mother nature never fail to bring solace to our soul.

Imagination...imagination

Prior to Departure

Browsing thru the shops at the airport....killing time before departure to Chengdu

Hurrying to board..



Lantern Deco
Looks like rockets taking off.



Colour of the lights changes ; like the lights on the christmas tree!

You have excellent pics there. I love the landscape pics.

Glad you like the pix.

More airport pix..

Tagong Grassland

...one of my favourite places. Wide expanse of steppe surrounded by high mountains.


Look at the joy on the faces of these 2 young Ethnic Tibetian girls. Taken on the steppe;as they walk pass horses towards the temple.

More on Tagong. C & C appreciated.

Mountain Full of prayer flags on Tagong Grassland


Monks & Temple


Snowy Mountain @ Tagong


It's snowing!

ah, so long didn't visit here liao. So nice the photos. The mountain photos made me feel like "Snowy Mountain Flying Fox"...

Thanks for dropping by.
Is this some 'Wu-xia' Tv drama?..

Tagong Temple, a well known landmark of the Sakya (Flower) Sect, was built during Qing Dynasty. Situated on an altitute of 3700 M. on a vast expanse of green meadow surrounded by snow-capped peaks and dotted with Tibetan herdsmen and tents.



Intricate design of the temple



Long white wall of Tibetian temple on the Tagong Grassland



Red terraces- part of the temple complex in Tagong



Locals having a chat outside Tagong temple

A trip to Sichuan will be incomplete without a visit to the Wolong Panda Reserve. The pandas there are full of antics.

Give me a hug..I am so sad


Lovey Dovey


Like a Big Tai-pan - Crossing his legs


Doing the split


Sooo Manja
This panda was actually sulking and hiding behind the rock despite his keepers' cajoling.


Taking a break from all the posing

nice panda photos.
did you pay to photograph, or pat or ....the panda?

cute PANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Need to pay to get into the reserve. Took photo from outside of the enclosures..no further payment.

Want to go hug/pat the panda ??

* brace yourself for this*

pay RMB 1,000

Didn't pat no pandas. Instead, I offered myself to to be hugged by the pandas for the same amount. (since I am just as cute/adorable as the pandas ( if not more)

LYN member got special price?

daylight robbery!!

ok, be more specify, got special offer for me?

... Ah-Mah oso you want to hug meh?

really Ah-mah meh?

Now...now, that's a RM1,000 question!

Shadow Play

A stop by our bus to top-up water to cool down the tyres ended up being a photo-shooting opportunity.
Lone hut on the plain surrounded by rolling hills, that's home to a local family.

More pix from the same spot

Solar Cooker


Coming home from school



Balancing Act


Welcoming Smile ..on seeing us
How to meter?...one person in bright sunlight, the other in the shadow


Tibetian Woman..she's quite a leng-lui, don't ya think?


The next shaolin kid



This post has been edited by ??!!: Dec 15 2006, 05:56 PM

vert nice shoto on the shadow...all great shoot i can say...

finally i know how u look like....

meter on the bright, fill flash for the dark, i suppose.
i think the canon website on its tutorials section has this topic. just have to search for it.

TQ..TQ...Pl drop by more often, give CC so that can improve.

cute or not?

This technique always gets me wondering. Would the flash render the bright areas over-exposed? Also, mahu focus kat which area?

uh.....those pic are nice...vivid......but the balancing one is like blur a bit....like color is out.....
btw, what they cook in the solar cooker? any thing?? roast potato??
hehe...jk

Dunno what's cooking leh.

The balancing act pix one got me by surprise. She like suddenly came into the viewfinder when I was taking other scenes. Setting semua tak betul , didn't focus properly also, simply snap before she walks away.

oh....hehe...no wonder...

Ermei Shan

Yes. The same Ermei Shan referred to in many a chinese wu-xia movies. Learnt that the nuns symbolised in them movies is just a legend. The temples only had monks.

Massive urn with incessant flow if joss-sticks carrying prayers of the faithful to the Gods.



Tough work manually carrying concrete slabs up the mountain at Ermei. The thin air left me gasping for air just walking up the mountain. These men earn about RM10 per day. If it was some wu-xia movie, one could imagine these guys are some disciple going thru some tough training.



C & C appreciated.

dang, i missed the shadow play pics...
where do you meter the 1st and 2nd pic?

which pix are you referring to?...the shadow play one or the Ermei ones?

Metering...something that have me stumped many a times..most times, I meter on the subjects, away from the sky...unless, my focus is on the clouds.

yup, the shadow.. your focus point is pointed to the wooden house?

Focus was on the ground where the shadows formed. That's why the sky is kind of blown out, and the hut is a little under.

More Ermei pix:

Golden Summit


The massive statue of Buddha



The Buddha sees you wherever you may be



Silver Temple
Shadow of couple refllected on marble floor as they gaze at the Golden arch of the yet another temple up the mountain

Elephant sculpturesatop balustrades on the stairway to 'Golden Summit' Temple




Cable cars up to Ermei. Mode of transport for ordinary folks. Kung-fu experts at Ermei fly to the summit.



Situated 3099 m above sea level, the summit of Ermei is usually covered in mist most of the time. We were extremely lucky to have the clouds cleared. Suppose it was due to the amount of prayers offered as seen here


The mother of all hand-held joss -stick

wow....u been to so many places....great photo i can say...i love them very much..........i wish i can be just like u..always traveling around the world.

Been to some places; many more on my wish list. Ya, I'm a travel maniac..most of my $$ spent on travelling

Glad that you like the pix..hope they can poison you to travel more,,hehehe

haha....u already poison me on traveling.........
now i just wish to save more money for travel....DSLR wait awhile la..haha...

normally how much u spend on a trip? how much u put on ur accomodation?

aaron tai kor, come japan travel can get a dslr along the way!

u oso!!! always poison me with ur japan pic
haha......but really great place..i love japan alot......on the top of my travel list....
no DSLR cannot go ar??!!! FZ50 oso cannot

hm, your photos make me wish i had a better paying job and that my kids are at least 5 years old so I can go traveling.

aahh...dilemma! ...soo many loves, soo lack of $$...SLR or travel??

The amount I spend varies.,,can range from RM200 to 8k per trip. Depends on who I go with and the destination...Accomodation can range from few ringgit for back-packers hostel to few hundred for a splash at some resort..It really depends on the place I visit.


is it more expensive to get camera stuff from Japan?..i see lots of Japanese buying cameras in Spore.


leave the kids at 'out-laws'(oops!...i mean --in-laws) place. Ever thought of making your money work for you while you work for the money? This way, you have more than 1 income stream.