While I confessed that my outdoor adventures and travel didn’t reach the numbers and destinations that I would love to, there’s still some nice & exciting outdoor adventures and travels that I embarked since my Scouting days till  today. Travel magazines was once a favourite of mine and I used to buy and read them regularly, always mesmerised and dreaming of the various destinations and adventures that they went/been to.

In an era of social media expansion, via the various social media channels and networks, I got to know more travel folks, bloggers, writers, they have really awesome adventures and travel experiences. Among those I knew personally is Nellie Huang, a fellow Singaporean, who owns this travel website Wild Junket, who has a great following, personality and reputation among the travel community in the world. When Nellie launched her brand new E-Magazine on outdoor adventure and travel, I requested Nellie for a copy of her 1st E-Magazine WildJunket to do a review and I was impressed by WildJunket.

Let me share with you my personal views from my review on WildJunket E-Magazine February/March 2012

- WildJunket is written by passionate travel writers/bloggers of extensive travel experiences

- Great team of contributors on Wild Junket

- Excellent and interesting content, a truly outdoor adventure and travel E-magazine

- It’s world wide focus, unlike some other travel magazines, they sometimes tend to be continent focused.

- Very inspiring travel stories and travel destinations

- Very refreshing and exciting, injecting a fresh new perspective into travel magazines

- It’s not just about outdoor adventure and travels, there are other interesting articles from food to outdoor gears

- WildJunket has a community bonding and sharing, interacting, socializing and sharing with readers, contributors, writers and editors. Which other travel magazines in the world does this ? 

- It’s available in PDF format

- It’s tablet friendly

- It’s on Zinio (my favourite E-Magazine)

- Print edition would be available in the future (pending confirmation)

Pricing and subscription 

- USD $2.95 for single issue

- USD $14.95 for 12 months subscription

In my humble opinion, WildJunket is a excellent outdoor adventure and travel E-Magazine, at this price you are paying for and the awesome content you are reading, it’s definitely worth your money and time to buy and subscribe and read it many times!

For more information on WildJunket subscription, check out their WildJunket Magazine site for more details! After reading WildJunket E-Magazine 1st issue

I was more motivated and energised again, to seek out more outdoor adventure and travel, truly inspiring and heartwarming, I can feel it from reading the adventure stories and their photographs, encouraging me to travel light and travel far – traveling beyond  the conventional tourism trail, to seek out extraordinary experiences while protecting the environment.

Traveling forward ahead, I would like to be and hope to be featured one day inside her WildJunket E-Magazine in any of her editorial departments, maybe as a Travel Guide or Photo Essay ! 

Without a doubt, WildJunket E-Magazine is definitely worth your consideration to pay and subscribe to, and Nellie’s extensive travel website and blog is definitely the best testimonial.

Last but not least, I would like to congratulate Nellie on an awesome job on her WildJunket E-Magazine! Good luck and all the best in your WildJunket travels and outdoor adventure!!

I was invited by Sentosa to a preview of the Sentosa Flowers, on Saturday 21st January 2012, thank you very much to Sentosa for their kind and warm hospitality! Sentosa Flowers 2012 starts from 22nd January 2012 to 29th January 2012 and this beautiful event promises great photography opportunities for flowers and nice for family gathering events too! There are many interesting flora and fauna on display at Sentosa Flowers – Enchanted Spring, let me take you through some of the highlights there, they are my favourite highlights of Sentosa Flowers 2012 !!

- The Pink Floral Zodiac Dragon 

Located at the Merlion Plaza, you can’t miss this beautiful, cute, giant Pink Floral Zodiac Dragon, located in front of the Merlion, this is going to be a huge attraction for visitors, local and international, wanting to get a photograph of it!

- Awakening 

This is definitely going to be another “hot” location at Sentosa Flowers, visitors would be queuing up to take a photograph of this exotic Dragon sculpture! You would be able to hold a big brush and “touch” the eye of the Dragon, when your brush gives it a touch, it would “come alive”.

- Dance of the Dragon 

Located at Imbiah Lookout, you can’t miss this great piece of artwork/sand sculpture, a Dragon sand sculpture, surrounded by beautiful colourful flowers, dancing around them, ushering in the Year of the Dragon, bringing prosperity and good fortune to all!

- Dinoland

My personal favourite at Sentosa Flowers 2012 !!! You must go there and find those cute dinosaurs!!! They are located at Dinoland, on the route up from Merlion Plaza to Imbiah Lookout!!!

There are more highlights too at Sentosa Flowers 2012, do check out the information here! Flowers galore too at Sentosa Flowers and do spot them along your tour of Sentosa Flowers Festival 2012!! There is a fun photography competition – Magic Moments, during Sentosa Flowers too, do check them out here!

For more information, check out Sentosa Flowers website for more details and information! Grab you cameras, visit Sentosa Flowers 2012 and have fun! Check out more photos here from my Flickr collection!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

During the period leading up to the return and last day of the KTM Railway operations in Singapore, it gained massive interest and following, from taking photographs, trekking along the railway tracks, reminisce of the olden days, public consultation on the future of the Green Corridor and outcry over the removal of the railway tracks. I would not go too much into the details of the happenings and timeline after the return of the KTM Railway, it can probably become a mini thesis of the happenings and follow-ups, public consultations, exhibitions, discussions between different bodies. I had been documenting, photographing and writing on the Green Corridor as much as I could, do check out my The Green Corridor Collection on Flickr!

Map of the Green Corridor Stretch (Bukit Timah Railway Station to Holland Road)  - Maps attributed to OneMap by SLA, http://www.onemap.sg/index.html and CY Leong.

This Green Corridor is now officially known as the Rail Corridor, while the plans and ideas are currently still in discussion, planning and consultation between different bodies, the public and the government, the final plans for the Rail Corridor is still unknown. Most of the Rail Corridor is currently not yet open to the public again, however, there is a 1.4km stretch of station and railway land open to the public from September 16, southwards from the steel bridge along Bukit Timah Road towards Holland Road, that was announced via Channel News Asia. I had been wanting to walk this stretch and see for myself first hand how the changes were really like after the removal of the tracks, the surroundings. My business, time and other personal commitments stalled my plans, finally, I was able to set aside a bit of my time on Boxing Day, to explore this 1.4km stretch.

First and Foremost, with the removal of the railway tracks, some things once removed it will never be the same again. 

The railway tracks were covered up with soil/earth, grass is growing nicely on top of it, although not as natural as the surrounding flora and fauna, it somehow tries to fit into the greenery and surroundings, considering the factors, it’s quite good actually. There was a concern on the greenery, the wildlife and reserve, known as the Clementi Woodlands, being affected by the removal works. From my trek up and down this 1.4km railway land stretch, the damage (if any) looks minimal, the wildlife can be seen and heard, from the birds chirping away, to the dragonflies and fishes inside the small clear flowing stream and pond.

It’s definitely comforting that this stretch of the Rail Corridor still retains the aura, greenery, tranquil and natural beauty, while it’s a real pity that the railway tracks cannot be retained, I sincerely hope that this Rail Corridor or Green Corridor, will stay as a green belt, a green spine that gives Singapore a outdoor recreational and leisure area, for Singaporeans to remember her railway history, heritage and culture, along with space for trekking, running, walking, nature and wildlife studies, cycling. What exact plans/developments will the Rail Corridor be in the future ? We will know it soon in the next few years to come. Do follow We Support The Green Corridor or the Rail Corridor and look out for the updates!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

With Singapore’s limited landspace and thirst for expansion, Bukit Brown is slated for re-development, firstly, with the building of roads across this area, supposing to ease the traffic woes around there. This is only the initial stage with future plans for Bukit Brown being further re-developed into areas for housing development. There was a public outcry, it wasn’t just affecting the dead people below the ground at Bukit Brown, we are destroying flora and fauna, wildlife and animal sanctuary, and most importantly history, heritage and culture.

I was also following the developments and discussions of the Bukit Brown, reading it online via the social media channels and decided to join Nature Society (Singapore) Public Walk @ Bukit Brown on 24th December 2011 morning, led by Hang Chong of NSS, who gave us a great tour and overview of history, heritage, wildlife, flora and fauna of Bukit Brown. When I was hiking around  with the rest of the group, the lush greenery is very tranquil and beautiful, the peace can hardly be found in modern cosmopolitan busy hectic Singapore.

This was also the time to learn more about our culture, heritage and history, we can do so much more in this few areas, it was an eye-opener for me, a reminder to myself, we must always keep on learning and never stop learning, in one area, learning from the forefathers of Singapore, with their entrepreneurship, philanthropy and giving it back to society is something so precious that no amount of monetary value can be placed on it and many of them are there at Bukit Brown.

You can do a part too, support the movements to preserve and save Bukit Brown, follow them on these 2 sites on Facebook

Save Bukit Brown Cemetery – The Roots of Our Nation

Heritage Singapore – Bukit Brown Cemetery 

We are not just preserving history, heritage and culture. We are also preserving a lush greenery belt that is a sanctuary for wildlife, flora and fauna and lastly an untouched green space in concrete Singapore. There are still much for me to photograph and document and I would plan to go back there soon again, to continue with the photojournalism coverage of Bukit Brown.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

In June 2012, Singapore will see an even bigger, better and more beautiful change to her greenery and garden space, Singapore’s paradigm shift is from “Garden City” to “City in a Garden”, a brand new holistic landmark to welcome the new “City in a Garden”, ladies and gentlemen, presenting Gardens By The Bay.

Along with the 20th World Orchid Conference held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, visitors to the World Orchid Conference are able to visit the Gardens By the Bay for a special preview, behind Marina Bay Sands, at the former Marina South Park. Even at this junction in time, Gardens By The Bay is not fully completed, visitors to the Gardens By The Bay – Bay South were not left disappointed and many were mesermised by aura, beauty, greenery and abundance of different trees and flowers from different parts of the world.

Visitors first impression walking over from Marina Bay Sands was the landscape beauty, walking along the DragonFly Bridge, visitors would see the DragonFly Lake before entering into the various Heritage Gardens comprising of

- The Malay Garden

- The Indian Garden

- The Chinese Garden

- The Colonial Garden

SuperTree Grove

Do you notice a few very special structure that stands out, it’s very unique and specially designed ? They are known as the SuperTree Grove, 25m to 50m high, they are your Gardens in the air, vertical gardens, showcasing tropical flowering climbers, epiphytes and ferns. Another awesome beauty is, when the night falls, they will come alive with very beautiful lightings and projected media.

The Conservatory Complex, 2 unique and beautiful architectural icons – Flower Dome and Cloud Forest, the Flower Dome was opened for visitors to enter and they were treated to a magnificent beauty of different Gardens within the Flower Dome Garden. The Flower Dome replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean and semi-arid subtropical regions like South Africa and Europe countries such as Spain and Italy. The Flower Dome is a VERY AMAZING icon, over 3,332 glass panels of different shapes and sizes made this so beautiful, unique and special!! With the following Gardens inside the Flower Dome

- Californian Garden

- Olive Grove

- Flower Field

- The Baobabs

- Succulent Garden

- Mediterranean Garden

- South American Garden

- Australian Garden

-South African Garden

This is just like many different beautiful oasis of plants, trees, flowers and natural beauty within a giant oasis! When the Gardens By The Bay is officially opened in June 2012, it will only get more beautiful and definitely an iconic Garden Landscape in the region and around the world too! Stay tuned of Gardens By The Bay development with updates from the Gardens By The Bay website, National Parks Singapore and Marina Bay Singapore Facebook. Do check out my special preview photos on Flickr !

I am looking forward to June 2012, to warmly and officially welcome the grand opening of Gardens By The Bay !!!

 

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Starting on a Friday, 4th November 2011, the pool action kick started till Saturday. It wasn’t just the big boys in action, the ladies teams were playing, along with the school boys, providing continuous sporting action on the grounds for the crowds to enjoy. Besides the sports, there’s the sideline carnival festivities of food and drinks.

Many teams from different parts of the world coming back to Singapore to play in the 64th SCC Rugby 7s, although one of the crowd favourites, the South Africa Vipers wasn’t able to join this year, some teams returned back to Singapore playing in the SCC Rugby 7s again, the Swedish Vikings with their awesome Viking Hats whenever they ran on to the pitch! The French connection consisting of French Development and NAPTHA Pyrenees7s, this was their maiden debut in the SCC 7s competition! These teams provided more flair and spectacle to the SCC 7s!

Shot over 2 days, Saturday and Sunday, great to watch and enjoy the rugby matches at the same time. Check out my sports photography of the 64th SCC Rugby 7s on my Flickr , SCC Rugby 7s 2011 – Day 2 and SCC Rugby 7s 2011 – Day 3. For more information into the history and heritage of the SCC Rugby 7s, do drop by their website and the information is available there!

 

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The Ablitt Cup Competition, fought between Daveta and Borneo Eagles, was a great game that lived up to the reputation of fast flowing attacking Rugby 7s, hard fought, passionate, fast paced, fierce and competitive. Daveta from Fiji came up tops and they are the 64th SCC Rugby 7s Ablitt Cup holders! Congratulations to them for a great fight, sporting spirit and passion! Let’s all look forward to the 65th year of SCC 7s in 2012 and will love to watch Daveta coming back to defend their crown!

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Researching more into Candle Night 2011 origins, Candle Night  is an environmental event that helps in finding one’s inner sense of time, organised by Lighting Detectives Singapore. The Lighting Detectives is founded by Kaoru Mende, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the study of lighting culture through practical methods, and surveying of urban light environments, do check out Candle Night at Marina Bay on Facebook (Source : Shomei Tanteidan website). They are very inspiring with their lightings, artwork, environmental awareness and it just makes me people pause in time to admire the lights and think about Mother Nature.

I walked up and down from Merlion Park along One Fullerton, amazed and mesmerised by the the various lighting designs and artwork. They were all like shining lights, beacons and lanterns, attracting us towards them, reminding us of being environmentally conscious. Slowly walking and enjoying myself, immersing with the lightings, this was a very beautiful lighting and meaningful environmental event.

Candle Night at Marina Bay lights it up in a very special manner and aura, striking a balance of modern cosmopolitan bay view skyline with a social cause to be more environmentally friendly and conscious. Mesmerised and inspired, as a photographer, a photojournalist, it’s all about lighting, Candle Night inspires me to be more curious and passionate about lighting! Maybe I should be a Lighting Detective too ? Let’s see ….. Do check out the beautiful photographs from Candle Night 2011 at Marina Bay !!

 

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
 

During my recent Thailand trip with Sue, Amanda and Sue’s family, chatting with Sue’s dad, whose an avid fisherman, I got more excited to visit Elly Kelong and discussions went ahead to plan another short getaway trip to Elly Kelong! Finally, on the weekend of 8th and 9th October, the 4 of us, Clayton, Sue and Amanda, along with Sue’s parents and their friends, we began our adventure with a ferry ride from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Tanjung Pinang in Bintan. After reaching Tanjung Pinang, we had our lunch first nearby the town centre, tasted great local ba ku teh (more like many mixed pig meat parts herbal soup) that is yummy and delicious. Next up was a trip to the supermarket to stock up tidbits and drinks (mineral water & beer) before our 1 hour land transfer across to the other side of Bintan Island, from the west to the east. Where is Elly Kelong located, with reference to the map below, look for Trikora Beach and look up towards Teluk Bakau, it’s somewhere there!

Map Source : Welcome to Bintan.com 

Upon reaching, it was a quiet, peaceful and tranquil location, away from the bustling and hassle city life, tucked away facing the beautiful sea, clear water. The weather was very beautiful when it’s bright and sunny with clear blue sky along with white fluffy clouds formation. Clayton and I shared a room with air-con, simple yet comfortable and nice, with its own shower and toilet facilities. Kicking into action, I prepared my fishing equipment and was caught in no-man’s land because I replaced my fishing line in the wrong direction, Sue’s dad saved me by releasing the whole reel line and recoiling back in the correct direction, on top of that, my fishing weights and hooks were too big and heavy for the shallower kelong fishing here! Last but not least, I had terrible luck and couldn’t catch any fish for 2D1N ! Of course, I did try to fish as much as could over the 2 days!

Even though I didn’t caught any fishes, it was also a relaxing and fun getaway for me with Clayton, Sue and Amanda, from eating, chatting, walking around exploring the neighbourhood, playing with the lovely friendly cute cats of Elly Kelong, taking lots of photographs (glamorous and un-glamourous), swimming, sun-tanning, camping out at night with tidbits & beer, chatting under the moon. The getaway was awesome, relaxing and fun, with lots of making/poking fun at people (most of the time was directed at me since I am the “biggest target board”). Playing with fireworks at night, I love playing with fireworks since I was a kid playing with fireworks in Malaysia, at my grandma’s home!

The photographs will bring many memories for us, I am looking forward to go back again, more and better prepared for fishing, to buy more fireworks to play there, doing a 3D2N stay instead in order for us to visit the island across whereby we can do a day trip to enjoy the sun, beautiful sand and sea. Take a look at the photographs that I took of our Elly Kelong adventure!

Great short getaway, great companionship, peaceful, tranquil and a break away from the city life. It’s something that I would strive to have, hopefully every quarter in the future, a short 2D1N  or 3D2N getaway nearby …

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I was kindly invited by the Marina Bay Division of Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for a day of social, leisure and recreational activities on 24th September 2011 and it was a dream coming true when I was able to board the beautiful and magnificent Audi Ultra Super Maxi Yacht for a short trip on the Marina Bay waters!! Alright, before I go further into my adventure story telling, here’s more information on the Audi Ultra Racing Team. Here’s the technical details of the yacht and it’s an awesome sight to be on this gorgeous yacht! Check out them on Audi Ultra Racing Team on Facebook too!

With a great crew to sail us around the Marina Bay, explaining to us the history, specifications, power and capabilities of this yacht. We were given a taste of her strengths and unique feature of the canting keel! Sailing around the Marina Bay is very fun and I am looking forward to the future when there are more water activities on the Marina Bay, giving this beautiful Bay area, an even greater leisure and recreational environment! Sailing around the Bay, taking photographs from the heart of the Marina Bay waters, this experience is priceless. The group of visitors on the yacht were also given a tour of the deck below the yacht, having a first hand glimpse of how yacht living is like, it’s an eye-opener!

Do check out fellow blogger’s write up on the sailing adventure together with me!

- Jerome Lim

- Leone Fabre

- Would update the links here once other fellow bloggers share about their adventures!

While it was only a short trip around the Marina Bay, it was absolutely great fun, I got myself behind the steering wheel and acted like the captain of the yacht! Returning back to shore, I was very happy to say that I was on board a modern, powerful, sporting competition yacht, the Audi Ultra Super Maxi Yacht!  This would not have been possible with the special arrangement by Juliana Tan of Marina Bay Division and the wonderful crew of the Audi Ultra Racing Team. Thank you all for this special sailing event! Check out my sailing adventures photos here!

The Audi Ultra Super Maxi Yacht is now on its way for more adventures & competitions! Wishing her crew all the best and good luck!! Hope to catch you all again at Marina Bay !!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

With an exciting entertainment program line-up of international singers and performers, making Singapore F1 GP unique and special from the rest of the other F1 circuits around the world, bringing Singapore to a spotlight around the world. However, I was more interested in the F1 cars in high octane speed action, more than the performers. Therefore, I was walking around and soaking in the carnival atmosphere, watching the F1 cars zooming pass me and trying to identify each and every F1 car, capturing them down on my Canon 1Dmk3 with my 70-200mm f4 L USM lens. The sports photography of Formula One is very demanding, on the equipment, to be of the high end level, along with experiences, skills and tips.

Do check out my Singapore F1 GP collection and recap the memories !

- 2008 

- 2009 

- 2010

Starting off at Turn 13, at the Fullerton and Esplanade Bridge area, it was my favourite spot and it’s very crowded, having to squeeze in behind many rows of people and shooting the F1 cars with spectators heads in my photographs. After the practice session, I took a rest and enjoyed the cooling air-conditioning at the Esplanade before moving to Turn 8, near the Stamford Grandstand, another sweet spot for capturing F1 cars in action. Linked up with Renhao with his 300mm f2.8 lens and we were firing away during Qualifying Session.

While it was very challenging to capture the F1 cars in action, it gave me more experience than before and I would be planning to write my updated version of F1 Photography tips soon, looking forward into Singapore F1 GP 2012, I need to plan ahead, buy my 3 Days pass earlier and get the Premier Walkabout to capture F1 action from more angles, perspectives and locations in Singapore F1 GP ! There might be people out there who commented Singapore F1 GP is getting boring, personally, I think it will only get more exciting as we can see from 2010 and 2011, with more excitement on the rack circuit and more overtaking, with the F1 drivers getting more experiences on the Singapore F1 Marina Bay circuit!

Let’s all look forward to Singapore F1 GP 2012 !!

 

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