Pandaland instead of Disneyland. Japan is cancelled, Sichuan China is the next stop.................

As luck would have it. An earthquake disaster struck Japan. 9.1 magnitude earth quake plus a tsunami that came rolling in after that put everything in the country to chaos. Kinda of a grim reminder of the Banda Acheh Tsunami back a few years ago. 

So I had a tough decision to make, go or not go..............with the nuclear meltdown and constant supply shortage of water and basic food. Its was a decision of mine not to add in anymore strain to the country resources. Plus i think its really not nice if people are suffering and your having good time. 

So there I was yesterday scrambling mad to cancel my flight with Air Asia and replacing it with a alternative to Chengdu. Peace to u bro Patrick at Air Asia call center Singapore( this guy got my credit shell refund in less than 24 hours ). To be honest i was lost when i decided to cancel my flight before yesterday, i mean come on. The preparation, the anticipation build up to Japan  was kinda of a rush for me. 

So I did the logical thing which was to streamline what are my options..............10 days to burn, not gonna just waste it like that.........it came down to 2 choices. Option a. Vietnam - a trip from North to South over 10 days. Option b. China - Sichuan over 10 days. Weather wise both was at the right time. Finally decided to settle on China as I still had some CNY leftover from last year's Guilin trip. The only issue now is with my visa. Got to get it done asap.....................

Ready for Japan

Shit me, i've just realised that i have not been updating my blog for like a year. Things was like so fast in 2010. One minute I was in KL, then moved to Singapore for work. Had to of course go through the whole shit load of exams to get my license to work in Singapore.

Singapore is a really lousy place for outdoors............bottomline, fullstop. I spoke to my colleagues, most kids here don't get to see a walking cow for like most of their growing up years. I'm an adult, when i'm in Malaysia, i get to see it minimum once a week. Well i guess, the reverse is true. Most Malaysians don't get to see 3 or 4 Louis Vuitton store on one stretch of the street. If you're a shopping fan, Singapore is great. Anyway, that's another story.

So anyway, i've been slogging my ass here in Singapore trying to make some moolah. Sacrifice my weekly weekend ritual of the outdoors since July 2010. Honestly i dunno how long i can last with the city life here. Its so boring..........no jungle, no waterfall, no wildlife to observe, I haven't even seen a street rat for like ages. So i figure i better start planning something. Sometime in November last year when Airasia X decided to fly to Japan. I looked at the website and went ahead and booked a trip there. 10 solid days of backpacking. a bit of the city, a bit of the countryside, try to fit a hike in there, highlight of course is the 2011 Tokyo annual fishing show. Cost me like USD 500 for a tickets. Thanks for the great deal Tony (CEO of Airasia). So i really getting excited about it, been surfing religiously on what to do and where to go. Hunting for budget accommodation. Watch this space.....

Kimono clad Geisha

Tokyo drifting with the GT queens...........

Everest Base Camp - Day 2 Kathmandu-Lukla-Phakding

Day 2 was like get up, shower, brush teeth, pack up and went downstairs of the hotel lobby to wait for our transport to the airport to catch a flight to Lukla and ding, were day 1 on the trek. Everything happened so fast.
Upon reaching the airport, it was a mess. I haven't seen third world country airport for such a long time. Nothing digital at all. The weighing scale was like those used in olden days rice mills. You just stack your luggage and they read it off the scale. Everything was done manually. There was a reason to it. Everyday the power to the entire country will be cut off for 3 hours. The rationale is to let the power generator rest at the National Power Board grid management. I can't imagine how a factory would operate under such circumstances. The thing is the 3 hours of power outage nobody really know when exactly in a day it will happen. Can you imagine running a internet cafe business or if your in an ICU when that happen. So some rich merchants would get their own diesel power generator to continue running the show.

The mess at the airport reminded me of the old interstate bus station at Puduraya, Kuala Lumpur. people shouting for destination, people moving franticly. Basically, your objective is to get on the next available flight despite having booked your ticket. The challenge in getting to Lukla is the weather. There is a window of about 4 hours, usually in the morning. So you make sure you get your ass on board within that window period if weather permit.

The flight to Lukla generally takes about 1 hour give and take due to weather and wind condition. We flew in a twin otter, fokker type plane. Max seating is about 16 pax plus 2 pilot and 1 cabin crew. There needs to be some balancing work done when loading luggage and people on board.

Travel Note 2. Try to get a seat on the left hand side of the plane going to Lukla, on a return get a flight on the right hand side. Only if you want to see the Himalayan range.

We arrived at about 10am at Lukla, small airport, the hanger can accommodate about 4 planes max. The short and inclining landing strip makes it a bit of a hair raising experience. There is a whole group of people gathered at the airport, all waiting to get a piece of the action. Porters, Guides line up waiting for jobs. Looking at this, I understand why Nepal export so many foreign labour to Malaysia. There just too many people with no jobs available. Manufacturing can't take place because of the 3 hours no electricity on a daily basis. So where are people gonna work, anywhere but Nepal of course.

We rendezvous with our pre arranged porter Chabby and Paspati at the Khumbu Lodge. I was amazed at the equipment they use, some ropes and a head gear to shoulder the weight and thats it. No Northface, Deuter stuff.

We had our breakfast at the Lodge. I had a simple Tibetian bread with jam and of course chiya ( Nepali milk tea ). After breakfast, we went on our course to trek to Phakding. estimated about 3 hours away from Lukla. The route decline the proceed to move up and down again. The elevation was in fact lower than Lukla. The weather was nice, towards later in the evening it started to get cold probably in the region of 15c.

The 1st day probably took us about 4-5 hours. We were snapping our camera almost at anything that move. NJ told me, its normal, wait till you get to the 3rd day and you'll start ignoring everything and just walk.

We stayed in this nice Lodge. It was cosy room non the less, warm and nice. Toilet is shared and the kitchen and dining is in a separate building adjacent to our room. We hang around Phakding. Went around the whole village to check out on things. Despite being a small village, it has a pool club and a few small mom and pop convenient store.

Dinner was simple Dhal Bhat ( Rice with curry ). We then had to make selection for our next morning breakfast. I opted for tibetian bread and jam again. We went to bed pretty early cause there wasn't much nightlife.

Window seat

Pilot's cockpit

Village view from sky

Himalaya range

Mountains

OMG!!!! we're landing

Can't believe we just landed on this strip

Tenzing Hillary Airport

Lukla Main Street

Tibetian Bread

Young Porter

Check out the look on NJ's face

Big COCK

Supplies Porter

Flowers

Scenic

Prayer stones

House on waterfall??

The house is a hydro powered milling stone

National Geographic attempt

Undulating countryside

First cable bridge crossing on EBC

Unending walk

Curious cow

Country view

Macro prayer stone

another macro Prayer stone

Prayer wheel

Kitchen

Bed at last

Our tea house, check out the washbasin in front

Everest Base Camp - Day 1 Kuala Lumpur - Kathmandu

Our plane to Nepal

Trishaw in Thamel

Kalapatar Trekking Store

Main Street Thamel

Chilli Momos

Like all major trip, it must always have a drama. It spices up the trip so you have more stories for people. So welcome it. In our case, the flight was delayed for a full 2-3 hours, we were suppose to board at 6am and reach Kathmandu at 10am.

This was a nerve wrecking part cause we intended to spend the afternoon shopping for some last minute gear and suitable clothing for the cold weather up in the mountain.

So we ended up in Kathmandu around 12pm, by the time visa and customs were done, its about 2.30pm, hungry and a bit tired caused most of us got up at about 3am to make it to the airport. We went round to NJ ( our Guide ) office to sort out formality, fill in forms for the National Park permit, paid the money to NJ cause we couldn't be bother with carrying so much cash around.

He took us to the money changer across the road from his office to change our USD to Nepali Rupees and then its SHOPPING time. It was my first trip to Kathmandu. If i had a chance, I'll come again with an empty bag. In Thamel, the backpacker part of town you can get anything climbing, hiking, trekking & outdoor. I was like a kid let loose in the candy shop.

We went to this ultra cheap outlet call Kalapatar Trekking Store. The size of this store is probably 15 feet x 15 feet. I got my outer shell, ski pants and a few pieces of quick dry t-shirt. The whole cost me just under RM 150 ( less than USD 45 ). All north face imitation courtesy of Chaiman Mao's capitalism.

After the shopping bit, we went for our dinner at this local nepali shop specialising in Newari food. We had briyani, dhal bhat, aloo gobi ( cauliflower with potato ), chilli momos - this is good shit if you like spicy stuff. After dinner, we decided to go back to our room and knock off early.

Benro A-550EX Tripod .............. My new toy

Unextended pose

Extended pose

I couldn't believe it...................RM 5500 almost went down the drain...........My Canon EOS 400 DLSR + the 18-200mm lens almost went crashing to the floor while photographing the sunset at Mt. Bromor. It was lucky that i always instinctively held on to my camera. It was one of those cheap ass sakure tripod that cause the problem. The plastic mounting snapped in 4 places. Really couldn't believe it

The moment that happen an old chinese saying flashed my mind "You already bought the cow, make sure you get a rope for it". This saying literally means if you already spend a bomb on something make sure you get something worthy to look after it as well. Wise word for the day

The next day watching sunrise at Mt.Penanjakan, i still had to use my broken tripod. I carefully tied in place very crudely and holding the camera on my hand. It was a bummer photo shot and i told myself i had to get my hand on one of those strudy looking tripod once i get back. I immediately threw the entire sakure tripod into a bin just before i left Cemero Lawang.

Upon my return, I did my research based on photography forums, reviews and blogs. It was down to three brands Benro, Manfrotto and Gitzo.

I ended up chosing Benro over the rest due to a few objectives 1.Sturdiness, 2.value for money 3.weight aspect cos i do a lot of travelling. I also did found out from the net that Benro was made in china and built quiet similar to Gitzo's specs. ( Thank God for the Chinese capitalism ). the price is way cheaper than Gitzo. Manfrotto i find is too heavy for me. Fortunately i do not shoot like a professional, else i would settle for a Gitzo which cost a bomb. I only need the travelling tripod for the occassional sunrise and sunset or waterfall shots

I manage to research a place called YL Camera shop just down town in Kuala Lumpur stock the Benro tripod, located in Pudu Plaza on the 1st floor. So i decided to pay a visit there today to get my hand on a Benro tripod. I tried a few model keeping in mind my objectives.

The salesgirl was cool and she help me out in finalising my decision. And finally......
Model : Benro A-550EX ( Black colour )
Price : RM 500

Specs :
4 section
1470mm Max height, 480mm folded
1.45kg weight
Support up to max of 6 kg weight

All objective met, it even came with a bag and strap. So happy to have settled with a decent tripod for my future photography outing. Good thing also,found out the YL shop does trade in, so now i'm planning for my next outdoor toy Vosonic VP8870...................muahahhahaha

Taken with camera resting on it

Size when collapsed

Size when extended

Box bag and tripod

Cool wing nut for locking the height

Extendable and collapsible legs

Balancer checker and compass

Degree dial

Camera locking plate, very solid

Plate fixed on camera