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.

Fishing for Snakehead - No live frog was harmed during this trip

Last week me and my freshwater fishing buddy decided to explore an abandoned pond next to some duck rearing farm. This place is somewhere near the Selangor Fruit Valley in Rawang.
A month ago, while making attempt to fish for some Patin river catfish, we met some fishermen who did casting and the result was bad. So we thought what the hell, let's not waste time with this place.
Times are bad, river water has been polluted and the catfish are not biting. One of my regular fishing buddy has been incapacitated to serious hiking for fishing by his last major operation. Had some serious blood vessel rupture and almost died. He loves fishing like hell, so we thought lets try this abandoned pond out cause we can park just next to it and unload. Put a bench up for him to fish. Touch wood if he die while fishing, at least he died doing something he like. Life too short to be serious at times
So it was decided that we're gonna load up on chicken liver and earthworm for this trip. My cousin who came back from Bermuda decided to join in on this trip. we caught a few fishes, mostly were juvenile snakehead and featherback. All of them was released back into the pond to grow up more. My cousin caught a decent sized snakehead. Check out the smile on his face

Pond with loads of juvenile snakehead

Soaring Brahmini Kite

Peaceful water holds no fish??

Channa Lucius compared to 1.5 Litre mineral water

A happy fisherman

Huge Monitor Lizard

Lucky its not a muddy route

My fishing lure

The duck farm at the back ground

Another view of the pond

Batu Caves Training

6.30am dit dit dit dit...........There goes the alarm, time to get up for training

Usually on an uneventful weekend, i normally get up to Batu Caves for some keep in shape and fitness training.

huh............. isn't Batu Caves a temple cave where the hindus do all the body poking stuff at 1 time a year and people go into a trance to give thanks to Lord Murugan.

Yes, yes.............That's the thaipusam festival. I'll post a brief write on Thaipusam later

The 272 steps up to the cave is what i after, how hard can 272 steps be right ? One way ok, Up down 1 round ok, but try challenge yourself and try to do a 5-10 lap of up and down and tell me if you get a workout.

Many people do laps up and down the 272 steps on weekends. Although the place was not intended as a exercise area, the temple priest are generally ok on people doing their walk up and down the stairs

Some unwritten rule that most fitness guys and girl abide by while training here
1. Always give way/priority to devotees performing prayers here. Also forget about helping them up especially children or old folks, its a burden they have to carry by themselves. I've seen people kneel all the way up 272 steps with my own eyes............

2. Observe the no exercise area at cave entrance after the 272 steps

3. Help the temple priest carry stuff up to the temple if you see any, they usually leave bags of it at the start of the 272 steps.

4. Do not feed the monkeys

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

Broga Hill - Semenyih

After many months of being busy at work (starting at a new place). This is my lost counted attempt to write a blog on my weekend adventure. It was a good weekend hike. I manage to shoot many pictures and try different technique. The plus point was my sifu Yap was ever glad to part with his photography knowledge to me. The climb was short and simple. It was a good break from fishing and just enjoying the morning air.

We started the hike at 6am. It was raining like mad from 1.30am. So the terrain was expected to wet and soggy. The Petronas station where we gathered before the hike was packed mad by the group organise by Peter with about 30 hikers. Some of these guys i've met and some were new faces. We exchange jokes and say our hello and we proceeded to drive to the plantation where we would park our car and start the hike.

Honestly, i didn't know what to expect as i am a virgin on this mountain despite it being so near the city. Some season guys who been here told me, 'its a piece of cake' 45 minutes tops to the peak. We trekked through a plantation for about 10 minutes before we reached the base of the hill for the climb. Needless to say, it was a walk in the park for me. Good warm up after being out of action from hiking for almost a few months. The last serious hike I had was Gunung Datuk. Took me about 40 minutes to the peak. This hill has 3 peaks. The view from these peaks are pretty much the same as they are actually on the same ridge line. We hanged around the peak 2 and decided not to head to peak 3 due to the heavy traffic. I was glad as I caught with many old climbing buddies and was busy having snack and drinks with them.

The scenery was beautiful with the fogs on the background. Some people was complaining that we can't see the sunrise due to the overcast weather. I beg to differ. Different weather gives different lighting background thus create different scenery. In my next post i'll attach some photos i've taken with the overcast weather.

We got down after spending about an hour on peak 2. The downhill trip took us only 30 minutes. I decided to trek down slowly as the entire track was muddy and slippery. Back at the carpark, we got into our car and changed and headed towards Broga town for our breakfast.