Frogeye Underwater Camera

I have received several emails about the underwater shot of Sun-Ling snorkeling in Bali.

Jay wrote:
Anyway, I remember your Canon underwater camera (or was that
S----'s?), and I thought you'd probably have an underwater digital camera or an underwater housing (I've seen a few of those). But a Lomo Frogeye? I've seen Lomo cameras the past few years and thought they were pretty neat, but for me they came a bit too late--since getting a digital camera I don't think I've been able to finish a roll of film in another camera. My three Canon SLRs (well, my prized Canon T90 died a month or two before I got my Nikon Coolpix), two Olympus XAs, Minolta Panoramic, and Yashica T5 all sit gathering dust. :-/

Your photos looked neat. Did you just get a photo CD back with the processed photos or....?

Do you have any other Lomo cameras? People seem to collect them.

Sun-Ling's cousin here in Shanghai is quite the amateur photographer. He shoots slide film, has it developed and then scanned. He never has slides mounted, just keeps the positives - 4 to a strip.

The cousin does not speak much English, so I'm not exactly sure what happened when he offered to get my Bali slide film developed and scanned... because...it took like 2 months to get the positives and digital images back. Some images were scanned backwards, maybe all of them, hard to tell. Some were 2MB scans. Some were 600K. So I just don't know. I thought he took his stuff to a regular retail place but maybe he has friends with connections.....I did not get a CD. He transferred them from his hard disk to our memory stick.

Anyway the shots came out OK even though I hate the fact that the Frogeye flash cannot be "turned off" as far as I can tell.

I have just the one Lomo. Maybe I'll shoot some more slide film with the Frogeye over the New Year holiday and get it developed and scanned myself.

After borrowing S----'s Canon underwater camera, we bought our own, a different model, the Canon Sure Shot A1 Underwater. It worked will for about 4 years until it developed a leak. It was a neat camera. Panorama. Flash control. Decent Auto settings. Good for over and under water.

Click here for more info on the Lomo Frogeye.

Here it is.... among the skyscrapers of Shanghai....My Frogeye!!!

Bali 2006 - Part 6 - Amed, Lepah Beach, Snorkel and Sail

I have posted the final part of the Bail trip report over on meckleyearth.

Here's a preivew:

Sun-Ling posing for our Lomo Frogeye underwater camera.


Sailing at sunrise in the Lombok Strait. Also taken with Lomo Frogeye.

Shopping for Xmas Eve Dinner Party

Sun-Ling and I are having a few friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve, so last night we went out to one of our nearby supermarkets to buy stuff. The Christmas carols were blaring so I discretely set my camera on the shopping cart and took some video.

This supermarket is in the basement of a shopping mall and was not particularly crowded last night.

The folks in blue uniforms are supermarket staff.

Enjoy!

Bali 2006 - Part 5

May 18th, our 15th wedding anniversary, was a fantastic day as we transitioned from interior Ubud to coastal Amed Beach, stopping at old Tenganan Village and Tirtagangga Water Palace on the way. The whole report for May 18 is posted over at meckleyearth.

If you only want to see the photos, click here.

The local sailing canoes, jukungs, on Lepah Beach.

Bali 2006 - Part 4

I have stopped using Live Journal for posting our long trip reports. From now on I will post them on our sister blog: www.meckleyearth.blogspot.com. As time permits, I will move all the Live Journal reports to meckleyearth.

For part 4 of our May 2006 trip to Bali where we visited Monkey Forrest Preserve, relaxed at a Spa, and took in a Bamboo Gamelan performance, click here. See preview photos below.

Dancers



John tries out the bamboo gamelan

Some photos of our new apartment

We have been living in our new 151.5 square meter apartment in the Xujiahui District for almost 2 months. Sun-Ling's landlord-financed upgrades are coming along. Here are some photos I took several weeks ago. Since then, the living room sofa cushions have been upgraded and the study has increased it's state of disarray. Enjoy!

To see all the apartment photos click here.

Our living room.



View from our apartment to Sun-Ling's office in GangHui Tower. It's the tallest tower in the middle of the photo.

Bali 2006 - Part 3

Ubud Bali - May 16, 2006

Today's plan: Do the Rough Guide "A rice-paddy walk through Ubud Kaja", parallel and east of yesterday's walk.

Up at 7:45, breakfast at the hotel, but got a late start on the walk. The temperature was 82F and the skies clear, so we had excellent views of the Gunung Agung volcano and rice terraces.

Stopped around 11AM to chat with a local man, Renta Wayan. He climbed a nearby coconut tree, brought down a coconut, and chopped it open for us. We chatted a bit and gave him 5K RP for his troubles which he gladly accepted. Although not pushy, he became evident that he hangs out by the track to chat up tourists. He could say hello in several different languages, including Chinese.

The rice paddies and terraces were very cool. This time of year - after the harvest - ducks are allowed to forage in the paddies. We saw many ducks. Also, it is the time of year to repair irrigation channels and we saw much evidence of this.

The walk north out of town was not as pleasant as yesterday as today we ran into a small business of some kind every 500 meters or so, each trying to extract money from tourist by selling art, knickknacks, food and drink, etc.

It seems that we missed the turn around specified in Rough Guide and crossed the river by walking in/on an aqueduct instead of a normal bridge. (See photos). So actually the first hour of the walk back was not on any established track, but just a cross country ramble on the rice terraces, generally headed south. It was quite fun. Finally we hit the main track and came back into town on the famous "Graffiti Road".

Ate lunch at the Lotus Cafe: Storm Pale Ale (A local microbrew - yes!), mango juice, nasi goreng served in a pine apple, and tofu curry. Total of 111K Rupiah. The Lotus Cafe has a great view of the town palace with its temple and water garden of lotus flowers. A very relaxing lunch with a fine pale ale.

Next stop was the local Market for some souvenir shopping. We spent about 200k RP on boxes, hand bags, and various pieces of cotton clothing. And finally, a dip in the pool.

Dinner at the Terrace View restaurant near Monkey Forrest. Excellent! Ankor Beer, Sprite, Gado-Gado, Sayur with tofu soup. The night was clear and we had an awesome view of the Southern night sky including the Milky Way. And we were able to "see the Southern Cross for the first time."

Walking back to the hotel, the long way, we checked out some of the local massage places for a possible "couples" massage the next day.

SLHOTD: Dinner and rice paddy walk.


JHOTD: Cold beer hello!


Ducks in a paddy


Sun-Ling drinking fresh coconut water.


Renta Wayan: Linguist, rice farmer, and coconut climber


Great view of the volcano


Local women threshing rice.


A scarecrow to keep the birds out of the rice fields


Ready to harvest


This local is much more graceful crossing the aqueduct than we were. But both Sun-Ling and I made it across with dry feet.

My two sphygmomanometers

It's been two weeks since my trip to the hospital and I feel good. I took two days off from work which of course made be feel better. The doctor told me to check my blood pressure 3 times a day which I do with my two sphygmomanometers - one for home and one for work. Also, I've started working out at the gym next to our apartment. Well, not exactly "working out" since I've only been once. Anyway, I'll give a full report in a few weeks after I've been a few times.

Thanks for all the "Get Well" and "Happy Thanksgiving" messages.

My two sphygmomanometers:

Bali 2006 - Part 2

Ubud, Bali - May 15, 2006

Today's plan is to do the "Campuhan Ridge Walk" north of town as described on page 203 of our Rough Guide, with a stop at the Neka Museum on the way back to town. And the 7:30 performance of the Kecak dance. A full program!

Up at 7:15AM. Breakfast at Sri Bungalows: The egg and tomato jaffle (a sealed toasted sandwich)was very tasty; the coffee was very bad.

A local woman, accompanied by little one, with her basket of small offerings and joss sticks. Each morning, she will make offerings at the many small shrines located around the hotel.


A shrine just outside our hotel.


Looking at a shine in the courtyard of a neighboring hotel.


We were out and walking by 8:15 and easily found the turn off for the path. Excellent walk up the ridge from the river confluence. Saw several men and women cutting and/or carrying elephant grass.

This is a shot of the Pura Gunung Lebah temple that is by the river confluence.


Women carrying cut elephant grass back to town. The grass can be used for roof thatching.


A grass cutter with hat, pole, and sickle. The pole is used to carry bundles of grass, one on each end.



The same cutter.


Work in progress.


Another grass cutter with a 2 bundles of grass, a pole, and a sickle on hip.



After 30 minutes or so the ridge spread out and we were walking though terrace rice fields. The view of the volcano was so-so as the day was a bit cloudy. Turned left, crossed the river and headed back to Ubud and the Neka Museum. Passed many temples and family compounds.

The ridge top walk looking south to Ubud.


This should be a great view of the volcano but it was too cloudy.


Temple statue.


Just before Neka we saw this guy plowing his rice field.


Just a short while later we saw the Rosetta stone for the world traveler. ;-)


Ate lunch about 12:30 at Nuri's, just across the street from Neka Museum. 51K for one large bottle of H2O, Pepsi, Pineapple Juice, rice w/veggie dish, and Nasi Goreng. The place is run/owned by an American and his local wife.

Then toured Neka Museum - 20K rp each. Seven pavilions with very good descriptions by Rough Guide. Excellent display of modern and traditional art by locals and foreigners. The foreigners came to Bali to be influenced by the Balinese culture and natural settings. Many of these foreigners ended up mentoring, encouraging, and influencing a whole generation young locals artists. Photos without flash were allowed so I took many photos. You can see some of them here.

Here’s one example: “Three Masked Dancers” by Anton Kustia Widjaja


Locals playing “keep away” soccer with “shirts and skins” teams.


Walked back to the hotel, arriving at 3:30, just in time for a refreshing dip in the pool and a shower. Total walking for the day: about 10 km or 6 miles.

Then off to dinner at Gayatri Restaurant: One large Bintang, Orange Lemon soda, chili sin carne (beans and rice), rice and eggs w/peanut sauce (nasi goreng). All for 83,000 Rupiah, about $10.50 US.

The last activity of the night, and maybe the highlight (for John) of the whole trip was the Kecak dance, which we caught in town for 20K rp each. Months ago I posted some video of this a capella performance. Click here. Most excellent and unexpectedly so. Following the Kecak was fire dancing which may have been genuine but it seemed hokey to me.

SLHOTD: Ridge-top walk


JHOTD: Kecak dance

Shanghai Diarist

For good description of what it's like to live in Shanghai, read these five diary entries.

Bali 2006 - Part 1

May 13 - Shanghai to Singapore to Bali

Just 6 days after returning from an exhausting trip to Tibet, we were off to Bali. Why Bali? It's a tropical island paradise. The weather is perfect in May and itÂ’s the low tourist season. And May 18th 2006 would be our 15th wedding anniversary.

Up at 6:00 AM. In a taxi by 6:30 and headed to the Pudong (PVG) airport. The 8:45 AM flight to Singapore, our first ever on the famous Singapore Airlines, left on time and arrived at Singapore Changi Airport 4hrs and 40 minutes later. A nifty airport with a very luxurious orchid garden (photo below) and free internet kiosks. Also has a movie theatre. We ate dinner at an Indian restaurant: Pakora Platter, Uttapam, and a Masala Dhosa for 17 Singapore dollars total.

Orchid Garden in Changi Airport


Caught the 4:40PM flight to Bali which left on time and arrived on time at the Denpasar Airport at 7PM local time. No problems entering Bali. As expected we paid $25 US on-the-spot each for a 7-day Indonesian visa. Got 1,000,000 rupiah, yes one million rupiah (1 Chinese RMB = 1000 Indonesian rupiah) from ATM. 1000 rupiah is about 12 cents in USD. Negotiated a 140K taxi ride to our hotel in Ubud. The posted prepaid rate is 175K but in the low season it's a buyer's market.

Arrived at Graha Ubud Hotel on Monkey Forrest Rd after a one hour ride in the dark in which we saw many motorbikes with Mom, Dad, and Junior dressed up and headed for a festival. The temperature was pleasant and the air not as sticky as I had imagined. We had a reservation for 3 nights at 30USD per night. Checked in and immediately headed out for a cold 630ml Bintang (the local beer) and a piece of cake for Sun-Ling. Saw many foreigners in the several blocks of Monkey Forrest Rd we walked. Then back to hotel and crashed.

May 14 - Ubud, Bali

A good night's sleep in Graha Ubud Bali Hotel. Had to cut off AC in middle of the night because it got too cold. Our room is actually a 2 rooms; a sitting room and a bedroom. The sitting room has a table, chairs, fan, and a fridge. The $30US per night included a slowly delivered breakfast of fresh juice, fresh fruit, coffee, and fried noodles.

During breakfast, we decided to switch hotels because the Graha pool was greenish and the hotel was generally "not kelp up". Spent the rest of the morning wandering up and down the Monkey Forrest Rd, the main north-south drag, looking at hotels. There were many available rooms at reasonable prices. John wanted a room in a hotel with a pool. Finally, we decided on Sri Bungalows just across the street and the 2nd place we looked. The bedroom room was big with a killer bed (more later), AC, fan, and very nice veranda. The bathroom was big with shower and tub and small window. There was no TV or fridge. No problem. The furniture was neat and art hung on the walls. The pool was clear, blue, and refreshing. The price of 300K rupiah per night (about 38 USD) included tax and breakfast.

The bedroom.


Sun-Ling relaxing on the veranda.


The pool!


After checking out and moving to Sri it was time for lunch which we ate at the Nyuh Gading Restaurant just down the road. We shared a gadogado and some sort of tempe dish. No drink. Sat on the 2nd floor overlooking the football field. A group of boys in some sort of religious procession passed by below. They were playing music, chanting, drumming, and 2 of them were dressed up as the front and back of a cow or maybe an elephant (photo below). Anyway, we enjoyed a relaxing lunch.



Walked all over Ubud checking out the local bookstores looking for a decent copy of a Lonely Planet Bali or Rough Guide Bali. Yes, we arrived without a Bali guide book. More about that later. We passed the main Hindu Temple which is also used for performances and festivals. Finally, bought a new Rough Guide at AryÂ’s bookshop in city center. Then back to Sri Bungalows for a fantastic swim in the pool. Out to dinner at Bambu. We had a cold Bintang, a ginger beer, Cap Cay, and Nasi Goreng for 83K rupiah total including 10%tax and 5% service charge. And extracted another million rupiah from an ATM on the way back home.

Back street scene with festival poles.


Women carrying gravel to a construction site.


The town palacpavilionce pavillion


SLHOTD (Sun-LingÂ’s Highlight of the Day): The veranda.


JHOTHD (JohnÂ’s Highlight of the Day): The pool.

John goes to the hospital

Monday afternoon about 5PM, after a typical busy day at work:
interviewed a candidate for a contractor position, assembled and sent out my team's monthly status report, attended 3 or 4 meetings, handled 100 emails, decided whether to pay an invoice for 36KRMB from a vendor, etc., I got up from my cubicle and walked to the bathroom. On the way back to my cube I suddenly felt like I was going to collapse. After sitting down for another minute I felt a lot worse including some discomfort in my chest. Since a colleague ten years younger than me had just had a heart attack (non-fatal) and I had felt uncomfortable several times over the weekend, I asked our department admin to call an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived in less than 15 minutes although it seemed longer. While waiting I called Sun-Ling and she determined I should go to ZhongShan Hospital, near our apartment in XuJiaHui. I was feeling worse by the minute. The ambulance, a small work van with flashing lights on top, arrived manned by a driver and an attendant. My spirits flagged. They looked more like gas station attendants in their navy blue coveralls then the well-trained EMTs you see on TV in the US.

I needed some help climbing in and one of my team members, Yubo, road along with me. They put an oxygen tube in my nose...sort of....they put an oxygen tube near my nose and I put it in my nose. They hooked a pulse monitor to my finger, and stuck heart monitor sensors on my chest. They gave Yubo a little black pill to put under my tongue - some traditional Chinese medicine that eventually made my lip and gum numb. Kinda like dipping snuff.

The route to the hospital followed the same route of the company bus I usually ride so from lying on my back I mentally charted the journey per toll booth, on ramp, etc. The one attendant asked me if I was feeling better or worse. "Not better, not worse" was the answer. Sun-Ling later asked me did I think I was going to die. "No" I said. I just kept thinking that I did not want to die on the Humin Elevated Highway.

So we eventually got to the hospital and they wheeled me in to the "regular" entrance where Sun-Ling was waiting. After a minute, they put me back in the ambulance and took me to the "foreigners wing" or maybe it's called the "VIP" wing and in a few minutes I was in a bed in a 7th floor room, not in the emergency room, but in a regular room. Soon, a young female doctor came in and asked me some questions. When did you start feeling bad? Etc. Checked me for abdominal pain. I guess she thought I might have appendicitis. Then she took my blood pressure. It was 180/100. Wow! That's not good.

Then a nurse took 2 vials of blood, hooked me up to a saline bag, and gave me a yellow pill - western medicine this time - to put under my tongue. Then I had to pee. That's another story. My first experience with the "urine pot".

Then they moved me off the bed and on to a gurney and wheeled me over to the regular wing to get a CT scan. That gurney ride was terrible. I'm prone to motion sickness and I felt terrible by the time we arrived at the CT scan room. Sun-Ling and Yubo helped push me around as the sole "orderly" was a female about 95 years old. Just joking, she was about 50. Sun-Ling says it's common for family members to help with hospital care. Luckily the CT scan took only few minutes as I was starting to get claustrophobic. Then another nauseating ride back to my room.

The doctor came back and said the initial blood work was OK, but it would be another hour until the results of the CT scan and extended blood work would be known. She measured by BP again: 150/90. I was exhausted and almost fell asleep. Yubo went out for food and water. I did not hear him came back.

The doctor returned. She brought out the EKG machine, hooked me up, and took a reading - OK - no heart attack. The results of the CT scan were also OK The extended blood work showed no kidney problems, etc. My BP was still 150/90.

It was now about 8:30 and I was free to leave. Sun-Ling had a fist full of receipts, my personal medical booklet, and a few boxes of prescription medications for me. It's pay as you go. By this time I was feeling a bit better, knowing that I would not die on foreign soil. ;-) But seriously, my experience gave me another perspective on why we need a solution to quickly get our soldiers safely home from Iraq.

So we left the hospital, Sun-Ling, Yubo, and I. We walked about 50 meters to the main drag and hailed a cab, dropped Yubo off nearby, and were back home around 9PM.

Sun-Ling took this photo of me lying in my bed just before I checked out.

View from our window

Here's a shot from the balcony of our new apartment in the XuJiaHui district of Shanghai.

We go to a wedding

A few weeks ago we went to my team member's wedding. Keshuang and CaiFeng had actually been married in a civil ceremony some months before. The "wedding" we attended was the public ceremony and banquet for friends, family, and coworkers.

We took a taxi with a coworker and his wife to QingPu, a suburb of Shanghai and the bride's home town. The banquet was at the QingPu Hotel which appeared to be hosting several weddings that day. We signed in and handed over our red packet filled with cash -- the only appropriate gift.

The wedding started 30 minutes late at 11:30. The bride and groom marched down the "aisle" amid confetti and fireworks (see photo below). The best man, father of the bride, and their former university professor said a few words, rings were exchanged with the usual western vows, the bride and groom bowed to their parents, a "LOVE" candelabra was light - sorry I do not have a photo of that one, you have to imagine it -- and then we ate.

During eating, the bride and groom came around to each table for a toast. Later, the bride drew names from a basket and a few lucky guests received gifts. After playing some friendly, traditional jokes on the bride and groom, the wedding was over.