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.

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

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

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.

Bali Video

Here's the Bali video compilation. It's about 3 minutes. The first 2 minutes have some cool Balinese music (with dancing). The last minute is of interest to the readers who are sailors.

Bali

We are back from Bali. Another great trip. I'll post just a few photos. A full report later.

An elephant grass cutter near Ubud, Bali.



Looking south from the volcanic foothills.



Rice paddy terraces near Sideman, Bali.



John and Sun-Ling having lunch at the Tirtagangga Water Palace on May 18th, their 15th wedding anniversary.



The fishing fleet returns to Lepah Bay at sunrise.