Gallantry at it's Best!

Yesterday, on the way back from school I was stuck at every traffic light. I was extremely irritated when a car in front of me slowed down for yellow, then zoomed fast...so I was stuck as the first car at a round about traffic light. To add fuel to my bad mood, a two-wheeler whizzed past and stood in front blocking my car.

Suddenly, the biker got down from his bike. For a moment, I was scared that he might come and break my windows to loot (effect of n number of forwarded mails that explains about traffic light thefts!). Instead, he sprinted towards the round-about, bent down and picked up something lying on the road. Then he rushed towards the side of the road and threw that object in a trash, it was a trowel. What a character! How thoughtful of him to remove the trowel that could have damaged any vehicle's tire. Now, I felt guilty for mistaking that gallant man for a petty thief! I couldn't see his face, but still I managed to capture his side-view on my mobile.

Kudos to him!

Colors of Spring - Melaka

Thanks to Jama, for telling me the name of the flowers in this post! I'm just updating her comment as captions for each of the pics!!!

Throughout the year, public areas like dividers in the road and roundabouts are well maintained with greenery in Melaka. Now, the town is in spring attire, dressed in colorful flowers! Take a look at these dazzling beauties that I've been capturing for the past few days...
By the roadside...

Mimosa - it's a weed!

In our Condo's play area...

Jatropha Integerrina or commonly known as the Peregrina.

Frangipanni

When I was in school, we used to say pink n yellow dirty fellow. But, here is a true beauty with this color combo:)

Frangipanni

Chaste flower @ MES...

Wrightia antidysenterica

Busy honeybee, doing its business...

Turnera Subulate or commonly known as the white alder.

How can I miss out Bunga Raya (Hibiscus)?

Costus Spesiosus or commonly known as the White Costus or Caned Reed.

Except for the Hibiscus, I don't have a clue on the common or botanical name of these flowers, but who cares? Certainly not me! It's their beauty am attracted to:)

Bewitching Shadows

This morning we headed to the beach in the hope of capturing sunrise, alas we got delayed on the way, so we missed to capture it. Well for everything there must be some reason, I was lucky to capture some nice long shadows!

Well, when I was actually trying to capture the kites, my shadow was distracting me. When I moved a bit, my larger than life shadow seemed to be more interesting than anything else, so I asked my husband to stand beside me n I got the above shot...

Shadow, land, water & sky...enchanting combo, I can forget the whole world and be there for hours together...

I'm smitten with shadows, I don't understand why!

Hidden Beauty!

Until recently, I didn't know that this beautiful stretch of beach can be accessed by public, which is just behind my daughter's school.

I've been sending/fetching my daughter to/from this school for more than a year, now. One of my friends, who also comes to school every other day to pick up her son said that for quite sometime she has been watching people walk up to that beach, but she had never dared to go there as it was secluded. But, a couple of days ago, she told me, "hey, I just saw a couple going down to the beach with fishing rods, shall we go down and take a look too?"  I jumped at that opportunity and see what I saw.

How could I have missed this opportunity for so long! The only misgiving is that I didn't have my DSLR with me...these photos were taken from my hand phone.

Reaching the Skies

Words become useless, when I see a soaring bird trying to reach the beautiful clouds!

Start, Camera, Action...

It is very relaxing to gaze at the blue pool, anytime from my 7th floor balcony:)

While I was thoughtfully gazing and sipping hot tea in the evening, I saw a group of youngsters setting up tripod to take pictures by the poolside, and I couldn't resist the thought of capturing their activities.

Here we go...

Getting ready with the camera

Trying to throw this guy in the pool, but I missed to capture that act!

At least, caught someone jumping (sure, not diving^^)...

Never buy 2nd Hand Tires!

Last week I had to replace my car tires, so I was shopping around to check price. When I asked for best price, usually the salesmen recommended me to go for 2nd hand tires. And, when I asked them about the safety of such tiers, they gave me several answers like, 'its ok if you drive in town, but not on highways' 'it has 60% tread so you can drive like any normal tire' and 'its almost like retread tires'

For my wheel size, the tire price for the 2nds ranged from RM50 - RM80 and new ones were from RM175 - RM 280. Though I was tempted to go for the low priced 2nds, I did not want to take risk, so I went for new (Goodyear) tires. While fixing, I decided to hang around and see what they did. They took out wheels from the car > removed worn out tires > fitted with new tire > did balancing > fitted back the wheels to the car > aligned. Well, that was routine stuff. Half way through this process, what attracted me was the guy who was busy doing something to an old tire.

Out of curiosity I asked him in my broken Malay 'apa ithu'. But he managed to reply in broken English, 'do 2nd hand tire!'. He was shredding rubber from worn out treads! I'm sure the tire was not tested for any belt defects, so am pretty sure that the strength of the tire is gone by doing this kind of patch work. Hardly he took about 10 minutes and converted a bald tire to 60% used tire!!! I was shocked & said, 'this is not safe', and he merely grinned. When I focused my mobile phone to take a picture, he requested me not to capture, but then I assured him that I wouldn't capture his face.

Moral of the story, DO NOT FALL for 2nd or used tires, even if someone tells you there is 60% or 70% tread in it.

Pollution

I enjoy evening walks, but nowadays it is very difficult to go out because of the haze.

Haze trying to compete with dark clouds

How could they just burn trash, mainly dry leaves and twigs, right in front of their houses, without having any concern for the atmosphere or neighbors!

Camera Crazy!

For quite sometime I've been longing for a DSLR, but dare not to buy, because I was unsure of what would be a right choice for a beginner like me. When I asked friends, both professional and enthusiasts, I was getting mixed opinion. Some said, just go for camera alone and don't go for models that come with video option. Though, not fond of shooting movies, I do occasionally like to take videos, so I decided to ignore this piece of advice.

I liked Nikon - D5000/D3100 & Canon 550D. Finally, I settled for Canon 550D, mainly because we came to know that Nikon had stopped producing D5000, and D3100 was out of stock, both in KL and Melaka. Also, I wanted time to practice on the DSLR before our trip to the Borneo.

The only problem with the DSLR, is that I just can't stuff it in my pant pocket or handbag, like my compact...for everything there is a trade off! Still, this is worth carrying...here are the initial shots...

Dawn, on my birthday...

Dusk...though the picture is grainy, I love it because of the rolling clouds!