Aerial Views - Borneo

I can never get bored with viewing the skies from an airplane, the shades of blue are amazing! These pictures were taken during our flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Brunei.

Click on the images to see enlarged views.

Shades of Blue

Shades of Blue

When I see the clouds, I just want to bend down and scoop them up.

Cluster of islands in Borneo

Brunei Bay view

Now, the following pics were taken on the way from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu, which are part of Borneo islands.

Smiley Faced Islands!

Star

Last 2 pics were shot by my kid, I was surprised at her imagination and the angle at which she shot those pics.

Thirsty Rootbeer!

After a hot day of non-stop sight-seeing in Brunei, we took shelter @ Big Papa's for lunch. All of us were in no mood for chit-chat until we finished our grub. When we had enough strength, my kid's imagination was working overtime...

I guess, if rootbeer gets hot n thirsty it might dress up like this! Isn't this cute?

Whereabouts?

Friends asked me if I will go online during our holidays. I said that they could reach me on my mobile or as usual, through mail and FB. On a different note, there are controversies on using 'check-in' app of Facebook, mainly because of safety reasons. Well, is it worth to show FB status as "...have checked in ABC Bank"? When I started thinking in this direction, I vaguely remembered that I'd read something about having trust and finding people in the last century, in Jewellery Quarter Museum, Birmingham. So, I dug through my photos archive and found this interesting piece of info...

So much was done on trust! They led such a simple life, no urge to shout at the whole world about their whereabouts, like how we do today via status updates in social sites!

Pre Dawn, that Perfect Shot

The minute I switch on the camera, I try to capture the moment instead of creating the perfect shot. But, I won't be satisfied with just one click, so I keep going until am satisfied. However, when I download the photos, most often, I find that the first shot is that 'perfect shot', like this pre-dawn!

Am not sure if this is just happens for me or does it always happen to many of us?

Appam Balik - Malaysian Crêpe

Yesterday at pasar malam (evening market in Malay) my daughter and I wanted to buy appam balik (traditional Malay crêpe), but the lady was just starting to light her stove, so we had to wait.

Brass Tawa

I was not hoping to take any photos, so I didn't have my DSLR with me. But, the situation was very tempting to take pictures, I'd to satisfy myself with my puny hand phone camera (Samsung BT3410).

Getting ready with the flour

Spreading

The way she swirled the flour reminded me of spreading dosai on the tawa!

Toppings

When the appam was half-way done, she sprinkled liberally with coarse groundnut and added a dash of sweet corn. Look at the appam where I've labeled 'Ratilator', it is plain without any topping. The flour was not spread evenly, which would result in soggy appam, so the seller decided that it was unfit for sale. What a professionalism!

Crispy Crêpe

Once done, she placed the crispy appam balik in this special stand! Kecil is small, and yes, 3 for RM1. There is 'besar' or large version too, which is soft, like pancakes.

Appam Balik - Besar

This appam besar is too soft and overdosed with peanuts, margarine and sweet corn. So, our choice is always the kecil, crispy version, which is also healthier, mainly because they don't add margarine!

Malaysian appam baliks are made of chickpea flour. Where as back in India, appams are made of rice and dal flour. My mom makes salty and sweet appams, sure I will be tasting it when I go home next month:)

Reflection!

Like shadows, am captivated by reflections! Here are some of the reflections...

Wicker chair @ my balcony

Entrance of my house

At a friend's house

Scenes from Indian Highways

Within the next month, I will be taking a lot of photos during our holiday in Borneo island and then in India. Mainly because of these trips, I wanted to archive the photos I had taken since November 2010, and I came across some interesting snaps that I had taken in India...

Note that these photos were taken using compact camera (Canon A540), so the quality is not great, but the scenes are unique...

Raw Bananas

The bananas were stacked near the market area, and I was told that these would be sent to the neighboring towns for sale.

Handmade knives and sickles

You can find this type of road side knife vendors on highways between Kerala and Tamil Nadu in India. I took this picture on the way from Guruvayur, (Kerala) to Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu). At another place we stopped for a short tea break and I was surprised to see small time peddlers who wrap the knifes in plastic sheets and sell...

Knife peddlers

Next to the tea shop, we saw this typical village style health drink vendor...

கம்பங்கூழ் & மோறு

Roadside vendor selling salted yogurt drink and millet porridge! Though these were the healthier options, we didn't dare to try because, these type of vendors would use tap water, which is unsafe for direct consumption.

Sinful Delicacies

Today there is joman at my mom's house in my home town and I miss it:( Joman is a Sourashtra (my mother tongue) term for feast/get-together/party and anything that involves relatives and food:) Though I can't enjoy today's goodies, I can at least satisfy myself by looking at the photos that I took at a friend's birthday party. As expected in any Indian (specifically Indians from India) gatherings, food was from Indian restaurant, that too my favorite Sri Kaveri restaurant.

Laddu

As in Indian tradition, desserts were served first. Laddu, more than double the size of meat ball, this was fresh and succulent.

Varuval

Whenever I eat Pringles or Lays, I feel some bad taste or rather dry sensation after eating. But, these hand cooked potato chips were excellent that too garnished with salt, pepper and curry leaves, it was divine.

Samosa

Here in Malaysia, curry puff is common and Samosa is its original cousin from India:) This samosa had the traditional spicy potato filling.

Laddu, varuval and samosa, are the starters and needless to say they are loaded with my enemy, aka, CALORIES! Well, since they are my enemies, I attacked them with a vengeance^^

Vegetable Biriyani

The main course, vegetable biriyani...

Onion Raitha

Traditional side dish - onion raitha, (onion salad in yogurt). There was vegetable kurma for vegetarians like me. But for the rest, chicken was served.

Chicken Masala

The best part in this shot is my reflection on the ladle:)

Chicken 65

Chicken 65, no one knows the real reason for this naming convention, but it is supposed to be a deep fried boneless chicken marinated with spices and yogurt.

Though I cringe at these non-veg dishes, I snapped these because of the vibrant color.

Watermelon

After eating the sweet, spicy, sour and oily stuff, water melon was very soothing. Thanks Kavitha!

Lustrous Droplets!

It was the second MES moms morning coffee meet at Anna's place. First one was held last month at Renu's house, and thanks to her for starting this 'ritual'. But, missed to take photos, because I forgot to take the camera, how can that be?!, that too when she had such a perfect sunny kitchen!

Anna's house was picturesque and I was tempted to click anything and everything, but refrained myself, because it would be like intruding her privacy. Here let me just share the shots that I took around her fountain...

Fountain

Very common flower, but dunno the name!?

தாமரை இலை நீர் போல் - (like water drops on lotus leaves)!

Water glistening like oil!?

Water pebbles!

These droplets were telling me to touch me...touch me not...

Pushpanjali - A Floral Tribute!

It's an age old custom and tradition in India to use flowers for worship, rituals, to honor someone or to welcome guests. Here is a perfect shot that depicts this tradition!

Pushpanjali - Floral Tribute in Sanskrit!

I took this shot during the photo shoot session, meant for designing the souvenir of a dance program to be held in June 2011. This program is to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Nrittasamudra dance school. In Sanskrit, 'Nritta' is body movements (as in dance) and 'samudra' is ocean. So, Nrittasamudra is Dance Ocean.

True to its name, Nrittasamudra's founder and eminent classical dancer Mrs. Sandhya is an ocean of expression and I have seen her expressive gestures when she teaches Bharatanatyam to her students. My daughter is one of her students.

Pushpanjali dance is a way of honoring Lord Nataraja - the patron God of Bharatanatyam, Guru - the dance teacher and Sabhaa - the audience! And, my daughter is one of the dancers to perform Pushpanjali dance, at the start of the program.

Playing Catch

It was pre-dusk and almost coming home time for the doves. Before calling it a day, I guess they wanted to spend all their energy, so they were nosily playing catch...

Game leader!?

Followers...or just sheep syndrome?

Last fella...