I agree with Haruki Murakami: The older we get, the busier we become. Maybe as I acquire wisdom and experience, more opportunities open up; maybe time is taking a chip off my efficiency, slowly but surely. It is a good and a bad problem at the same time. I enjoy writing pieces that are more personal. But my life is not that exciting on a day-to-day basis. And some pieces take time for a common theme to evolve. So, in between, I fill my writing diary with my thoughts on the things that I consume, like music, books, movies, and etc; things that I am passionate in. Reviews of these sorts usually generate a decent amount of web traffic but lack the readers’ interaction in the form of comments. Google thinks that both are important measures for relevancy. To me, I just wish to keep practicing my writing skill regardless of the topics of my choice, as often as I can. Either outcome is a nice-to-have but certainly not something to-die-for.
I still have tons of photos sitting inside my computer waiting to be selected and processed. To be honest, it doesn’t take long to compile and publish one photo album. It is just tedious and I always seem to have something better to do. I love Bandung and so does Cynthia (her birth town). And because of the recent infrastructure upgrades – a new highway connecting with the capital as well as the availability of more direct flights into the city – Bandung has suddenly become an attractive tourist spot. If you do visit Bandung one day, you should not miss the Taman Safari as one of your daily excursions. Into the valley of the tea plantations, you literally drive into the Safari Park and are up close and personal with the animals. If someone was crazy enough to get off the car and stroke the roaming tigers and lions, no one would care.
OK. Someone may care. Inside the confined area of the most ferocious animals on earth (beside us, humans, of course), there are guards watching over the visitors and the animals making sure that both us and them behave. There was a big sign asking us not to wind down the window. As I opened a tiny gap sticking my long camera lens out of the passenger seat window, I felt the guards intensively staring at me from their jeep. And as these ferocious animals moved towards our car, everyone inside the car would scream and I would quickly retreat and wind up the window. Everyone would laugh and the cycle continued.
Follow the link below if you wish to view a complete set of photos (50 in total) including my offbeat comments for each photo. I don’t run the Animal Planet cable channel here so do excuse me if I can’t get the names of the animals correct. Hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I risk my life making it.
CLICK HERE to view the complete photo album with captions (50 photos in high resolution)
Below is a sampler of my Taman Safari photo album (10 in total).
PS. Photos taken on December 13, 2008.
Related Tag: Bandung December 2008 Trip
Nice pictures you have here. Great compositions and great moments, too.
Just curious. Are you shooting 2.8 all the time?
Very NICE.
Eric – Hey bro, thanks. Quite a number of shots are done at 2.8. But not all. Because of the proximity of the animals and in general, the animals are quite … large. So I seem to have difficulty in getting things in focus with a large aperture. Quite a number of shots I got the eyes sharp but the nose (or snout?) blur.
I think I have like 60% done at 2.8. Some at 4. More at 5.6. Some even at 8 or 11 depending on situation. It was pretty hard (to me at least as I am not that experienced with “Safari” shots) to shot as we were inside a moving vehicle, with the animals moving, at times they were under the shed, and at times they were really far.
I reckon the next time I go there again, I will get better at these animal shots.
Kiat – Thanks. And more to come … lol.
Nice pictures! Would love to see more. Seriously, I’ve never been to Taman Safari, I wonder why..
Looking at the pictures makes me want to go back to Indonesia even more. Especially pic #49…haha!
Wow~ Amazingly… close! Thanks for ‘risking your life’, though I prefer seeing the faces of my brother. hehe… 😛
Hey, where are the photos of Tak Tak? :>
Spacebunny – Oh, you ought to check it out! I must have been there more than 5 times in the past decade … ha ha ha.
Yep, the food in Indonesia is amazingly delicious 🙂
Lora – Ha ha ha … oh well, I or we survive! Your brother not photogenic. Better not spoil the pictures … lol.
OK OK … Tak Tak’s album coming next.
Ha ha, they are not so skinny as what you said… They are just nice. Slim, that’s what I’d say…..but the brown bear looks abit… lifeless.
Nice!
My fave are:
– The owl
– The lion
– The tiger (reminds me of my own cat, Jellybean. heh!)
Wieke – Ya … ha ha ha. Lots of tourists feeding them food throughout the day, non-stop!
Maybe the weather is too warm, so the animals tend to be a bit inactive. In Singapore, the feeding time is in the evening, I think. And the animals are less lifeless and more active.
G – Thanks for sharing which ones are your favorite ones. So, how’s Jelly-bean these days? When is the photo session for Jelly-bean going to take place? Ha ha ha.
He is still the same – very cowardly and girly for a male cat! He recently got bullied by some stray KITTEN!
Anytime you are free! or maybe I should let him become poofy first…. like your beloved Tak Tak! I find him too thin although the vet tells me he is fine :S
G – Oh my, must be some really street smart kitten … lol.