I’m in Taipei today, and seems that Typhoon Kalmaegi has been pummeling Taiwan for the last 2 days. I do see some light to medium rain, and occasional strong winds, but compared to what I have seen in the past trips to Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, this didn’t look too much like a TYphoon from where I am in Taipei. News says that there has been some casualties, but I’m already planning to wake up early tomorrow and if there’s a little respite from the rain I might go out for a morning jog. Staying over near the office at NeiHu across the river from Taipei city. Morning jog consists of running 1km to the river and then running along the park across from the city airport. Nice run. Too bad I can’t cover more than 5km now.
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Travels: Senjogahara Plateau: Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
It is an early start. I’m here on the second weekend and I think I should be going back to complete Nikko, but to another direction, and another attraction… hiking in the highland marshes. This will be an ideal location to do some landscaping pictures. Of course it would be good if I was there when the sun is coming up, but no car and the first bus is later than that anyway, so got to file up the thoughts first.
I’m not too sure there are metros running at this time of the morning, it’s 5am and I’m taking the Tokyo taxi instead, zipping past quiet streets, trying not to look at the ridiculously fast counter on the dashboard that shows the eventual 4000Yen price to get from Shinagawa to Asakusa by taxi. That’s almost the price of the all-in-one ticket to Nikko including the train fare! I’m on my way to Tobu-Asakusa Station to catch the first semi fast train to Nikko. Semi fast because the real first train stops everywhere and would take longer time to get to the destination so this is the second train it seems. Semi-fast too because if you double your fare you take the glamourously faster super-express-whatever trains that shave 20 mins off a 2hr 30mins journey. Not enough for me. I’ll stick to the cheap one.
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Travels: Nikko: Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Tobu line Train to Tobu-Nikko
Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Spring Water Pool in Nikko Town
Its a scouting trip because I’m fed up with the weather. Its just too much. Cloudy and raining the whole weekend and I’m here expected to be hanging around all the time in Tokyo. Rain or no rain, I’m off to Nikko to have a look. The temples will be covered today, but what I will really scout are the wilderness and mountains this place offers. Next trip will be more specialized. However don’t think for once I’m going light!
In the backpack, a Mamiya RZ67 with 50mm lens, and 2 film backs. One loaded with Velvia 100 I don’t expect to use at all considering the weather, and a couple of Tri-X rolls. In the utility pack, Ricoh GR Digital and a Leica M2 with 35mm Summicron ASPH.
Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Forest in Nikko
Train to Nikko, or shall I say, the cheapest way to get to Nikko I can find is the Tobu line to Tobu-Nikko from Asakusa Tobu line station. Cost 1320yen. Taking the 7:10 train today. The 7:30 express train cost 1400yen extra because its more ‘express’. One thing to be really sure is that your train car actually reaches Tobu-Nikko. The last few I saw has different destinations, so my guess is along the way they drop cars so only the Tobu-Nikko train actually gets there. The train is oldish, but hey, it moves. Going to take a nap… Been a chore to get to Asakusa before 7 am.
Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Stream on the way to Jakko Waterfall
937hrs: And it has to happen. Just arrived at Nikko and the rain is coming down hard – for Japanese standards, that is. So hard it is probably stupid to walk anywhere in this rain. So its time for a morning katsudon and salad in a restaurant next to the station. Could be a nice weather to shoot b&w in. Although this place is not full of people today (likely because of the rain) its mostly elderly hikers at the station. Should have borrowed an umbrella on the way here! The buses plying the routes here are from the Tobu group and they look quite high class for a town bus! Too bad I have plans to take the bus today. Walk is good!
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Tokyo, 8 June 2008
Its a strange day. Spent the afternoon in the office on a sunday, and in the evening over to check out photo shops in Ginza. At that time heard news of fatal stabbings at Akihabara district, luckily a place I do not venture to most of the trips I make to Tokyo. Some guy, disgruntled with life, decided to mow down pedestrians and stab everyone he sees.
I’m waiting for a 11pm meeting at Strings Intercontinental Hotel here in Shinagawa JR Station. Having a latte at Dean & Deluca’s at the station. Tokyo is still a safe place. Next to me a girl left her handbag on the long bar while walking off to buy her coffee. Was hoping to look for a wifi spot here but all the points, and there are about 10 visible SSIDs here, are locked. The guy to my right is surfing on his e-mobile data card, presumably HSDPA connection.
Its nice sitting here at 10pm on a Sunday night sipping latte and listening to the start of part 3 of Audible’s version of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace…
Some pictures from today…
Travels: Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province
Monastery at Jiaoshan (Fujifilm GA645i, Kodak 400NC)
This next destination is a place famous for its vinegar, which goes damn well with boiled dumplings. Doesn’t look like there is anything else of note other than this but no matter, wikipedia listed a couple of attractions, and as usual once you take out pagodas and temples its just barren. But that has never stopped me before. I’m going to see for myself.
View from the top of Jiaoshan island (Ricoh GR Digital)
Just in case you are a little lost, here is where Zhenjiang is on the map:
Not expecting too much, I will be moving quicker this time. At least relatively. I should have about 10 hours there. Small think tank bag contains just a Ricoh GR Digital and the 21mm adapter. For the first time, I will be packing along the external viewfinder. Rangefinding this weekend will be via a Leica M2 and just 35mm Summicron ASPH lens mated to it for the whole trip. Garmin eTrex Vista GPS is here, as well as the 32gb iPod Touch. Some websites are printed out in A4 to save weight, including a google maps satellite printout of the area in question. Blogging from the Nokia E61 as usual. Since it gets rather warm nowadays, its t-shirt and shorts day with a boonie for spare protection. Weather forecast today says 50% chance of rain. Do I trust them? Not too much. Thought about bringing an umbrella but decided otherwise in the last minute. Oh, across my left shoulder is the medium format Fuji GA645i with rolls of 400NC, Fortia and Neopan Acros. With 2 small bags slung across my chest, should let me move quick as I plan to walk the whole of downtown Zhenjiang today.
Lone boat on Yangtze River (Fujifilm GA645i, Kodak 400NC)
0845hrs: just got onto the train. Lets see, this is the 0853hr train called D408 bound for Nanjing, and they should drop me off in Zhenjiang as the stop right before Nanjing. Bet I’m the only one getting off there. Anyway, in the first class cabin, and seriouly speaking, or writing, I can’t feel a lot of difference compared to canned cattle class. Except the waiting lounge has a grand piano which I guess is what the ticket premium is supposed to reimburse over the years. Let me twitter my seat number to see if any of my 0 followers will come look for me on the same train. Worth a try!
Buy a mobile phone in Shanghai
Based on recommendations from colleagues, went to check out a shopping centre near Shanghai’s main railway station that has only mobile phone shops. Its located at the junction of Meiyuan rd and tianmu rd. Just across the road from Pacific Dept Store and Xinmei East Hotel. The place has a name but too bad its in Chinese so it is as good as ‘the building’ to me.
Prices here are cheaper than elsewhere in Shanghai where I have compared, using Nokia N82 as my control phone. Its May 2008 and cheapest for the new Black version is 3050 rmb and I’m fairly confident to hit 3000 rmb cash price. This place is an insane 5-6 floors of identical phone shops. And I think 10% of all prepaid cards are here too, judging from the stock each shop holds.
Travels: To Yangzhou not just for the fried rice…
The season for daytripping is opened today with a mini invasion of the town of Yangzhou by a Malaysian and an Oz in tow. Town by chinese standards. Yangzhou probably has a population of ONLY a couple of million souls. Small city maybe.
I confess… The reason its Yangzhou this time has to do with the idea of spending up to 8 hours in a crickety bus to be able to say I have had fried rice in Yangzhou. But like the mythical Singaporean fried bee hoon, or vermicilli for you nonm asians, what makes a town famous may not be its core competency, to paraphrase boring powerpoint space fillers. How to know for sure? Yup. 8 hours of bus ride would settle it. Though to be sure I might a few of those.
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Earthquake in China
I didn’t feel anything, but colleagues mentioned that the office building was swaying. Thought it was nothing big compared to what I feel in Taipei and Tokyo, but now I’ve heard there’s a 7.5 earthquake in Szechuan Province, which is far far away from here. Will have to listen to the news to see how devastating it was…
| Magnitude | 7.5 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 31.084°N, 103.267°E |
| Depth | 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program |
| Region | EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA |
| Distances | 90 km (55 miles) WNW of Chengdu, Sichuan, China 150 km (95 miles) WSW of Mianyang, Sichuan, China 360 km (220 miles) WNW of Chongqing, Chongqing, China 1545 km (960 miles) SW of BEIJING, Beijing, China |
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 6.5 km (4.0 miles); depth fixed by location program |
| Parameters | NST=206, Nph=206, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.61 sec, Gp= 29°, M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=7 |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | us2008ryan |
Rangefinding a wedding…
Was wondering… since tri-x in rodinal looks so good and imparts that atmosphere of the photojournalists in the 60s, why would anyone be so lazy to use a DSLR in a wedding. Of course, most couples probably can’t tell the difference between digital and film, as long as you crank up the saturation a couple of notches and scale down the 12mpix image into a 640×480 web JPEG. And in terms of convenience, an auto everything DSLR with whatever lens and flash on bounce and diffusing dome would do the trick.
But what the hell, all talk and no action, so for my own sister’s wedding, I thought since she already has a professional photographer, why not go back in time. Brought a Nikon S2 paired with a Voigtlander 21mm Skopar lens, Leica M6 with 50mm summicron, and a third rangefinder, an Leica M2 with 35mm summicron ASPH to the wedding. The rule was, Tri-X for all shots, except for dinner when its my favourite Neopan 1600. All black and white. For safety measures, I brought a Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 Nokton ASPH. And for portraits, why not Fuji’s GA645i. 4 cameras with me. Swapping from one to another…
I have with me right now 6 rolls of 135 film and 2 rolls of 120. Will be processing them in my darkroom in Shanghai and the labs recommended by a fellow photographer. Here are some of the results…
Shanghai Pudong Terminal 2
This terminal has been opened for a month already, and since all my flights were to Japan using ANA (they move to the new terminal end of April 2008), this is the first time I’m using the new terminal. The layout is fresher, but probably not as thought out as other airports. Anyway, not the purpose of my current post. Wifi points with the SSID “spia-guests” are available everywhere in the terminal (at least the check in and waiting lounge). Wifi using that point is free and all you have to do is to bring up the browser and click on the button inthe centre. Don’t worry if the page is all in Chinese, there’s only one button to click.
nangka.org 