At our hotel in Langkawi, as happens in many island locations, a boat would come by every night. It dropped off the catch of the day. This catch turned into dinner. I often wonder how these guys manage to live on just delivering the latest catch. But then I guess they also keep a few fish for themselves for dinner. I suppose they’ll never go hungry…
Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55 mm| f/6.3 | 1/60th sec | ISO200
When we were in Langkawi, we saw a handful of monkeys, or more specifically macaques. They were a little sneaky and a little rambunctious, but for the most part they kept to themselves. There was one little guy. He stepped at me like he was going to attack. I backed off a little. He did the same.
This one, on the other hand, was sitting on those steps. It seemed like he was there to collect a toll for those going upstairs. Alternatively, he might have been a chaperon who would only let the appropriate people by. Sort of reminded me of sleep-away camp when I was a kid.
Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55mm | f/6.3 | 1/20th | ISO200
Getting back into things after a long business trip. Went back to my last home and worked for two weeks and spent two weekends with good friends and family. But something happened that I didn’t quite expect. I didn’t think of Sydney at all while in the States. Didn’t miss it, didn’t think about it, didn’t yearn to come “home”. But then I got back. I noticed all the things that I like about living here in Australia. These are things you simply don’t get in the States. The people are more relaxed. They are more friendly. They seem to value relationships over status. Oh, did I mention the weather? It’s winter in Sydney, which consists of 18-20 ° C / 62-70 ° F. That’s pretty much the same as Seattle gets in the summer. The evenings are pretty cold, but I stay inside and put the fire on. The message you should be hearing is that I might stay a while…
This is from our trip to Langkawi, Malaysia last March. Amazing place, a really nice relaxed weekend. We were out after dinner having a walk on the beach before it was totally dark. I’m still pretty jealous of whoever was out on that catamaran. It sat in the bay the whole weekend and didn’t move. I could see myself owning a catamaran and sailing the south pacific for the rest of my days.
Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 46mm | f/14.0 | 1/250th | ISO200
I want to live by the beach. Plain and simple. I want to walk out of my front door and see this every day. I would smile, smile, smile, a huge smile every day.
Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 | 10mm | f/13 | 1/180th | ISO100
As noted previously, we stayed in Langkawi, Malaysia for a relaxing weekend. We stayed at a pretty nice resort. The resort had a great beach. It was on the edge of a nature preserve. The resort was protecting a natural coral reef. It had a small coral nursery where they were promoting the growth of new coral. There was wildlife all over this place. There were nice butterflies. Slightly annoying mosquitoes were present. I saw a rare colugo (flying lemur of South East Asia) which I had never seen before. Also, there was an interesting dusty leaf monkey that looks like it has white rings around the eyes.
But the most interesting has to be the macaque, an old world monkey. I have shared this story with a handful of people. It seems to be a trait of monkeys across Asia, as I’ve heard similar stories from various people. After a long afternoon on the beach, we enjoyed drinks and got some well-deserved sun. We collected our beverages and a small bowl of peanuts. We were munching on those to take them back to our room to get ready for dinner. On our walk, we came across a macaque about mid-way up a tree acting all innocent. We put down our drinks, including a can of soda. We also set down the bowl of peanuts. This allowed us to get our camera out and take a few photos of this posing macaque. It seemed as though not even 1 second passed before about 6 other macaques jumped out of the bushes. They quickly laid claim to our drinks and our nuts!! I really thought that they might try to make off with my sandals too!! They have perfected the sleight-of-hand trick. One poses for unknowing tourists to put down their food and possessions. Then, a handful of others wait to make off with the goods!!! We ended up watching these guys climb the walls onto various balconies and even break one of the balcony umbrellas. I’d say they outwitted the humans that day.
Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55 mm | f/2.8 | 1/60th | ISO400
Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 31 mm | f/2.8 | 1/40th | ISO125
Paul Rin Travel Photojournalism 