Frivolous Stuff: My Kelly Moore bag!

I love my new Kelly Moore bag!

A friend of mine posted a link to it on Facebook, and it was love at first sight. I spent days staring at its beautiful form online, looking at it from all angles and imagining how I would pack my stuff into it. I could so see myself carrying it about town or while traveling, with my SLR safely hidden away in this nice stylish bag. When I finally dragged *Shinta down to the shop (TKFoto at Funan) and held it in my hands for the first time, I knew right away that I would be getting it. You can read more about how I got permission to purchase it here.

So here it is! I chose the heather gray version which I figured would be most versatile and fit most of my outfits(although *Shinta thought the mustard yellow was nice). The material is a man-made water resistant material which reminds me a little of fake leather that is not fake enough to say that its pretending to be leather(go figure)... Most importantly, unlike all the other camera bags out there which are bulky rectangular nerdy (man) bags that scream "I am a camera bag", this one boasts a nice slouchy hobo shape with enough structure to stand on its own.

The flap over the bag contributes mostly to its looks rather than serving any real function because the magnetic clasps for it is too weak to be of much use. It doesn't matter if the bag is not stuff too full, because there's a full zipper securing it.

Side, front and back slit pockets are too shallow to put a lot of things, but they can hold a few small items which is pretty useful.

Purple lining wouldn't have been my first choice, but it can't really be seen from the outside so it doesn't matter. The bag has a bit of padding, and 2 removable velcro dividers. The position of the dividers is not adjustable by much (unlike say the Crumpler), because only part of the lining has the velcro strip.

I've already used the bag once and I love it! My D20 fits nicely inside, with sufficient space for my 70-200mm lens and my compulsory knick-knacks like my wallet, blackberry, staff pass, handphone... There are 2 straps for the bag, so you can hold it 4 ways (on the arm, shoulder short, shoulder long, crossbody). Suits all needs and habits!

Frivolous Stuff: Camera Bags

You see, the fairer sex needs the perfect handbag for the perfect occasion. For example, what we look for in a work handbag is different from what we need from a casual weekend bag, which of course is totally different from evening handbags.

And even within the world of a certain type of handbags, different situations call for the need of different functions. eg A weekend handbag for a quick-and-short-meet-up-with-friends is not the same as a handbag for a spend-the-whole-day-shopping-with-friends situation.

So this time, the trouble was trying to get *Shinta to understand why I needed another camera bag. The object of my desire this time was a Kelly Moore bag designed specifically for ladies.

~début~

*Shinta: (in stubborn tone, not willing to give in so easily) I don't see why you need another camera bag...

KK: (cautiously, trying to decide approach) I don't have a bag like this... It will hold all my camera things nicely...

*Shinta: Didn't we buy you a Crumpler specifically for your camera stuff?

KK: I will use Crumpler when I need to bring out all my heavy duty gear. This one will be when I just want to bring the main SLR only.

*Shinta: Why can't you use your Crumpler still? Or my Lowepro?

KK: Because the Crumpler and your Lowepro are heavy duty bulk camera bags. I need something for when I go shopping or travel for work and don't want others to know I am carrying a SLR.

*Shinta: (considers for a while) But you have (many) casual shopping bag(s). Why can't you put your camera in that? You can use your little Lowepro...

KK: (quick to retort) Because that's a shopping bag. It can't carry/protect the camera properly. And the Lowepro won't fit inside my other bags with my wallet and blackberry and sunglasses and handphone and...

*Shinta: (interrupts) But this one won't protect it as well as the Crumpler!

KK: (slight hint of panic in voice) But this is just nice! I can use it for both shopping with or without the camera.. I can also use it to carry the camera...

*Shinta: (decides to be nice) Ah.. do you mean to say its a "dual-use" bag, whereas your other bags are not?

KK: (sees ray of hope and quickly agrees) Yes! It's dual use!!!

pause

*Shinta: (in a "pretending to be nice" tone) Since this is a lady's bag, does that mean when we travel or go out together you will use this bag for the camera and I don't have to carry it in my bag?

KK: (cautiously, sensing a trap) er... I will use this bag when I go shopping and want to bring the SLR... (continues for the sake of being honest) ... but anyway you carry my ladies handbags for me now anyway, when they get too heavy.

pause

*Shinta: (pretends to consider) But you will use it. And its dual-use.

KK: Yes. Dual use. So that when I travel without you and want to bring my SLR, I can just use one bag instead of two.

*Shinta: Fine.

KK rejoices not so silently

~fin~

Yes I'm still here!

Sorry everyone for not having updated my blog for so long! Have been on the road a lot, I spent most of Feb and a good part of March out of town. And I'll be spending more than 75% of April travelling too.

There are so many food places I want to blog about, that I wonder if I will ever get started because its just too overwhelming!

On another note, say "hi" to:
1) My new computer! (old one bit the dust after 5 full years of not-so-trusty service); and
2) My Canon 70-200mm F/4 IS USM!!! Yes, *Shinta finally gave in, thanks to some camera shop vouchers I received as a gift from my colleagues. That's another item on my Wish List down!

Enjo Party!

*Shinta and I did something very domestic (and probably uncool amongst under 30s?). We hosted an Enjo party...

A WHAT?!?!

Well basically it works like a Tupperware party.
Hosts hold a gathering to "show off" the goods to friends and neighbours, who then become so awed by how much easier their lives would be if they had the items, that they buy lots of products. The key differences were
1) Enjo not Tupperware
2) The Hosts did not own any Enjo products themselves (yet)
3) "Showing off" was done by a professional demo

Basically how this started was that while visiting a friend, we found out that she was using what I called a "magic cloth"... it requires no soap to be used while washing oily greasy plates. We didn't believe the plates would be sufficiently clean at first, and insisted on testing it ourselves. It was only when we managed to easily produce the squeaky clean sound that we were finally convinced of its effectiveness.

So we did what our generation always does and googled for the Enjo contact, arranged for a demo to be done at our place (Enjo only sells through "direct marketing"), and invited a few friends over. I must admit we had an ulterior motive, secretly hoping our house would be cleaned in the process of the demo...

Well as the 1hour presentation/demo came to a close, all of us ended up placing orders for various products in the different Enjo ranges. Since *Shinta and I don't normally clean the place ourselves, we decided to stick to the kitchen related items, which we would use more of. It should be interesting testing them out once the goods arrive!

Handyman

Table from Ikea: $39
# of screws and badly pre-drilled holes: 20
Handdrill from Black & Decker: $33

Total cost: $72

The Travel Bug: Things I learnt in Egypt

*Shinta and I had our reservations about going to Egypt at first. We were a little nervous after reading warnings about how to behave there, what to wear, terrorism, customs, cheats and hassling. Despite some minor hiccups however, we had a fantastic time and it was definitely one of the most exciting trips ever. Egypt deserves its reputation as host of the world's most amazing wonders and everyone should go to at least once in their life.

Here are some interesting things we discovered on our trip. It's a mix of travel advice as well as interesting facts I didn't see on other Egypt guides. Hopefully it will make your own travelling experience better!

1. Independent travel is probably not possible

Many of the archaeological sites are situated in far remote places, and a scary and complicated transport system makes getting there on your own a huge pain. Tourists are not allowed to take the "local" public transport and unless you're used to driving in places like Rome or Greece, don't even think about self drive! You could hire a taxi or a driver + car, but the problem is making sure you find a reputable agency with reasonable rates and pray they don't abandon you in the middle of nowhere unless you pay more...

2. Compromise - A fully arranged private tour

Most people would probably choose to join a tour group. May I suggest you think about a private tour. Basically one company will take care of the logistics from end to end, including hotels, air tickets and transfers, entrance fees. You will be met at each city by your private guide and car. You can personalise your itinerary, have full flexibility over your time, and enjoy a better guide-to-guest ratio. Because you are not travelling in a large group, you spend less time waiting around for others, and more time admiring the sites. We managed to spend significantly more time exploring the ruins without the large crowds/groups around, and had the luxury of waiting for others to move off first, leaving us with a chance to take beautiful photos without other tourists in the foreground ruining the shot like the example below.

3. Talk to your guide - he knows a lot

Don't underestimate your tour guide. To be a guide in Egypt, you have to attend college for 3-4 years to study history, details on the archaeology sites, and read & write a second language. Guides are then given a licence for that particular language and have to take a test to renew it every 6 years. Being a tour guide is viewed as a pretty good career option, and our guide was telling us how his brother chose to become a tour guide over doing a fully sponsored PhD! If you're nice to your guide, he will help defend you from hustlers, get you out of trouble, give you advice on how much to pay for things and where to buy them from.

4. Ask your guide where to eat

If you go on a private tour, breakfast is usually provided, but lunch or dinner may or may not be. The best meals we had in Egypt were not the ones included in the package, but the ones our guide actually eats at himself and recommended to us.

5. High security??!! Er... if you say so...

Tourism being one of the top 4 drivers of Egyptian economy, the government took security very seriously after the 2005 terrorist attacks, in an effort to reassure tourists that Egypt was "safe" and encourage them to return. Everywhere throughout Egypt at the entrances of all the ruins, monuments, hotels (basically anywhere tourists might go), you will find x-ray machines and metal detectors similar to airport security procedures. Maybe they were more vigilant at the beginning, but today these are all pretty much for show. No one gave us a second glance or even looked up when we walked through the metal detectors still holding our bags in our hands and setting off all the alarms. We spotted quite a few Tourism Police nodding away at their posts, not even pretending to look around for suspicious characters.

6. Respect the place

What surprised us was how "open" Egypt was in terms of access to the sites. Tourists were free to wander around the premises, and while most respectfully kept their distance from the pillars and walls, there were the few rowdy ones climbing on the ruins or indiscriminately leaning against the intricate carvings on the pillars and walls. I guess the Egyptians think if the temples have been standing there surviving the hot sun for thousands of years, it can survive a few thousand tourists trampling on its grounds every single day.

7. Cairo and Giza stink. Literally.

Bring your inhaler if you're asthmatic. There was a constant haze in the skies and stink in the air, very much like Singapore at its absolute worst when the fires in Indonesia are raging. Alexandria in the north by the sea was marginally better, while it was very much better further south in Luxor to Abu Simbel.

8. Dress Code

Even if you don't enter the mosques, females should take more care with their outfits while visiting Cairo, Giza and Alexandria. If you don't cover up (no shorts, no sleeveless tops), you *will* feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. In Abu Simbel and the Nile Cruise areas (Aswan to Luxor), the concentration of tourists is very much higher, so the dress code accordingly becomes more relaxed. Covering up a little more does help shield your skin from the direct sun though, making the heat more bearable. Note that the further south you go, the warmer it gets. In Hurghada by the Red Sea coast where Russians seem to outnumber Egyptians, anything goes.

9. There's a lot of construction going on...?

When we first saw Cairo, we got the impression that there was a lot of residential construction throughout the city. The first few floors might look finished although not painted, while the top floor usually looked like it was half done, with no ceiling, unfinished brick walls with wires from open structural pillars sticking into the air... According to our guide, these were intentionally left uncompleted so that the owners could claim the buildings were not finished yet and hence avoid paying taxes. Never mind that families had already moved in and had been living there for years...

Along the way between cities such as Cairo to Alex, or Luxor to the Red Sea, the roads mainly passed through desert land. We did see a lot of what looked like construction of new residential / shopping compounds being built literally in the middle of nowhere. However, there didn't seem to be much on-going activity, and we were wondering if they had been abandoned halfway.

10. Shopping is not easy

The usual things to buy from Egypt are jewellery (Cartouches in gold, silver or metal), perfume essence, vases or carvings made from alabaster. I've heard so much conflicting information about whether the items are good to buy or not, that I must say I'm quite confused myself. For example, our guide brought *Shinta and I to a perfume store to get some perfume essence in oils, that were supposedly used for the base for famous scents like Chanel No. 5 and Tommy. We were later told by another guide that these oils might stain clothes, and so to be careful when using it. Your tour guide is likely to get a cut of whatever papyrus "museum" or alabaster "factory" or jewellery store he brings you to, so do take his advice with a pinch of salt.

In general for bargaining, start at 5% of their initial price they quote, and then settle around 10-15%. Seriously. I am NOT joking. The straw hats that they quote you EGP100 for? Pay at most EGP10. We walked away from an alabaster vase when they countered our 10% price with a 40% price, and only after we got into the car to leave, did they come running after us with an offer for 15% which we finally settled on.

One "safe" gift to buy and bring back is Egyptian sweets. These are not normally sold as gifts, but we got our guide to bring us to the bakery in the compound where he stays(Egyptians stay in "compounds" made up of many condo-like developments, all self-contained and with security around the period), and bought a few huge boxes back. They taste really good and can be easily shared with friends and family back home.

Iluma... not just another shopping center

*Shinta and I decided to check out the newly opened Illuma just next to Bugis Junction. Was not sure what to expect since we hadn't really heard much about it unlike others like Ion and Orchard Central.

Must say that the place was a pretty pleasant surprise!

What I like about the place is that it although it markets itself as a hip and happening place, unlike others like Orchard Cineleisure, it doesn't intimidate me with an overly youthful feel and is much less crowded. Just walking around is a much more enjoyable experience because of the well planned layout, high ceilings, open spaces and bright airy atmosphere with a large central open area.

Shops in Iluma are not the usual ones you find in generic shopping malls. The first few floors are sports shops while the next few levels are an assortment of shops including clothing, anime/comic speciality stores, etc.

On the 4th floor, there's a huge central area with tons of interesting restaurants, including a whole section with Japanese stores. *Shinta and I are quite eager to try out some of the izakayas there! There's also a Marble Slab store! It's along the same lines of the Cold Stone Creamery that I reviewed earlier.

The 5th floor onwards is where it starts to feel a little young and happening. Half of the space is taken up by a huge open Arcade with lots of interesting game machines including this ice-cream grabbing one. Unlike most other arcades which are usually dim and cramped with low ceilings, black walls and poor lighting, this one was open, spacious and brightly lit with white walls and surfaces.

The cinema which spans the other side of the 5th floor as well as the 6th floor came as a surprise because it wasn't run by the usual suspects: Golden Village, Eng Wah or Cathay, but by a newcomer, Film Garde.

Taking the escalator up to the 7th floor, we were surprised to find yet another arcade there, this time dark and poorly lit, but with a different range of machines including the more sporty ones like the ball throwing, ski simulation etc.

Just next to it was another area, which at first we thought was a club because of the huge signs outside saying "Ladies Night on...". Curious, we wandered in only to discover...

Haha... Dedicated gaming area with huge screens... they even provide Cup Noodles for those hardcore gamers!

The last interesting thing at Iluma would be the small restaurants and bars that are in this open area on the 7th floor. Unfortunately it wasn't open yet, but with the probably excellent night view of the surrounding buildings, it'll probably be pretty popular among the yuppies looking for a place to chill after work.

Wish List #1 (Update 1)

I am now the proud owner of a 50mm F1/1.4 USM!

Was actually going to get the much much cheaper 50mm F1/8, but *Shinta convinced me that since I probably won't ever be buying a 50mm again, I might as well get the better lens and be done with it.

Unfortunately that kind of logic can be applied to a lot of things...

Wish List #1

In order of preference...

1. EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Probability: High
Reason: Cheap

2. EF 70-200mm F/4L IS USM
Probability: Uncertain
Reason: Ex

3. Canon EOS 50D
Probability: Low
Reason: Current 20D is perfectly adequate (although needs heavy duty cleaning!)

Shop shop shop... til you drop!

Apologies for not updating the blog for so long. Been busy with various stuff.

Anyway a quick update on the findings at the GSS so far:

1 casual top (for play)
2 skirts (for work)
1 pair of pants (for work)
2 dresses (1 for play, 1 for both)
2 pairs of shoes (1 for work, 1 for both)

My work wardrobe is pretty miserable actually. I have an adequate number of formal shirts, having found a good tailor to help out there. But my collection of pants/skirts is really sad and dates back to the few pairs I've had ever since I started work.

Also, I tended to favor pants which can be easily thrown into the washing machine over skirts which had to be dry cleaned... Until recently my colleague enlightened me that items with the label "dry clean" can also be thrown into the machine!

I'm on the lookout for soft non-shirt tops and smart easy-to-wear dresses that could double for work and play, but so far the ones I like are like way over what I consider reasonable...

Lucky me, having an office in town definately helps with the shopping!

And the answer is...

... Option 4!

In the end, the attraction of having the latest fancy model and not needing to lug around / maintain a separate bulky waterproof case for the Canon won the day, and we are now proud owners of the Olympus µTough 8000!

We're quite happy with it, the camera is extremely convenient for frequent beach-goers. I get a huge kick out of being able to just jump into the water, without needing to worry about fiddly things like opening and closing the case to put the camera in / download photos / charge camera, or worrying about the seal. We definitely carried the camera around a lot more and took tons more photos with the waterproof Olympus, than say if we had bought a separate casing for our existing camera.

If waterproofing is not something you're looking for however, I still maintain that the Canon Ixus is a better camera than the Olympus in terms of shutter lag (shorter), software (faster response time), focusing ability (better selection of focus points), ease of use (more intuitive and dummy proof), image & colour capture (more realistic and balanced), design (less fiddly)... ie everything!

Just to give a simple illustration, take night shots for example. I tried the "automatic", "night scene" and "fireworks" scene settings for the Olympus, but the best I could come up with (even after using a table and timer) was this:

Using the Canon Ixus however, the "P" setting was sufficient to give me a much more focused and colour temperature balanced photo:

The camera software, layout/type of buttons and programme selection is also a lot more well thought through on the Ixus, and definitely more user-friendly. For example, the Ixus has a simple 3 step selector (video/scene/P) while the Olympus has a complicated dial which is difficult to turn and very fiddly especially underwater. The dial also has what I consider "useless" functions such as the Beauty option, which causes delays in software response time if you accidentally turn to it. When in the "scene mode", to change the scene you have to either turn the dial to another mode and then back to scene mode, or fiddle with 3-4 different buttons in as many steps. Extremely cumbersome when doing underwater snorkeling and you want to change from "underwater portrait" to "underwater wide".

Functions that one normally takes for granted in the Ixus, are also missing in the Olympus. Examples include: Auto-rotation of photos, LCD brightness adjustments, manual white balance calibration, power saving settings...

Don't get me wrong, the Olympus *is* a good camera. Just that compared to the Ixus..... Well we don't regret our purchase, because it was the best decision given the options available to us. But if you're getting a normal everyday camera, I would recommend the Canon over the Olympus. And if you need a waterproof one and can wait a few months (or make friends with someone in Japan/US), do consider the Powershot D10 which will hopefully come to Singapore some time soon.

More on using the Olympus for snorkeling photos next time!

Decisions decisions...

Background
You need (ok fine... "want") a digital camera for underwater use.
You already have a 1-year old Canon Ixus and are happy with it.

Purchase Options
1. Only-used-for-this-camera-model waterproof case up to 40m at ~$300
- Case can ONLY be used for this particular model and was very difficult to find as camera is already 1 year old. Must also make sure to maintain the case properly, check the many seals, o-ring, moving parts etc. Bulky and not so easy to handle.

2. New Olympus / Fuji waterproof camera up to 3m at ~$300
- 3m tolerance seems a little shallow even just for snorkelling. What if want to dive/swim a bit more to take photo of starfish on rock?

3. Already-taken-off-many-shelves Olympus waterproof camera up to 10m at ~$550
- Model is already taken off many shelves in anticipation of a newer model coming out. Hence unavailable at many stores.

4. Latest-model-not-yet-released-in-Singapore Olympus waterproof camera up to 10m at ~$600 (+$85 for 1+4year warranty)
- Model is so new, most stores know its coming in, but don't know when. Managed to find at Harvey Norman. Highest picture resolution at 12MP compared to the others which are 10MP.

Which would you choose?
Stay tuned to get the results!

The tree is up! Now for the gifts?

The Christmas tree is up! This year its silvery white

Ten things I love about...

Ten Things I Love About Christmas

10. Carollers
9. Christmas lights
8. Office shutdown
7. Putting up decorations on the tree
6. Finding the perfect gift for someone
5. Receiving a carefully selected / handmade gift
4. *Shinta will buy me gifts
3. I have an excuse to buy gifts for myself
2. Using the holiday as an excuse to meet up with friends

Lastly and most importantly...

1. Commemorating God's gift to us, His Son