Being a Doer and not a Talker, I gathered 10 friends and family for a 5D 4N hiking trip to 3 different hills and 1 mountain in Perak, Perlis and Kedah. Do you still remember my ranting about my trip last year (in 2023) to Mong Gajah in Tasik Pedu, Kedah?
Click >> hereto read about my first time in >> Mong Gajah.
While I was enjoying my morning light at Mong Gajah, I saw a glimpse of the highest peak of Gunung Fakir Terbang (574 m) located in Tasik Pedu Kedah, hiding behind the thick morning mist. It is a part of the Trans Singgora (Banjaran Kedah Singgora), located at the border of Malaysia and Thailand. Amir, the owner of Tasik Pedu SeriMahawangsa boathouse used to share old folk stories about Tasik Pedu and its surroundings including Gunung Fakir Terbang, relating to the history of the Singgora Sultanate era.
I was with my three (3) other travel companions last weekend playing with lights at Taiping, Perak. A short weekend outing to start off our new travel team (we called us the #gengbajetravel). We planned to travel together since God knows … very long time ago … but it always canceled at the very last minute. Excuses after excuses …
Then, we decided to make it happened, by hook or by crook. The weather forecast said that it’ll be raining the whole weekend … oh boy! there goes our plan for sunset, sunrise and Milkyway. We had our backup plan though … if everything failed then we’ll experimenting steel wool photography instead.
We were at Lake Garden Taiping, Perak, Malaysia as early as 4 a.m, praying for a clear sky to shoot Milkyway …but the sky was too cloudy. It was not possible so we headed straight to Plan B, light painting with burning steel wool. I was excited to try something new …
The making of Dorayaki
It was fun, experimenting new technique with good companions while listening to the frogs’ orchestra performing live background music. Always … always … always surrounded with good people, am I blessed or am I blessed, alhamdullilah.
The four of us are super crazy. Well, crazy in a good way lol… crazy seeking for something new to uplift our skill. We are very competitive towards each other but our sense of humanity are still strongly intact. I adore friend like that.
People said that your friends are the reflection of you and if that is the case, well … I want to be my friend :-p <— perasan kan?
The Cinderella carriage
Rain on fire
Steel wool photography is not as hard as I thought it would be. It’s easy to learn. I love the dramatic and artistic effect too and I am officially curious to explore more on this.
Circle of fire
My sunrise landscape
I set my camera on manual mode, the speed at 10-15″ and ISO at 250 to 400 accordingly (for those who are curious about the camera setting). Trying to incorporate “ring of fire” onto my landscape in future … just to feed my curiosity on how my landscape image would look like with this additional art.
Gotta go! Cheerios …
MM
ps – …
It’s better to know how to learn than to know ~ Dr. Seuss
MATSUDA MASHIMARU 