Another year

January 17, 2018November 14, 2023 Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

2018.01.18: Time for revisiting my 2017 resolutions and evaluate my yearly self-achievement. What have I done in 2017? Have I achieved all 3 of my 2017 Resolutions? My 2017 resolution is here in this previous post.

Kiasu ‘win’ attitude – yes! I signed up and participated in some competitions but no sign of winning yet, but at least I am out of my comfort zone.
Travel backpack – yes! to Mongolia
More create time – yes! thanks to NST

I think I need new resolutions for 2018, realistic resolutions just like last year, to keep me moving forward. Ok … my 3 resolutions for 2018 are:

I want to have a constant income from this hobby of mine, to be able to support my hyperactive wandering activity. So that one sweet day … I could be a full-time nomad, living just anywhere but I still earn a decent income from working while wandering. So, what should I do this year? Hmmm, puzzle …

This year I aged another year … women at my age, another year of aging is horrifying lol. But everything aged, even my old cat Chicken would turn 13 this March. I want to age gracefully … I want a healthy lifestyle in 2018. Cutting down on sugar and meat. Eating only healthy home food … maybe I should stop eating at that mamak restaurant. Hmmm, puzzle again.

More meaningful wandering aka traveling. I don’t want to follow the crowds … I want to follow ME. I want to wander and explore because the selfish me want to, not because everybody is going to Iceland then suddenly I have to go to Iceland, no way … I would go to Iceland because I want to go to Iceland lol … okay, puzzle again and again. Mental …

DSC_9216-2 — *A yak and a great sky in Lhasa, Tibet*

I’ll write about my visit to Gandruk, Nepal last-last year on my next post lol … I need to see mountains and smell the cleanly filtered foresty air badly before I turn insane.

Ok lah … lemme get my beauty sleep in that rabbit hole of mine. Bye for now …

Yezza cheers!

Street thrill in Dhaka

December 31, 2017April 14, 2021 Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

MYS_3198-Edit — A woman we met at a village outskirts of Dhaka

It was all about capturing moments of human interest when I was in Dhaka, Bangladesh recently. My first time and like always, I have a zero expectation of this place … I was like ok Dhaka surprise me, please.

*Friends shading from the early morning rain on the street of Dhaka*

It rained cats and dogs during the first 3 days of my 6 days stay. But being a hardcore wanderer … the rain couldn’t subside my curiosity. I was out wandering along the markets and back lanes of Dhaka … in the rain.

My first impression was that the street smells pleasant.

Surprisingly Dhaka is way cleaner than India, 10 times cleaner than India … I shall think so. At least the street is not treated as the public toilet by the 18.2 million city residents. People everywhere seemed busy and fully occupied here.

NEP_9845-Edit — *A peak from the train window in Dhaka*

My second impression is … the food is good.

It tastes about the same as in India, Pakistan and Nepal. And my taste buds think that the biryani here is very delicious and I had mutton biryani for almost every day here too. Sharing a clip video ↓ of my obsession with mutton biryani … obsession lol?

We traveled in a big group this time around … 15 of us scattered around the street yet we saw completely different views. How awesome was that? When I saw my friends posted their version of ‘the street of Dhaka’, almost always I would pound my head and asked myself about why oh why I did not see it from their angles.

It is proven then … every each of us is unique in our own way.

NEP_0169-Edit — *Hard life for an honest living in Dhaka*

As I strolled along the streets, villages and some back alleys I saw hard work and hard life here … yet the people of Dhaka is rich in hospitality. Walking and talking with strangers has never felt a burden here … some even invited us to their homes for a cup of cha or tea.

MYS_3938-Edit-Edit — *A boatman trying to make an honest living in Dhaka*

To be honest, there are hundreds and probably thousands of Bangladeshi working here in my home country Malaysia. I see them everywhere and every day too. When I posted my whereabouts to a group of friends … they jokingly teased me on why the need to be in Dhaka when I can just hang out at Pasar Borong Selayang (a wholesale market in the heart of KL) or the famous Chowkit road and just be surrounded by them?

It is normal to have that tendency to treat foreign workers at your country home differently ( I guess I am guilty too) but being in Dhaka … experiencing just a few days living in their home country does change my perspective.

I see them in a different way now … a more human way of looking at fellow humans trying their best to survive in the high-density human populated area on our one and only earth.

*Boats at Buriganga River in the middle of Dhaka*

Would I recommend Dhaka for your next trip? Should I repeat for another round of trip exploring Dhaka?

………. absolutely, yes!

Thanks for dropping by here at my space… on the last day of 2017. Resolution time … resolution … resolution. Bye …

Cheers

ps: my January article in NST bots on ‘People at Work’ with Dhaka as the background story.

Grasp of Technique

December 19, 2017April 14, 2021 Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

Being an organized freak, I always wanted to organize my thought during each photo moment that I had. What is the best angle, compo, light, subject positioning, mood etc? I would go back and forth figuring out on how to do it right and fast.

I want to simplify that process and reduce my mistake during each photo moment.

It goes back to the right technical knowledge, mastering the tools in your hand and having the technical understanding of visual compositions. As my mentor told me … before you decide on bending the rules, master the rules first.

So, I started with something simple as the classic six design elements. Understand the elements of color, line, shape, texture, space, and form are an advantage.

In the NST Bots Click! column for this year, I had covered 5 of the elements (line, shape, texture, space, form) and my friend Razz Rossfaisal of Travelberdua.com covered the element of color.

Sharing it here for my easy reference.

**1. The classic 6-design elements: COLOR**

: 2. The classic 6-design elements: LINE

The classic 6-design elements: Shape — **3. The classic 6-design elements: SHAPE**

3 July2017 — **4. The classic 6-design elements: TEXTURE**

31 July2017 — **5. The classic 6-design elements: SPACE**

Sept2017 — **6. The classic 6-design elements: Form**

Knowledge sharing works in both ways, the giver and the giving gained. As we are moving closer towards the end of 2017, I feel sad. Have I learned enough during this year? Have I worked hard enough?

Life has its own karma … if I didn’t work hard enough and if I didn’t learn well enough … life would come back and hunt me again with regrettable errors and mistakes.

Thanks for dropping by. Gotta run …

Bye

ps- still trying to figure out on what topic to cover in 2018 … hmmm hmmm hmmm

Quiet Sense

November 28, 2017March 30, 2020 Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

MAG_9813-Edit — People are often so busy living that never stop to wonder why ~ Terry Pratcett

Rushing life throughout my given 24 hours a day doing chores (yes … I call it chores) felt heavy on my soul. My mind is always occupied with the idea of being busy but at the end of my 24 hours, I realized that there is not much accomplishment that I could be proud of.

I want to have a full control of my busyness. So that I have more excess time to do things that I love … things that I want to do, not others expect me to do. Time flies. Juggling my responsibility and my dream, I felt that 2017 has been a heavy year for me.

And, I am wishing for a flamboyant 2018 … so, I started by setting up my new year resolution and planning earlier than usual. Spelling out clearly on priorities that I want to accomplish in 1- 2 years time.

Filling up details of my 2018 planning in my Evernote app with rational resolution In Sha Allah. More traveling, exploring, writing, reading, creating, crafting, daydreaming … more me time. Am off to bed now … will write more in a few days.

KUN_4919-Edit — “The quiet sense of something lost”

Cheers

ps- letting go of his hand … you weren’t even mine in the first place

Yes … the street of India

October 17, 2017March 30, 2020 Matsuda MashimaruLeave a comment

IND_9528 Re-visiting my India’s photos for my latest NST assignment to celebrate Deepavali or Dewali. All these photos bring back memories of me surviving India and I think its time to repeat India again.