Fey Wanders: panasoniccamera

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Tuesday, July 8, 2014

The Oia Dream I (Greece Part 1)

"The Universe always conspires to help the dreamer."

If life is truly a dream, then the dreamer will come to realize that he is dreaming his life when he sets foot on Santorini Island.

Daydreams do come true.
I found myself on Santorini this summer; fulfilling one of the most anticipated destinations on my bucket list.
The picturesque postcard pictures of Oia at the northern tip of Santorini we have often seen are for real.

The white washed mansions and blue domed churches overlooking the sea just brings about a surge of peace and tranquility in one's soul.

7am in Oia.

All is quiet. Just us and the sweeper.

And of course the sweet cats living at Oia.

The cat that does not get tired of watching the Oia sunrise.

There is just something special about blue domes that i cannot get enough of.

TBC….

(Pics taken with a Panasonic Lumix Camera, Samsung S4 and Note 2)

Sunday, January 19, 2014

My Hong Kong Top 10 To Dos ! #2

A way to experience the spectacular skylines of Hong Kong is from the Victoria Peak (The Peak). The Peak offers a 360 degrees paranomic view of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the hills of North Territories as well as the Lamma island.

The part i like about the Victoria Peak is the ride up via the Peak Tram, which pulls visitors up a steep hill in under ten minutes.
(***As the queue for the tram is usually long, tickets purchased in advance gives a quicker access to take the ride. We bought ours at the airport which offered us a bundled discount for a few tourist attractions as well.)

While it does, the Tram's climb up offers us a gradually growing bird's eye view of the city.

With less people in the viewing lookout, it can surely be quite a romantic backdrop for lovers.

It can get quite cold especially during nights with strong winds, so do remember to layer up before visiting.

I enjoyed the view so much that i will definitely be back again!!

In the meantime, if you are into wax figurines of famous personalities, photo opportunities await a Madame Tussaud's at the Peak Tower as well.

TBC…

Read My Hong Kong Top 10 To Dos ! #1

Pics taken with a Panasonic Lumix camera and Samsung Note 2

Sunday, January 12, 2014

My Hong Kong Top 10 To Dos ! #1

#1: Wong Tai Sin Temple

In the shadows of gleaming glass and steel skyscrapers, thrive temples heavily laden with thick incense smoke.

Beyond all that outward modernisation, Hong Kong is still deep seated in its cultural roots. Religion being one still widely practised by the locals. The Wong Tai Sin temple is a popular one with the locals renowned for having devotees' prayers answered.

My first visit to the temple and I was way too curious. I had to have my fortune told. Having used one of the fortune tossing tool, with a question in mind, I started jossing the container with sticks. Fairly quickly, a stick fell out of the bundle, that very stick is the clue to my fortune (or even future) ! We adjourned to the adjacent building where fortune tellers lined the passageway in small shops awaiting eager fortune seekers. I never really took much to such fortune tellers being a believer that one creates his own destiny. However, the reading was insightful for a mere HK $25. Worth a try for a fortune telling experience !

Read My Hong Kong Top 10 To Dos ! # 2

Pics taken with a Panasonic Lumix and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Camera

Sunday, November 3, 2013

The Magic of Egypt (Part 3)

Crossing the vast dessert, we made our way to Abu Simbel in Nubia, southern Egypt. Abu Simbel is one of the most famous ancient Egyptian monuments after the Pyramids and Sphinx and is listed as a UNSECO World Heritage Site.

This temple that stands now was relocated in its entirety in 1968 from been submerged during the creation of the Lake Nasser, which is an artificial water reservoir formed after the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River.

In the early days, ancient Egyptians could only reach the temple in their sails as the dessert route was inaccessible.
With worship being paramount to their lives, the ardous journey was not a deterrence to them.

Meeting the temple built by the mightiest of the pharaohs, Ramses II, the four colossi of himself carved out of a mountain is nothing short of magnificent.

The closer i walked towards it, the smaller i felt (in every sense).
The sheer size glorified the power and pride of the king during his reign.

(Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed inside the temple.)
Walking into the temple, was a humbling experience as i felt my insignificance walking through the towering row of statues leading into the main altar.

(source: google images)

The interior though less spectacular than its facade also has no wall left untouched; intricately carved with egyptian gods, rituals and beliefs.

The thing that intrigued me the most is how on the every 22nd February and 22nd October annually, the first rays of the rising sun will penetrate the temple and illuminate the Holy Quartet (except Ptah on the left).

(source: google images)

The significance of the dates are still a mystery but they are believed to be the anniversaries of Ramses's coronation and birth.
How they aligned the sun to light the temple altar is definitely an architectural genius considering the technology available in that era.

I marvel at the workmanship of the carvings.

Abu Simbel is worth the travel- journeying through the vast dessert for hours to actually seeing the temple itself has been an unforgettable experience for me.