Afternoon in Putrajaya

Putrajaya is an architectural gem. Full of great buildings, great lakes. But often when you reached there, you couldn't figure out what to do.

Umai Cafe by the riverA gorgeous Sunday afternoon sunThe cafe was crowded ...The other weekend, Anita and I decided to have a quick drive there to enjoy a nice sunny Sunday afternoon. It was only half an hour away from our apartment. Along the eay, Anita was tasked at finding out which soot we should land at. We wanted to have a quick drink.

Back out into the sunThat famous balloon ...Too many skies ...The top pick was Umai Cafe, right next to a lake, in between Masjid Besi and Monumen Alaf Baru. I was pretty sure I flew my drone somewhere near there before.

Nice café serving local food. We stayed in the aircond since the weather was really hot outside. It was crowded for a Sunday afternoon, maybe because there were hardly any other choices. Before long, Anita was walking around trying the GoPro.

The administrative centre ...

The majestic Mosque We then drove towards Medan Putra before heading home. Nearby, we saw a new McDonald's. So, we might bring the boys the next time we venture there.

GoPro Blue Hour

After a day of meeting, I was ready to have some chill out time. Anita asked if I can drive her out. Sure. And that gave me the chance to bring my GoPro out since it had been such a clear sunny day that day.

I reached Bukit Bintang at around sunset after negotiating some heavy traffic. Many people were doing their preparations for Chinese New Year and the road had been busy. I immediately noticed that the blue light after sunset that day would be gorgeous.

There were definitely plenty to snap at Bukit Bintang with people mingling about. GoPro jpg rendition definitely favours blue sky. The blue just popped, contrasting the neon lights on the ground.

My walk took me to the famous Bukit Bintang intersection by the monorail station. There were live street musician playing which I recorded of course. I also had the chance to do a bit of time lapse - which in the end turned out to be too short.

I then doubled back to Pavilion to join Anita for dinner, again taking some photos of the famous fountain. All in all, the GoPro coped well with the high ISO needed to capture evening scenes after sunset. Captures up to ISO 1600 seems to still be useable. I didn't dare to leave the setting above that.

Thaipusam Day Outing

The last of the installments I can assure you that - since I would be back at work tomorrow. I had some time to walk around town, still exploring what the GoPro could offer. As today was Thaipusam and I didn't have the stomach to follow my friends to Batu Caves, I decided to stay nearer to home.

Heading to Dataran Merdeka after lunchWhere's the water curtain?The River and the TowerWhere the rivers meet ...Following the route After a short trip to the ward, I parked my car at Suria KLCC before heading out for some biryani at Masjid India via the LRT. The weather was too nice to ignore and before it got too warm, I decided to venture out of mall and took some photos of the Twin Tower. Wide angle and blue skies was what needed for this photo op. I didn't have to be asked twice.

It certainly was sunny ...Sitting by the junctionWorking in the sun ...Into the shade ...Central Market ...Calling it the day ...Then came the LRT trip to Masjid India for lunch at Restoran Shahira, doubling back via River of Life where groups of tourists were lurking. Off through Central Market before taking the LRT back to Suria. Time for some coffee and later a quick stop at Kinokuniya before heading back home.

GoPro-ing Bukit Bintang

Still recovering from my tiring weekend, I decided to enjoy my day off in the sun. There were plenty to enjoy and over breakfast, I plotted my route.

I parked my car at Low Yat, walked towards Lot 10 exploring the famous junction before settling at Pavilion. More snaps of the decorations and the area surrounding it before making my way towards Berjaya Times Square.

By the Monorel StationNo secret here ...That famous ceiling at Fahrenheit 88On the floorIt was snapping galore in the sun. The blues sky was tinged with fluffy white clouds, perfect for architecture exploration. Drawing my experience from the walk I did in Singapore, I was able to avoid the flares and shots needing wide dynamic range. I could tell that the snaps were improving.

In-betweenUnder the shade ...That famous fountainDuring this walk, I also learned on how to use the video feature. I settled for 4K, 24 fps cinematic captures. A balance of quality and speed. The format was also easily handled by Final Cut Pro.

Using the electronic stabilisation was also a joy. It was almost as good as using a gimble although you lose up to 10% of the margin at the edge of your video.

Let's get acrossThe stalls about to open ...Street artistCycling binAt Berjaya Times Square, I mainly tested the low light performance of the camera. The conclusion was it handled low light admirably excelling more in videos than photos. That was my last port of call before heading home to do some post-processing.

CNY at Suria

The central foyer was packed with decorations. The main stage already taken up half the space while the stalls made walking around rather tricky especially when tourists with selfie sticks came into the equation.

Entering from the fountain

Plenty to see. A kind of mini-BTS type of decorations. A bit of everything but not amounting to much. The area by the big fountain - as customary - had a big tower erected. Hampered by the fact that this would be the Year of the Dog, the mall couldn't erect anything with canine features - for political correctness and reflecting our collective social immaturity really.

The stalls were pretty standard as well. Some jewellery, perfumes, cookies and clothes. They could do without those pop-up stalls actually. Maybe the income from it is inputs rant for the mall.

Quite festive with the loud music and all that. But I couldn't hang around for long. There were plenty needed to be done for the rest of the outing ...