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Tropical islands of Malaysia: Redang

To put things simply, Redang Island is a tropical paradise. To be more accurate, it’s a group of very small islands off the coast of the Malaysian peninsula, that have the trifecta of great weather, lush jungle, and beautiful beaches – at least for six months of the year (the island and it’s hotels are generally deserted during monsoon season).

The central areas of the island are covered with thick rainforest. If you’re willing and able, you can hike through it to find other isolated beaches you’ll have all to yourself. In the jungle, you might come across giant monitor lizards, which can grow up to 200 pounds, but thankfully prey only on eggs, frogs, and small fish.

Redang isn’t a place for local culture, shopping, or nightlife. Instead, it’s a place to experience the beauty of the sea. While there is a small village, it’s primarily populated with tourists looking to do snorkeling and diving. Directly off the main beach on which the majority of the hotels are located, you can find a lively coral reef, where it’s easy to find resident baby reef sharks and a huge variety of tropical fish. With a bit of luck, sea turtles, octopus, giant trigger fish, and moray eels are common sightings here as well.

As a bonus, we got to take a self guided tour of Kuala Terengganu, a medium sized port city with service to many of Malaysia’s eastern islands. Notable in “KT” are some spectacular floating mosques, and a Chinatown that dates back to the 17th century.

Click here for the entire gallery!

September 8, 2017 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

KL is warm in many ways.

Kuala Lumpur sits in near the middle of Peninsular Malaysia, just about at the equator. It’s one of Asia’s few truly multicultural cities, with Indians, Chinese, and local Malay (Bumiputera) people all laying the historical foundations of what is today Malaysia’s capital city. KL has experienced a sort of economical and societal breakthrough in recent decades, with the efficient monorails, the two new airports and the iconic skyscrapers serving only as physical evidence.

KL is often compared with Bangkok, its sister capital city some thousand miles to the north. And while Bangkok is bigger, and certainly more historic, it could be argued that Kuala Lumpur is the friendlier, more sensible city. With almost 8 million people in the Klang Valley around KL, it’s certainly not small either, but there is a near universal warmth in the people of this diverse city. It can still be chaotic, but we found there’s almost a homeliness about KL that is rare to find so far from home.

Like many cities in Asia, some of the best parts of town are the bustling markets where locals and tourists alike congregate to shop, eat, and gather at almost any hour – day or night. Hawkers and street-side restaurants call out that they have the best chili pan mee noodles, or the freshest seafood, or the cheapest designer purses, top quality! But these are also the markets where locals by wholesale goods, and congregate after work hours. These markets are the fabric that makes up the city of KL, with icons like the Petronas Twin towers, providing lovely inflections.

Kuala Lumpur is a city of great and varied food, and great and varied humans. Humid mornings and humid afternoons. It’s a city where you can still find a tiny bit of that rainforest that stood there before the city ever was. This is KL, and it is warm in many ways.

Follow the link here, and stay tuned for more Malaysia and Indonesia!

August 23, 2017 | Categories: Malaysia, Skyline | Tags: #KL | Leave A Comment »

Rain, Sunshine, & Sea to Sky.

Surrounded by mountains and alpine forests, nestled against the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver and the lower British Columbia mainland has the most epic combination of scenic landscapes and a dense, bustling metropolis. There are now at least 2.4 million people living in the area, yet the strategic urban planning, density, and natural geography means the area still manages to invoke a charming sense of wilderness.

The Sea to Sky corridor to the North between Vancouver and Whistler is a quick getaway spoiled with friendly people and lovely scenery. I had a remarkably brief time here in May, enough to capture a few stunning vistas and left wanting more.

To see the gallery for this trip, click here.

To see the Vancouver gallery, with images both new and old, click here.

May 28, 2017 | Categories: Canada, Mountains | Leave A Comment »

Dubai

From humble beginnings as a village of pearl divers and merchants, modern Dubai is often seen as anything but humble. Known now for its ambitious construction projects and record holding skyscrapers, Dubai is modern day symbol of wealth in the Middle East. “The City of Gold”, as it has become known, Dubai is a city of ambition. It’s a fascinating place for so many reasons, and not simply its rapid rise to stardom nor its renowned megaprojects (though the way engineering has been pushed to the limits in Dubai is often breathtaking). It’s a city of controversy, with growing pains, and likely more to come. I’ll choose to not wade into the deeper controversies in this context, but I’ll say that Dubai is a living experiment. An experiment of multiculturalism in the Middle-East, and often a clash between worlds. A clash between times even, but yet, Dubai’s many modern marvels are not only a source of pride for the Arab world, but also a collaboration between cultures, and people.

A week in Dubai is plenty of time to see the city, both its modern wonders and its less lauded communities that make the city tick. Often the contrast between such great wealth and such humility is quite prominent in Dubai, as these photos will appear to show two distinct cities. Often, however, such contrasts will exist on the same block. It’s not uncommon, in my experience, to see a Lamborghini pull stridently down a busy street of restaurants, where the food server is making only a few dollars a day. Or to see groups of people walking to midday prayer in worn sandals and simple garb, while on the next corner stands a grand strip of 5 star luxury high-rises. While there is much excess, there is also a sense of humility and optimism. The mood is positive in Dubai, friendly, perhaps even carefree.

Click here for my photo tour of Dubai.

March 13, 2017 | Categories: Middle East, Skyline | Tags: Middle East | Leave A Comment »

Gallery Update: Toronto

It’s been about ten years since I first made an album of Toronto. At the time, I was still learning how to use my first Digital SLR, the first Canon Rebel at the time.

I just can’t run out of pictures to take in Toronto. There are 259 pictures in this album, after culling hundreds of others. Below are some newer captures from recent trips, enjoy the tour! Click here to go to the full gallery.

January 6, 2017 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

Gallery Update: Chicago

I’ve updated my gallery of Chicago with pictures from a recent stay – lots of architecture, streetscapes, and colorful views of this marvel of a city. Here’s a link, with some highlights below.

November 12, 2016 | Categories: Skyline, USA | Leave A Comment »

Photographs from the Pacific Southwest.

I’ve updated the Las Vegas and Los Angeles galleries with new pictures.

The renowned architect Frank Loyd Wright once said “Tip the world on its side, and everything loose will land in Los Angeles”. LA is a city of dreams, stars, and freeways. It can be a surreal place to visit, partly because even if it’s your first time in the City of Angels, you feel a nostalgia for the city. These sights, you’ve seen before countless times on television. This feeling of bright warm sunshine, the palm tree lined streets, the Hollywood sign in the background – it feels so familiar. Los Angeles is certainly one of the most culturally influential cities of the world. Hollywood has become synonymous with the movie industry as well as celebrity culture, but it’s also a city of creativity and new ideas – the motion picture industry that took hold here was more of a consequence of this creative ideology than the precursor to it. The scale of America’s second largest city is too daunting to take in, but scaled down to it’s famous neighborhoods, beaches, and landmarks you’ll find LA’s true identity.

Four hours east, in the middle of an inhospitable dessert lies the city that seems impossible. A towering billion dollar strip of megahotels, with regal recreations of Paris, New York, and Egypt among others hundreds of miles from any major city. The landscape is martian. You’d imagine a soulless city built by the Mob as one big red light district would be completely unrewarding to a conscientious traveler – but surprisingly, you’d be wrong. There is great people watching, fascinating feats on engineering, and reliably warm weather aside from a short winter. The city conveys a surprising story, of people and money from all over the world arriving in a city of the old west. The unfathomable city, with its often tacky exuberance, is unique in the world. There is nothing like Las Vegas.

October 15, 2016 | Categories: Las Vegas, USA | Leave A Comment »

Stars, fishing, and remote wilderness.

The universe can be a humbling place. So countless are the stars in the night sky, that the concept that each one of them having it’s own solar system is unfathomable. Some scientists suggest as many as 700 million trillion planets exist in the known universe – that’s a bigger number than I can comprehend.

Canada, in its vastness, can also be humbling. Just a short drive from where I live in Winnipeg, the great wilderness of the Canadian Shield takes over this country’s geography. Civilization is sparse. Even 5 minutes into a pontoon flight from Kenora, you see the signs of humanity dwindle. No towns, no roads, no people. A group of friends have found a favorite lake in the area: one that you can only get to by plane, and if you rent out the cottage for the week, an entire set of lakes in the area is exclusive to you. Days are spent fishing, and if the sky is clear, you might end staying up late into the night watching the spectacle in the sky. Staring out at the limitless universe, from the vast wilderness…humbled.

Hit the link!

July 18, 2016 | Categories: Astrophotography, Canada, Wildlife | Leave A Comment »

Offshore in the Caymans

Looking insignificant in an Atlas, Grand Cayman is the largest island of the tiny Caribbean nation called the Cayman Islands. The island is known for two things: the wealthy offshore banking economy and the unbelievable beaches. It’s a generally quiet island, where tourists spend days relaxing on the beach rather than at late night parties. If calm, clear, idealistic blue water is your priority, there may be no better place to visit. Either that, or click the link for the gallery.

May 28, 2016 | Categories: Caribbean | Leave A Comment »

Aruba

A small island some 29 miles off the coast of Venezuela, Aruba is one of the Caribbean’s driest islands. Though initially colonized by the Spanish during the conquests of the 16th century, the island would eventually find itself under Dutch control in 1636. Ever since, it has been considered part of the Dutch Caribbean. The remarkably warm and dry climate has helped Aruba develop a large tourism industry – three quarters of Aruba’s economy comes from tourism or related activities. The turquoise waters and white sand are typical of an island paradise in the Caribbean, but for many who visit, the guarantee of warm sunny weather year round is the reason to return to Aruba.

Aruba is truly an island in the sun, a great place for a guarantee of perfect weather for those of us that like it hot and dry. Check out a small preview below, and follow the link to the full gallery.