Lunar Eclipse

Sorry guys that I'm not filling up my blog since the new year of 2010. First, I was busy preparing my Year 2 Semester 2. Then, when I'm back here, tonnes of workloads were pouring like water. Lab reports, assignments and plus, I've just hired as a committee member of the brand new Chemistry Society in UTAR Kampar. Gonna be a tough work here but I must persist.

So, when thinking about my starter to blog, I will see my Flickr whether I've upload any edited pictures for blogging. I have these...

You see nothing but just a moon. But it's the new year moon of 2010. So, what's so special about it?

It's lunar esclipse. Not the full one but the partial lunar eclipse. I'm not sure where I've got the news to see the eclipse but thanks to the person who notify me somewhere.Then, I wikify the information to see whether I can see it or not in Asia region.

Yeah, it will! The eclipse will start from 17:17, reaching eclipse at 19:22 and last till 21:28 in UTC. So, around 2.00 am to 4.00am in Malaysia Time (UTC+8), I was like a dummy siting under a eerie silent midnight myself.

I know you will call me crazy but it's my first time observing lunar eclipse. Solar eclipse is rather boring because you need to scorch yourself under hot sun and the observation requires eye protection. 

 

It's known as the blue moon, a second full moon in December. You can said it as 'once in a blue moon'.

Indeed it was 'once in a blue moon' since my camera captured its blue glowing around the moon.That night on 31 December 2009, there was a heavy down pour and I afraid that I'm gonna miss it since there are a lot of super thick clouds covering the sky...

See that? The disturbance is approaching!  ><

Be gone you stupid clouds! :P

So, what do you mean by partial lunar eclipse? 

It is the event where the moon is partially block by the earth from the total sun rays.

Something like this...
(The larger, darker circle is Earth and the smaller one is Moon. The view is based on the perspective of Sun)

So, I wait...

...wait...

and wait. Suddenly, I saw something moving in front of me and stop! Was it...
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*heart beat*
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Since, I have trouble to look during night time, I turned my camera flash on.
Ka chak!
It was a white cat...
Scared me of bumping something else! XD
The red thingy is the reflection of my neighbor's tailight car. So, no ghosts captured that night... :P

The eclipse was started on 3.15 am (UTC+8) and I thought the cloud was covering the moon...

Neh. It wasn't! It is the lunar eclipse...

The moon was so bright but it still okay...

Then, I adjust my camera settings on exposure meter, ISO and the focus zone.

Focus zone change. The picture become blurred...

Adding the landscape mode instead of macro or auto mode... Getting nicer...

I try to zoom in until it reached digital zooming. Bad idea as well!
That's why I don't trust digital zoom. Optical zoom is still the best!

Damn!
The digital zoom ruined my focus zone! Reset my setting and back to the drawing board. :(

Checking on the exposure meter...

Erm, the light is too bright but I'm expecting the focus and exposure will be perfect.

Yay! I got the lunar surface picture! By what? Adjusting my ISO down to the lowest, ISO 100!

Better without my hand shaking!

Take two!

Whoops!

*shaky hands*

Argh! The clouds!!!
They ruined the moment!
Shhss!!!

Move along...
Move it move it~

Sigh... I hate my automatic settings in my camera. Auto focus, auto ISO and auto exposure meter. But it still delivers a nice job. Love it!

So that's all folks about my coverage of the lunar eclipse on 31 December 2009 or should I say 1 January 2010... Don't care about it. Hopefully I will to see the next lunar eclipse on...

Let me check...

26 June 2010 (Partial eclipse)

21 December 2010 (Total eclipse)

15 June 2011 (Total eclipse)

10 Dec 2011 (Total eclipse)

4 June 2012 (Partial eclipse)

I think most probably is on 11 December 2011 where the eclipse is visible from all of Asian and Australia. I will get to see the full eclipse instead of partial! Emm, I might want to get better camera on that day? Anyone want to borrow me your DSLR or other high ends camera or equipments?

Or if you are kind-hearted enough, can you sponsor me? :P

A bientot!

Haadyai (Day 2)

P.S.: It's gonna be three posts instead of four (if you follow up my Twitter) because the last part kinda boring and not related to Haadyai vacation at all... :)

After one day of shopping at malls, street stalls and not forgetting the night market, we woke up about 9 am (it was 8 am in Thai time), we continued our objectives: explore around Haadyai city.

Kinda a bit lonely and quiet Sunday morning.

The street signs with the alphabets and an uncle...

We preferred to find our breakfast around the street rather have it back in hotel. Finding something authentic and special...

Found one!

The stall is just a regular mee stall but we decided to try something new to us. The lady boss here is very fluent in Mandarin so it's not a problem to order stuffs...

Some customers (they are Thais)...

See? They preferred to use glasses to fill additional seasonings rather than keeping them in bottles. I tried the chilli padi powder to spice up my food! Really nice! I saw a few stalls sold such seasoning but in large amount...

*sigh* I hope to get some of them and bring them back to Malaysia. The soy sauce is kinda different because they are rather fragrant than the salty taste. Lime juice is odd. Maybe they like spicy and sour food after all. :)

My mee and some duck meat! It's the first time I eat the original Thai duck soup mee and taste better than the instant noodles of Pama duck soup mee... *Yum yum*

Their rice vermicelli rather hard than soft...

This one is really special. I saw such mee in rolls and they are hard in dried form. I wandered what it is and asked my mum to try it.

Actually, it was Hor Fun (white type of mee in broad strips) but they taste marvelous. It was like eating Pan Mee (another kind of mee mainly made from flour) but taste like original Hor Fun! I shall try this dish again on my next trip to Haadyai!
It's a good experience to try Thai food, drinks and delicacies even they are alien to you. I heard that Chiang Mai is quite famous of roasted insects. Looking horrible but I would like to try them out! I would be brave to eat them for the sake of life experience...

Not only for the experience purpose, it can save your money too. Try new stuffs sometimes doesn't require to spend to much. For example, eating outside is much cheaper than in hotels and you are trying out rather than the same old stuffs you will have back in hotel lounge, right? Be smart while try something new! :)

Some tourists from China, Malaysia and other Asian countries... Hardly can see Caucasians around... Maybe they don't like to buy stuffs because I think they would like to see things around rather than stocking up souvenirs.

Asian people is like that. They will buy lots of souvenirs for themselves and bring them back. That's why I just bought not more than 10 stuffs. I like to see and learn their cultures, understand their country and of course, experience things which can't be found back in your town. (I push myself to experience by saying this word many time :P)

A map on the street. Not helpful because I hope it can show me the map of Haadyai town instead of the whole south part of Thailand. Plus, it was fully written in Thai so not so convenient to foreign tourists...

My RM 50 that I used to buy stuffs... The King is handsome, huh? :D

When the day almost come to midday, we need to check out at least at 1.00 pm. So, be alert or else you will need to pay for another day hotel fee. While we waited, we decided to try the afternoon lunch at the hotel...

Kinda nice but not for my mum... X)

This coffee is not the usual one... Taste not so fragrant but with mild coffee taste.

I didn't took the pictures of our meal because I forgot to take them. They are damn delicious when they are Thai food like Tom Yum, thai fried rice and other dishes. I tried their Tom Yum and until today, I still can remember the perfect taste! Awesome! Can't have the original Tom Yum back in Malaysia...

Tom Yum is one of the Thai cuisine you shouldn't miss during the visitation in Thailand. They have a few kinds like the original Tom Yum which is vegetable and suitable for vegetarians, Tom Yum-Goong which added with prawns and Tom Yum-Gai which added with chicken. I like Tom Yum-Goong with some seafood...

Rather to scratch my skin (I have some allergies to seafood) to satisfy my appetite! :P

We took off back to the Malaysia-Thai border about 2 - 3 pm because we don't want to arrive home at late night. In that evening, the rain poured heavily when we checked out and passed through the custom. My mum bought a few pots and made me to carry them...

Lucky for her that the custom officers didn't tax her items since there was too many people to cross the border.

When we are almost reach Seberang Prai, I saw a few paddy fields.

On the track...

Paddy instead of padi (typo error)

Want to ask my father to stop at the side of the road while I snap some pictures of the dawn...

*Tsk*

Can't ask him because it was kinda late to reach home...

So, that's was the end of my second time Haadyai vacation and I hope I can go there again before my semester comes on mid January next year...

My final tips to Thailand:-

1. For those who are allergic to seafoods, bring your own medicine because most of the Thai food are with seafoods. Even you are dared to try them like me, don't forget about your health. On my first Haadyai vacation, my mum's friend ate a fried rice and got her neck swollen. She requested that her food was prawn free but her meal was not. So, be prepared and keep them with yourself whenever you go. If you have problem to bring them across when you were asked my immigration officer, inform them first that you have your medicine along with you before they find it out. Honesty always come first...
2. I regret to put my notebook in my bag during the luggage scanning. The machine suck up my notebook battery almost 30% and the stupid Malaysian immigration officer said it's fine to put my notebook in my bag for the bag scan. For electronic devices, don't ever ever put them in the scan because it might spoil your stuffs. I would rather showing them my stuffs rather than the stupid scans... Hmph! I don't know whether I'm right or wrong in this matter but I'm sure that my notebook is fully charged. Even the battery is discharge, it won't take until 90%... Correct me if I'm mistaken in this matter.
3. This is mainly for photography tip. For those who like to take photos, please don't view them after taking shots in your camera. If you want to delete those you don't like, please do it in a computer. The camera sound is not necessary and don't simply use the flash because flash can ruin your shots by over exposure. All these steps are mainly to preserve your battery. I'm sure you don't like your camera to end up battery-less when you need them to shoot things especially in vacations. If you have some money, get a second fully charged battery. If not, bring along your camera charging cable and find some place to charge them. Notebook is the best place to charge them although it will drain your notebook battery.

That's all folks.

A bientot!