photo.hugolim.com

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This is the panoramic view of Butterworth, Penang as seen from Jelutong Promenade. Jelutong Promenade is one of the newest spot for Penang folks to go for a evening stroll along the seaside. You may read more about this at penang-traveltips.com

Above, Things looking much better when cropped out. This is one of the important pulses that keeps Penang moving, Penang Port. (Click on the picture for higher resolution)

Technically, it was about 9 o’clock at the time of shooting. With camera set up on tripod and leveled properly, I grabbed the lens with longest focal length I can get in my bag. Too bad it’s just 70mm. I should have brought the one with 200mm if I knew that I’m going for this shooting.

Tried a few shots to determine the settings suitable for panoramic, I finally settled f/14. With f/14, I would not need to worry of not getting enough depth of field (DOF) or failing to get sparkling light effect. (Look at the photo and you will know what I mean here)

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Overlooking the Ho Hoan Kiem lake from the top level of Golden Sun Hotel, that’s where we take our breakfast daily while enjoying a splendid view of the lake. Here’s bit of info on the lake courtesy of Wikipedia.

Hoan Kiem Lake (Vietnamese: Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, meaning “Lake of the Returned Sword” or “Lake of the Restored Sword”, also known as Hồ Gươm – Sword Lake) is a lake in the historical center of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. The lake is one of the major scenic spots in the city and serves as a focal point for its public life.

According to the legend, emperor Le Loi handed a magic sword called Heaven’s Will which brought him victory in his revolt against the Chinese Ming Dynasty back to the Golden Turtle God (Kim Qui) in the lake and hence gave it its present name (the lake was formerly known as “Luc Thuy” meaning “Green Water”). The Tortoise Tower (Thap Rua) standing on a small island near the center of lake is linked to the legend.

Large soft-shell turtles, either of the species Rafetus swinhoei or a separate species named Rafetus leloii in honor of the emperor, have been sighted in the lake. The species is critically endangered and the number of individuals in the lake is unclear.

Near the northern shore of the lake lies Jade Island on which the Ngoc Son Temple (Jade Mountain Temple) stands. The temple was erected in the 18th century. It honors the 13-century military leader Tran Hung Dao who distinguished himself in the fight against the Yuan Dynasty, Van Xuong, a scholar, and Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian master and famous writer in charge of repairs made to the temple in 1864. Jade Island is connected to the shore by the wooden red-painted Huc Bridge (The Huc, meaning Morning Sunlight Bridge).

(Click on the photo above to enlarge it (4000×680 pixels))

The landscape of Penang’s south west region changed drastically over the decades. Developers sway away to Bayan Lepas over the last decade from the capital city, Georgetown, as there’s very little space left for development.

Bayan Lepas looks decent in overall as it’s relatively a new town with modern city planning applied to it.

In the center of the panoramic photo (as marked in the map below), it is the island’s largest sports complex known as PISA (Penang International Sports Arena). Behind it, it is the new D’Plaza which is yet to accepts its occupants. On the left of D’Plaza, it is the tallest building around the area, SUNTECH.

In the background, that’s the shoreline in the mainland.Between the island and mainland, it is the Jerejak island.

We can see piling works being carried out on the right of the photo for the new Penang second bridge which is scheduled to be completed in May 2012.

On how this image is captured: This shot is taken up the hill somewhere along the route connecting Balik Pulau and Relau. The weather is quite hazy and blurry so I resorted to use exposure bracketing to capture the most details and to process them later on.

(Larger Photo)

Being one of the most popular beaches in Langkawi, Pantai Cenang stretches over 2km on the south-western tip of the island. It is fringed by coconut trees and Casuarinas. This beach is home to numerous resorts, luxury class hotels, chalets and restaurants.

(Larger Photo)

This is the landscape of the spectacular Halong Bay taken from one of the cave opening in the Hang Sung Sot Grotto cave. If there’s only one place to go during your visit to Vietnam, Halong Bay would be the one.