Couple Portraits

A drawback, or rather inconvenience, of being the designated cameraman, that it being largely self-appointed notwithstanding, is that I'm almost always missing from the family album. So whenever there is a family outing involving more than the usual party of two, I always delegate, camera duty that is.

It's opportune that we have had a couple of outstation family trips in the last two months. And boy was I glad to be the "shooting target", with Wify sharing the center stage, for a change. Here then is a collection of such "rare" features, leaving traces of our sojourns in print.

At the base of the Washington Monument. Notice anything strange about the photo? The flags and my hair move in opposite directions. Perhaps our relative positions with respect to the Monument has something to do with that.

One of the portals at the outdoor garden of Vizcaya Museum, Miami after we had toured the interior of the Mansion built by John Deering in the mid 1910s. At the height of the construction of Mr. Deering's attempt to blend European architecture with the tropical foliage that Florida is famous for, the work crew (about 1000) accounted for about 10% of Miami's population of 10,000 then, at a hefty (even by today's standard) cost of 25 mil.

Posing in front of the array of the portraits of UN Secretary Generals, past to present, in the UN Building, NYC.

Posing beside the UN Emblem in the UN Building, NYC.

At the southern end of Miami Beach (1st St), right next to the famed South Beach, Miami. We walked twelve blocks along the Ocean Drive from the 12th Street where we had parked our car at 8.30am, thinking that we would be the early birds and hence get a headstart. The street is relatively quiet because all the action is either on the beach or in the businesses lining up both sides of the street.

Below the lion that guards the NYC Public Library, after we had rested our tired feet in its cool and expansive interior.

Just before our dinner at the Penang Restaurant, run by a lady from Road SS2/4, Petaling Jaya, literally a stone throw from our own abode back home. This is one of several in the family run restaurant chain located at Chapel Hill, NC, right in the heartland of the Tar Heels.

At a city park in mid-town Manhattan, on our way to the Malaysian Consulate at 42nd St, NYC.

Outside one of the many Marriot hotels that we stayed on our trips. This one could be at Durham, NC.

The very first Cuban restaurant that we patronized, not far from the SpringHill Suites south of Maimi International Airport that we stayed on our Miami trip. In fact, the hospitality and the food were so fabulous that we made a return visit the very next night, with Howie and his family.

When we arrived just before 10.30am at the Fo Guang Shan Temple in Miami, a buddhist ceremony was just about to start. Wify participated while I visited its library. We then stayed on for the vegetarian lunch and even interacted with a teacher of the Chinese Brush Painting class scheduled in the afternoon.

A rare surrounding of any hotel, a corn field. We just could not resist falling into an embrace, half expecting some bristling motion from within reminiscent of the happenings in M. Night Shyamalan's Signs.

At the Mangrove Trail fringing John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo. We were planning to continue to Key West but the long line of traffic even at the 85th milestone changed our mind.

Outside the Malaysian Consulate Office in NYC, a rather nondescript office by size and appearance but we spotted it from afar because of the fluttering Malaysian Flag above. Later we found that it is located next to the office of the Malaysian Permanent Representative to the UN.


At the playground at Bayside, Miami. Howie's family is just behind us. We wanted to watch the July 4th fireworks from here, but were forced to vacate the premises by the stifling heat. Instead, we watched it from the hotel room of Howie located at the 7th floor and more importantly, on the right side.

At one of the many rest places that dot the interstate. This one could be in Georgia.

At the main entrance to the American Museum of Natural History. We entered from the subway exit undergound and almost missed this imposing entrance facade if not for us wanting to walk over to the Central Park located across the road. But then it began to rain ...

We thought we would end with one making it a foursome, in front of the NYC Public Library.

Some photograph to remember ...

With my camera that is, and sung to the tune of “... some dance to remember, some dance to forget ...” the inspiration having struck as The Eagles was belting out Hotel California from my car radio, courtesy of Magic 94.9, while I was part of the morning commute along I-275 on a drizzling morning.

The target: the seemingly timeless Times Square of NYC during our last trip to the Big Apple, in the company of two really nice folks from Upstate, John and Gloria. Hitherto, the only sight we have of Times Square is on TV, during the traditional New Year Countdown, the arrival of which is signified by the dropping of the sparkling Waterford Crystal Times Square New Year's Eve Ball (seriously, I did not know the name until I accessed here) at One Times Square, the air filled with the chorus of Auld Lang Syne, a collective farewell bidding to the year just past.

This time though, it is for real, captured in my Nikon Coolpix L100, a Father Day's gift from CY and Brian, as we navigated through the milling crowd, the square grid of streets, but safe on the wide pedestrian pavements that abut these busy streets.

Times Square, to me, is BillBoard City, the electronic and animated, but silent kind, a real feast for the eyes and a marvel of human ingenuity, portraying visual messages in its simplicity. Enjoy these moments, frozen for eternity, then again, perhaps not quite.

How did we know it's Times Square? Because it said so here.

And here's the Ball, just above 2009, presumably reinstated to its original position after the countdown.

The M-Kong, doing a chocolatey imitation of the King Kong.

The river seems to be about to cascade over the building.

Even Albert Einstein has to have a piece of the action.

Whatever it takes to have a vantage shot.

A vantage shot of the Flags of the Nations from the upstair floor of NBC News. The Malaysian Flag is somewhere in that.

Anybody can tell me which God is that according to Greek Mythology, seemingly presiding over the sea of knowledge? Poseidon? Tritan? Hermes? Athena?

I chanced upon the identity of this sculpture, Prometheus, while looking up the Internet for the one in the previous image.

A divine messge with earthly repercussions?

This message is more down to earth, from the World's local bank.

The Sights of our NY Road Trip, the Empire State and the Big Apple

The Big Apple is a moniker for NYC popularized by John FitzGerald in the 1920s, and New York obviously derives its nickname from the Empire State Building right? Wrong, it's the other way round, the Empire State actually came first, acquired in recognition of its vast wealth and variety of resources .

Meeting our Atlanta host at at the shopping mall where the World Journal Bookstore is located.

At Courtyard Marriot, Jersey City, our temporary abode during our NYC trip. Since then, we have always stayed at the Marriot chain of hotels, trying to accumulate points for some free nights' stay in the future.

At the entrance to the PATH WTC terminal station. To the left and cordoned off is the reconstruction site of Ground Zero.

At the World Journal Bookstore on Broadway Avenue, Manhattan. Wify bought several chinese brush painting books by Chung-lin Yi at 20% discount lodged in the brown beg I was carrying.

This is as high as Wify would get to see "eye-to-eye" with a bird perched at the top of Empire State Building.

At the edge of Chinatown, NYC, along Canal Street.

Wify and CE "scaled" the Empire State Building, starting from the ground as shown. The red open-top double-decker bus is the Hop-on-Hop-off, a favorite among tourists while we prefer to explore on foot.

The Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island captured from the top of the Empire State Building.

Honey, I shrunk the Empire State Building!

The Chrysler Building, another iconic structure that dots the NYC skyscape, captured similarly.

The iron grill fencing that surrounds the observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building makes it seem safe even for the weak hearted, whom CE obviously is not.

Sights on Our NY Road Trip

We (Wify and CE) made a road trip to NY during the last week of May. It started as a vacation trip to Atlanta only to visit some old friends. Then it was extended into a NY road trip when I was called to NY for a meeting, capitalizing on the Memorial Day weekend. While I attended to my business over the four days, each day braving the NY crowd during the morning and evening commutes in a PATH train, Wify and CE went on their own to explore NY city, a very first for them in my absence. Through it all they evinced their adventurous self, one that has eluded me when I was acting like a family protector, chaperoning most outdoor trips they have engaged in. And I was pleasantly surprised at how they were able to ask their ways around, and to adhere to safety and security measures that any sensible visitor to NYC would adopt. This pictorial travelogue, and those they follow, are a testimony to them having broken the mold as well as a tribute to their "new-found" confidence in taking on the world in the microcosm that is NYC. However, I would be featured here and there on the road trip as well since I'm the only driver in the family, or one authorized, by me, to drive anyway.

Flower bed in front of SpringHill Suites Edgewood Aberdeen, Bel Air, MD where we put up a night. The leaves with different shades of green seem like painted on.

On the Airtrain at Newark International Airport looking out while getting to the pickup point of the Hotel Shuttle Bus (SpringHill Suites by Marriot Newark Liberty International Airport). I fortuitously took a shot of the MAS plane (only the distinct tail logo is visible) behind one belonging to the Virgin Airline.

A flower pot on the pavement walkway along Broadway Avenue, NY City, just before the array of courthouses the front facades of which are inscribed with some insightful quotations on justice and government.

Upon entering the Museum of Natural History, Washington DC: The Sea of Dinasaurs encircling the Lee Family (you have to look really hard).

The Penang Restaurant tucked away besides the campus of UNC, Chapel Hill where we had authentic Malaysian food for dinner, but no chengdoh lah (the last is Manglish, a Malaysian colloquial equivalent of "man") .

Wify`s dinner order at Penang Restaurant. It`s a popular Malay dish, nasi lemak.

Yes, the Peach State, our immediate neighbor to the north.


A hole in the sky, seemingly about to lock itself over the Washington Monument!