Living Treasure

The air may be pungent at low tide but late evenings provide a special view of our living treasure; the mangrove coast. Growing from brackish water along our extensive coastlines, the swamps support a dynamic ecosystem that is very important to coastal communities of humans and animals. The trees shelter the coast from erosion, provide wood and support a delicate biosphere of plants, fish, birds and other wildlife. Raising public awareness is an important conservation step towards indiscriminate clearing.

Photographed at the coast between Tanjung Sepat and Bagan Lalang, Selangor.

Living Treasure

Banting’s Best Kept Secret

Drove into little Banting town after visiting Carey Island the other day. Settled on a nondescript restaurant named The Chaiwalla and wasn’t expecting much. Ordered their Homemade Mushroom Soup and it turned out surprisingly good.

Tried their Grilled Dory Fish next and it was excellent. Then came the Beef Stew, Seafood Marinara Pasta and Hainanese Chicken Chop. Every dish was consistently delicious, which is rare in many places. Upon inquiry, the waiter told us that the chef used to work at La Bodega Bangsar. Compliments to the Chef!

Shown in picture is their juicy grilled fish (which I cut up), served with a dash of lemon juice and a heap of tangy coleslaw.

The Chaiwalla Restaurant is at 7 & 9 Jalan Cemerlang 4, Pusat Perdagangan Banting, 42700 Banting, Selangor (opposite McDonald’s Banting). Tel: 03 3180 4861 (www.thechaiwallarestaurant.com)

The Chaiwalla Restaurant

Gotham City

The world’s former tallest buildings, the Petronas Twin Towers were partially shrouded by clouds last night. I tuned the camera’s white balance towards blue and it ended up looking like a scene from the fictional and stylised Gotham City.

A bright prime lens allows an impromptu night shot like this without a tripod. Of course, the Olympus OM-D’s 5-axis image stabilisation was working its magic too. The PanaLeica Summilux lens is extremely sharp even wide open at f1.4.

Gotham City