Dangerous and Terrifying Trail of Hua Shan

The sheer photograph of the world's most dangerous hiking trail is enough to make your palm sweaty. The Hua Shan (华山) is a mountian located near the city of Huayin in Shaanxi province. It is one of China's Five Great Mountains and has a long history of religious significance. When I was younger, I often hear about martial arts originating from Hua Shan being one of the best in those stories written by the famous Hong Kong writer Jin Yong. Historically, Hua Shan has been a place of retreat for hard hermits, whether Taoist, Buddhist or others. It is classified as having five main peaks, of which the highest is the South Peak at 2,154.9 meters (7,070 feet).

Part of the trail leading to the top

Standing on the plank, you would be in the best position to appreciate mother nature's beauty

It is on the South Peak that you will find the famous and dangerous cliff-side plank path. To get to the summit, hikers must scale the side of vertical cliff by walking on ridges that are less than a foot wide. Certain stretches of the path is made of shoddy wooden planks that are only a foot wide. Hikers are supported only by cables latched on to the chains that has been attached to the side of the mountain. For the less intrepid, there are gondolas to take you up straight away. The hike gives you not only the adrenaline rush, but also the unobstructed breathtaking view of the mountain ridges around Mount Hua. At the top of the mountain, there is tea house awaiting all hikers who braved through the dangerous plank paths.

Oolong or Longjing tea?

So, either these people really like dangerous climbing, or they simply like tea so much that they are willing to go through the scary hike to get to the top. Either way, I think it is worth the hike and is definitely a must-do once in your lifetime.

As I read on about other travellers' experience, I have made Hua Shan as one of my must-go places on earth. The experience described by fellow travellers is enough to make hearts stopped. Photos of people walking on the foothold carved into the mountain with only a strap holding them from free falling thousands feet below excites me. I only hope that when I am actually there I won't chicken out from the challenge I've set for myself.

Kuala Kangsar Famous Pak Ngah Laksa

On our way to Penang, we took a detour to Kuala Kangsar for a Laksa treat. The Pak Ngah Laksa has been around 50 years ago. Started off with only a small stall behind the Tsung Wah school, its customer are mostly students and locals from the surrounding villages. Today, the laksa is known throughout the the peninsula Malaysia.

A humble beginning who made it this far. He's probably earning more than an average salary man in KL. The soup of the laksa is slightly clearer and doesn't taste as fishy as the Chinese recipe while still carries the taste of laksa very well. The texture of the noodle is soft unlike the bouncy noodles you get in the Chinese laksa. Which is probably a good thing knowing the amount of food chemical needed to make the noodle bouncy. Put together with a bowl of ABC gives good after-meal satisfaction.

LAKSA PAK NGAH (HALAL)
(Behind of Tsung Wah Secondary School)
Jalan Dato Sagor,
33000 Kuala Kangsar,
Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-775 7986, or 6012-684 7986.
Business hours : 9am-7pm daily. Closed on Wednesdays.

How to get there? Exit North South Highway at Kuala Kangsar. Follow the sign and head towards the Kuala Kangsar town. Approximately 1.5km away from the toll exit, you should pass under an elaborately decorated archway and arrive at a traffic light. There should be a row of  shop on your right with a prominent Goodyear tyre shop. Turn right at the traffic light. Tsung Wah School is just right ahead of you. At the T-junction, turn left and immediately turn right into the slip road. This kampung road should lead you to Pak Ngah's Laksa!

Taking GREAT Vacation Pictures..

We have just made it through 2013 and ushered in the year of the horse. Some of us are already busy checking the calender for holidays and start rolling out plans for 2014. While some of us are still flipping through scrapbooks of the past years reflecting on nostalgic great getaways and some still ruing over missed capture moments. Speaking about captured moments, in this section, we'll talk about 7 great tips on taking better pictures during vacation.

1. Storytelling. You take on a storyteller role. Plan your day ahead to unfold with a story line. Take pictures of highlight moments at each place you visit, food that you eat or people that you meet. So that when you put the pictures together they form a story of your travel. They say pictures speaks a thousand words. Well it certain does if done right!
2. Take in the details. Its OK not being able to take every single shots that you/desire, but don't miss out on the things around you along the way such as signs, local cuisine, locals' activity, etc. These details help to remind and enrich the memory of your travel experience.
   
   

   

   Photo like this helps to fill in the gaps in your travel memories

3. Obsessive photographing. We all how important it is to capture every moments of your travel. But as much as you want to do it, refrain yourself from overly obsessive about taking every picture of every thing that happened every seconds. Give yourself some time and space to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Immerse yourself to the sound of a foreign environment and take in the splendour of the place has to offer. 
4. No-flash. Flashes are good in the occasion depending on how the light falls on your subject. Normally, an amateur would not bother too much about this.
   
   

   

   Flash creates unwanted shadow such as the above.

   The best solution for this is switch of the flash. Nowadays digital cameras come with higher ISO which enables users to take better pictures in low lighting conditions.
5. Fill up the photo.  A friend of mine who scrapbooks always says she “crops the crap”.  She cuts out the sky if there is too much in any photo and just gets down to the meat of what she’s trying to take.  I took this advice and decided to not take pictures of anything other than what I really want to remember.  So, if there is too much sky or people are too far away, I try to remember to zoom, etc. and “crop the crap” out of my pictures.
6. Candid shots. Try taking picture of event at the time when it happens. For instance, baker flipping roti on streets of India or customers haggling with street vendors on streets of Vietnam.
   
   
   
   
    Try not to make your subject pose to every pictures. This will add more life quality into your vacation photos.
7. Closer subjects. Too often photos are taken with a huge coverage of the background making 
   
   
   your subject look tiny as though like a smudge on an otherwise beautiful panoramic picture. Rule of thumb: fill up 2/3 of the picture with your subject. Turn on the gridlines option to better assist you.