The Sun Shines & The Igloo Melts

New site at http://igloomelts.my-expressions.com/

2006-05-03T19:55:00.000+08:00

I've put up a new picture taken with my rolleiflex on Serangoon Road at:

A new picture at The Sun Shines & The Igloo Melts new site

New site at http://igloomelts.my-expressions.com/

2006-05-01T13:24:00.000+08:00

I am considering changing to another photoblog hosting site at http://igloomelts.my-expressions.com/

Let me know what you think of the new site. I think its a bit cleaner & easier to use than Blogger.

I'll think I'll run them in parallel for a while.

i'll probably change over to the new site on a permanent basis on 7 May 2006.

Thanks

2006-04-30T17:50:00.000+08:00

Nr Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-29T14:41:00.000+08:00

I am considering changing to another photoblog hosting site at http://igloomelts.my-expressions.com/

Let me know what you think of the new skin & changing to a new site.

I'll think I'll run them in parallel for a while.

Thanks

Nr Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-27T08:00:00.000+08:00

nr Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-25T07:50:00.000+08:00

Nr Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-21T07:49:00.000+08:00

But they became a little more friendly.

Nr Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-19T22:23:00.000+08:00

The kids were a bit shy at first.

Nr Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-13T08:16:00.000+08:00

The kids lived in shacks next to a stagnant, dirty canal.

Meanwhile back in Australia, the Government shames itself at the AWB Inquiry. Here's a funny movie about it.

Nr Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-12T07:58:00.000+08:00

On the way back from Smoky Mountain, I met some kids playing in the street next to a jeepeney.

The Children were shouting together
And racing along the sands,
A glimmer of dancing shadows,
A dovelike flutter of hands.

The stars were shouting in heaven,
The sun was chasing the moon:
The game was the same as the children’s,
They danced to the self-same tune.

The whole of the world was merry,
One joy from the vale to the height,
Where the blue woods of twilight encircled
The lovely lawns of the light.

George William Russell

Tondo, Philippines

2006-04-10T23:24:00.000+08:00

Last October I visited my friend Quacher - a vietnamese Australian living in Manila. One afternoon I left Makati City and took a taxi to Tondo. Tondo used to be the site of Manila's smelliest and largest rubbish dump known as Smoky Mountain. Smoky Mountain has been cleaned up considerably in the last couple of years. A housing project has been completed and the site is no longer used to dump rubbish.

On the day I visited kids flew kites from the top of dirt mounds and listened to this guy as he poked the ground with a wooden stick.

Oh, yet we trust that somehow good
Will be the final end of ill,
To pangs of nature, sins of will,
Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;
That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroy'd,
Or cast as rubbish to the void ...

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Staunton St, Hong Kong

2006-04-09T16:49:00.000+08:00

I put on my raincoat to make it rain
And sure enough the skies opened up again
I dreamed of you as I walked to the shops
You were dancing with the wallies on Top Of The Pops

Once in a while
Gennady Gerasimov deops his smile
And you can see that his aim's
A portfolio pregnant with gains

He's been up all night
Moving the goalposts

Like a jackdaw with a fiery brand
Spread the news all over this land
Robin Hood and his Merry Men
Are never, never, never coming back again

I don't believe that love should be pain
So could you please rub my back again
I think it's safe to leave tham in the park
Let's blow out the candles and kiss in the dark

Heavens above
Can this sticky stuff really be love!
Don't get dressed yet
Not yet

We've been up all night
Moving the goalposts

Billy Bragg

Staunton St, Hong Kong

2006-04-08T11:37:00.000+08:00

when every leaf opens without any sound
and wishing is having and having is giving-
but keeping is doting and nothing and nonsense
-alive;we're alive,dear:it's(kiss me now)spring!

e.e. cummings

Hawker Centre, Singapore

2006-04-02T10:16:00.000+08:00

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

T.S. Eliot

Ferry, Bangkok

2006-03-31T21:22:00.000+08:00

"Those were my Bangkok days. Full of bodyguards & chilli, durian & grey safari suits, corporate surrealism & steel tipped cowboy boots on the tight brown shirted arresting officer."

Kolkata, India

2006-03-31T08:15:00.000+08:00

MTR, Hong Kong

2006-03-26T11:14:00.000+08:00

Kids Shopping, Hong Kong

2006-03-25T11:31:00.000+08:00

I kill an ant
and realize my three children
have been watching.

Shasho

Kid in Stationery Shop, Hong Kong

2006-03-22T21:29:00.000+08:00

I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils,
Neat in their boxes, dolor of pad and paper weight,
All the misery of manilla folders and mucilage,
Desolation in immaculate public places,
Lonely reception room, lavatory, switchboard,
The unalterable pathos of basin and pitcher,
Ritual of multigraph, paper-clip, comma,
Endless duplication of lives and objects.
And I have seen dust from the walls of institutions,
Finer than flour, alive, more dangerous than silica,
Sift, almost invisible, through long afternoons of tedium,
Dropping a fine film on nails and delicate eyebrows,
Glazing the pale hair, the duplicate grey standard faces.

Theodore Roethke

Kid in Mouse Shop, Hong Kong

2006-03-20T12:32:00.000+08:00

'And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass'

Ezra Pound

Bored Kids on the MTR, Hong Kong

2006-03-19T12:03:00.000+08:00

Going through tunnels, squiggling around underground and watching bored kids on the MTR.

Listening to Belle & Sebastian.

"From: Iiris
Q.When are you coming to Finland? You haven't ever been here, have you? Many big fans of Belle&Sebastian is waiting for you.

A. I will throw a fit if we don't get there this year.

Sarah - 06/02/06"'

I dreamt I had to go to mars.

I’m always kidding on about going to mars for the day
But faced with the reality of it, in a dream, I was terrified.

And it wasn’t going to be like a moon trip
There was three of us going, but we couldn’t all go on the same ship
We had to go one at a time with a day between us.

I had to go first, and it was the thought of passing through all that black space
All the darkness with nothing in it, and then being the first one to land there, all alone... I knew it was supposed to be all dark around, with just a red surface
But what if I got there and it was light, all civilised and populated and stuff?

So I made a plan.
The other astronauts were going to be my dad and my sister
And my dad would come first after me
So I decided when I landed I would just stay in my seat until he got there
And then we could get out together and have a look around
And see what sort of things were there.

And when I woke up and I was lying in the darkness, I thought I had landed.
And I just lay still for a while, waiting for my dad to get there too.

MTR, Hong Kong

2006-03-17T18:44:00.000+08:00

Going Up.

Reading Haruki Murakami 'After the Quake'.

Here is a wonderful story 'On Seeing The 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning.'

Mongkok, Hong Kong

2006-03-16T07:54:00.000+08:00

Night shopping.

The Ant files, Hong Kong

2006-03-11T23:00:00.000+08:00

While in Hong Kong I spent the afternoon with my very good friend Ant. We wandered around Soho caught a bus to Wan Chai, inspected ducks & drank coffee.

'Hi. My name's Ant.'

'How do you like my furrowed, curious forehead?'

'This is how you're supposed to screw in lightbulbs.'

'Did somebody put salt in this latte?'

'Er ... Those ducks look yummy.'

Her Smile, Hong Kong

2006-03-10T08:03:00.000+08:00

At the top she smiled.

Darting here and there
the bat is exploring
the moonlit plum

Buson

At the top of the escalators, Hong Kong

2006-03-08T23:55:00.000+08:00

At the top of the escalators. I thought of Alfred Hitchcock as rima looked towards the Peak.

Wake up, wake up
sleeping butterfly -
let us be companions

Basho

Mid Levels, Hong Kong

2006-03-07T23:25:00.000+08:00

We rode the escalators up to the mid levels.

The butterfly is perfuming
It's wings in the scent
Of the orchid.

Bassho

MTR Escalator, Hong Kong

2006-03-06T21:36:00.000+08:00

I left Temple Street and caught the MTR back to Central, back to Rima.

down the escalator
your face appears
from a thousand miles

E. Kreydich

The Temple, Hong Kong

2006-03-05T23:14:00.000+08:00

I kept thinking about the temple.

The way the light shone in, on the ladies & the kids.

Having stayed too long,
the spring is about to go with the cycad flowers.

Yosa Buson

Temple St, Hong Kong

2006-03-05T00:02:00.000+08:00

I left the temple.

And found more old men in the street.

Dark, gnarled, and whithered,
the old tree bears no morefruit.
It's still my good friend.

The Temple, Hong Kong

2006-03-02T23:30:00.000+08:00

The light in the temple.

If everything is true there is no need for light.

"spring carnival:
after much haggling, i win
the laughing Buddha

winter temple
our desires twirl around
the aroma sticks

the whole room
to herself, still the mosquito
after me

autumn—
her hair pulls
the wind"

Kala Ramesh

The Temple, Hong Kong

2006-02-27T00:07:00.000+08:00

In the temple the light sliced through the darkness.

The Temple, Hong Kong

2006-02-21T22:38:00.000+08:00

As the evening light shone into the darkness, Kids prayed for a prosperous Year of the Dog.

The Temple, Hong Kong

2006-02-20T07:50:00.000+08:00

Kids & their parents burnt incense sticks & prayed for a prosperous Year of the Dog.

The Temple, Hong Kong

2006-02-19T10:47:00.000+08:00

The air was thick with musky, smoky incense.

The Temple, Hong Kong

2006-02-18T10:37:00.000+08:00

But then I found the Temple. I walked inside. Light flowed from a high window through coiled incense burning slowly.

Temple St, Hong Kong

2006-02-16T08:06:00.000+08:00

All the shops were closed. Old men checked out the ladies in cabaret lounges & karaoke bars. A few kids played around.

Temple St, Hong Kong

2006-02-15T23:47:00.000+08:00

All the shops were closed. People were walking to and from visiting their relatives to wish them a happy chinese new year.

Temple St, Hong Kong

2006-02-14T10:50:00.000+08:00

Temple St was a lot quieter than usual. A lot of old lonely people strolled around.

Temple St, Hong Kong

2006-02-13T03:43:00.000+08:00

I spent Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. I caught the train to Temple St. This what I saw.

Babies, Kolkata, India

2006-02-12T03:36:00.000+08:00

Kolkata, India

2006-02-10T23:35:00.000+08:00

Nicci & Lisa's sis, Adelaide

2006-02-07T23:44:00.000+08:00

Two kids & pigeon, Bangkok

2006-01-31T07:55:00.000+08:00

I'm still in Hong Kong on business. Yesterday, I wondered around a very quiet Temple St in Yau Mei Tei, past Mah jong parlours and lonely old people hanging about. The Temple itself was quite busy with people offering incense for good luck.

Anyway, here's an old favorite of two kids & their pigeon near Maitri Chit in Bangkok:

Two kids and their pigeon.

Happy Year of the Dog.

The Moose, Hong Kong

2006-01-29T13:07:00.000+08:00

The Moose

Gong Xi Fai Choi

Adelaide, Australia

2006-01-26T14:58:00.000+08:00

MRT, Singapore

2006-01-25T13:48:00.000+08:00

The beggar & the Mercedes Benz

2006-01-20T13:47:00.000+08:00

Here's one of my favorite pictures:

The beggar & the mercedes benz.

Enjoy!

Doby Ghaut MRT, Singapore

2006-01-13T23:37:00.000+08:00

I'm off to Hong Kong on sunday for 3 weeks for work. I'll post anything interesting when I return!

Aunty, Singapore

2006-01-12T15:06:00.000+08:00

Steady Lah!

Hawker Centre, Singapore

2006-01-09T01:43:00.000+08:00

Happy New year everyone.

Child & Mother, Singapore

2006-01-08T03:03:00.000+08:00

Happy New year everyone.

Buddhist Lodge, Singapore

2006-01-06T14:41:00.000+08:00

Happy New year everyone.

So this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Xmas

Rima, Ubud

2006-01-04T15:25:00.000+08:00

Hope, Kolkata

2006-01-03T09:32:00.000+08:00

Don't Look Back

2006-01-01T03:14:00.000+08:00

Flower Market, Kolkatta

2005-12-30T16:09:00.000+08:00

So this is Xmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Xmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Xmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Xmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Xmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Xmas

Happy Christmas, India

2005-12-26T08:56:00.000+08:00

Hong Kong

2005-12-23T23:57:00.000+08:00

Preparation for Hong Kong disneyland

MTR, Hong Kong

2005-12-22T16:17:00.000+08:00

On the way to Hong Kong Disneyland

Nr Tondo, Philippines

2005-12-21T14:52:00.000+08:00

Kolkata, India

2005-12-19T02:01:00.000+08:00

Tondo, Philippines

2005-12-18T04:14:00.000+08:00

The Moose, Hong Kong

2005-12-15T15:51:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to the Moose.

Give peace a Chance

2005-12-09T14:34:00.000+08:00

All we are saying is give peace a chance.
We miss you.

Kolkata, India

2005-12-08T23:47:00.000+08:00

Philippines, Flaming Shorts

2005-12-07T23:45:00.000+08:00

Lady's Market, Hong Kong

2005-12-06T00:10:00.000+08:00

End the death penalty.

Philippines

2005-12-05T23:42:00.000+08:00

End the death penalty.

Ladys' Markets, Hong Kong

2005-12-02T15:31:00.000+08:00

Stop the Hanging of Nguyen Tuong Van.

Serangoon Centre, Singapore

2005-11-30T13:34:00.000+08:00

Stop the Hanging of Nguyen Tuong Van.

Payatas, Philippines

2005-11-29T15:13:00.000+08:00

Kolkata, India

2005-11-27T16:28:00.000+08:00

I'm back with a few rolls of Tri X and 120 that I'll get developed tomorrow.

Thanks for your comments, JP & Betty. Hong Kong is an amazing city, Betty. I'll put up some pictures soon.

Meanwhile I had a small article on my pictures in a Dutch photo magazine 'Foto Idee' and I'll link to this soon too!!

Derbyshire

2005-11-19T16:13:00.000+08:00

Well, I'm off to Hong Kong on holidays for a week so I'll be back posting in 7 days time.

See you all soon!!

Beijing

2005-11-18T23:28:00.000+08:00

Iain & Peter, Kolkata

2005-11-16T23:44:00.000+08:00

Peter & Iain, Kolkata

2005-11-16T14:52:00.000+08:00

Three Men, Kolkata

2005-11-15T12:56:00.000+08:00

Indian Funeral procession, Kolkata

2005-11-11T15:52:00.000+08:00

Shibuyu, Tokyo

2005-11-10T13:37:00.000+08:00

While reading Haruki Murakami Underground.

Finding the Parsi Temple, Kolkata

2005-11-08T13:07:00.000+08:00

Congratulations to Khun Ben & Tom Vaizey on their baby! Bad luck about Man Utd.

Payatas, Philippines

2005-11-06T05:27:00.000+08:00

Sonagachi again, Kolkata

2005-11-04T23:41:00.000+08:00

And yet another shot I took from the long taxi ride as we drove through Kolkata's red light district.

Sonagachi again, Kolkata

2005-11-03T15:20:00.000+08:00

And yet another shot I took from the long taxi ride as we drove through Kolkata's red light district.

Sonagachi, Kolkata

2005-11-02T15:30:00.000+08:00

And yet another shot I took from the taxi as we drove through Kolkata's red light district.

Sonagachi, Kolkata

2005-11-01T16:27:00.000+08:00

Another shot I took from the taxi as we drove through Kolkata's red light district.

Maker of Hindu Deities, Kolkata

2005-10-29T13:58:00.000+08:00

Iain & Peter, Kolkata

2005-10-27T23:03:00.000+08:00

Lady of Sonagachi, Kolkata

2005-10-26T13:50:00.000+08:00

I took this from the taxi as we drove through Kolkata's red light district.

Spiderman, Kolkata train station

2005-10-25T03:09:00.000+08:00

Nr New Market

2005-10-24T09:00:00.000+08:00

Watch, Kolkata

2005-10-21T22:53:00.000+08:00

Nun, Kolkata, India

2005-10-21T08:09:00.000+08:00

Kid Nr New Market, Kolkata

2005-10-14T09:32:00.000+08:00

Girl's Arm, Kolkata

2005-10-12T09:42:00.000+08:00

Feet Nr Kali Temple, Kolkata

2005-10-11T14:29:00.000+08:00

Goat & Boy, Kolkata

2005-10-06T14:37:00.000+08:00

Goodbye to Ronnie Barker - We will miss you, Norman Stanley Fletcher

Nr the Kali Temple, Kolkata, India

2005-10-05T11:37:00.000+08:00

Three Girls, Kolkata, India

2005-10-04T10:40:00.000+08:00

Three men, Kolkata, India

2005-10-02T16:22:00.000+08:00