On assignment in a foreign land

Just came back from a crazy 3 days assignment in Brunei, covering the Prime Minister visit on my very first oversea assignment. It was non-stop action once he arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan. Luckily, we arrived the night before and got to enjoy the 6-star Empire Hotel for a few hours before the "party" begins. Transport and accomodation were well taken care of by the Bruneian officials. All I had to do was rush from one place to another ahead of the VIP convoy and get the shots. Its tiring, but pretty exciting. A luxury hotel with stable internet connection definitely helped. I had good shots on the most important event on the 1st day, with much luck. 1st lesson learned: never stick to the spot which the local official tell you to stand. If the local photographers start moving, start moving too. Once that is done, the rest of the day was more of an eye-opener, working inside the royal palace and surrounded by more gold-plated stuff than I could imagine. Crystal chandeliers, gold-plated pillars, chairs and silk-covered walls and gold cutlery are everywhere. Even the trash bin in my hotel room is gold-plated. So is this...



Day 2 proved to be physically-challenging. A 5 minute shot of the Sultan and PM Lee taking a morning walk turned out to be a 4 km fast-march with 2 sets of camera equipment dangling on my shoulders, plus I was dressed in long-sleeve shirt and pants (dark suits are required for all other events). The VVIPs were surrounded by at least 30 people, plus another 20 or so photographers and cameraman running in front of them, trying hard to stay ahead of to get the shots. Its quite a scene, and I was part of the running troop of photographers, except that most of them came prepared in running shoes, I was wearing dark leather shoes...

We were already half way through when I got a decent number of good-shots, and there was no turning back. I had to finish the march. Some Bruneian photogs have already fallen back, while others have colleagues taking over them. One cameraman who passed me said "2 mile more, abang". I hope those were encouraging words. It ended earlier than I expected. I sense a great sense of accomplishment. Back to hotel, download, edit, transmit, eating noodles, coffee and biscuit at the same time to last through the day. I finished transmitting just in time for check-out. Mission accomplished.

Back from Europe

Actually been back for about 2 weeks already. Its my first time in Europe and our furthest trip away from home. Im not sure if its a honeymoon, since our wedding is 2 months away, but what the heck. We had the best time of our lives in that 15 days, half the time in Berlin, the other half in Paris, Rome and Florence. Weather was great, sunny but cool, and we didn't have any unpleasant experiences or fell victims to petty crimes despite the numerous subway trips we took. Now that we are back, the time we spent there has become a sort of time marker. Certain things are described as pre-Europe or post-Europe...another indication of how great the trip has been.

Will post the pics once I manage to sort them through. Gearing up for the big day which is less than 2 months away from now. Meanwhile, here is our favourite pic. Taken in Florence on a rainy night. We went to get 500gram (made up of 3 flavours of our choice) of Gelato from a ice cream store and was walking back to hotel when the rain got heavier. We stopped outside a fashion boutique that has a little bit of protruding roof that offered us shelter for a while. A styrofoam box full of gelato and umbrella on one hand, the other hand on her shoulder, we stood and time stood still for a moment. Our memories are made up of scenes that flashes by which are mentally recorded sub-consciously from our past, and this is one which both of us share.