The Accidental Tourist

I never thought I will see the day i blog about this but I got kinky friend with fetish. To be exact, fetish with Ispahan. In case, you’re wondering what is Ispahan, it’s rose, lychee and raspberry. 

For the past hour, Miss FO has been trying to convince me that once i get to Tokyo, I must march myself to a PH outlet and at least, get a bite of the famous Ispahan macaroons. To quote her “ so i’m telling u to spend ur hard earned $$ to taste these yummies”.  I secretly suspect she’s feeling a bit unbalanced since she had to share her PH sweets with her BF in Paris. 

I’m more amused by her reaction than the macaroons. Yes, I will try to get a bite of the macaroons and try to achieve nirvana with it……and yes, I’m heading Japan! Woohoo!! Time to put my half past six Japanese to use! 

When i saw the papers this morning, I was thinking to myself “Finally!”. After days of reportage on TV and papers about the shortage of rice (which resulted in mass hysteria among the market aunties), our national propaganda machine paper, ST has finally done the right thing by showing a picture of a plentiful supply of rice. The photo in the paper was shot by Terence Tan. 

Interestingly, another friend was also documenting this mass hysteria by shooting the empty shelves in the supermarket. I was wondering, just wondering, if he had published that picture with empty shelves, it would have probably caused greater panic to everyone. But this is the truth, the markets are empty ‘coz of mass hysteria. As photographers, we are simply documenting the facts. Photographers are documentarists. Visually, we saw the people in the supper market holding on to the packs of rice for their dear life, empty shelves, stacks of rice in the trolleys, etc. 

I guess this is one example about how a photo can make a difference. Maybe it was the photo editor’s choice of picture. Maybe it was responsible photojournalism. Or just a brief from the big brothers up there. At the end of the day, the picture was made for a purpose and hopefully, it has served its purpose. Stop buying rice lah! 

I’m going to risk sounding like a bitch and say this. Do not pay people for pictures!

See example above. At the riverside of Cho 12 in Hanoi, this sweet old lady, a fish monger, saw me with the camera from far and started peddling over. Her old but nimble limbs started posing. Squat down. Standing up. Holding her oar on the left. Lifting it higher. Then, it started. “1 dollar , 1 dollar.” The dreaded 1 dollar chant.

Walking through Cho 12, I had already hear the chant. Mind you, this is a local’s market, not a tourist attraction. But they have been spoiled by the hordes of tourists coming through and paying them for pictures. Some of the store owners were nice. Once a conversation was striked up, they were open to pictures. Or buy stuff from them. Buy roast dog meat and eat it right infront of them. They will be amused by you and you get better pictures. Buy coffee for your mum at home. Buy some local tibits and just give to the hotel staff at the front desk. Whatever you do, DO NOT PAY for pictures. Why? ‘Coz you spoil it for the rest of us. These people make a living out of selling their wares, not posing for pictures. And don’t insult them by offering money.

Dragon.

I’ll be the first to admit this. I do not understand Contemporary Photography or Art. When I visited NY last year, visits to Chelsea Art Galleries often had me going, WTF is that? Can wads of chewing gum on a canvas pass off as Art?

If photography is an Art, how do we define it? Or do we define it at all? In Mauricio Alejo’s class over the weekend, he mentioned that Photography’s primary function is still to document, no matter you’re a documentary or contemporary or fashion photographer. We are all documenting. You could be documenting an great moment in mankind, an idea or the hottest trend. Strangely, this self reasoning suddenly puts contemporary photography into perspective for myself. Pictures are an archive of information. The idea of Indexal and Iconic pictures came in play. Indexal pictures were explained as eg, a photo of a foot print. An example of Iconic picture was of Gregory Crewdson’s where the idea came before the picture and the picture was constructed to show the idea. I’m not sure that the word “idea” explains the concept. Point of View? Vision? Hmm….

I’m still trying to process that mind cramping session that we had. Lots of information and theories were discussed. It did make the assignment of reading a chapter in Susan Sontag’s On Photography a little easier. Though I’m still trying to string all this information together and try to see the big picture.

At the end of class, I was reminded that I love looking at paintings and I don’t rationalised paintings when I look at them as compared to lookinng at Photographs. I enjoy a painting just because of the way it makes me feel. I remember seeing Picasso’s painting of Torso in SAM and going “wow, cubes also can show a human body and how strong that body felt.” Maybe it’s time for me to think less and just enjoy the photos and let them speak to me instead of trying to rationalise what was the message behind the photos.

“At one end of the spectrum, photographs are objective data; at the end, they are items of psychological science fiction.”
Susan Sontag, On Photography.

I always thought that it was Malacca, not Melaka. Someone up there must have decided that they need to stick to pure Bahasa Malaysian.

Contrary to popular belief that I disappeared for 2 days and went groom hunting in Vietnam and China, a few of us went to babysit some kids from KL for a photo outreach programme by Photo Malaysia. Ok, it’s also an excuse for us to go and gorge ourselves silly with nonya goodies in Melaka.

Our accommodation….

NOT!

Thought the picture of the mansion looked good enough to bluff family that i headed up to France. Hiak Hiak. This was right next to the Peranakan Shophouses at Jalan Tun Tan Tan Cheng Lock. Imagine, Antique shops, Wanton Mee Stall, Old Shophouses and suddenly European Style Mansion. Talk about out of place.

This is where we stayed instead. The Baba House. No bibis sashaying in sarong kerbayas leh. The most outrageous was there was no nonya kaya for breakfast! Instead we got Lupark butter and Heinz Jam for our toast. Clean, Basic Rooms and excellent location.

A quick mental audit of the food we ate is too much to be listed here without boring you. Grilled cuttlefish from the roadside, popiah with pork lard(Twice in 1 day!),Tangy Sop Itik Tim(Duck soup with salted vegetables and plum), Assam Laska, Chendol with that slight burnt cameralised Gula Melaka. Yup, we pretty much covered everything that we wanted to eat.

Nonya Lakya, Ikan Assam, Ayam Pongteh for breakfast to make up for the pathetic breakfast from the Baba House. From Donald and Lily Corner. Tip off from the locals that this little hideaway stall is the real deal. And it was REALLY GOOD!

Carp swimming up lamp posts? Boleh? Boleh!

Spotted in Melaka.

…of Jack Bauer24 and Simpsons!

…..for the past 2 days actually. Here’s to good old fashion wayang, loud getai, catfights backstage, raunchy hokkien humor, tranny performers in our own backyards! Woohoo!!

Bedok North 2006