Sony to bring 2 full-frame DSLRs and A500 soon?

Rumours are abound that Sony will be introducing a pro-level full-frame DSLR to be in direct competition with the Nikon D1 and the Canon 1D (I guess these two have used up all the Ds in all formats possible, so Sony is left with an A?).

photo rumors have a whole list of potential new release from Sony, ranging from an Alpha 130 to the super high-tech cutting edge technology Alpha 1000 with 30 Mega Pixel?  These are definitely just rumours as it is but then, these are possible!  So, you can start to salivate now.

One thing is for sure, the Alpha 500 and the Alpha 550 seems to be a reality real soon. (image from photographybay.com)

Even if they are rumours, it seems that the market is expected to be moving towards full-frame and beyond (like a Hasselblad’s 50 mega pixel camera with a sensor that’s larger than full-frame).

T-Cafe @ Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands

At the time of writing, this place is still called T-Cafe, but noticed have been out that it will be renamed as the Lord’s Cafe.  Not sure why they want to do this as they have been operating as T-Cafe for such a long time.  This is probably my 3rd or 4th time there in the last 5 – 7 years.

This has been one of my favourite places for lunch or tea in Tanah Rata.  We ordered the scones and cream, but this time strawberry scones (they claim that they are the only ones in Camerons with it).

Nicely made, not too flaky and not too soft, just nice.  Maybe served a little warmer would be good.  Next up, home made apple pie and ice-cream.

The apple pie was well made, although I would have prefer an apple crumble instead of an apple pie.  But as a pie, it is good.  I can’t figure out where the ice-cream is from, it is slightly one the icey side but doesn’t taste like any of the commercially available ones.  Maybe it is home made?

The vegetarian burger is definitely home made as I haven’t seen one like it before.  It is made into a patty that really resembles a meat burger and does not simply break into pieces when you bite it.  Well made.

They were advertising their home made chicken pie all over the shop, including on the windows.  So, we ordered one.

It looks ok but unfortunately for me, a chicken pie with a tinge of curry spices just doesn’t go down well with me.  It is well made, the filing is there but just the taste didn’t go well for an afternoon tea kinda snack.

Overall, I will patronize this place as I have always over the years.  A little more attention spent on the interior deco would help especially with the entrance.  For those who are not sure where it is, it is actually right above the Marry Brown friend chicken outlet, opposite the new bus station of Tanah Rata.

Green View Garden @ Kg Raja, Cameron Highlands

If you travel to Cameron Highlands from Simpang Pulai, you will come across this place called “Green View Garden” or what some people call “Chocoberry”.  It is well know for it’s chocolate coated strawberries.  Note that when I first heard about it, I thought it was chocolate fondue but it isn’t.  The road sign is quite large, so it would be hard to miss.

It is a good location for a short stopover from the long drive and they serve quite a variety of snacks, including cakes and strudels. One thing that got my attention when I was sitting near at the cafe was the following sign.

It may look obvious now but in the bright light and sitting there over a cup of strawberry coffee (which you can buy, 10 sachets of instant strawberry coffee for RM15.90), it just didn’t make sense initially.

They have quite a number of very large turtles there!

The place serves and sells quite a number of instant beverages and snacks.

View from Cameron Highlands

A few pictures of the view at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands.  The foreground building is the Convent (Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent).

The convent is the one on the left of the picture.

Picture taken of a tudor designed building.

Picture taken from the main street in Tanah Rata.

Tanah Rata Walkabout @ Cameron Highlands

First thing that I noticed and was somewhat surprised was the following view.

In the middle of this famous highland township of tea plantations, is Starbucks Coffee?  It was both a disappointment as well as a pleasant surprise at the same time.  A disappointment because in this colonial English scones and tea township, there is an Americanized coffee place.  However, it did not seem out of place as it blended in very well.  A pleasant surprise in that this is a kind of signal that there are progress in this far away place.  A peek into this place shows that there are not many patrons at all as compared to its neighbouring old style eateries that were full of people.It is still a single street township and with minor changes such as the little clock tower at the newly built bus terminal.

Somethings haven’t changed for years, although this bank is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) bank in Cameron Highlands, it is still situated at the same location, albeit a nice facelift that’s not too out of place.

The post office as it was in its original form, so is the Hotel below.

This quaint little town has a little bit too many modernization but it still retains some of its original charm.  It is still very much a single street town with some new shoplots and with some modernization such as Internet cafes! and … traffic lights!

Did not try the Starbucks but what was evident was that they practise the same standards with regards to Wi-Fi access and with plenty of power sockets, even on the outside of the shop.

Otak-Otak Place @ Tropicana City Mall

I seem to be visiting the Tropicana City Mall on a regular basis and wanted to try out a different outlet each time. One that kinda caught my eye was this kinda confusedly decorated outlet called Otak-Otak.

It had modern contemporary layout with old fashion memorabilia lookalikes and an in-between era kopi-tiam tables. Nothing really wrong with it, just looked out of place.

After all the different drinks that I have had, I just thought that I go for a different berry & longan drink. It did not disappoint.

I had the nasi lemak with otak-otak, which was served in a tiffin. That’s not that important I guess, what’s important is the quality and taste. Overall, I find it just nice, not too spicy, the rice can be more fragrant and the otak-otak is a good complement to the nasi lemak.

Other dishes that were ordered were;

Fish-head beehoon.

Fish otak-otak.

Otak-otak burger.

Curry laksa meehoon.

Hainanese chicken rice. (Surprisingly for a place that’s specializes in otak-otak, their chicken rice seems to be of higher standards than their otak-otak).

Otak-otak roll.

“Rekindle Your Passion”. I guess it was a good try, decor can be better. It is located on the 1st floor of the Tropicana City Mall.

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Strawberry Park Resort @ Cameron Highlands

This is maybe my 2nd stay at this resort, the first was not that memorable as the place was quite run-down, damp and with bathrooms that weren’t very inviting!  Recently, we got news that it was refurbished, so off we went again!  Taking the risk.

Unfortunately, it did not occur to me to take pictures of the re-furbished interior of the rooms.  All I can say is that it is definitely much better than the last time I visited the place (about 5 or 6 years ago) with totally redone bathrooms, new firm mattresses, and new security locks on the doors.

One new feature they have is the Wi-Fi access at the rooms.  You can purchase a 1 hour access for RM12 or a 1 hour flexi access for RM15.  The difference is that the RM12 is a straight 1 hour and the RM15, you can split it into blocks of time that total up to an hour.

More pictures of the resorts (from the exterior).

A little pricey for the stay.  One thing they have are very good staff and one thing they lack is very quick to react security.

We were actually woken up at 1 am in the morning by some &($#&^* blaring out loud music from their cars and the security was really slow and lenient with these guys.  I guess it’s customer service?

Fruit Farm, Teluk Bahang @ Penang

This is probably the 3rd or 4th time I visited this fruit farm which is located after the Teluk Bahang dam (from Batu Ferringhi’s direction) and probably one with the worse view as it was hazy.  My other visits there had a clear sky where you can see from the fruit farm the hills, valley and the sea, which makes it quite a sight.  Unfortunately, on that day …

You can barely see the sea from the picture above.  This is a good place to have a fresh fruit juice, a walk-around and take some scenic pictures.  Anyway, they have this purple chilli that took got my attention.

The whole place have fruit trees all over, even on top of the juice bar!

For some good shots (when it’s isn’t hazy), you should try this place and have a refreshing fruit juice.

Homer Simpson on GPS!

It has been sometime since I posted anything to do with automobiles, my last post was to warn others about being too dependent on their satellite navigation (or GPS)!  That was quite a few months back.  I just recently got news of the availability of Homer Simpson’s voice (actual voice is Dan Castellaneta) on your SatNav!  That’s really cool!

This is currently exclusively available for TomTom devices and is available in the US and UK for about USD13 and GBP8 respectively.

I am not a big fan of SatNavs but I really would like to have one that goes “DOH! You took a wrong turn” or “Take the second exit. We might find an Moe’s bar! Mmm... beer”.

Visit tomtom.com for samples of the voice, I wish I have a tomtom GPS now.

Penang Ferry II

This time it is not due to nostalgia reasons but more for practical reasons. There have been some unscrupulous people who have been trying to make a quick buck out of puncturing motorist tyres on the Penang bridge, such as the one reported in The Star earlier this year. One other reason that was highlighted recently was that the ferry service lost RM21 Million for the financial year 2008.

If you are travelling long distance, either make sure you have an AAM membership or just the ferry services. It does cost more as the fare is RM7.70 instead of RM7.00 (unless you take the bridge in and take the ferry out). In addition, if you are heading south, you will probably need to pay another RM1.30 in toll.

The advantage of taking the ferry is that you actually end up smack in the middle of Georgetown. However, if your destination is south of the island, then the bridge will be nearer.

Another picture of a ferry that has only a single level for vehicles.

Excuse the slightly hazy picture, the environment was really hazy that day.