Photograph of sunrise in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

God I love iced green tea. Especially when it is really hot outside. And even more when I am outside with the extremely hot outside. The soft, gentle flavors and the coolness of the ice help with the – at times brutal – heat and humidity. I am in Malaka, Malaysia as I write this. And it just finished raining, so it is cooler now, and grand for another walk-about.

Heat, humidity, rain… all combine to make you aware of the weather. Which seems to change every hour. From hot and mildly humid to nearly unbearable humidity to a gentle breeze that almost seems cool… all within a couple of hours

We drove down from spending a day in Kuala Lumpur. The roads here are some of the smoothest and most well designed I have seen. Traffic moves in a bit more of a freeform way, but they all get to where they are going with a gentle aggression that is somehow different than on the I10 at 7am…

I am in Malaysia with my friend Cliff Yap who also happens to be my client for this trip. Cliff is starting a film /photography workshop series in Singapore and I am to be the first guest educator. I am both flattered and proud to be working with him. Cliff is a highly respected film and TV director here in Singapore. I am sure his workshops will be a success. Cliff does everything with the utmost attention to detail.

The smog in KL got to my sinuses, and my throat has been burning so it may be a rough audio… heh. Cliff is video taping this workshop and I hope to be able to offer it to folks who may not be able to make it to the live workshops. Gravelly voice and all, they should be pretty cool.

Our venue is the Hasselblad offices in Singapore. Well, not the office, but the attached warehouse. The selection of toys – err – equipment is awesome. We will be using Hassy’s, Profoto and Gossen gear as well as a whole warehouse full of modifiers, light panels and scrims.

This will be a bit of a different workshop for me. Not as much hands-on, and more training. The workshop schedule is shorter than my usual schedule – those of you who have taken the workshop know that my day starts way early and we go to long after dark many times – and Cliff has a curriculum that he has created. I will still be bringing my style of teaching to the workshop, and the blend will be something unique. And fun as well.

Awaking to torrential rains this morning, I was glad to have been able to spend some time yesterday walking the streets of the old city of Malaka. A fascinating place with Mosques and Catholic Churches next to each other providing some breathtaking old architecture. And it is old – a lot of it is very old.

It was pretty hot, but we were able to find some great little places to regenerate with iced green tea. Lunch yesterday was pan seared chicken and 8 small rice balls. I could get used to this cuisine really fast. I have tried everything Cliff throws at me – and liked most of it. The dessert with the egg yolk center didn’t do it for me, but the Korean BBQ with Malay veggies… yeah, baby – that is tasty!

After breakfast at the hotel, a beautiful new hotel with wonderful firm beds (yeah, I have to sleep a little), we headed out for a short walkabout. The rain cooled it off so much that it was super comfortable. We made a few shots in the heavy overcast, and decided to pack it up and head back to Singapore. There is a lot to do before Saturday am.

I am packed and ready for Cliff to knock on the door and we will leave Malaka and head south. I wonder if I will ever get back to this unique little town, so I am taking it in at every opportunity. I will have the Flip going as we leave. BTW – if you are in advertising, this is the place – LOL. If it is flat, it has an ad on it. There are ads on the guard rails, crossing guards, lamp poles, sides of buildings, traffic lights, busses… literally everywhere you turn there is some sort of ad.

I think that they may have reached saturation, but if you are they guy that gets the printing contract, I am guessing that yacht I see parked out there must be yours.

Here are a few images from my walkabout yesterday in Malaka, Malaysia:

Tomorrow I will be back in Singapore. Hope to have an update on the goings on there as well.

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