“我代表了Kuching，被分派到Sibu”______^______”I represented Kuching, but distributed to Sibu”.
“本是同一家，何以兩相隔”______^______We were once the same, but separated.
“有我，有你”，才叫完整______^______”with you and me” – complete

What a good new year start for me. Had my photo chosen for SinChew Paper’s travel photo collection for 2010 Calendar. Suuuu lucky. And my reward is….RM100 book voucher!!!! YEAH!!!!

*Photo taken last year April, 2009, during my travel to Yuang Yang, Yunnan, China.

Location: Tanjung Sepat
Date: 13.6.09
Geng(s): Teck, Chit, Peng and Thomas

Tanjung Sepat is a town in Kuala Langat district in Selangor, Malaysia. It is on the Straits of Malacca. Kampung Kundang is a village located nearby.

Tanjung Sepat is primarily a fishing town. Most of the inhabitants have some kind of connection to the fishing industry, although the relative importance of fishing to the economy is dwindling due to pollution in the Straits of Malacca. Many believed this is caused by the fact that the areas surrounding the town are known as the largest pig rearing area in the state. The non-controllable waste flowing to the sea produced not only stench but hardship for the fishing industry participants.

SAPA, Northwest Vietnam

Sapa is a frontier town and district in the Lào Cai province in northwest Vietnam. It is one of the main market towns in the area, where many ethnic minority groups such as H’mong, Dao and Tay live.

Sapa is located 38km from Lao Cai City, 350 km north-west of Hanoi, close to the border with China. The Hoang Lien Son range of mountains dominates the district, which is at the eastern extremity of the Himalayas. This range includes Vietnam’s highest mountain, Fan Si Pan, at a height of 3142m above sea level. The town of Sa Pa lies at an altitude of about 1600 m. The climate is moderate and rainy in summer (May—August), and foggy and cold with occasional snowfalls in winter.

One of the largest ethnic minorities in Vietnam is the Hmong Tribe. Hmong originally means “free people”. They came from China, and now live in different regions throughout Vietnam.

For other site view of the same album, log on to http://tmaxzone.multiply.com/photos/album/104/SA_PA_Vietnam

[元阳梯田]

位于云南省元阳县的哀牢山南部，是哈尼族人世世代代留下的杰作。元阳哈尼族开垦的梯田随山势地形变化，因地制宜，坡缓地大则开垦大田，坡陡地小则开垦小田，甚至沟边坎下石隙也开田，因而梯田大者有数亩、小者仅有簸箕大，往往一坡就有成千上万亩。元阳梯田规模宏大，气势磅礴，绵延整个红河南岸的红河、元阳、绿春及金平等县，仅元阳县境内就有17万亩梯田，是红河哈尼梯田的核心区。元阳县境内全是崇山峻岭，所有的梯田都修筑在山坡上，梯田坡度在15度至 75度之间。以一座山坡而论，梯田最高级数达3000级，这在中外梯田景观中是罕见的。元阳哈尼梯田主要有3大景区:坝达景区包括箐口、全福庄、麻栗寨、主鲁等连片14000多亩的梯田，老虎嘴景区包括勐品、硐浦、阿勐控、保山寨等近6000亩梯田，多依树景区包括多依树、爱春、大瓦遮等连片上万亩梯田。如此众多的梯田，在茫茫森林的掩映中，在漫漫云海的覆盖下，构成了神奇壮丽的景观。
For more info, please refer to this site http://baike.baidu.com/view/24928.html

Yuan Yang, China
It covers an area of 2200 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 365,000 (2002), of which 88% belong to ethnic minorities and 95% is associated with agriculture. The GDP of Yuanyang county in 2002 was 630 million Yuan. The administrative seat of the county is the town of Nansha (a.k.a. New Yuanyang) down in the Red River valley at an elevation of 240 meters. It is situated 12 km towards the north-east of the former administrative seat Xinjie (a.k.a. Old Yuanyang or just Yuanyang) to which it is connected by a 27 km long twisting mountain road. To the south of Old Yuanyang, the town of Panzhihua is positioned near the top of another major valley of rice-terraces. There are a total of 928 settlements in Yuanyang county, 826 of them being inhabited by only one single ethnic group.[4]

The town of Old Yuanyang is a Hani minority settlement atop a ridge of the Ailao mountain range at an elevation of around 1570 metres. It is a popular destination with photographers due to the vast areas of nearby mountains which have been cultivated into terraced rice paddies for at least the past 1300 years by the Hani people. Despite the overwhelming scenic beauty of its landscape and colourful local minorities, mass tourism hasn’t developed in this region as yet, mainly due to its remote location, lack of a nearby airport, and until fairly recent, relative inaccessibility due to bad road conditions.

The terraced areas of interest to visitors are mainly found between 1000 and 2000 metres above sea level. The winter temperatures here, although never freezing, are such that they only support one rice crop a year. After the harvest, from mid-September till mid-November depending on the elevation, the terraces are filled with water until April, when planting begins.

The vast majority of the ethnic minority women in Yuanyang county still wear traditional clothes as their daily attire. The main ethnic group is the Hani who share the region with several other minorities such as the Yi and Miao. Market days in the villages tend to be very colourful when the different minority groups in the vicinity, each in their own traditional costume, come together to trade and socialise.

In 2008, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People’s Republic of China submitted the Honghe Hani Terraced Fields for World Heritage Site status. A quote from the justification: Hani people have created fantastic and perfect land art of vast terraced fields in the heritage site. Integrating the terraced fields into the unique landform, forests and plant covers, valleys and streams and other natural landscapes they have developed a unique masterpiece of ethnic art which has organically fused the ethnical art, landscape art and agricultural techniques. (info by Wikipedia)

Photograph by : Thomas Tam

多依树景区

多依树景区位于县城东部55 公里，新街东部25公里。

景区主要特色和内容：景区以五个哈尼族村寨，四个彝族村寨为主，包含爱村、大瓦遮等连片的六千多亩梯田人文景观和自然景观，展示云海、梯田、山寨的奇丽风光，哈尼、彝族的多元文化和省级自然保护区内的一万六千多公顷莽莽苍苍的原始森林和国家一、二级保护动植物。

景区梯田三面临大山，一面坠入山谷，状如一个大海湾。布满在临山三面的无数村落，一座座蘑菇房如整装待发的帆船；6000亩梯田均由东至西横向。站在高高的黄草岭村后山观赏，如万马奔腾，似长蛇舞阵。整块梯田上半部分稍缓，如万蛇蠕动，下半部分较陡直入深渊，如将倾的大厦，令人提心吊胆。六千亩梯田水源充足，白花花的大海湾如一个巨大的瀑布从南向北倾泻，壮观无比。

这里一年有两百天云海缠绕，云海停留在海湾里不肯离去，忽东忽西，忽上忽下，一会儿无影无踪，一会儿又弥天大雾，忽而往下蹿，淹没一层层梯田、村寨；时而往上蹿，露出一层层梯田、村寨，一天如此反复，每次各异。是观赏、拍摄云海、梯田、山寨的景区。

省级自然保护区占地一万六千公顷，均由原始森林组成，雨量充沛，水源丰富，从保护区向四周流淌下千万条山泉，浇灌着十多万亩堪称世界一绝的梯田。区内生息着国家一级保护动物蜂猴、黑熊，一级保护植物长蕊木兰、桫椤等。区内五指山峰是奇景之一，五个身高三至四百米，直径五十至一百米的如手指的巨石峰，顺山拔地而起，直指苍穹，站在最高峰极目远眺，十多万亩参差错落在千壑万岭的梯田，尽收眼底。

Another personal blog view at http://tmaxzone.multiply.com/photos/album/103/Yuan_Yang_in_Yunnan_China

Tonle Sap Lake, Floating Village, Cambodia 27-4-2008

The amazing lake and river system of the Tonle Sap is quite unique. This vast lake; the largest in SE Asia, fills with the waters of the Mekong each year, bringing vast numbers of fish and irrigation during the dry season.

The Mekong starts its journey in the Himalayas, flowing through China, Laos and Cambodia before discharging into the sea at its delta in South Vietnam. The Mekong Delta cannot absorb all the river water; so in May, the river reverses its normal seaward flow and begins for flow back up the Tonle Sap River.

The 160km long lake fills with water and, expands to 250kms long by up to 100kms wide over a period of 3 months. The lake rises and progressively floods the surrounding forests and rice fields.

The people who live in simple shacks along the Causeways and rivers; move up towards the shore. As the water retreats, and the rainy season approaches; the floating villages move inland to take shelter along the river banks.

Angkor Wat, The Bayon, Neak Pean & Pre Rup

Phnom Kulen(Kulen Mountain), Cambodia 30.4.08

Street shots at Seam Reap, Cambodia

From Chiangmai~Pattaya~Bangkok
Had combined 2 photos in 1 for some, if not u guz may get tire of viewing too many…
This time more on tourism photos, just share and enjoy!

Click here for enjoy more photos