I dedicated an entire day for the Science Museum because I knew there would be too much things to see. And I was right. I didn't manage to cover everything.

Fay Ying's front porch.

Fay had to leave early for work. I was up early to wait for Sel to bring over Joanne's stuff to bring over to Birmingham. Fay's nocturnal sister was still awake and probably sleep deprived, so I figured that it was better that I let myself out of the house instead of keeping her up.

This was how the streets looked like after snowing for a few hours. Not very thick snow. Very gloomy morning too.

Managed to squeeze another hour of sleep before I finally got ready to leave Canada water and to the Science Museum. Didn't lose my way to the station this time. But the snow last night made the paths slightly wet and I had to be careful not to slip and fall.

The Science museum, located just beside the Natural History Museum, is a geek's dreamland. At least that was the case for me. Amazing exhibits, live models and very informative displays. I can spend a few days here. Unfortunately, I couldn't extend my stay due to my finite annual leave days. Should have came when I was still in college. But then air fares would have killed me. I didn't have a shot of the building because I used the underground tunnel straight from South Kensington tube station.

Very early steam turbine. This is the ancestor of our current power turbines which are used in power plants and also in jet engines. The arrival of the steam turbine meant that for the first time in the history of mankind, work can now be done by machines instead of using human or animal power.

Rockets especially the German V2s paved way for modern space rockets, just one of many examples where war technologies were eventually used for the benefit of mankind.

Mechanical gyroscopes. The V2 was a very advanced missile during its time. It had gyro-controlled fins which helped it maintain the correct flight path.

These rocket thrusters are angled to give the rocket a spin around it's axis for stability.

The moon lander module. Whether the moon landing is a hoax or not, a lot of technology and math were required to put a man on the moon and to bring him back safely again.

Had lunch with Sel at the museum after she finished her classes early. Being a medic student, she went over to the medicine section of the museum while I continued slowly up the museum.

The Apollo capsule.

Heart shaped gears. This model was built to show that gears need not be round. They will work as long as their shape fits the next gear.

Cray-1 supercomputer. It has a curved design to shorten cable runs.

Crashed F1 car. Does anyone know when this car crashed?

This is how Tupperwares are made. Heated molds melt small plastic pellets and form them into kitchenwares.

Chips on a wafer.

The mechanical computers were by far the most interesting exhibits on display. By using carefully designed mechanical engines, these "computers" were capable of making calculations. Of course, with the invention of microchips, our pocket calculators are now far more powerful for a fraction of the cost.

Charles Babbage's Analytical Computer.

The Analytical Engine is a mechanical calculator so it uses gears and levers to perform calculations. This computer can only perform calculations that it was designed for. Any other calculations would require a redesign of the computer.

Electronic computers that we use today are more versatile. If we want extra functions, we just need to install additional software. Aren't you glad that computers were invented? Life was so much difficult before.

More mechanical calculators.

There was a section in the museum on ships and navigation too.

This is a ship log (1861). Notice the propeller shaped fins? People would throw this down behind their ships to measure how fast they were moving. The water moving across the fins will make the log spin and since one side of it is anchored to the ship, the speed of the ship will be proportional to how fast the log was spinning. Now we just need GPS to tell us that.

I was more interested in the aviation section. They were showing mainly the evolution of flight and old planes. Old planes are actually very fascinating because they are mechanical in nature and you'll be amazed at how engineers solved problems before the arrival of computers.

Air-cooled radial engine.

Spitfires used during WW2.

Cockpit of an old aircraft. Nowadays it's more computerized and less cluttered.

The Boeing 777's glass cockpit.

There was just too much to see and touch at the Science Museum. I'll probably need 2 days just to go through everything. It's well worth visiting if you love to see interesting things. And best of all, it's free!

At night, we met at my aunt's place (also the place where I stayed most of the time during my trip in London) for a scrumptious steamboat dinner. You have no idea how welcoming a steamboat dinner is during a cold winter evening.

Left to right: Me, Joel, Sel, Fay, Cher Ying, Alex.

Thanks Aunty Peng for the wonderful dinner and photos! We were stuffed to the brim!

Next: Birmingham.

5th January 2010: Trafalgar Square's fountain has become frozen solid today! Just to be sure I went over to tap the ice. This has not happened since forever. Today was very cold, but it hasn't snowed just yet. I was at the National Gallery today. Unfortunately, since it's an art gallery, no photos were allowed.

The frozen fountain. For some reason the area was fenced off.

The topmost layer was frozen, but underneath it was still liquid. You can easily break through the ice with a hard tap.

Me with my aunts in front of The National Gallery.

And that's St Martin's church.

Again, my Aunt Mei was my personal guide for the day. Here at the National Gallery we can see how art form progressed throughout the ages. Initially art was used to decorate places of worship. Paintings of Virgin Mary and Jesus were very common. Virgin Mary was almost always painted wearing a blue robe because blue paint (which was made using a stone) was the most expensive during that time. And obviously Virgin Mary is the most important character in the painting since she gave birth to Jesus.

Later paintings became more lifelike and started to incorporate landscapes in the background. Then rich merchants and families started commissioning artists to paint them instead. This took place long before cameras were invented. And you can roughly imagine how much you would have to pay to get one of the best artist of the time to paint your portrait.

I wasn't feeling 100% today. Coming down with the cold due to the freezing weather. After the National Gallery I headed over to Regent Street to visit the Apple Store. There's nothing there that we don't already have here. Ok, maybe the glass staircase and the giant Apple logo outside. And the friendly staff there. Felt a bit guilty walking in with a jailbroken and unlocked iPhone.

Since we were going to watch Avatar 3D tonight, I went over to Sel's place at Canada Water. Had Fay-made pasta at Fay's place before walking out to the nearby cinema.

The nice thing about London is that you don't need to drive to go anywhere. If I want to catch a movie in KL the nearest cinema is almost 10km away. Even going out for dinner requires driving or cycling.

I am perhaps the last person from Malaysia to watch Avatar 3D. It was simply a magical movie. Sure, it may be a direct rip off of Pocahontas. But the new world created by James Cameroon is so rich with new experiences and adventure. And furthermore I've almost entirely forgotten the Pocahontas story. So I'll have to give it a perfect 10.

And imagine the surprise when we walked out of the cinema and found out that it was snowing! For the first time in 23 years I actually get to touch natural snow. It was white, extremely fluffy like flour. It wasn't wet because it didn't melt on contact. The floor became extremely slippery because of it. And the snowflakes just floated down so slowly (unlike rain) like magic. As you walk you can feel the cold snowflakes on your face. It was truly an amazing experience. It's something that I won't be forgetting for a long long time.

However our coats became white because of the snow and we had to clean it off before getting in the house. Well that's one of the disadvantages of snow. Unfortunately I will soon discover some more.

That night I bummed over at Fay's place. Thanks Fay! Your heated floors made me want to sleep on the floor instead!

Next: Science Museum and steamboat dinner!

The first and only stop today was The British Museum (site). And honestly, one day was not enough to cover even half of this museum as the museum has over 7 million items in its collection.

The entrance of The British Museum.

The museum came into existence because of Sir Hans Sloane who started the collection. He also brought drinking chocolate back to England.

Inside the Great Court. The glass ceiling lets light through so not much artificial lighting is required during the day.

Totem pole at the Great Court.

There was an exhibition on Moctezuma, the Aztech Ruler. Unfortunately photos weren't allowed in that exhibit. Moctezuma was the last ruler of the Aztech. He was kidnapped by the Spanish army when they came and there was nothing much they can do since the Spanish army had guns while they were still using spears and shields. You can read more about his death and the Spanish conquest here.

Rosetta stone.

This is a very important piece of stone. With this stone, we managed to unlock the history of an entire civilization. Before this, no one knew how to read Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. But since the Rosetta stone contains a single passage written in 3 languages, a translation could be made by comparing them.

Builders in ancient times like to decorate their buildings with carvings and drawings. Take the Parthenon for example. It was decorated externally with frieze and metopes. And inside are stone sculptures, some of which are now on display at the British Museum.

Part of a sculpture from the Parthenon.

Carvings became more and more lifelike and realistic.

Art progressed from very basic and simple representative drawings to pictures or carvings that gave a sense of depth, perception and motion. These subtle changes can be seen as a civilization became more advanced and modern. This progression is what makes us special. We are constantly improving ourselves towards perfection. If we didn't progress throughout the ages, you'll still be reading this on a clay tablet.

I wanted to give them RM5 as a sample because our RM5 incorporates a plastic transparent window as a security feature. But I kept all my Ringgit at home.

An exhibition on Money takes us through the history of money, how people progressed from using shells to plastic as form of payment. Machines that print or mint coins are also on display. And also security features of money. People have gone the extra mile to ensure that money cannot be easily reproduced.

This is one side of the mold for a 1 pound coin.

That's HALF A TRILLION (500 BILLION) Zimbabwean dollars. And guess how much it's worth? 0.5 Malaysian sen. HALF a sen. You need a suitcase of these to buy bread.

Internal workings of a mechanical clock.

Right beside the money exhibition was an exhibition on clocks. Mechanical clocks of all sizes and construction were on display. And some of them were even moving so you can see all the internal workings of the clock! There are a few really ingenious designs. But of course, none came close to having the accuracy nor simplicity of the modern quartz controlled clocks that we have today.

This is a very interesting clock. It utilizes the duration required for the ball to travel from one end to the other to keep time:

I also skimmed through the Mummy gallery. Not exactly a big fan of mummies, but it's interesting to see how they preserve the bodies. The brain comes out through the nose by the way.

A Mummy.

Interestingly, they mummify cats too.

Next: The National Gallery.

Sel and Joel decided to wake up early for mass at St Paul's cathedral so I get to sleep in late at Sel's house. So when I got up at around 9 something I went to find Joanne and knocked on the wrong room. Sel's housemate who came back early morning didn't know I was bunking over so it was not a pleasant surprise.

Showered and went to Fay's place which was about 5 minutes down the road. Got lost on the way but thank God for free internet and Google Earth. Then I traveled with Fay down to South Kensington and met Sel and Joel at a coffee shop. Hot coffee and cold mornings make a very good combination. Thanks Fay!

Tickets to the Cocoon. Although it's free, they still require you to "purchase" tickets.

The Cocoon at the Charles Darwin Center is a place where specimens are stored. Here you'll learn how they name species, preserve them and catalog them for the benefit of future researchers. Sometimes they will send out these specimens for other scientists to study.

Giant mosquito model will suck your blood dry.

I was actually more intrigued by their interactive displays. Most are touch based and doesn't seem to be using a camera to detect where your hand is. So I concluded that the surface that they are projecting on must be touch sensitive. The whole exhibition is highly interactive and it encourages a lot of hands on which really helps the learning process, especially with younger visitors.

A turtle's backbone is fused with its shell so you can never see a turtle without its shell. Damn cartoons.

I didn't manage to cover the whole Natural History Museum. There simply wasn't enough time. I would probably need 2 days just to see everything there. We did go through some of the mammals section and also the large hall where the blue whale and its skeleton are displayed.

If you take a blue whale out of the sea, it will be crushed to death by its own weight due to the lack of buoyancy.

Sel suggested we go over to the Museum in Docklands to learn about the history of London. And since she had tickets entrance would be free. The museum is near Canary Wharf tube station.

The Museum of Docklands is actually housed in an old warehouse building that was once used to store goods carried by ships from all over the world. The multiple gates on each floor speeds up the process of unloading the ships' cargos.

London came into existence when the Romans set up a settlement by River Thames. It was known as Londinium during that time. Eventually London grew as its port became increasingly busy with ships coming in from all over the world. But London's history wasn't all smooth sailing. There was the Great Plague, the Great Fire of London, and then there were the World War bombings. Life was pretty hard during those times.

Slaves used to work in lucrative sugar cane plantations to produce sugar. On the left side of the wall are names of the ships that carried slaves. Yes, the slave trade was huge.

Overall the museum was a great eye opener. This is one museum not to be missed if you want to know how London came about. There are a lot of things to see. And I found out plenty that I didn't know about London. Especially the slave trade, and how people coped during the World War. We are indeed lucky to be living in a relatively peaceful world now.

Glass buildings around Docklands. It was dark when we got out even though it was only 4:30pm.

During winter it gets dark very early. So it seemed like the day progressed at a very rapid pace. Very hard to get used to this. And dark means cold so it was time to say goodbye and head back to Golders Green for a scrumptious dinner and a warm bed. Not to mention defrosting in front of a fireplace. Oh, the perks of winter!

Next: More museums!

The great thing about museums in London is that they are absolutely free! You can spend the whole day there learning new things. During this trip I went to over 6 museums and a 4 exhibitions both in London and Birmingham.

The Natural History Museum.

On the 2nd day of my trip, I went to the World Wildlife Photography exhibition at the Natural History Museum. As the name implies, the photography exhibition revolves around wildlife. Some photos are simply amazing, allowing you to look at animals in ways that you've never seen them before. It certainly took some photographers a lot of effort to capture some of the photos seen here. Some of them even had to camp for days in subzero temperatures just to wait for the right moment.

The storybook wolf. The photo above was the winning photo of 2009 until it was disqualified. You can view the online gallery of the photos here. [source]

Also in the Natural History Museum is the dinosaur gallery. They have a scaled down mechanically animated T-rex inside.

I think this is the skeleton of a T-rex.

The dinosaur exhibition was very interesting. There are detailed explanation on why they were highly successful during their era and also factors contributing to the dinosaurs' extinction. Here you can also find out why some dinosaurs are warm blooded and why some are not.

Replica of a dinosaur's nest.

Just across the road at the Victoria and Albert museum the decode exhibition was being held. To put it simply, you get to see what happens when art meets science and technology.

That's a picture of me taking a picture of the Weave Mirror. This "display" has a resolution of 32x24, with a total of 768 effective pixels.

I was particularly impressed with this Weave Mirror. It's like a large screen with many pixels, but these pixels are actually small curved pieces that move to change to bright or dark. They're all servo actuated so as you walk pass the exhibition, you hear them whirling as they change the display.

Decode's video:

After Decode we went over to the Royal Opera House at Convent Garden to catch the Enchanted Pig. I did enjoy the play, very witty and funny! And live acting and live music is really something different. And with such a small stage to work with, they had to use numerous props and stage effects to simulate a situation. I absolutely love the "running down a long corridor" scene. I'm also impressed at how the conductor managed to synchronize everything.

The play lasted for about 2 hours, with a short break about halfway through so the audience can go freshen themselves up and they can reconfigure the stage.

You can use the South Kensington Station to get to the museums.

While in London, I usually use the tube to get around. With an Oyster card (similar to our Touch n Go cards here in Malaysia), traveling is a breeze. Just tap in at the station's gate and tap out when you arrive. No need to buy tickets or take out cash. Also traveling on a working day after 10:30am is so enjoyable. You have the whole train to yourself!

That night I met up with Sel, Joanne, Fay, Cher Ying, Albert and we went for dinner at the nearby Frankie and Bennie's. Then I spent the night at Sel's because there was no point traveling back to Golders Green since I'll be with them tomorrow for The Cocoon Exhibition at the Charles Darwin center in the Natural History Museum. Did I tell you how warm Sel's living room is?

Sorry not much photos since I didn't lug my camera around! Tip for taking photos in museums, since they are always dimly lit: bring a VR lens. For Nikon users, I recommend the 18-55VR. You won't want to lug a tripod around.

Next: London Trip 2009: Part 3

I know this is extremely overdue, but I have been very busy and slacking for some time now. So here goes.

Every year I make it a point to travel mainly because I still have the time and I need to make use of the free ticket that MAS provides. Last year (2009) I actually didn't have any trip planned because exams was keeping me busy. Then late November Joanne decided to tempt me to go over to UK because there's a chance that it will snow. Days later I went to apply for my ticket to UK. And that's how I spent the first 11 days of 2010 in the UK.

It was pretty much an uneventful flight. There was a slight delay in taking off so instead of being in the air by 31st December 2009 11:55pm, we celebrated New Years on the bay. The chief steward made an announcement and people on board cheered. And we flew by Thailand, which was one hour behind Malaysia and celebrated New Years for the second time.

Due to my tiredness, the 13 hour flight actually went by pretty fast. I slept so I could overcome the jetlag when I arrive in London.

Friday was sunny but cold.

I touched down early Friday morning 1st January 2010 at around 5:30am. The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was the cold. This was on the aerobridge. I suspect it wasn't heated and the cold air was seeping in from the outside. It was about 0 degrees Celsius that day.

Went through customs without a hitch. Aunt sent a cab to pick me up from Terminal 4 at Heathrow to Golders Green, where I will be staying most of the time (Google street view works in London so do try that out). Since almost everyone was wasted due to last night's New Years party, the roads were very empty.

The view outside Embankment tube station. Taken from the Hungerford bridge. Click here for a way larger version (8MB+).

On the Hungerford Bridge which crosses River Thames.

I then went to meet Sel at Embankment tube station and we walked down to Trafalgar Square to watch the New Year's day parade. Apparently every year they have this parade. They'll close off the roads so the procession can go through it.

Trafalgar Square used to be filled with pigeons. I remember feeding them 8 years ago when I was here. Now due to the problem with their droppings, i.e. cost incurred for cleanup, they have decided not to let pigeons loiter around anymore. One way was by preventing people from feeding them.

On Whitehall road, watching the procession.

It was damn crowded but we eventually managed to squeeze to the front row.

Batman came in his environmental-friendly Batmobile!

The parade consisted mainly of bands from all over the world. There was a Japanese band too.

It was freezing cold and the temperature was very close to zero. After an hour there we went to the nearest Starbucks to thaw ourselves. Hot chocolate or hot coffee is something you'll appreciate a lot here.

Passed by the Big Ben.

Since we still had some time to kill before tonight's Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park, we went back to Sel's house which was somewhere near Canada Water. Sel's house is very nice because the heating is always turned up to the max. And I also found out that Joanne did not in fact go back to Birmingham and was still in London, bumming at Sel's house.

Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park.

Sel, Joanne and I met up with Fay, Cher Ying, Albert and Joel at Fay's place (also at Canada Water) before heading off to Hyde Park. It was freezing cold at night, down to -1C. I couldn't use my iPhone since the touch screen cannot be operated while wearing gloves. The cold really reduces your dexterity to the point where you can't even perform simple tasks with your fingers, like counting money or twittering.

Rides. Spuk. Reminds me of the ghost train back in Kuching Festival.

Winter Wonderland is like a bigger version of Kuching Festival. It has everything a festival needs: beer, food, rides, games and lots of people.
Games.

Food. Surprisingly, the food here is quite similar to the food available at 1Utama's Oktoberfest. Maybe it's due to the German origin.

And not to forget the outdoor skating rink. I had hoped that it would be on a frozen lake or river.

Had dinner there and walked around a few times until we were sure we were completely frozen. Moving about was better than just sitting down doing nothing because then you feel cold faster. It was indeed a freezing experience for me. I was starting to miss KL's scorching hot weather. 10 more days to go.

Next: London Trip 2009: Part 2

Stupid people are hazardous to your health. So keep your friends smart.

Still sorting through the UK photos. Might take a while with my current workload.

Just got back from my UK trip. Can't believe I spent an entire day on a plane (12 hours flight one way). Now I need to catch my breath as I've been busy adjusting back to normal. My computers didn't help by suddenly deciding to die off while I was away. Now I just need to get the car's computer running again. And to prepare for the BBQ this weekend.

The London Eye. Check back here for my UK trip posts soon!

The first decade of the 21st century is almost over. Lots of things have happened during the past decade, and we're probably going to usher in the next decade hoping for a better economy, finding ways to deal with the energy crisis and also global warming.

2009 for me has also been a blast. It has been a pretty eventful year. I've been able to accomplish some of my targets for 2009 and some more. Anyways here's a short recap on what happened in 2009.

On the way to Sydney.

January
1. Came back from my Melbourne and Sydney Trip
2. Went back to Kuching for Chinese New Year with my relatives


Flight back to Kuching.

February
3. Went for a photo outing: Thaipusam Shoot
4. Bought my first rangefiner, then sold it because I realised it didn't suit me well.
5. Went for a shoot a FRIM: (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) Part 1, Part 2.


Yashica Electro 35 GSN rangefinder

March
6. Cheated on World Maths Day.
7. Went to Melbourne for the weekend.
8. Went to shoot the Melbourne International Motor Show
9. Port Dickson Trip with Zoe Yve
10. Photo outing at Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2009
11. Followed by a Putrajaya Shoot
12. Earth Hour 2009 at KLCC
13. Tested out the Nikon D3x at DCIM


High ISO test of the D90.

April
14. My first wall climbing experience at Shah Alam
15. Reviewed the ultra wide angle Tokina 11-16 f/2.8. Superb lens for landscapes. Not for camwhores.
16. DIY-ed a macro lens.

May
17. Talked about Flash sync speed.
18. Planned and went for an impromptu trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
19. Started my 3 months stint at KLIA ASU. Sorry no photos, but I spent one of the best times of my life there.


@tmosphere at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

June
20. iPhone 3Gs Launched.
21. Flight AF447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. Cause of accident still unknown.
22. Got some flash gels.
23. Bought a bright torch light with a SSC P7 led.
24. Why I stopped drinking. But then I never learn.
25. King of Pop Michael Jackson passed away.
26. iPhone firmware 3.0 is released.


iPhone 2G

July
27. Renewed my road tax online.
28. DIY-ed an aquarium chiller for a friend.
29. Talked about what goes on during an aircraft transit.
30. Finally joined Twitter @tzywen.
31. Explained the usage of Gobos.


Sprocket Hole Photography.

August
32. Did some sprocket hole photography with a Holga.
33. Created the Airline Manager Route Distance Database. It's still being actively used by around 6000 users daily and close to 20k hits per day.
34. "Modifying" a Nikon SB600 to work on a Holga.
35. Went to shoot the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race 2009 at Sepang.
36. Went back to Kuching on an Airbus A330 jumpseat. Video of the takeoff available.


BMW Z4 at Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race 2009.

September
37. Started my CarPC project.
38. I was invited to give a talk on my Nikon CLS hack at the Nikonian Academy.
I now do engineering consultation and product development for them on a part-time basis.
39. Went to Langkawi with my family.


Sunset at Langkawi.

October
40. Busy preparing for my DCA exams.
41. Went to shoot the USAF Thunderbirds in Malaysia. Awesome performance. No words can describe their precision.
42. Built a home constellation projector.
43. Toyed with the idea of FPV flying.


USAF Thunderbirds doing the mirror image.

November
44. Got a Wiimote and made a whiteboard out of it.


Addicted to XPlane.

December
45. Compiled a list of Top 11 signs of a Twitter addict. This was also my 1000th post.
46. Launched my own URL shortening service Sli.my


Home Constellation Projector

2009 has been a great year but 2010 promises to be an even better one. I'll be flying off to UK later for 11 days. Regular updates will continue after 13th of January 2010.

Before I go I'd like wish the very best for you for 2010! Have a Happy New Year!

Signing off for year 2009,
Tzy Wen.

One SB600 bounced off a white card held above the car. Shot @ 200mm, 1/200, f/10.

Depth of field seem to be lacking.