Road Trip to Pembrokeshire, Wales

A Friendly Friday challenge notification email popped up 2 days ago and the topic was ROAD TRIP! I started reminiscing on my adventure that I took with a group of friends to Wales in 2019, where we share the same passion, photography.

I was designated the organiser, road trip planner and one of the designated driver. I had hoped that the trip goes well and that the weather in Wales will hold up and hold out as it was the first time for all of us visiting Wales.

The Severn Bridge is a suspension bridge connecting South Gloucestershire in England and Monmouthshire in South East Wales.

In short, the trip turned out well, everyone brought home good memories, photos and a big belly from all the food and drinks we had along the stops. This short trip was designed to explore the West Coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, taking in views from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Here are some photos of the places and towns we visited. We head up north to Strumble Head Lighthouse, five miles west of the nearest town Fishguard.

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Travelling next to Whitesands Bay, Porthclais and St David’s Cathedral, situated in St Davids near the most westerly point of Wales.

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We visited Broad Haven South, a beautiful walking trail to the beach with the iconic Church Rock.

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St Ann’s Head is also along the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, where the lighthouse overlooks the entrance to the Milford Haven waterway.

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Another memorable walk was to the National Trust’s world-renowned nature reserve at Stackpole. The Stackpole Estate, encompassing Stackpole Park which has scenic walks, farmland, woods, lakes, coastal cliffs and beaches, one of which is the Barafundle Bay beach.

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Another stop on this road trip was Tenby, which is a harbour town, southwest in Wales. The rain came and went and the sun broke through the skies. Tenby Castle is linked to the town by an isthmus and sunset along the sandy shoreline at Tenby South Beach.

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Brecon Beacons National Park a mountain range in South Wales. A last glimpse of Pen y Fan, the highest peak in south Wales, before the rain poured from the skies. We had to cancelled our plans for an exhilarating 11 mile circuit from the Storey Arms.

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It was a super packed road trip over several days, but well worth the hundreds of miles we clocked driving and hiking, as well as the hundreds and thousands of calories we consumed. We could not help wondering what North Wales would be like. This would be another road trip in the future, fingers crossed…

Awesome Walks – The paddy fields of Bali

A walk in hot humid Singapore is not always everyone’s cup of tea. Lush green surroundings are limited to parks, gardens and reservoirs and awesome walks in Singapore is not without loads of ice bottled water.

Let us head to Bali instead and yes, we still need ice bottled water as well, but the scenery is vastly different from the concrete jungle in Singapore.

Enjoy the walk.

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When you smile…

Friday Friendly: Smiles…I had to dig hard into my archives, all the way back to 2016 in Danang, Vietnam.

I had signed up for a morning walk in the market with sunrise photography. It was raining hard the night before and still drizzling in the morning, pick up a couple of hours before sunrise as we had to drive to a fishing village by the sea.

We made our way to a village house where we all had a hot cup of Vietnamese coffee or tea. Nothing was stirring but this stop was arranged so that we can sit, sip and wait for sunrise. Sunrise never happened as the fishing village was shrouded in mist.

The sun finally broke through the clouds! We started our walk to the market, the street now filled with people, bicycles and activities.

This was where I was lucky enough to captured the smiles that made my day.

Capturing Street Art

Photographing landscapes and flora is my preferred go to, but temptation was too great. I had to post after reading my friend’s Sandy blog post on Friendly Friday : Street Art.

These street art from Asia to Europe caught my eye during my trips. I stopped and admired the creativity, colour and boldness of the Street Art.

3D Street Art in Chinatown in Singapore – The Letter Writer, William Shakespeare Mural at Clink Street London, Graffiti at Buxton Street and the Grandma and Grandson Mural at Chew Jetty in Penang, Malaysia.

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Under the hot sun and humidity in Singapore and Malaysia or on a clear late autumn walk in London, Street Art in any form brings colour and life to the streets. However, getting the shot with no one’s arms, legs and heads in the pictures requires patience, loads of patience.

The Orange Challenge

My friend Sandra’s Friendly Friday’s challenge to re-image orange. I could not pass up this challenge but I found myself in a fix. I do have images with the colour orange, but a re-imaged one in orange stumped me indeed.

This is what I can offer from the perspective of orange, in colour.

Orange speaks volume…after a blistering hot and humid day, the sun’s rays layered between the clouds not wanting to recede.

Wall of Famous Canadians – The contrast of black and white portraits on an orange wall, somehow makes the frames stand out like a 3-D image.

What are these? Don’t blink, they may look hideous, but they are used in a variety of ways from appetizers to desserts. Interesting? Can you guess?

This is the real challenge here. Salted egg yolks, cured out in the open air, a Tai O speciality. Remember the salted egg craze? Have you tried salted egg potato chips, salted egg fish skins, salted egg crab and the famous Liu Sha Bao…

Kopi Conversations

My friend Sandra’s post on Coffee Conversations had me itching to do one as well.

Coffee is not just black, white, latte, cuppaccino or double double when you order at a Singapore’s local coffee place. You need to know the nuances so that the cashier confirms your order correctly, said loud enough to have the ‘local barista’ next to him or her to get that right the first time.

A guide to ordering Kopi

For strong black coffee with less sugar you say, kopi O gao siew dai.

For regular coffee, it’s Kopi, this coffee comes with condensed milk, coffee with evaporated milk and sugar, it’s Kopi C. The taste is absolutely different with the alphabet C and without C. It could make or break my day. Once the order is placed there is no turning back. The aroma of a hot cuppa will give a great start to the day.

When you finally get to sit down at your desk to take the first sip and should that cup of Kopi C turn into Teh C the words that comes after would be truly unthinkable!

Lens Artist Challenge: Silhouettes

Emm… silhouette of people or persons is really tough for me. I still steer towards landscapes and flowers.

This photo was taken at Petitenget beach a popular beach for both tourists and the locals in Kuta, Bali Indonesia and one of the few I have of people, in silhouette.

I could hear the boys before I even reached the beachfront. There was already an audience of beach goers watching the boys, cheering them on. I made my way towards the front as best I could, being only 5 feet in height I needed almost front row seats.

The sun was throwing the final light for the day. I looked through the viewfinder on my camera and this was the shot…

 

Early Bird Challenge

Let’s do a weekly photo challenge, my girlfriend messaged me. I am game…my camera trigger finger has been itching for days.

Week of April 17, 2015 – explore the morning light. I got up early, its 5.30am on Saturday, had packed the night before. Grabbed a banana and my trusty water bottle and slipped quietly out. East Coast Parkway is a familiar place, and I walked to bunker 22, warded off the mosquitoes and waited.

Sunrise was given as 6.58am…but there were clouds in the horizon, I had to take my chance. The sun pushed through the clouds 12 minutes later, I shaded my eyes for a second and then its time…My Sunrise

 

 

My Neighbourhood Tanjong Katong

Delicious!!!

Meeting up with girlfriend for Friday lunch. This all stems from our earlier discussion to kick start something new, writing that is, at least for me. We met at my favourite egg tart store, the aroma of freshly baked tarts opened my senses, calorie counts were thrown out the window. This is our first stop…we can’t stop drooling! Can’t wait to sink our teeth into it so looking for a place to sit and drink and eat.

They were everywhere…the birds…this shop stopped us on our tracks. 218 Nam Seng Bird Shop Trading seem to have been in this neighbourhood for years…maybe some things don’t change.

 

 

We wanted coffee and a place that we can bring our tarts to eat…a different combination. Instead, we devour the tarts at my apartment and chatted instead. However, the need for coffee got the better of us. I like this cafe…has a green turf outside, easy to recognise. We were glad to be able to walk into the cool interior, it was getting unbearably hot outside.

 

 

Three stops – Madelenine’s Original Egg Tart, Nam Seng Bird Shop Trading and Toothsome Cafe, three shots.