nikon 5700 – sixthseal.com

I’ve just taken photos of the parade (?) down Jalan Bukit Bintang
(caught it at Bintang Walk) with my new Nikon 5700. Yeah, I’ve finally
decided on that, managed to find a store selling it at RM 3100 (cash
only) or RM 3168 (with 2% credit card charge). It’s a graduation
present from my dad. Anyway, I can’t actually show you all the photos I
took of the parade because this Internet cafe is running Windows 98 so
it won’t detect a USB digicam connection and mount it as a new drive.

I didn’t bring the driver CD out and Nikon View supports a minimum
of Windows 98 SE (this cc is running the first edition) and I can’t
find the drivers on the Nikon site for the life of me. Anyway, that
long assed explaination is why I can’t post up the photos today. I can
do something a little unorthodox though…I’m using the webcam to
capture the digicam’s LCD screen during play, so that blurry photo
above is supposed to be of this guy wielding this very long stick with
Sharp Things on both ends while in a trance.

Anyway, I don’t know what’s going on, I just saw a lot of police and
Rela members to control the crowd and traffic while I was walking back,
and saw that there’s a procession going on. I got quite a few photos,
it’s like the procession that happens at Cheng Beng, where people piece
theirselves and walk down in a trance. I’ve always wondered if they
took anything…does anyone know? A deleriant perhaps, or a psychedelic
of some sort?

Well, I could only see two groups in the procession, Chinese and
Indian. The Chinese ones were mostly pierced across the cheek and they
wield all sorts of things like meat cleavers, saws, and all that and
walk around in a trance guided by the front person. The Indians had a
lot of limes on their bodies, and there’s this guy who was being hooked
by well, hooks and pulled by another guy. Lots of blood, very nice. The
procession puts the fun into photography, great event to break in the
digicam with.

Anyway, I can’t upload the photos today, so tomorrow it is then.
Well, regarding the Nikon 5700, I think it’s great – been thawing on
getting either this or the 5400 and finally decided to forgo portablity
(the 5400 fits in a pocket) for the additional 4x optical zoom (5700 is
8x optical). I could fit the 5700 in my pocket if I were wearing cargo
pants, but otherwise not, so I slinged it around me, that would
probably be the way I’ll be carrying it now.

Well, that’s it for today…going back to the hotel now. I’ll be
moving to another hotel near Petaling Street starting tomorrow. My
apologies for not being able to upload the photos, I hope the Petaling
Street Internet cafes would have a newer OS, because I’ve filled the 32
MB CF Card and most of the 128 MB one.

P/S – Jasmine, thanks for your SMS, I couldn’t reply because the cell phone didn’t save the message after viewing. Sorry!

I think I’m forgetting something but I don’t know exactly what…anyway, I’ll update tomorrow.

I’m currently eating a chicken sandwich and drinking peach tea at
AmPm ezone at Low Yat. It’s supposed to be the largest cybercafe in
Malaysia (it says so on the outside). Anyway, I dropped in to recharge
my cell phone battery again and I’ll be surfing around to read digicam
reviews later. am/pm ezone
[ampmezone.com] also has a phone beside each terminal and they allow
free local calls within the KL area. Interesting. Anyway, I was
supposed to go to Petaling Jaya today, but I called beforehand and
Nikon says they need 1-2 WEEKS just to give me a price quotation (that
time does not include repair), so I thought I’ll get another digicam
and leave my old one as a spare. That’s one reason I’m at Low Yat,
another is I’m getting the price lists for computer accessories.

I can’t get it today though, there’s too much luggage, so I plan to
come here sometime at the end of this week and get all the stuff I need
to assemble a box and put it at my new place first. The room I’m
renting is not vacated yet and won’t be until the 1st of September, but
I’m putting the bulky stuff over first, probably just chuck it in a
corner of the house or something. I won’t be having my own connection
on my own box until next month, but photos of stuff would be up
starting next week or maybe even earlier, going to get a digicam in
these few days.

I find myself reaching for a non-existant digicam in my pocket
everytime I see a scene that warrents a shot, but alas, my fingers are
always grasping at air. 🙂 Yeah, a digicam would be my first priority.
Thanks for all the price comparisons everyone, the cheapest price I
found for a Nikon 5700 is RM 3500 and that comes with a free 128 MB CF
Card. It’s not the RM 2800 I’m expecting, but it seems to be about as
good as it gets, considering most shops retails it at RM 3999.

Now that has got me thinking whether I should skimp on the box or
skimp on the digicam…probably the former. 🙂 The Nikon 5700 does give
me pause though, I tried to fit it into my pants pocket (which is where
my digicam usually goes) and it didn’t fit so well. There’s a
rather…hmm, disquieting bulge around the general area when I
put it in, so yeah, perhaps I should go for a more portable one,
although the 5700 seems to be a delicious morsel. The 5400 retails for
a bit less and it’s smaller, due to the 5700’s 6x zoom lens but they’re
basically the same.

Oh speaking of bulges, I can’t walk 10 meters in Bukit Bintang
without someone asking me “Eh, yau loi yan mou? Yau hou sang ga.”.
That’s “Hey, are you interested in girls? I have young ones.”. It seems
that the ah, adult entertainment industry is alive and well in BB,
perhaps prospering even, I don’t recall being prepositioned with such
frequency last time I stayed at BB. I usually don’t bother replying,
but this one time yesterday, just for shits and giggles, I replied
“Hmm…loi yan wo mou hen choi, nei yau feng tau yuen mo?” which
translates as “Well, I’m not interested in girls, do you have any
“ecstasy” pills?”.

Well, what transpired was rather interesting…the pimp (or
middleman to be polite) gave me a funny look and said “Wo lei to mai
loi yan ga, wo moi mai yeun” – “I sell girls here, not pills”. 🙂 I
guess you had to be there, it was kinda funny. It’s interesting though,
coz I thought the two businesses are somewhat interrelated in Malaysia.
I’m glad it’s not. Disclaimer: I was only asking for fun, I do not possess or consume any illicit drugs.

I digress too much, I should be looking at digicam reviews now. I
saw a couple of Sony models that looked okay, and the prices are cheap
for a 5 MP digicam, I’m not a big fan of Sony due to their proprietry
MS storage format, but I saw several new ones that accepts CF cards
too. Well, I’m off, gotta decide on a digicam soon. Thanks for the
suggestions everyone. 🙂

Procession down Bukit Bintang (Nikon 5700)

am pm ezone, Low Yat Plaza