Category: Travel

Taken on vacation trips

Golden Lollipop

Golden Lollipop
Even before we arrived at Mount Bromo, we were already treated to a visual feast of wonderful lighting and colours. As we ascended from Probolingo to Cemoro Lawang (towards our accomodation at the Lava View Lodge), we were constantly distracted by beautiful scenery and photo-opportunities as the “golden hours” approached. We stopped our transport by the roadside numerous times to take pictures. This particular one was taken standing in the crop field of one of the farms in the area. I had a hard time thinking of a caption for this one, so unless you have a better suggestion, Golden Lollipop it will be for now 😛

An Arduous Ascent

An Arduous Ascent
My father has visited Mount Bromo in East Java, Indonesia for at least 6 times in the past 26 years. Each visit has reaped lots of good photography. I finally got the opportunity to visit the place with mum and dad over the last few days. Many kudos to my dad’s Indonesian friends for organising the trip and making it “photographically-rewarding”. I snapped over 500 pictures on my 20D and 300D just in 2 days!(yes — I actually brought two camera bodies with me. Changing lenses in the dusty environment was too much of a risk to take :P). A short preliminary look-through the RAW files when I got home last night yieded at least 24 keepers with lots more to come :D. I hope to present you with a long visual feast in the upcoming days 🙂

A Window Seat At Duntulm Castle

A Window Seat At Duntulm Castle
This is the view from one of the windows of Duntulm Castle, Trotternish, Isle Of Skye, Scotland. Duntulm apparently means the fort on the green grassy headland. Abandoned around 1730 by the MacDonalds, it now lies in ruins close to the sea. I did not know of the history of the castle proper until I did a Google search a few days ago; the Travels In Scotland website has this to say about the castle:

Duntulm has some pretty horrific history. Hugh MacDonald was imprisoned in the castle dungeon, and purposely starved to death after he tried to seize the lands of his family. He was given only salted beef and no water and died stark raving mad — one horrid story says he tried to eat his own hands before the end.

The castle is rumored to be severely haunted. The ghost of Donald Gorm can be seen brawling with other ghostly miscreants in the courtyard, and a screaming, raving Hugh Macdonald also haunts the castle dungeon. Occasionally, the weeping of Margaret (who was shunned by her husband after she lost an eye in an accident) can be heard. The hysterical screams of a nursemaid who ‘accidentally’ dropped a baby out a window and onto the rocks below can also be heard sometimes.

Supposedly, the Macdonalds abandoned the castle because of the ghosts.