There won’t be a Tell Me..Thursday today, as I want to use the time to remind you that I will be leaving for Malaysia the evening of February 18 (TOMORROW!) and will be there through March 20.

During that time:
~ Emails: I will have access to emails, but may take 24-36 hours to respond, depending on when you send it.
~ Phone: You can also call the main number (312-436-2221) to leave a message, I will respond within 24-36 hours. We can also schedule a phone call so we can chat live – I will call you, so you won’t be charged!
~ Skype: Yes please! We’ll have to schedule this ahead of time, of course, but if you find me online, feel free to drop me a message. My Skype username: yuetwen

{Twitter} http://www.twitter.com/wenphotos
{Facebook} http://www.facebook.com/wenphotos
{Email} wen@wenphotos.com

Use the contact form below (“Get In Touch”) to send me a quick message – I will be checking that daily.

I can honestly say that Venice is a city unlike any other I’ve ever seen. The entire city is submerged in water. There are no cars in the city. From the moment we arrived at the train station, we were already surrounded by water. The only way out of the station, was via water taxi, which functions like buses in a regular city. We hopped on, and got off at a stop closest to where we were staying, and walked the rest of the way, because there is no other mode of transportation, once you’re in Venice! It really is quite amazing! Thanks to the GPS on my phone, we were able to make our way around the winding alleys that define Venice. We never saw another vehicle until AFTER we left Italy and arrived back in Chicago! I loved the “chill factor” about Venice – unhurried, relaxed, old, and just plain, comforting. I loved it. If I did nothing but sit by the water and watch the sun set everyday, I’d be a very happy girl!

Taxi stand!

No pigeons were hurt in the process of taking this photograph…although the both of us might have gotten hurt by the pigeons, which seem to enjoy landing on people’s heads!

Oh yeah..If you follow me or my blog, you’ll know that I often reference my own wedding when it comes to why I photograph weddings today. So I thought, it’s time to perhaps show you pictures from my wedding – photos that really, changed my perspective about life – and about the importance of family and friends, near and far, no matter how infrequently I see them. At the end of the day, I discovered that the wedding is less about Paul and I, and more about seeing and spending time with your closest friends and family.

I got married in December 2007. That’s quite some time ago. But till this day, I still get butterflies when I see the slideshows, especially at the start, seeing my dad doing prayers at dawn in my old home the morning of the wedding. *sniff* I miss my dad.

This is the first of 6 slideshows that I got from my photographer for my 2-day wedding celebration. I’ll show you the first for now. We’ll leave the rest for another post.

As always, I have to give the credit to my wedding vendors, especially Nupts and Such for planning the wedding in Malaysia, while I’m here in the US!
Wedding Planner: Eileen Lui at Nupts & Such (www.nuptsandsuch.com)
Venue + Catering: Outdoor Garden at Parkroyal Penang (http://www.parkroyalhotels.com/hotels/malaysia/penang/parkroyal/index.html)
Photography: The Photoz (http://www.thephotoz.com)
Makeup + Hair: Cindy Chang at Beauty Haven (http://www.debeautyhaven.com)
Flowers + Decor: Confetti

Florence is a pretty small town. Not much to venture, unless you go to the countryside, outside of Florence city center. The day we spent in downtown Florence was grey, stormy and rather cold. The good news about it though, is that I got to take some very dramatic landscapes of Florence!

We start with some images of the Italian countryside! These were all taken on our way from Rome to Florence. The view was GORGEOUS! Quite a departure from the US midwest view of cornfields, but I’m sure the Italians are so used to it, they probably find it boring!

There were lovebirds everywhere in Florence! Truly a honeymoon city. But I admit – it was a very romantic place!

Next morning – our first stop was Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Wet, rainy day. See all the umbrellas!

Then we climbed 414 steps up the up the Campanile, bell tower, that is part of the Cathedral. All the way to the top, and you’ll find this beautiful view of the city!

We spent the rest of the evening walking around the city, enjoying the dramatic stormy weather. It never really rained all day, just lots of storm clouds, which made it really cold. At the end of the day, right before sunset, the sun peeked out from under the storm clouds. It changed the whole landscape and made Florence glow in golden orange!

[[Show as slideshow]]

Oddly enough, prior to arriving, friends have told me that the floating village was nothing to shout about, and that it wasn’t worth the trip there. I really beg to differ. I think it really has to do with your tour guide. Firstly, always get a private tour. This way, you can make as many or as few stops as you like, and ask anything anytime. Secondly, rather than having to follow a set schedule of a group tour, we were able to take our own sweet time at every spot, even hanging out doing nothing on the boat after lunch, enjoying the riverview from a hammock.

We stopped by the home of a local family who made fish sauce. It all starts in this big well filled with tiny little fishes, which gets fermented, boiled in high heat and strained. (I’ll talk about how the fish sauce is made in next week’s post)

We took one of these boats to the floating village.

On our way there. We had the whole boat to ourselves. Our guide invited us to go sit by the edge to enjoy the view. My legs were trembling. I can’t swim, you see!

Firewood is still used for everyday life.

Another leg trembling moment. We went to visit the snake lady, who makes a living selling dried snake meat. She chops off the heads and tails, then slays them, before drying them on her roof, to be sold for consumption. The snakes are all caught in the area.

Snakes drying on her roof. We bought one to go!

This is typical in this part of the world. It’s very sad.

Floating basketball court!

Need clean plates? Just wash them in the river!

Kids in school uniform, probably on their way home from school

Snakes seem to be the thing here. We got to the restaurant, and there’s a little girl with a giant snake around her neck – inviting us to hold her “pet”

The restaurant deep fried our snake meat for us. It tasted like beef jerky.

The view overlooking our restaurant. All these are individual homes and businesses.

Kids having fun in their floating village

Fruit lady selling coconuts and bananas

Paul enjoying the view from a hammock on the boat after our lunch.

Our wonderful tour guide!! If you go to Cambodia and need a local tour guide for Tonle Sap, you must check out Tara River Boat

First, some of you may know that I was born and grew up in Malaysia. Being the only one in my family to live here in the US is difficult sometimes, because I miss out on family connections. I only see my mom, dad, brothers and all my aunts and uncles once a year. In the last year, I missed my brother’s wedding, and am missing Chinese New Year celebrations right now. So as you can imagine, I’m feeling a little homesick. So as of right this very moment, I am announcing that I will be going to Malaysia in December this year – December 2010. sshhh..my husband doesn’t know about this yet.. =p

Second, while I’m back there, I’d love to be be able to fit in one or two wedding photography assignments. Why? Because I LOVE Asian weddings. Having grown up in Malaysian, and knowing the culture, I know how much FUN a wedding in a cultural wedding can be. As someone with Chinese descendant, I value and appreciate the strong emphasis on family, culture, religion and our ancestors. I value all the little rituals, practices, prayers and ceremonies and it would be a privilege for me to have the opportunity to capture these moments during my short visit to Asia this December.

SO, if anyone reading this is planning a wedding or has a friend who’s having their wedding anywhere in Malaysia or South East Asia, and are looking for a wedding photographer, please give me a call! I would love to shoot your wedding! I want to shoot it so much, that I’m willing to offer my photography services at a deep discount. Contact me for more info!!

*hugs*
Wen

Contact me (wen@wenphotos.com / 312.436.2221) | View My Portfolio

So off we go, back to Lake Geneva this weekend. It will be nice to reconnect with my best friend again. Being married has its disadvantages – you forget to appreciate each other because you’re now permanently part of each others lives. And like everything else, the grass looks less green when its in your backyard!

And here’s a little something for cupid day – Paul and I had a dumb argument, and didn’t talk for 2 days. He came home with this on the 3rd day and apologized. Not that he was in the wrong in the first place. That’s it — he IS the bigger person in this relationship! So lesson to self this week – life is too short to sweat the small stuff and appreciate what you have, and learn to apologize. *hugs*

Contact me (wen@wenphotos.com / 312.436.2221) | View My Portfolio

So it gives me a whole lot of time to do things I HAVE to do, but don’t WANT to do – taxes, accounting, paperwork, boohoo. I was buried in WI and IL taxes paperwork..and I can’t get out! Anyway, thought I’d distract myself by posting some recent images of our love in life – our pets and babies (no, not my babies!). Here’s what’s been happening:

Kiwi is sick. She has what looks and sounds like human cold – her meows have a lower pitch – nasal meows..that makes sense? She’s sneezing and coughing, and has HEAVY snot. Its really strange seeing this happen to a cat! Her sneezes are soo soo cute *pppppzzzht!pphhhhszzzzsst!* and since she doesn’t have hands to hold a kleenex to wipe off her snot, she sometimes end up with snot all over her face. Like this one:

Occasionally, friends will ask me to take photos of their pets, or kids, and I LOVE requests like these. Just no pressure, fun, casual, and easy excuse for me to pull out my camera for some practice. Here is Ranger. He’s about twice my weight, and stands taller than me when on his hind legs. He’s VERY strong, VERY active, and can be intimidating (his nose is the size of my fist!) but he’s just one big baby =)

Oh, since this is about love and life, here’s Paul, my <3 =) Taken while we were having lunch on a boat in Cambodia last year. =)

Now back to QuickBooks… =(

Contact me (wen@wenphotos.com / 312.436.2221) | View My Portfolio

Post processing newborn photos are SUPER fulfilling. Nothing is better than staring are their cute faces all day! I caught myself unconsciously smiling at the screen several times while editing =) It is extremely satisfying to be able to take these already beautiful baby photos and turn them into gorgeous, perfect, work of art! Enjoy!

Wen – Contact me (wen@wenphotos.com / 312.436.2221)

I took a number of group photos that day, and if you’re looking for your specific photo, you can find it in the full gallery (caution, there are 250 images in the gallery!): http://clients.wenphotos.com/gallery/9242298_49bdd

Wen – Contact me (wen@wenphotos.com / 312.436.2221)

For those of you interested in visiting Angkor Wat, keep in mind that you should buy your ticket the day before you intend to visit. This is because, starting 5pm the day before, you can enter the area using tomorrow’s ticket to view the sunset, at no charge. This is great especially for us because we wanted to only spend a day at Angkor. So we got in the evening before to see the sunset, then continued the next morning at 5am to view the sunrise and spent the rest of the day visiting other temples in the area. We were done with Angkor by about 2pm that day. Doing a full day (sunrise to sunset on the same day) is not advisable, because it too tiring, and during the summer months, its best to skip the blazing sun during mid-late afternoon and retreat to your hotel instead.

Next morning, about 5:40am at Angkor Wat…..

Today, the building is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The building is left largely as-is and visitors are allowed to freely walk around in the building (though I’ve been told that over the years, its been “cleaned up” – supposedly in the early years of the museum, there were still blood stains and extremely gruesome photographs were displayed).

This was one the most disturbing places I’ve ever visited. The Khmer Rouge were brutal and inhumane. Over the 5 years of Pol Pot’s genocidal rule in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge basically wiped out the population of Cambodia. The “intellectuals” were primary targets — academics, teachers, students, doctors, engineers — leaving Cambodia with mostly women and children. The country came to a stand still and fell behind in terms of development relative to its neighboring countries. Cambodia is still trying to rebuild today; it is only in the last 5 years that tourists were allowed into the country. Today, Cambodia relies heavily on tourists and foreign NGO’s for development, education and financial help.

www.tuolsleng.com
Tuol Sleng on Wikipedia

Our ang pows will be filled with RM10 bills, and each person will receive 2 ang pows (signifying one from me, and another from Paul. However, this differs by family custom….some people give only 1 ang pow)

Paul being silly….he’ll be very mad when he finds out that I am posting these photos!!!

Over the years, its been expected to fill the red packets with brand-new bills because “it just looks better that way”. So every year right before Chinese New Year, the government will print new notes just for this reason. These RM10 bills just came from the back a couple hours ago. Look at all the brand spanking new cash!!

My only complaint is the long, long journey home. This year, our itinerary was Chicago-Shanghai-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur. The Chicago-Shanghai flight was 15 hours, Shanghai-Singapore was 5.5 and Singapore-KL was only 40 minutes. However, we had a long 8 hour layover in Shanghai. So all in, it took us over 24 hours to get to Malaysia. I left Chicago at 11am on the 9th, and arrived at 8am on the 11th. Confused? Yeah..me too..

This was taken from the plane, on our way from Chicago to our first stopover, which was Shanghai. We were chasing the sun, it seems, because it looked like sunset for hours!