Entrance to the concert area

Wristband that was stuck very tightly around my wrist

Can’t really see the crowd but it was packed!

Throughout the concert, the hosts and artists were actively spreading messages to create more awareness for HIV/ AIDS and the facts about it. Most importantly, having just one love.

I’ve to admit, I also only recently started to learn more about AIDS with influence from the chinese drama on TV starring Chan Hanwei and Zoe Tay. And after listening so much and watching the many awareness videos throughout the concert, not only am I more aware about AIDS, I had quite a conversation with my other half while driving home after the concert. The question we had, “Should AIDS have a cure?” Before I share my thoughts, let me know just share more about the wonderful concert and some suggestions I hope the organisers will consider for future concerts.

There was a great line-up of artists for the night with a well mixed performances for a diversified audience. My favorites for the night were The Strikeforce, Hossan Leong, Dim Sum Dollies and Stefanie Sun.

Like all concerts like these, they’ll always save the best for last. And when she stepped on stage, fans who went to chop seats as early as 1.30pm went crazy and many charged up to the stage front for closer look of their idol and cameras were flashing non-stop at Stefanie Sun.

I cheated, this I took off the projection screen at the side

With such a successful first World Aids Day Concert, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bigger and even better one next year. If they have more and bigger sponsors next year, I really hope this concert can open free for all and hold it at the Padang! It’s a great way to spread awareness and educate the young ones who rarely watch TV nor read the papers. Through such parties and concert, where they’ll sure go if the artists are right and event is free, more people will get to learn about AIDS isn’t it? Perhaps this might just happen. (I hope)

So now… my thoughts on the title…

Should AIDS have a cure?

I’m looking at this from a personal point of view… so let’s say we finally (after more more than 27 years) find a cure for AIDS,

• wouldn’t AIDS become just another illness, like a flu, where you’ll get well after some pills or jabs?
• would we still need the one love movement?
• would man and woman be as faithful as they are now?
• would there be more family problems?
• would there still be needs for condoms?
• wouldn’t there be raise of social issues?

What do you think? Should there be a cure?

To me, I don’t.

That’s the t-shirt I wore to the concert and I’ll be wearing it again for sure!

For more information and details about AIDS and Love Amplified, please visit their website. Love Amplified was organised by Health Promotion Board.

Click here to view photos taken with Canon Ixus 950IS

More official photos for Love Amplified can be found on flickr too!

one fine friday night, a group of plurkers from singapore gathered at

i started flashing at everyone and kris gave me that WTH stare

while ben was waiting for his turn, i flashed and spinned at him

and i got the best flashed and span shot of the night

i love doing the flash and spin as the result of the photo
surprises me everytime
it may turn out sexy or ugly
but still i enjoyed it
it was fun!

i even tried flashing myself

ridz got curious and wanted to try it himself

so dk and I tried to set the right setting on his camera

while we continued our experimental flash and spin
kris was playing five-ten with a pretty lady with his gf watching

he tried to get the pretty lady to dry bottom-up a huge glass of hoegaarden

than the rest of the group started learning five-ten too

with uncle willy as the instructor

david with the big gun arrived later that night

my flash cannot compare to his lah!
(watch out for amazing photos from willy on facebook)

here’s the group shot by the big gun

(photo by david)
with many others who had already left

willy did something which he’d not done for awhile

he made us all looked down at the big gun

(photo by willy)

i got tired of all the flashing, i left

saying goodbye to everyone there

it was a great night with great people and great fun!

looking forward to the next time we meet again soon

thanks daphne, robert and ingrid for organizing this outing

more of my flash shots will be uploaded to facebook shortly are up in facebook

Click here to view photos taken with Canon Ixus 950IS

Updated
For those of you who would like to try flashing it too, here’s how you can do it (depending on your camera)…

• Turn off any AF-assist light (the red/green light that is flashed whenever you try to take a photo in the dark). You can do so usually in the camera setting
• Set your camera to manual (M) mode
• Set your ISO to the lowest (usually ISO80)
• Turn on your flash (if you have SLOW flash setting use that one)
• Take photo of your subject with flash and spin your camera as you please immediately after pressing and releasing the shutter button. DO NOT SPIN TOO MUCH

This should give you the effect above. Best used at night. For day shots, it’ll be probably not possible with an point and shoot. I tried spinning my camera (DSLR) before too.

HAVE FUN flashing and spinning!

This was the morning view from our room

The usual check-out time at Yasin Bungalow is 12pm. But as our ferry was at 4pm, and had to leave only around 3pm, we requested for an extension so that we could check out later. Thanks to our luck, there weren’t any reservation for that day, hence we were given free extension of the room till we were ready to leave.

Some shots before we settled down for our breakfast…

View of the water bungalows (without the water)

The relax beach chairs

This is the common area with TV
Behind it is the kitchen

These shots were taken at the same time in the morning…

with help from my sunglasses

Used it as a filter in front of my lens for the above shots

Breakfast was Egg and Cheese Sandwich and Fish & Chips, with tea and coffee…

After our breakfast, we took a stroll along the beach to snap some shots of the seaview bungalow that is much bigger with 2 to 4 rooms (I think).

Walkway to the bungalow

This is one of the 4 bigger bungalows at Yasin
Looks nice isn’t it?

And this is the other one
Great for bigger families and big group of friends

Before we head back to the room to pack up and wait for time to pass, we spotted these on the beach… do you know who left them behind?

Tiny footprints by our little friend

More views of the water bungalows with nice backdrop by the nature…

We stayed in our bungalow for the rest of the day as I was badly bitten by the thirsty mosquitoes there. Staying in door was the best solution. Played some games on our PSP and couldn’t resist the temptation of taking a last afternoon nap while we still can. And when we woke up, this beautiful view made us want to stay there for another day!

Looking out the balcony door

Bright sun, nice sea breeze and beautiful scenery!

Soon it was time to check-out and take our lunch before we head to the jetty. Really couldn’t bring ourselves to leave such peaceful and relaxing place. But reality is waiting for us back here. How I wish we could just stay there and rest our minds for a few more days.

So what’s for lunch?

Chicken Satay

Sweet and Sour Fish

Fried Vermicelli

Saying goodbye to the friendly staff at Yasin Bungalow, we departed in the chartered car to the jetty. The journey there seemed longer and our mind was filled with the scenery and experience back at the bungalow. Thanks to the nice sky and beautiful clouds at the jetty, my mind managed to give the trip a beautiful ending.

Isn’t the clouds just look amazing?

This marked the end of our short getaway at Yasin Bungalow, Bintan. It was truly a different experience as compared to the other one we had at Mayang Sari Resort. At Yasin, everything is back to the basic. With no air-con (but was windy most of the time), no water heater (YES! I showered in COLD water for 3 days!) and too many mosquitoes!

Besides the beautiful photos (taken with my little Canon IXUS 950) and wonderful memories of the time we had at Bintan, I got on me many ugly marks given by the vicious mosquitoes! And these are some of them many on my body!

Highlighted in white circles…

on my hands

and look at the many many more on my feet!

So if you’re planning to make a trip there, I believe some of you who’d been following my posts will, please make sure you’re packed with the MUST HAVES…

Mosquito Repellent

Your favorite medicated oil

Thanks for following me on my trip to Bintan. Hope you like the photos I took. And do look out for the final closing post of my trip where I’ll post up video footage and also revealing the cute little friend we met at Yasin Bungalow!