Hilton Hotel Jakarta

Before the wave of bombings forced a change of name away from anything American, there was a Hilton Hotel in Jakarta. I stayed there many times over the years.  My family name usually caused amusement and confusion at check-in. 

Sometime in the last few years it changed its name to the Saladin. There is no Hilton Hotel in Jakarta these days. think the Hilton licensing expired as well.   I believe standards have slipped somewhat too.  They were always a bit doubtful - I remember Tim Herriman finding  giant rat on his bed one night. 

I usually keep door passes as mementoes.   Here are two door passes from different eras at the Hilton Jakarta:

Cameras

Most of the photographs here were taken with one of these three Canon cameras.  

I started out with a 10Mp  Canon SX120. It proved idea for travel. Rounded and compact, it would slip into a shirt or trouser pocket, it didn't attract attention,  and in the bright clear light of the Pacific it took great photos. It was a 10Mp camera, with a 5x zoom  (36-360mm) and image stabilization. It even has a pop up flash and can record basic video.  

I found I could walk through the roughest areas of Manila with this camera in my pocket, or even concealed in my hand, and I didn't get an unwanted attention. That attention could have led to it being stolen, or just to people posing rather than being photographed naturally. 

A truly great pocket camera, it is still my favorite.  Some of my best photographs were taken with this simple and cheap camera.

Later I bought a Canon SX1. This is a much larger superzoom,  and no way would it go into a shirt pocket.  It is more like a smaller SLR,  but the main reason I bought it is the lens system, which is fixed. I was working on remote dusty coral atolls, where fine abrasive coral sand got into everywhere. A camera with a removable lens would last long on the atoll.

The camera has a 10Mp CMOS sensor (which was a first for a pocket camera), image stabilisation,  and an incredible 28-560 zoom.  The camera can shoot in RAW (although I have never bothered) and can record HD video.  the results are excellent.  The lens was a better construction than the SX120, and of course it could zoom in to things much further away. This became my main camera simply because of the zoom capability. 

The other camera is the renowned Canon G11.  This beautiful camera is only 10Mp, the same as the others, and has the smallest lens range at 28-140mm.  However it is a replica of the rangefinder cameras of the 1960s, and is as well made.  The lens produces beautiful results, the rear screen can be articulated out for better viewing, the controls are via metal dials on the top, and despite its size it feels like a pro camera. It is heavy, metal, and well designed.  

Non of my cameras had full size or even APS sized sensors, and pro photographers would probably laugh at them. But they took good photographs under circumstances that would kill a big SLR, and if they were stolen or fell into the ocean I would not have been too upset. Sometimes photographers chase technology and forget that really it is all about the photograph. 

I am now looking at buying a canon  EOS M, and adding a 50mm F1.4 lens. I wont be back on the islands, so dust isn't such a problem, but I still don't want the weight, size and attention of a full size SLR. 

Sidebar, Manila

Me, outside one of my favorite bars in Manila,  the Sidebar at Ortigas. 

And inside the bar:

Nauru guns

On the flat top of Nauru, a Japanese 127mmm type 89 anti aircraft gun still points skywards.  Early in the morning of  June 29th 1944 this gun shot down the US Army B25 the "Coral Princess".

The type 89 gun was intended for ship use, but was made in large quantities from 1929-45. Its 5 inch shells had a range of 9500 meters, and it could fire up to 14 a minute. 

These are the tracking and firing controls for the gun. The round things would originally have had dials on them. 

And here is one of the two radial engines from the Coral Princess. 

Al Shandagan Watch Tower

Despite its mediaeval appearance,  the Al Shandagan Watch Tower was built in 1939 as a part of the desert facing defenses for Dubai. Even as late as then the area was rent with inter tribal warfare and petty raiding. 

Mista Piggy, Nauru

Fast food is not unique to Western nations.  It has now spread across the Pacific region, and it is doing great harm.  this is the popular  Mista Piggy Snack Bar on Nauru. 

Nauru has the highest ration of obesity in the world.  To quote from the Independent Newspaper: "The spread of Western fast food was blamed as the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru was named as the fattest in the world. Its average Body Mass Index is between 34 and 35, 70 per cent higher than in some countries in South-east Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

And yet every day there were big crowds at Mista Piggys.

Deira Dhow, Dubau

Against a backdrop of Dubai high rise buildings, wooden dhows still ply their trade across the Gulf. 

The dhows were originally copies of Chinese Junks, and have been around for hundreds of years.  They are still built the traditional way, but engines have replaced the sails.

In the photograph they are tied up and are loading cargo almost in the middle of the city, in the Deira area.