© 2010 Wazari Wazir | New Delhi | Pahar Ganj  | Main Bazaar

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | New Delhi | Pahar Ganj | Vivek Hotel | We Stay In This Hotel

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | New Delhi | Pahar Ganj | In front of Vivek Hotel

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | New Delhi | Pahar Ganj | Main Bazaar | Road Leading To Our Hotel ( Vivek )

Saya teruskan lagi kisah catatan perjalanan saya ke India, kali ini saya ingin memendekkan sedikit cerita, kalau panjang sangat menulis, tahun depan pun rasanya tak habis. Untuk pengetahuan semua kami jarang mengadakan sesi TT, ataupun berbincang tentang perjalanan kami secara bersua muka, cuma saya Fuad dan Azmi sahaja yang selalu berjumpa kerana kami bekerja di bawah satu bumbung, manakala Azman berada di Kota Kinabau Sabah dan Waja pula bekerja di tempat lain, saya pulak jenis yang agak malas untuk keluar rumah, jadi kebanyakan sesi perbincangan kami hanyalah melaui online, Facebook terutamanya.

Waja seringkali juga menelifon saya, bertanya bila nak jumpa, bila nak TT, saya kata nanti-nantilah, memang saya jenis malas nak keluar sebenarnya dan ada satu ketika Waja rasa macam kita orang tak jadi  nak pergi, tiket dah beli tapi tiada sebarang sesi perbincangan, tetapi sebenarnya  saya sibuk  membuat “kerja rumah”, booking hotel melalui online, merancang laluan perjalanan dan sebagainya.

Saya book VIVEK HOTEL secara online, mereka tidak mengenakan sebarang bayaran untuk booking, jadi berdasarkan panduan dari buku Lonely Planet dan setelah melihat laman Web Vivek Hotel maka kami bersetuju untuk menginap di Hotel tersebut, harganya pun boleh tahan, hanya dalam Rs600 hingga Rs800, kurang RM100 kalau dalam Ringgit Malaysia, kami menempah dua bilik dan kos dua bilik tu dicampurkan dan dibahagi lima orang. Tidaklah membebankan sangat.

Masa kami tempah Vivek hotel tu hanya gambaran dalaman sahaja yang kami nampak, luarannya tak nampak, kalau kami tahu, luarannya seperti yang saya rakamkan di atas, ada kemungkinan kami memilih hotel lain kerana nampak macam kurang selesa sahaja keadaanya, tetapi kerana terpesona dengan gambar di laman web Vivek maka kami book hotel tersebut dan kami minta pihak hotel menyediakan perkidmatan “Pick Up” untuk mengambil kami di Airport nanti.

Flight kami dari Malaysia adalah dengan menggunakan pesawat MAS, Malaysia Airlines System, kerana pada masa kami book tiket ke New Delhi, pihak Air Asia belum lagi memperkenalkan laluan secara langsung ke New Delhi. Hanya pada bulan Jun tahun ini, barulah Air Asia menyediakan perkhidmatan penerbangan secara terus ke New Delhi dari LCCT. Pesawat berlepas pada jam 6:50 P.M waktu tempatan di Kuala Lumpur dan mengambil masa selama lima jam untuk sampai ke New Delhi.

Nantikan sambungannya…

English Version is HERE

Get The Secret HERE

© 2007 Wazari Wazir  | Black and White Photography

Please don’t be surprise, you are still at my blog, wazari wazir blog, I know it may come to most of you as a surprise when you see this kind of a picture, a pebbles, usually I don’t post this kind of a picture, to those of you who are familiar with my style, knows that I like to shoot portrait and this still life shot is not something that you would expect in my blog, the reason is, I want to share with you some of the secret recipe of great black and white photographs. I took the  picture above at Batu 17, Dusun Tua, Hulu Langat Selangor.

We must understand that black and white will not work for all kind of a picture, I mean, there is only certain kind of a picture that will look great in black and white, yes, you can turn all your colors pictures into black and white but only few of them will truly look remarkable. So, what make a picture look great in black and white?

• CONTRAST :  Look for something that have great contrast, something that can easily be differentiate from one and another, a different color will look better, this pebbles may look the same in colors but the truth is, they have a different tone, that’s why when I turn it into black and white, we can see the difference. There is a different tones from each of the pebbles. Some are lighter than the others. For an example, if you try to photograph someone with dark hair, don’t put your subject against a dark background, put them against lighter background, so you can see the hair clearly separated from the background, if you put the person with black hair against a dark background, when you edit the picture and try to darken the picture a bit, the person hair will blend with the background and the picture will look odd, you might think that the person is “bald” because you can’t see their hair because it was blend with the background. To adjust this situation, give thet person a hat or something brighter to cover their head or simply find a brighter background.
• SHAPES & PATTERNS : Sometimes your subject lack contrast or colors, so look for something that have shapes and patterns, just like the pebbles above, they have different shape and create  a natural pattern, I did not arrange those stones or pebbles, it is like that when I found it. I just pick the best pattern that I can find and just take a picture of it. Modern building or historical building usually have great shape and pattern and this kind of subject usually will look great in black and white, a plain solid building will look quite boring in black and white but a building with lots of shape and patterns will work wonders,  something like Big Ben in London, Eiffel Tower in Paris or Aya Sofya in Istanbul will look great in black and white. That particular architecture have great details of shapes and patterns that really will stand out in black and white.
• TEXTURE : Just like shapes and patterns, texture also play an important role or another key ingredients that will help certain subject look great in black and white. Have you ever wonder why photographers like to do black and white of an old person with thousand  wrinkles on their face? That’s because those wrinkles or textures on their face will look great in black and white, black and white will enhance those wrinkles, there is nothing wrong to do a black and white portrait of a young lady  with silky smooth face but the impact is not as strong as a person who have a thousand wrinkles on their face. The trick to do a black and white portrait of a young lady with a silky smooth face is in their clothes. Make sure the person wearing a clothing that have lots of texture or patterns, a light colored but worn out blue jeans with a Checkered Red Shirt will look great, simply because that Checkered Shirt have great patterns and textures that will look great in black and white.
• LIGHTING : Another very important thing is to pay close attention to the lighting, side lighting always look great to reveal a texture and pattern of any subject, side lighting will create nice shadows that will separate each of the texture or pattern nicely. Just like the pebbles picture above, look how shadows separated each pebbles nicely, and the shadows also create a dark pattern around the pebbles. Early morning and late afternoon light always look great to enhance the texture and patterns. The shadows does help to add a little bit of depth to a subject, without shadows, almost any subject will look flat, in certain situation you don’t want any shadows but in black and white, the shadows does help a lot to bring out the subject.

If   you have all the recipe or key ingredients for black and white image, the editing will be easy, just convert your picture into black and white, there are many ways to do it, just pick the one you are familiar with it and just play with “Level” in Photoshop to make it darker a bit and apply some sharpness into it and you are done. It is easy once you know the key ingredients or the secret recipe of what makes great black and white picture. You can turn any picture into black and white but not all of them will look great, now that you know the secret, help yourself and spent less time in Photoshop.

Find out My  Black and White Photoshop Workflow HERE

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Child Photography | A Time To Play

” I Think There is a Little Child in All of Us and We All Too Often  Forget to Let The Child Out To Play .”

( Donna A. Favors )

Photograph By Mohd Rizal Apau | Photograph Taken at Qarma Studio

Terima kasih kepada saudara Ishak Hamzah serta rakan-rakan Qarma Studio kerana sudi menjemput saya menghadiri Photo Shoot Hari Raya di Qarma Studio. Saya sebenarnya agak malas nak keluar tetapi mengenangkan Hari Raya bakal tiba tak lama lagi maka saya pun joinlah rakan-rakan untuk bergambar. Ramai jugak member-member yang dah agak lama tak jumpa berada di sana.

Besar jugak Qarma Studio nie, Commercial Shot lepasla, kalau nak shoot, kereta, lori dan kapal terbang memanglah tak lepas tetapi secara kasar, studio ni cukup luas. Kepada rakan-rakan semua yang berkongsi sama minat dalam bidang fotografi, saya ucapkan Selamat Menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri, sekiranya terdapat sebarang kesalahan sepanjang kita bersahabat, harap di maafkan, sebagai manusia biasa memang kita tak  lepas dari melakukan kesalahan. Akhir kata Majulah Fotografi Untuk Negara Malaysia Ku Yang TerCinta…

© 2008 Wazari Wazir | Malaysia Independence Day Parade | Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur

Today 31st August 2010, is Malaysia  53rd Independence Day. This is file picture taken in August 2008 at Merdeka Square Kuala Lumpur. This year the celebration was taken place at Putra Stadium Bukit Jalil Kuala Lumpur, it was indoor stadium, just like last year, this year the Independence Day fall in Ramadan, fasting month for all muslim worldwide.

To all Malaysian, I would like to wish Happy 53rd Malaysia Independence Day. As a Photographer or anyone who have interest in photography we can show our love for Malaysia through photography, by sharing what a beautiful country Malaysia is, how we can live in harmony in multiracial, Multilanguage and multi religion country. We can be our little ambassador for our own country through photography. Malaysia is Truly  Asia.

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Rajasthan | India Travel Photography

Syukur Alhamdulillah, Passport kami siap keesokan harinya, sebenarnya kami agak, berdebar-debar jugak, manalah tau kalau-kalau permohonan Visa kami tak diluluskan dan sebaik sahaja Passport di berada tangan kami dan melihat Visa India di tampal di muka surat di dalam Passport kami, maka secara automatik, kami semua mengukir senyuman, sukar untuk kami gambarkan perasaan kami ketika itu, berbulan-bulan punya perancangan akhirnya, kami semakin hampir untuk menjejakkan kaki ke India, negara yang cukup terkenal dikalangan Photographer di seluruh dunia terutama yang menggemari “Travel Photpgraphy” atau Fotografi Pengembaraan.

Sebelum memperolehi Visa kami tidak benyak membuat persediaan, kerana tidak mahi terlalu teruja atau “excited”, jadi setelah Visa berada di tangan, maka secara tidak langsung sebelah kaki kami telah pun berada di India, kerana Visa adalah ibarat tiket untuk masuk ke India, Passport sahaja tanpa Visa tidak cukup, tetapi bukan semua negara memerlukan Visa untuk masuk ke negara mereka, tetapi rakyat Malaysia memang perlu mendapatkan Visa India sekiranya ingin melawat ke negara berkenaan.

Urusan Visa telah selesai maka, perancangan kami seterusnya ialah untuk mencari beg yang sesuai, beg yang jenis “tarik” tu memanglah tak sesuai kerana perjalanan kami agak jauh dan seringkali bertukar hotel, maka yang terbaik adalah beg dari jenis “backpack”, beg yang biasa kita lihat pelancong asing sandang ke sana sini di Kuala Lumpur.

Banyak jugak tempat yang kami “survey”, setelah membanding-bandingkan harga antara satu shopping complex dan satu shopping complex yang lain maka kami mengambil keputusan untuk membeli backpack di Pertama Kompleks yang terletak bersebelahan dengan Sogo di Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Harganya agak murah, saya memilih beg jenama Deuter Futura Vario 40+10. Ada juga sahabat kami yang membeli Futura 40 sahaja.

Saya, Waja dan Fuad memilih untuk membeli Futura Vario 40+10 kerana mungkin kami akan memerlukan extra space, kalau-kalau ada barang cenderahati yang ingin kami beli di sana nanti. Harga yang kami dapat untuk Deuter Futura Vario 40+10 ialah RM400, mungkin ada di antara sahabat yang membaca blog ini boleh mendapatkannya pada harga yang lebih murah tetapi setelah tawar menawar, itulah harga yang kami dapat.

Backpack ini, nampak macam “besar” saiznya tetapi setelah diisi dengan pakaian, maka tidaklah banyak mana yang boleh diisi, lagipun kami tidak ada membawa banyak barang, kecuali baju-baju sahaja dan sedikit keperluan makanan ringan. Kami juga tidak membawa barang-barang dapur untuk memasak sebagaimana mereka yang “camping” di dalam hutan. Kami travel di dalam bandar, dan menginap di hotel jadi beg kami boleh dikatakan agak ringan kerana hanya diisi dengan pakaian sahaja. Sleeping bag pun kami tidak bawa memandangkan kami akan tidur di hotel, tambahan pula sleeping bag akan memakan ruang yang agak besar.

Di dalam kumpulan kami hanya Waja seorang sahaja yang membawa laptop yang bersaiz agak kecil, mudah dan ringan untuk di bawa ke mana-mana, tambahan pula, memang kami amat perlukan komputer untuk muat turun gambar-gambar dari memory kad kami. Setelah berbincang dengan rakan-rakan maka, kami bersetuju, hanya seorang sahaja yang membawa laptop, lagipun kami tak punya banyak masa untuk online atau melayari  internet kerana sentiasa bergerak. Saya hanya membawa external hard disk 500 GB untuk menyimpan gambar yang bakal di ambil di sana.

Untuk pengetahun semua, dua minggu sebelum kami ke India, saya telah membuat tempahan bilik hotel di sana, hotel yang kami pilih ialah VIVEK HOTEL yang terletak di Pahar Ganj New Delhi, kenapa kami pilih hotel ini? Salah satu sebab kerana harganya agak murah, sesuai dengan bajet kami dan urusan tempahan melaui online amat mudah, tak perlu buat pembayaran deposit, cukup sekadar maklumkan pada mereka tarikh dan waktu kami akan sampai di sana, serta jenis bilik yang diperlukan dan berapa malam kami akan tinggal di sana.

Kami juga memilih untuk “Pick Up Service”, setelah membaca buku panduan Lonely Planet, maka kami meminta pihak hotel menyediakan perkhidmatan “Pick Up” memandangkan pesawat kami akan tiba di New Delhi pada waktu malam. Kami tidak mahu membuang masa mencari teksi di sana serta tidak mahu membuang masa melayan karenah “ulat teksi” di sana yang menawarkan perkhidmatan mereka dan oleh kerana itu perkhidmatan “pick up” adalah pilihan yang tepat bagi kami terutamanya kepada mereka yang baru pertama kali ke sana.

Salah satu sebab kenapa kami pilih Vivek Hotel adalah kerana lokasinya yang tidak berapa jauh dari New Delhi Railway Station, bagi kami amat penting untuk memilih hotel yang berhampiran dengan stesen keretapi kerana perjalanan kami banyak menggunakan keretapi (mengikut perancangan). Jadi lokasi hotel ini amat sesuai, dan mengikut buku oanduan Lonely Planet yang kami baca, dari Vivek Hotel atau dari kawasan Pahar Ganj untuk ke Stesen Keretapi New Delhi adalah agak dekat, hanya boleh sampai dengan berjalan kaki sahaja tanpa memerlukan kami untuk menggunakan perkhidmatan teksi atau “Auto Rickshaw” atau lebih dikenali oleh orang kita sebagai “Tuk-Tuk”.

Sedikit sebanyak ini akan menjimatkan belanja kami. Buku Lonely Planet banyak memberi panduan sebenarnya, tentang jarak perjalanan dari satu lokasi ke satu lokasi serta langkah-langkah keselamatan yang perlu di ambil sewaku berada di sana. Seperti mana yang telah saya tuliskan sebelum ini, kami tidak membuat tempahan tiket keretapi dari awal, kami hanya akan membeli tiket keretapi di New Delhi.

Ianya satu risiko yang terpaksa kami ambil kerana tidak biasa membuat tempahan tiket keratapi India secara online. Sebenarnya kami takut “ditipu”, duit dah bayar, tiket tak dapat, so kami ambil risiko ini dan sekiranya kami gagal untuk mendapatkan tiket keretapi di New Delhi nanti, kami mungkin akan menggunakan laluan alternatif untuk ke destinasi yang ingin kami kunjungi.

Catatan Perjalanan I | Catatan Perjalanan II

Get The Secret HERE

© 2009 Wazari Wazir | Istanbul Turkey | Istiklal Caddesi

This is not my latest picture, but a photograph taken last year, November 2009 at Istiklal Caddesi. Located in the Beyoğlu district in the modern part of Istanbul, Istiklal Caddesi (Independence Street) is the most famous pedestrian street in Istanbul. This three kilometer long avenue stretches from Taksim Square to Tünel, the world’s second-oldest subway. This place is visited by nearly 3 million people in a single day over the course of weekends.

I’ve already share this very same picture in this blog before but in colors, back then I don’t have the time to play around with different kind of editing because I’ve a lot of pictures to shared, so I just play around with color tone instead. This is a historical place, rich with culture and surrounded with old looking but beautiful architecture along the street of Istiklal and I think by sharing it with you in black and white instead of colors we can have a little bit of nostalgia, minus the handphone off course.

I like this picture personally because, despite walking around busy area of Istiklal, this pretty young lady still have the time to smile while talking to the cellphone. When looking back at this picture, it’s looks like a scene in the romantic movie. Some people say Istanbul is the most beautiful and romantic city in the world. I’m not so sure about that because I’ve never been to some other romantic city in the world but from my point of view, Istanbul is beautiful. This is the area where East meets West. Part of Istanbul is rich with  Islamic culture while some other place is heavy with European culture or influence. That’s what make Istanbul is so unique on it’s own.

For those of you who like street photography, Istanbul is a must visit place, there is so much things going on here, and most importantly you can see people from all around the world walking here, enjoying themselves, especially around Istiklal Caddesi. I don’t have the luxury of time to explore this area fully because I have another assignment to be worried about, I just use my limited free time to visit this place. If I have the time for sure I will  spend the whole day exploring this area alone and maybe come back for another visit the very next day. There is “LIFE” on the street of Istiklal.

Another entry about Istanbul  can be found HERE

The Magic of Black and White eBook by  Andrew S.Gibson | Craft and Vision

Andrew S. Gibson’s, The Magic of Black and White series of eBook will help you take your Black & White photography to new levels and explore new ways of expressing yourself in this elegant medium! The Magic of Black & White – Part III, Nine Photos guides you through nine of his gorgeous black & white images with the goal of teaching more advanced techniques to give your images more subtlety and power.

In this eBook Andrew S.Gibson will take you through nine black and white images with the intention of explaining the more advanced Photoshop* techniques behind them. He will discuss toning, split toning, exposure blending, soft focus and the creation of diptyches and triptyches. But it’s not just about Photoshop technique. Photoshop is an essential part of the digital black and white photographer’s toolbox – but to be anything more than a technical exercise it needs to be aligned with creative vision.

Clearly taught in Photoshop, and 5 of the lessons in Photoshop Elements, Andrew walks through Toning, Split Toning, Exposure Blending, Textures, and the creation of Diptyches and Triptyches, all without losing sight of the idea that one’s work should be driven by vision. Andrew teaches his techniques with the goal of creating photographs that honour both the Artist’s need for expression and the Geek’s need for excellence of craft. And all that without getting mired down – the examples and the illustrations Andrew provides compliment his clear teaching style and make this book a pleasure to read.

Personally for me, editing black and white is an art in itself, a lot of people have ask me, how I do my Black and White editing, it is not  a simple process but I can say, a little bit time consuming. I did plan to make my own Black and White eBook but due to my tight schedule I can’t make it sooner than it was expected. You might want to check this eBook by Andrew S.Gibson and have a glimpse of how he did his processing or editing.

With just a little bit of a small investment, you can learn how great photographer Andrew S.Gibson do his editing. You can find out more about the eBook from CRAFT and VISION .

We may have a great set of a camera gear but without the  knowledge we are not going to be able to make full use of it to its full potential. Sometimes the extra knowledge about editing does help, to make us produce artwork the way that we intend it to be.

© 2009 Wazari Wazir | Portrait of My Son

Some people say, doing black and white is easy, I mean to convert from a color picture to black and white is a simple process as simple as A,B,C, it’s true, it’s very easy, just desaturate it or covert it into grey scale and you get black and white photograph, but to get a quality black and white photograph is not easy, at least for me, it was very easy for me to edit a color photograph than to edit a black and white picture.

A lot of people have ask me, how I do my black and white editing, I don’t use any plugs-in or action or any Photoshop preset, all done from scratch and all my pictures were taken in colors in the camera. In the beginning I used to use Grey Scale as a method to convert my color picture into black and white, sometimes I use a combination of “Duotone” in Photoshop, sometimes I just desaturate a color picture to get a black and white photograph, I’ve done and try it all. Some way are better than the other but after playing around with all kind of technique, I know that not all pictures will look great in black and white.

Some pictures are better in colors and just keep it that way while there are other kind of a pictures that look great in black and white especially in portrait, where we want to concentrate more on the expression than anything else, unless you want to show the beautiful colors of the clothes of the costume that a person wear, a beautiful colors of a traditional costume for an example, that kind of a picture, are better in colors than in black and white.

A photograph of my son above is simple, less colors and the background was quite dark because I take that picture in the garden and by using telephoto lens, I mange to blur the background with wide open aperture and keep the distraction to a minimum. The background is not black but but it was quite dark. My son HaiQal is wearing a yellow colored clothes and when I turn it into black and white, the yellow clothes produce a brighter color.

So, you might asking how do I convert my picture in black and white? Just like I’ve written  before I’ve tried all kind of technique and lately I like to use a “channel”, I mean a Red, Green or Blue Channel in the layer palette. I will click onto any of the channel and see which one look great, usually I will pick Green Channel as my starting point, sometimes I use Blue Channel, each picture is different. Selecting which channel to use is just a starting point, it is not the end result.

Usually my black and white will look plain or flat, then I will copy the Channel that I like and paste it onto the top layer. After that I will duplicate the layer, the channel that I’ve selected. Now we have three layers. Bottom layer is color photograph, in the middle is black and white and the top layer is the same as the middle one, it is a copy of  the middle layer. For those of you who have bought my Texture eBook will know how to copy “Channel”.

Usually I will blend the top layer with the middle layer with Multiply blending option, this blending option will make your picture look like under exposed, a dark area in the photograph will become darker, will become solid rich in black and white but the problem is sometimes it was too dark especially on the face, to adjust this problem, I will create a layer mask for the top layer and masking around the face, so my son face will not look too dark and leaving other part in the picture “underexpose” or darker than it was actually is.

The real secret is “Masking”, I use a lot of masking technique for all my black and white picture, there is no straight forward method to produce great black and white, jut like the old days where people use dodge and burn technique in the  darkroom. The different is we do our editing in the “Lightroom”, I’m not using a “Lightroom” software, just we do our editing in the computer where we can see the result immediately. For those of you who are not familiar with “Masking” technique , try and learn how to use Layer Mask, that’s the real secret of editing, not just for black and white but for almost anything in Photoshop.

But then again, not all photograph will look great in black and white, we must try to train our eyes to see a photograph in black and white  before we try to edit it in the Photoshop, otherwise we be will wasting our time doing black and white editing which will produce plain or flat looking black and white. If the picture is suitable or you get the right photographed, then the editing will be easy. Another thing is, I will not spent hours of my time doing Black and White editing when I know in the first place that a picture will not look good in black and white, I think if you have been doing editing for quite some times, you will know which one will work and which one will not work.

Sometimes experience will speed up the process. I learn my editing through trial and error and after trying few technique, I know which one is suitable for me, and what works for me may not work for you but it is good to know that there is more than one way of doing things, at least we have an option. I think the best technique is the  technique that will produce great result in the less amount of time minus the plugs-in off course.

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Jodhpur Railway Station  | Rajasthan | India | Travel Photography

© 2010 Wazari Wazir | Proses Mengisi Borang Visa India Bersebelahan Dengan India Visa Centre di Jalan Lebuh Pasar Besar

Saya minta maaf kerana terpaksa selang selikan kisah perjalanan saya ke India dengan entry-entry yang lain terutama gambar-gambar keluarga saya serta entry dalam Bahasa Inggeris, pasal memang dwibahasa blog saya ni cuma terdapat  permintaan dari rakan-rakan yang agak sukar untuk memahami isi kandungan dalam Bahasa Inggeris tetapi cukup berminat untuk mengetahui tentang tips-tips untuk ke India. Saya sambung sedikit lagi kisah kami sebelum kami ke India, antara persiapan awal.

Antara persediaan awal kami ialah mencari seberapa banyak maklumat yang ada di internet tentang Rajasthan, di mana lokasi sebenarnya, berapa jaraknya dari New Delhi ke Rajasthan dan berapa lamakah jumlah masa yang perlu di ambil untuk ke sesuatu lokasi. Memang terdapat banyak maklumat di internet yang terkini tetapi saya agak kurang selesa untuk menghabiskan masa terlalu lama di internet dan bukanlah satu tugas yang mudah untuk pergi dari satu website ke website yang lain, di pendekkan cerita saya terpaksa mencari buku untuk membuat sedikit “research” atau kerja rumah.

Saya memilih untuk membeli buku Lonely Planet bertajuk  RAJASTHAN, DELHI & AGRA yang berharga RM 95 di kedai buku MPH di Mid Valley Kuala Lumpur. Sedikit panduan dari saya kalau kita ingin ke sesuatu destinasi adalah lebih baik kita membeli buku yang berkaitan dengan tempat yang ingin kita pergi sahaja, jadi maklumatnya lebih detail atau terperinci. Maksud saya, sebagai contoh saya memilih Rajasthan, Delhi dan Agra sebagai destinasi saya jadi bukanlah satu tindakan yang bijak untuk membeli buku panduan perjalanan ke INDIA, yang mana buku tersebut akan menceritakan keseluruhan India secara agak umum tanpa butiran yang agak terperinci tentang tempat yang ingin saya jelajahi.

Kalau buku Lonely Planet INDIA sudah cukup detail menceritakan mengenai keseluruhan tempat-tempat menarik di INDIA, mengapa perlunya ada buku Lonely Planet bertajuk “Rajasthan, Delhi &  Agra” sudah tentu ada bezanya bukan? Sama juga kalau kita merancang untuk ke Istanbul Turkey, belilah buku bertajuk Istanbul dan bukan buku bertajuk Turkey, kecuali kita ingin melawat Turkey secara keseluruhan.

Selain dari itu ada juga saya tambah kenalan di Flickr atau “add contact” sesiapa sahaja yang berada di Rajasthan atau New Delhi tetapi mungkin nasib tidak menyebelahi saya, tidak seorang pun yang membalas “Flickr Mail” saya bila mana saya memberitahu “contact” saya, yang saya akan ke India. Sekurang-kurangnya saya telah mencuba mencari kenalan jurufoto di sana. Bukanlah saya mengharap sangat tetapi kalau dapat seorang kawan dari sana, alangkah bagusnya.

Untuk pengetahun semua, tiket perjalanan keretapi di India boleh dibeli secara online tetapi kena bayar “on the spot”, saudara boleh mengunjungi lawan web INDIAN RAILWAY untuk menempah tiket keretapi tetapi kami tidak menempah tiket secara online kerana kurang yakin, tambahan pula terpaksa mengeluarkan sejumlah wang yang agak besar untuk membuat tempahan, jadi kami mengambil risiko untuk membeli tiket di New Delhi nanti.

Mengikut website Indian Railway tersebut, tempahan tiket boleh dibuat seawal 90 hari sebelum waktu perjalanan, dan saya cadangkan kepada yang ingin ke India pada waktu puncak, waktu di mana ada festival di India untuk membuat tempahan melalui online kerana ianya bukanlah seuatu yang agak mudah untuk mendapatkan tiket keretapi di India, jangan pandang mudah cuma Alhamdulillah mungkin nasib kami agak baik kami dapt membuat tempahan last minit sewaktu berada di New Delhi. Kami pergi pada bulan Jun, bulan yang cukup panas di India, mungkin itu antara faktor mengapa kami masih boleh mendapatkan tiket di New Delhi.

Sebelum terlupa sebagai rakyat Malaysia, kita perlu mendapatkan Visa untuk ke India, dan bayaran untuk Indian Tourist Visa ialah RM168.00 termasuk sekali bayaran perkhidmatan. Bagi yang tinggal di Kuala Lumpur boleh mendapatkan Visa India di pejabat yang di lantik oleh Kedutaan India di Malaysia di sebelah belakang atau “tepi” bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, bersebelahan dengan kedai 7 Eleven. Visa siap dalam masa 2 hari, hari ni hantar, insyaAllah esok harinya siap. Kepada yang tinggal berjauhan dengan Kuala Lumpur, sebagai contoh sahabat saya Azman Jumat yang berada di Sabah, dia tidak perlu ke Kuala Lumpur untuk membuat permohonan secara individu tetapi Passportnya di berikan kepada saya sewaktu saya bertugas di Kota Kinabalu dan urusan  Visanya dibuat oleh kami di Kuala Lumpur.

Maksud saya, permohonan Visa boleh diwakilkan, tak perlu datang secara individu tetapi borang permohonan kena lengkap beserta dengan salinan tiket penerbangan sekali. Untuk maklumat yang lebih lanjut sahabat semua boleh berkunjung ke INDIA VISA CENTRES MALAYSIA yang terletak di Jalan Lebuh Pasar Besar Kuala Lumpur. Jangan pula saudara pergi ke Kedutaan India di Malaysia kerana pihak Kedutaan India tidak lagi menguruskan pemberian Visa kerana telah di serahkan pada wakilnya, India Visa Centre. Prosesnya agak mudah, serahkan Passport serta borang yang telah lengkap di isi dan tanpa soal jawab atau sesi temuduga, tinggalkan Passport anda di Inda Visa Center tersebut dan InsyaAllah Passport boleh di ambil keesokan harinya. Visa India sah sehingga 3 bulan dari tarikh ianya dikeluarkan atau di “tampal” di Pasport kita.

InsyaAllah saya akan sambung lagi dilain kesempatan. Life is a Journey…

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