Wee Keng_Hor

After a draught of more than a year, I was traveling again! Wonderful even though I was traveling with an 11 month old baby, stroller, cans of milkpowder and packets of diapers. Gone were my bulky and heavy SLR cameras, and even my light and compact Slik tripod decided to part with me after 2 days. I carried an autofocus Contax G1 rangefinder with 4 lenses and a compact Leica Minilux Zoom to shoot prints and act as a backup. All fitted perfectly into a Lowepro Photorunner bag weighing less than 2kg. This bag was so small that it could easily be stowed away into my main backpack so that my hands were free for the baby, stroller or daypack. And for the first time in my life, I donned on a photo vest, not so much for photo gears and gudgets but to pocket my wallet, important documents, milk bottles and pacifier.

Suzhou and Hanzhou are just within 2 hours journey from Shanghai. Not exactly the kind of exotic places that I would like to go but with sufficient attractions to ease my travel and photo itch. Furthermore, the time zone is similar to Singapore which means less adjustmnet for Yan Loong. And with the recent 911 incident, China is a relatively safe place to go.

Traveling with a baby was not cheap. We paid more for a direct and comfortable flight to Shanghai. And innstead of the usual budget accomodation, we stayed in hotels ranging from 3 to 5 stars just for his comfort. If there was any thing he ever enjoyed during the trip, that would probably be bathing in the hotel bathtub.

Yan Loong attracted more attention than I ever did with my huge white lenses. Passerbys stopped to touch him, waitresses clamoured to carry him, fellow travellers took his photo. Remarks of how a nice baby Yan Loong was never stopped coming and I felt so proud even though nobody seemed to be aware of my tiny little G1!