From Penang, Malaysia

Off the West coast of Malaysia, there is an island named Penang, where many high tech companies have set up manufacturing plants. I was there the first week of 2008, working with the team in the Motorola factory. I stayed at the Equatorial Hotel. The drive up the hill to the hotel is lined with trees. A few of them were in bloom, like this one. At the latitude where I live, there are not many blossoms during the first week in January. Even in Penang, despite being a tropical island, the blooms were not as numerous as what I had hoped. I came away feeling lucky for being able to capture this image and having it turn out as nice as it did.