Ah...the Swiss Alps. - Part Two.

Aaaand we're back!

My first week or so in Switzerland was spent checking things like the Jungfraujoch off my list and going on hikes every single day. The two best ones would have to be the one hiking up the mountain from Kandersteg to Oeschinenschee - a stunning little lake nestled in the mountains - and the hike to Bachalpsee Lake:

There are simply no words for how happy scenery like that made me. Beautiful rolling hills in every direction, stupendous peaks so close I could just about reach out and touch them, and a myriad of colourful flowers adding splashes of colour to every surface with a drop of water.

It was magnificent. All of it.

My next stop was to be the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald. As you may have noticed, I generally steer clear of naming the names of establishments. Most of the time, they're adequate, but nothing special and may as well remain anonymous. Not so with the Mountain Hostel. First, let's talk about Gimmelwald. It's a tiny little farming community perched on the ledges of the Alps. The only way to get in or out is via a cable cars. The only store has no staff. They open it every morning, and trust people to pay the prices and not rob the place. And it works. The hostel itself was a breath of fresh air. To be honest, I've grown disillusioned with hostels: Generally speaking, they're filled with people who stick to themselves and tap away on laptops, tablets and mobile phones wherever there's WiFi, like a bunch of moths around a flickering light.

Not so with the Mountain Hostel. Yes, there was WiFi. But...the atmosphere was different. People...talked. I know, this shouldn't be a big deal. But it is. Not only did they talk, they shared stories. They told jokes. They listened to music. They cooked massive batches of food, which they then shared with others. They went on hikes together and invited perfect strangers like me to join them. They played cards. It was magnificent. I was only there for three nights, but it felt like a month-long hug from humanity. There was a mother with a shy daughter of 30, who was starting to come out of her shell. There was the 40-something American couple who were always eager to have a conversation over coffee. There were the three guys from Ireland who would not go 10 seconds without cracking a joke or five. There were the three guys from America who ran through the mountains for fun. This place was full of people with all sorts of awesome personalities. No one was drunk, no one was stupid, no one acted like he or she was better than anyone else. It was simply a chill place to relax among some of the most magnificent scenery this planet has. Easily the best atmosphere I've ever experienced in a hostel. There were only two flies in the ointment: 1: Pay showers. Come on, Mountain Hostel! and 2: Horrible weather.

I was there for three days and for three days, every single day, I'd get up, have breakfast with people who told me that they checked the weather and it would go thusly: Showers giving way to clouds by mid-day with brilliant sunshine beginning in the early afternoon. Each day, I packed my bag full of camera gear and food and set off into the mountains. And, inevitably, each day I would come back 6-8 hours later, soaked to the bones. Not only did the weather not get better as the day wore on, it got worse. Every. Single. Day. Morning showers would put their big boy pants on and turn into torrential downpours, often sprinkled with liberal amounts of thunder and lightning.

Photo break: What were supposed to be stunning mountains overlooking pristine valleys turned into...clouds. And more clouds. On top of clouds. Overlooking clouds.

Now, I love thunder and lightning. But being alone, roughly 3,500-4,000 metres up on a plateau after 4 hours of hiking in the rain, and getting stuck in a lightning storm ain't all that fun. I may not be the tallest dude around, but when I'm the ONLY dude around and the next tallest thing is a knee-high shrub, then I start thinking "Hey...maybe it's time I got off this damn mountain!"

Each day, the trails I traversed up the mountain turned into rivers on my way down, my shoes being replaced by small rubber lakes. I would return to the hostel, where people - who were smart enough to never leave the comforts of 4 solid walls and a roof - sat around tables lined with hot drinks and gave me "I'm sorry, man" looks. I peeled the soaking wet layers off me, and hoped for a better tomorrow.

Predictably, as soon as I left, the weather did a 180, and rewarded the people I left behind with perfect, endless sunshine; effectively giving me the cosmic middle finger. Thankfully, my last night there was a beautiful, clear night, where I randomly (quite by chance) caught the International Space Station pass overhead. It was about as good as it gets.

Also, since this post is rather light on pictures (don't worry...LOTS of pics coming in Part Three), here's a random one. I have NO idea what it's about, but I think it's something about legalizing a certain type of sausage in Switzerland. It seemed to be a massive issue, with smaller posters like this littering gas stations, while massive posters adorned the walls of train stations, tunnels and other establishments:

That's it for today...tune in next time for even more pictures and stories from Switzerland and one of my all-time favourite tiny countries: Liechtenstein!!

Thanks for reading,
T

Ah...the Swiss Alps! - Part One.

It has been a year since my last blog entry, which is nothing short of shameful...I apologize. Especially because in that time, I've been to Japan half a dozen times, Europe, Canada, Taiwan twice and countless places in Korea. Let's start catching up...with Switzerland.

DISCLAIMER: I've started selling my photos as both prints and phone cases. I am very flattered by the attention my blog - at around 15,000 hits right now, with zero advertising - and my photos - my Flickr is at around 250,000 hits - have been getting. Photography is a hobby for me, but, sadly, it's not a cheap one. If you like my photos, please take a look at the links provided and support me by buying a print or phone case! :)

Now...onto the fun stuff:

I love mountains, lakes, peaks, and all that silly, beautiful nonsense. My favourite place in Canada is the Rockies...nothing but great memories there. I've been wanting to check out the Alps in Switzerland for many, many moons...and last summer, I finally had the chance. After a wonderful flight on Aeroflot airlines (onto which the fine Russian getleman next to me smuggled a gigantic bottle of vodka and two big bags of Snickers snack size chocolates, inhaling all of this in about 43 minutes - yes, I actually timed him), I landed in Dusseldorf Germany, which posed the first obstacle of my trip: No sooner was his bottle empty and his belly full than he passed out so thoroughly that I had to jump over him to get out of my seat.

I spent the night at the airport (I actually enjoy spending a night now and again sleeping on the floor, using my backpack as a pillow, drifting off to the sounds of flight announcements and waking up to the wonderful chaos that is an international airport), and the next morning I was off on my adventure.

First, I went to Luxembourg, since I absolutely love small countries. I originally had planned for three days here, but after a full day of wandering (about 14 hours), I realized I had seen much of the worthwhile attractions. It was a beautiful place, but, when I told the kind woman at the hostel's front desk that I was moving on a few days before I planned to do so, she just smiled and nodded, telling me that a lot of people do the same. Luxembourg:

The next day, with two extra days to play with, I decided to make one more stop before entering Switzerland. Enter Strasbourg, France.

This city was rather interesting. On the one hand, it was beautiful and old and dripping with history and culture. On the other hand, gangs of ne'er-do-wells roamed the streets with big dogs, scowling at everyone and everything in their path, daring anyone to look at them the wrong way. Certainly not something I've ever seen in Asia.

Undaunted, I did my best to see this fine city. I walked the streets and found little gems everywhere:

The city - even though it is in France - has an Old French Quarter, which includes a river and a small reservoir-type thing. It is one of the most beautiful and quiet little places in the city:

Cobble-stoned streets winding their way through a maze of quaint restaurants, cafes and apartments...it's as good as it gets:

After a couple of days in Strasbourg, I headed south, Basel. Here, I alighted the train just long enough to buy myself a 15-day Swiss Pass, allowing me unrestricted and free access to all trains and buses, and significant discounts on cable cars. By the time I was done, I had taken about $2,100 worth of transportation with my pass that cost me roughly one-third as much. Money well spent.

In general, I love trains...but taking them through the Alps is a whole new experience:

My first real stop in Switzerland was the city of Biel/Bienne, on the northern tip of Lake Biel. As is evidenced by the very name of the city, Switzerland has an interesting linguistic make-up and history. A bunch of languages - including French, German, and Italian - make up the local dialects. For such a small country, there's an incredible variety in their communications. Sadly, Biel/Bienne itself was a little boring, visually unappealing - by Switzerland's standards - and a little annoying, as it was some sort of a holiday the night I spent there, and drunken hordes were shouting and launching countless fireworks 'till well into the night. I did, however, take a train down to Neuchatel to spend a few hours away from Biel/Bienne, and that was a truly magical experience.

Neuchatel is a supremely beautiful town with lots of life and charm. It is situated on the shores of Lake Neuchatel, with the Alps in the background. I lay there on the beach, taking in the sights, listening to the waves, and reading my book for a long time. Then, I went for a walk about town and the waterfront at sunset.

After a couple of days in the area, I headed to the town I thought I would use as my home base for about two weeks: Interlaken. Situated between the majestic lakes of Thun and Brienz, a hop and a skip away from the famous Lauterbrunnen Valley, Interlaken seemed like a paradise on earth. Sadly, my stay was to be cut short. My first hostel was a massive party place, where the bass from the nightclub below us kept me up until just before sunrise. When I went down to the lobby, attempting to use the computer to look for other hostels, I was accosted by a drunken, aggressive manager - backed up by a handful of "bouncers," and narrowly escaped a completely unprovoked beating. The next morning, I told the guy at the front desk that I would be checking out early and demanded the remainder of my money back. He asked why, and I recounted my rather scary story from the night before. He laughed and said "Oh yeah...he does that when he's drunk." Charming. The next day, I checked into a much quieter hostel on the other side of town, right next to a brothel.

In the meantime, I made my way up to Jungfraujoch, Europe's highest train station. From there, I hiked around the mountain at an elevation of around 4,000 metres. It was nothing short of breath-taking. Every step of the way, I was greeted with a fiercely blue sky, incredible mountains, sunshine, fresh air, and beautiful snow under my feet. I can not say enough great things about being on top of Europe. Then, just when I thought things couldn't get any more surreally incredible: A plane landed next to me. On top of a mountain. On the snow. How cool is that?

-=- Shameless plug: This photo is available for purchase as a print or a phone case here: On Top Of The World -=-While I took the train up the mountain, I decided to hike back down, passing some stunning scenery along the way. One of my rarely-advertised life goals is to go to as many of the Gran Turismo tracks as possible. Well..here's one...the famous Eiger North Face (or Eiger Nordwand) with a couple of other famous peaks; Jungfrau and Monch:

Another beautiful - and classic - scene from the mountain...train on its way up the mountain, near Kleine Scheidegg:

-=- Shameless plug: This photo is available for purchase as a print or a phone case here: Train In The Swiss Alps -=-

Upon descending the mountain, I went back to Interlaken and had a pretty rough night. My feet were giving me all sorts of trouble, as my new hiking shoes hadn't been properly broken in, resulting in massive to-to-middle-of-foot blisters on both feet:

Thankfully, I travel prepared, and some ointment and liberal use of bandages made the problem bearable for a few days, then it disappeared altogether. Lesson learned...always properly break in shoes before travelling. When I travel, I walk/hike for anywhere from 14-18 hours a day...proper footwear is of vital importance.

I'll leave Part 1 here, I think. I'll be back again soon with Part 2...of who knows how many!

I hope you're all having a great day...see you soon! :D
T

Shooting Shangri-La in Korea: Anatomy of a single picture that took all night.

A couple of days ago I spent a good part of a lonely night on top of a mountain shooting the stars at Ilbungsa Temple ( 일붕사 ). For the first time in my life I tried my hand at a multiple exposure (nearly 300 in this case) star trail shot. While out there all by myself, with nothing to do but listen to my camera steadily clicking away, I started writing this blog entry in my head...here it is (FINAL IMAGE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST!!! :) ):

*click* The shutter closes and the mirror slaps down. In the next blink of an eye, the information collected by the 21 million pixels on my camera's sensor are transferred to the memory card. Photons are instantaneously converted into memories. *click* The mirror flips back up and the shutter opens, welcoming a whole new flood of photons from millions of light years away.

*click* The metallic sound of the camera is at complete odds with its quiet, serene surroundings. Minutes go by without a single other sound on top of this mountain, where my camera is trained on an absolutely stunning  Buddhist temple, with a generous sprinkling of stars for the background. Aside from a handful of frogs swimming in the pond surrounding the temple and a few birds in the distance, I may as well be the only living thing left on the planet. *click*

*click* Suddenly, a sound unlike any other I've heard breaks the silence. It makes me grip the flashlight in my left pocket and my silly little BB gun in my right pocket. It surely won't kill anything, but hopefully it'll deter most things that live in Korea, a country blissfully devoid of the type of creatures I'm used to inhabiting the Westcoast Rainforest back home: cougars, bears and other unsavoury characters. This voice, however, sounds like a Velociraptor. Not just any Velociraptor...but one that's pissed off because its dinner is cold and after a hard day's work of terrifying smaller dinosaurs, it had come back to its lair and found his mate with another Velociraptor. I assert my presence by clearing my throat and stomping my feet. Yeah, that ought to scare the mouthy bastard. *click*

~~ Other parts of the complex, taken a few days before:~~

*click* I check my phone to see the time. It's 10:15 p.m. The camera is showing space for another 200 shots on the card (wildly underestimating the 273 I'd walk away with), at around 31 seconds per shot, this puts my initial estimate and getting out of there at just after midnight (though the last frame will actually be shot at around 12:45 a.m.). As an added bonus, the phone is showing no signal. Perfect. *click*

*click* I take stock of my equipment. Camera, tripod, BB gun, backpack, flashlight, phone, extra batteries for everything that runs on electricity, two bottles of Mountain Dew, a can of Rockstar Energy drink, a couple of granola bars and an extra hoodie, in case the one I'm wearing isn't enough (spoiler alert: it won't be). Damn...forgot my toque. *click*

*click* My reluctance to leave my camera (sitting at the edge of a pond for good measure) is overpowered by two things: One, I have to pee, and two, I need to do something other than stand around for the next 2+ hours. Going no further than within earshot of my camera, I explore my surroundings. *click*


(Here's what my camera was seeing every 30 seconds):

*click* My roaming grounds include a sort of courtyard built between the buildings of the temple and the little bridge connecting the temple and dry land. With exposures taking 30 seconds, I know I can freely walk around even into my own pictures. As long as I don't stop anywhere and keep to the shadows, I won't show up in the picture. *click*

*click* I praise my brain for not believing in ghosts, zombies and King Kong. Immediately thereafter, I curse my brain for bringing up the subject. *click*

*click* At the halfway point I do two things: Put on the extra hoodie - apparently mountaintops start getting cold when you start nearing midnight - and I relax and do a little celebratory dance, congratulating myself for sticking with the program so far. *click*

*click* As if sensing my newfound inner peace and wanting to ruin the moment, the Velociraptor roars again. I can hear it moving through the hills. Based on its quick, fluid and silent movements, I'm guessing it's some sort of a gigantic bird, like a crane. Judging by its voice, this particular bird does steroids. And has a sore throat. *click*

*click* I explore my surroundings a little more and find a cute little babbling creek, and scores of frogs happily swimming around the pond. A bird with massive wings - perhaps my Velociraptor - whooshes overhead and sets up camp in a nearby tree. *click*

*click* The counter on my camera is starting to near zero. Despite my thorough enjoyment of the process, it's a welcome sight, seeing the number of remaining images go from triple digits to double and finally into the singles. *click*

At last, I get the message that's rarely welcome by photographers: "Card Full." I pack up my belongings, take one last look at this infinitely peaceful sight and begin my trek down the mountain.

Please CLICK HERE to purchase the above picture as a print or phone case.

Thanks for reading,
T

Tongyeong: From marching under the sea to soaring above the mountains...

I've written about Tongyeong. Several times. And guess what? This likely won't be my last post about this city, which is one of the many little gems along Korea's south coast. Why? Because I'm running out of ideas. Nah, just kidding...because Tongyeong is an amazing city! For a place that has fewer than 150,000 people, it has an incredible variety of attractions. I've written about its harbour, beaches, and sea-side walkways. However, there have been two things I have never explored until last weekend: The roughly 2 kilometre long cable car and the 500 metre long undersea tunnel.

Let's start with the tunnel. In itself, it's a little underwhelming: It's merely a half kilometre long concrete tube with poor lighting, reminiscent of World War II movies. However, when you think about what went into the tunnel and where you are, it's pretty cool: It was built about 100 years ago. The workers literally parted the sea, dug a trench, made a tunnel, then let the sea go back to its original place. Finding it is an adventure in itself, as both ends of the tunnel are in nondescript neighbourhoods with very little fanfare (just a few modest signs) pointing to its existence. It's not the world's most exciting place to be, but kind of cool knowing that you're walking under the sea...plus, here's a concrete tunnel that's something like 5m wide, 4m tall and 500m long with zero police, guards, etc, and free admission. Guess how much graffiti is on its walls? Zero. Nothing. Nada. Not a single pen mark. Pretty cool, Korea...pretty cool:

Now...to the cable car! I got there about two hours before closing and was told that, due to the massive number of people, they had stopped selling tickets. Disappointed, I told them that I had driven from the faraway magical land of Changwon specifically for their awesome attraction. So, the attendant ran off and came back with a ticket. Again...well done, Korea. You're making this whole "I should leave and move back to Canada" business rather difficult. The ticket, as usual, is laughably cheap compared to what similar attractions charge back home: $5 one way, $8 both ways. The ride was nice and smooth, and you share a little glass cage with 7 other people...one of whom, in my case, was tickled pink about sharing the ride with the white boy from Canada:

The views up the way are nothing short of breathtaking:

Once you're at the top, you can go to the roof of the building that houses the machinery for the cable car and be greeted with an expansive view of the mountains at your feet, little fishing villages, the sea and the islands beyond. On clear days, apparently Tsushima Island (part of Japan) is visible!

Then, you can trek along a fairly extensive network of boardwalks and stairs to different peaks along the mountain to a dozen or so little viewpoints:

Not only is the walk good exercise out in the fresh air and sunshine, it leads you to a variety of cool views...like these of downtown Tongyeong:

All in all...an awesome little day trip to Tongyeong. My only complaint was the hazy sky...thanks to pollution and Yellow Dust from China. But...you can't win'em all, can you? So, if you ever want to bum around southern Korea, definitely check out this little city and hit up the cable car...just make sure you go nice and early!

Random song suggestion: "Girlfriend" by Bachelorette...awesome song, very different from what I usually listen to, but a great track!

That's it from me for now...I'll be back with more soon!
T

 Here's one more for the road:

The TriStar of Daegu: One of my least favourite Korean cities climbs a step up the ladder!

So it's been no secret that the South Korean city of Daegu has never really appealed to me. I've been there half a dozen times and, while nothing bad has ever happened, each time I returned I regretted the effort. The city, up until now, lacked charm and individuality. It seemed that the entire city was little more than a sprawling, lower-middle class concrete disappointment.

However, yesterday, I finally found something worth checking out in Daegu!

It was a gorgeous sunny and warm spring day (I can't help but gloat...while Europe and North America have been dealing with a "spring" that thinks it's the middle of winter, I'm cruising around in a t-shirt with the windows down in Korea).

So, a friend and I headed for Suseong Lake in the south-eastern corner of the city. This lake also has some cool light and fountain shows in the summer that I want to go back for!

First...the lake, which in itself is pretty cool. Nestled at the edge of the city, it provides you with a great view of the city's tall buildings, and yet it seems like you're at least a little bit in nature. There's a walkway that circles the lake with tons of Koreans - mostly families and couples - taking advantage of the nice weather and strolling or riding bikes around the lake.

There are tons of things to do, including a small amusement park with rides for kids and swan boat rentals for the older crowd. The lake - which has a cool little island in one corner - is inhabited by some decent-sized fish (easily 50cm in length!), geese, ducks and swans! The atmosphere is awesome...everybody seemed to be happy.

Then...as I was sauntering around the lake and enjoying my camera setup for the day - Canon 5D Mark II with the little 40mm 2.8 STM Pancake on it...seriously...it's a brutally sharp and incredibly fun combo to play with!! - I saw it. But it couldn't be. No way. I mean...what would a full-sized passenger jet airliner be doing in the middle of a park in Daegu?

Well, apparently the plane - which looks like a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, but please correct me if I'm wrong - has been converted into a cafe! Now...this combines two of my favourite things: 1: I love unique buildings...and 2: I love machines...and have a special fondness for airplanes!

The inside of the cafe - which is run by Massa Coffee - looks very cool and was surprisingly uncrowded! Looking from the entrance door toward the cockpit:

Looking the other way:

Near the back of the plane, they had constructed a mostly glass sitting area that looks over the wing and the fuselage with a great view of the lake, the city beyond it and some mountains in the distance:

Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to explore more of the city (though we did walk around randomly for another hour or two in some ho-hum, but not altogether unpleasant neighbourhoods on the way back to the bus terminal)...but I'd definitely recommend Suseong Lake and the airplane cafe to anyone visiting Daegu! I'll be back this summer when the fountain shows start up and let you guys know how that is!

That's all for now...except...I'm back with another musical suggestion. Even if you don't like dubstep (and especially if you do), check out Bassnectar's "Timestretch"...it's easily the most awesome dubstep track ever laid down, one I think I'd like even if I wasn't into the genre! 

Y'all take care now and stay tuned...I'll try to toss up another blog in a couple of days! 

T :)

Tiny nation #2: Macau

When I was a kid, Macau intrigued me because that's where my favourite toys (Matchbox cars) were made. More recently, however, it sparked my interest for better reasons: I love tiny little states (it's basically a city with its own languages, government, currency and borders...how cool is that?!), and the idea of having a little slice of Portugal in the middle of Asia is too amazing to miss out on.

Quick disclaimer: I apologize for the lack of pictures...my hard drive crashed and I lost everything. Thankfully I have all my Hong Kong/Macau pictures backed up on an external in Canada, but it'll be over a year until I get to them...so, I only have one or two pictures to share with you right now.

So...I got to Macau via a cool hydrofoil boat from Hong Kong...they leave every half an hour or so, cost 20 bucks and take an hour...back home, something like this would leave every 6 hours and cost three times as much. Once you get to Macau, you have to check in with immigration (even though technically both HK and Macau are part of China, they're self-governing and thus have their own borders)...I went to Macau twice, which meant a flurry of stamps, filling up a page and a half of my beloved passport.

Once in Macau something profound hit me: It's soooooo much quieter than Hong Kong! It's like a sleepy little town. I definitely wasn't expecting that. My first day there, I got there at around noon and it was all quiet with just a handful of people milling about...I walked the casino district, and set about wandering around. There are some really interesting things there...it looks like Macau's fortunes have declined in the past few decades. A gigantic modern statue (some sort of "Welcome, Outsiders" statement) is slowly decaying in an abandoned part of the harbour not far from a playground even the kids with cans of spraypaint have grown bored of. It's pretty interesting.

It's also immediately obvious that Macau (despite it being a world-class destination for gambling) is much less affluent than Hong Kong. The parade of Ferraris, Rolls Royces and Lamborghinis is replaced by sensible Hondas and Mitsubishis. Designer suits give way to classy, but distinctively more affordable clothing.

And yet...as much as I liked Hong Kong, I loved Macau. HK was great...no complaints. But...it was a bit sterile. It was a place that was modern, fast, busy, flashy, expensive, and it knew it was all of that. Macau, on the other hand, had something HK lacked: Charm. It was a very charming place. From Macau Tower sitting seemingly pointlessly in the middle of nowhere to the Portugese buildings, it was a thoroughly warm and accessible place devoid of any kind of pretentiousness.

Tucked away between the water and a residential area - seemingly completely out of its element - is the Macau Tower:

As with Hong Kong, the smog was a major bummer. It doesn't show so much in this picture, but I have a shot of the tower casting a shadow through the smog...it's crazy! I was going to go up the tower, then I realized it was pointless...I'd just see a washed-out, milky expanse.

Of course the major attraction - for me, anyways - in Macau was the architecture. A Portugese colony for centuries, Macau's official buildings, churches and even a fort and lighthouse were built in the European styles right down to the patterned cobble-stone streets.

The mixing of cultures and influences is even more apparent here than in Hong Kong. Cobble stone streets lead to temples and there are parks where yellow Portugese-style buildings look across ponds to face red, Chinese-style pagodas. It's really cool. What's more is that if you look up, you'll see expensive high-rises to your left and crumbling tenements to your right. I don't think I've ever seen so much diversity so close together in my life!

Another interesting thing about Macau is you can pay with Hong Kong dollars everywhere, but you get change in Macau dollars...it's really interesting at first. (They're roughly on par and the two currencies are tied to each other...the HKD is a bit higher, so it works out a tiny bit better for them).

That's it for now...I'll update this in a while when I get my pictures up! In the meantime...here's a panorama shot from an old nunnery! The crazy building that gets bigger near the top is the Hotel Lisboa....and of course that's Macau Tower off to the right...thanks for reading!

To the colonies!!! Heading to Hong Kong...

Hong Kong and Macau have always intrigued me. Hong Kong because it always seemed like the busiest place on the planet and Macau because Matchbox cars (the treasures of my childhood) were made there. More recently, however, I've become enamoured with tiny countries. There's something cool about a place the size of a city having its own government, currency, borders, etc. So, on my way home (to Canada) this winter, I decided to check out two of Asia's little jewels: Hong Kong and Macau. This entry will be about HK...I'll do a subsequent one about Macau as well. :)

Before I start, I have to apologize for the lack of really good pictures...my hard drive crashed before I could edit the majority of the pictures...I just started doing the panoramas when it crashed. I do have all the files on a backup hard drive in Canada, but I won't get to those for another year and a half or so).

Random picture to get us started:

My first introduction to Hong Kong was the awesomeness of expats...a friend of a few friends, Danielle, whom I've never met prior to this, had offered to let me crash on her couch. Faith in humanity: restored. She was an amazing host, and she lived in an awesome part of town, Wan Chai, which is close to most of the exciting stuff on Hong Kong Island.

For those who have never been, HK consists of two areas, the "mainland," and the island. The mainland is a little rougher, though not downtown Detroit rough. It's also the place where a lot of the foreigners aggressively trying to sell suits hang out...spaced about 10 feet apart. The mainland (Kowloon) side is also where most of the hostels are...according to most reviews I've read, they're a less than stellar experience, I'm glad I got to miss out on them.

Another random shot...I'm starting to get into street photography...really enjoying it:

Anyways...Hong Kong. Hong Kong is amazing. It's beautiful, generally clean, warm (in the middle of January I spent my days in a T-shirt all day, and got a sunburn), busy, full of life, classy, etc. It's also incredibly affluent. Short of Dubai, I'm not sure I could think of a place where there are so many Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Rolls Royces per square metre. For a car geek, walking around there after the blandness of Korea (the land of silver Hyundais and white Kias), no walk through the streets was boring. I even saw one of my all-time favourite cars in my favourite colour: a pearl orange Tesla Roadster (the world's first true production electric supercar!).

Unfortunately, HK is also home to some incredible smog. While it didn't bother my breathing, it was apparent in every single picture. This is the clearest picture I took of the HK skyline. On the left is the island, complete with the famous Bank of China building (the building with the 45* lines criss-crossing it)..the middle is the opening to Victoria Harbour, on the right is a little bit of Kowloon, the mainland...the shot was taken from a little harbour boat that's been operating between the island and the mainland for over 100 years. It costs about 35 cents to cross and takes 8-9 minutes. Gotta love Asia):

Other days, you were treated to a monochromatic view of HK's magnificence (if you look closely, you'll notice that the same traditional-style ship is in both pictures!)...by the way, the building in the middle is where HK was handed over to China in 1997.

Okay...since all the days have blurred together, he's a random list of highlights from Hong Kong:

- The world's longest escalators...it's a network of 800m (half a mile) of escalators taking you from one part of the city up the hill to another. It's really cool. They change direction depending on the time of the day to deal with foot traffic. I kept popping off to check out different neighbourhoods, then popping back on to continue my journey.

- Multi ethnicity/multi-religiosity. You can walk from a Buddhist temple to a Muslim mosque and then pop over to a Catholic church (many of which were built by the British long enough ago that they're architecturally interesting!) all within 10 minutes. And guess what...no one firebombs them. Many places in the world could learn a lesson from the way religions and races coexist in HK. I went into multiples of each place of worship and was welcomed with open arms at each and every one. Hong Kong was also the first place in Asia where I didn't feel special or different being a white guy. HK has great racial variety and, happy for me, that meant variety in food, which (unlike in Korea) included a wicked selection of veggie options.

- The people are absolutely amazing in HK. That is, the locals. Interestingly enough, most of the foreigners I bumped into seemed to have an air of self-importance about them. Wearing an expensive suit and rocking an iPhone 5 tends to do that to people sometimes. The locals, however, were very friendly, often stopping or going out of their way to help me when I was looking at my map, etc. Without a doubt, the highlight was when I was trying to figure out which exit I needed to take out of the subway and a boy - about 12 or 13 years old - came up to me and said "Hello. How may I help you?". Out of the blue. My jaw dropped. I told him where I wanted to go, he pointed me to the correct exit and was on his merry way. Well played, Hong Kong...well played. To be fair, though...they're apparently not very tolerant of wheelchair-bound scientists:

Random picture time: Fire hall with a classic red/silver Toyota Crown (every taxi is a Toyota Crown in that paint scheme) taxi:

- Victoria Peak. This peak overlooks the city and is home to a really cool cable-driven tram (that in places goes up an incline I swear is close to 40 degrees) that goes up the hill to a wicked lookout point. I spent a good 4-5 hours at least up there, going in the afternoon and waiting until it was pitch dark. The view of the city is magnificent, day or night. As is standard for Asia, the tram/lookout point admission tickets were very reasonable. None of the rip-off prices we've grown accustomed to paying in North America.

- The public zoo/botanical gardens. Again...North America could take a lesson here. HK has an awesome zoo (full of monkeys, giant turtles, ultra-rare birds, etc)...open to the public. It's just part of a park. The other part is a gorgeous botanical gardens. The sight of a beautiful and expansive garden with stunning modern skyscrapers is a unique and awe-inspiring one.

- Tsim Sha Tsui...TST is a neat place on the southern tip of the mainland, meaning it faces HK's true downtown: the island's north end. There are two ways to get to TST: via the efficient or cheap subway or the efficient or cheap cross-harbour boat. I preferred the boat because the views were beautiful, but the subway - true to every subway I've seen in Asia - was clean, safe, cheap and quick. I'm really going to miss the public transportation in this corner of the world. TST has everything from high-end shops to the Avenue of Stars, where Asian movie stars I've never heard of are immortalized on a beautiful waterfront walkway. The view of downtown from TST...Avenue of Stars on the left...

Every night at 8 p.m., the buildings in downtown HK put on a wicked laser show, best viewed from TST:

Speaking of nights....Hong Kong holds true to what I've seen in most of Asia (Japan, Korea, China, etc)...and you can feel completely safe being a foreigner walking around alone at night...gotta love that!

I was usually walking/shooting until around midnight most days...never an issue!

All right...this is HK in a nutshell...again, I apologize for the lack of pictures, I'll do an update in a year or so when I get to my pictures, I promise! :D In the meantime, I'll leave you with this. Shot in TST in Hong Kong...a tourist demonstrating proper posture during portrait photography:

Chuseok in China: Part 1

The morning after I landed from my month-long trip to Europe, I checked my bank balance and noticed that I came in significantly under budget...so, I did what any sane person would do: Bought long-term, low-risk shares on the stock market, and started planning for my retirement.

...Is what I would say if I was the type of person to think of mature stuff like that. But nope, not this guy. It took me roughly 0.3 seconds to go from "SWEET! I have money!" to "Okay...where to next?"

Every fall, Korea has Chuseok, a kind of Korean Thanksgiving, for which we get about 5 days off...after a quick search, I noticed that while tickets to every destination around here were either booked or incredibly inflated, China was still affordable...so, after a long time of thinking it over (1.7 seconds, personal record), I booked tickets to Beijing...less than 24 hours after getting back to Korea.

My good pal Anthony thought this was a swell idea, and he bought tickets too, albeit for one day less than I was going to spend in Beijing.

So, when the day came, I got on the big jet plane and headed off to the land of the last major stronghold of Communism. After a pleasant flight, I got to Beijing and instead of paying for a taxi to get to my hostel, I decided to save as much money as possible and got on a bus. This was a great idea, until I got off way too early and found myself somewhere in the outskirts of Beijing, at night, without a decent map (the one I had with me was worthless as anything more than a coarse napkin). So, I stood there for a few minutes, contemplating which way to start off in, and desperately trying to somehow find where I was on the map.

Eventually, I saw a young Chinese woman and asked her. After much scratching of her head, and turning the map around and around, she declared that she had no idea where we were or where I was hoping to end up. Thankfully, her sister - who came to pick her up - knew where I was going and offered to drive me to my hostel. This was my awesome introduction to the people of China!

The next interaction was less than pleasant, as the surly woman with the perma-frown on her face at the hostel informed me that despite booking a bed in a 4-bed room, I was to be put in an 8-bed room and there was nothing I could do about it. Thankfully, the place was cheap, relatively clean and devoid of cockroaches, though equipped with the thinnest "mattress" I've ever had the displeasure of warping my spine on. Overall it ranked as mid-pack for the accommodations I've stayed in.

For the next part of this and the following posts, I'm going to be mixing up all sorts of random things/days, because, to be honest, I can't remember which day I did what.

The first day I spent walking around for 18 hours. Beijing is an awesome city, with tons of historical sights, parks and random interesting things to see. I went to countless parks and mini palaces where the royalty used to hang out, as well as a lamasery, and a few other random places. Admission was cheap to everything, and it all seemed to be in perfect shape. Despite what people think of communist countries oppressing the histories and religions of their people, China proudly displays its religious and historic roots.

Some of the places from my first day:

Beihai Park just outside of the Forbidden City:

Details of some art in Beihai Park (yellow tiles were a symbol that the building belonged to the Royal Family):

A woman in a traditional dress at one of the five pavilions of Jingshan Park (which used to be part of the Forbidden City, but is now separated by a road):

Detail of the inside of a pavilion (ceiling). It's incredible how much work they put into these things...from afar, they look similar to Buddhist buildings in Korea, but the Chinese counterparts are simply stunning...they have paintings on every surface...you could spend an hour looking at the different pictures and scenes in just one of the gazillions of pavilions:

A view of the Forbidden City from one of the pavilions in Jingshan Park:

One of my favourite sights: The 18 metre tall (about 60 feet, with an other 8 metres/25 feet being underground) statue of the Maitreya Buddha at the Yonghe Temple lamasery. The Lamasery was home to the highest ranks of royalty and religion for hundreds of years. The statue is carved out of a single piece of sandalwood! (Also, a bit of camera geekery...I really put my gear to the test...shot wide open at f2.8 with the ISO cranked to 6400 and I still had to push the shadows a stop or two...very happy with my camera/lens!!)

Burning incense at the temple:

Random Chinese playing a card game in the shade on the street:

Finally, a picture of a hutong. Hutongs are alleyways which, apparently, used to criss-cross Beijing everywhere, but are starting to disappear. Everyone I've talked to and every guide book I read implored me to go check them out. So I did. I wasn't blown away. They're alleys...maybe I'm missing something, but big whoop. Either way...here's a shot of one:








Random picture...here is some unique street food in China...including live scorpions, which get dipped in hot oil, deep fried and served:

Back to communism in China....it's not what most people have in mind. It's more of a capitalist communism, or a state-run capitalism. Gone are the hundreds of millions of people riding basic, single-speed bikes (available in any colour you want as long as you like black), gone are the simple outfits of the proletariat and gone are the middle-aged men with weathered faces reading the People's Daily and having a smoke during a quick break from their 14 hour shifts at the tractor factory. Say hello, instead, to luxury cars, name-brand western clothing and shopping streets filled with retailers for everything from Canon to Burger King and Armani. This, I have to admit, was a disappointment.

There is something profoundly ironic about a billion people paying for McDonald's with bills still bearing Mao Tse-tung's picture.

Speaking of which, the first night I was in Beijing I headed off to Tiananmen Square. Here, you look around you and you are surrounded by centuries of incredible history. Mao Tse-tung's embalmed corpse is supposedly on display a few steps away (though apparently there is at least one body double that gets put on display, so you never know whether you're looking at the real Mao or a wax figure), the chunk of pavement where the infamous "Tank Guy" (the Chinese man who stood in front of the tanks in the '80s) stood, and, of course, the entrance to the beautiful and legendary Forbidden City, known as The Gate of Heavenly Peace, which has been adorned with a massive and iconic picture of Chairman Mao for decades.

I have to admit, it was much more beautiful than I was expecting:

But don't let the colourful lights and pretty flowers fool you...the Army still has an unmistakable presence there:

Okay...this entry turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated...so I'm going to wrap it up here, since on my first day I headed back from Tiananmen Square to my hostel and hit the hay...check back soon for more entries on the rest of the trip!

Cheerio!
T