Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections (2nd entry)

The photo challenge from the Daily Post, was, quite some time ago, Reflections.

I snapped this one in Dubai with my Samsung Galaxy, quite recently, and thought it was a pretty nice reflection.

A cold day in Drammen, Norway

I was in Drammen recently, and it was so cold that it also looked very cold. I could hardly bring up my mobile phone to take the photo. No, it was not that bad, around -20C, but it resulted in a nice photo.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination

The theme this week at WPC is Illumination. This is my entry:

Beautiful Burma – Rangoon

We had the chance to visit Burma (aka Myanmar) recently. Burma is a very large country, the second largest in South East Asia and with population of over 60 million people. You can discuss at length whether one should visit Burma or not, as of course, it is still a sanctioned country due to violations to the human rights (genocide, systematic rape, child labour, human trafficking etc.) and almost all things you do when visiting Burma will mean you directly, or indirectly, help fund the military of this country. After the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2011 (see link by clicking her name), the country have taken some steps towards a more open, and hopefully, a more fair place.

Anyway, we decided to travel to Burma. I did not intend to make this entry too much about politics, so for those interested, you can also read here about the ethical decision one need to take before travelling to Burma.

We stayed in Rangoon, the previous capital of Burma. The city is the largest in the country (population of 4+ million) and is still where almost “everything happens”. When you come to Burma you realize a few things:

*You have never really met a friendly person before; this is what friendly means

*Men should wear skirts all over the world, I bought one but have not dared to wear mine yet

*Traffic conditions are “special”, with the steering wheel on the right hand side but with right hand side traffic.

These are some few photos from strolling around the down town area of Rangoon. The last two photos are from a market “across the river”.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

This weeks WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is Surprise. It is not too often one get to capture the moment of surprise, unfortunately. However, some years ago, when we sat on the veranda of our family summer house in Lappland, northern Sweden, overlooking the lake, we got ourselves a surprise! There was a moose crossing the lake, and it is a big lake, so the moose got a good work out. The photo of the swimming moose is not very clear.

We also estimated the place of arrival, and welcomed the moose with some paparazzi photos. I guess the whole situation was quite surprising for everyone involved.

Travel theme: Transportation

I have always, since being a teenager, been very hung up by Japan in general. It always seemed to me like such an amazing country with an interesting culture and  great food. In addition, I was always fascinated by the high speed train system in Japan; the Shinkansen. According to Wikipedia,  Japan was the first country in the world to build a dedicated high speed train rail. I have been lucky enough to visit Japan, and I even got to travel from Tokyo to Osaka on the Shinkansen. It is amazing, during the peak hours, the line between Tokyo and Osaka have up to 13 departures per hour (16 cars and a capacity of 1332 seats per departure), and transports some 150 million passengers per year.

Transportation is this weeks Travel theme at the Where’s my Backpack blog, and the below is the Shinkansen I got to ride from Tokyo to Osaka. A great experience!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate

This weeks photo challenge is Delicate. This small guy was captured about a year ago at Koh Lanta, Thailand.

Travel theme: Circles

The theme this week at the Where’s My Backpack blog is Circles. I came to think of the best pizza we ever had, in a small local pizzeria in a suburb of Genoa, Italy. The circles may be imperfect, but the pizza itself, and the slices of that magnificent mozzarella, was perfect for sure.

18th hole – The Montgomerie Dubai

What an amazing day this was! The course is stunning and just incredible. The biggest challenge for me was the 18th hole, with plenty of water.

http://www.themontgomerie.com/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Changing Seasons

The theme of the week at the Daily Post is; Changing Seasons. This photo to me reflects the entrance of fall with all the leaf-less trees. Also, the water looks really cold in addition.