Awareness of languages

I took this photo in Jerusalem, Israel. The allows indicate Damascus Gate and Roman Plaza are over there. The signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. English can be written and read from left to right, but Hebrew and Arabic can be written and read from right to left. I could read only English letters in Israel, but one of my taxi drivers said that he could read all of them. I must admit that I tried to learn some Hebrew before my trip to Israel, but I just gave up because of the way to write and read from right to left. That's quite confusing to me.

Wisdom of living

I took this picture at a hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The fan on the ceilings was so nice. I love Sri Lankan weather, so generally I don't use the air conditioning in Sri Lanka and enjoy the hot, but breezy days. However, Sri Lankan locals said that if people use the fan on the ceilings, mosquitoes couldn't fly under the fan. It was funny they mentioned that, and of course I did it and learned sort of wisdom of living. When in somewhere kind of thing, usually it's a very good idea to do as the locals do. Anyway, it was another way to use a fan on the ceilings.

My favorite watermelon shake

I'm a beer addict, but sometimes I try to drink something different for a change and the photo shows one of them. A watermelon shake. It's a popular drink in sizzling Thailand and is called Tengmo Pan or Nam Tengmo Pan in Thai (Thai: แตงโมปั่น or นำ้แตงโมปั่น); Tengmo (Thai: แตงโม) means watermelon. A wide variety of fruits are available to make frozen drink like this in Thailand. I recommend the watermelon shake. It's sort of sweet, but tasty and fresh. I took this picture at a restaurant in Yaowaraj (a.k.a. Chinatown), Bangkok, Thailand after a fabulous Thai lunch.

The land of spas

I'm a huge fan of Thai Traditional Massages (Thai: นวดแผนโบราณ) and its Spas (Thai: สปา). There are various kind of massages and spas available in Thailand and costs vary. Let's say Body Massage (Thai: นวดไทย or นวดแผนไทย), Foot Massage (Thai: นวดเท้า), Oil Massage (Thai: นวดนำ้มัน) are common, also I'd say Facial Treatments are popular. The photo shows a couple of beds for Thai body massages. I took this photo at a hotel's massage room near the suvarnabhumi airport.

The wheel comes full circle

My camera has been found last night. Thai people helped me a lot about my trouble. I just want to say thank you all so much from my bottom of my heart. The day before yesterday, when I wanted to take a picture of the Chinatown gate at night, I realized that my camera's gone. I was about to give up to find the camera in this huge metropolitan Bangkok, but Thais saved my life. I can't tell them how grateful I am. Last night after I received the camera, I went to take a picture of the gate. Also, today for a lunch I had the same dishes as yesterday's, and this time I was able to take some pictures of them. The wheel comes full circle. Couldn't be happier.

Sometimes you hafta do what you hafta do

I love to walk, so I usually can do so, but in Thailand when I totally don't know how to get to the place where I want to go, I always take a motorbike taxi instead of a cab or a tuk-tuk. In my humble opinion, motorbike taxis are the best way in such cases. They are usually waiting in order in a group, and wearing a non-sleeved colorful jacket that shows their waiting spot's name and each number on the back. Today, I needed to file a police report at a Tourist Police Center. Because of the camera. I had an old information where the office was, but it was sort of unauthentic. I didn't want to spend a lot of time to find the right place, so I asked a motorbike taxi's group to take me to Tourist Police (Thai: ตำรวจท่องเที่ยว). All of them who I met today were very helpful. By the way, I took this photo in Pattaya, Thailand when I went to a night view point on a hill by a motorbike taxi.

It's just one of those days

I'm in Bangkok, Thailand and unfortunately I misplaced my camera about a few hours ago. The terrible part is I haven't copied my pictures yet to my computer. The SD card has a lot of pictures from January 11th to now; Denmark, Sweden and Thailand. Also, a lot of pictures of Sri Lanka; I already copied them, though. I don't think I can find my camera in a sea of people. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack, so I just gave up. Can't do anything, right? It's just one of those days. Anyway, at least I have a lot of pictures until January 10th and this is one of them. My favorite cans of Thai beer. Cheers.

Paper lanterns

When I took a stroll around Yaowaraj (Thai: เยาวราช) street in Bangkok, Thailand, I found a lot of paper lanterns which were spread out all over the Chinatown and the photo shows some of them. I took this photo in front of a restaurant on Friday night. There were so many cars, tuk-tuks, motorbikes, buses, and people from all walks of life on the street. From my point of view, Chinatown in Bangkok creates a good cultural fusion of Thai and Chinese. People on the street seems like enjoying hustle and bustle of this unique and attractive South East Asian town.

This is Salapao

Last night, I bought a couple of Salapao (Thai: ซาลาเปา) at Chinatown (Thai: ไชน่าทาวน์) in Bangkok, Thailand. It's kind of like dim sum, but I'd say it's bigger. Bangkok's Chinatown is also called Yaowaraj (Thai: เยาวราช) and is also known for a gastronomical paradise. There are variety of places to eat and also has a lot of food stalls and its so-called street food. I really love this area and my hotel is in here. Wi-fi is available in hotel rooms and is free of charge, so this post is from my hotel room. Chinese New Year (sometimes it's called Lunar New Year) will be here in a while, so it's fun to take a stroll.

Bangkok airport rail link

I've been interested in Bangkok's New Airport Link train system that launched in August 2010. It's also called Bangkok Airport Train or something like that. Today I used it from the airport. There were the red line and the blue line. I chose the red one which able to non-stop access between Suvarnabhumi (Thai: สุวรรณภูมิ) station and Makkasan (Thai: มักกะสัน). It took about 15 minutes. Suvarnabhumi station is located on the underground floor of the airport. Makkasan station is located in the sort of city center. It's the last stop of the red line and is also an interchange station to Phetchaburi (Thai: เพชรบุรี) station of MRT (a.k.a. Bangkok Metro). The stations had lifts, escalators and so on. Fabulous.

A houseful of memories of Copenhagen

Today is my last day in Copenhagen, Denmark and I'm gonna take a plane to Bangkok, Thailand in this afternoon. I was in Copenhagen for seven days and had a lot of good beer, lot of nice food and saw a lot of beautiful places. Also, I walked everyday in this stunning city and took a lot of pictures. This is one of my low-key photos of Copenhagen. This signal light was very interesting for me, because of the bicycle mark. There were a lot of people on bicycles in Copenhagen and I saw bicycle paths as well. This signal light looked like a specialty of Copenhagen.

Straight from the horse's mouth

I'm in Copenhagen Denmark and this post is from my hotel room. I took a Thai Airways International flight from Bangkok to Copenhagen and a person next to me was a Danish. When I started to browse through my guidebook, he kindly started to explain and recommend to me a lot of Copenhagen's must see sights. I learned that where I should go, what I should eat, which beer is the best or kind of like that. The photo shows inside of the Round Tower (Danish: Rundetårn). It was a cool place. People were able to go to the top, and I saw this beautiful city from above. It's worth going. I got this information straight from the horse's mouth.

For lack of a better word

I arrived at Malmö, Sweden in a Sunday morning. When I started to take a stroll around, there were not so many people on the streets and the city was very quiet. I thought because of Sunday morning. On Sundays, probably people wake up late and enjoy a brunch or something like that. For lack of a better word, but I felt Malmö was lovely place. Every building, every street was so cute and looked this nice. I took 134 photos of this city includes a manhole cover. I was looking for a souvenir shop to buy a beautiful Swedish flag or its stickers, but I couldn't find this kind of place. I love the blue and the yellow, though.

Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden

I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark right now, but I went to Malmö, Sweden as a one-day excursion from here. There's a long bridge between Denmark and Sweden. I went there by a train and it took 30 minutes or so. The photo shows Turning Torso. I walked toward this highest building in Scandinavia to look a little closer. The weather was just like this, but it wasn't foggy, so I was able to see the whole building till the top. The photo looks like one of the freezing winter scenes, but actually today was not so cold and which was okay.

"The Little Mermaid" sits gazing into "The Ugly Duckling"

I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark and this country is known for the home of Hans Christian Andersen. The author of "The Little Mermaid", "The Ugly Duckling" and many other ever-popular stories. I wanted to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. I started to walk from near the Copenhagen Central station and reached the harbor within an hour, but after that, for me it was a little too hard to spot her. I was already having doubts that she had returned to the ocean, though. So, after 20 minutes, I was able to find her. She was sitting on a rock and somehow gazing into the grown-up "Ugly Duckling". Seems like she already had beautiful legs, so the rest is history.

My first dinner in Copenhagen, Denmark

I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark and the photo shows my first dinner in Copenhagen at a cool place on the pedestrian street (a.k.a. Strøget). A thick salmon steak with butter and shrimps served with salad and a potato on the side. I came here after spent a couple of nights in Bangkok, Thailand, so this dish tasted like Europe for me. Definitely. In Thailand, shrimps are generally in a spicy soup or spicy sauce, otherwise fried with rice or noodles. Also, salad is generally marinated with chilies and such in Thailand. So, this dish was my first European dish in a while and which was wonderful and looked very beautiful. Of course I enjoyed beer on tap as well. Skål!

Tivoli from outside

I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark. I arrived yesterday morning by a red-eye flight from Bangkok. Then, I caught a train from the airport to Copenhagen Central Station. It took about 10 minutes. After I got out of the station, I walked toward my hotel. On the way to the hotel, I saw Tivoli. This place is located in the heart of Copenhagen; in front of the Central Station. It happened to be my first city's landmark which I knew about it beforehand. Unfortunately, it's closed right about now because of the winter season, but at least I was able to take a picture like this.

It's freezing

I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark and this post is from my hotel room. This is my first time to visit Northern Europe and I'm really happy to be here. By the way, I'm sensitive to cold, so I often say "It's freezing today" or something like that as a joke. However, today I learned this expression's real meaning through my own experience. I went to Nyhavn to see the beautiful buildings and the long canal. That's the reason I came here. Then today, I was totally surprised at the canal. It was extremely frozen exactly like the photo shows. I saw this much frozen canal for the first time. In any case, Copenhagen is such a beautiful place. I already took 39 pictures in 2 hours.

My favorite MAMA Tom Yum

I'm in Bangkok, Thailand and this post is from my hotel room near the Suvarnabhumi airport. The airport is visible from my room. Internet environment here is quite nice. Wi-Fi is available in the hotel rooms and is free of charge. This morning I had a cup of instant noodles for a breakfast. It's called MAMA Rot Tom Yum Kung (Thai: มาม่ารสต้มยำกุ้ง), which means MAMA shrimp tom yum flavor. MAMA (Thai: มาม่า) is a brand name. I took this NOT for budget cuts. I really love this flavor. In my humble opinion, Thai instant noodles are the best in the world. I bought this at my hotel's shopping place and poured some hot water from a big hot water barrel in front of the elevators.

Good beer and Thai food, this is heaven

Last night I had a dinner at my hotel's restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand near the Suvarnabhumi Airport. I went to the restaurant around 7:30 p.m. and there were more than half full of customers. First, I had Thai beer named Leo and ordered a couple of dishes and a Thai rice. The photo shows one of them. It's called Pad kee mao tale (Thai: พัดขี้เมาทะเล). Pad means stir-fried, Kee mao means a person who is drunk, Tale means seafood; sometimes calamari sometimes prawns and mostly mixed. So, this dish is kind of like a stir-fried seafood Thai style. I really love "Pad kee mao" something.

I'm safe and sound

Sawasdee kha. I flew into Bangkok, Thailand this afternoon and this post is from Thailand. After I checked into my hotel, I took a couple of picture of my bed for tonight and went shopping to buy cans of beer. I came here by a Thai Airways International flight as always. The in-flight meal was gorgeous and yummy as usual. Today's my option was Thai chicken curry. Also, I had some Singha beer, tea, sandwiches and plenty of water and such. Bangkok International airport is just a stone's throw away from my hotel. I think this is very convenient place.

On the night before my vacation

I took this picture at a hotel's restaurant near Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand. A dish upper side of the photo is Pad pak ruam mit (Thai: ผัดผักรวมมิตร). It's kind of like a stir-fried vegetables. The other dish is commonly-used Pad ka prao kai rad khao khai dao (Thai: ผัดกะเพราไก่ราดข้าวไข่ดาว). It's often called stir-fried basil and chicken served with steamed rice and a fried egg. By the way, I'm gonna go on a vacation from tomorrow to Denmark via Thailand. I'll take my MacBook Pro this time, but I'm not sure I will write new posts or not, because it depends on the Internet environment.

Golden Temple, Dambulla

When I went to Dambulla, Sri Lanka, I took a picture of Golden Temple. Dambulla is famous for its Rock Temples (a.k.a. Cave temples), but at the bottom of them there was a place like this. After visiting Kandy, I headed toward the north by a car and got into the cultural triangle. Dambulla and Sigiriya are not too far, so I was able to see the Sigiriya rock from the upper section of Dambulla and I took a photo of it. Come to think of it, I've been to another so-called a Rock Temple near Negombo. It's in Gampaha. I went there by tuk-tuk from Negombo. There was a huge rock and a Buddhist temple. I don't know it was an official name or not, but locals called the place as a Rock Temple. Really nice quiet place. I'd say the place looked like right in the middle of palm tree jungle.

An awkward silence

This picture is a part of walking street in South Pattaya, Thailand. The place is also known as International meeting street. A huge nightlife district. Pattaya is a couple of hour taxi drive from Bangkok, or one and a half hour drive from the International Airport. Getting to the walking street is easy by a motorbike taxi or on foot or anything else as you like from anywhere in Pattaya.  A lot of people are walking, drinking, talking, eating and then some on this street nightly. Once I bumped into my acquaintance on this street. That was awkward. Awkward for both of us, I think.

Getting Laos by a land route

I've been to Laos twice. On my first visit, I took an airplane from Bangkok, Thailand to Wattay International Airport in Laos. It was an absolutely short flight, but during that there was an in-flight meal service and I enjoyed that. On the second visit, I traveled by a land route. I took a bus from Nong Khai, Thailand and crossed the Thai-Lao friendship bridge over the Mekong river. I remember that there were immigration offices on each side of the bridge. Also, I was able to exchanged some money for Lao Kip at the border.

Phewa lake from Sarangkot hill in Pokhara, Nepal

This is Phewa lake from above. I took this photo from somewhere on Sarangkot hill in Pokhara, Nepal. I decided to climb the hill, but I didn't know how to get to the top of the hill. Then, three Nepalis led the way to see the Himalayas in the beautiful morning. One of them was a lady who took me to until this stunning view point. Two of them were boys who took me to the top and showed me Lamjung Himal. Nepalis called Sarangkot as a hill and they were really good at walking, but for me it was like a mountain. I felt out of breath, but it was worth going.

Where is the book?

In retrospect, Bhutan was my fourth country that I've been to. First of all, I went to Hawaii and it was sort of an incentive trip. I applied for my first passport to go on the incentive trip, but I don't remember well. I think that's because I didn't do anything by myself. Next, I went to Thailand three times in a row, and right after the third time in Thailand I went to Bhutan via Nepal. I took this photo in Thimphu. I remember that why I chose Bhutan. It started from a book. The book was about spicy food in the world. According to the book, Bhutanese chilies are the spiciest.

Ladies' fingers curry

Sri Lanka has various curry dish and that go well with Sri Lankan rice. The photo shows vegetable curry. I took this at my favorite restaurant in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka. The restaurant is right around the middle of Yaddehimulla Road (a.k.a. the Strand) and it's next to the sea. Which means the guests able to see the Indian Ocean this close to them without the windows. At the restaurant, vegetable curry's ingredient changed with each day. That day they made the curry from ladies' fingers (a.k.a. okra). It's called Bandakka in Sinhalese. My favorite one.

Take it with a grain of salt

I took a lot of pictures in Hollywood, Los Angeles and this is one of them. It was at the end of October, but still warm outside, so I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. Come to think of it, when I caught a taxi at the LAX airport to get to my hotel, my driver said this was the best weather in the world. It was around midnight, and it was my first time to be there, so I took his word for it, but with a grain of salt. However, after I took a stroll around Los Angeles, I agreed his strong opinion. I was only several days in Los Angeles in total, but I had nothing to complain about the weather.

What's your poison?

I love beer and my favorite are Singha, Chang, Carlsberg, Guinness, Corona, Coors and more. When I eat something, I almost always need some beer. By the way, I took this picture in Lisbon, Portugal. I remember that Portuguese beer was quite nice, but unfortunately I don't remember the brand name. That's because when I ordered a draft beer at a restaurant, I didn't check the name of beer. When I saw the bill, it said Caneca. Then I jotted it down on my note like Caneca 0.5, but actually Caneca was not the name of beer. Can't do anything, right?

If you have to ask, you can't afford it

These exotic object is used for smoking the tobacco like smoke. In Egypt people called it shisha. I've heard that the smoke has various kind of flavor and the apple flavor is worth trying. Shisha is this big, so generally people sat at a table in cafes and smoke the flavored smoke. I've never tried it, though. Firstly, I'm not a smoker. Secondly, I didn't have any information about the market rate or something like that and it made me a little anxious. I mean not only shisha, but I get worried when they don't write the price. It's often said that if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

The room had everything, even Q-tips

This dish is called Pad Kee Mao Moo (Thai: พัดขี้เมาหมู). I took this one at a hotel's restaurant near Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport, Thailand. I'd say this is one of the popular midnight meals because of the name. Kee mao (Thai: ขี้เมา) means drunken person. Back when I visited the hotel last time, I realized that they renewed the menu and added various kind of Thai food. I'm gonna stay this hotel next week right before my flight to Copenhagen, Denmark. This time I'll have about 30 hours in Bangkok, so I don't know what I can do, but at least I'll be able to enjoy nice Thai cuisine like this. I remember that the hotel had a Thai Massage room, a swimming pool, a fitness center, a place for shopping, and the restaurant. Rooms were spacious and had everything I needed; face towels, body towels, toiletries, hangers, flip-flaps, a comfortable long body pillow, and also Q-tips. I think the hotel is inexpensive and quite convenient especially for transient tourists like me. I'll be able to use free transfer from and to the airport as well.

Knock, Knock

What do you usually do while a housekeeping is cleaning up the room? If the timing is right, I'm not in the room, but not always go like that. One day in Giza, Egypt, I decided to spend the time at the hotel's poolside. There were various types of lounge chairs and parasols. Also, there was a cool in-pool bar. In addition, the Pyramids were in front of me. This picture is from a reclining position. When I stood up, the pyramids looked gigantic, when I sat on a lounge chair, I was able to see the tip of the Pyramids. What a view.

What a pity!

This is my regrettable picture of the replica of the Statue of Liberty in Las Vegas, Nevada, the US. Why is it a back shot? Right. That's a good question. I don't know why, but I've just forgotten to take a picture from front. Well, you know, I'm still kicking myself about that. Sin City was gorgeous, incredible, and ridiculous in good meaning. There were a lot to see and a lot to do and a lot to listen and then some. Also, the weather was sort of unique. It was sizzling under the sun, but it was nippy in shady areas. So then, I was busy to take off and put on my jacket very often. Finally, this happened. The worst picture ever.

Nice going on with the advertisement

I took this photo in Tel Aviv, Israel while I was waiting for the light to change. When we're waiting at the crosswalk, there's nothing to do without looking at the signal light and its around. There was an advertising arrow to indicate a change spot is over there. Nice going on with their advertisement. I think almost all tourists often need to exchange their money for NIS (stands for New Israeli Shekel), and also have to think about Israeli holidays and business hours and such. I think this kind of ideas come in handy all the time.

Meat-eater

I've been to a local secret steak house in Thonburi, Thailand. The steak house was full of Thais and had a lot of spark. I liked the atmosphere, so I went there twice. Thonburi is the previous capital of Bangkok which is located next to Bangkok. Getting there was quite easy by a motorbike taxi or a bus or something else. It's been a while since I've been there. Recently when I visit Thailand, I always hang out in Pattaya, so I don't know current state of Thonburi, but anyway I'm gonna return to Bangkok in this month. If I have time, I might go to Thonburi as well.

I'm big on the Hollywood sign

I've been to Los Angeles from Bangkok by Thai Airways International. It was a long, long flight of course, but during that I was truly excited to visit Los Angeles to see the Hollywood sign. It was my first time to go to the mainland and I didn't know much about Los Angeles' lay of the land. So, when I needed to book my hotel through the Internet in advance, the priority key word was Hollywood. Luckily, I was able to find a nice hotel where the place I could see the sign from the windows. This picture is not the one from my hotel, but I'd say kind of the same thing. Hooray!

An ingenious design

I took this picture on the top of Casa Milà in Barcelona, Spain which is a part of the world heritage sites designed by Antoni Gaudí. First, I borrowed an English audio guide on the ground floor and after that went inside with a floor map. I spent such a long time to look around this ingenious building in every hole and corner. All I saw were really unique and extraordinary. Finally, I was able to find a place for a lunch near the port around 2:30 p.m.. For me it was a little too late, but actually it was sort of normal time for a lunch in Spain.

This perfect coconut sambal

This is my favorite rice and curry. I took this dish as a brunch at a cozy yummy place on the Matara road in between Galle and Unawatuna, Sri Lanka. My hotel was on the strand (a.k.a. Yaddehimulla road) and the rice and curry place was about 30-minute walk from my hotel. If I give you directions, I'd say it was right after a bridge, right before a ocean view point. Actually, there were a lot of places to eat on the strand itself, but sometimes I went to the place to eat their rice and curry. Their coconut sambal was always perfect. Enough spicy, and very tasty. That day they served dhal curry, calamari curry, coconut sambal and rice to me. Which was really nice.

Enjoy the sunshine on a bench

I think I'm not an outdoorsy person, but I love to relax under the sun especially on beaches. My favorite beaches are Pattaya, Thailand, and Negombo and Unawatuna, Sri Lanka. Also, Tel Aviv, Israel was quite cool. I took this photo somewhere on the way to Old Jaffa from my hotel on the Gordon street. According to a guidebook, it's possible to walk from the heart of Tel Aviv to Old Jaffa, so I just walked and walked with stops along the way for about a couple of hours or more. It was on the first of October, but still boiling out there and I was wearing a tank top and a shorts.

The answer is not a simple yes or no

I often get asked for the travel expenses. "How much do we need to go to Egypt for a week?" or something like that. I always say like "It depends on what you want." I've discussed with my acquaintance about worthy splurges. For example, I took this picture from my hotel room in Giza, Egypt. The hotel didn't offer the flat-rate price and had plenty of choices about rooms. The pyramids view rooms were way more expensive than the others, but the guests were able to look out the window to see the pyramid anytime they want. My room was a pyramid vies room exactly where the photo shows. Did I spend too much money? I think the answer is not a simple yes or no.

I don't want to spread myself thin

Did you make any New Year's resolutions? I don't want to spread myself thin, so I'd say just one thing. Lean one more language. Sinhalese is a possibility. When I visited Sri Lanka I bought four books to learn Sinhalese. I know it would be very surprising, if I could learn Sinhalese from read through books, but if I don't try, I'll never know. I personally believe that language is a key to a new world of opportunities and perspectives. By the end of this year, hopefully I'd like to be a high-beginner of Sinhalese. The photo shows Sri Lankan flags somewhere in between Unawatuna and Galle.

Gadgets are toys for grown-ups

This photo is from one of the huge shopping centers in Pattaya city, Thailand. The flashy neon sign says CELEBRATE 2011. It looked so cool for me, so I took a picture of it. Happy new year is Sawasdee pee mai in Thai (Thai: สวัสดีปีใหม่). By the way, I've bought an interesting language translator at a supermarket in Pattaya city. The translator had 24 languages and all combinations between them. For example, English to Thai, Thai to English, Greek to German to Thai to English or something like that. A super cool gadget. Technology has done it again.