A magnificent church in the works

The photo shows the beautiful ceilings and the white pillars of the Sagrada Família (English: Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family) in Barcelona, Spain. The church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I visited Barcelona in October 2010. The Sagrada Família was being built, but it was absolutely stunning and magnificent. I've heard that the construction has been continuing 130 years so far, and it's expected to take about 15 more years to complete. I am in awe of it.

How to eat Sri Lankan rice and curry

The photo shows Sri Lankan Rice and Curry which I had at my favorite place in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Special of the day was my favorite. Clockwise from top of left to right; Chicken curry, Pol Sambol, Steamed rice, Dhal curry, Green beans curry, and crispy papadums. I served steamed rice into a serving plate, then served three kinds of curry and Pol Sambol on the steamed rice. Also, I broke some papadums into small pieces and topped them on my Rice and Curry. I ate them by my fingers as the locals did.

KB203 KTM - PBH

I flew to Bhutan from Nepal by Druk Air; Royal Bhutan Airlines which is the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bhutan. There are several scheduled flights from South and South East Asian cities. First of all, I flew to Kathmandu, Nepal from Bangkok, Thailand then spent a night in Kathmandu. Then, in the next afternoon I flew to Paro, Bhutan. There was a scheduled flight from Bangkok, Thailand as well, but I chose Kathmandu - Paro route just to see the Himalayas from above. Bhutan is located at the Eastern end of the Himalayas, so that's why.

Betws-y-Coed, North Wales

I took this photo in Betws-y-Coed in North Wales, the United Kingdom. From April 18 to April 27 in 2007 I joined COSMOS tour to visit a lot of cities in England, Scotland and Wales. That day the coach departed from Liverpool, England and took us to North Wales. The coach dropped by Conwy, Caernarfon, then drove through Snowdonia National Park, Llanberis Pass and then some. The tour director gave us a lunch break in Betws-y-Coed. I took this photo in front of the railway station while I was waiting the coach to back to Liverpool. The railway station is known as bus interchange as well.

Römerberg, Frankfurt am main

I took this photo in the Römerberg (a.k.a. old town square) in Frankfurt, Germany at dusk. It was my second time to visit Frankfurt. That time I arrived in Frankfurt by ICE train from Munich. ICE stands for Inter City Express and the bullet train connect Munich and Frankfurt by only three hours. I really enjoyed German scenery from the train windows. After dumping my luggage in my hotel room, I set off to the city. The old town square was one of the most beautiful locations of Frankfurt and I really loved there.

Subterranean development

The photo shows an inside view of MRT Bangkok (a.k.a. Bangkok Metro). Most of the time I choose a hotel in Chinatown area, so MRT is one of my very important public transportations to explore the jam-up Bangkok metropolitan. Hua Lamphong is the nearest station from Chinatown, Bangkok. MRT Bangkok has three interchange stations for BTS (a.k.a. Bangkok Sky Train), and an interchange station for fairy new Airport Link (a.k.a. Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link. Epitome of convenient Bangkok.

Things to do in a secluded area

I took this photo in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka. There were a lot of sunbeds and beach umbrellas available in front of eateries on the white sand beach. The beach is hidden from the main road, so compare to many other beaches in Sri Lanka, Unawatuna is kinda quiet, but pretty comfortable. Sri Lanka is formerly called Ceylon and in fact, Sri Lanka is one of the world largest tea producers. I enjoyed so many pots of Ceylon tea on the beach, in the balcony, on the streets and everywhere. It was just totally good.

Travel around Europe by coach

From March the 25th to April 15th in 2007, I joined Contiki's European Vista tour and visited England, France, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Holland by coach. I took this photo on day 2 in Fontainebleau, France. Our coach departed from Paris in the morning and headed to Lyon. On the way to Lyon, the coach dropped by Fontainebleau to show us the beautiful Palace of Fontainebleau. I must admit, we didn't have plenty of time to see the city itself, but had enough time to see the featured site. This is a photo which I took right before backed to the coach.

Eat rice for breakfast

The photo shows my breakfast at my hotel in Pattaya, Thailand. I chose Thai fried rice with chicken and a fried egg; Khao Pad Gai Khai Dao (Thai: ข้าวผัดไก่ไข่ดาว), some Thai fruits and two cups of English tea. My favorite ones. Come to think of it, one of my English acquaintances has told me that he was fragile in the morning, so he couldn't eat rice for breakfast. He said he loved rice, but he didn't want to have rice for breakfast. His view was the polar opposite of mine. If I can't have rice for breakfast, I'm not exactly happy about it. Sometimes is okay without rice, but certainly not all the time. I need rice to start a day.

Passed down by word of mouth

I took this photo in Pokhara, Nepal. When I climbed a hill with a Nepali local, he showed me Pokhara and Phewa lake from above, and he also showed me a place which is called the World Peace Pagoda. I didn't know anything before I started to climb the hill, but according to Nepali locals, the place is known as the white stupa which was built by Buddhist monks from Japan. This is one of my photos from the World Peace Pagoda which shows a golden reclining buddha statue.

Zürich Hauptbahnhof

This is my very first photo in Zurich, Switzerland. It shows inside of Zürich Hauptbahnhof which is the largest railway station in Switzerland. I arrived in Zurich by train from Frankfurt, Germany. After I got off the train, I walked around and see a bit of Zürich Hauptbahnhof, then got out of the station to explore the city itself. The last part of the day was return to Zürich Hauptbahnhof and caught a train to Frankfurt, Germany. Before that, I spent all my Swiss franc at a little shop in the station.

This is still better than nothing

I took this photo in Budapest, Hungary while I was walking on the Liberty Bridge which connects hilly Buda side and flat Pest side across the beautiful river Danube. When I enjoyed viewing stunning landscape of Budapest from the bridge, a tram came from left field. I was like "Oh, no, wait a sec. I wanna take a picture!" so you know, that's why. I was a bit too late to point a camera at the tram. The photo was supposed to be taken at a better angle, but at least I could see a tiny part of the Liberty Bridge and a tiny side of the Budapest tram on the photo. This is still better than nothing.

By the skin of one's teeth

I took this photo in Malmö, Sweden while I was heading toward HSB Turning Torso. During my last trip I got far enough north in winter time, so I was just curious to see things in a day with below zero temperature. Actually, I didn't have a temperature indicator or something, but the water around the lighthouse was still unfrozen. From what I remember, the science classes in my elementally school taught me that water freezes at zero degrees Celsius, so I guess the temperature was a little above zero degrees Celsius.