Do one's best right down to the wire

I took this photo at Hauptwache station in Frankfurt, Germany; the forward part of Frankfurt U-Bahn bound for Hausen. That day was my last day in Frankfurt, Germany. I took a buffet-style German brekkie at my hotel and set off toward the station on foot. When I took this photo, I was just about to take a S-bahn to get to Frankfurt airport. After that, I took a British Airways flight to London, England, the UK, so this photo was actually my last photo in beautiful German capital Frankfurt.

Folding loo rolls and a bottle opener

I took this photo of a couple of folding loo rolls at my five-star hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand. The hotel was located along the Chao Phraya River and their rooms, entrance, lobby, restaurants and then some were absolutely gorgeous even a loo in my room. The loo rolls were folded like this to accommodate guests with welcoming atmosphere. By the way, right after checked in to the hotel, I opened a fridge to drink a bottle of Singha, but there wasn't a bottle opener around the fridge. I couldn't quickly realize that the bottle opener was attached to the loo wall just like the photo shows.

More or less. Mostly less.

I took this photo at the fountain in the middle of Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Spain. It was the night before my flight to Bangkok, Thailand and I had a little more time for my last dinner in Madrid.  Spanish mealtimes are a little different from any other countries in a way. 'When in Rome' is more or less necessary there, so I was kinda waited for the right moment. Anyway, my hostal was just a stone's throw away from one of the best popular squares of Madrid, so I went to Puerta del Sol and took some photos for my memory.

Find a little oasis

The photo shows my first glass in Giza, Egypt. It was late afternoon I went to my hotel's restaurant to take a late lunch. Early in the morning, I touched down in Cairo on the red-eye from Tel Aviv, Israel. When I checked into a five-star hotel nearby the three pyramids, it was still a few hours before dawn, so it was a little too early to view the pyramids from the windows. Anyway in the morning, I skipped breakfast and visited the Great Pyramid of Giza and its surrounding pyramids. After a half-day exploring the desert, I backed to my hotel and started with a can of Stella.

Nature calls

I took this photo in Vienna, Austria. I began the day by a guided walking tour and after other than that took my own course. Someone told me that Vienna is a City of Music. Unfortunately music is not my forte, but I was able to enjoy listen to music in Vienna because of a pay toilet. Generally, going to a pay toilet is not on the itinerary, so I came across the underground pay toilet which is called Opera Toilet. When I paid, the toilet started to play big music just for me. This might sound weird, but the pay toilet is what I remember the most of Vienna.

Here we go, say cheese!

I took this photo in Athens, Greece when I visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus. While everybody was taking a lot of photos of a magnificent ruined temple, I found these trees right behind me and took a photo of it. Compare to the Acropolis of Athens, the Temple of Olympian Zeus was not so crowded. Tourists there were trying to take a better photo in front of the beautiful ruined temple without many other tourist. I was there alone and wandering around, so I was asked to take a photo of a happy shiny Caucasian couple.

Everyday things we take for granted

I took this photo somewhere at an intersection in London, the UK. I don't know why, but the street had this grid-like yellow lines, so I took a photo of them just in case. Generally, things I see while traveling abroad are mostly become truly interesting photogenic subject. Come to think of it, recently one of my English acquaintances told me that many tourists love to take a photo with a red telephone box in England. It was funny she mentioned that the red telephone boxes were pretty familiar on the streets, so she didn't know why they looked so interesting.

Two-toned sheets resemble trams of Portugal

I took this photo near Belém station in Lisbon, Portugal. There was a construction site and the area was covered by beautiful sound-proof sheets like the photo shows. I liked the design of the sound-proof sheets with luxury carriages. Also, the two-toned sheets reminded me of trams of Portugal, so I took a photo of them then got to the station to back to Cais do Sodré. I don't know what they meant, but I think it was a very nice color effect for a lot of passersby who come and go around Belém station. The passersby includes a huge amount of tourists, because it's Belém district. Super cool.

One more for the road

I took this photo of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (a.k.a. Florence Cathedral or it's just simply called the Duomo) from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, Italy. Piazzale Michelangelo is a place where you can enjoy a panoramic view of beautiful Florence from above and of course the square provide this great view of the world-famous Florence Cathedral. It was a fascinating square ever. I couldn't stop taking photos. Now I know how much I have taken a lot of similar photos while I was standing there.

Wind-chill factor

I took this photo in Malmö, Sweden. The bicycle parking area was fully covered with lingering snow. It was a bone-chilling cold day and also I was this close to Öresund (Danish: Øresund) strait, so I guess wind-chill temperature experienced by my body was much more lower. Three days later, I was leaving Northern Europe for Bangkok, Thailand. I packed my snow boots, winter hat, gloves, heavy winter jacket and everything like that in my suitcase and flew to Thailand. Bangkok was boiling hot as usual.

The Venice Canal, L.A., CA

The photo shows stunning view of the Venice Canal in Los Angeles, California, the US. One of my favorite American films about love and romance in L.A. on Valentine's day used this beautiful canal as a filming location, so this white bridge reminded me of the scenes quite a lot. After the Venice Canals, I visited famous Venice beach and took a stroll around its boardwalk. Also, I visited Venice Beach Skate Park and enjoyed to watch a lot of skateboarders' super-duper performances.

A language family of tonal languages

I took this photo on a crosswalk in Vientiane, Laos overlooking Nong Khai, Thailand across the Mekong River. The Mekong River is the 7th longest river in Asia and is known as a river that define a country's border between Thailand and Laos. From my point of view, Thai food and Laotian languages are quite similar. The reason why is that I speak Thai and I read Thai letters, and my Thai is pretty functional in Laos. Also, I could read the street signs and food menus and such in Laos without any difficulty.

Elisabeth Bridge

The photo shows Elisabeth Bridge (Hungarian: Erzsébet híd) across the River Danube in Budapest, Hungary. It's about 20-minute walk from Váci street (Hungarian: Váci utca) which is the most famous shopping or eat out street of Budapest. I got to Elisabeth Bridge on foot after looked around Váci street and crossed the bridge toward Buda side. Compare to some other famous bridges in Budapest, Elisabeth Bridge looked kinda simple, but the white bridge looked one's best in the area.

Across from St. Peter Church of Zurich

I took this photo in Zurich, Switzerland when I was walking around a riverside cobblestone lane across from St. Peter Church of Zurich. St. Peter Church of Zurich is known as the tower which has one of the largest clock faces in Europe. I've heard that the clock face is about 8.5 meters in diameter. According to the large clock face, it was about twenty to three. My ICE train back to Frankfurt, Germany was the 19:14. Which meant it was about to time to shop around for cute souvenirs with a flag of Switzerland.

Have a 20-minute hasty breakfast

The photo shows my very first breakfast at my hotel in Jerusalem, Israel. I flew to Jerusalem from Athens, Greece using EL AL Israel Airlines on Friday afternoon. The streets seemed like shuttered due to Israeli weekly holiday which starts from Friday afternoon and ends on Sunday morning. I remember that the inflight meal was a submarine sandwich and my first dinner was also a submarine sandwich due to the holiday. At my hotel's receptionist, I made a impulsive plan to join a bus tour on the following Saturday to get to Masada and the Dead Sea. The hotel pick up service of the tour would be around 8:20 a.m. and my hotel's breakfast served from 8:00 a.m.. Which means I had to hurry my very first breakfast in Jerusalem, Israel, but everything was really nice after unexpected submarine sandwiches twice in a row. I love submarine sandwiches, but if I put my two cents in had them twice in a row in a new country was over the top.

How do I get my hotel?

I took this photo in Copenhagen, Denmark. One night I took dinner at an Indian place and had delicious curry with some cool Indian beer. During dinner, I didn't look out the window, so till I opened the entrance door of the Indian place I totally didn't know that the whole city was enveloped in a night fog. Luckily it was my fifth night in Copenhagen, so I barely remembered the right direction to my hotel from the Indian place, but still I wasn't sure, because I could see almost nothing. A while ago, I photoshopped one of my photos of the foggy night, and I noticed that I was this close to Tivoli Gardens.

Erosion of Patale Chhango

I took this photo at Patale Chhango (a.k.a. Davi's Falls or Davis Falls) in Pokhara, Nepal. If a Nepali local didn't tell me anything, I could not possibly know what this hole was. According to him this hole is like erosion due to the dynamic water pressure from Phewa Lake. Come to think about it, it just makes sense to me that Patale Chhango is a place where you can see dynamic waterfalls, and the water is coming from Phewa Lake. The water pressure here is often quite strong that could be the reason of this rock erosion.

Between a rock and a hard place

The photo shows a sign of the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain. When I planned to travel to Madrid, I didn't think about the day of the week and didn't know that most museums in Madrid are closed on Mondays. I arrived to Madrid on Saturday afternoon. For the rest of Saturday and the following Sunday, I looked around the city and visited so many must-sees other than museums. Then on Monday morning, I decided to visit a museum for a change, but Museo del Prado and the many others were closed because of Monday. My flight was on Tuesday. I was like caught between a rock and a hard place, but thank goodness the Museo Reina Sofia open on Mondays.

On the same page

I took this photo in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka while I was waiting for my Sri Lankan vegetable curry and rice. It was a sunny and bright day again at the end of November and I had only three days left until my flight to Bangkok, Thailand. The customers of this ocean view restaurant were absolutely the same as the day before. One of them started to talk to me about several years ago. By coincidence, we both knew how this place was like at that time, not only that, but we knew as much about what had been lost. We were definitely on the same page.

Damascus Gate

The photo shows Damascus Gate which is the main entrance gate to the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. I went inside of the walls of Jerusalem through Damascus Gate and firstly looked around the Muslim Quarter. The Muslim Quarter is the largest quarter among the four quarters of the Old City. I took a stroll around narrow alleys between the double row of market and bought some souvenirs. One of my souvenirs was a handwoven blackish scarf looped up with gold and silver. This is still my favorite scarf.

Wat Pho

I took this photo at Wat Pho (Thai: วัดโพธิ์) in Bangkok, Thailand. Wat Pho is also called the Temple of the Reclining Buddha where you can see an image of reclining Buddha which is about 45 meters long, 15 meters high. This temple is one of the oldest and largest temples of Bangkok and is also known as the home of traditional Thai massage. I've been to Wat Pho several times and I've gotten a massage as well. By the way, it's Tuesday, January 1. Happy new year 2013 (สวัสดีปีใหม่ 2556).