Highlight of Soi 9

A street sign in Pattaya, Thailand looks like ship's wheel. The photo shows the street sign on the entrance to Pattaya Soi 9. Thai word Soi means street in English. Generally, I stay in a hotel on Soi 9, so this view reminds me of my time in Pattaya a lot. Soi 9 is located in between a huge shopping mall and Pattaya police station. Convenience stores and a local super market were just a stone's throw away from Soi 9. Also, there were lots and lots of food stalls on Soi 9 early morning to late at night. During lunch time and dinner time were sort of the highlight. Check it out!

Meet someone's requirements

When I was making plans for my trip to Scandinavian countries, I made reservations on the Internet. I wanted to get to Copenhagen, Denmark via Bangkok, Thailand, so I chose Thai Airways International without thinking. I would definitely choose Thai Airways again even if I had choices in other airlines. After the flight booking, I started to choose hotels in Bangkok and Copenhagen. In Copenhagen, I wanted to stay near Copenhagen Central station and wanted to have breakfast at hotel. I browsed through the website then found a nice hotel which met my requirements. The photo shows my hotel and a train. Everything was okay.

Topography of Terror museum

The photo shows a part of the Topography of Terror (German: Topographie des Terrors), in Berlin, Germany. The Topography of Terror is an outdoor museum. When I attended a half-day bus tour of Berlin with a local guide, I visited this place as well. It was a sobering experience to be there. The wall was quite high as I gazed upward. I've visited several cities in Germany such as Munich, Sankt Goar, Frankfurt, Cologne, Bremen, Dresden, Fussen and so on, then I'd say I had a totally different experience at the place where the photo shows.

I had a Japanese experience in Lumbini, Nepal

Guess what? I took this photo at my hotel room in Lumbini, Nepal.  It was a Japanese-style room you might see anywhere in Japan, but I was in Nepal, so it was kinda weird. There were shojis, tatamis, futons, a low table and such. On the table there were a Japanese-styled tea set. So, let's clarify some Japanese word. Shoji is kind of like a door and it's designed to slide open. It's made with wooden frame and thin traditional Japanese paper called washi. Tatami is kind of like a floor mat which made of rice straw. You must go barefoot on Tatami mats. Futon is like a bed. In Japan most people lay futons on Tatami mats. During the hot and humid summer days in Japan, a lot of Japanese prefer to nap on Tatami mats without futons.

The Pantheon in Rome, Italy

The photo shows the Pantheon in Rome, Italy. One afternoon I visited a lot of Rome's must-sees and the Pantheon was one of them. An outside view of the Pantheon was this gorgeous, and inside of the Pantheon was quite intriguing because of its special ceiling and its hole. The ceiling of the dome has a big hole at the center and the hole is like an open window. The sunlight shining down on the floor through the hole and the view of that was fantastic. The hole is called Oculus. It's a latin word means eye in English.

You can't have it all

I've had lunch at a riverside place in Vientiane, Laos while staring into Thailand over the Mekong River. I ordered a bottle of Beer Lao and Pad Ped. Laotian word "Pad" means stir-fried, "Ped" means spicy, so Pad Ped is kind of like a stir-fried something you'd like with red curry paste. Pad Ped can be served with many types of meat or fish or seafood and veggies. Red curry paste is the key to the taste. I wanted to take a nicer photo of a bottle of Beer Lao, Pad Ped, a view of Laos overlooking Thailand, but my photo couldn't get any better. I learned the hard way that you can't have it all.

Go boating on Phewa Lake

A sunny day in Pokhara, Nepal, I took a boat and went on Phewa Lake (sometimes it's spelled Fewa Lake). There were a lot of boats available around the lake, and people could hire oarsmen as well. I must admit that I was not really sure if I could row a boat by myself, so I hired an oarsman. It was very relaxing. Go boating on Phewa Lake is a great idea. I could see the a panoramic view of Pokhara on the boat; the blue sky, the clouds, the Himalayas and all. There was an island in the lake and people could reach there by boats.

Prayer Mani wheel

The photo shows a view of Wangdue Phodrang, Bhutan. The buildings in Bhutan were looked like this and they looked so beautiful and interesting for me. Color, design, and everything was so nice. I really enjoyed to see buildings and its details in Bhutan. Also, there was a huge place for prayer Mani wheel. Prayer Mani wheel is also called Mani wheel or Prayer wheel. Small prayer Mani wheels are hand-held. I often saw small ones in Bhutan and Nepal, but I didn't often see this much large one. It was huge.

Exact position

The photo shows the Little Prince Statue and a view of Buda Castle (Hungarian: Budavári Palota) and the river Danube. I took this photo on the flat pest side in Budapest, Hungary overlooking the hilly Buda side. The kid-sized little statue was sitting on the fence along the river Danube. When I was looking for the Little Prince statue, I didn't know its exact position, so I just walked along the river Danube then finally found it. Budapest was really nice place to take a stroll around, so it was fun to walk for a long time.

Sandwiched between beautiful buildings

I took this photo in Malmö, Sweden. I walked along the street sandwiched between beautiful buildings. Come to think of it, one of my British acquaintances always mixes up with my pronunciations such as WORK v. WALK. He said WORK has exactly the same sound as BIRD, and WALK sounds exactly the same as HORSE. With that, I asked my American acquaintance how to pronounce WORK and WALK. He said WORK has exactly the same sound as BIRD, but WALK has kinda same sound as CHALK, but it more sounds like WOK as in super-popular Chinese restaurant. Is that true? It beats me. Always. I'm not a native English speaker and pronunciation has never been my forte.

Wat That Luang Tai

The photo shows the brilliant golden gate of Wat That Luang Tai. After I visited That Luang in Vientiane, Laos by tuk-tuk, I took this photo under the gate of Wat That Luang Tai. Wat That Luang Tai is one of the temples beside That Luang. There are a couple of temples and the other one is named Wat That Luang Neua. The Laotian word "Tai" means south, "Neua" means north, so Wat That Luang Tai is located on the south side of That Luang, Wat That Luang Neua is located on the north side of That Luang. "Wat" means temple.

Can't do any better

This is my another photo of Patale Chhango (a.k.a. Davi's Falls or Davis Falls) in Pokhara, Nepal. Patale Chhango is a waterfall that's the place where a lot of water is coming from Phewa Lake and the water pressure here is often quite strong and dynamic like the photo shows. The place is a little far away from common tourist trails in Pokhara, but I'd say it's definitely a must-see. When I took the photo there was a rainbow over the falls, but the color of the rainbow was quite thin, so I couldn't take a picture any better.

Israeli salad

The photo shows Israeli salad. I ordered this salad in Jerusalem, Israel with Goldstar beer. Actually, I'm a meet eater, so my main dish was kinda grilled beef, though. Israeli salad looked interesting. Tomatoes, cucumbers and such were chopped into tiny dices and were convenient to eat. The place was located in Mamilla Mall which is a long shopping street in Jerusalem. There were lots and lots of shops, eateries as well as places for a drink. There were a bunch of people on so-called Mamilla Avenue including a lot of tourists.

Do you have a room available?

I took this in my hotel room in Vientiane, Laos. The hotel was this close to Nam Phou (sometimes it's spelled Namphou). Nam Phou means fountain in English and it's situated in the heart of the capital Vientiane. I asked at a receptionist of a hotel near Nam Phou that if they had a room available, but the rooms were fully booked. Then I went to the next hotel and asked the same thing. In Lao. I speak Lao. Fortunately, I was able to get a cosy room at the second hotel and it cost 10 bucks per night. The room was simple, but it had a touch of Laotian culture exactly like the photo shows.

Time feels tight

The photo shows an artistic exterior appearance of a restaurant in Lucerne, Switzerland. There were a lot of restaurants and shops in Lucerne, but this artistic wall was so high-profile and I liked it. Lucerne is one of the cities that I really want to revisit some day, because I didn't have enough time to look around the city. There were nice beautiful buildings, interesting places to see, also Swiss cuisine was that good. So, one day wasn't enough in Lucerne. Totally. Another cities that I really want to revisit are Lisbon, Portugal and Athens, Greece. Time felt tight in these cities. Also, Barcelona, Spain was quite unique and Venice, Italy was fantastic. One of my American acquaintances told me that he had visited more than 70 countries. It's impossible for me. I wanna revisit some places that I've been to, and then some one day.

It's still so light out

It was so much fun to take a stroll around Germany, because I love to see beautiful buildings and German architecture there were quite so nice to see and take a lot of pictures. I took this photo in Frankfurt; the largest city in Germany. When I took a stroll around aimlessly, I found this little clock tower on a street which was similar in tone to the neighboring scenery, but it stood out due to the height. I just couldn't believe it was almost 8 p.m., but I was able to enjoy sightseeing while it was still so light out.

Unweathered ancient scripts

I took this photo in Niglihawa, Nepal. When I headed to Lumbini from Chitwan National Park by car, my Nepali guide and a driver and me stopped by Niglihawa to see some ancient ruins of Ashoka era. One of the must-sees in Niglihawa is a couple of broken Ashokan pillars and the photo shows one of the pillar. The pillar was that long and it was laid flat on the ground. An interesting fact of the pillar was that an illustration and ancient scripts were still unweathered and they were visible like the photo shows.