It might not sound all that ideal, a trip to a city when you know the weather will be a scary mix of winter-in-Northern-Germany horror deluxe: Böen winds, possible fog, possible rain, possible snow. A delightful mix for your hair and the impending cold you feel growing inside.
Fizzy hair, don’t care. Cold, too. Train, here I come. Lübeck, see you in a bit.
First impression: Red bricks and houses that reminds me of Amsterdam. And Copenhagen. It’s like Amsterdam is, in fact, set in Cop. Pretty inception, I must say. It gets prettier when you realise that, despite being on German soil, the Old Town is a bit on sweet hills. Details are the interesting part of this trip.
Bar the rain, it was a pleasure to capture the silent streets, tiny alleys, beautiful houses and the small harbour. The pictures I took end up being quite dark and contrasting, catching the light was a bit difficult, but I might say I enjoyed some of the results
I would also get an extra side of rain for the fish I ate there. De-Li-Sh. I recommend you Kartoffelkeller >> www.kartoffel-keller.de/ 🙂
Following, snaps from the city.
And the view from the harbour:
I particularly liked the houses and the small, unique alleys spread around the city. Here’s some examples.
I have other 50 pictures I would like to upload, but I’ll stop here. 🙂
One of the perks of living in Europe is the endless possibility to visit unique places within a few hours, all around you.
One of perks of living in Berlin is the fact that you are perfectly in the middle of this amazing continent. That sounds the perfect deal to weekend getaways… I picked Bratislava to be my January’s escape. Why?
Pocket-sized Old Town + nice Opera + a castle + good food + beer. Too good to be true!
The first stop was a night at the Opera. A great excuse to dress up elegant.
The National Opera
A quite nice choice is also enjoy a feast of beer and goulash or halušky, sheep cheese dumplings. You can’t say no to beer and local delicacies! I recommend the beautiful Pilsner-Urquell pub for the evening (conveniently closed to the Opera, and they don’t mind if you’re overdressed for a pub).
Even if all the shops are closed on Sunday, the city center is quite lively and rich in tourists. There are, however, some quite street, perfect for taking pictures. A trip to the castle is essential to have a better grasp of the city.
What strikes is to see how small the old town is, and how different it’s from the new part of the city. And even striking feeling comes when you look at the other side of the river, and see coloured block: Communist architecture excels in Bratislava, indeed.
Small peak to the Old Town red roofs from the Castle
And the view of the castle from Old Town.
Here some postcard-perfect snaps of Old Town. So charming!
A special thank to the brutal Communist buildings. And the UFO Tower on the bridge. 🙂
If everyone visits the Grand Palace at least once, it means it’s good, right?
Spoiler: It is.
But it is also overcrowded as f… People are everywhere. Yet, tourists can’t be not enough beautiful, or interesting, to overshadow those stunning buildings. After the first steps in a courtyard, I thought of how much engaging craftsmanship was used to create all that incredible horror vacuifilled with gold. Another impressive thing is how asymmetry plays a big role in perceiving the space and in a certain way in making pondered the eclectic styles. The different designs and colours, impressively enough, don’t clash with each others.
I wonder how this place, all set around open lawns, gardens and courtyards, looks like when it’s empty. I wish I could visit at the dawn, when nobody’s already there. I bet it’s breath-taking. But, you know, being a tourist for a day you get what you pay for. Good news is that if you play it wisely, you can almost avoid big crowds an get some incredible shots of details. Not enough to cope with hoards of tourists, but enough to get a glimpse of royal Thailand.
So, what’s left from that visit? Tons of photos. Some of those I leave them here for you, enjoy.
It appears that metal gate doors are still a big thing in Bangkok.
Every place, house, shop, restaurant in Chinatown rocked it, usually in different colours. Nothing is better, for one with a huge passion for framing like me, to take pictures of every different shutters. Coincidence, these ones were all in the same street, Tri Mit Road.
Let’s state the obvious: first impressions matter.
We get influenced easily, especially while travelling. Impressions turn in conceptions about the surroundings, to simplify the travel. We have, after all, a simple mind. But during my first day in Bangkok, I tried to hold the thought and every impression of the city: my cuz was ill, and needed to rest. We based our stay in Chinatown, where we knew we could trust in good food, less tourists and Chinese indifference.
We read incredible stories about how tourists were squeezed to the extreme in Bangkok (latest revealed all true: scammers, screamers, sellers are constantly trying to get money from you) and we just wanted, at least for a day, to rest. So we found our little peace in the little streets of Chinatown, that lies between the main train station and the river. We took a train from the airport, and experienced a third class ride; of course as in other intended moments, we were the only Westerners.
People were kind to us, but quite alarmed by my camera (and the big luggage). I was able to snap a quick shot of the toddler in front of me, and it’s actually one of my favourite pictures I have ever taken.
In the late afternoon I went out for a photo session around the neighbourhood. I loved the vibes, the humid weather, the food stalls, and the general buzz. I ended up in temples, dark alleys, street markets, and then the riverbank, all without a map/phone. It was a nice me-session, where I was able to capture my personal first impressions of Bangkok’s Chinatown. It’s similar to many other Chinatowns I have been, yet different. I particularly loved the jungle trees growing everywhere around the small, cute, decadent houses. I leave you some pictures (that means many, since I couldn’t pick fewer) here: get your own impression, and enjoy.
The Gregorian calendar and the Julian calendar both consist of the same following twelve months. 2015 wasn’t different from tradition, January to December, non stop, no surrender.
Rough, the best adjective to describe my year. Never uneven, never exemplary as I wanted it to be, yet I maybe have learnt how to get satisfactions anyway from bad situations and relationships. And I am building a zero-fuck mentality that I’ll bring along in 2016 for sure.
I am getting ready to celebrate NYE, and I just wanted to spend few words and force myself to find one good thing about every months. Some were particularly hard, but here it is.
January – Walk in the snow
The first day of 2015 I went for a walk in the snow. I started planning and decided about a big trip, that came true in October. That day I wrote
“Go. Discover. And then let’s meet somewhere halfway.”
February – Celebrating Carnevale
I went to Italy for a weekend fuelled by celebrations. My friends’ concert, and Carnevale. I dressed up like Katniss and my brother was Gale. We sang and danced. Happy times.
March – Celebratory Copenhagen and Tropical Island
Back enjoying travelling, a quick pre-birthday city escape to Copenhagen (long-due, see the blog post I wrote HERE) and a tropical day in the craziest place in Germany, Tropical Island (see Casey Neistat’s video HERE to understand). And happy birthday.
April – Driving in a Baltic Island
I spent Easter driving in Rüggen island, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Fields, wild beaches, cold sea, wind, sun. The cold shaping our laughters. A nice stay indeed. Highly recommended.
May – I ran my first competitive run with my father.
I sucked. I enjoyed it. I’ll do it again and work with my broken lungs and ankle to improve.
June – Some great sunsets in Berlin.
We had warm days, and stunning sunsets. I remember a beautiful evening with barbecue and beers at the park. It felt like summer, and it felt good. More of those, please.
July – Rooftop Summer Terraces
Good vibes at the end of July, chilling with Jesus. Yet again, more of those, and more of my best friend, please.
August – My Brother in Berlin
He came and stayed with me for few weeks. It’s quite a challenge to host a teen, but also quite a tender reward to know that he – in his way – cares to stay with you. Also, no matter how big or old is growing, I can still remind him to brush his teeth.
September – I got married!
I had the pleasure to experience marriage for almost 2 days. On Facebook. With an utter stranger. Friends went full ballistic. Fun experience. Unfortunately, we don’t communicate anymore. I must have been a bad wife, I guess… Friends say he doesn’t deserve me. LOLz
October – Trip To South-East Asia
The core of the year was October and my big trip in SEA. I’m still writing about it, since there is lots to talk about. I can’t wait to organise another big trip like that.
November – Adrian Bliss’ vlogs
I have watched lots of Youtube lately, mostly boredom-induced. I absolutely loved Adrain Bliss’ parody of daily vloggers, and I spent a joyful month waiting every evenng for the next video to come out. More than just parody, the videos turned in a nice storytelling, that I fully enjoyed. You can watch the entire month here: Vlogvember
Props also to the original music
December – The Leftovers season 2 and New Puppy
The Leftovers season 2 was unbelievably good. Gripping performance and storytelling, superb soundtrack. I had a binge and the last episodes left me in a state of trance, so much compelling and thoughtful. High quality tv, that should deserve more attention. I can’t wait for season 3.
Also, we welcomed a new puppy in the family. She’s a rascal. 🙂 Welcome Maya.
It is, believe me. It’s a clash of buildings, wires, market stalls, vendors, screaming trucks, tuk-tuks, drunk people, young tourists and people who want something from you. All.The.Time.
It’s ironic that such a carnival-type-of-place is in the middle of a beautiful green island like Phuket. But it’s a great place for backpackers and people who are not in the mood of relaxing holidays. Also perfect for a night out of the resort.
Want to know more? Here are 10 snaps of the place, enjoy!
A bit of digression from the usual travel story-telling this time.
I am preparing the first chapter about Phuket, and while watching back the pictures I took I got hooked up by one of my photo obsession: wires/electricity.
Since I started taking pictures I have been attired by some particular topics:
Posters
Convey Safety Mirrors
Phone Boxes
Janis (my dog sister)
Electricity (Wires, Power and utility boxes)
As soon as I got to Thailand I noticed how electrical safety has not the usual common European standards. Or any standard at all. Sometimes I was a bit freaked out by the warmth and buzzing sound they were emitting, but I must confess they were great fun to take pictures at.
The following series comes from Patong, enjoy.
Phuket and Patong chapters coming next!
P.S. Even in this blog post I managed to create a list. My mind is that list-oriented. 🙂
The people, the neighbourhoods, the food, I enjoyed everything about it, even the massive tropical thunderstorm in the afternoon, after hours of sun (and haze).
Few highlights and reasons to visit:
It’s an easy, cheap ride from Kuala Lumpur, around 2 hours away. Perfect timing for a nap, or some quality podcasts.
People are more laid-back then KL, they don’t harass tourists so much, they don’t need it, there are already plenty of them. In fact, Malacca City is an UNESCO World Heritage Site, and former Portuguese, Dutch, then British colony.
Due to its intrinsic multiculturalism, the food is great. I ate superb Chinese Malay food in Chinatown. By the way, there is a significant number of Chinese, immigration started in the early 15th century!
The central area is quite pocket-sized, divided by the Malacca river in Chinatown and Dutch Town. Both are great to walk around, and full of restaurant and shops.
If you have time go check the harbour, now a bit modern part of the city. In the middle between the old town and the harbour, there are residential areas that looks quite interesting too, especially to eat ‘like a local’.
Temples, churches, mosques. Beautiful to find them all together, for once.
Mine was a day-trip, but I saw some quirky, cozy hostels while walking around, and also some nice bars and cafes, so it must be really nice to spend a night out too.
Rain stopped the wander, but not the wonder. It’s indeed a special city.
I was almost forgetting: I had a makeover! I became a Chinese princess for a good 15 minutes. It was boiling in that dress, but a fun experience.
See you next time, Melaka, it’s a promise, rain or shine.
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