Join my journey to the corners of this world
Initially, I thought this guy was nuts. I was entirely new to the city – fresh out of the airport – when I took this picture. A day later, I found out that in this place, five kids and a driver on one small Honda scooter is actually rather tame.
Flying to Japan is like buying the cheapest ticket to Mars. Yep, you can quote me on that one. From Shibuya to Ginza, everything about Tokyo seems as alien to the average “Gaijin” as the Martian plains were to Mark Whitney. Don’t get me wrong; I love Tokyo and wish every distant planet was as nice as this amazing metropolis.
The thing is, it can wear you down after a while.
Want to see how “real” Japan looks like?
Continue reading “Would you like to see how “real” Japan looks like?”
There it was, a sad procession of Mourners led by a crying widow, men carrying a heavy wooden coffin, and a band of Mariachis playing slow, somber melodies. This could have been just another Hispanic funeral. No different than Mexico, Nicaragua and perhaps also in some quarters of the United States.
But this was Guatemala.
Have you heard about the “Birds of Paradise”?
They are as colorful as they are hard to find. And, of course, they are rare. Rare as snow in Tel Aviv.
Judging by appearance this bird should be too.
Is it a guy armed with a barrette and a freshly-baked Baguette cycling down a tree-lined path?
Could it be an idealist Sorbonne student sitting at chick Parisian Café arguing about Marx & Sartre?
Maybe a decadent fashion designer looking at his “Heroine Chic” models as they parade down the catwalk?
Or perhaps it’s President Chirac pulling a middle one at George W?
Continue reading “Close your eyes and imagine France”
No reliable electricity, no sanitation, no transportation infrastructure, no plumbing, no urban planning (ha, ha, that’s a good one), no running water, no hygiene, no emission controls, no building codes, no hope. You may think we’re describing some godforsaken shantytown in war-torn Africa. But we’re not. This city happens to be the Capital of a peaceful, well-known Asian nation.
Continue reading “Is this the most horrible city in the world?”
It was during the pleasant old days of the pre-bubble area. The time when growing tech companies bought business class tickets to send their young marketing professionals half-way across the world to give few presentations to would-be customers.
Getting “stuck” in Sydney during a late winter weekend with nothing else better to do, I decided to hop on a cab and land on Bondi Beach.
Continue reading “Have you got what it takes?”
I took this photo ten years ago in Burma’s Inle Lake. It was five in the afternoon, and the sun was just getting into that narrow-angle photographers like so much. I heard about Inle Lake from a friend who came back the year before full of stories about the people who spend their entire time on the lake – literally.
Continue reading “He was a dancer though he didn’t know it”
“Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes walking…”
But not this one.
Far removed from the glitzy opulence of Ipanema with its sandy beaches and Thong-clad, long-legged beauties, this girl peeps her head out of a bar window in the semi-decayed neighborhood of Santa Teresa. Continue reading “Opening a window to a different corner of Rio”
8 ESSENTIAL TIPS & 7 ROADS YOU SHOULDN’T MISS Ever since my first time driving through the Black Forest I have been frequently asked by friends and colleagues to share the secrets and know-how I gathered driving through this exceptional place. After much persuasion, I’ve finally decided to put my knowledge base into writing. Enjoy!
Ever since my first time driving through the Black Forest I have been frequently asked by friends and colleagues to share the secrets and know-how I gathered driving through this exceptional place. After much persuasion, I’ve finally decided to put my knowledge base into writing.
Enjoy!
Continue reading “The complete driver’s guide to the Black Forest – Part I”
