The flow of traffic at the ROLEX Restaurant Junction is relentless. Cars, motorbikes, bicycles and handcarts etc. creep in on you from all directions.

I was working in the area when all of a sudden; I noticed black fumes in my pictures. I looked up but it didn’t look too bad.

About five minutes later, it got worse. Concerned citizens gathered in disbelief. Short circuits, cigarette buds; all kinds of rumours were doing the rounds.

Two fire brigades later, the fire only seemed to get worse. Three more fire brigades were rushed in to the scene. By the time we left, the problem had not been resolved. I hope that there’s been no loss of life or damage to property.

FIN

Getting there:

Get aboard bus # 91 (the bus stop is to the left if you exit Amsterdam Central Station from the front), frequency: 30 minutes, journey time: about 50 minutes.

Nearest Railway Station: Koog-Zaandijk / Zaandam.

You can rent bicycles from Amsterdam Central Station / Zaandam Railway Station. Yes, bicycles travel on trains. It’s the Netherlands! Zaanse Schaans can be accessed by ferry from a neighborhood on the other side of the river. Consider this whilst going back.

Zaanse Schaans is open throughout the year. However during the winter, some attractions might be open to the public only during weekends. There is no general admission fee. But entry to a windmill costs 2/3 euro. You can also buy a consolidated pass from the Zaanse Schaans museum.

You’ll come upon a photographer making a photo of you as you walk into the windmill area from the bus stop. On your way out, you can purchase a calendar and keychain with your photo on it!

I recommend having a look inside at least a couple of the windmills. Then up climb the ladder to the upper deck and soak in the breathtaking landscape.

I got to meet a couple of gentlemen operating this windmill and gather some firsthand knowledge from them. It’s hard work but the technology is amazing. All of the gears etc. are made of wood!

Zaanse Schaans has some beautiful Dutch houses and the oldest Albert Heijn. Albert Heijn is a chain of supermarkets in the Netherlands. I love their brand of chocolates.

There’s a cheese farm and a wooden shoe factory. I got to watch them make the cheese and sample all the cheese on offer. The lovely ladies working here are dressed in traditional Dutch costumes. The cost of cheese can be lower than some of the stores in the city of Amsterdam.

This stuff is real good!

There’s a wooden shoe factory! One gentleman demonstrates the process of making the famous Dutch shoes; one wooden shoe at a time. A block of wood is fixed to a machine that copies the shape of the template shoe that’s also fixed to the machine. The whole process lasts about five to seven minutes. It’s an interesting lesson. Don’t miss it.

However, in this day and age, the wooden shoes are mass produced.

Zaanse Schaans is one of the most accessible day trips from Amsterdam. I highly recommend a visit to Zaanse Schaans for it has some unique attractions such as breathtaking landscapes, old windmills, cheese farms, the wooden shoe factory and the oldest Albert Heijn; to mention a few. The Zaanse Schaans Museum runs a small cafe that has a restroom. You will also find a public toilet closer to the windmills.

FIN

It was a hot summer day in Thanjavur. An overnight train from Madras had brought us there. It must have been a little over 40° Celsius. But overcast skies brought us relief from the otherwise glaring April sunshine.

The light suited my photography. I was on a professional assignment for one of my clients based in Mumbai. And I had a great time meeting friendly villagers who have greatly benefited from the grassroots development work done by my clients at villages a short drive away from Thanjavur.

The area is full of temples big and small. Temple architecture and sculptures in India never fail to amaze me.

FIN

I love farms and farming; not the facebook kind though. I have wanted to spend time in the midst of hardworking farmers and cattle since 10 odd years. I never got going though.

Farmers start growing rice in the month of June, that’s when the monsoons set in. And the lush green paddy fields are a breathtaking sight!

I’ll bring you all the action right here!

FIN

Why leave the majestic Old Town and all the luxuries that it has on offer and head into a rather ugly and rundown section of the city? Well, I think that it’s worth it.

The Jewish Quarter is a short walk away from Old Town Square. Whilst you are always greeted by long queues of people lined outside the gates of the synagogues and museums, I’d imagine that it’s rather easy for the average tourist to give the Jewish Quarter in Prague a miss only due to ignorance.

I might be wrong.

On my first visit to Prague, I simply wasn’t aware of the fact that the Czech Republic was one of the worst hit by the Holocaust! So awestruck I was that I couldn’t have enough of the gothic architecture in the Old Town. I had reason to believe that the Old Town and the Prague Castle is all there was on offer.

I’m not one to avail of sightseeing tours and those ugly red and yellow tourist buses. In Prague one doesn’t need to. All of Prague can be accessed by foot. And so, they offer you *free*, that’s right *free walking tours*. All you got to do is tip the guide. We joined in only to find out what’s in store.

I just did a google but couldn’t come upon the tour company that catered to us. I liked them. But several of them operate in Prague and so I don’t want to point you to the wrong company. I’m sure that they’re all good though. Our guides wore yellow tee shirts.

Nevertheless.

The next morning, we head back to the Jewish Quarter. Remember, I didn’t know of its existence until our * Free Tours * guide took us there the previous morning.

Why leave the majestic Old Town and all the luxuries that it has on offer and head into a rather ugly and rundown section of the city? Well, I think that it’s worth it.

We came upon a handful of synagogues and the historic Jewish Cemetery. The cemetery has all of twelve layers of buried bodies. During the reign of Adolf Hitler, the Jews were ghettoised. And so, they had to reuse burial ground.

My most shocking memory was the art museum at one of the synagogues. Back in the day, one woman encouraged children at the concentration camp to paint their emotions. I need to visit Prague again to bring you her name and the age of these children but she encouraged them to paint their dreams, what freedom meant to them, memories of home etc.

(above and below) Old New Synagogue

I distinctly remember a painting of a flower vase wherein the vase and the flowers were painted in shades of black. It disturbed me. I was amazed with some of the other paintings though, words don’t come to mind but I applaud the imagination of these children. And the fact that these children were put to death before the age of fifteen is unfortunate.

Before she was put to death, this woman hid all of these painting in a suitcase and hid it only to be discovered much later.

FIN

I reckon that Lincou is one of the best walks in the world. Lincou is a village to the south of France. Come summer and Lincou is one of the most sought-after destinations in all of Europe.

We must thank Anne for this experience.

FIN

Yes, this is the biggest flower auction in the world and also the fourth largest building in terms of floor space.

I’m hoping that you have a few more minutes to read all of what’s written here. It’ll certainly enhance your experience at this, the world famous Aalsmeer Flower Auction.

The atmosphere at the Aalsmeer Flower Auction is intense. You have flower merchants from far and wide bidding for the most sought-after flowers in the whole world. Trading is at its busiest on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays but the Aalsmeer Flower Auction is open every weekday between 7:30 AM and 11:30 AM.

 The auction commences at 6:30 AM. The best time to visit is between 7:30 AM and 9:00 AM. That means you’ll want to get on the bus early, say around 6:30 AM. It can take forty odd minutes to get to the Aalsmeer Flower Auction from the bus station opposite Hotel Victoria, near Amsterdam Central Station.

Nearly everyone got off the bus at the Aalsmeer Flower Auction whilst I was heading there – tourists as well as some employees.

Bus drivers and local commuters in Amsterdam are always corporative in helping tourists find their way around town.

Once you’re there, you’ll need to purchase a ticket for €5 odd and walk straight up the catwalk.

The catwalk is a walking corridor that gives you a spectacular view of the action below – the auction of thirteen thousand odd varieties of flowers!

The auction room is alongside the catwalk. Hundreds of traders equipped with laptops and other such gizmos bid on the flowers on offer. Strings of trolleys loaded with these flowers make their way into the auction room. Auction clocks are projected on huge screens. You’ll be provided with a piece of paper that explains the process of auctioning and the content on the screens.

How would I describe all of this? Simple, “a high-speed whirligig!”

 FIN

My favourite activity, and I’ve done this over and over again is to get atop the church towers and soak in breathtaking aerial views of the city of Amsterdam and beyond.

This is the view from the top of the western tower along Prinsengracht Canal. You can see the Anne Frank House there below.

Amsterdam offers three church towers that you can climb; Westerkerk or western church, Zuiderkerk or south church and Oedekerk or old church. The three magnificent structures are at biking, even walking distances from each other.

Guided tours run every half hour during the summer. The expert guides are easy-going students studying at different institutes in Amsterdam. I found that they had wonderful insights to the different things that I could do during my stay in Amsterdam.

Each tour cost € 7.

Fire safety regulations restrict the number of people climbing up the western and old church towers to 6 whereas the south church can take about a dozen. So it’s good to book early. Tickets are available at the entrance of each of the towers.

The beautiful Zuiderkerk made famous by Claude Monet.

The Amsterdam Public Library is accessible throughout the year for free, of course. It offers some fantastic views of the city through large transparent windows. The terrace on the eighth floor is open-air.

FIN

10. Street entertainment at Dam Square in Amsterdam. I have embedded a couple of fantastic sound recordings of The Laughing Life and Vincent van Hessen. I also have a photo of this gentleman and his Xylophone and this gentleman from last year.

09. Hostel Tyn. It was the second time that I checked into Hostel Tyn in Prague. It’s at such a fantastic location in such a fantastic city that I always remember it fondly.

08. The funfair and festivities at Réquista, a village in the south of France. During the week of the Assumption, the people of this little village get together in celebration. It was the first time that I was exposed to a non-cosmopolitan alien culture. I enjoyed the wine, cheese, duck, trout and conversations with the wonderful local people. We’d like to thank Anne Ketteringham for this wonderful experience.

07. I finally spent a whole day inside the Louvre but not before spending hours outside the Louvre trying to make a photo like this one. I had blogged about my impressions about a few of the paintings in the Louvre.

06. Biking through Waterland in the Netherlands in the midst of cows, sheep, goats, horses and ducks in gorgeous weather. If you’re ever in the Netherlands, remember this, drop everything else, get on a bike, fetch a map of Waterlands and get going. Please carry enough water and some packed lunch because cafés are few and far apart.

05. Trekking up Powder Tower in Prague to make this photo. Lonely Planet re-tweeted this photo on the 19th of December, 2011.

04. Hanging out and making photos along Prinsengracht Canal in Amsterdam. I have this photo, this photo, this photo and this photo.

03. Chilling out in the evenings at Old Town Square in Prague. This has got to be one of the best public squares in the world.

02. Supper along the Champs-Élysées. This year, we stopped at a café named George V. A meal at any of the cafés along this, the most famous street in the world tends to be my best meal of the trip but also the most expensive. But it’s always worth the money.

01. The stunning Basilique du Sacré-Cœur and the rich culture such as art, music and live street theatre that the surrounding streets have on offer.

FIN

I post a Travel Photo everyday on my facebook page. Please stop by and click on ‘Like’. As smart phones and 3G-technology continues to become more affordable to the common man, I will bring you LIVE travel updates from all of my travels through 2012 through my facebook page and via. twitter. Please join the conversation!

This is another one of my photos from Prinsengracht. It’s another one from the series that consists of this photo and this photo and this photo. I love all of them.

I’ve written extensively about the use of black and white film and I remember this post, Over with 35mm film way back in April 2010 wherein I contemplated dropping the use of film completely.

I’ve had DSLR cameras since 2003 but I continued to make photos on film. In fact the number of photos that I made using film outnumbered my digital photos. One of the reasons for that is the fact that I make a lot of black and white photos.

All that started to change slightly since the July of 2010. The number of digital photos started to equal the ones made using film.

I’m at a point in my life where I don’t see myself using film too often. And certainly not 35mm film! I’ll use my digital camera to make black and white photos.

Having said all of this, I love medium format photography. That would mean using the 120mm film whenever a location presents photo opportunities that suit this format for example if I go to Ladakh.

Film is also a lot more expensive. A roll of Fuji NEOPAN 100 ISO costs about INR 115, the processing costs INR 300, I can scan them at home but then again hi-resolution drum scans cost upwards of INR 350. I’d rather use that money travelling.

So all in all, I don’t see myself using more than 10 rolls of 120mm film in the year 2012. That’s between 120 and 150 frames for the whole year.

I have equal regard for a physical film/transparency and a Digital RAW file.

FIN

I post a Travel Photo everyday on my facebook page. Please stop by and click on ‘Like’. As smart phones and 3G-technology continues to become more affordable to the common man, I will bring you LIVE travel updates from all of my travels through 2012 through my facebook page and via. twitter. Please join the conversation!