highwayman

Iranian revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:34:45 PDT

If you care about what's going on in Iran at the moment, it's possible to get some live updates at http://www.nomadlife.org.

Next destination: Brussels & Brugge

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:07:38 PDT

Next week I am taking 5 days off and heading to Belgium to visit my old good friend Gitti and others, as well as to chill out in Brussels and Brugge. I'm not really motivated at work these days, so this break might help me a bit to freshen up.

"Happiness is real when shared"

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:33:50 PDT

This photo was taken at FC Barcelona Museum during my visit last May. That was the same size aluminium replica of the real Champions League cup, and you could have a photo with it for 15 euros or something. I got to see the real replica of the cup from 2005 triumph being displayed in the museum as well. Together with Belletti's boots who scored the winning goal. I guess this time they should put Messi's boots as well. Or the whole team's boots together with Guardiola's shoes :) This the perfect season for FC Barcelona, Catalan nation and all Barca fans!

Photo of the Day: Greetings from San Siro, Milano

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:15:15 PDT

San Siro, Milano, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Who is the drunkest nation?

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:11:42 PDT

Peering into North Korea - The Big Picture - Boston.com

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:26:18 PDT

Peering into North Korea - The Big Picture - Boston.com

I wonder how these people can still bear such a regime. It's like a voluntary slavery, and can't be pitied. Even at the border they must be seeing how Chinese towns/cities are changing. And what they will think when one day (surely it will happen) they will get to see how different South Korea has become? Will these two countries with same nation be able to unify at all even if they get such a chance? We have to wait and see.

Photo of the day: Gothic in Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:35:07 PDT

IMG_3227, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

View from the roof part of Duomo Cathedral in Milano

Photo of the day: Children of the evil

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:55:22 PDT

Prague Half Marathon 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:49:43 PDT

Well, yeah, one more half-marathon was completed by me, and I had 2 more fingernails dropped from my feet. Although my target was to finish it in less than 2 hours, I could only finish it in 2:06:00, and the improvement from last year was only 00:1:48. I had smooth run till 17th km, and after that my condition dropped fast. The rest of the run was mental fight. I missed 2 weeks of training in February due to sickness and Venice trip, so the affect was obvious. Not satisfied with the result, but satisfied with having completed another long run. No major injuries, so I can continue to do sports soon again. This time I ran in team category, our team EXATEC (university in Mexico) included myself, Cesar(Mexico), Blanca(Spain) and Gabriela (Slovakia). Each of us completed all 21+ km and deserves both thumbs up!

Below are my results:

Split	Time	min/Km	Delta	min/Km	RealTime
5 Km	0.28.21	5,40	0.28.21	5,40	0.27.52
10 Km	0.57.13	5,43	0.28.52	5,46	0.56.44
15 Km	1.25.30	5,42	0.28.17	5,39	1.25.01
Finish	2.06.00	5,58	0.40.30	6,38	2.05.31

And here's some unofficial photos;

EXATEC team before the race - Cesar, Gabriela, Blanca, Aibek

After the finish line - Efrain, Gabriela, Aibek, Cesar

"After race" at Mexican pub "La Casa Blu"

Carnevale di Venezia 2009 (to be updated)

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:30:20 PDT

DSC05281, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Before all my Venice Carnival impressions and memories vanish, here's the story. Now one thing the reader should note is that if you ever decide to go to Venice, make it for the Venice festival in February. It lasts about a week. That's where and when you truly will understand the magic and charm that is so special and unique for this city. The only thing that might bother your decision is the crowd during this period. But even then all these people will be in a very festival mood, dressed up in masks and costumes and play a part in the creation of this magic. Weather is never that cold there in February, it was even pleasantly warm when we were there. And people who have been to Venice in summer time have complained that it was hot and stinky. This was my second trip to Venice, I was there 2 years ago for 1 day brief tour.

DSC05310, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Also, Venice is not a cheap place to travel to, but there are many ways to control your budget. You can fly to neighboring Treviso airport by low-cost SkyEurope flight. And if you stay in a hotel on the mainland of Venice instead of the Venice island, then you can save great deal on accommodation as well. There are regular buses to the main island where everything happens.

IMG_1482, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

So on a warm February day, we flied over to Venice Treviso Airport. This time I was with a fun group of Kazakhstani and Dagestani friends. As it usually is the case with group trips, it is more fun, and at the same time, it is much slower. Especially with the girls and in a place like Venice ;) Taking pictures in front of every interesting object > validating if the picture is ok > if not, taking it again > then taking the photo of the next girl... and repeating the process every 10 meters... I just wonder how it was simpler before the invention of digital cameras ;) But I have to accept that the pictures are awesome and the trips are more fun and interesting when shared. Make a mental note. And the weather was like a blessing from above! Everything was set up perfectly for the carnival to happen.

IMG_1719, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_1670, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_1681, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_1915, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_1901, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

A bit of history
This city had long been a center of trade and art in the Adriatics and ruled by the Doge - local Duke. It kept its neutrality and provided the connection for a trade between Christian West and Muslim East worlds. Also, it has great importance in Christian world as St.Mark's relics were buried where St.Mark's Basilica stands today. St.Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark, one of the four main gospels of Old Testament (Bible). Initially he was buried in Egypt, but later his relics were brough from Alexandria to Venice by the merchants. His evangelistic symbol is the lion, and that's why St.Mark's Lion is one of the symbols of Venice.

IMG_1773, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Among the famous citizens were Marco Polo, Giacomo Casanova and Vivaldi. In fact, I'd highly recommend you to watch the movie "Casanova" (2005) where Leath Hedger put another great performance, and this film shows the best views of Venice, what the carnival atmosphere is like and overall look of Venice from that period. I watched it right after my trip, and truly enjoyed. Also, "Merchant of Venice" could be interesting to watch unless you have some problems with Shakespeare's English :)

IMG_2876, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Venice Carnival and costumes
The beauty of this event lies in its uniqueness with costumes and masks, plus the uniqueness of the place itself. In old times, it was the opportunity for the people to hide behind masks and costumes and for a short period become someone they are not in real life. Like poor people dressing up like rich, famous people dressing up like ordinary people, monks/priests hiding behind the masks and flirting with women, etc. I guess that is somehow valid today as well. Even today you can see lots of people dressed up in full Venetian costumes, attracting the curious crowd and kindly posing in front of the cameras as if that's their main purpose to be there - to entertain the crowd. Those might be some celebrities or some poor workers from a small Italian town. But on that very day, they were the super stars. And I told to myself: "Damn, I am sooo wearing some great full costume next time!". Because the rest of the crowd in just only masks or some cheap-looking cloaks looked pathetic in comparison with these few ones.

DSC05512, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05502, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05498, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2402, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05483, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05477, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05459, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05530, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2539, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Oh, and on the way back at the train station I encountered the most funny part of the whole event! Big crowd, mostly Italians from different towns, were waiting for the announcement of the platform number for their trains. And right the moment it was announced, there was a sudden change in the dynamics of the crowd. Huge crowd started to run towards the platform. Among them various characters... you could see the angels with fairy sticks competing with the Death with scythe for the train seat, or King and the Queen trying to overrun Mozart to get to the door first... It seems that the fear of standing on foot for whole trip back home levels all people as much as the masks do :)

Jewish Ghetto
So we spent most of the time just wandering in this crowd, checking out each center of attractions, taking lots and loads of photos, and the overall satisfaction kept growing as the time passed. As our pace became really slow, I had to grab the initiative to be a guide and led them towards the Jewish ghetto, one of the local attractions that I missed in my previous trip *evil smile*. That turned out to be interesting place; my podcast told me that it was the very place from where the word "ghetto" emerged. Jews used to live only in this corner of the city before as they were not welcomed by other Venetians before. Nowadays it is still populated by the Jews and but it doesn't really resemble the ghetto that we understand today. Instead it is a very quiet place and you can see Jewish people in black dress, black hat and with long hair and beard. Maybe one thing that still resembles "the ghetto" are the clothes drying on the strings pulled between two buildings over a canal. :) I took videos of both this scene and a small yard in Jewish ghetto. Well, it worth a visit if you have some extra time in Venice.

taste of water from the heart of Jewish ghetto, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05334, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05328, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05326, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

And yeah, about the transportation in Venice. As there are no roads for wheeled transportation, you won't find any cars on the island. Only beside the bus station that is located in one corner close to the bridge that connects to mainland. So only the boats, water buses, water taxis and gondolas! You will be amazed to see that the doors of many buildings open to the canals and some boats are parked in front of it. Island is full of bridges and canals, but public water buses operate only in the Grand Canal.

DSC05351, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05298, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05386, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2897, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05567, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05558, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05549, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Well, St.Mark's square is the place where all the celebrations happen. It was very crowded and getting around wasn't easy. Lots of street performers, parade music, crowd singing and dancing, colors and the masks were simply breathtaking. That moment you accept that you are the lucky person to be there. Well, I simply leave it to the photos to pass those feelings.

IMG_2014, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2874, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.
Zarina - Miss Photogenic

IMG_2344, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2312, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2259, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05428, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2168, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

On our third day, some of us went to Florence. In my plan, I was supposed to go to Verona with Shuanet. But we decided to stay in Venice as we were not full of it yet. And otherwise we'd miss the Angel's Flight as well. So we went to the square again while enjoying Venice streets and canals once again, spent some time on Rialto bridge where I took short videos below. Then when we reached St.Mark's square it was even more crowded than previous days. It was literally packed like the sardines in a can!

DSC05638, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05578, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC05611, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Angel's Flight
Every year they choose one celebrity for the role of the angel, who descends from the top of the clock tower down to the square where "the Doge" will be waiting for. People gathered and took their positions hours before the start. We could only get half through the crowd and then it started...

DSC05594, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

After the event I took my time to explore St.Mark's Basilica and its museum, as well as the panorama view of Venice from the top of the clock tower. Now I have to note out that my main guide were the podcasts by Steve Ricks that I download from iTunes. He has some great podcasts about Italy, especially two long podcasts dedicated for St.Mark's Square and St.Mark's Basilica! Make sure that you get them into your iPod before coming to Venice!

DSC05628, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

So I was listening to Steve Ricks who guided me through the basilica and then through the museum in the upstairs as well as the lodge on the roof. He was telling me the history, how St.Mark's remains were brought here, architecture and details of the basilica, Byzantine mosaics that are all over the ceilings under cupolas, the Bronze horses that were brought from Constantinople (previous name of Istanbul), etc. Then I sat on the roof of the basilica under the warm sun, enjoying the view of St.Mark's Square while Steve was telling me more about the square and surrounding buildings (Old offices, New offices, Napoleon's end), about the St.Mark and his lion (that is a symbol of Venice today), history of the square and more... That's my way of traveling and I truly enjoyed that afternoon with my own pace and way.

IMG_2463, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2447, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Venetian Murano Glass medallions, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

IMG_2638, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Photo of the Day: Prague Castle

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:12:52 PST

from_Aga3, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Great photo of Prague Castle taken by Aga.

Museums of Europe - Altes Museum in Berlin

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:15:41 PST

Europe is rich with the museums. I have an idea about reviewing and sharing about the museums I have visited in Europe. I usually try not to miss the interesting museums at my destinations. Besides opening my eyes on various matters like history, art, culture or other civilizations, visiting a museum also adds some sort of educational aspect to these trips. Through these museums I visualize European history, admire its huge art collections and appreciate their approach to art, music, architecture. And most of the museums are equipped with guided tours, audio guides, guide books and small explanatory notes in English if you want to quickly tour the museum without guides.

So here goes the first post and it's about Altes Museum (Old Museum) in Berlin. It's located on Museum Island along with few other museums. The building of the museum itself is an attractive neoclassical building with the ionic order columns in the front side (ancient Greek architecture). It was built in 19th century as a Royal Museum, later it was damaged during the World War and restored afterwards. Nowadays it hosts Greek and Roman antiquities museum and the Egyptian museum.

DSC04892, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

DSC04894, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Map of the museums in Museum Island, Berlin, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

If you decide to go there, I'd highly recommend getting an audio guide that tells about the most precious items in the mass collection of Greek and Egyptian artifacts. Here I'll share few of them. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera with me and the pictures below were taken by my mobile phone camera. Thus the low quality.

The bust of Queen Nefertiti
They say that she's Berlin's most beautiful woman! I could only agree. Even though she doesn't hold German passport and had nothing to do with Germans at all. She's ancient Egyptian queen. And the museum hosts her bust (sculpture that includes head, neck, shoulder and maybe chest). Despite the hundreds of years passed, the bust of queen's head was greatly preserved and shows the timeless beauty of ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti, who together with her husband, pharaoh Akhenaten, changed Egypt's religion from a polytheistic religion to a monotheistic religion. They believed in only one god, Aten - the Sun God. It's one of the most precious works of art in the world. The bust was made from thick plaster covered over limestone core structure. It was found by German archeologists in Egypt and brought to Germany. They found it in the work studio of ancient Egyptian sculptor Thutmose who used to work for the pharaoh Akhenaten.

And as you see, one eye is missing. I remember someone telling me that it was left incomplete intentionally by the sculptor Thutmose in order to avoid getting murdered by the queen. Because she was afraid that he could make another such a beautiful sculpture for someone else. Well, I have heard similar stories about other masters. Like the one who built Prague's famous astronomical clocks and got blinded by the king so that he'd not be able to make similar ones somewhere else.

Besides the bust, there are many other sculptures and statues for Nefertiti and Akhenaten. Below is one of them where they are sitting under the rays of Aten.

The Praying Boy statuette
Another important item in the museum is the statuette of the praying boy. It was found in Greek island Rhodes in 14th century and then brought to Venice. It was made of bronze and was cast around 300 BC. In 16th century it came to Prussia. Later the arms were added later to make it look like a praying boy.

Papyrus Collection
Altes museum has one of the largest collection of ancient Egyptian manuscripts on the papyrus. Thanks to the invention of papyrus, we know a lot about Egypt's history today. Scientists are still trying to interpret more from these papyrus archives.

Canopic jars
These were used in ancient Egypt to mummify and store the internal organs of the dead people for the afterlife. In the below you can see the jars with the heads of man, ape, jackal and falcon.

Mummy masks and tombs
You can find lots of mummy tombs and masks brought from Egypt. But there's no real mummy in the museum.

Golden artifacts
There are lots of golden artifacts as well. One of them is the golden fish plate (500 BC) that was found by a fisherman in his net.

Another interesting thing that I learned about the ancient Egyptian sculptures and hieroglyphs is the basic postures of people;
Sitting posture - it showed that a person was enthroned, a noble and distinguished from others. If it is used after dead people, then it shows that the person joined the community of distinguished people in the eternal life.
Standing and walking posture - you can also see person's walking person with left leg in front in the Egyptian figures. It showed physical dynamism and readiness to act in the eternal life if used after dead person.
Writing position - it showed that the person is literate.
Kneeling, squatting are the other postures of ancient Greek figures.
Also, the figures of Gods or nobles were displayed much bigger than others.

Video of the Day: Singapore's Most Beautiful Building

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:30:59 PST

This is where I used to work in Singapore - Parkview Square. Incredibly beautiful modern building with oriental features and a palm yard that is surrounded by the statues of famous people like Aristotle, Galileo, etc. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Singapore and worth a visit. Located in Bugis area, it is only 100 meters away from Sultan Mosque and Arab Street (other tourist spots in Singapore). Several companies including DHL have their regional head quarters here in this building.

At the entrance hall, there's a very posh bar. Waitresses dressed like angels with wings can actually "fly" high to fetch the wine bottles on the high standing glass shelves. For me it seemed like fondling the egos of top executives and business travelers... All in all, it is a very charming corner.

Video of the Day: Duomo Piazza (Square), Milan

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:50:29 PST

This narration was from 2 years ago when I was trying to experiment with travel video casts. I didn't like the results. I could see that I am not a very good live story teller, instead I decided to just keep it more simple with photos and videos without narration and myself making an introduction. :)

A week to go!

Duomo Piazza (Square), Milan, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Next: Pearl of Adriatic

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:50:57 PST

DSC00745, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

I'll be off to Venice in a week for Venice Mask Carnaval. Much anticipated. 2 years ago I missed it by one week, but this time I set my dates right. So this weekend I'll spend time with Venice and Milano podcasts, wiki pages, history and notes. Tell you what, preparations are part of the whole thing, and I enjoy preparing for a trip as much as the trip itself.

Plus I'll be in Milano for 2 days. It seems like to be the repetition of part of the itinerary that we did 2 years ago; Rome > Venice > Milano.

Buenvenuto, again!

Photo of the Day: Medieval Festivities in Czech land

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:34:26 PST

Simulation of Libusin Battle. Czechs like such simulations of medieval battles. It's sort of cool to dress up in metal like knights and swing the swords a bit. But I wonder how come noone was injured in this mass-to-mass sword and spear fights. Though it is just a simulation, risk of getting injured is major. Apparently they start preparing for it long time before the battle.

When it comes to enjoying your life besides your work, Czechs don't think twice ;)

Medieval Festivities in Libusin (Apr 08) - 070, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

P4260708, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Photos of the Day: Old Town Square (Staromestske Namesti)

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:19:45 PST

Old Town Square, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Old Town Square - the only place in Prague that fascinates me every single time I see. Despite my two years in Prague, I automatically become "tourist" again and I've probably have taken hundreds oh photos here throughout the seasons. Much has been said and written about this square. It hosts whatever event is happening in Prague; international marathon finish line, Christmas markets, football fan zone with giant screens, demonstrations, celebrations, performances of street musicians, etc. Medieval Royal Road also passes through the square. Worth to see here are the clock tower with astronomical clocks, Tyn Church, Rokoko palace, Salvador Dali exhibition, St.Nicholas Church, Jan Hus monument and the row of colorful art nouveau houses. And the best view of the square is from the top of the clock tower!

Old Town Square, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

In wooden cottage at Borovoe

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:01:49 PST

Imagine. Green reservoir with a beautiful lake and cliffs that surround the forest in the middle of the empty steppe...that's Borovoe. And there you are staying in the warm wooden cottage in early cold autumn in Northern Kazakhstan. The region is not far from Southern Siberia, so early autumn weather can be very chilling. And just before the dinner, you've been to traditional "banya" ("sauna"). And then it is the dinner time...
(September, 2008)

I appreciate Leila's family who organized this small trip for us.

In wooden cottage at Borovoe, originally uploaded by aibek_dunaev.

Amsterdam Revisited

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:57:25 PST

I think Amsterdam is one of the cities that I will always be glad to return. Well, that's not because of marijuana, space "cakes" or red light district. I like the unique atmosphere in the city, its colors in terms of people and diversity, walks along the canals and unique architecture, etc. I should include cheese and syrup wafers as well! Why? Here's the answer.

It was one of the trips that I was looking forward to. The trip itself turned out to be very weird with lots of surprises, but I had a lot of good moments to remember.

In terms of sightseeing and touring, this time I had opportunity to visit Van Gogh museum. That turned out to be very eye opening and I got to learn a lot about one of the most talented artists whose works were also not much appreciated while he was still alive. I don't want to give an opinion much about his art as I am too far from that level, but I noticed a lot of negativity and pessimism in his work. As was the life of Van Gogh which ended with a suicide. There were other art collections there, but I mainly liked Van Gogh's collection.

From Amsterdam, there are a lot of daily tours to Brussels, wind mills village and clog (wooden shoe) factory, cheese factory, fishing towns, etc. I'd definitely recommend these tours (as well as visiting tulip fields between late March and early June) if you have extra time in Amsterdam. Another must-to-do is the boat tour by canal buses (see the video in my previous posts).

Another thing is that I got disappointed by Dutch "space cakes and muffins". My Dutch friend recommended me not to try one whole cake unless I want to get "high". But 3 of us tried one cake and one muffin, and noone felt even a small effect. I guess it was a bad choice with "coffeeshop" or simply these cakes are for tourists only. For those who really intend to "fly", they offer rolls with "grass" and special rooms.

Another funny story happened to us at Thai restaurant. One Asian Thai looking waitress was serving us the dinner, and at the end she asked me where I am from. I said "Kyr-gyz-stan, Central Asia?" pronouncing it carefully, and I was thinking that Thai girl will not know it anyway. But girl's reply was even more funny "Togda mojesh' govorit' so mnoy na russkom!" (in Russian, "then you can talk to me in Russian"). She turned out to be from Kazakhstan, and she was living and working in Amsterdam for 7 years.

Last evening we checked out some of the cafes/bars in Amsterdam. Among these places I really liked Cafe Palladium. It was a posh place with live music and lots of nicely dressed Dutch people. It is one of the cafes where you are likely to meet famous people. Check this place if you are looking for relaxing evening in Amsterdam, it is at Leidseplein.

This time, Linda, my ex flatmate, offered me her hospitality and that was highly appreciated! Not to mention the breakfasts she prepared for me! Also, on the way there I flied with Aaron and his gf, and we caught up in Amsterdam as well.

Also thanks to Veru and Zu for sharing this trip with me!

More tips for travelers: Amsterdam Card - if you are planning to visit lots of museums and stay longer in Amsterdam, then go for the Amsterdam Card. You can purchase it for 2 or more days (48 euro for 2 days) at Tourist Information Center near Centraal Station. This card will give you free(!) access almost to all museums and discount ticket to Madame Thussaud's museum, free transportation pass for the period you purchased, free canal tour, discount at some restaurants. Just for comparisons, 2-day transport ticket is 11 euro, Van Gogh museum ticket is 12 euro, canal tour is 7 or 12 euro, etc... So you can save loads of money with it. (Dutch government didn't pay me any commission for this promotional post ;) )

If you want to just see the city itself, then best option is to rent a bicycle. Depends on the weather of course.

Video of the Day: Greetings from Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:22:56 PST

My greetings from Barcelona. Video taken in front of Gaudi's phenomenal architecture - Familia Sagrada. Credits to Fatima for the video.

Video of the Day: Amsterdam Boat Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:17:44 PST

the Highwayman Upgraded

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:07:24 PST

1- One click access to travel stories by country

Yesterday I stole some time to finally label/tag all my posts. Especially I labeled most of my 500+ blog posts/stories with the related country names. That means, now you can access all country related stories by clicking on the related country flags at the right sidebar of my blog. For example, click on Singapore flag in order to access all my blog posts / stories that happened or related to Singapore. In the future, maybe I will put city names on the right as well, so that you can access to all posts related to any specific city I have visited.

2- Access to travel photos at Flickr by sets (each trip or event is usually stored in one set)

Did you notice the small "flickriver" buttons at the end of each blog post? By clicking on it, you'll get to see the photos I stored in Flickr in different presentation. Using Flickr tool, Flickriver, now you can view in a single page all the sets from my Flickr photo archive. By clicking on each set, you will view all the photos in the set in one single page. That will make photo viewing easier as you won't have to click on thumbnails to see each photo (as it is in Flickr's viewing page)

More upgrades will be followed.

Video of the Day: Prague's Street Musicians Series: Crystal glass melodies

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:57:39 PST

Another famous street musician of Prague playing Mozart's 9. symphony and Madonna's "Don't cry for me Argentina" with crystal glasses filled with water. He can be found on the Charles Bridge.

Last Christmas in pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Aibek D.) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 07:00:53 PST

I will not get much into details of how Christmas festive time is celebrated in Prague, etc. You can get the idea from the pictures below. Old Town Square is the most happening place with Christmas Market, giant Christmas tree and a stage for festive performances. I guess it is more or less similar to other European cities (I personally witnessed similar atmosphere in Berlin and Budapest). My brief post about it from a year ago is here.

Myself didn't celebrate it in a special way or something. But to keep the tradition going, I bought a carp (freshwater fish, served as a traditional dish in Christmas evening in Eastern Europe). Having no idea how to make soup from it or barely standing its smell, I packed it into my freezer. Venera came over to Prague from Berlin for couple of days, so she fried that carp nicely on the pan :). But I am still keeping its head in the freezer to make a carp soup (need to find recipe). So it was calm period for me, just chilling at home, watching some movies from my 250+ movie collection, and showing around to Venera on couple of occasions. Besides I took some time to work over the planning of my soon-to-be-launched project.

p.s. I like taking pictures of the places I go and things I do. My trips are unimaginable without my camera (nothing fancy, typical touristy Sony Cybershot camera), and I don't get fulfilled from my trips/explorations if I don't document everything interesting I've seen in pictures. And recently, I enjoy editing some of the photos I took with HDR (High Density Resolution) software, and try to convert my ordinary pictures into more colorful and expressive pictures that you see on magazines or postcards.

Moreover, if you want to share and promote your photos on flickr, then there are various methods and tools for that. Flickr itself offers photostream views, but that's not the most user-friendly way of viewing the photos. And in order to post a photo from flickr to your blog, you need to send the photo to your blog as a a new blog entry. However, flickr offers developers access to its API, and that brings to the collection of Great Flickr Tools. The slide show from my Christmas 2009 photos were created using one such tool - PictoBrowser. Another way to view the photos in the browser is via flickriver.

Зимняя "жемчужина" Кыргызстана!

yulchikauk@gmail.com (Yusia) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:03:32 PST

Недавно закончившиеся зимние каникулы получились у меня невероятно насыщенными и интересными!

Впервые мне удалось увидеть и полюбоваться зимним Иссык-Кулем и целый час побродить по заснеженному пляжу"жемчужины" нашего Кыргызстана!

Зимние озеро, такое потрясающе красивое, такое блестящее, такое синее-синее... прямо бездонно-синее под яркими лучами Иссык-Кульского солнца!

А еще, там было очень-очень тихо.. Настолько тихо, что было слышно как чуть заметный ветерок колышет воду озера и лёгким прибоем выбрасывает её на берег...

Очень романтично... Добро пожаловать на наш Иссык-Куль!

Подготовлено Юлией Шаповаловой. http://yuliasha.blogspot.com