OUT AND ABOUT

Yangon’s circular railway – 50 cents for a three-hour ride

Thorsten — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 07:02:45 +0000

If you’re in Yangon, Myanmar and you have three hours to spare, take a ride on the circle train. This slow, rickety train goes around the city and stops at 39 small railway stations along the way. The whole loop is about 46 km long and will take approximately three hours to complete.

At every station, people get on and off and vendors sell their wares. It’s a whirlwind of colors, sounds and smells. As the train pulls out, different neighborhoods, villages, rice fields and pastures drift by. It never gets boring. And the whole trip doesn’t cost more than 50 cents.

But go quickly. Rumor has it that the circle train will be modernized. That may be good for commuters and for progress, but Yangon would lose a truly unique and wonderful attraction.

At Bangkok’s Temple of the Coffin

Thorsten — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 14:18:04 +0000

Only a few steps from the sinful streets of Patpong in downtown Bangkok lies Wat Hua Lamphong. It’s known as the temple of the coffin.

Visitors to Hua Lamphong temple can earn merit by giving donations to sponsor coffins for the poor and homeless. The temple mixes Thai, Chinese and Indian rites. There are Buddhist shrines, you can pray through the joss sticks at a Chinese looking altar, and there’s a shrine to Ganesha, the Indian Elephant god.

The temple is also home to about a dozen cows and a cow shrine. People visiting the shrine write down a prayer and pray in front of an ornately decorated statue of two cows right next to the cow pen. Then the faithful buy some food for the cows and feed them. But even though the cows seem to lead a very privileged and sweet life at the temple, at least one source says that they’re only there to be sacrificed some time in the future.

Chicago

Thorsten — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 19:50:13 +0000

What can I say about Chicago except that it’s one of my favorite cities? Do I need to tell you that it’s home to almost ten million people and the third-largest city in the U.S.? Do I need to mention that it has the second busiest airport in the world? No. You can read all that on Wikipedia. I’ll just let these impressions speak for themselves.

Central Embassy Mall in Bangkok

Thorsten — Sun, 11 May 2014 14:28:39 +0000

Gucci, Prada and Paul Smith – they’re all at Bangkok’s newest luxury mall ‘Central Embassy‘. It opened on May 9, 2014 on Ploenchit Road – within walking distance to at least three similar high-class shopping malls. Though I’m not sure who needs yet another mall with stores for the super rich, the architecture is fascinating.

Click to view slideshow.

Most of these pictures were taken simply looking up at the seven floors of the shopping center in its atriums. All in all, the space is vast – and that’s probably the biggest luxury in a crowded city like Bangkok.

And since Central Embassy isn’t a mall where they just play muzak, there were even some flautists and a string quartet taking care of the entertainment the day I was there.

Fiji impressions

Thorsten — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 20:07:00 +0000

I was able to spend two weeks in Fiji in 2013. It was an amazing experience. Loving, friendly people, beautiful beaches, unbelievable coral reefs and colorful tropical gardens.
But Fiji is also one of those places where the luxury of the tourist resorts is worlds apart from how the locals live. Towns like Nadi and Lautoka are sad and uneventful places. Life’s no beach for the people of Fiji.

Indian Summer in Bavaria

Thorsten — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 17:39:12 +0000

Bavaria’s Lower Franconia region is picture-book Germany. The Main river snakes through the landscape, passing rolling hills, vineyards and picturesque villages and towns. This region around Würzburg, Aschaffenburg and Kitzingen is especially beautiful in fall, when the leaves are turning and the grapes are heavy on the vines.

These photos were taken near Escherndorf and Kitzingen on the Main River and on Schwanberg.

Myanmar impressions

Thorsten — Fri, 17 May 2013 05:29:44 +0000

I love South-East Asia and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel extensively in this part of the world. But nothing prepared me for the splendors of Myanmar. I was totally amazed when I visited there earlier this year: wonderful people, beautiful landscapes and stunning pagodas.

Feels like fall (2012 edition)

Thorsten — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 15:43:21 +0000

This year’s autumn has been spectacular in Germany. The weather has been perfect and we’ve seen some amazing fall foliage.

The pictures in this slide show were taken in different places: near the Rhine and along the Sieg river in the west of the country, and in Bad Brückenau in the southern federal state of Bavaria.

Btw: a few years ago, I posted another autumn slide show here on this blog and called it “Feels like fall“. That slide show was created on slide.com and then embedded here in this wordpress blog.

Unfortunately, slide.com no longer exists. If you go to their website, you’ll see a notice “Slide.com closed its doors on March 6, 2012 and is no longer available.”

So when you read my original 2008 wordpress post “Feels like fall” today, all you see is the text. The slide show is gone forever. So that really does feel like fall…

Visiting Kuala Lumpur’s Chinese and Indian districts

Thorsten — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:56:57 +0000

I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last month and strolled around the city’s Chinese and Indian quarters. Even though I’d been to KL before, I’d never been to some of the streets and temples I stumbled upon this time.

I visited the Hindu temple Sri Mahamariamman, for example. Amazingly colorful. A feast for the eye. The Chinese shrines were somewhat more serene. Strong smell of incense.

All of these places of worship, as well as the streets of Chinatown and Little India were amazing. An exotic mix of smells and sounds. Strange and wonderful to the Western eye.

Strolling through these multi-cultural streets of Kuala Lumpur, you understand the truth in Malaysia’s old tourism slogan: Malaysia, truly Asia.

Music: Last Affair & Gita Lulin Maung Ko Ko with his Studio Ensemble featuring Yadana Oou – Zega Wa (UKoKo) (Film Music 1978 “Popa Phuza”)

Wat Pho through my eyes

Thorsten — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:25:46 +0000

Wat Pho is one of the most-visited temples in Bangkok and it’s one of the most photographed. So when I returned to the temple last weekend, I deliberately tried to stay clear of the crowds as far as that was possible and explored some of the quieter corners of the complex.

Click to view slideshow.