Category Archives: Travel

Travel

The Golden Buddhas

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It’s been nearly a year since I last posted. It’s not a lack of photos. It’s just a lack of time to post.  So, my early New Year resolution – more photos, more posts.

This is at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.  I didn’t count how many buddhas there are in the Palace, but it must be in the hundreds.  It’s a fantastic place to visit. However, I don’t recommend going in the middle of the day. During that time, it’s in the 30’s C / 90’s F and about 90% humidity.  It would be much better to visit in the late afternoon or early evening. The sun starts to go down then. You can enjoy that nice, soft evening glow on everything.

Sony A7R II | Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM | 29mm | f/2.8 | 1/60th | ISO400

Road Through the Vineyard

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I’ve commented on it a few times. We had a magical long weekend in Yakima Valley. It was a few years back.  We were in the middle of a photog class and the missus’ project was HDR photos.  I’m not sure how we managed it, but we discovered a relatively remote set of vineyards. It was just about an hour before sunset.   She took some really incredible shots, these have to be the best memories of that weekend.

We also went to ~6 wineries, which always makes me happy.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 17mm | f/4.0 | 1/3200th | ISO100

Dinner Delivery

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At our hotel in Langkawi, as happens in many island locations, a boat would come by every night. It dropped off the catch of the day. This catch turned into dinner.  I often wonder how these guys manage to live on just delivering the latest catch. But then I guess they also keep a few fish for themselves for dinner.  I suppose they’ll never go hungry…

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55 mm| f/6.3 | 1/60th sec | ISO200 

Bali Sunset

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I don’t think I need to say much more.  Taken at Potato Head bar/lounge in Bali.  We’re heading back for New Year’s Eve this year.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 13 mm  | f/10 | 1/1250 sec | ISO 100

Singapore at Night

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This is a parallel to my other photo of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  I spun around and took a shot of the Singapore skyline.  This would probably be a lot better if I had a proper tripod. Instead, I sat the camera on a stanchion and held it tightly for a few seconds.   I had to redo it a few times because the camera would shake.  This one turned out the best.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 20 mm | f4.5 | 1 sec | ISO250

Lanterns for Luck

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On a recent trip to Koh Samui Thailand, we had a barbecue seafood dinner on the beach at our hotel.  After dinner, the staff was kind enough to get a few sky lanterns. We could light them off and make a wish.  Making the lantern float away was surprisingly harder than I imagined. It was difficult to have a candle emit enough hot air.  We decided to have a lantern for each couple. There were three couples on the trip. As the saying goes, if the lantern fails to float away, it means the couple will break up.  Luckily, the hotel staff and a very persistent member of our group helped us. All the lanterns flew away safely. I imagine they made it all the way to Cambodia.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 28mm | f/2.8 | 1/60th | ISO400

Guardian of the Stairs

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When we were in Langkawi, we saw a handful of monkeys, or more specifically macaques.  They were a little sneaky and a little rambunctious, but for the most part they kept to themselves.  There was one little guy. He stepped at me like he was going to attack. I backed off a little. He did the same.

This one, on the other hand, was sitting on those steps. It seemed like he was there to collect a toll for those going upstairs. Alternatively, he might have been a chaperon who would only let the appropriate people by.  Sort of reminded me of sleep-away camp when I was a kid.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55mm | f/6.3 | 1/20th | ISO200

Catamaran in the bay

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Getting back into things after a long business trip.  Went back to my last home and worked for two weeks and spent two weekends with good friends and family.  But something happened that I didn’t quite expect.  I didn’t think of Sydney at all while in the States.  Didn’t miss it, didn’t think about it, didn’t yearn to come “home”.  But then I got back.  I noticed all the things that I like about living here in Australia. These are things you simply don’t get in the States.  The people are more relaxed. They are more friendly. They seem to value relationships over status. Oh, did I mention the weather?  It’s winter in Sydney, which consists of 18-20 ° C / 62-70 ° F.  That’s pretty much the same as Seattle gets in the summer.  The evenings are pretty cold, but I stay inside and put the fire on.  The message you should be hearing is that I might stay a while…

This is from our trip to Langkawi, Malaysia last March.  Amazing place, a really nice relaxed weekend.  We were out after dinner having a walk on the beach before it was totally dark.  I’m still pretty jealous of whoever was out on that catamaran. It sat in the bay the whole weekend and didn’t move.  I could see myself owning a catamaran and sailing the south pacific for the rest of my days.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 46mm | f/14.0 | 1/250th | ISO200

WA State Vineyards

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I didn’t think I would say this. I’m having some very fond memories of our trip to the Yakima Valley last year.  We went for a photo project, but we also tasted some great WA State wines.  Highlight of the trip for me was Hedges Winery, they have some absolutely great wines for really good value.  My favorite is the Hedges Family Estate – a wonderful wine for a mere $25/bottle.

Nice wines.  I’ll have some next time I get back to WA State.  This wasn’t taken at Hedges, but at a vineyard just down the road.

Canon EOS 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 55mm | 1/160th | ISO100

Blue Lagoon Spa

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It was almost a year ago that we went to Iceland for the summer solstice.  Needless to say, we won’t be going back this year as the trip would take way to long.  I have to say Iceland is really a special place – I highly recommend it to other travelers.  The people are great. The land is like nowhere else I have ever seen. They have some of the most magical natural wonders.  I’ve previously posted about Thingviller and Skógafoss, but I’d like to go back to the Blue Lagoon.

I’m not sure if this was the inspiration for the really bad 80’s movie of the same name. I can’t imagine so, as that was meant to be on a tropical island. That’s something that even I cannot say resembles Iceland. However, it was a great treat for us.  There’s something in Reykjavik that the locals affectionately call ‘the runtur‘, which is essentially an all-night pub crawl.  Most of the bars stay open until 4 AM with a handful staying open until 8 AM or later.  The situation is complicated even more by the summer solstice. During this time, the sun dips below the horizon around midnight. It then starts coming back up around 3 AM.  We finally made it back to our apartment around 7 AM and woke the next afternoon around 3 PM.  We stopped for some sandwiches to calm our stomachs. Then, we went to the Blue Lagoon spa. It is a naturally heated, geothermal pool. There is mud you can put on your skin to naturally exfoliate.  The pool is naturally heated to around 37-39°C / 98-102°F.  Even better, they have a small bar on the edge of the pool. I was able to enjoy sparkling wine while nursing my hangover from the runtur the night before. I soaked in a 102°F public bath.  All in all, an outstanding experience.  The photo below shows the entrance to the spa. The designers did a great job of making the building appear just a part of the natural surroundings.

Canon 7D | Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 | 50mm | f/13.0 | 1/80th | ISO200 – 3 image HDR