Cuban colours

I just returned from Cuba: a nation in transition. I'll leave my deeper thoughts for a next post, but right now I just want to share a few photos that are in my mind typical for Cuba.  The colours of her streets.

Typical art deco building in Havana's Vedado

In Havana you can easily distinguish in which area you are, by looking in at the buildings.  Vedado was built in the first halve of the 20th century: Think roaring twenties, art deco in pastel.

Wandering in the streets of Havana Vieja

Havana Vieja is, at the name says, the old part of the city. Though nowadays you can argue about the 'old':  This area is tourist town, and heavily renovated. But very respectfully renovated I must add.

Walking in Trinidad

Trinidad was built during the sugar boom in the 19th century. Colonial style buildings, super high ceilings, wrought iron lattices, and cobbled streets.

Camaguey

Camagüey is one of the very few cities in Cuba that isn't built in a grid like street pattern. Because it was raided several times by pirates it was actually designed as a maze.

Camaguey

Timetravel

This is a bit of a different post than the usual, but for me a very special one! I have always known that my grandfather had sailed the world when he was younger. On of the reasons I know is that I was always in awe when he told little snippets about that time. And I simply could not believe the places he had been. Maybe the seed of my wanderlust has been planted by him? Or it could be the genes.

My grandfather is the lovely young sailor on the right

Anyway. A few weeks back I learned from a Facebook post that my grandfather had made some photo albums of  his sailing period, and that my aunt had those!  She was kind enough to let me borrow them, and I spent my afternoon looking through them. Really amazing. All he countries he has been to: Mexico, Cuba, India, China, Japan and the Philippines to name a few.

Shanghai. If you look closely you recognize the clocktower in the middel of both photos

Now... my grandfather was born in 1903, and he travelled in the 1920s and 1930s. A truely exiting time. In his albums are progress pictures of the Sidney Harbour bridge and of the Bund in Shanghai without skyscrapers.
But the photos of his life on board are fascinating as well. The interiors of some of the boats!

Both my grandfather and I started travelling outside Europe in our early twenties, but that is an eighty years time difference. I am just humbled and exited at the same time to see how many places we have both visited, but almost a century apart. I keep looking at his photos and than at mine. Finding the differences and similarities.

Nagasaki. Suwa shrine entrance

I loved seeing his photos from Japan: This was the country he talked about most with me, and I am sure my fascination for Japan came from those chats. I visited  Japan last year, and it turns out we have both visited quite a few the same places.  And then I saw the photo from Nagasaki, and it suddenly hit me: he visited before the A-bomb.

As it happens his only photo from Nagasaki was from the only shrine that has not be damaged during the war.

Midnight sun - Pyhä, Lapland

When I go away in the summer, somehow it usually is outside of Europe and for a longer period. This July I happened to end up in Northern Finland for a week.

We stayed next to Pyhä Luosto national park, about 100 km north of the Arctic circle. Now, of course above the arctic circle, you have the 24 hour winter nights, but also the 24 hour summer sun! When I was there, it was one of the last weeks that the midnight sun was visible. For me, living much further south, this was an impressive phenomenon.

On one of my nights here, I decided to take a walk around the park. I was so happy I did.
I spend a few hours enjoying the twilight at 2 am at the lake. It was cold, it was quiet, and magic. I watched the mist appear over the lake. The lake itself at moments seemed frozen in time, not a ripple in it.

It's impossible to capture the magic of those hours in words, or in photos. Here is my best attempt, but go out there and make your own memory.

What to do in Helsingfors - Helsinki

We went to Helsinki in juli 2015. Helsinki was not on our 'places-we-must-visit-list', but we had a few stopovers there on our way to and from Asia, and we decided it was about time we got of that airport. And we are happy we did.  The weather forecast was not very good (mostly rain), but turned out pretty well. Since we went in the summer, the days are very long. The sun did set, but was down only for a few hours. So what did we do while we were there?

Helsinki harbour

We visited most of the places that are in the guidebooks and a few places that I read about on different blogs.  Our first evening we walked to the Sibelius monument, the Temppeliaukion kirkko (Rock church, that was closed unfortunately) and after that went into town for a burger and a beer. Then we watched the sun set over Lapinlahti from the Hietaniemen cemetary.

The old Arabia factory

We spent the most of our Friday in town, walking down the Pohjoisesplanadi and the Eteläesplanadi, admiring the gorgeous Jugenstill buildings and the cool stuff in the design shops. I just love Finnish design, so one of the places I wanted to visit was the old Arabia factory. The whole area is now turned into a housing area and really lovely. The factory itself was a tad dissapointing, though I did get my hands on a collectors item from the Iitttala outlet.

Back in town we visited the improptu photo exhibition on the top floor of the Akateeminen Kirjakauppa (Academic bookshop) and of course regularly stopped for coffee with cakes. The Finns do love their cakes.

View from the ferry

There are several markethalls (Kauppahalli) in Helsinki. A nice, albeit touristy one, is near the main harbour: the Vanha Kaupahalli (Old Markethall). Another one is the Hakaniemi Kaupahalli that has the Sunday flea market. Unfortunately the rain was pouring down on Sunday, so we skipped that one. Other places we visited were the Lutheran cathedral and the Russian orthodox cathedral.
Great contrast between the two.

Glooming skies over the Lutheran cathedral

On Saterday it was just lovely weather and we decided to visit one of the islands, and went to Suomenlinna, the old fortress island.  We took a public ferry, and during the boat ride we had a nice view over the Helsinki waterfront.  Suomenlinna consists of five interconnected islands. One has a village on it, and another one still houses the Finnish Naval Academy.  The church dome actually doubles as a light house. I had never seen that before.
The seaside islands are mostly natural, with of course the occasional canon and seawall. It was a lovely day out.
 

Travel tips:

• Buy a public transport pass for several days. Buying a pass for a few days is cheaper than buying single day passes, and it's just relaxing to hop on and off the trams.
• We bought a 4-day pass for 2 zones, since this was the same pice as a 4-day pass for 1 zone and 2 separate airport tickets.
• If you want to visit the Araba factory: take tram 6 or 8 to the second to last stop.
• You can use your day pass for the ferry to Suomenlinna.
• When visiting Suomenlinna: use sunscreen!

Pandas in the mist... - Chengdu

Of course, when you're travelling through China for some time, you HAVE to see its national symbol: panda bears!
China is very proud of them, and very protective. In a Chinese manner. So while their natural habitat keeps diminishing, serious money goes into breeding programs. One of the main, and very accessible, breeding facilities is in Chengdu. So that is where we went. And Chengdu in November turned out to be extra wet and foggy.

Panda's coming out into the mist

The panda centre is a little out of town. You can take a local bus, or book a tour with the place where you are staying. We stayed at a lovely hostel, and booked our transport through them. After paying the entrance fee you can wander through the park. The park looked much better, and more animal friendly, than we expected.
Though, as you can see from the photos, it was sometimes even hard to see the pandas in the mist!

One of the enclosures for the youngsters, food and exercise

Like in the wild, the pandas spend most of their time eating. Since pandas eat bamboo, one of the least nutritious foods one can imagine (for carnivores!), getting enough food in, is their main concern. Maybe their only concern, since pandas are not known for their breeding capacity.... That's where the breeding centers come into focus.

Always eating!

Because of the low calory intake, the panda is a very inactive animal and non social animal. It all requires just too much energy! And to make it even more of a challange: a female panda is fertil for about 23-36 hours per YEAR...
If a panda manages to get pregnant against all odds (or by AI), she usually gives birth to twins. But since a panda does not have enough milk for both, she only takes care of the stronger twin. To let it survive, the weaker cub is separated from the mother, and raised in a nursery. We were not allowed to visit the nursery, but could quietly walk passed the 'visiting window'.

About 2 week old cub

After about two years the cubs spend a few years in 'play groups' of 4-5 individuals, until they come to an age that they do no langer want to be sociable. The older animals al live solitary, as is their nature. But until then, they are super cute to watch!

You should relax while eating

BBQ Korean style - Seoul

If you ask Koreans for dinner recommandations, you can be sure most will say Korean barbecue is the way to go. So naturally, that's what we had. Several times.
Korean barbecue has different name depending on the type and cut of meat that you order.

Informal Samyeopsal place

The first night in Seoul went out for Samgyeopsal (삼겹살) in a busy, informal eatery. Samgyeopsal is pork belly barbecue. We sat down at a little table/barbecue made from a drum, and ordered meat for three people. When you place you order, they fire up the barbecue, and the little side dishes are served. These side dishes are called banchan (반찬).You do not have any saying in the side dishes you'll get. That's for the kitchen to decide. But you can be sure there will be at least one dish of kimchi (김치).

Barbecue with side dishes

Once your meat is cooked, the fun continues. Along with the banchan you got some greens. This can be different types of lettuce, and usually you also get a few wild sesame (perilla) leaves. Put a piece of meat on there, add some sauces and/or veggies, fold the leaf and enjoy your bundle of yumminess.
Generally the staff will help you with cooking, or take over if they think you are not cooking it correctly: we smoked out that first place! Whoops....

Consecutive steps of our 2nd barbecue

So we had another go a few nights later. In a slightly fancier restaurant that had electric cooking plates installed in the table. We picked a leaner cut of pork this time. In this restaurant, the ritual started with some vegetables on the plate, carefully put in the correct position. Then the meat was put on there, and..... cut into strips with the ultimate Korean cooking utensil: scissors.
The strips were cooked, and then flambéed.
After this dinner, a dessert was cooked on that same plate, consisting of rice and cheese.

In a supermarket, pretty lettuce is slod by the leaf!

Our third and final barbecue was in Jeju-si, with the famous Jeju black pig. This time was a combination of the previous barbecues. A fancy table plate with streaky belly meat. The people at the table next to us were no shy in telling us if we did something wrong. We had to place the giant mushroom at the correct position (left side, not right side), cook the meat longer before cutting it, and not put the veggies on there just yet. Did I mention the Koreans are quite fond of doing things in the correct manner?

Barbecue basics: banchan, leaves and scissors

Since these barbecues tend to be smelly, you can always get a big plastic bag to put your coats in. You can order drinks with you meal, but water is served for free in any restaurant.

Korean cultural snippets - South of the DMZ

It's been a while since I posted anything. The main reason is that I've been too busy working, but I have made a quick trip to Korea as well! And even though we have spent a fortnight there, which isn't really short I you think about it objectively, it did feel like a quick trip!

Memorial Park in Munsan

So this post is about my first impressions of Korea. It felt to me like a mixture of Chinese and Japanese. Which is probably true. Korea has long been a satelite state of the Chinese imperium, and later has been occupied by Japan. So the noise definitely sounded Chinese to me, but the way things are done in a set manner, the emphasis on the 'correct way' of doning anything, reminded me very much of Japan.

View over Munsan (to the north)

And the fact that Korea has been in a permanent state of war since the 1950's does show. The people themselfs do not seem very concerned with it. But for us tourists, it was quite visible in places.
We visited our friend, who lives in the border town Munsan (1 hour north of Seoul), and we decided to go on a morning walk in the surrounding country side. The path started right behind the memorial park. And then passed trenches and foxholes, not used at that moment, but very well maintained. But it was quite busy that morning with other hikers and no one but us seemed to notice the millitary appearance.

Walking past trenches

Now.... the correct manner to go hiking in Korea. Firstly, you need to wear the proper hiking gear. That means: hiking trousers in a bright colour, with black patches on the inside of you legs. A matching long sleeved, light wear jacket. Both in this season's colour. The seasonal colours this spring were orange or pink, we were told that last autumn they were burgundy and mustard.
Under your jacket you wear a long sleeved shirt, the woman wear a large sunshade and the man a cap, and every one wears trainers with neon laces. Of course you carry a backpack. Optional accesoires are walking poles, bandana and gloves.

Typical Korean hiker (from SFA)

Spirit of days past - Baga Gazriin Chuluu

One of the first stops we made on our little tour thru the Gobi was near the rock formations of Baga Gazriin Chuluu.  Legend says that this is where Ghengis Khan grazed his horse, but then again, Ghengis must have grazed his horses a lot...

Roads in the Gobi

Anyway, even though for us tourists the 'roads' in the desert were not always obvious, it was obvious that many people travelled to this spot by the number of ovoos. (More info in this post)
Baga Gazriin Chuluu is also where the Delgeriin Choiriin Khiid monastry used to be. Before the Russian occupation of Mongolia, most of Mongolia held Buddhism as it's religion: in a land of a nomadic people and thus mostly temporary buildings, there were over 3000 temples in the early 1930's.

Looking down at our minivan

That all changed during the Purge, and by the late 1940 only one temple was left. The number of monks had dropped in two decades from more than 100.000 to a mere 100. 
This is the reason that Delgeriin Choiriin Khiid was abandoned and had fallen into ruin.

The abandoned grounds

When you walk onto the grounds of Delgeriin Choiriin Khiid the feeling of sadness is overwhelming. There are still many (small) trees there, a rare sight in the desert. Remnants of a past life.
It feels like a sacred site. A place to ponder.

A place to ponder

An occasional scarf is tied around a tree, to emphasize the sacred purpose of this site. When I googled, I found out that since our visit in 2009, reconstruction has begon of the temple, like many other Buddhist sites. For now a temporary temple is set up in a ger in the plain in front of the original site. Visitors can stay overnight in surrounding gers.

Something fishy - Tsukiji Market Tokyo

When you google at 'top things to do in Tokyo' you can almost be sure that Tsukiji fish market will pop up, most notably the tuna auction.
Being a food market lover myself, I really wanted to go there. But... the tuna auction starts at 6 am. And only a limited number of tourists are allowed to attend, so you have to queue at around 4 am. There is no public transport at that time of night (oddly enough Tokyo's public transport stops around midnight?!) so you have to either walk there, take a cab, or wait over a few drinks at one of the nearby pubs.  We opted out of attending the tuna auction, bad tourists...I know!

One of the small stalls

At around 8 am the rest of the inner market opens up to visitors, so there we were. Surrounded by tour groups, we entered the public space.

And now I hear you wondering...How was it??? First impression: way more tourists  than expected, and at the same time less of a tourist trap than expected.  First and foremost, this is a place where people work, no signs which way to go or defined routes. This also means that you have to be carefull not to be overrun by one of the funny, and very fast, carts. Even  though there is hardly any room to walk in between the stalls, the carts race past!

Tuna waiting for a buyer

The fish and seafood they sell is simply amazingly fresh and varies from extraordinary to bizar.  And it is a lot.  The sheer number of sea creatures on sale was mindblowing. It really made us wonder how much longer it takes to empty the oceans.

Super size mollusc

Of course there was an abundance of tuna. Al tuna arrives deeply frozen. Did you know that those beautifull slices of sashimi are precut in to blocks, while frozen, with a industrial band saw? I didn't!

I saw the biggest mussles I ever saw: at least 3 times the size of my hands. Crates of roe, alien crustaceans, unknown molluscs, vibrant octopi and fish in alls size and sorts inlcuding some wiggly, still alive, skewered fish.

Sawing sashimi blocks

The traditional thing to do after visiting the Tsukiji Market is to eat fresh sushi. Most people try to do that in the inner market, but the outer market makes a good alternative if you want somwhere (slightly) less busy.  We didn't do that either... we were such lousy tourists, I know! But the massacre we had just witnessed satiated or need for animal protein.

Vibrant octopi

Supercity - Shanghai

We had already spent 4 weeks in China at that point, mostly visiting ´culturally interesting´ sites such as Xian and Pingyao, when we arrived in Shanghai. And I loved it.  I was in need of some city life....

Pudong skyline

If you have read previous posts , you know I love the emptiness of deserts, or that humbling feeling when you encounter an animal in the wild. I think what really appeals to me, are extremes. Natural or man made. Like when you move through a vibrant metropolis like Shanghai. It reminded me of my first visit to Bangkok in 2003.

One of many little streets

Shanghai in 2009 was full of life and one massive construction site. Combine a superb metro system, chaotic train station and gigantic fly overs with futuristic highrise, traditional temples and labyrinth like residential quarters and you get the basic idea.

Bike ride: Love the contract of old and new buildings

Of course it is absolutely impossible to see all ( or even most) of the city in a few days, so we stuck to the obvious. We went to the Bund, that was under construction, with the Oriental Pearl Tower, the French concession, a few temples, some gardens, little eateries and markets.

French concession

We did a half day bike tour, a dim sum workshop, and wandered. We ate some really good and some not so good food. I love the contrast that was all around. The little boutiques and cafés in The French concession. The Chinese markets, cockroach fights and soup with indistinguishable ingredients in the traditional neighbourhoods. The incense and monks in the temples. We had a blast!

Rooftop bar at the Bund

Island impressions - Bali

Going to Bali has never been on top of my travel list. Bali is a more touristy place than our usual destinations. But as it happened, in 2005 we went there for a family visit.  Now, who am I to complain about a destination.... right?

Dark clouds over green paddies

We slept in a local's house south of Kuta.  This gave us the chance to share the day to day life of  the extended family there. And a few house rituals were explained to us, like the mandatory daily offerings .

Temple offerings

Being Dutch, we borrowed bikes to get around town, and to go to nearby (upscale) Sanur. The bike ride to Sanur took us about an hour, and we spent a lovely afternoon with a yummy cocktail at the picture perfect beach there.

Sanur's picture perfect beach

To have some private time, away from the family, we stayed a few days in artinasal village Ubud, in the middle of the ubiquitous rice paddies.  At night we could hardly sleep for the crickets and quacking ducks. That was something different!

Rice paddy in Ubud

Every visit to Bali needs a trip to a Sacred Monkey Forest, and so we did.  We went to  Padangtegal near Ubud. The monkeys have no fear for humans whatsoever, and are used to being fed: so beware! But having food in abundance also means lots of infants, and lots of photo opportunities.

Monkey life

To see a bit more of the island we went on a roadtrip for a day, and one of the places we visited was Gunung Batur.  Gunung Batur is an active volcano, and the black land surrounding the crater is an impressive sight.

The slopes of Gunung Batur