Random trip photos from Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe

I figured it was time to do something about the 5 months' worth of random trip photos I never got around to sharing broadly but always kind of liked. You could call them the left-over batch. They're either stand alone shots that never seemed to fit into previous blog/facebook storylines or little gems I originally overlooked and fell in love with later. They cover my trip up to Croatia and are presented in chronological order.

Milford Sound, Southern Island of New Zealand

Jan 2013 

Hobbiton, New Zealand. The actual place where they filmed the Shire for the Hobbit movie.

Jan 2013

Rice paddies in Bali, Indonesia

Jan 2013 

A spung tree grows out of a temple in disrepair in the Angkor Area, Cambodia

Jan 2013

The Magic Tree

This tree has a sad past. Located in one of many killing fields in Cambodia, members of the Khmer Rouge once hung loudspeakers from its branches and played traditional Cambodian music at high volume every night. The purpose being to drown out the people's screams as officers executed imprisoned citizens.

Jan 2013

Walking down a street in the Sinchon district of Seoul during my one-day layover in Korea. It's the neighborhood my university was in when I studied abroad here in college.

Feb 2013

Me and my idol, the great HK. Inside the Inchon airport in Korea. Yes, I really did have to post this.

Feb 2013

Scooter on a bridge with limestone cliffs in the background. Yangshuo, China

Feb 2013

Big Buddha statue on Lantau Island, Hong Kong

Mar 2013

Hong Kong at night

Mar 2013

Tea plantation in Munnar, India
Mar 2013

Traditional performers at the City Palace in Jaipur, India

Mar 2013

Elephant and handler in Jaipur, India

Mar 2013

Buddhist prayer flags hung from trees at Lumbini, Nepal (Buddha's birthplace)

Apr 2013

Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Apr 2013

 Boudhanath in Kathmandu, Nepal

Apr 2013

 Stari Most in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

May 2013

 Old City street at night. Dubrovnik, Croatia

May 2013

 Sunset over Dubrovnik

May 2013

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

May 2013 

 Roman Amphitheater in Pula, Croatia

May 2013

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Random trip photos from Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe

I figured it was time to do something about the 5 months' worth of random trip photos I never got around to sharing broadly but always kind of liked. You could call them the left-over batch. They're either stand alone shots that never seemed to fit into previous blog/facebook storylines or little gems I originally overlooked and fell in love with later. They cover my trip up to Croatia and are presented in chronological order.

Milford Sound, Southern Island of New Zealand

Jan 2013 

Hobbiton, New Zealand. The actual place where they filmed the Shire for the Hobbit movie.

Jan 2013

Rice paddies in Bali, Indonesia

Jan 2013 

A spung tree grows out of a temple in disrepair in the Angkor Area, Cambodia

Jan 2013

The Magic Tree

This tree has a sad past. Located in one of many killing fields in Cambodia, members of the Khmer Rouge once hung loudspeakers from its branches and played traditional Cambodian music at high volume every night. The purpose being to drown out the people's screams as officers executed imprisoned citizens.

Jan 2013

Walking down a street in the Sinchon district of Seoul during my one-day layover in Korea. It's the neighborhood my university was in when I studied abroad here in college.

Feb 2013

Me and my idol, the great HK. Inside the Inchon airport in Korea. Yes, I really did have to post this.

Feb 2013

Scooter on a bridge with limestone cliffs in the background. Yangshuo, China

Feb 2013

Big Buddha statue on Lantau Island, Hong Kong

Mar 2013

Hong Kong at night

Mar 2013

Tea plantation in Munnar, India
Mar 2013

Traditional performers at the City Palace in Jaipur, India

Mar 2013

Elephant and handler in Jaipur, India

Mar 2013

Buddhist prayer flags hung from trees at Lumbini, Nepal (Buddha's birthplace)

Apr 2013

Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Apr 2013

 Boudhanath in Kathmandu, Nepal

Apr 2013

 Stari Most in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

May 2013

 Old City street at night. Dubrovnik, Croatia

May 2013

 Sunset over Dubrovnik

May 2013

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

May 2013 

 Roman Amphitheater in Pula, Croatia

May 2013

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Just checking in

Roman amphitheatre in Pula

I'm in Croatia right now in a city called Split. In three hours, I'll catch an overnight bus to Trieste, Italy and then head into Slovenia. I can't believe I've spent almost two weeks in Croatia. I had an okay time here with okay weather and pleasant beaches. But there hasn't been much about this place that really stood out as something amazing or special. I'm sure Croatia would be a great place to visit for many travelers but it just wasn't for me. I've concluded the amount of fun I'll have in any given place is inversely correlated to the number of American tourists I'll find there.

Also, this is the first country I've been to where most people will turn away and ignore me when I try to say hi to them on the street. WTF Croatia?! Even people in China don't do that. How is it possible your manners are worse than the Chinese?

Since I didn't have anything good to say, I decided to stay silent and forgo any new posts here. It was a little painful to do since I've come to rely on my maintenance of this blog as a source of comfort. It keeps me sane to write entries.

And what can I say about how I've been spending my time lately? I don't do nearly as much site-seeing as I used to. Many days, I'll stay home and either doodle in my sketchbook or work on draft blog entries I never got around to publishing (none of them are about Croatia). I also met a handful of fucking amazing people I had the pleasure of sharing just a tiny slice of time with. That about sums it up.

So this is just a quick check-in letting people know where I am. I'll be hanging out along the West coast of Slovenia for the next week. If nothing else, I am succeeding at working on my tan (lines).

Read More

Just checking in

Roman amphitheatre in Pula

I'm in Croatia right now in a city called Split. In three hours, I'll catch an overnight bus to Trieste, Italy and then head into Slovenia. I can't believe I've spent almost two weeks in Croatia. I had an okay time here with okay weather and pleasant beaches. But there hasn't been much about this place that really stood out as something amazing or special. I'm sure Croatia would be a great place to visit for many travelers but it just wasn't for me. I've concluded the amount of fun I'll have in any given place is inversely correlated to the number of American tourists I'll find there.

Also, this is the first country I've been to where most people will turn away and ignore me when I try to say hi to them on the street. WTF Croatia?! Even people in China don't do that. How is it possible your manners are worse than the Chinese?

Since I didn't have anything good to say, I decided to stay silent and forgo any new posts here. It was a little painful to do since I've come to rely on my maintenance of this blog as a source of comfort. It keeps me sane to write entries.

And what can I say about how I've been spending my time lately? I don't do nearly as much site-seeing as I used to. Many days, I'll stay home and either doodle in my sketchbook or work on draft blog entries I never got around to publishing (none of them are about Croatia). I also met a handful of fucking amazing people I had the pleasure of sharing just a tiny slice of time with. That about sums it up.

So this is just a quick check-in letting people know where I am. I'll be hanging out along the West coast of Slovenia for the next week. If nothing else, I am succeeding at working on my tan (lines).

Read More

Day 2 in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Old City, Dubrovnik at night

I'm sitting at a restaurant in Dubrovnik mooching it up on the free wifi because my hostel's internet is down. It turns out this place serves all-you-can-eat salad and bread for $4 USD. For Dubrovnik, where vegetarian meals typically cost $15 or more, this is absolutely a STEAL. My stomach hurts from all the servings I've helped myself to. I'm going to sit here for hours. I'm probably going to come back tomorrow as well.

There's a group of French men at a table nearby. They're drinking wine and talking loudly. One of them has twice attempted to toss a smile in my direction and both times I've pretended not to notice. He looks like he's of an age where it would be inappropriate for him to be smiling at me. I'm pissed off.

There was a time when I was intrigued by the mystery associated with meeting new people. But after travelling this long, the romance has worn off. I like to sleep in instead.

Tonight, I'm indulging myself to a concert put on by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. I don't have the right attire for such an event but prices are too high here for me to buy a new outfit. I foresee the impending awkwardness as the solo female attendee walks into the building in relative rags. In any case, I hope it's a nice symphony. I think some good music is just what my tired old soul needs right now.

Read More

Day 2 in Dubrovnik, Croatia

Old City, Dubrovnik at night

I'm sitting at a restaurant in Dubrovnik mooching it up on the free wifi because my hostel's internet is down. It turns out this place serves all-you-can-eat salad and bread for $4 USD. For Dubrovnik, where vegetarian meals typically cost $15 or more, this is absolutely a STEAL. My stomach hurts from all the servings I've helped myself to. I'm going to sit here for hours. I'm probably going to come back tomorrow as well.

There's a group of French men at a table nearby. They're drinking wine and talking loudly. One of them has twice attempted to toss a smile in my direction and both times I've pretended not to notice. He looks like he's of an age where it would be inappropriate for him to be smiling at me. I'm pissed off.

There was a time when I was intrigued by the mystery associated with meeting new people. But after travelling this long, the romance has worn off. I like to sleep in instead.

Tonight, I'm indulging myself to a concert put on by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. I don't have the right attire for such an event but prices are too high here for me to buy a new outfit. I foresee the impending awkwardness as the solo female attendee walks into the building in relative rags. In any case, I hope it's a nice symphony. I think some good music is just what my tired old soul needs right now.

Read More

20 years later and the bullet holes are still there

The first set of photos below were taken in and around a street in Sarajevo nicknamed Sniper Alley. This major thoroughfare was located on the front lines of a siege on the city which began in 1992 and lasted almost 4 years as part of the Bosnian War. It's been about 20 years since that war but many buildings in this area continue to stand damaged.

Walking this street was a major goal of mine during my short stay in Sarajevo - a goal which seemed to perplex my tour guide, who was keen on rushing me past this area. But as a visitor who didn't live through these years personally, seeing this place was one of the only ways I could find my connection to the events. And there were plenty buildings to find bearing the scars of the war. Bullet holes often share the wall space with ritzy retail stores and other new developments as the city tries to find its way forward.

I hope these pictures serve to give interested readers just a small window into the city of Sarajevo and the ways in which it has changed or stayed the same since the war.

In and around Sniper Alley (Officially Zmaja od Bosne)

Other parts of Sarajevo

 A small section of Sarajevo tunnel, built during the war to link the city of Sarajevo with the free Bosnian territory on the other side.

Standing in Sarajevo's bobsled run built for the 1984 Olympics. On one side, it's vandalized with graffiti.

On the other, damaged by artillery and mortar fire during the war.

Standing in a former hotel.

Old Orthodox Church of St. Archangel Mikhail and Gabriel. Some portions of it are said to date back to the 5th and 6th centuries.

A view of the church's interior.

I'm not even going to pretend I've got the journalistic skill to go into any more detail about the Bosnian War in this post. If you'd like to know more about the history, I found this other guy's blog has a concise account with just the right amount of detail for a reader with no prior knowledge of the events.

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