Amsterdam, Holland as a whole

Waterways, wind turbines and flatness all around.


I can't think of anything really distinctive about this place, honestly. I mean, I do remember the red light district, with girls on "display" in windows, and rows of shops selling stuff made in China (football jerseys, knitwear)

Isn't this pretty? We stumbled upon this little handmade toys shop and took a photo of this beautiful mobile.

Town square, as always.

View of the train station, if I can recall correctly.

Bicycles everywhere.

Nothing much, really.

Brussels Shots

We managed a day trip out of Rijswik. Took a train out of Amsterdam to Brussels.

Photo montage of the Cathedral of St. Micheal. Breathtakingly beautiful, and when we entered choir practice was going on in the darkness of the insides.



If you care to look at the top right, it's a photo of the famous organ.

It was December, as you can see. The giant Christmas tree right in front of the famed Brussels Town Hall, or "Hotel de Ville", or "Stadhuis".

Pretty.

Paris Shots

Paris 2006.

Looking at the photos four years on, I can hardly remember taking so many beautiful photos of this place.

I recall snooty salespeople, locals who replied our question "Parlais vous Anglais?" with "Do you speak French?", and streets that stank of dog pee. Tall, skinny women dressed in form-fitting black trenchcoats. A sea of black suits at the La Defense.

An Arc de Triomphe photo montage.

Again, one of the many buildings I, for the life of me, cannot remember the name of.

Golden gates to....sigh.

The pictures belie the rain, the early nightfalls, and us living on a combination of kebabs and crepes.

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe, the all too famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

La Defense.

Saint Chapelle, with its legendary stained glass windows.

In and out of Notre Dame, paean to Gothic Architechture.

The inverted pyramid at the bottom of the Louvre.

I wish I could go again. I'd buy Ispahan and vanilla macarons at Laduree, try real duck confit and eat croissants for breakfast, visit flea markets and food halls, and work up the guts to walk into Louis Vuitton in the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

The Hague

Heritage buildings all around, pedestrian walkways, serious-looking Europeans scuttling by in expensive-looking overcoats. The Hague, my friends, is a solemn, serious city. The sky was blue-grey, the buildings wore coats of rust and garnet and slate grey. We walked past international banks and the ICJ below. Serious-looking people all buttoned up in tweed and wool overcoats carrying briefcases and heading somewhere important.

I hope to live here someday...just for a couple of years.

Ancient apocathery-pharmacy. Seriously, check out the glass jars of medicine, the copper pans, the dark wood beam ceilings. So medieval.

The biggest photo in this montage is, I believe, the Dutch Parliament building (if I'm not mistaken). Security was almost nonexistent, which explains how I managed a (veeeeeery short) conversation with the Dutch Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende. who, as the nearby reporter explained to me, had a fierce tween girl following thanks to his resemblance to Daniel Radcliffe (you know, Harry Potter).

Shots of the sombre-looking International Court of Justice.

This monument, with hundreds of types of stones surrounding it, represents the nations that are part of the UN (or something like that)

Rome Shots

Ah, Roma. The Eternal City.

We visited in 2006. So why am I just posting this now? Guess I realised that I wanted to keep the memories of this place after so many years and so many lost files.

I loved this place. Crazy beautiful people zipping past us on their Vespas, Gucci, Pucci and D & G boutiques lining cobblestone streets, the best thin crusted pizzas I've ever tasted (with artichokes and a raw egg cracked in the middle), and stopping by every street for a gelato in a new flavour.

View of the Vatican City from the top of St. Peter's Basilica.

Inside...imagine the wealth that built this place. Peasants' offerings, Lords' gold, knights' blood, all hoping for a ticket to Eternal Life.

Permanent displays of the wealth and splendour of the Catholic Empire.

The Piazza San Pietro, or St. Peter's Square.

More shots in and out of the Basilica.

Other shots around Rome...not the usual Coliseum or Pantheon, but just beautiful architechture all around the city.

I can't remember the name of this building anymore :(

Domes glowing at dusk.

New meets old.

Gleaming at nightfall.

Penang Shots

Take the road round the island - from the Bayan Lepas industrial areas, following the main road southwards past the airport, onto the slopes of Balik Pulau. Follow the signs to Teluk Bahang, passing the old town of Balik Pulau and Malay villages, heading back Northwards on the eastern side of the island.

View from the Balik Pulau road, from the hillside. It stretches onto fishing villages, factories towards your left, to the sea.

Keep on the road as it winds its way up and then down the hills, and eventually one narrow lane will diverge into a wider road. You'll see jungles in your right and the drop into a deeper ravine to your left.

You'll soon reach the Teluk Bahang Dam, tucked in between hills still mostly covered in virgin jungle - who knows for how long.

The same road then brings you to the famed tourist belt of Batu Feringghi.

Shot of the Miami beach.

Then take an excursion into Georgetown.

Penang Street Market shots. Antiques (Peranakan porcelain and enamelware, jewellery, old records, beaded clogs), handicraft (handmade pottery, quilts, jewellery, glass sculptures), art, handmade soaps and candles, baked goods, environmentally friendly rice-husk cutlery, potted plants....it's a riotous monthly affair. I wish I could visit it more often.

I could go on.

I will, later.