Month: June 2015

The Forgotten island that was traded for Manhattan: today in pictures 

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Run Island, once an integral part of the Spice Trade route, was traded for Manhattan..Then as time went by, the island remained forgotten..check out the Nat Geo article describing it in pictures today:

http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/22/the-spice-trades-forgotten-island/?utm_source=NatGeocom&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=pom_20150628&utm_campaign=Content
 

Run Island 

  

 A skyline of Manhattan

Doesn’t look very similar to me, haha!

Memories of Cinqueterre (July 2009)

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I remember the 13th of July as if it were yesterday…We had a few days off from work for some Italian public holiday, and Miro* kept talking about this place in Tuscany where the mountains met the Mediterranean Sea.

Then at 2 am, he woke me up and said come on, we need to take that TrenItalia to get there! I said: “whaaaa, why do you always have schivo* in your head? Let me sleep”

But he kept insisting. What on earth was this place, I kept wondering…little did I know it was a place that truly needs to be called “Paradise on Earth” 

3 hours passed on that train and we were about to get off at the Riomaggiore station, I was half asleep and by now groggy and complaining, Miro, I muttered, this had better be fantastic!  

  

  

Groggy, after most of the night traveling..

And then, there it was, right in front of us- a peaceful, undisturbed heaven on earth:

  

This was my first exposure to a real SLR camera, not bad for a first try, eh? 7 years later, I’m still going strong, and I keep re-living and bringing new adventures on!

  

And last but not least, that’s me, about to take a dip into the Mediterranean Sea-Siiiii! 
*miro was my housemate in Venice and became one of my closest friends and adventure buddies.

* schivo in Italian means Rubbish

2015 National Geographic Photo Contest Entry: Revisiting a forgotten world

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There she stands playing her hand carved wind instrument with glee…with the corner of her eye she looks out to her amazed audience. Yet her eyes display a yearning for something, perhaps a new adventure. The contrast is amazing, urban people seek to visit forgotten worlds, while those on the other side crave the crowded urban life..

Revisiting a forgotten world

Among the timeless slopes, another Hmong lady gazes out into the distance. If only those hills could speak, and talk of the turbulent times in contrast to what we see today. Sapa and the Hmongs have a colorful and traumatic past and today live forgotten in a world oblivious to many- but those who visit are so moved by the place, that they yearn to come back again and again.

The Hills are Alive

MyCity: the place where towers grow out of the ground

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Standing on top of the Meydan rooftop, where a Ramadan tent was going on, there was a quiet corner with the most breathtaking panorama of Downtown Dubai-

And there it was, this is MyCity, the place where “concrete plants” grow out of the ground…

   

This was taken at midnight, with a transfer color lens and a regular one, at the Meydan, definitely a view not to be missed..

  And for the grand finale going down, even the elevator (or lift as they say here) was blingy! From sand dune to touchscreen elevators…what an experience!