100 Travel Stories
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Temples and Stupas in Kathmandu: Photos
A photographic journey from Kathmandu Durbar Square to the Monkey Temple, Boudha Stupa and Pashupatinath Temple.
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Rush Hour in Kathmandu
Wow! Just the name Kathmandu brings adventure and mystery in your mind. Shock and awe can be a good description.
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Taipei Street Photography
A selection of photos taken on the streets of Taipei.
One day trip, riding the subway from West Toronto to Downtown, and taking the ferryboat to Toronto Islands. Snapshots in black & white. It feels different, another way to look at our surroundings.
“Black and white is abstract; color is not. Looking at a black and white photograph, you are already looking at a strange world” – Joel Sternfeld
Himeji Castle Photos
Years ago I arrived for the first time in Japan and immediately I fell in love with this beautiful country. The timing was perfect to see the cherry blossoms. There is just one window of opportunity, and planning the trip to coincide with the cherry blossoms season took time and luck.
The trip started in Tokyo and going south to Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima. Not far from Osaka is the Himeji Castle, UNESCO World Heritage site. Himeji is the largest castle in Japan. Built in 1333, it has 83 rooms and it resembles a bird taking flight. The castle is also known as “White Egret Castle” or “White Heron Castle” (Wikipedia).
At the time of the visit, I used a film camera, Leica C3. The photos are scanned images and post processed in Lightroom and Color Efex Pro. The images can tell a story, but you have to be there to really appreciate the beauty of this place.
A photographic journey from Kathmandu Durbar Square to the Monkey Temple, Boudha Stupa and Pashupatinath Temple.
Holy Places to Visit in Kathmandu
- Kathmandu Durbar Square – the coronation place of the city’s kings of the past, a place of palaces, temples and courtyards. Now few buildings in the square collapsed due to the April 2015 earthquake.
- “Monkey Temple” (Swayambhunath) – take the 365 steps stairway entrance to the temple, while encountering the “holly monkeys”.
- Boudha Stupa (Boudhanath) – very beautiful, walk around the white dome on the second floor, in a clockwise direction, and spin the prayer wheels to accumulate wisdom and good Karma.
- Pashupatinath Temple – surreal experience to walk close to the cremation places on the banks of the holly river Bagmatl, with many incinerations happening on the spot.
Smiles and laughter at the Nathan Phillips Square skating ring during Toronto’s 186th anniversary, March 8, 2020. Toronto Comicon’s first ever Cosplay Skate brought young and old, beginners and advanced skaters together, parading in cosplay costumes in rhythms of disco music.
“My mojito in the Bodeguita del Medio and my daiquiri in the Floridita.” – Ernest Hemingway
Cuba, one of the last bastions of communism in the world, a forgotten country so close to USA and so far away…
My first trip to Cuba was in 2008. I joined an international Cuban tour organized by Cuban Adventures. And from then on, a life of Cuban adventures has started!
Havana (Habana)
Passing through the José Martí International Airport in Havana, is like being in another world, a world stopped in time 50 years ago: aged buildings, grandma fashion and smell of cigarettes. People were smoking while waiting to pick up their luggage!
I accepted a ride to my hotel from two men inside the airport. Their “taxi” was a very old, broken Lada soviet made car. Of course, no safety belt or taxi meter. The men were very friendly and smiling all the time, until they frown up…
One of the harshest and coldest winters in Canada was the winter of 2013/14 – with a Christmas ice storm that downed trees and hydro lines, cutting power to half million people – and a series of polar vortexes. The polar vortex from the beginning of January froze the Niagara River and the two smaller waterfalls, creating an unusual winter landscape.