Small harbour in Kuantan

Click on the photos for the bigger version...

Crystal Mosque

Night shot of the Crystal Mosque in Terengganu.
8 seconds exposure, 26th of December.

Click on the photo for the bigger version...

Candles

But in the spirit of Christmas you might like this one better... :-)


Note that these photo's weren't processed with any software. The effect of the candles is as shot. A technique I read about on the Internet. Apparently this trick has been used by photographers for decades. To me it was new, just a first experiment...

Click on the photos for a bigger version...

East Coast II, third day - album

And here finally the third day of a second trip to the east coast last year...

Click here for the album with some 22 photos.

Click here for the total index.

Elephant orphanage, the album

And here's the album of Kuala Gandah...

Click here for the album with some 22 photos.

Click here for the total index.

Elephrend

Had my Dutch friend Nora over last week. Hence the somewhat silence on this blog, I hardly had time.

Was fun to see her outside of her normal environment.

We actually never met up a lot in The Netherlands, it was more of a phone relationship. She's a colleague from one of my former jobs and after I left there we had become friends. I visited her when I was back in The Netherlands during the last two years, but this year she decided to come this way. I showed her around a bit, and she wandered the city by herself a few days when I still had to work, having lunch and dinner with her.

She very much enjoyed KL, but not so much the climate :-)

Highlight (well, for her anyway, I very much dislike organised tours) was a trip to Kuala Gandah, the elephant orphanage in Malaysia, where Nora turned into an elephrend...

Took some ok shots there, which I will show soon.

As far as I understood the orphanage takes in elephants that can't be set free in the wild anymore. Their habitats over here get smaller and smaller and when they get too close to civilisation they become a threat to humans and the oil plantations. It's the classic tale of human development making it impossible for wild life to sustain itself.

You can feed the elephants there, ride an elephant for a short round around a tree, and they even take you into the river to be dropped by these huge creatures into the water. All voluntary mind you...

I skipped all that, busy taking pictures. I'm not afraid of animals (well, all in moderation, it's unwise not to be afraid of venomous snakes or a growling tiger ready to jump you) but I sat on a horse once and I felt it for a week. Besides, I'm very much a 'better safe than sorry' kind of person, and I decided early on in life that it is best to keep some distance when it comes to trained wild animals. No matter how gentle they might seem and act, they still can trample you with one kick if they have a moody day. I know I would if I were an elephant... And since riding an elephant was never very high on my secret wish list, I just took pictures.

The bus driver of the small mini van to Kuala Gandah was a bit of a bore and kinda racist, telling his little story about how KL came about, and that set the tone for the rest of the trip... Think these outings are better done with just friends in a private car, or in a really big bus with lots of people where you can escape the guide, and wander off unnoticed...

Into the river... click on the photo for the bigger version...

Beijing, the final album

And here's the last album of Beijing, the seventh and eight day.

Those were two rather lazy days. Done with all the tourist sites we just walked the city center and one of the outer areas which turned out to be a sort of little Russia, with a lot of fur industry going on. Quite a depressing neighbourhood actually, with a lot of ugly buildings. Not many photos of that day.

Click here for the album with some 17 photos.

Click here for the total index.

Phnom Penh album II

And here's the second and third day.

Click here for the album.

Click here for the total index.

In the meantime...

Something I forgot to mention, but I got my sensor cleaned, before the trip to Cambodia.

And for people who don't know what I'm talking about, see this post and this post.

I flashed Tha Professional card in their (Canon Malaysia Headquarters) faces and that got me a 'please sit down and wait 15 minutes', whilst other less fortunate people could pick up their camera the next day. I'm not one for special treatment, but in this case I felt I payed Canon enough to deserve it.

A bit apprehensive I tested the camera at home. Afraid they might have made it worse. The hair I already removed myself, but in that process I messed up the sensor even more, so I was really hoping for an improvement. And indeed there was. Almost spotless, not enough spots left to be bothered about, you'd never see them on a regular picture. They really cleaned up the mess I made of it.

I also ordered two new focusing screens. Turned out that replacing those, although technically easy, isn't that simple, because no shop has them in stock. Even Canon Malaysia didn't, they had to order them in Japan. Guess the model camera isn't that popular here, which is not a total surprise if you look at the price of the thing.

And for people wondering, a focusing screen is a small piece of glass that hangs directly under the viewfinder inside the camera. It disperses the light and you really cannot do without. I tried the camera without it, but apart from a very distorted image in the viewfinder, exposure gets all mixed up. Sensors in the camera clearly expect this thing to be there. Apparently ít's engraved with laser, not just an ordinary piece of glass.

And the final issue, the 70-200mm lens making some shaky noises after a small drop on the tiles of my apartment turned out to be normal. Something I suspected, but wasn't sure of, cause I didn't know if the sound had always been there when shaking the thing. It's the image stabilizer rattling around a bit. Wasn't too concerned about that anyway, cause the lens worked fine after the drop, but it's nice to know for sure.

So, all issues surrounding the camera resolved, waiting now for a phone call on the arrival of the focusing screens. I ordered two, the regular one, to replace the present scratched one, and an extra, with a grid on it. I tend to make shifted pictures sometimes, where the verticals or the horizontals are not completely straight, and the screen with the grid on it is supposed to help you prevent that. It's easily corrected in any editing software, but it saves time if the photos don't have the problem to begin with.

Scroll

It's something I bought in Beijing.

I don't buy a lot of souvenirs. Small stuff sometimes. Problem is that it just stacks up, and my life is a bit unclear location wise. Don't feel like dragging along too much stuff if I need or decide to move, either within Malaysia or forcibly back to The Netherlands. The suitcase I arrived with is already too small.

This I couldn't resist.

Bought it at an art exhibition near the Forbidden City. The girl who sold it to me told me it was painted by her teacher, and for a 'souvenir' it wasn't very cheap. She was a student at the Beijing Art Academy. It was one out of four, depicting the seasons, but this one was clearly the best.

The real deal is about two meters tall and I photographed it in three pieces. Had some trouble stitching it all together without the seams showing up, but worked out ok. Not fully sure about the coloring yet, need to compare it a bit better in daylight. The original blossoms are a bit more pinkish.

Click on it for the real big one. It's big though, about 2mb, so give it some time to load if you're interested.

Phnom Penh

It's poor, it's underdeveloped compared to any standards, there's kids begging and the poverty is striking. But they're friendly, they seem curious, they like to make contact and their smile is appealing.

They were also easy targets to photograph. Either a friendly smile, a big laugh, a wave or a shy looking away, but never an objection. They actually seemed to like the attention.

Big smile and laughing when they spot the camera...

A lot of them literally live on the streets. I'm not sure if they have homes or live in one of the slum areas I saw, and just venture out to the city during the day, but they eat, pee, play, sleep, get their hair cut and dry their clothes on the streets, as some of the photos show. In fact, I caught them sleeping everywhere. On trucks, on benches, in tuk tuks, on seats at a funeral, they clearly like to sleep. My kind of people :-)

Kid playing near Phnom Wat...

'They' is of course not everybody, but the street life is in your face. It makes parts of Phnom Penh a very lively mess, especially around the market area.

Knowing a little bit of the history of Cambodia and the horrors that went on there - first by the Americans, then by Pol Pot slaughtering his own people - the resilience of the people seems amazing.

I don't want to romanticise it though. Life there seems also harsh. They might smile and some might seem genuinely happy with the little they have, a few days isn't enough to get a sense of what these people are thinking or feeling or how they experience their daily life. Think it's safe to assume that everyone would prefer a normal house over a slum, and a clean bed over a bench in the park. And the smiling might look friendly, but I remembered a book about the Pol Pot regime, in which Cambodians are described as friendly but also as spiteful. I'm quoting here freely, but in the book they're called 'the most spiteful Asians of the whole of Asia'. In short, don't piss off a Cambodian, because he might seek revenge in a less pleasant manner. How true it is, I don't know, it's second hand knowledge, but it's not unwise to keep such knowledge in mind when visiting there :-)

One tip worked out quite well, the street kids begging. In stead of giving them money - which is either spent wrong or possibly given to other people for whom they work - I bought a big bag of candy, and we just handed that out whenever the occasion arose. And it works, they leave you alone after that, with quite a happy face.

I also handed out money to disabled, landmine victims and other unfortunates, but you quickly realise it's impossible. They keep coming. It's one of the nasty aspects of these places: the confrontation with your own luck, the fact you have and they don't, and how to deal with that if they rub that almost literally in your face, with missing limbs, in wheelchairs and with other deformities. The Dutch suffer from guilt quite easily - I wrote about that in another post about Calvinism - and it's also a part of my nature. I haven't found a convincing way yet for myself. I give some, I reject some, but it still lingers in the back of my mind without a resolution, because there is none. This is the way it is, this is their life. You visit, you leave. Most you get out of it is the feeling of being lucky and a sense of admiration for this nation and its people.

Another striking thing, of which some Cambodian artists make fun themselves in paintings I saw, is the number of people they carry around on trucks, buses and motorbikes. Five people on one motor cycle wasn't an exception, and some seem to carry their whole material existence on their motor cycle. Furniture, stoves, bags, appliances, hardware, tools, you name it, you can find someone driving around with it, stacked, stuffed or folded onto a bike or truck, usually with people on top, also quite visible on some of the photos.

Two motor cycles and a lot of other stuff in a truck, with people on top...

Took me quite some time and trials to get some photos of the people on motor cycles, visible in the first album, but luckily they don't drive faster than about 30km per hour. Traffic is very chaotic, but because of the low speed it doesn't seem to go wrong often. Five on a motor cycle is quite acceptable if you don't go fast.

The weather was so so. It's the rain season now, and the first few days we had on and off drizzle and a grey sky. Dry enough between the drizzle to walk around though. The place is also quite windy, and as sandy and dusty as Siem Reap. Completely flat land, no mountains, so the wind can do its thing undisturbed, bit like The Netherlands, where a day without wind is quite rare.

Otherwise, apart from observing the life going on, there's really not much to do in Phnom Penh. There's a few sites to visit and there's some nice restaurants and cafes around the river area, but that's about it. My initial guess that a few days would be enough turned out to be true.

I did enjoy it though. Not sure if I will return there soon, but I think it was a worth while trip.

(Click on the photos for the bigger version)

Phnom Penh, album I

Yes I'm back, and already done with the first album. Was quite happy with the photos I took, so I'll plunge you right into it. Coming days more about Phnom Penh, also in writing.

Click here for the album.

Click here for the total index.

Kampung Budaya, album

And before departure, another album finished. Almost there now, ready for new photos.

Some of the photos of this one I've already shown earlier. See this post for some explanation.

Click here for the album with some 15 photos.

Click here for the total index.

Beijing bird...

Trained bird flying off to pick up coins...
...click for the bigger version...

Was that it?

So, was that it about Beijing?

No, there were two more days. We just walked the center a bit, stumbled upon a big lake with lots of cafes and restaurants, wandered through little Russia, got cheated by a fortune teller and met this fellow, who was flying a kite, using the contraption on his belly.

Flying a kite over the center of Beijing...
...click for the bigger version...

The amazing thing was that the kite was (an educated guess) at least 200 or 300 meters up in the sky, almost invisible due to the haze. That in itself wasn't too amazing, it was quite windy that day, but he was flying the thing smack in the center of Beijing.

I was wondering what would happen if the kite would unexpectedly come down, with 300 meters of line draped over the city center...

The line...
...click for the bigger version...

He was very proud of the machine on his belly, needed to tell us how much he had paid for it, and was very happy to pose for a good shot.

There's one more album to come, with photos of those two days.

Beijing album VI - The Great Wall

The Great Wall... was a great day. Nice sunny weather, apart from the omnipresent dust in the air, which makes the views very hazy. I insisted on going a bit later in the day, because the light is much nicer in the afternoon, especially around 4 or 5. That worked out pretty well.

Take a look here at some 28 photos...

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Cambodia album IV - Angkor Wat

And the last album of Cambodia finished.

Click here to view this album, most about Angkor Wat, a huge temple near Siem Reap, and one of the reasons Siem Reap is so popular amongst tourists.

One day of the whole trip is actually missing, the 25th of December. I was down that day with food poisoning. The steak was most likely too raw... tasted fine, but a few hours later I was oozing from all openings. Took me a day to recover, so the 25th is missing.

Click here for the album index.

Siem Reap Cambodia, album III

And the third album of Cambodia finished.

Click here to view the album of the third day.

Making all these albums turned out to take more time than I thought, but I'm almost done now. There's one more coming about Cambodia, and then I'll finish up China, the Great Wall album. After that some smaller ones of Borneo, Sarawak - Kuching and Kampung Budaya.

Next trip early August will be Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I know most people voted for Tokyo, but besides very expensive it can also be 40 degrees there in August. I decided to postpone that one, possibly to early next year, cause I don't want to rush a visit to Tokyo and limit it to only a few days, nor do I want to sweat through it like a pig.

Click here for the album index.

Siem Reap Cambodia, album II

And here's the second album of Cambodia.

Click here to view the album of the second day.

Click here for the index.

Siem Reap Cambodia, album I

And here's the first of Cambodia.

This was a trip in 2006, but I didn't get around earlier to turn them into something proper. I've published these photos before, but they're resized, I made a better selection and did some more thorough post production on some.

Click here to view the album of the first day.

Click here for the index.

Sri Aman, album

Aaaah, finally, way too late, but here it is, all the photos (35) of the festival in Sri Aman in 2008.

Click here to view the album.

Click here for the index.

And click here for the story on Sri Aman.

Tha Professional

Yes! Finally something went right online.

Took them long enough, almost three weeks and an extra email, but I'm now officially a Canon Professional, hahaha, whatever that means... and I've got a neat little plastic card with my name on it to prove it!

It does mean I won't be standing in line at their counter when I go for the sensor cleaning (although you could say I've been standing in line for 3 weeks), no sir, champagne and caviar, whilst they sweat on my camera, somewhere soon now I hope...

Sri Aman

Sri Aman is a small village in Sarawak (which is a state of Malaysia on Borneo).

Sri Aman is really the embodiment of 'the middle of nowhere' and probably one of the most remote places I’ve ever been to. It reminded me a bit of my own home town. It’s small and there’s nothing to do. No cinema, no clubs, nothing to do for young people besides hang out at the KFC, the one 'foreign' establishment I could detect there.

School and church, temple and mosque... smack in the middle of the state, surrounded by green.

The difference with the place I was born in is that that village is close to a big city. Not Sri Aman. It’s about three hours drive from Kuching, the capital of Sarawak.

Not really an option when you’re in your teens and growing up in Sri Aman.

I was invited to Sri Aman by Erick in February 2008, who’s born there, and he and his family were visiting relatives who still live there. They also went back to Sri Aman to witness and celebrate the last day of the Chinese New Year festivities, 14 days after the start of it - that was the year of the Rat.

Sri Aman is small and remote, but the end of the Chinese new year is not going by unnoticed. There’s a huge festival going on (relatively speaking) and it’s a bit of a strange one. It’s a mix of nature religion, tradition and fancy fair and somewhat hard to describe. The religious aspect is about several gods, who come down on that evening to possess a few selected people. These people are then carried through the streets in the evening in a big parade, stopping at every Chinese shop to ‘bless’ it. For prosperity in the new year and all that.

Now, to an outsider the whole parade seems a bit ridiculous: cute, but not to be taken too seriously. But when you observe it, you quickly notice this isn’t taken lightly. The beliefs are strong and there’s utmost respect for the people being 'possessed' and carried around. This whole process also involves self mutilation and 'torture' devices like seats with spikes, and pins being stuck through flesh. You can see that on some of the pictures I took (although close study of some of the photos do show some 'cheating', I'm not fully sure how far they take this).

And to top it all off there was professional fireworks going on at the end of the ceremony that lasted for so long that it almost became boring. Usually fireworks of that magnitude don’t last for longer than 10 or 15 minutes. This one must have lasted for more than half an hour. Never ever I would have thought that I would experience the longest fireworks I ever saw in such a small place in the middle of Borneo.

Pictures were all shot with my 35mm lens, without flash. I make it somewhat of a point not to use flash in the evening. Besides the fact I hardly know how to use flash properly – flash photography basically is a study in its own - I like the pics better without. Of course the hit rate goes down quickly without flash. The percentage of blurry shots was quite high - it’s impossible to freeze action without flash and with the resulting slow shutter times - but I managed to make a few ok ones nevertheless...

Also quite clear on some of the pictures is that they’re not really used to tourists in Sri Aman. The curious looks I got are also quite visible on some of the pics and espcially kids seem to love to make the V-sign as soon as they spot a camera (much similar to kids in Cambodia, who did the same).

Here's a few photos. Click on them for the full album.

Beijing album V - Summer Palace

Well, the shortest album so far.

I didn't have a good day. I was a bit moody and tired and it shows in the pictures. There's only one really good shot that day, and that wasn't even in the Summer Palace, but at the KFC in Beijing, of all places.

The Summer Palace was just too big. Another really 'hot' tourist spot, with too many people standing in front of everything.

It's like they do it on purpose. You point your lens and poof, there's someone in front of it... At some objects they're even queueing!

Truly, I never fully understood the desire to stand in front of an object and have your picture taken. It has something to do with showing off I suppose 'look, I was there'. But just taking the picture also proves that you were there. You don't need to have your face in it, unless people you show it to won't believe you were the one who actually took the picture? But how likely is that?

This attitude needs to change, I will campaign for it! Photographers of the world unite!

Ok, I'm done campaigning... my sensor isn't cleaned yet, so who cares anyway...

Thus, hardly any good shots, and the few that potentially were, got spoiled by people or strange objects sitting in the way (like support bars for trees etc).

But in the end it was simply me having a bad day...

Click here to view the 10 photos of this album.

For the complete index of all the albums, click here.

About that sunrise...

Well, these are the best I could make of it...

In the meantime the sensor drama continues. I managed to remove the hair. As I suspected it was actually not on the sensor, but sort of hanging in front of it. Standing actually, stuck somewhere at the bottom. I forgot that the picture on the sensor is flipped, so for a while I was looking in the wrong corner.

But during the nerve wrecking process I managed to dirty the sensor itself even more. Less visible on lower apertures, but still not very satisfying. This week probably the Canon Service Center, to have it cleaned by professionals...

I'm awaiting 'professional status' at Canon, which is sort of a perk if you buy at least a camera and one L-lens (which I have). It means they handle you like a business class passenger. Once that status is approved, the whole process of servicing should be swift...

Added to the photographic misery was a drop of the L-lens on the tiles of my apartment. Not from high, it sort of rolled off the camera bag, which was on the floor, and it dropped probably about 10cm. But it made a nasty smack. The lens still works, but there's a weird sound now when you gently shake it, and I don't know if that was there before or not. L-lenses are built to withstand some abuse. There's a story on the Internet of someone who dropped a similar lens from an elephant onto cobble stones, and the lens still worked fine. But as to not suddenly end up with a dead lens on a holiday, I'll include it in the service check... Apparently with 'professional status' they look at that for free...

Welcome to my hobby... :-)

Sunrise over Chempedak Beach...

Click on the photos for a bigger version...

Kuala Lumpur, album

Thought it would be nice, apart from the 'KL by Night' series, to also make a regular album with photos of Kuala Lumpur... They're taken over a period from 2007 to 2009. I have more photos of course, so maybe in future there will be a second album.

Click here to view the 18 photos. Some were published on this blog before, some are new...

Dust II

And at the off change that some people think 'he's whining about dust on his sensor, how bad can it be, dust...' here's a photo which shows how bad it can be.

Now note that I would normally not show this picture, even without dust, because it's nothing special. Just to demonstrate this is a serious issue...

Dust in almost the middle of the picture, just above the horizon... I'm not even sure if you can call that dust or that it's perhaps a full blown grain of sand... it looks huge...

And for people who couldn't discover it on this small photo, here's a blow up. Note also the three pieces in the sea within the yellow circle...

Decided not to burn myself by cleaning the sensor myself, besides, these big pieces are gone, the internal dust shaker worked for those. And with the vacuum cleaner held close to the camera (don't try that at home kids, you might suck out the mirror) I think I was able to get rid of most of these big chuncks completely. But to remove the hair I'll probably visit the Canon service center somewhere next week and let them do it. The machine was simply too expensive to fool around with myself...

Dust

Well, the sunrise was a bit of a bummer. Too cloudy. Did manage to take some nice shots, but then, when I reviewed the pictures, I spotted dust... ON THE SENSOR! One big piece is really spoiling most pictures, so before I show any they have to go through Photoshop to remove it.

Dust on the sensor is not uncommon, but the big problem is: how to get rid of it. I also discovered a piece of a hair, and it's totally stuck. The sensor on a DSLR is extremely sensitive, and replacing it if you scratch it will cost you the price of the camera. Canon can service it, but the testimonials from people who went through that aren't positive. They usually get it back with even more dust. Furthermore you loose the camera for about 2 to 3 weeks, not a nice prospect.

In fact, when messing around trying to clean it, I already damaged the focusing screen. It's scratched by a cloth that wasn't the right one, or from a grain of sand slipping through. That's not really a big issue, because it's just a piece of glass that can be replaced. They sell them new for a few dollars. But it shows how careful one needs to be with this equipment.

Reviewing photos from Beijing showed that the piece of hair was already on there. It only becomes visible at higher apertures, starting with F8 or so, and I don't take many shots that high. But knowing it's there already bothers me. It's also in a nasty position, at the top right, so it will show very easily when taking pictures with a piece of clear sky in it.

So now I'll start looking for the right cleaning kit, to do it myself... Also not a nice prospect, when you know that one wrong move will turn you suicidal...

In the meantime, whilst I sweat to somehow get my sensor cleaned, enjoy the photo I took before I spotted the dust... yes, a monkey again :-)

Click on the photo for a bigger version...

Beijing album IV - Jingshan Park

Probably the best day photo wise of the Beijing trip. Made not too many, but a few very nice ones if I say so myself. And if you want to know what this header photo is about, you'll have to click...

Take a look here at some 17 photos...

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Sunrise

We're in Kuantan now. Chempedak beach...

And it's what some would consider 'in the middle of the night'. I usually consider this as 'somewhat late, perhaps time to sleep'. But not this night, cause I want to catch the sunrise. Problem of the east coast is that it's facing... yes east. There's no way to catch a sunset, so, how awful, it has to be the sunrise.

I'm not a morning person, I'm sure I've written that before on this blog, but in this case I'll consider this morning simply as an extension of the night. Problem solved...

Only thing now is to find out how late exactly, as to not sit for an hour on the beach fruitlessly, being stung by mosquitoes or bitten by sand flies.

Ok, just done that, dawn is 6.32, exact sunrise is 6.54, so I need to be out there at 6.30...

Ah and yes, the aim is of course to take some nice pictures.

Let's hope it's not too clouded...

Monkeys!

I turned all the monkey pictures taken at the east coast of peninsula Malaysia during trips in 2008 into one album. Some were already shown on this blog, but some are new. If you like the critters, have fun...

Click here to view them all, the album contains 23 photos...

Vietnam - Hanoi album IV

And the third day of Vietnam is finished.

For people losing track with all the photos, this was a trip in March 2007, more than two years ago.

It's nice to compare (well, for me anyway) with the more recent albums like China and really see some progress in the photos, subject wise and technically. Good equipment also helps.

I disliked the lens I used most in Vietnam (for the nerds: the Canon EF 28-135mm). Reviews claim it's a fine lens for its price, and be that as it may - perhaps due to me being quite new to it all or maybe it was a not so good copy - it didn't perform very well. Also visible on some of these pictures.

It flared a lot, even with hood, and somehow light would always overflow in the rest of the picture. Look for instance at the guy sitting on the balustrade, fishing in that really green lake. Then look at the top quarter of the photo and see how washed out it is. Perhaps it's the humidity, perhaps simply wrong lighting, but this lens spoiled a lot more photos than my present gear. Dunno if there's a specific technical term for it, but I would call it 'unhappy'. It also produced a dull contrast and rather soft images. It did perform quite well in Cambodia, in sunny dry circumstances, but humidity is a given in a lot of countries in this region.
I sold the lens not long after the trip to Vietnam.

The camera used was the Canon 350D, almost ancient (Canon just released the 500D, that's 3 models beyond the 350D), and obviously that also makes a difference compared to my present camera (the 5D mark II).

Click here to view the album...

Beijing album III - Forbidden City

One of my objectives, when I bought my first DSLR camera, was to try to stay away from 'tourist' photos.

That hasn't been easy.

To want to be original is one thing, to actually achieve it is another. And I must admit that I didn't realise how difficult it is to really take a 'wow' picture, or a photo that tells something more than just what the image reflects.

The Forbidden City is a good example. If you google a bit on pictures of other people who visited Beijing, you'll find at least half a million pictures (for instance on Picasa web) and they're all similar. The same buildings, the same picture of the portrait of Mao, the same bed of the emperor... I even saw some of the photos I took, at similar angles of similar subjects at the similar location.

It's too boring.

Not that there's anything wrong with tourist photos mind you, I don't want to sound all snobbish. In the end I'm also a tourist, and I also like to take pictures of stuff that others have photographed millions of times already. Some of these objects simply beg for it. But I also like to come home with at least a few 'different' ones. And 'seeing' or discovering the 'difference' at a place like the Forbidden City, that's not easy - is my main point.

Therefore this third album doesn't have many of the 'usual' shots and in actual fact doesn't contain many photos for six hours of tourist site. Although I did take a few of the 'standard' photos, and do show a few, when making the album I focused a bit more on details.

The last pictures were taken in the early evening in a park close by the hotel, not in the Forbidden City.

If you want a general overview of the Forbidden City I suggest you google for it.

Click here to view this third album, with some 22 photos...

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Twice and doorknobs

Turns out I took a photo at almost exactly the same spot - from the train - on the way to the wall and back... here's both of them...

The third was taken in the Forbidden City...

Doorknobs on the doors of one of the many buildings in the Forbidden City...

Click on the photos for a bigger version...

Beijing album II

And here's the second album of Beijing, the second day, where we wander around Tiananmen Square, after deciding it's too busy for the Forbidden City... with some 27 photos.

Visitors from China will have trouble with these albums, since the used domain is blocked there. They can click here, but will have to click around more to get to the bigger versions of the photos.

Strike a pose

Posing for his mother who took a picture of him, in front of the back entrance of the Forbidden City...

Click on the photo for a bigger version...

Pots and Trees

Plants in big pots at the entrance of Jingshan park...


Blossom trees near the wall of the Forbidden City...

Click on the photos for a bigger version...