The tour to Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia was promoted as a scouting trip by Mehmet. However he scoped out many of the places in advance to ensure that our small group would be comfortable. As always, no one ever goes hungry on these trips. Food in SE Asia is amazingly affordable, made with fresh ingredients, and delicious. The […]
Thailand 2 – Templed Out
There are more than 41,000 Buddhist temples in Thailand, of which more than 33,000 are actively in use. The term “wat” is a Thai word for enclosure, and now refers to any Buddhist or Brahminical temple. 95% of the 70 million people in Thailand are Buddhists. In 2019, we were “templed out” on our last […]
Balkans 8 – North Macedonia
On our final morning in the Balkans enroute to Skopje, we rose early for a quick boat ride to photograph Lake Ohrid, before other boaters disturbed the mirror-like reflections of the old houses and the Church of St. John on the water. The night before, we enjoyed a partial lunar eclipse at 4AM, from our […]
Balkans 7 – Albania 3
In Tirana, the capital of Albania, we visited the Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, which is considered among the largest Albanian orthodox churches in the Balkan Peninsula. Interestingly, at the Cathedral of St. Demetrius (aka Church of Albania) in Berat, the Catholic priests (upper right) were among the rare people that did not want to […]
Balkans 6 – Albania 2
In Prizren, Kosovo, we got up before dawn to photograph the blue hour (half an hour before sunrise) of a historical bridge and mosque (above). We then left for Tirana after breakfast to return to Albania for a few days. Enver Hoxha was the president of Albania from 1941 until his death in 1985. He […]
Balkans 5 – Kosovo
Today we drove south from Albania to Kosovo. This is a “partially recognized” country that unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and has since been recognized as an independent country by 97 countries in the UN, or less than half the UN membership. It is a tiny country with a population of less than […]
Balkans 4 – Albania 1
After leaving Montenegro and traveling for most of the day over windy rough roads, we arrived in the village of Thethi in the alps of northern Albania. Thethi is a hiker’s paradise, and there is quite a building boom with new hostels and guest houses. The main reason for coming here was to photograph this […]
Balkans 3 – Montenegro
After leaving Bosnia, we traveled South and entered Montenegro, which means “Black Mountain.” This country is ringed by mountains that are… you guessed it, largely black. In recent history, this country was declared a kingdom in 1910, then merged into Yugoslavia after WWI. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Montenegro combined with Serbia to form a […]
Balkans 2 – Bosnia 2
This is part 2 of 2 describing our travels in Bosnia and Herzegovina (which will be shortened to Bosnia in further comments). Part 1 can be viewed here. As before, this is a continuation of our photo tour with Mehmet Özbalci of TurFantastic. Before meeting up with our photo group, we explored the streets around the […]
Balkans 1 – Bosnia 1
We have just started our latest adventure with Mehmet Özbalci of TurFantastic, this time to photograph five Balkan countries. Mehmet has become our favorite photography tour guide, and we have traveled with him to Iran, Sri Lanka, Georgia, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and other countries. He knows where to go at which time for the […]