The Mekong River Delta located in southern Vietnam is the major water source for many people. The Mekong Delta in Vietnam’s is also their most important fishing area and Vietnam’s rice bowl, which is intensely developed for agricultural production. Above is a fisherman in Hue at sunrise. Some 20%, or 21.5 million people live in […]
Vietnam #2 – Ha Long Bay
Ha Long Bay, named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 and 2000, is located in the northeast part of Vietnam. It is known for its towering limestone islands and emerald color waters. We were first here 12 years ago. The islands were not accessible to tourists at that time, so it was a […]
Vietnam #1 – Rice and Incense
The rice terraces in the Mù Gang Chài district in northern part of Vietnam are stunningly picturesque. While rice is grown on relatively flat plains in the centre and south, in the North, they are grown in spellbinding terraces carving up mountainsides reaching to the sky and are quite spectacular. While you can enjoy the […]
Laos #3 – Luang Prabang and Surrounding Area 2
Luang Prabang was an ancient capital located in northern Laos, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Center in 1995. It is a well developed town, fusing traditional Lao urban architecture with the French colonial architecture. Laos is the only landlocked country in the area and has been isolated from the rest of the world, called […]
Laos #2 – Luang Prabang and Surrounding Area 1
Tucked in the jungle is Kuangsi Waterfalls, a 3-tiered waterfall located 18 miles south of Luang Prabang. It is known for its milky turquoise color and its tranquil setting. We got up by 5:00 AM to watch the monks collecting alms early in the morning around the Wat Xieng Thong Temple. Along the Mekong River, […]
Laos #1 – Fire Boat Festival in Luang Prabang
The Laos Fire Boat Festival / Festival of Lights is one of the most spectacular festivals of Laos. It’s more correctly called the Festival of the Boats of Light, or Boun Lai Heua Fai in Laos. It is essentially the celebration of two things – the beginning of the dry season and the end […]
Turkey #8 – Travelers
We are the Travelers….We often enjoy joining small group photo tours with less than 10 people, such as Mehmet’s. We hate seeing so many tourists wherever we travel, so we label ourselves “Travelers”. First, all the travelers in our group have common interests – a passion for photography combined with travel to exotic destinations and […]
Turkey #7 – Gaziantep
We are enroute to Gaziantep, the sixth most populous city in Turkey. It is a diverse community populated mostly by ethnic Turks, plus Kurd and Syrian refugees. When we drove through town, we saw substantial damage from the Turkey-Syria 7.8 earthquake, which was followed by a 7.7 after shock, on February 8, 2023. We learned […]
Turkey #6 – Adiyaman and Mount Nemrut
We left our hotel in Aidiyaman by 2:00 AM to climb Mount Nemrut to see the sunrise. Mount Nemrut is 7000 feet high and was designated a World Cultural Heritage site in 1987. The site is covered with statues of the gods, and some consider this site as the 8th Wonder of the World. When the sun […]
Turkey #5 – Sanliurfa
In Sanliurfa we photographed the biblical Abraham’s Pond and also Abraham’s Cave and Mosque in the afternoon. We visited Karahantepe, an archaeological site in Sanluirfa, where we saw the oldest structures that have been discovered, and were built some 12,000 years ago. This was the first temple built by a mysterious civilization and considered the cradle of our […]