Hungary

 Lake Balaton, Hungary

Puszta, Hungary

Desierto Uyuni

Just very maybe the most amazing place I have been to. Pictures don't do it's beauty justice.

Darkness

Cerro Rico, Potosi, Bolivia, 4000+ meters above sea level, low oxygen level, dust, escaping gases, temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius, extremely narrow and claustrofobic corridors, all this veiled in total darkness. 

When lush forest turns into desert

When crossing the border between Ecuador and Peru by land you don't need barriers and officials to make it clear you've entered another country. It is more than obvious. Both crossings, the more popular but tiring Tumbes and rather remote Macara let you leave behind Tropical forests and drop you in dry barren desert. You are met with dust and riksja like tricycles and in the midlle of the desert the hustle and bustle gave me a faint hint of India in the dry season.

There is a third way to enter Peru from Ecuador. By boat, the rio Napo joins the Amazon river and in three to five days you end up in Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon Jungle. Undoubtedly the best border crossing between these two countries.

Vietnam

  

From south to north in three weeks, with a broken camera, just iPhone.

Tunesia

Incredible Sahara, there are only few places in the world where you can enjoy this kind of silence... with a great view and feel, the sand is so fine it feels like powdered sugar. After this desert trip the lens of my camera gave up, sand had gotten in.
Unfortunately I only realised this when I was already on the other end of the world.

Krakau

These images can go without introduction or explanation... 

Last post

Is this the last post, no, it is the first after my last post almost one year and a half ago now. More will follow.

 

Winter sunset in Venetia, Italy

An evening out

King Hassan II once said that Morocco was a tree with its roots in Africa and its branches in Europe. I leave it up to you whether this could be true or not.

Lamu Archipelago and the last days

Lamu, mix of chador, niqab and Bob Marley dreadlocks. Mix of mosques, narrow alleys, donkeys and idyllic mangrove islands with coral castles. Mix of a relax atmosphere and hawkers, hustlers and no I don't want a dhow trip today.

But they are right, you need to have that dhow trip. Captain Ali, his boat is to be found in front of the Donkey Sanctuary, not only proved to be good captain but also an excellent cook on our two day trip. Sailing between tropical islands and eating fresh caught fish was an excellent way to relax and leave the hustler business behind.

In between rainy seasons

With ten days left to decide where to go to and scanning all of the African Continent on rain and temperatures we packed our bags and headed for Kenya. September turned out to be an exellent month for travelling in Eastern Africa. First time here, so a safari was obligatory. After shopping around on our first day in Nairobi we booked 7 days that included Masai Mara, Amboseli and Nakuru National Park.

September being the end of the dry season means that all of the wildlife migrates to the few places where you can still find water... guess where we just had bought ourselves a ticket to.

Whatever your weapon of choice, I couldn't have imagined that the "hunting" would have been so fascinating and the game drive would become a sport itself.

Romania

You wake up early, take a shower, go outside to start your day. First things first so you want to have breakfast.
Terraces are allready packed with men. You join in, place your order and while waiting for it to arrive, you look around. Ok, we are pretty sure it is 8 o'clock in the morning... so why do people have beers for breakfast?
Welcome to Romania.




After bringing a visit to Riga and it's Stalinist Architecture (like Latvias academy of sciences) triggered my interest in post communism, our next stop was Budapest. Earlier this year we where wandering through almost deserted streets. Apparently the first two weeks in the beginning of a new year are extremely calm. Luckely the very recommendable Lavender Circus Hostel was a big compensation for some of its emptiness.

Helas for me, post communist Budapest is almost non existing.


In the contrary Bucarest has a lot more to offer in the form of two inmates, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceauşescu.
Outside of Bucarest little is to be found, could be I didn't really do the effort, after all, it is a vacation.
Transylvania gave me the impression to have disembarked in the middle ages with it's fortified churches, lack of asphalt, ancient old houses and horse drawn carriages... and beer that isn't cooled. The Dacia 1300 and names like Bucovina and Moldova did the rest of the trick. Add this to the breathtaking views in the countryside and this country has won me over.