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Pho Thai Son, Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, fotoeins.com

3 Places to Eat in Central Saigon

Saigon is a metropolis in southern Vietnam with over 7 million people; some say there are upwards of 9 million in the area. Although often referred by its present-day name of Ho Chi Minh City, many still call the place by its old name of Saigon.

A big attraction in a short trip is always about the food. The out-of-this-world traffic points to everybody in a big hurry on the go, and it seems the entire population is on their motorbikes. This also suggests everybody is hungry, all the time.

Naturally, there are many places, stalls, and street-side carts, but if you’d like to sit down under cover and see what others are eating, you might give these three places in central Saigon a try.

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North to Strömkajen (harbour quays), Stockholmsström, Stockholm harbour, Stockholm, Sweden, fotoeins.com

My Stockholm: daytrip to Vaxholm in the archipelago

Above/featured: Stockholmsström (Stockholm harbour).

One of the great attractions in Stockholm is its archipelago (Stockholms skärgård), a network of over 20-thousand islands in the Baltic Sea. An easy get-away from the city, Vaxholm is a favorite for many, accessible by bus, by car, or by ferry.

It is with the latter, the Waxholmsbolaget ferry service, that I set off on a day trip. I boarded the boat at Stockholm Strömkajen for the hour-long ferry to Vaxholm. The return boat journey puts me back at Stockholm Strömkajen.

The Official Roslagen site describes Vaxholm as:

Vaxholm, called the archipelago’s “capital”, is the gateway to Roslagen from Stockholm. The town is a hub for boats travelling to the central and northern archipelago – Roslagen’s archipelago. Vaxholm’s municipality includes about 70 islands.

Vaxholm has lots of trees, beautiful homes and cottages, all within easy reach of the water. Because of its proximity to Stockholm, Vaxholm can also be expensive. But if you’re looking for something different in the Stockholm area, Vaxholm is an ideal daytrip for some peace and quiet by the water’s edge.

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Joy Hing Roasted Meat, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, fotoeins.com

Hong Kong: I can eat in Cantonese

June 2012.

Yes, it’s true.

After sitting dormant in my head for years, my Cantonese has come out to play, and has been put to good use.

I can say a few words and phrases to make myself understood, but I’m not proficient enough to carry a long conversation. But I know enough to cuss if I need to, like everyone else.

It’s now halfway into my stay in Hong Kong, and I’m finding my comprehension of verbal Cantonese is steadily improving by the day. I can listen to Cantonese in conversation and I can get the gist of what’s being said. My reading and writing comprehension, however, need life support.

The important part is where my handling of Cantonese becomes particularly handy: the search for and the precise naming of food.

Here are three places in Hong Kong where I’ve adequately communicated my desire for food that “feels-like-home”:

Mak’s Noodle (Central), for the wonton noodle soup
Nathan Congee and Noodle (Kowloon), for congee
Joy Hing Roasted Meat (Wan Chai), for the barbecue duck and pork

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My Stockholm: the colours of Gamla Stan

Buildings with bright beautiful colours.
Narrow cobblestone alleys.
Street signage with few consonants.

This is Gamla Stan: Stockholm’s Old Town.

I love the mystery of trying to parse a different language, even when I’ve twisted my tongue into unrecognizably knotted grunts.

With the summer solstice in late-June, the days are long, and skies remain lit until the wee hours of the morning. You can walk through the streets of the old town by day, like other visitors who’ve come to enjoy the place. But I highly recommend you navigate the streets at night. By mid-evening, activities wind down, and eventually, you’ve basically the quiet streets all to yourself.

Gamla Stan, Stockholms ström, Skeppsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden, fotoeins.com

From Skeppsholmen: Gamla Stan with Tyska Kyrkan (German church) at right.

Gilded crown, Skeppsholmsbron, Skeppsholmen, Stockholms ström, Stockholm, Sweden, fotoeins.com

View of the Stockholms ström inner harbour from Skeppsholmsbron (Skeppsholm island bridge).

From Högvaktsterrassen (Main Guard Terrace): Riddarhuset (House of Nobility, left); Mynttorget (Coin Square, centre foreground); Riksdagshuset (Parliament House, centre background)

Statue of Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson at Kornhamnstorg (Grain Harbour Square)

Standing tall, at Stortorget (Great Square)

At Stortorget: Storkyrkan (Grand Church); Börshuset (Stock Exchange Building), now Nobel Museum

Sankt Göran och Draken (St. George & the Dragon), at Köpmanbrinken (Merchant’s Slope)

Grey rainy skies over Gamla Stan, from Skeppsholmen island

Gamla Stan and Strömmen, from Katerinavägen, Södermalm : 1130pm

Tyska Brinken at Prästgatan : midnight

At Stortorget : Börshuset / Nobelmuseet, minutes after midnight

Please do yourself a favour — go to Stockholm in the summertime. Yes, it’s expensive compared to other European destinations, but worthwhile things to see and do await in Gamla Stan, Östermalm, Södermalm, Djurgården, Skogskyrkogården, and in the archipelago (e.g., Vaxholm by boat).

• Daytrip to Vaxholm in Stockholm’s archipelago
• Say “Hej!” (and to food) at Lisa Elmqvist in Östermalm’s Saluhall market hall
• Greeting Greta Garbo in the Skogskyrokogården

I made the photos above on 25 to 27 June 2008, just after northern summer solstice. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com at http://wp.me/p1BIdT-JI.

Words, a thousand of them: one year later

What is a picture or photograph truly worth?

A thousand words or more?

A few cents or dollars from a microstock website? Or far more for commissioned work?

Across the English Channel from Dover, England to Dunkirk, France

For years, I’ve been trained to write as precisely and concisely as possible. The “currency” in professional science is the publishing of research and results as accepted papers in peer-reviewed journals. One pays or collects this “currency” (it’s sometimes unclear which) to secure gainful employment in research science.

My approach to this blog has been more about visuals and less about prose. Photographs can provide perspective far better than a ton of words I might write. Forms, feelings, and opinions are delivered in a package, and all of that gets unwrapped in your heads. I think it’s even better if people make up their own stories when they see my photographs.

I’ve made the following choices:

the ability to show galleries with photos each almost 1000 pixels wide,
a dark background to emphasize the photos,
keeping each photo’s description to a short blurb,
where appropriate, a map from Google Maps is provided for the interest of readers,
and a minimum of distractions along the top and sidebar.

And now that I’ve more than 200 words in this post, I’d like to end with the following thought. The timing of this post marks the one year mark when I announced my intention to travel this entire year: from La Serena, Chile then to Hong Kong now.

I made the photo above on 23 Nov 2007 on board the Norfolk Line ferry across the English Channel from Dover, England to Dunkerque, France. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress (fotoeins.com).

Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home