Tag Archives: photos

Photo Friday – Uluru Sunrise, Australia

16 Nov

We spent last week trying not to dehydrate in the Outback of Australia.  Much of our time was taken up with hanging around Kata Tjuta and Uluru (commonly known as Ayers Rock).  The most famous photos of Uluru are taken at sunrise or sunset when the light makes the sandstone into a beautiful glowing spectacle.  After 6 months with no real rain to speak of, we arrived in the area just in time for some serious thunderstorms.  Fortunately the rain poured overnight and left a lovely scattered cloud palate for one of our sunrise views.

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Photo Friday – Bali Dragonfly

26 Oct

Last week we were checking out some of the exotic flowers here on Bali and we came across this friendly dragonfly.  He hung out on this flower, staying very still and cocking his little head at me while I took at least a dozen photos.  I got the distinct impression he was as curious about me as I was about him.  After I capped my lens he went about his business and eventually flitted away.

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Photo Friday – Himalayan Horses

19 Oct

We’re getting ready to post our ‘Nepal Roundup’ early next week and we came across this snapshot while we were sifting through our Nepal photos.  These types of horse caravans carry everything from construction supplies to fresh eggs to some of the hardest to reach villages along the Annapurna Circuit.  The men who lead the horses walk beside them and direct them almost entirely with different whistling sounds.  On this particular day it was incredibly foggy and at times we couldn’t see more than 10 or 15 feet in front of us.  The horses wear bells to alert walkers to their presence and we heard this caravan for quite a while before we came out of the mist and almost crashed right into them!

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Photo Friday – Carved Figures in Cambodia

12 Oct

Ankgor Wat is undoubtedly the biggest tourist draw for the temples outside of Siem Reap in Cambodia, but there is so much more if you have a day or five to explore.  There are dozens of smaller temples in the surrounding area and most of them boast intricate carvings, some of which are very well preserved.  These particular figures can be found along the walls near the Elephant Gate, and we were fascinated by the different colors each figure had taken on despite the fact that they are all basically exposed to the same natural elements.  Some were simply grey as the stone they’d been carved from, others were shades of green and red.  Each figure is unique, and we spent nearly an hour wandering along the wall and inspecting the the details.

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Photo Friday – Offerings in Bali

5 Oct

We were fortunate to be touring temples in Ubud, Bali during a holiday based around the full moon (though the celebration only happens either twice per year, or once every seven months…we keep getting conflicting information).  The temples were packed with locals, the women dressed in brightly colored silks while the men wore crisp white shirts and patterned sarongs.   We hung around on the sidelines and watched dozens of women parade by, carrying the offerings – gigantic platters of fruits, roasted duck, and sweets – on their heads.

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Photo Friday – Sunsets in Koh Tao, Thailand

21 Sep

We’ve spent the last week lounging about and stuffing our faces on Koh Tao, in Thailand.  My brother has been living on this little island for nearly 10 years, and even though we’ve been to visit him before, we never get tired of watching the sun set from one of the many local beach bars.  After three days of clouds and rain we finally got a hot sunny day and were happy to sit at my brother’s bar, Maya Beach Club, sipping mojitos and checking out the longtail boats as they bobbed around on the tide.

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Photo Friday – The Monastery at Petra, in Jordan

3 Aug

The Monastery is truly massive. See that blob below the main doorway? That’s a person!

There is no doubt that the main attraction at Petra, just outside of Wadi Musa in Jordan, is the incredible stone Treasury building.  However, we’d like to argue that the massive monastery is just as impressive, and if you come during shoulder season as we did, you might have it nearly all to yourselves.  Both buildings have been carved right into the sides of the mountains that surround the area, and both will absolutely take your breath away.  The Monastery is high on a hill at the end of the tourist section of Petra, and getting there will require that you haul yourself up somewhere around 850 stone stairs.  We made it without too much of a struggle in the oppressive mid-day heat of late June, though we imagine it’s probably much more pleasant in the early morning, or during the winter.

As an alternative, you can hire a horse or a donkey to cart you most of the way up.  If you must go this route, I’d advise you to chose your vendor carefully since we saw more than one animal being openly mistreated, and we even witnessed one man punching an uncooperative horse in the face.

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Salt Pans in Peru

8 Jun

These salt pans are just a few hours outside of Cuzco in Peru near a tiny village called Moras.  An underground spring pours saltwater down the hills into the “pans” that locals have created.  As the water evaporates, huge salt crystals remain.  This particular area provides Peru with nearly 80% of its salt!  The pools are all at different levels of evaporation, which accounts for the patchwork of colors.  There’s no real perspective in this photo, but the area is huge!

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Photo Friday – Mt. Nemrut, Turkey

1 Jun

Giant stone heads at Mt. Nemrut

We were incredibly bummed to not be able to pull off a trip to Easter Island while we were in South America, so when we heard that there we a different type of giant stone heads that date back to around 62 BC in Turkey, we were determined to see them.  It’s in the middle of nowhere on the eastern side of Turkey, and to see the sunrise on the heads you need to drag yourself from sleep at around 2:45 in the morning (give or take, depending on the season) in order to get to the mountain and climb up to the top.  While it’s no Easter Island, it’s definitely lovely and we’re glad to have made the journey.

As an aside, if you do end up going, try to remember that you aren’t the only one who got up before dawn to see this site.  The jackasses below insisted on taking all their group photos RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE HEADS as the sun was rising, thus preventing everyone else from getting a clean shot of the ruins with the pink morning light.  A number of us asked them to please move for a few moments so we could all get a picture, but they refused.  The obliviousness/obnoxiousness/self-righteousness of certain types of tourists really wore on our nerves throughout this little side trip, and reminded us why we generally avoid group tours.

Don’t be a jerk, remember other people want to take photos of that big famous monument as well.  Snap your picture and move out of the way.

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Blue Mosque – Istanbul, Turkey

25 May

Blue Mosque main interior dome – Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul has so many things to see, we could easily spend months here and never be finished.  One of the first must-see items on our list was the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, which is more famously known as the Blue Mosque.  The nickname comes from the multitude of blue tiles that adorn the inner pillars and domes.  It’s one of the most beautiful buildings we’ve seen on this trip, and we walked out with dozens of photos of the interior mosaics.

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