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I went for a long weekend in Tromsø, Norway. That’s all the way at the top of Scandinavia in the Arctic circle. I had a chance to ride a snowmobile. It was much more physical than I was expecting any my arms ached for the next couple of days! I managed about 30km without any problems only to go over a small hill 200m away from camp. The instructor turned left effortlessly but no matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t turn it or slow it down and went straight into some shrubs. In hindsight, I should’ve gone slower but probably I could have made the turn if I had leaned into the turn like I was supposed to!
Anyway, everyone comes to Tromsø for one thing. That is to see the northern lights (or aurora) the colourful displays in the night sky. Rather than waffle on, I’ll just show you what amazing photos I managed to get with my new Sony NEX-5 camera.
I really enjoyed the trip despite it being below minus 10C. I had fun getting used to my new camera. All photos were taken entirely in manual mode with the pancake lens in manual focus. Quite an achievement considering I did all this in the cold and that I’ve almost always relied on some auto setting on all the cameras I have ever used.
It came with two E-mount lenses. The E16mm and E18-55mm. Unfortunately, the E18-200mm telephoto lens costs more than the entire bundle + accessories combined so I won’t be getting that anytime soon. Unless I win the lottery or a casino game (http://www.poker.dk)– and then I’ll add a whole bunch of lenses to my collection! It is easy to imagine that many photography enthusiasts add special new ones to their collection whenever they get the chance. There are too many nice ones to choose from! It is important to take extra good care of them though, considering how expensive they are. The E-16 and E18-55 is a great start, but the E18-200mm remains tempting.
It’ll complement my ultra-slim Sony DSC-T90. I hope to be able take it for a ride and test it out! It feels like a nice piece of kit, so watch this space!
This is the coldest I have ever felt in Cambridge! I’ve probably only ever been colder up in high altitude. It was certainly an effort to drive to work in the morning with snow, ice and mush (aka slush). I hope santa brings a big sack of coal so I can light a nice warm fire!
I went to a bank on a Sunday afternoon and not only were the doors open but I managed to open a new current account and receive my debit card within 30 minutes!
This would be the “revolutionary” Metro Bank. A new high street bank that came to London earlier this summer and currently has four branches.
Why Metro Bank? Convenience is one factor – open 361 days a year and up to 8PM on weekdays. No fees is the other – espeically no ATM fees or currency loading when using the debit card abroad. The downside is you currently need to visit a branch to open an account. At four branches, all within London, that excludes a lot of the UK population. But once it’s open the online and telephone banking will keep you in touch with your money.
One to watch out for and looks particularly good for those who travel a lot assuming the Mastercard Debit card is reliable.
During my recent holiday to Japan, I decided to have a break from my typically British sandwiches and enjoy some mouth watering food from Japan.
Here’s a photo diary of some meals I had in Japan. Unfortunately, there were a few times I couldn’t resist and just had to dig in!
1. Sukiyaki in Ginza, Tokyo. Lots of fresh chicken and vegetables cooked in front of you on a stove with a bit of soup base, served with miso soup and rice.
2. On Ishigaki island, Okinawa ramen accompanied with a plate of goya chanpuru and tofu.
3. Lunch included with our tour of Iriomote island. Rice, seaweed soup and four sample dishes. Tempura, goya chanpuru, egg, fish and pork.
4. Dinner at our resort (Furisaki) on Ishigaki island. Tried local Ishigaki dark beer but was quite bitter. Also ordered two different types of nihonshu.
5. The food consisted of an array of small dishes. Sushi, sashimi (raw fish) and beef-sushi (raw beef). The beef was very fresh. The final serving was slices of beef to be cooked on a hot coal grill followed by three tpyes of dessert.
Here comes the raw beef.
6. A very nice mix of Japanese and western food at the breakfast buffet in Okinawa. Here’s my very own mix. Probably one of the best breakfast buffets I’ve come across.
7. Stumbled across a cake shop in the middle of nowhere. Was hungry so got a sweet potato cake (I think). Very soft and not too sweet!
8. Dinner with traditional Okinawa music. Ate seafood salad, sushi and ishigaki beef on a hot plate.
9. Found time to enjoy taco rice (A American-Japanese mix) during my short tour of the tiny Taketomi island.
10. Back in Tokyo. Enjoying a very fresh bowl of sashimi (tuna and other sea creatures I don’t know the name of). You put the wasabi in a small dish, add soy sauce and mix, then pour it over the bowl. Rice is underneath.
11. OK, I didn’t actually eat this but what flavour is “Tofu” flavour? I thought it was flavourless? They also have “Soy sauce” flavoured Kit Kats!
12. More seafood for breakfast.
13. At the morning market in Hakodate, north Japan. I’ve always watched this go round in a sushi restaurant but never dared try Sea urchin. It’s actually not bad. Just tastes like sea food!
14. In Hakodate, you can pay about 500 Yen to catch your own squid from a large tank. Here it is in the bucket.
This is the squid being served up on a plate. You might not want to watch this if you’re squeamish.
Just as I wanted to eat it, the damn thing started moving! My number one rule when I first visited Japan was not to eat anything still moving. Ahhh!! I decided to just film from here onwards.
15. Salt based soup ramen is popular in Hakodate apparantly. This bowl of mushroom/fungi/bamboo ramen was huge but I enjoyed it with some gyoza.
16. Back in Tokyo. This was new. Don’t know what this is called but it’s rice with some toppings on top cooked in the pot. (Update: This is kamameshi “釜飯”)
17. Apart from one KFC, this was my only other meal where I enjoyed eating junk food. Kua Aina is a popular Hawaiian burger place.
18. Enjoying syabusyabu with friends. Individual pots of hot soup where you flick slices of meat into it to cook. Then dip in your choice of sauce and eat. When finished, add rice or noodles to fill up if not already full!
19. I love BBQs. This is a bit different to the English or Aussie type but still mouth watering and full of flavours. Order the meat and vegetables then grill it yourself right in front of you on the coal fired grill in the middle of the table.
I think I may need to do some exercise after all that.
ごちそうさまでした。
Oh I do love my gadgets. Here’s the Amazon Kindle 3G + Wifi, latest edition. With the iPad being so expensive, I wanted something a bit bigger than my iPhone to read books on. At £149, the Kindle 3G seems just like the right thing. The interesting thing is the 3G is FREE to use globally and the experimental web browser seems to work to some degree.
Here I am unboxing it. The e-Ink is so amazing that I thought this screen was a piece of paper as I had just opened the box! These things last more than a month on a single charge apparently.
An early Christmas present to myself and just in time for my flight to Japan.
Well. Had my final check up this morning, approximately 11 months after my laser eye surgery. The optician agreed my eye sight was better than 20/20 and that she would discharge me as a patient which concludes my treatment!
11 months on, I can say I don’t need to rely on glasses anymore. I do notice my left eye is better than my right and I am now ever so slightly long sighted but for everyday things I can see both near and far. My eyes do get tired after a long day which does affect vision quality but I find a good nights sleep helps a lot.
Would I recommend it? Yes. The only thing I have to say is not to expect superman perfect vision after the surgery. The aim is to get rid of those glasses or contacts you wear everyday.
My blog’s been a bit quiet recently. Due to work commitments, I didn’t get a chance for a long summer break but managed to get away on some weekends. Instead of writing a long blog post I’ll summarise the highlights in 14 photos.
I got blown away at the summit of Snowdon in Wales:
6 years after my first visit, I went to Switzerland again in time for Zürifäscht 2010! I’m not as young as I used to be but I still enjoyed it.
They had “firecopters” – helicopters that flew around the sky and shot fireworks into the middle.
I got my teeth into a hot and tasty german sausage with bread and a nice dollop of mustard on the side.
I found myself on Jungfraujoch and holding the Swiss flag!
Posing in front of Rhine falls. Far enough not to get swept away.
They had boats going to the rock in the middle but they must have got soaked due to all the spray. Apparantly, the average water flow is 700 m³/s in summer. That’s a lot.
I always got nice photos in Switzerland. Here is the beautiful Zurich. It feels like my home, even though I left 6 years ago! I could settle in Switzerland if they would let me.
I did a road trip around the south east of England, visiting Eastbourne, Rye and Canterbury. Here is the famous Seven Sisters on the south coast of England!
And then I did another road trip to the South West of England. Can you believe this photo was actually taken in England?! The amazing coast line, beaches and look at the colour of the sea. I didn’t even touch up the photo or tune my camera!!! Unbelievable. Someone has also ingeniously built a theatre in this wonderful location in Cornwall. We caught the end of a rehearsal. I just love the colours in this photo.
Where’s Wally?
I also found the giant’s heart.
I like the cities, like London and Tokyo. But I like to get away and could spend hours looking into the horizon or staring into the stars. Something mysterious about the distance and gazing into infinity. Just makes you think how small and insignificant you are in the big picture.
Fact: Did you know I used to play the violin in an orchestra? I only got as far as the Cambridge Corn Exchange though. Here I watched the BBC Proms from the balcony at the Royal Albert Hall. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
I’m back in Mumbai for my third and hopefully final trip. I’ve only got about 2 double pages left in my passport after all those visas. Now it’s the monsoon season in India. I haven’t seen so much rain in my life! This is the view from my hotel room today but on the first morning I was here, it was just completely grey and cloudy outside and absolutely chucking it down! I was soaked during the 2 minute walk from the hotel to the office.
Mumbai is an interesting place. My facebook status just after I arrived was: “In Mumbai again. The taxi from the airport was fun. No seatbelt. Red lights seem to mean go. Traffic crosses in front of you from nowhere. Oncoming traffic in YOUR lane. I think the car with loudest horn has right of way.” Having driven in the UK and Japan, I found driving in Thailand to be somewhat hair-raising, with U-turns on motorways and all. But visiting Mumbai, Thai drivers are actually very safe in comparison because they have respect for each other and rarely do sudden movements, even in central Bangkok. In India, it seems either the bigger car or the loudest horn has right of way! I’ve only been in a taxi to/from the airport but the driver’s had to slam on the brakes more than once on each occasion! Add to that motorcycles, pot-holes, road works, people, dogs and cows, you can imagine how it is.
Should be flying to Thailand on Tuesday but no plans for the weekend yet! Maybe somewhere away from civilisation
A short update on my eyes. My vision is still perfect and I’m very happy when I go travelling or am out and about. I can see the seas, the stars, the forests and the clouds! There are still the odd times when I feel I need eye drops but I don’t think I have dry eyes in general. Also, I find if I concentrate too hard on my computer screen in the morning then my eyes will be a bit blurry for a few hours…but I think I had that problem before surgery anyway.
Welcome to my personal blog, photo journal and public diary. See the world through my eyes, follow me in my travels, read about my latest gadgets and listen to my rants. There's no particular theme except me and my life!
