Tails

I have strung out a sampling of my Africa photos long enough. It is nice to have a large selection of images to pick from but I think it is now time to turn to other more current subjects.

But... If you are interested in seeing a larger selection from the Africa trip I have assembled a slideshow and posted it to YouTube. The presentation is without audio... only photographs shown five seconds each. It contains many "tourist" type pictures but, if you have any interest in doing safri type trip in the future, the photos may give you a feeling for what that kind of thip is like.

Africa

I have recently returned from two weeks in southern Africa and have been sorting and developing my images. I have well over a thousand images before culling the undesirables. I will be posting over the next few days but I will not post many animal portraits like this as it would get pretty mundane. The reality is safari drives take you to great viewing opportunities for a wide variety of animals, but simply capturing the most species is not what I strive for, especially in this blog.

This male lion posed for us while watching over his pride. Although I did use a long lens, it is still breathtaking to be so close to these wild animals in their natural environment, proof being our guide traveling with a loaded and handy rifle. 

Nassau Harbour Lighthouse

Quick trip to Japan

Actually Japan at Epcot Disney World, a convenient way to see the world. Europe and the Middle East are only steps away and no passports are needed.

And no, the rainbow is not a Disney special effect.

High visibility orange

Lufthansa

I did not post any images in the first two weeks of October because I was traveling. We started out in Toronto (see the previous few posts), then flew on Lufthansa though Germany (Munich, see above), then on to Italy. We had two weeks in Italy: Florence, Rome and Sorrento/Amalfi.

Over the next week or so I will be posting images from our travels, but I will do my best to avoid the obvious tourist snaps and instead focus on details that I found interesting and is in keeping with my blog statement.

Unnoticed

One da-la

Where ever there are tourists, there are hucksters, ready to take their money. That is just is true in China as anywhere else in the world.

The hawkers all seemed to be saying "one dollar" indicating they will take good old American dollars. It was never obvious what the dollar would buy, and our experience was it that it is best not to ask. If you show the slightest interest they are very difficult to shake.

But I guess they are just trying to make it in life, just like the rest of us.

Strange highway markings

Not unexpected, but still surprising, is the (to me) curious letter symbols of the Mandarin language. But even more unexpected is that most of the signage provides a subtitle in English. Our western language seemingly extends to products and packaging and just about everything else in China.

China

I just returned from two weeks in China. What I found was not exactly what I expected. It is a country of great contrasts... from gleaming towers of glass, to traditional Chinese architecture. From the super rich, to the super poor. From exotic sports cars, to pedaled rickshaws. Crazy traffic, but on modern well maintained highways (sometimes with three or four bridges stacked). 

And I saw more capitalism than Communism.

I captured many pictures on the trip, but most are of the tourist genre, and I will not be posting them. I will, however, be posting a few images over the next week or so of my observations.

I've been to the future

Not really... but it seemed that way.

Washington DC's Dulles International Airport has always been unique. The main terminal building is relatively small for a large airport. Travelers are shuttled to their departure gates out on the field in "mobile lounges"... large bus-like vehicles that not only travel horizontally but also vertically. At least that is the way it used to be.

Not having been in this here for a few years I was surprised to see that most of the mobile lounges have been retired and replaced by automated underground subway trains. Apparently the designers of these new conveyances decided to utilize lighting to minimize the feeling of being below ground. The end result is very science fiction... at least to me.

Kind of like what I think the future could be.

Travel

Travel is great, and one of the best parts is the new photos ops. Here in Quebec City there are lots of wonderful things to see.

The photo below is for my friend Ken. I had no idea he was in the restaurant business, and a good cook by my experience.