Welcome to Chennai

And here I am in Chennai, in the Indian Southern state of Tamil Nadu !

I had made the mistake of flying Lufthansa to get here ... big mistake indeed. Who would have thought that they still don't have individual TV screens on a 9 and half hours flight.

This is crazy !! As I sat down in my seat I couldn't figure out where the TV is so I start trying to look around ... until my neighbour somehow guesses what I'm looking for ... and points out to the 1970s TV hanging 4 rows ahead ...

In all honesty the hostesses did try to make up for this by being nice and giving away alcohol freely but this only managed to get a group of German tourists drunk enough so that they start roaming the cabin singing ...

And don't get me started about the Frankfurt airport where I exchanged planes ... I haven't seen a less passenger friendly place ... there's basically no place to sit and wait for your plane ... the whole place is divided in enclosures that open up only one hour before boarding and that require your boarding pass to let you in. If you arrive like me , 4 hours before your connecting flight then you are condemned to wonder around the corridors like a forsaken ghost.


Anyway needless to say I was very happy indeed to get off the plane in Chennai in the middle of the night.

It was really interesting to take in the first breath of Indian air ... feel the overwhelming heat and humidity and the few whiffs of spice in the air ... it somehow reminded me of Morocco.

The best was though to come. I was picked up from the airport by the driver from my hotel, Taj Coromandel. It felt good to have someone extricate me from the sea of human bodies gathered around the exit.

But the best was yet to come - as I arrived in my hotel there was a hostess already waiting for me with all the papers prepared who just took me up to my room where I signed whatever I needed to sign and I found this great chocolate cake waiting for me, reading: 'Welcome Home"

And I said to myself while falling asleep - 'This is the beginning of an interesting adventure' :o)
 

Bucharest by Night

 

Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest

Some of you heard perhaps of the 'People's House', the world second biggest building after the Pentagon in Washington DC.

It was build by Ceausescu in a time of hardship for the rest of Romanians and is a hugely controversial subject for Romanians everywhere since some would say it's a disgrace to the capital while others argue that it's a statement about what Romania can achieve.

Now the pictures are a bit misleading ;) The Unirea place, where I took them is a few kilometers away from the actual palace, so just keep that in mind when you judge the size.

For more info on this go here.
 

Hong Kong by Night

Here it is folks the hustle & bustle, the style, the lights and the skyscrapers ...

Hong Kong by Night


 

View from the Peak

Any visit to Hong Kong wouldn't be complete without going up on the Victoria Peak.

This place is so exclusive that it is said to be one of the most expensive pieces of land in the world.

Unfortunately the Hong Kong haze was around throughout my visit there ... a by-product of the huge industralization of nearby provinces in China. Their factories now polute the entire area.

 

Hong Kong Markets - Part 2

But of course - these markets have their own attractions:
- fish so fresh they're still jumping around hoping to find the water,
- dried fish, octopus and anything else that can be dried
- pickled snakes !!!
- stag horns

 

Hong Kong Markets - Part 1

As you would imagine, a Hong Kong market is a place of many wonders.

You can find all sorts of food - from roasted ducks and raw meat to fresh seafood and lots of dried stuffs.

 

Fire Dragon dance in Tai Hang

Coinciding with Mid-Autumn Festival is the unique Fire Dragon Dance - a spectacular ritual.

The 67-metre-long dragon is studded with thousands of burning joss sticks that at night produce an incredible spectacle of fire, smoke and dynamic fury as the dragon wends and dances through the backstreets of Tai Hang.

The three-day event commemorates a series of mishaps that befell Tai Hang in 1880 culminating in a plague breaking out in the village. Appearing in the dream of a village elder, Buddha instructed the villagers to light firecrackers and perform a fire dragon dance for three days and nights during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Sulphur from the firecrackers dispelled the plague and the ritual has been repeated annually ever since.
Go here for more pictures from this exciting event.

Mid-Autumn Lantern Celebration

Every year, around beginning of October, Hong Kong - and I think the whole of China - celebrates the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival.

It's a great opportunity to hang lamps all over the place, have fireworks display or simply have huge statues shining light into the night.

It's also the time when one writes it's wishes on a little piece of paper, in the shape of a fish, or rabbit and hangs them on this little wall you can see in the first picture.

 

Here be Dragons !

I don't know about the rest of China, but Hong Kong is definitely a city in love with Dragons!

They are everywhere - standing proud & tall.

 

Welcome to Hong Kong

Here I am in Hong Kong ... more by chance than by design.

I was supposed to go back home via Bangkok ... but just the following morning after I booked the ticket the military coup happened so my company forced me to change my ticket.

Not that I regret it ... Hong Kong is an amazing city and I had the chance to arrive right during the Mid-Autumn festival ... lucky me :o)