Similan Islands from underwater: part 2, underwater temple and more

At the end of 2012 I would love to take you one more time underwater between colours and funny/ cute/ weird looking creatures...On one of our dives around Similan islands we found this stone underwater temple at around 10 meters. Some other fantastic finds were the big white nudibranch, the sea urchin known as "jewel urchin" and the crab recycling rests of other inhabitant as his home....
Wishing you all a good end of the old year and a very good start in the new one! 

Christmas underwater, around the Similan islands, Thailand

 

Merry CHRISTMAS to ALL of YOU :-)))

Today with the underwater reportage from the national park Similan islands in south west Thailand. These islands are located around 50 km from Khao Lak and may be reached in 2-3 hours from the mainland by boat. This park is famous to be a real underwater paradise in the Andaman Sea and a place not to be missed. Our pictures will show you the colourful Christmas trees, the tiny crabs, some beautiful fishes and corals.

 

However even if you may see a lot of colours we have actually spotted more dead coral and destroyed ecosystem than an intact one. It was pretty sad to see that Similan islands (advertised as one of the top10 diving spots in the world) are suffering not only from heavy coral bleaching (due to global warming of the oceans) but also from other distructive natural & especially human activities. We were told that a lot of the big fishes are gone (either to escape the crowd or being fished)...Last but not least one may see the beginning recovery of the underwater world: the growth of new corals. I truly hope that the big tourism industry built around this disappearing beauty (like diving&snorkeling trips) will support and participate in it!

Bangkok fruit tasting: in the middle of exotic fruit paradise

 

Its not a secret that I am one big fruit junkie. Watermelons, peaches, grapes, cherries, pineapples, just name it....I love them ALL:-) So on my trip to Thailand I was very curious to meet&taste some more exotic to me fruits. And it was not very difficult! Bangkok markets are simply a fruit paradise: rambutan (first picture), jackfruit (second picture:being cut, third picture: right, already prepacked for sale), mangosteen (fourth picture) are just few of all yummy things I tasted (and purchased). 

Bangkok Fruit market  

This is how the mangosteen (top plate left), love apple and guava (top plate right), dragon fruit (down right) and rambutan look when they are ready to be eaten.-)

 

There are several different mango sorts and the ones below are ones of the best mangoes I have ever tried...Next on the list "to try" is the famous Thai fruit "durian" (in the left corner on the last picture). It supposed to be pretty stinky and one either loves it or hates it...I am curious:-)

About Bangkok and its streetfood...

 

Once you start to discover the famous "city of angels" (as the Thai capital is called), the first thing one see/smells and perceives is the Bangkoks streetfood. Food stalls are literally everywhere offering fresh fruits, tons of sweets or simply grilled meat&sausages. In the lunch break one may also get a whole warm dish (soups, curry or fried rice)...People also eat in the street on the sidewalk, where vendors oten install not only their mobile kitchen but also few tables and chairs for their guests. Every cook collects very careful the made garbage as there are big fines for rubbish on the street...

 

And in order to wish you all HAPPY holidays, some "tropical" decoration from here too:-)

...and as a big elephant lover I had to take a pic of me with this huge, cute elephant too:-)

Wet Sofia & night pictures of the cathedral Alexander Nevski

 

I wrote few weeks ago about the symbol of Sofia, the beautiful and special cathedral Alexander Nevski here...Somehow everytime I am home I do pass by. This time it was wet and later it got a bit dark, so you will see the cathedral in other lights...I had fun experimenting with different white balance of my small compact and got some stunning effects, especially the colours of the cloudy sky!

Ampelmännchen in Berlin/ The old East-Berlin traffic light now all around the city

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The famous cute little figure is not only cute, creative and adorable, it is nowadays all over Berlin (and Germany)....The East Berlin Ampelmännchen (the little traffic light man) was crreated as a way to show better what should be done by red and green light and turned (from 1961 till 2005) into a cult! After the Berlin wall fall most of the East Berlin Ampelmännchen were dismantled due to unification reasons. Already in 1995 there were movements for saving East-Berlin traffic lights as part of East Berlin culture. The modern "little traffic light man" had their come-back in 2005: both to East and West Berlin.

 

What is even more interesting that even few other (West-)German cities installed some in their streets, for example Heidelberg and Saarbrücken. The reason for this the more appealing symbols and better effect on public. In 2004 the female version of Ampelmann, die Ampelfrau, was born. You may meet her on traffic lights in Dresden, Zwickau and Fürstenwalde...They make me smile, what about you? Any cute/ funny/ different traffic lights actors in your city/area/country we should know of?

Berliner Mauer: History& Art, 2 in 1 at the rest of the Berlin Wall/ at East Side Gallery

Today I simply have to start this blog entry with this cute Trabi graffiti...because I remember the Trabis from my childhood in Bulgaria. The uncle of my mum had one and we used to call it "the blue-eyed Trabcho", because its headlight rings were blue:-)))

23 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, from Oberbaumbrücke following Mühlenstrasse (direction Ostbahnhof) one may still see (big and long) piece of it. And by see I actually mean "sightsee", because this previously 140km-piece of concrete& limiting history has been transformed in an open-air-art platform.

 

 

After the fall of the wall in 1989 quiet some creative painting tookplace in 1990. Several artists have presented their works here. In my humble opinion this is one great way to keep this history monument in a nice& colourful way alive. The East Side Gallery has become already symbol of the city. Its a pity however that some works have been (partly) distroyed by some vandalism already.

The magical Balkan mountains in Bulgaria/ Вълшебната Стара планина

 

The charme of the Balkan mountain range called by us "Stara planina" (the "Old mountain" in Bulgarian) is extremely dangerous...Once you see it and/or drive next to it, you are simply bound to be impressed. And if you happend to drive along some of its 560 km length (from the Serbian-Bulgarian border through Central Bulgaria down to the Black sea) on a sunny day...then you will for sure fall in love with its beauty.

 

Last weekend I enjoyed for few hours its majestic and magical charisma. Thats why today I would like to share with you some of my pics and some of the panoramas I have created to help you imagine its breathtaking size and length.

 
The highest peak is Botev (2376m) and is located in the Central Balkan National Park (established 1991). The mountain gives the name of the Balkan Peninsula. Another interesting fact is that (according to wiki) "Balkan" comes from a Turkish word meaning "a chain of wooded mountains".

Algonquin Park: peak of autumn colours and meetings the inhabitants

 

While driving from Toronto to Montreal we decided to do a kind of detour and visit the huge Regional Park Algonquin, in the north of Ontario...The second of October 2012 was the day with the peak of autumn colours in the Park and was the day we spent there hiking and taking pictures:-) We were looking for mooses and bevers, but spotted birds, an otter and tons of squirrels and chipmunks...I also enjoyed the autumn leaves a lot!

Nico was really charmed by all the variety of different mushrooms and sponges and took tons of fantastic pics...While doing this he also spotted a specie from the common Garter snake (not dangerous for people). A small selection is below: