Good Food and Views are Worth the Journey
If in your mind’s eye of Japan, you see old wooden structures lining narrow lanes and paper lanterns then Kyoto is probably the best place to find this. And specifically, the Kawaramachi and Gion areas in central Kyoto are great places to soak up the atmosphere of old Kyoto. I think the evenings are the best time to walk around and especially in the summer when the restaurants along Pontocho-dori expand out over the river.
My first trip to Kyoto, I stayed south of Gion so I started...
With the China stock markets falling over 6% today, I looked through my old pics to find this one of the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan). I think this is my favourite place to visit in Beijing, as it’s within easy reach and there is a nice enough park surrounding the various historical structures. I took this shot in 2002 when blue skies were not an anomaly.
Those of us living in Singapore may be familiar with Hashida Sushi's Singapore branch, which has been named among the best restaurants here by a number of publications. However, we decided to pay a visit to the original Hashida in Tokyo. Both are good. In fact, Kenjiro Hashida ("Hatch") who heads up the Singapore outlet , was also behind the counter the night we visited in Tokyo. The main difference is the proximity to the various seafood in Japan meant that Hatch was able to serve us...
Three of Kyoto's major temples are located within a 40 minute walk of each other in the northwestern quadrant of the city. Of these Kinkaku-ji - also known as the Golden Pavilion - is probably the best known. And while all three are temples, they each have different characteristics which makes a morning or afternoon spent exploring this area, a nicely contained visit.
I started at Kinkaku-ji and although there are a gazillion photos on the net of this temple, I was still in awe even...
In my view, Bali is best visited during July and August because of the cooler and drier winds that make the evenings pleasantly cool. Also the lesser humidity, I think, helps make for more dramatic sunsets. This was taken in Canggu (south Bali) in early August, 2009. ISO100, f6.3, 1/160, at 80mm focal length.
