Last Vietnam galleries added!

Finally, half a year after we returned from our first trip to asia, I finished and uploaded the latest and last three galleries. The impressions of the Mekong delta were dominated by the lives of the people on and by the water. On the island Phu Quoc we spent the last days of our holidays and with its tropical weather, wonderful beaches and great food it was the perfect, relaxing way to finish this amazing trip. Finally, on our way back home we had an 8-hour stop-over in Hong Kong, which was just enough for a short visit including the Victoria peak, from where you have an amazing view over the city, especially during the night. (And, yes, I know - Hong Kong is not a part of Vietnam ;)) So go ahead and check out the galleries on colors · and · contrasts!

My girlfriend went to England and all she brought me ...

Bordeaux

Recently, we spent a great weekend in Bordeaux, visiting Ioannas sister Katerina. We ate great food, tasted wonderful wines, cruised through the vineyards and chateaux of Saint-Emillion and ... jumped in the Miroir d'eau in between the Place de la Bourse and riverbank of the Garonne. Merci beaucoup, Katerina!!
P.S. Click picture to see the whole action!

Floating blossom

Some pictures have a certain surreal touch, almost as if they are taken from a fairy tale. The dancing butterflies in Saigon are one example, another one is this picture of a blossom apparently floating above its branch that I took in a small muslim community deep inside the Mekong delta.

Living in the Mekong delta

I am currently working my way through almost 600 pictures from the Mekong delta. The Mekong delta covers a gigantic region and most of the large population (around 17 million people) live at the poverty level. People live mostly in small shacks which are built directly by the many sidearms and channels that form the delta. We travelled the delta on a boat from where you could watch the people living their daily lives - fishing, washing their hair or their kids, eating, sleeping ... In some cases we could literally see into their homes.

Acropolis from Lycabetus

We just came back from Athens, where - once again - we went to the thop of Lycabetus. This is a hill in the center of Athens, north of the Acropolis, which offers in my opinion the most impressive view of Athens. Since I haven't even downloaded the new pictures from my camera here an older view across the city.

To Panyghri

A short time-out from the Vietnam pictures ... Some time ago I submitted a picture to the Lumix award competition, which had the topic 'Visualise music'. Unfortunately, I didn't win anything :( Nevertheless, here is the picture I had submitted. It was taken in the beautiful and bankrupt country of Greece, during a Panyghri - a big religious celebration followed by a night of eating, drinking and dancing - in Ikaria, where we spent our holidays in 2008.