Archive for August, 2012

One of the travel delights is to immerse yourself in local culture and when you are travelling in a stage of your life when you are not backpacking anymore, the experience truly becomes delightful. So on our trip to Japan we decided to stay at one of the most authentic Ryokan (Japanese Inn) in the Takayama located in Gifu, Japan. The Ryokan was called ‘Sumiyoshi’ and is about 3 hours from the capital city of Tokyo.

A ryokan is a type of traditional Japanese inn that originated in the 17th century. The Ryokan’s used to serve travellers along Japan’s highways. The Japan Ryokan Association estimates that there are more than 1200 such inns around Japan.

(This photo is available for purchase as a larger print)

This is a shot of a typical room in a Ryokan. The Guest rooms are constructed using traditional Japanese methods: flooring is tatami, and doors are sliding doors. Our ryokan rooms also featured a balcony, also set off with a sliding door. The warm, simplistic and UBER functional architecture of the room completely blew us away.

Our room opened into this hallway. The light and the decor tempted us to walk down and held the promise of a magical discovery.

This Ryokan had tons of 18th century Japanese art. The owner of the Ryokan showed us a vase that was 3 centuries old and she did NOT speak English. It was a universal win for the medium of ‘sign communication’. Most Ryokan’s have  a collection of arts and crafts on display, but I bet it was not this impressive.

When we were immersed in 18th century Japanese war stories, the ‘nakai’ (or the staff) quickly replaced the table with the supplies for making tea. The Japanese tea ceremony is well renowned in the world and most hosts take it as an insult if you refuse the tea. When it tasted as good as it did, who in their right mind would refuse?

Next came the meals in the communal kitchen. Doesn’t the picture speak for itself? Most ryokan offer dinner and breakfast, which are often included in the price. This meal consisted of a traditional Japanese cuisine known as kaiseki, which features seasonal and regional specialties. (Kaiseki refers to a meal consisting of a number of small, varied dishes.) Vegetarians have to notify the owners during check in to give them time to prepare the menu. For sea food lovers, there is NO BETTER PLACE . The sashimi was divine and each dish was served at the proper temperature. The best part of the meal was the amazing hostess who did not speak English but managed PERFECTLY to tell us how to enjoy every dish.

 That’s us having the gastronomical time of our lives. At a Ryokan, the guests are given the traditional japanese garment, Yukata, which is a casual summer kimono usually made of cotton.  That dinner still gets me excited? It was a year ago, we visited this place and I can recall the taste of the food at will.

When we were having dinner, the naiki replaced the tea setting with the bedding. Bedding is a futon spread out on the tatami floor. It was a really comfortable sleeping on the futon. For anyone visiting Japan, we cannot recommend highly enough the experience of staying in a Japanese Ryokan. It is at once comfortable, intriguing, educational, and a divine treat for your tastebuds. If you have any questions, leave a comment and I will do my best to answer.

If you enjoyed the post and liked the photos, please check out the Japan Travel Gallery where you can buy individual prints of photographs. Anyone can support independent travel photographers. 

Further References and Reading:

Ryokan Sumiyoshi: http://sumiyoshi-ryokan.com/englishgallery.html

Japan Ryokan Association: http://www.ryokan.or.jp/index_en.html

More Ryokan images: http://www.ryokan.or.jp/english/photo/index.html 

It’s been a week of work and getting back into the groove of Singapore after a great business trip to Geneva. There was also time to post some fun facts . But its time to kick back and smell the flowers and share a whole heap of inspirational content for a travel photographer.

• All of us always want better camera or better lenses or better software. I really enjoyed reading FlixelPix’s post – My photography would be so much better if I had
• FlixelPix also put up 53 Essential RSS Feeds for Photographers which opens up an amazing array of resources.
• A city like Singapore has really interesting architecture. DPS published a great post on photographing architecture.
• Black and white photographers have always been an inspiration. Here are 10 contemporary photographers who shoot in Black and White.
• Speaking of black and white, my favourite presets websites Lightroomkillertips put up a whole load of free Black and White presets for portraits. If you use Lightroom, you should definitely give it a try.
• I also discovered Richard Silver’s amazing tilt-shift portfolio. Truly inspirational stuff
• Gobackpacking put up this amazing post on visiting Seoul, South Korea which has forced me to move South Korea higher up my travel plans

I hope you have a fantastic weekend and subscribe to the blog so get some travel and photography tips delivered right to your inbox.

As far as I can remember, I’ve always loved the trunk of an elephant. This picture was taken in Zimbabwe at the Hwange National Park. Click on the image to see it in full resolution.

Here are 5 fun facts about Elephant trunks.

• With an estimated muscle count between 40,000 and 150,000, the trunk of an elephant is capable of killing a lion–or caressing a frightened elephant calf.
• An elephant actually has somewhat opposable fingers at the tip of its trunk, so it can use it like a hand (African elephants have 2 of these “fingers”, but Asian elephants just have 1).
• An elephant’s trunk is a fundamental part of the animal’s olfactory system. Elephants point their trunk in different directions to sample the air for scents.
• To drink, elephants suck water up into their trunk but do not drink through the trunk. They place the end of its trunk in their mouth and releases the water. African elephants also use their trunks to take dust baths that help to repel insects and guard against harmful rays of the sun.
• When swimming they hold their trunk out of the water much like a snorkel so they can breath.

The most fascinating fact is that elephants are not born with this trunk-talent either. Baby elephants have to learn this kind of precision; they’re clumsy with their trunks when they are born. Goes to show that beauty and grace CAN be taught.

Which is your favourite animal and care to share any fun facts?

Geneva has tons of offering for tourists. In one of my previous posts, I wrote about making the best of a business trip. This was one of those trips.

Geneva is truly a global city. It’s a financial centre, and hub for international diplomacy. It boasts of numerous international organizations. The Geneva convention brought this city into prominence. The city is often referred to as the “Peace Capital.” If you have a very limited time in Geneva, here are a few places you must visit. This is for summer only. This is a french speaking part of Switzerland, so get your Bonjour and your Au Revoir’s ready.

The most famous Geneva Landmark is the Jet d’Eau which is a large fountain that rises up to an altitude of 140 metres. Unsuspecting visitors to the fountain(which includes your’s truly)—may be surprised to find themselves drenched after a slight change in wind direction.

The next famous part of Geneva is Lake Geneva and one of the best things to do is to take a cruise around Lake Geneva and look at some spectacular settings. Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is its popularly known runs in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe and its beauty is unquestionable.

One of the most enjoyable thing to do in Geneva is to take  the small train and take a ride into old town. The buildings are right out of fairy tales and lead you back into 18th Century Europe with fantastic architecture and charming fountains everywhere. It’s as enjoyable as all the tourist books make it out to be.

For fantastic panoramic view of Geneva, you must visit the St. Pierre Cathedral. Inside the church is a wooden chair used by Calvin. There are a flight of stairs that lead you to the rooftop and gives you unrestricted views of the city. I wish I had time to do that this time around, but I know I’ll be back for this.

 One of the best things to do in the summer is to chill before the ‘Reformation Wall’. The wall honours many of the main individuals, events, and documents of the Protestant Reformation by depicting them in statues. It is in the grounds of the University of Geneva. This is a great place for a family.

How can any one come to Switzerland and not go on a window shopping spree to luxury watch makers and swiss chocolate places. Rue du Rhone, is one of the most expensive streets in Europe. It’s not hard to see why. This is definitely a must do. Just make sure you wear shoes and a decent t-shirt if you want to be taken seriously on this street.

Swiss Army Knives are known all around the world and Victorinox is almost ubiquitous with it. The Victorinox flagship store in Geneva houses an amazing collection of Swiss Army knives which is sure to blow your socks away (and then hopefully, fix the socks as well).

In the limited time that I had I missed a lot of other places like the Patek Philippe Museum, The CERN university,  Museum of Natural History. You should plan to spend at least 3 days in Geneva soaking up the culture.

Some more essential reading on Geneva.

Tripadvisor tips for Geneva : http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g188057-Activities-Geneva.html

Geneva Info : http://www.geneva.info/

Do you like this post? Share it and leave a comment to tell me what you think. If you think I’ve left out one of my favourites, let me know about it as well.