Luang Prabang - Mount Phousi

Mount Phousi is the local elevation on the Luang Prabang promontory which stretches between the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers where the Nam Khan meets Mekong. 355 steps lead to the monastery and temples that are sprinkled along the path and on top of the hill. At the summit the visitor is rewarded with a bird eye's view of the city layout. The tiny Wat That Chomsi waits to be explored. 

Buddha statue and disciples

 Marigolds in banana leaf are offered to the gods

in a side cave

the Big-Bellied Buddha

These little cages with birds inside can be bought along the way. Locals capture these tiny birds, mostly scaly-breasted munias,  and sell them to tourists, who set them free on the mountain for "good luck".  These birds assemble in rice paddies in large flocks, are easy to capture and thus provide some extra income.  

View from the top of Mount Phousi towards Luang Prabang's main road.

Next to this monastery to the left is an Ashoka tree (Saraca asoca) with its beautiful orange flowers corresponding to the colour of the robes. 

Luminale Frankfurt

"Warum in die Ferne schweifen ....",  as Frankfurt's most famous son Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote. 

The 8th Luminale in Frankfurt last week saw some amazing light installations in public spaces. 

 On Frankfurt's Mainterrassen "Nizza" 

Medusa's legs

 "Euro-Opera" 

I also took the opportunity to visit Maintower's viewing platform (on Helaba) to shoot some vistas from above: 

towards the sunset above the Taunus hills...

.. and the opposite direction towards the river Main

Luang Prabang

The old royal city of Luang Prabang in Laos was the destination of our travel to South East Asia this spring. 

Luang Prabang is a small town in northern Laos, where the river Nam Khan joins the Mekong. It is a rather touristy spot with many hotels and cheap guest houses accommodating mostly backpackers and groups of young people. Many of them seemed to be doing their gap year. 

What's for dinner? 

drying chillies

Christusdorn (Euphorbia spec.) decorate many window sills and balustrades.

a huge wasps' nest

Luang Prabang lies on both banks of the river Nam Khan. Each year bamboo bridges are built across which are swept away when the monsoon season comes only to be rebuilt the next season. During these huge yearly floods the water levels rise between 9 and up to 20 m high.  

the joining of Nam Khan with Mekong

There is no bridge across the much wider Mekong and all transport is done by ferries and taxi boats.

house boats on the Mekong river

Some of the owners live in the back of these very long taxi boats. 

The town's main attraction, though,  are the numerous working temples and monasteries and a few hundred monks who live in and care for them. 

early morning alms collection

crossing the Mekong

(to be cont'd) 

In Hongkong Park again ...

When I was in Hongkong this week, I visited the birds of the aviary in Hongkong Park again - it is a peaceful, green area in the bustling city, full of birds' twitter and flutter, bustling in their own way. I brought my new Nikkor 200 to 500 mm telezoom lens to test in these controlled, predictable surroundings, rather dark with green foliage but with mostly stationary birds.

Detail of the Maroon-breasted Crowned Pidgeon (Goura sheepmakeri)

I saw the Bali Mynah couple again...

 

 .... still squabbling....

"Not too close, please!"

Bali Mynah (Leucopsar rothschildi)

Crested Pidgeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)

White-necked Mynah (Streptocitta albicollis)

The shy and tiny Silver-eared Mesia (Leiothrix argentauris)

Longtailed Broadbill (Psarisomus dalhousiae)

Black-capped Lory (Lorius lory) 

I like the lens a lot, it is ultrasharp and easy to handle without tripod, even with slow shutter speeds. The only significant drawback compared with the classical Nikkor F4.0 200 - 400 mm wildlife telezoom is the much slower autofocus which makes it nearly impossible to follow a bird in flight.  For the next safari, it seems that I have to bring both lenses.   

Java sparrows (Padda oryzivora)

"holding hands"

Regierungsviertel Berlin zur Blauen Stunde

"Blaue Stunde" - blue hour - is the time around sunrise or sunset, when the blue light prevails. This is best for night photography (or not quite "night") and city scapes. In our area with pronounced seasons, it is easiest to photograph in winter on a late afternoon, as people are still out and lights in office buildings are on. In winter, when the sun rises late and sets early, one does not have to get up at ungodly hours or stay out late  instead of enjoying a nice dinner to catch this short time span of twilight. 

I took an early evening walk with my tripod through Regierungsviertel, Reichstag, Bundestag and Kanzleramt along the Spree with its reflections. 

Marie-Elisabeth Lüders-Haus

along the Spree, view towards the Alex

view in the other direction: Paul-Löbe and Marie-Elisabeth Lüders Häuser

Der Reichstag

If you stay out too long, though, the light will turn from dark blue to a brownish grey before the sky turns too dark. Then the contrast between sky and lights becomes too pronounced for good pictures. 

The Reichstag on the Spree. In the middle of the picture you can see seven crosses. These are symbols for the lives lost when people were shot at and murdered, trying to cross the small river Spree, fleeing from East to West Germany before 1989. The Spree here demarked the boundary between West and East. The last victim was Chris Gueffroy on February 5, 1989. We celebrate them as heroes - while nowadays hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing their countries and risking their lives on the mediterranean waters and too many go unnoticed . 

Reichstag and Paul-Löbe-Building

The Paul-Löbe-Haus  with  the Reichstag to the right (from the other side). 

Mrs Merkel's Kanzleramt