Home

4. February 2018 22:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Pak Ou cave - Laos

4. February 2018 22:02 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

A two hour boat ride north of Luang Prabang is the Pak Ou cave. Since we were traveling two families
A two hour boat ride north of Luang Prabang is the Pak Ou cave. Since we were traveling two families the best way to get there was to hire a slow boat just for us.



The flow boats are long narrow boats that are ideal for navigating the Mekong River. This part of the river is full of underwater rocks but the boats seem to navigate these treacherous waters with ease.

Having the boat for ourselves gave us more flexibility with regards to how long we wanted to spend at the cane and also meant that we have more room to move around.



The front of the boar is where the captain sits and steers the boat. After this there is a section for the passengers followed by a small pump toilet and then the living quarters for the captain and his family. Out the back there is a small kitchen for them to do the cooking.

The cave is upstream into an area full of limestone mountains.



The many boats moor at a long and wobbly floating bamboo bridge that takes you to the cave itself.





The cave itself is not big but it is full of small Buddhas that have been put there over hundreds of years. You can tell that this used to be an important place of worship.





Now however the place is so crowded with tourists (guilty here too) coming in on boats that it is hard to move around. I could not stop myself from taking this photo of Buddha holding up his hands to stop more boats arriving.



At the top of the hill the hill there is what I think is a more 'pleasant' cave. It is equally interesting and much less crowded because most tourists don's make it up the many steps to the top.

4. February 2018 16:03
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Lao Lau (rice whiskey) - Laos

4. February 2018 16:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The traditional Lao Lau is still being made. Just north of Luang Prabang on the river there is a lit
The traditional Lao Lau is still being made. Just north of Luang Prabang on the river there is a little village on the river called Whiskey village whos main income is from the production of Lao Lau.



When I was there two decades ago this is what the locals were drinking (now they drink beer instead). I still remember the foul taste from the home brew that was distilled in large oil drums after having been fermented in large clay pots. Whenever I see it I always wonder if distilling strong alcohol right next to an open flame is the wisest of ideas!?!?





The process itself hasn't changed, but these days most of the whiskey is sold to tourists and I tastes a lot more pleasant that it did back then.




3. February 2018 15:03
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Food - Laos

3. February 2018 15:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The food in Laos is good. It is traditional cooking mostly still cooked over an open fire.You see th
The food in Laos is good. It is traditional cooking mostly still cooked over an open fire.





You see them start cooking the food well before sunrise in big pots.

The food itself is mostly a fusion of Thai and Vietnamese. It has all the noodle soups from Vietnam, but with the more street food and spice of Thailand. The picture below is a typical noodle soup with a traditional cube of coagulated blood.





We were eating a lot from small street type restaurants following the rule that is had to be popular with the locals. The logic behind this is that the locals would know what is good and would also be choosy regarding the quality of the food, so chances are that it would be fresh and not cause food poisoning (none of us or the kids had any issues on the trip).






There are some dubious food there, such as some of the meat BBQ where they sometimes have the meet cooked earlier on the side of the BBQ and then just re-heat it when you order it.







Also be careful with some of the food stalls where the food may have been sitting there for most of the day and often from the day before.





From a 'snack' perspective there are some personal favourites that I absolutely love such as the BBQ fried squid - the packet stuff is just not the same.



Also the Bamboo and coconut fried rice is delicious - they sell them at bus and train stations and especially the purple rice one is yummi!



The freshly made puffed breads over an open fire - they will use two rakes to flip them until they are done.

2. February 2018 00:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Temples - Laos

2. February 2018 00:02 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The temples in Luang Prabang are some of the most beautiful anywhere. Yes, Thailand has some amazing
The temples in Luang Prabang are some of the most beautiful anywhere. Yes, Thailand has some amazing temples, but these are different. They are smaller, and more intricately decorated.




























1. February 2018 23:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Luang Prabang - Laos

1. February 2018 23:02 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Luang Prabang is without a doubt the cultural highlight of Laos. The old part of the city is beautif
Luang Prabang is without a doubt the cultural highlight of Laos. The old part of the city is beautiful and there are good reasons why is has been heritage protected.

I believe it has the most beautiful temples of South East Asia - they are not the largest or even the oldest, but the amount of details that has been put into them is absolutely stunning.



In addition to this there are a lot of other very interesting things to see in and do in the city, which I will cover in later posts.

The city itself is situated between two rivers where one of them is the Mekong which is still fairly busy with slow boats and ferries (The chinese are building a large bridge across the river north of the city)





The section between the two rivers form the city itself which consist of four parallel streets each about a kilometer long.



Everything within the city itself can be covered on foot and in the evening the main streets are blocked for card and reserved for pedestrians.

The place is dominated by a big hill with a small temple and stuba on top. It is very popular with tourists to climb the hill around sunset. And there is a great view of the mountains from the top.







There are some things that have changed in the city since I was there the last time. The most noticeable is the amount of tourists and fine hotels - and here it is really the more wealthy middle aged Europeans you see. The main street of the old city is full of modern western European influenced restaurants, souvenir and antique stores.



Fortunately you don't have to travel further that to the parallel streets to fine more low key Laos places to eat.

Also, last time I visited, I stayed in a small guest house near the city centre called Tanoy Guest House. When I stayed here I became good friends with the family and the place was named after the oldest daughter who's name was Tanoy.

The place is still there and apart from a larger fence it looks pretty much unchanged.


29. January 2018 21:01
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

The War - Laos

29. January 2018 21:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The 'secret' war in the 60's and 70's had a major impact on the country. A massive amount of bombs w
The 'secret' war in the 60's and 70's had a major impact on the country. A massive amount of bombs were dropped by mostly the Americans in mostly the Northern and Eastern part of the country. This was partly an internal civil war but also to stop the North Vietnamese using the country as a supply route.

To get an insight into this was I can highly recommend the books by Christoper Robbins called 'The Ravens' and 'Air America'.

The impact today is that un-exploded ordnance (mines, cluster bombs etc.) is covering large parts of the country and that every year lots of people including children gets injured or killed.

It is also very noticable, especially in the Hmong villages that there is no presence of old men. This is because most of these were killed either during the war where especially they took heavy casualties despite the American support or through 'education' camps after the war.

Last time I went to Laos I went to Plains of Jars which was one of the most heavily bombed areas and the debris was everywhere. We weren't going there on this trip, but to give the family and friends an insight into the history and the dangers to present people we visited the COPE organisation in Vientiane.

Here is Aiden in front of an unexploded (disarmed) clusterbomb. Looks just like a ball and tempting for kids to play with.



These were dropped from canisters on aircraft with several hundred in each load. It is estimated that 1/3 of these didn't explode on impact.
 


This map shows the areas most effected.



If you look for the bombs they you see them everywhere - mostly disarmed and used as fence posts.



There is also remains of anti aircraft guns such as this one in Luang Prabang. The barrel had been removed but everything else still worked on it and they could turn it by rotating the handles, much to the amusement of the kids. During the war kids only a little older than our kids would have been fighting at the front lines.

16. January 2018 21:03
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

People - Laos

16. January 2018 21:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

One thing that I love taking photos of on my travels are People.A lot of the photos of the people of
One thing that I love taking photos of on my travels are People.



A lot of the photos of the people of my travels are in the other posts, but here is a selection that didn't really fit into the other stories.

This is an old woman sitting doing preparing food or doing her handicraft outside her house while observing the street life.



Someone was shooting a wedding, I used the opportunity to snap a photo of my own.



A woman bathing in the Mekong



A girl posing for her boyfriend on top of the hill at Luang Prabang



A woman walking down the street



Another woman doing handicraft outside her shop

12. January 2018 00:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Fishing - Laos

12. January 2018 00:02 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The fishing along the rivers in Laos are still very traditional.It is the circular throw out nets, f
The fishing along the rivers in Laos are still very traditional.

It is the circular throw out nets, fish traps and people foraging along the river banks to collect river seaweed and snails for eating.



In most places they still use dugout canoes for the fishing.





In the various town you see people sitting repairing their fishing nets.










Kim told us that when she was a little girl she used to help the family repair the fishing nets, but that she's forgotten how to do it.



One of the delicacies in Loang Prabang is the local riverweed. We saw multiple people collecting it and also sitting cleaning it.





11. January 2018 19:01
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Vang Vieng - Kids highlights

11. January 2018 19:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Some of the other highlights for the kids in Vang Vieng was the gym at our hotel. The local guys use
Some of the other highlights for the kids in Vang Vieng was the gym at our hotel. The local guys used it to train for kick boxing and the kids felt inspired.






Also, one evening we spotted someone launching wishing lanterns. We asked where they came from and through a lot of pointing we found a local shop keeper selling them.

We bought one and launched it an the kids loved the experience.




Also, one of the trees at the hotel had two little monkeys staying there most of the day. The kids loved standing there shouting profanities at them.





Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Home

22. April 2012 07:40
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Symbio Wildlife Park

22. April 2012 07:40 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

symbio wildlife park


Today we went to the Symbio Wildlife park together with some of our friends.

They don't have a lot of animals in the park, but the ones they have a pretty cool and it is a good spot to get some nice animal photos (It was especially nice to see that they had polished the glass surrounding some animals).

It was also really cool to have Aiden and Sammi feed some of the more friendly animals.

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


22. April 2012 05:44
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Luke and Alexsandra's wedding

22. April 2012 05:44 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

luke and alexandra s wedding


Today Luke and Alexsandra was married. She is from Serbia so the wedding itself was a beautiful traditional Serbian Orthodox wedding in a small church in Alexandria.


Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

The church was very darkly lit and I was shooting using natural light trying to be as discreet as possible using my old Nikon D50 camera (still waiting for the new D800) but by some miracle I was able to capture the above photos (by setting it to my max 1600 ISO and underexpose 2 stops and then push and noise reduce in post...would have loved to have one more stop).


Luke has some Scotish ancestry so ourside the church there was a guy playing the bag pipe.

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Afterwards the reception was in Drumoyne with about 250 guests invited. Lots of very loud Serbian music and traditional Serbian line dancing (Not sure what the correct name is).


16. April 2012 07:40
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Easter show and EQ

16. April 2012 07:40 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

easter show and eq


Synday we took Dylan to the Easter show at Fox Studios. We had bought him a 5 hour pass as a reward for an assignment we gave him.



Dylan tried a number of rides, but I think his favourite was a dodge'm'cars.



While Dylan was queueing up we had a look around at the other entertainment.









15. April 2012 07:39
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

High Tea in Royal National Park

15. April 2012 07:39 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

high tea in royal national park


Today we went to High Tea in Audley in the Royal National Park 30 minutes drive from where we live. Kim had bought a 2 for 1 deal and decided to try it.





Verdict was that is wasn't anything special and even with the special deal it was a bit over priced.

Afterwards we decided to go rowing up through the creek.



Aiden was very keen to get to play with the water which was difficult in the rowing boat (next time we will get a Canoe).

Afterwards we let him play a bit on land before heading back.



8. April 2012 06:18
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Bora Bora Island Scenery

8. April 2012 06:18 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

bora bora island scenery


The island itself is a beautiful place. I took a lot of photos of the lagoon and the beauty of Bora Bora....so many that it would be too many to have in the previous Bora Bora post.

With the risk of creating a post full of Blue photos...I had to separate them out to prevent the other posts from getting too big.

Here they are...I will let them speak for themselves...


Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos




6. April 2012 06:19
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Snorkeling with Sharks and Stingrays

6. April 2012 06:19 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

snorkeling with sharks and stingrays
One of the days at Bora Bora we went with a boat around the lagoon to go snorkeling and have lunch on one of the Motu's (Islands). Along the way we went snorkeling in spots where we also could see sharks and stingrays.

Click here for more photos

Our first spot was a snorkeling spot with lots of coral and different fish.

I Even saw a big fat murray eel.

Click here for more photos

Kim also had a bit of a snorkel in the clear blue water even though the water was deep and there was a slight current.

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Aiden was facinated by the fish and wanted to join mummy in the water to say hello to the fish'ies...

Click here for more photos

After this we went to a more shallow spot on the reef with lots of reef sharks.

Click here for more photos

Yes, that is me in the water with 12 sharks circling around me (and no safety net in place).These sharks would come swimming towards me and then turn around within a meters reach.

Click here to see a video I uploaded to Facebook with the Sharks getting close


Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

After lunch we stopped to feed the Stingrays in the lagoon.

Click here for more photos

They are fairly harmless and I was feeding them dead fish. While doing so I was bitten by one of them that mistook the camera I was holding in my other hand as a fish.


Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

5. April 2012 06:10
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Bora Bora

5. April 2012 06:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

bora bora


Bora Bora is a beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Kim and I had promised eachother that we one day we will go there.

It is about an hours flight from Tahiti and along the way you pass a number of other Polynesian islands and atolls. When we landed we were met by the stunning blue lagoon and the very characteristic mountain which is an old extinct volcano.

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

Aiden especially was mesmerised by the view going on the boat from the airport to our hotel.

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos


On arrival we were met by traditional Tahitian music and someone blowing a seashell.

Click here for more photos

And Aiden immidiately got into the mocktails.

Click here for more photos



Our hotel was on the main island itself and we had a small hut facing the lagoon and had a beautiful view every morning waking up.

Click here for more photos


Every morning we had breakfast overlooking the lagoon where Aiden would stuff his face with fruits, bread and youghurt.


Click here for more photos

We spent a lot of time at the small beach close to the hotel just swimming in the clear water of the lagoon.

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

The locals were out on the lagoon showing off their skills.


Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Aiden loved the calm clear water and the beach...it was a pleasant 27-28 degrees. Every time he saw water he would point at it and shout BoBo (Water)...and insist on going swimming.


Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

One evening I did a couple of sunset portraits.

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Aiden again insisted on going in the water.


Click hre for more photos

I also went for a swim after we finished the photos, which was absolutely magical as the light was surreal and the water was absolutely calm.

Click here for more photos


Across the lagoon from the hotel we had a little island (Motu) with beautiful place to go snorkeling. First I went in the water and notices a small reef shark circling around the corals...being kinda shy. I mentioned it to Kim and as soon as she also spotted it later in the day she rushed out of the water (A couple of days later she had a similar experience with a large stingray at the beach).


Click here for more photos

It was hard to leave all this beauty behind

Click here for more photos

4. April 2012 04:09
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Flowers of French Polynesia

4. April 2012 04:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

flowers of french polynesia


I took a lot of photos of flowers...enough to warrant a separate blog entry..

If you are not a flower person then just scroll down the page past these...lots of other good stuff there.


Anyhow...I will let them speak for themselves...

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos


Click here for more photos

3. April 2012 07:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Tahiti

3. April 2012 07:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

tahiti


This Easter we decided to go to Tahiti and Bora Bora in French Polynesia in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

We were supposed to have been going to Japan, but we decided that we instead wanted a more relaxing holiday and changed it to an Island holiday enjoying the sun, sand, water and sunsets.

Click here for more photos

Tahiti is the main island of French Polynesia and is not larger than it is possible to drive around the entire island in a couple of hours (appx 120 km).

Click here for more photos

On one of the days we rented a car and did just that. We could have joined a day tour, but I am not very keen on the 5min photo stop kind of tours and much prefer to be able to travel independently and take time to see what we would like to see.

It is reasonably easy to find your way around the island. There really is just one road and the entire road is marked by kilometer markers and we had the distances for most of the sights we wanted to see. We didn;t go too much into the interior because of time restraints and some of these roads are only accessible by 4WD.


First we stopped at one of the old Tahitian temples which was interesting

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

After that we headed to some large caves full of freshwater (would have been convenient in the old days)...very damp and very dark.

Click here for more photos

After this we tried to find the road up to a lake and supposedly large waterfall. Some of the locals were very helpful with assisting us with directions but unfortunately the road was closed.

Fortunately we did find the nearby gardens which Kim wanted to visit (I will do a separate flower blog posting).

Click here for more photos

We did find some waterfallson the island (and saw several from a long distance away high on the mountains).

Click here for more photos

Click here for more photos

After this we headed to Point Venus where Captain Cook in 1769 supposedly saw the passing of Venus ...now this houses the only lighthouse in French Polynesia.

The next passing will be 6th June this year...243 years after the previos passing (can be seen as a shadow against the sun).


Click here for more photos

We decided to skip the museums as we would rather experience the outsde rather than objects behind glass.

The other days we spent around the hotel and the marina, just relaxing, swimming and dining. Aiden loved spending most of the time in the pool at the hotel.

Click here for more photos



29. February 2012 09:31
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Project Setting

29. February 2012 09:31 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

project setting


Yesterday I did another photo project. I wanted to do something different with composition.

I had this idea of a guy being attacked by hand-spiders (I hate spiders) and thought that the garage would be a good location for it. I had an old T-shirt and some tomato paste to add some drama.




It turned out to be a lot harder than expected as it was almost impossible to get the right composition, focus etc. when I both had to appear in the photo as well as take it (my head was cropped off on the first series which meant that I had to reposition the camera and then either re-shoot the series or try and stitch them up in post production...I chose the latter because of time constraints).

I could definitely have done a better job if I didn't have to be two places at once, but I don't think it is a total disaster.