Bangkok. Friday. Evening. Cool (relatively). I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many down vests, knitted hats, and overcoats along Sukhumvit Road as I did this morning. It was 24 degrees Celsius outside, and several Thais I encountered seemed to be shivering and freezing. Despite a couple of visits to bars last night, I woke […]
Captured this just as we were about to board our flight to Osaka yesterday morning at Naha Airport in Okinawa. The cabin crew were genuinely happy when we handed them our flyer for Charlotte’s popular airline website www.airlinestaffrates.com Flying southwest today.
Meanwhile, in Osaka… Japan. Evening. Sayonara. Just a little while ago I was sipping on a glass of Suntory Soda in our hotel room’s small bathtub. Lying there, I was contemplating our trip how much fun we’d had and all the great food we’d enjoyed. Clearly the most enjoyable trip to Japan so far. And […]
HereFrom a facility perspective, there are definitely more benefits than drawbacks of staying at a huge resort. Most resorts have at least one pool, a sizable gym and offer a decent breakfast buffet. On the other hand, these larger places tend to make you feel like you’re in a holiday factory, one of numerous anonymous […]
It sounds strange, but when I’m in Tokyo, I think about Trollhättan, the city where SAAB cars were once made and where I spent formative time with my grandparents as a youngster. Let me explain. For about a year, sometime in the early 1970s, I lived with my grandparents Eskil and Agnes Andersson on Örtagårdsvägen […]
Okinawa. Thursday. Evening. Joyess. It’s our last evening in Naha. Tomorrow we head to Moon Beach in northern Okinawa. I will probably miss our amazing corner room (#912) at this hotel more than Naha itself. I must remind myself always to request a corner room in the future. Strata Hotel is the 22nd or 23rd […]
After some deliberation and exploring other options, we finally decided to have dinner last night at a place about a block from bustling Kokusai Street (the main tourist street here in Naha) and close to our hotel called Mazemen Mahoroba. From the moment we stepped into this small, rustic place, I immediately noticed that the […]
Here are a few clips that Charlotte helped me film around Tokyo as I continue the surprisingly steep learning curve of juggling three balls. We’re now in Okinawa, the main island in the south of Japan where the weather and temperature are most comfortable. Should be able to manage a few juggling sessions here as […]
Tokyo. Japan. Evening. Dark (again). I’m writing this from a minimalist folding table at one end of our tiny but brilliantly designed hotel room. A half-eaten, triangular-shaped egg and tuna sandwich lies untouched on the right side of the computer’s slightly crumbly keyboard. I just bought the aforementioned, beautifully packaged sandwich at our nearest Lawson […]
Here are a few shots from yesterday’s terrific experiences in Tokyo. We had cool and mostly sunny weather as we traversed this great city, revisiting some old favorites and discovering a few totally new places. Spent most of the afternoon in Kappabashi, probably my favorite street in all of Asia with its restaurant supply stores […]
We arrived early this morning at Narita International Airport outside of Tokyo, Japan. Since the Vietjet night flight from Saigon/HCMC wasn’t full, both Charlotte and I were able to grab and sleep (fetal position) in a three-seat space. After checking in at our hotel and getting over the fact that our room is just marginally […]
Here’s one of my favorite street portraits from Vietnam. When I think of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, which I have been visiting regularly since 1988, I think of how often one is greeted with an infectious smile here. The street life, with its pungent smells, the deafening cacophony of relentless traffic and the dense population, […]
Here’s a timelapse I compiled from clips mostly taken from our hotel room. Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City is intense. It’s fluid, though. Coming from the relative calm of Da Nang, it takes some time to get used to. Crossing major streets and boulevards is an endeavor with very little wiggle room for hesitation. […]
Just back from Afternoon Tea on the 12th floor. We’ve now switched hotels and districts in Ho Chi Minh City. I’m glad to be in Downtown now. It’s busier here, but also more interesting than in the quieter Thao Dien neighborhood. From one of the windows in our new room on the seventh floor of […]
Tuesday. Evening. Saigon. Grateful. Today is our daughter Elle’s 23rd birthday, and because I’m a sensitive dude, I always become a bit more sentimental on November 7th. When I think about how privileged I am to have such a wonderful individual in my life, which in itself is proof that I didn’t completely fail as […]
Here’s a view of Ho Chi Minh City and the colorfully lit skyscraper, Landmark 81 to the right. We’re staying a night at a sparsely furnished “aparthotel” near the Saigon River and moving to a proper hotel tomorrow in Thao Dien (District 2). Humidity here in southern Vietnam feels like it’s off the charts, at […]
Saturday. Evening. Da Nang. Dark. Just like last weekend, Charlotte and I took a 10k walk on the beach on this beautifully sunny Saturday. We saw a gigantic jellyfish that had washed up on the shore. It literally lay there like a huge blob of jelly. Tried to feel sorry for it, but couldn’t. I […]
Wednesday. Evening. Da Nang. Content. Woke up reasonably well-rested this morning. Brushed my teeth, got dressed, and stumbled out of the hotel, slowly making my way to the gym seven, eight blocks westward. Along the way, I passed a couple of bars that were still open. Some of the patrons looked to be my age. […]
Charlotte Raboff took this photo on Sunday but had a hard time deciding on which caption to add to it. It was either Santa Surfer or Silver Surfer, both relating to that I’m currently letting all my hair grow.
Today is my 75th day of sobriety. It’s not worth celebrating, I know. But when I heard of Mathew Perry’s sudden curtain call, I was hit harder than I initially thought I would be. Perry’s struggle with addiction, which I can personally relate to on a few levels, his overdose, and apparent suicide in a […]
Saturday. Evening. Da Nang. Satiated. Yet another day comes to a close here in Farawayland, following a sweaty continuation of my escape from the autumn of my years. This sun-drenched Saturday began with a long and occasionally scorching walk along Da Nang’s incredibly beautiful beach. I was reminded that the Pacific Ocean does indeed start […]
Shot this on the way back from our long (12k) beach walk to and from Marble Mountain. We started around eight this morning and though it was already toasty and sweaty, the heat wasn’t unbearable. The mountain, which was more like an atoll than a proper mountain, offered stunning views of Da Nang and several […]
Still in awe of how improved My An Beach is compared with 2019. Back then, we alternated between two, maybe three different restaurants with decent food. Today, there are at least a dozen places. One of the best so far is Patakka, a beautifully decorated Indian restaurant a few doors down from our hotel. The […]
I captured this scene during a press trip to Israel at Qasr el Yahud, near the city of Jericho, along the Jordan River, where Christians believe John the Baptist baptized Jesus roughly two millennia ago. During my visit, hundreds of Christian fundamentalists from the southern United States queued up eagerly to be baptized by enthusiastic […]
Sunday evening. Da Nang. Humid. Despite having forgotten which door it locked and unlocked, I kept an old key on my keyring for a long time. My hope was probably that I would someday remember why I kept it, but like so much else we carry around throughout our lives, it just hung around. After […]
Here’s the view from a nearby hotel’s rooftop pool that I took a look at a few days ago. We’re still in the midst of monsoon season but we’ve just enjoyed a couple of days when it hasn’t been raining torrentially all the time. I even got to spend a couple of hours in the […]
Sunday. Evening. Da Nang. Drizzle. On June 6, 1942, barely half a year after the Japanese Air Force left Pearl Harbor in a hellish inferno, my father was drafted into the U.S. Army with serial number 13073307 stamped on his shiny Dog Tag. After a few months of boot camp in Baltimore, Maryland, the 21-year-old […]
I enjoyed an excellent session in the waves yesterday afternoon. However, today, I find myself obsessively compelled to ventilate a long-smoldering frustration, ignited by the many conflicts our troubled planet faces. Not to mention the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, which unfolded just this past weekend. To me, it is clear to see that […]
I am easily distracted and this seems to be getting worse as I get older. This is not just a little ironic as I’m currently writing a book about how life changes when you’re over sixty and how easily distracted I’ve become. When I’m sitting and writing in a busy café, like the one above […]
In an effort to make the book more affordable (and boost sales), I’ve re-priced the Re:Surfaced book. It’s still the same 200+ page collection of unique images from surfaces captured in 23 cities on 3 continents. Order my book from Amazon’s international site here and from the Swedish Amazon store here. Check out my other […]
Here’s the yummylicious Sunday eveniung dinner I had at our favorite restaurant in Da Nang at the plant-based, health-focused Roots: Japanese Nori Bowl: veggie nori roll, wakame, edamame, shiso, grated dikon, pickled ginger, turmeric tofu, mushroom, pumpkin seeds, cucumber, sesame, garlic black rice with ginger & sesame dressing.
I photographed this old US warplane the other day at the Ho Chi Minh Museum here in Da Nang. The museum is a tribute to the life and achievements of Ho Chi Minh, affectionately known as “Uncle Ho”. The museum serves as a window into his life, pursuits, and contributions he made to the struggle […]
We’re once again finding our way into an everyday groove here in Vietnam. Just a few short steps from our hotel we found a laundry service and there’s a plethora of restaurants within a five minute walk that serve delicious and affordable meals from almost any conceivable cuisine. If I had to bet, I’d wager […]
We always visit a few rooftop bars and restaurants when were in Asia. There’s just so many of them and most offer irresistible vantage points in every direction. I took the above photograph late in the afternoon yesterday from a hotel’s rooftop bar housed in one of many spectacular skyscrapers along My Khe Beach.