Essaouira is a dazzling old city with fortified walls, fishing harbour, a lot of seagulls, strong wind, and good seafood. A fellow traveler who we met in Zagora told us that this place is a perfect place to surf, but the sea water can be very cold in winter time. Similar to Ait Ben Haddou, many films are also shot in this location (one of the is Game of Thrones: the scene when Daenerys Targaryan met the unsullied).

As a typical Moroccan old city, Essaouira has narrow alleys and red city walls, as well as lively atmosphere. However, it also has its own charm, as well as more relaxed and friendly vibe than Marrakech. It's only about three hours drive from Marrakech, so it's really worth to visit.

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Another reason why we picked Marrakech as our destination is because of the opportunity to take a quick trip to nearby places, like Essaouira or Sahara. Since our stay in Morocco was only one week, we could only manage two days road trip to Zagora (a Morocco's gate to Sahara desert), about 720 km away from Marrakech.

We were packed with other passionate travelers in a mini van and hit the road early in the morning. We passed through the gorgeous High Atlas mountains, visited Ait Ben Haddou, reached Zagora just before the sunset, and arrived at the desert camp to spend the night there.

At some point, it's a good idea to escape from the busy street in Marrakech and enjoy the slowly changed panoramic view from mountains to desert. It's also fun to observe the locals as we passed small towns or villages, especially in the golden hour.

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Our Riad is located in the middle of Medina and about 15-20 minutes walk to Jemaa El Fna. Actually, it's not so convenient to memorize our way to the main square through the narrow confusing alleys. But on the bright side, we were able to explore some non touristy areas and observe the daily life of the locals. Somehow, we just couldn't help comparing some details in this old city with things we can also find in our home country: the street vendors, kiosks that sell everything you need, people pulling/pushing carts, children playing on the street, the sound of prayer from nearby mosques, and so many more. How could two different countries from different continents and cultures have so much in common?

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To escape winter, we decided to travel somewhere warmer within 3 hours flight from Frankfurt. Marrakech was the best option, not only because we found cheap flight tickets, but we also didn't have to apply any travel visa (a VERY rare case for Indonesian passport holders).

Walking around the Medina of Marrakech felt like time traveling to the past. The old city has its own charm, which somehow different than any other cities we've been visited before. It's so lively, both days and nights. We explored the Souk and got disoriented in its labyrinth, stunned by the beautiful architecture of Medersa Ben Youssef, strolled around museums and amazed by the detailed colorful moroccan mosaic, sipped a cup of moroccan mint tea on the rooftop of Cafe de France and enjoyed the busy evening at Jemaa El Fna, as well as fell in love with the homemade Tanjine by a chef in our Riad.

Despite many warnings about tourist scams and aggressive locals, we were lucky enough to be able some friendly locals and fellow tourists. If someone annoyed us, for example by pretending to help showing a way out of the confusing labyrinth or trying to sell weird things, we just pretended not to understand English or any other languages they spoke and walked away. On the other hand, it's too bad that we don't speak French or Arabic, so we had to use sign language or Google Translator to communicate with lovely personnels in our Riad.

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Montmartre is a hill in the north of the city and gives its name to the surrounding district. On its summit stands the white Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, or known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica. From there, we can enjoy the best view of Paris.

What makes Montmartre so interesting is the famous Place du Tertre, a square not so far from the Basilica, where many artists gather. Although it was fully packed with visitors, I enjoyed the whole walking through the area. There are also many cafes, where we can sit there and enjoy the lively district.

For me, Montmartre is the highlight of Paris and becomes my favorite spot in the city.

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If one visits Paris, he/she won't miss this remarkable iron lattice tower, which was built in 1889 and stands 320 metres tall. The Eiffel Tower has become both an icon of France and one of the most recognizable structure in the world.

Visiting Eiffel Tower was also on our top list; however, seeing the super hellish long queue at the tower discouraged us to go up and see the whole Paris from the top of the tower. In the end, we just strolled around the tower, and somehow it was the right decision to do so, since there are a lot of places where we can enjoy the view of the magnificent tower.

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Aaah... Paris....

Many people say that Paris is the most romantic place on earth, no wonder it becomes the world's most popular city destination. The city is gorgeous and offers a lot of interesting places to visit, such as The Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, Arc de Triomphe, Montmartre, Versailles Palace, and many others. To tell the truth, three days in Paris weren't really enough to enjoy the whole city to the fullest.

Despite its beauty, it has also many down sides. The city is packed with millions of tourists from around the globe, which makes the whole visit becomes really uncomfortable. The long lines into every tourist attractions require patience and a lot of time, that not every tourist has. The massive tourism also makes everything so expensive, although that is actually quite normal for a touristy city like Paris. The fact that Paris is full of tourist scams and pickpockets, can't also be ignored. So, if you plan to visit this place, you should be prepared and be extra careful to avoid any unpleasant experience.

Overall, Paris is a must-see place in Europe. Even though it's not really a romantic place like many movies or books have described, I still think that Paris has its own charm and perfect for street photography. By the way, since there are so many photos, I decided to divide them in some different posts, and here are some random street photography of Paris.

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We decided to visit Paris for easter holiday. It's about 5 hours drive from Frankfurt to Paris, and we thought it would be better to take a short break at Metz, which is located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers, not far from the Schengen tripoint where the borders of Germany, France, and Luxembourg meet. It is the capital and the prefecture of the Lorraine region and the Moselle department.

The city is small, but gorgeous. I just love the details, the narrow alleys, and the architecture. The highlight is the gothic St Stephen's Cathedral, which really blew me away. I even found it more overwhelming than the famous Notre Dame Cathedral.

Overall, the city is really worth it to visit, especially as a teaser before continuing our journey to Paris.

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Happy Lunar New Year!

But as you can see, there's no sign of any Chinese New Year in Germany. Because it's carnival time! So, instead of greeting people "Gong Xi Fat Cai", we yelled "Alaaf!" and sang "Viva Colonia" all day. It's been years since we had fun in any carnival, and actually it's our first time visiting the Kölner Karneval, the biggest Carnival in Germany.

The Carnival is a public parade and somehow also a huge costume party. The word Carnival means "farewell to meat", actually the Carnival itself is a festive season before the Lent. The Cologne Carnival starts on Fat Thursday (Weiberfastnacht), ends on Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch), and the highlight of the carnival is on Rose Monday (Rosenmontag). Since there's no public holiday in our State on Rose Monday, we decided to visit the carnival on Sunday, which called Kölner Schull- un Veedelszöch.

Although the parade is not as huge as on Rose Monday, We still had a very good time. The parade was arranged by schools, that's why there're so many dressed up children attending the parade. It's fun, it's cute, it's colorful, it's definitely a must to see celebration of the year.

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After we spent our Christmas in Prague, we drove to Budapest for New Year. It was a 5 hours drive through 3 countries; Czech, Slovakia, and Hungary. The road was okay, though not as good as Autobahn in Germany. The things we didn't really like was the 130 kmh speed limit and the Vignette.

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary. The name Budapest came from Buda and Pest, which used to be two different cities until 1873. What makes the city so beautiful is the Danube river, which lies between Buda and Pest. The long history also makes this city so special, although at the first glance it doesn't seem so old like Prague.

We met our other friends there and had already planned the whole journey together. We tried the famous spa, walked around the city's highlights, and spent our new year's eve in a club (just like the most traveller guides suggested about Budapest: Spa and Nightlife). And traveling with more people was actually different than usual. It was fun, since they're so energetic and of course, photogenic. Somehow it gives another feeling than photographing some random people for some street photography. We just can tell them to pose, although we prefer to capture their pictures when they're off guards.

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The Charles Bridge (or Karluv most in Czech or Karlsbrücke in German) is the famous bridge and the top must-to-see attraction in Prague. The bridge crosses the Vltava River and connect The Lesser Town or Malá Strana (which is below the Castle Area) and The Old Town

The Bridge is about 621 meters long and 10 meters wide. It has three bridge towers; two on the Lesser Town side, and one on the Old Town side. What makes this bridge so beautiful is the statues. There are 30 of them standing on both left and right side of the bridge. They give the feeling as if they're watching everyone who crosses the bridge.

For us, the bridge is the highlight of our visit to Prague. We're so fascinated by it and came back every single day of our stay. During the day, it's so packed with the tourists, artists, and souvenir kiosks. Despite of hectic situation, the bridge seems so cheerful and lively.

On 2nd day of our visit, we managed to get up extra early and rush to the bridge to take some picture of it. It wasn't 100% empty (there were also a few people like us with their camera gears), but it was worth it. The dawn at the empty bridge was so gorgeous. It revealed more its beauty and gave the mysterious vibe at the same time. There were some creepy auras because of the silhouette of the statues and crossing the bridge at the dawn also gave the chill of time-traveling to the Middle Ages.

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Prague (or Praha or Prag) was on the bucket list for a long time. To tell the truth, a japanese manga, called Monster (by Urasawa Naoki), made Prague became one of our wanted destination. After a few years of longing, at last we had the opportunity to visit this gorgeous city last Christmas.

What makes Prague so special is its long history. It has been through many eras, wars, and revolutions. The little damage from World War II allowed most of its historic buildings and architecture stay in its true form. It's really a good place to learn the history of architecture, since you can find different kind of buildings from different era, such as Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Art Nouveau, and so on.

The whole city is actually quite big, but the main attractions located near each other, and makes it easier to explore. Its rich cultures also makes the city feels so lively and there're also a lot of interesting details to be found.

Despite of massive tourism (which makes this city quite expensive), Prague became our favorite city. Visiting Prague during Christmas also allowed us to experience their Christmas Market. And the best part is it stayed open during the Christmas! (in Germany, Christmas Market only open until Dec 24th)

It might be a little bit late, but Merry Christmas anyway...

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It was almost Christmas, and we decided to drive around for the holiday season. Since our destination was Prague, we decided to depart a day earlier to make a stop over in Dresden. It's a beautiful old city with a long history. It was totally destroyed in World War II and has undergone reconstructions in the past few decades. Maybe it was really too beautiful to forget, and that's why people decided to rebuilt the city, especially the important historic buildings. They also took the original materials as much as possible to rebuild the whole buildings, that's why you can find black (original) stones in every facade of the reconstructed buildings.

Our visit to Dresden was kinda short and the weather wasn't that nice. But Dresden charmed us in anyway; apart from it's beauty, it also has delicious foods in affordable fancy restaurants. We also managed to learn more about night shots and had difficulties photographing architecture in midday because of the grey sky (photoshopping a fake sky is not a good option!). Most of all, we regret for not taking any pictures from the other side of the river. Now we're considering to be back on summer.

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It'll be my 10th Christmas in Germany. And I really can't imagine such a cold December without Christmas. What makes Christmas also feel so special in this country is The Christmas Market a.k.a Weihnachtsmarkt. I just love the warm atmosphere, the glittering Christmas decorations, the taste of Glühwein, the sweetness of Lebkuchen, the smell of gebrannte Mandeln, and most of all: the happy expression of people welcoming the holiday season.

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Although the whole tour was full with activities, we still managed to have a little bit free time for our own, especially to stroll around the areas (where our hotels at) to see more about the locals and their common activities. Time for street photography...

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When I was in Jakarta, I observed the children on the Jakarta's street. When I mentioned "street" here, it doesn't mean homeless children, but children who happened to play on the street, though sadly most of them are poor. For me, children are children, they're all the same. They can always find a way to be playful and happy, even without expensive toys, video games, or ipad.

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When I was small, my teacher always told us to stay away from street foods. I often ignored the warnings and got a really bad health record: uncountable diarrhea and 3 times typhus. Scary, eh? Despite of that, I still love street foods, not only because they're cheap and delicious, but because you just can't find them in other "better" or "cleaner" place. Most of the food are traditional foods, which are quite hard to find in a decent restaurant. There's also a quote that if the place were dirty, they'd have more delicious foods . I know it's kinda wrong, but hey, street foods are always the best choice when you're hungry and want to grab some quick meal.

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I remember learning in our history classes that Jakarta had a few names before; Sunda Kelapa, Batavia, and Jayakarta. Anyway, I visited the old area of Jakarta a few weeks ago for the first time (Yes, for the first time!). In the end, I didn't take the picture of any old colonial building at all. I was more interested at the people there (and some street vendors, but I'll show their photos in another post). We also visited the old Sunda Kelapa Harbor. I didn't take many pictures there, since it was a little bit too late and I was too hungry at that time. Well... maybe next time...

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Jakarta is home for millions of people. Even for me, who live in Germany for 10 years, Jakarta still feels like home to me. You may found everything here. Hundreds of shopping malls, a lot of glamorous condominiums, many fancy real estates, luxurious cars, expensive boutiques, etc. But, there's also a bitter reality you can't ignore; the streets, the slums, the ghettos,  the horror traffic, the smog, and so on. For many people, Jakarta might be a hell on earth. Even so, for me it's still a place to come home to.

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China Town and Little India are my favorite places in Singapore. They're so colorful and beautiful. This was also the first time for me visiting temples. It made me quite excited.

And...... Yes, the real India is on my bucket list right now...

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