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Airports are usually the same. At times being at different airports you might mix up the places just based on the facilities. Prague airport is similar to Frankfurt or Brusseles or even Kuala Lumpur or Beijing airport.
But Jakarta airport is special. It has not that common marble-look, the main color is brown which makes the entire building looks like wooden one. On the walls are traditional symbols and between the gates you can see nice green gardens with exotic palms.
That airport has a style. A special athmosphere which makes you feel like:..... I arrived to something very new!
March 20, 2010
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March 16, 2010
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Bratislava (German: Pressburg, Hungarian: Pozsony) is the capital of the Slovak Republic and, with a population of about 429,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries, and it and Vienna are the two European national capitals closest to one another, at less than 60 kilometres (37 mi) apart. (wikipedia)
January 24, 2010
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I have made this short videoklip in 2006 after I arrived home from Shanghai. That city really mesmerized me.
December 31, 2009
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These towers are since 1998 the symbol of Malaysia, a growing and promising country of the future in Asia...
The Petronas Twin Towers (Malay: Menara Berkembar Petronas) (also known as the Petronas Towers or just Twin Towers), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are twin towers and were the world's tallest buildings before being surpassed by Taipei 101. However, the towers are still the tallest twin buildings in the world. They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 if measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural top, the original height reference used by the international organization Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1969 (three additional height categories were introduced as the tower neared completion in 1996).
Designed by Argentine-American architect César Pelli, the Petronas Towers were completed in 1998 after a seven year build and became the tallest buildings in the world on the date of completion
The 88-floor towers are constructed largely of reinforced concrete, with a steel and glass facade designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic art, a reflection of Malaysia's Muslim religion.
Tower One is fully occupied by Petronas and a number of its subsidiaries and associate companies, while the office spaces in Tower Two are mostly available for lease to other companies. A number of companies have offices in Tower Two, including Accenture, Al Jazeera English, Carigali Hess Bloomberg, Boeing, IBM, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, McKinsey & Co, TCS, HCL Technologies, Krawler Networks, Microsoft, The Agency (a modeling company) and Reuters. (wikipedia)
December 27, 2009
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I guess one of the most charming attraction of Lisbon (Portugal) are the cute one-eyed trams. I have heard about them before but I didn't know that they were so cute small trams climbing those very narrow streets.
These trams are working in the city since the 1930's giving a really special mood to Lisbon.
I really love that city!
These trams are working in the city since the 1930's giving a really special mood to Lisbon.
I really love that city!
December 16, 2009
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A perfect place for Sunday afternoon. We have spent a long a weekend in Madrid and on our very first sightseeing tour we recognized this park called RETIRO Park in the middle of the city. People recommended us to visit it on Sunday because its really lovely that time. They were right.
The RETIRO is located near to the Prado Museum on the metro line No. 2. A huge green spot in the middle of the city having symmetric structure and a little lake in the middle. The whole place with this lake reminded me of the City park in Budapest but the difference is that in Madrid you can experience sunshine and warmth even in November.
A lot of people around, just like almost everywhere in Madrid's public place. I like the cities which are crowded. I am a big city type of guy and I do not mind noise of lot of people:)
November 25, 2009
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The second impression of mine in Singapore was that there everything is prohibited.
among others:
- chewing gum (as they say because they wanna save the money of cleaning up)
- durian (since its very smelly on the MRT or at public places)
- playing football, riding bike, picnic or anything in parks or between the HDB houses
- parking in front of your house (you have to use the parking houses)
- pets almost everywhere
They take it very serious, you pay fine immediately if you break these rules. An order must be city which is very charming but very strict.
among others:
- chewing gum (as they say because they wanna save the money of cleaning up)
- durian (since its very smelly on the MRT or at public places)
- playing football, riding bike, picnic or anything in parks or between the HDB houses
- parking in front of your house (you have to use the parking houses)
- pets almost everywhere
They take it very serious, you pay fine immediately if you break these rules. An order must be city which is very charming but very strict.
November 09, 2009
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Originally, when I planned my travel, after the two metropolices (Beijing and Shanghai) I wanted to have a rest at a place which is at the seaside, has beaches and good for relaxing.
My friends advised me to go to Qingdao and since its somewhere between the two huge cities I decided to listen to them. And almost everything is like I imagined:)
If I wanna simplify the things I can say Beijing is like a historical city with a lot of traditional buildings and a real capital with very wide avenues. Shanghai is rather a commercial center, a real modern city with its high buildings and high-tech features. And Qingdao is somehow a piece of Europe in Asia.
It was a former German colony before, and they built a lot of houses there which made me feel like being in Europe. When I arrived it was foggy and rainy but very soon became sunny and hot and having that fresh wind from the sea the climate is really like at home on a hot summer day.
The other thing which was a surprise to me that here are NO bicycles. After the `invasion` of bikes in Beijing and Shanghai its a strange experience to see a Chinese city without them:) The reason is maybe that Qingdao has a lot of hills. You would have to ride up and down a lot. Plus their roads are more narrow maybe due to the European style in the older downtown.
I love places at the seaside. When I was child we had been living in Mohacs for like 3 years and that town is at the river Duna having a tradition of fishing and everything connected to water. Maybe from this time is that I feel a special attraction toward the seaside cultures. The wind from the sea or at the river. That special smell of fishes and all seafoods. The noise of the sea and when during the evening in the more calm waves at the port you can hear how the boats are hitting gentle each other. Just like saying to each other: hey...dont sleep yet.:)
Qingdao is surrounded by hills and mountains. The mountain Laoshan is the main attraction here and its really special with its strange round rocks, and being there I felt like being on a traditional old Chinese painting.
Qingdao has an old downtown and a new one. I was wrong only in one thing when I imagined it before. I expected a small town with quiet environment but it seems I neglected the fact that I was in China. Qingdao has like 7 million (others say 9 million) inhabitants which is like the 2\3 of my whole country. So the beach on the weekend looks like you cant see the sea because of the lot of people in it. The eastern part of the city after the new modern downtown - which looks like Beijing`s downtown with its wide avenues - is like a paradise. There beaches are less crowded and dirty and leaving that area to the east again you get to Laoshan which is beautiful with its narrow mountain roads, having the hills on your left side and the sea with very old boats in the bays.
My friends advised me to go to Qingdao and since its somewhere between the two huge cities I decided to listen to them. And almost everything is like I imagined:)
If I wanna simplify the things I can say Beijing is like a historical city with a lot of traditional buildings and a real capital with very wide avenues. Shanghai is rather a commercial center, a real modern city with its high buildings and high-tech features. And Qingdao is somehow a piece of Europe in Asia.
It was a former German colony before, and they built a lot of houses there which made me feel like being in Europe. When I arrived it was foggy and rainy but very soon became sunny and hot and having that fresh wind from the sea the climate is really like at home on a hot summer day.
The other thing which was a surprise to me that here are NO bicycles. After the `invasion` of bikes in Beijing and Shanghai its a strange experience to see a Chinese city without them:) The reason is maybe that Qingdao has a lot of hills. You would have to ride up and down a lot. Plus their roads are more narrow maybe due to the European style in the older downtown.
I love places at the seaside. When I was child we had been living in Mohacs for like 3 years and that town is at the river Duna having a tradition of fishing and everything connected to water. Maybe from this time is that I feel a special attraction toward the seaside cultures. The wind from the sea or at the river. That special smell of fishes and all seafoods. The noise of the sea and when during the evening in the more calm waves at the port you can hear how the boats are hitting gentle each other. Just like saying to each other: hey...dont sleep yet.:)
Qingdao is surrounded by hills and mountains. The mountain Laoshan is the main attraction here and its really special with its strange round rocks, and being there I felt like being on a traditional old Chinese painting.
Qingdao has an old downtown and a new one. I was wrong only in one thing when I imagined it before. I expected a small town with quiet environment but it seems I neglected the fact that I was in China. Qingdao has like 7 million (others say 9 million) inhabitants which is like the 2\3 of my whole country. So the beach on the weekend looks like you cant see the sea because of the lot of people in it. The eastern part of the city after the new modern downtown - which looks like Beijing`s downtown with its wide avenues - is like a paradise. There beaches are less crowded and dirty and leaving that area to the east again you get to Laoshan which is beautiful with its narrow mountain roads, having the hills on your left side and the sea with very old boats in the bays.
November 07, 2009
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They advertise themself like this: Malaysia the truly Asia. But to be honest my first impression was different. I never been to Asia before…so everything I had in my mind about this area was from books, movies, magazins, news etc. I expected an underdeveloped country with a lot of bycicle and without any infrastructure. But when I opened my eyes in the taxi which took me from the airport to Kuala Lumpur in the early morning I thought I was in Europe. (I had a different impression immediately after the driver opened the door of the taxi and I felt again what does 100% humidity mean). I saw a well built highway with new cars and then I was the witness of an awaking huge and modern city at 6.00am early morning.
I havent seen the whole Malaysia only Kuala Lumpur but I wouldnt say this city is the truly Asia. Or maybe we may say the truly Asia in the future. Because Kuala Lumpur is a real cosmopolitan developed city. A few weeks ago I wrote that my experience was that large cities like New York, London, Moscow or even Kuala Lumpur were much more similar to each other then to their own country`s rural area. Now I felt this here even better. Taking the public transportation in Kuala Lumpur is the same feeling as if you would be in Italy if I just look at the infrastructure.
And since I love mixed cultures I found very amazing to see how natural is to see malaysian, chinese or indian people beside each other here. When I am in a new city I like to take the public transportation randomly and going to the last stop with it and then back and so on. My experience is that sitting among local people watching the changing area arround you is much better then any sightseeing in your closed and safe bus. Kuala Lumpur has that funny train we dont have in Budapest. Its like a subway but goes upstairs and called Monorel. In movies I saw Chicago has the same and I guess a lot of other cities have it as well. So when I saw this train I knew immediately I wanna take it because its so much fun. I bought a ticket to the AMPANG and back and I was just sitting there watching the people and the city arround. When I checked on the public map at the station this AMPANG seemed to be close to the famous Twin-Tower so I thought from there maybe I will walk to see that `monument`. But when I saw the towers more and more far from me I knew this is not the day I will have an excursion to there. Going to the AMPANG all the high buildings started to disappear and i saw rather crowded blockhouses with having hundreds of clothes hanging on the small balkoons or windows. Yes, Kuala Lumpur is not only a modern, well developed city with wealthy parts only. They have parts like the China town or as they call an other one the mini India which are poor and dirty. But not dangerous at all. Malaysia is very safe country you can walk even at night on the streets of Kuala Lumpur without any problem. Once I got lost and I was walking in the Indian part having my camera in my neck and people even didnt look at me. Malaysia is one of the `asian-tigers`. Growing economy, very low unemployment rate and a lot of new investments. Maybe because it was a British colony before maybe because of the good education system but in Kuala Lumpur everyone (I mean EVERYONE) speaks English. Not only at the tourists places but you can approach someone on the street asking something in English and you will get the proper smiley answer. (my God I start to feel myself as a PR manager of a travel agency but this area of the world impressed me really very much).
They not only speak English but at times I had the strange feeling that they speak malaysian (which they call Bahasa Malaysia) and suddenly you can hear some English terms included into their speech. Like I was sitting on that train and I heard a woman talking to her son..bla..bla. bla..bla…last station..bla bla bla. early morning..bla bla.
When I am in a new country I like to turn on the TV and to check the local channels. TV2 (it seems every country has a channel called TV2)..English speaking morning program for the youths. A smiley chinese like girl and malaysian guy makes fun, says news and celebrity gossips and you can send sms to answer the question of the day: shall we build more children hospitals in Malaysia?
Cute….
I havent seen the whole Malaysia only Kuala Lumpur but I wouldnt say this city is the truly Asia. Or maybe we may say the truly Asia in the future. Because Kuala Lumpur is a real cosmopolitan developed city. A few weeks ago I wrote that my experience was that large cities like New York, London, Moscow or even Kuala Lumpur were much more similar to each other then to their own country`s rural area. Now I felt this here even better. Taking the public transportation in Kuala Lumpur is the same feeling as if you would be in Italy if I just look at the infrastructure.
And since I love mixed cultures I found very amazing to see how natural is to see malaysian, chinese or indian people beside each other here. When I am in a new city I like to take the public transportation randomly and going to the last stop with it and then back and so on. My experience is that sitting among local people watching the changing area arround you is much better then any sightseeing in your closed and safe bus. Kuala Lumpur has that funny train we dont have in Budapest. Its like a subway but goes upstairs and called Monorel. In movies I saw Chicago has the same and I guess a lot of other cities have it as well. So when I saw this train I knew immediately I wanna take it because its so much fun. I bought a ticket to the AMPANG and back and I was just sitting there watching the people and the city arround. When I checked on the public map at the station this AMPANG seemed to be close to the famous Twin-Tower so I thought from there maybe I will walk to see that `monument`. But when I saw the towers more and more far from me I knew this is not the day I will have an excursion to there. Going to the AMPANG all the high buildings started to disappear and i saw rather crowded blockhouses with having hundreds of clothes hanging on the small balkoons or windows. Yes, Kuala Lumpur is not only a modern, well developed city with wealthy parts only. They have parts like the China town or as they call an other one the mini India which are poor and dirty. But not dangerous at all. Malaysia is very safe country you can walk even at night on the streets of Kuala Lumpur without any problem. Once I got lost and I was walking in the Indian part having my camera in my neck and people even didnt look at me. Malaysia is one of the `asian-tigers`. Growing economy, very low unemployment rate and a lot of new investments. Maybe because it was a British colony before maybe because of the good education system but in Kuala Lumpur everyone (I mean EVERYONE) speaks English. Not only at the tourists places but you can approach someone on the street asking something in English and you will get the proper smiley answer. (my God I start to feel myself as a PR manager of a travel agency but this area of the world impressed me really very much).
They not only speak English but at times I had the strange feeling that they speak malaysian (which they call Bahasa Malaysia) and suddenly you can hear some English terms included into their speech. Like I was sitting on that train and I heard a woman talking to her son..bla..bla. bla..bla…last station..bla bla bla. early morning..bla bla.
When I am in a new country I like to turn on the TV and to check the local channels. TV2 (it seems every country has a channel called TV2)..English speaking morning program for the youths. A smiley chinese like girl and malaysian guy makes fun, says news and celebrity gossips and you can send sms to answer the question of the day: shall we build more children hospitals in Malaysia?
Cute….
November 01, 2009
1 comments
Its almost like it was in Jakarta. You step out and you will become all wet immediately.
Last days in Beijing was rainy. When it rains the weather is very similar to the European climate. Especially in the early morning. When I arrived to Beijing it was 5:50am. Time of sunrise. It looked like a yellow disc on the sky but its mirror-image was deep orange in the risefields and on the roofs of some buildings.
When I left Beijing it was early morning, too. It was strange to see that huge city being so silent and moveless. Just a few people were around walking with their dogs or preparing to open their stores. Due to the rain we had last night, the air was fresh and very nice cool.
In the controversion arriving to Shanghai where the population is like 17 millions I faced the mass immediately. Gosh...almost two times more inhabitant then in Hungary...and it is just a city.
Shanghai is exaclty like I expected. In some terms its the city of the future. When I saw the downtown first time leaving he subway at LUJIAZUI I felt like: Ohh I arrived.
In front of me I could see all around large glass palaces with the strange light blue sky in the background.
The Shanghai sunset creates this blue which fits very well to the high-tech feature of the downtown. The gate I left the subway was to the east and when I turned around I almost felt down.
The huge Tower....called Oriental Pearl TV Tower was in front of me. With its lighting globes and with the loud music from there it seemed to be a temple inviting people for celebration. And people seemed to accept the invitation. Within minutes it became dark and the lights of the downtown became even more active. Thousands of people were standing along the river HUANGPU in front of the very European buildings of the Bund witnessing the night-lights of Shanghai. Looking at them I felt like in Budapest at the firework of August 20. But in this case the background looked like Geneva in Switzerland and the attraction which brought the thousands of people there were the lights of Shanghai.
Some later I was thinking why big metropolices affect me like this? The lights? The clean environment? The modern features and gadgets like huge lighting adds, modern air-conditioned subway, cars, cameras, cellular phones, ipods? The mass itself? I dont know the answer...maybe all of them and none of them at the same time.
Some says malls and modern downtowns with their lighting adds are all about to force people to buy, to spend...destroying the ancient cultures in the name of the new God: MONEY. Those by saying this are usually concern about the people who are excluded from all these. For example about the 500 millions Chinese living in the rural area dealing with agryculture with a yearly income which is likely not enough for a dinner on the top of this Oriental Pearl Tower.
So what if the tower doesnt exist? What if no lights in the downtown, no malls, no good cars, no cameras? Just next 500 millions poor Chinese living on a few yuan a day. The square in front of the tower was full of people who most likely couldnt afford the entry ticket to the Oriental Pearl. Why they were there?
Because they wanted to take part in it.
In Budapest I recognized long time ago that McDonald`s is full with teenagers who doesnt have any money. They are just sitting there over their schoolbooks with a Coke for hours at times. Why? Is it good for them to face that they cant efford the huge bigMac? is it good being frustrated? Actually they are not. They go there just like the people on the square at the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai....just like me....
To take part in it.
All these people belive what they see is their future or even their present. And they do it with a good reason. Some elder people...even some mothers with their children were standing there at the fence trying to catch some moments, to see what is going there at the tower, looking over the bushes with a realistic believe that what they were seeing was their future. Because they knew exactly what was here just 30 years ago. And who knows what will be here in 30 years?
So because of this belief I think Shanghai is the city of the future.
And you know, I love my city. I love Budapest which looks in a similar summer night like a part of a fairy tale. But being here I understood something again about our Eastern-European culture. Nice to show and being proud of our XIX. Century features.
And here I mean not only the surrounding historical buildings in the city but the whole little regressive culture we have, too.
But where is our future? I had to come to Shanghai to see it. I have created a short video of Shanghai:)
October 28, 2009
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Being abroad even if you dont understand the text you can get familiar with the name of streets, places and you can recognise them on the map. In China its almost impossible. If you do not know the characters you will be totally lost:)
One of my favorite was this information board at the main railway station in Beijing.:)
October 18, 2009
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