Political Debate and Board Games along Prospect Svobody – Lviv, Ukraine
Board games and political debate are favorite pastimes along Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine. Walk through the area any weekend, holiday, or some evenings, and there will be small groups of older men, and a few strong ladies, participating in some pretty intense political debate. I’m told this pastime took root, at least in public …..
Cliche – Wien/Vienna Cafe. Lviv, Ukraine.
Going through photographs of older guys playing chess and practicing political debate along Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine, I ran across this memory. It’s said that photographs of sunglass reflections are cliche. So be it.
A few pictures from yesterday’s run across the Golden Gate Bridge
This has to be one of my favorite runs – start anywhere along the San Francisco water front and head across the Golden Gate bridge. I’ve done it so many times yet I still do not take it for granted. Yesterday I started near the St. Francis yacht club and shot a few pictures along …..
Klong Toey Market – Bangkok, Thailand
Odds are you haven’t been to a market quite like Klong Toey (Toei) market in Bangkok, Thailand. It’s a place where you can get anything food related, and all of the food is very fresh - produce, fish, poultry, and meats, some of it arriving at the market alive. The market is popular with small …..
Redwood Park, Oakland
I doubt most people think of tall redwood trees when they think of Oakland but up in the hills there are plenty. Some time ago these were old growth forests, but were cut down for timber. Some of it could be in my old house. One hundred or so years later and it looks like …..
jetlagged
What do you do when your are fourteen timezones from home, take a late afternoon nap but wake up after midnight, you aren’t going back to sleep anytime soon, and Anderson Cooper 360 is showing on CNN International?
you never know – Rohatyn, Ukraine
Sometimes a great time happens when you least expect it. Rohatyn is a small town about five miles away from Cherche, the tiny village where my ancestors are from. There are two hotels in town, about ten rooms each, inexpensive, and nice enough. I splurged and stayed at the fancier place, about twenty five dollars …..
Santa Barbara (СИХІВ/Suhiv) Ukraine
During a recent visit to Lviv, Ukraine I mentioned that I wanted to wander around a Soviet era housing complex when someone suggested that I visit “Santa Barbara”. When I heard the name I knew I had to go. Its official name is СИХІВ, which is pronounced as Suhiv, but it also has the …..
the Beatles weren’t kidding
Late one afternoon last August, I ventured out to Prospect Svobody in Lviv, Ukraine to photograph the older guys playing chess and having political debate. But I ended up photographing young ladies walking around the place. The Beatles weren’t kidding when they wrote the song titled Back in the U.S.S.R.. During my recent visit to …..
Lviv, Bangkok, and in between – from my phone
I left my house early August and returned last Monday – three months away from Oakland. Minus an unplanned return trip to Arizona in October, I spent my time around Lviv, Ukraine and Bangkok, Thailand. I visited Lviv to spend time in the village my father’s parents came from. I’m impressed by how people in …..
More Dogs at Crissy Field, San Francisco
It has been well over three months since I’ve been to Crissy Field in San Francisco. So I grabbed the dogs, camera, and flash, drove over the bridge, walked around and shot more photographs of dogs and their owners enjoying the day. Click through the thumbnails for larger images.
Affected by the floods
There have been flood warnings for the entire Thonburi district of Bangkok for a week or more – the Thai government predicted the entire district would be submerged in a meter of water. Although there is significant flooding in the district, a lot of it is dry. A good friend of mine lives in the …..
Riding with Bangkok fire and rescue
Expecting normal Bangkok, Thailand traffic, I took a motorbike taxi over to the Grand Palace side of the Pinklao bridge yesterday. The motorbike wasn’t necessary since the normal afternoon Bangkok traffic was no where to be found. I planned to walk around some of the areas I did two days earlier but ended up catching …..
Bangkok, Thailand Flooding – Oct 30, 2011
Other than sandbags all over the place, fewer people around, and very light traffic, everything in central Bangkok seems normal. Venture out a few miles and it is a different world. Many people are living in knee deep, waist deep, and chest deep water. I spent the past couple of days exploring some of the …..
I felt guilty swimming laps this morning – Bangkok, Thailand flooding
I have to admit that I felt a little guilty swimming laps this morning, knowing that a few miles away there were plenty of people swimming in murky Chaophraya river overflow, and not by choice. I haven’t seen a direct comparison, but I bet the flooding here in Bangkok, Thailand covers an area similar in …..
cock fighting in rural northeast thailand – isaan
People in northeast Thailand or Isaan wake up very early. During my visits I’m up at or before sunrise and not by choice. The neighbors keep their rooster steps away from where I sleep and I’m convinced that it is the rooster that wakes up all other roosters in the village. Shortly after sunrise every …..
a roll of film around the neighborhood
Two weeks ago I noticed there was a roll of film in my Canon EOS-3 film camera. I purchased this camera cheap off of ebay last fall, have not used it since, have never had a roll of film developed from it, and thought I should do so before I sell it. I took the …..
one year ago today – bangkok red shirt protests
I just realized that today is May 19. A year ago today the Thai government broke up the demonstrations that had occupied Bangkok the prior two months. It was pretty memorable for me as I spent the day amongst many of the protestors. This was the scene on Rama 1 Road (or is it Ploenchit …..
why running has been such a pain
I enjoy running and I finally found out why it has been such a pain the past few years. After a couple four to six week rounds of physical therapy, immobilizing my foot for six weeks, periods of not running/resting the foot – all over the past few years – I finally visited a new …..
squid fishing in the andaman sea – not the deadliest catch: episode 2
Each night the lights of squid fishing boats line the horizon of the Andaman sea. I assumed the boats were part of a fleet that formed a line and trolled nets through the water. I was totally wrong. Most boats are individually owned. They don’t form a line – it just appears that way …..
american windsurfing tour/awt day 3 – waddell creek, california
A few pictures from day 3 of the American Windsurfing Tour/AWT at Waddell Creek California, just north of Davenport and about thirty minutes north of Santa Cruz. I stopped by for a couple of hours early in the day – not a big wave day at Waddell but these guys sure know how to make …..
waddell creek day two – american windsurfing tour
May 6, 2011 – Day two of the American Windsurfing Tour at Waddell Creek, California – just north of Davenport and about 30 minutes north of Santa Cruz. I stopped by the AWT Waddell for a couple of hours today and shot a few photographs. Most the images are of Francisco Goya, who has a …..
Cherche, Ukraine – September 2010
My father’s parents and some of his sibblings come from a small village named Cherche in western Ukraine. Small enough to not appear on most maps, Cherche is a few kilometers from Rohatyn which is about eighty kilometers southeast of Lviv, a small city. My grandparents immigrated to the U.S. around 1920. I visited …..
