Tag : Travel

This hotel is from a Russian company. I didn’t know that and thats ok. The style of the hotel is how you see some interiors in Russian buildings as well (Never been their, but saw some images). Lots of Russian visitors here and Scandinavian people. The Russians are loud, hard talking, smashing the doors. I cannot say if thats normal for their culture but when you in bed and you hear many sounds in the hallway its annoying. After 23:30-00:00 is almost quiet.

The hotel is clean! And its 5-10min walk from the beach. There is a little swimming pool so when you want cool down at the end of the day. After i went to the beach i goto the pool, lay in shadows and relax then go upstairs to get a shower and put aftersun on my body.

I have a good signal of the WiFi, better then the WiFi connection in Novotel in Shanghai and Beijing… So im very happy because i can upload my images without timeouts!

My view is nice. At the highest floor and see the ocean. The sunset is always nice to see!!

Here a nice image of the Great Wall of China in 360°

I went to the Olympic Park and visit the “Bird Nest”. This was the stadium where the opening of the Olympics in 2008 started. Its a impressive building, from the outside but also from the inside. Its huge, but feels small. I walked around and went also to the top to see the whole area. It was amazing to stand there, ok it’s not the premiere feeling of a opening, but still… We saw it on TV, we saw the firework and now im standing there.

After my Olympic Park visit i went too 2 temples: Lama Temple and Temple of heaven. Both very crowded with people. And seems i was the only white guy around there. The temples where colored so nice, and everywhere people pray, and give money to the buddha. When i was in temple of heaven 2 times people want on a photo with me, so i was the only white guy there, and a new attraction was born…

Today i went to Great Wall of China. This is the longest wall ever made by humans. Total length around 10.000km.It was a long journey to get there by bus. I was happy that i did a excursion otherwise i wasn’t able to find it my own and public transport. At this period of the year it was the best. Less people around so have some nice images created. After we went back in the hotel i had a dinner with a couple from Norway. Was a nice conversation and in meanwhile we ordered some delicious food in the upper floor of a shopping mall!

This morning went to Shanghai Railway Station to take the High-Speed train to Beijing. The ride was perfect. I bought a 1st class ticket and had almost my own cabin haha. The train will stop several times between Shanghai and Beijing and the whole journey took 7 hours. I shoot some images of the locations and now you have a little impression what i saw the whole day.

A cup of coffee cost 2,- euro, so thats normal. After u arrived at Beijing South a bought a metro card. When you know the metro system in other big cities, then every metro in every city is easy. Sometimes you have to ask something. There was a short part of the route with a old part of metro. So no signs, no map, nothing. I had to ask for it.

After i arrive at my hotel i booked my excursion to Great wall, costs 39,- euro. Pickup from hotel to Great wall, a guide, and when i arrive at Great Wall i will use a cablecar to get higher in te mountains. But you will see the images later.

Now below you can see some images i took in the train. Ohh im so happy with my Nikon 24-70mm f2.8. The train had a speed of 305km/hour. And all my images are sharp 😀

I went to the old city of Shanghai… Was difficult the find it because all small streets are filled with people and little shops. You have to look very well to see the beauty of this location. This location was build in the “Ming Dynasty” by a rich family the Pan-clan. It has been destroyed several times: Opium War, Taiping Protest.

They renovated all and you can see this, because it look old but it isn’t. Its ok, now we have a idea how it was in that period.

I was at my hotel, little relaxing and i saw a very nice oppertunity to shoot Shanghai Skyline in a different way. The sun and sky was so nice, i shoot some images and this one is the best. I love the colors, and you can still see the buildings and know its Shanghai.

At moment of my stay in Hong Kong the weather was not best. So i had to struggle with clouds and took me some time to create this image.

Original file:

Filesize: 244mb
Pixels: 12185 x 3727 (45,4MP)

Here some nice 360° images of Hong Kong:

So, first morning in Shanghai. It was a very unpleasant start. I arrived at my hotel in Huangpu District. Went to my room and with every step i feel more and more sad. Smell was like shit, the smell of wet dogs, 100 of them in 1 room. I opened my room and was almost crying. This was not the view how Hotels.com show the room. Was sitting on my bed and look around. Took some images because i want this for my memory (i’ll create a book of everything).

After 30minutes i decide to check-out and booked in meanwhile a other hotel. The reservation was ok. But because of my lost of my Macbook and the Payment of my Hong Kong Hotel and some other payments i knew my CreditCard limit was almost there. But ill took a taxi and went to “Novotel Shanghai”. Arrived there and explain everything (Thanks god they talk little bit english). It was no problem at all and they make a deposit of the amount i had on my CreditCard. At my room i called Rabobank and they give me the instructions to transfer money from my normal account to my Credit Card so i can use it when needed.

For now im at my hotel room, not coming out this day. Have to settle, have to be relax about this. I know problems are everywhere and you can solve it out. Im gonna edit my images, my panorama’s and my 360 degrees images. Next post will be a post of my Hotel in Hong Kong of “99 Bonham Hotel” that was a nice one! Loved it. Cheers

First 4 images was my previous hotel in Shanghai.

Below you see a 360 degrees of my current hotelroom.

Yes, something else then travel, but i explain why.

I promised 2 years ago to a boy who died about aids. This teddybear lost a his friend because of aids. There was a demonstration on “Museumplein” Amsterdam to “Stop Aids Now”. You can take a teddybear and make a photo with hashtag #stopaidsnow. of yourself include the teddybear.

At that moment i did a promise to that for me unknown kid: I will take this teddybear everywhere. So spiritual the kid will see the world how it looks like, and will remember forever.

So this journey is also a little journey for this kid and this Teddybear. You will see some pictures of this teddybear to remember everyone:

“Stop Aids Now”