Saturday Market food stalls (stools?)

In Chiang Mai, every Sunday takes place the famous "Walking Night Market" on Th Ratchadamnoen, offering a taste of provincial culture, cheap bargains and reminding the itinerant merchants stopping in town to sell their goods.
Usually the street is packed with both locals and tourists making it hard to move around.

Less known however is the "Saturday Walking Market" on.. as you guessed.. Saturdays on Th Wualai. It attracts less tourists and is more enjoyable to walk around. It is located in an older street outside the "Old city" walls.
Of course, I have to admit, what I like most in these markets is the variety of local food you can find almost every 10 steps! My taste buds are grateful every weekend and my stomach curses me all night long.
Some people would avoid eating street food from fear of poor hygiene. I think it's an excellent way to discover local culture and I've never fallen sick from any kind of food during my 10-month travel.

What do you think? Would you be afraid to taste food from a merchant like in the photo above?

Golden Greenhouses [HDR]

This is a place close to my heart.
It's the village in Lebanon where I used to hang out every summer. The hilly isolated village where I went to explore with my cousins and came back home covered in mud and thorns.This place called "Wata el Jaouz" right below the famous Faraya in Central Lebanon carries all my childhood memories.
Many inhabitants are farmers so these greenhouses are everywhere. They sell mostly vegetables that have a heavenly taste.
Now, this safe little haven is becoming overcrowded, with luxurious villas popping here and there, belonging to multi-millionaire sheiks from the Arab Gulf who spend their 1 week holiday per year behind guarded walls.

This is another HDR shot I am posting this week. What do you think? I always try to keep it more subtle than the flashy ones we see on the net all the time.

The broom lady

In Thailand, you can find and buy almost anything on the streets. I saw this lady selling brooms in Chiang Mai while walking back home from lunch with my girlfriend. I wanted to get a nice shot of her but she kept walking too fast even with all those brooms!
I just had to use my telephoto lens to capture her from far as she was heading towards a bar.
I liked the balance between the lady with her merchandise and the bar bottles out of focus in the background. I wish that sitting girl was not in the shot as it creates distraction but hey... It was a spontaneous candid shot.

Do you think she might be a witch?

Landscape Painting?

I like it when the light is diffused. It makes the colors look soft with no harsh shadows. 

It sometimes makes a landscape look like a clichéd painting, like this one from Spain. 

I know there are a lot of broken rules in this photo. The horizon is in the middle, but I felt it was better this way as both the foreground and sky created a nice balance. The trees are out of focus, because of wide aperture, but it gave them this "painted" look. The colors are soft like on a  watercolor painting.

I kind of like the result! What do you think?

Thai Sunset [HDR]

What I really missed in my 20+ years living in the UAE are beautiful dramatic cloudy sunsets. There's an average of 5-6 cloudy days per year in the Emirates so I've had my share of blue bland boring skies.
Now that I am in Thailand, and it's rainy season, I often experience beautiful sunsets worth stopping and taking a shot of... if it's not pouring down of course.

I also haven't posted any HDR shots for ages too. Unlike the big flashy over-saturated I'm-on-acid-looking HDR photos many people seem to post, I prefer more subtle use of this technique to bring out contrasts in the photos. Some more will follow soon. Hope you enjoy!

Alkmaar Streets

As I'm watching the quarter finals of the World Cup 2010 between Brazil and the Netherlands, I thought it would be a good opportunity to post this picture. I'm not particularly a fan of both teams but hey... I've never been to Brazil yet!
This shot was taken in Alkmaar, a small town of 95000 inhabitants, famous for its cheese market. I had the opportunity to visit a few towns with 2 friends including of course Amsterdam, but I was not really impressed by them. I preferred the relaxing atmosphere and simplicity of Alkmaar with its clichéd windmills and canals.

[Edit]: Well, congratulations to Holland for kicking Brazil out of the World Cup 2010. Good job.

O Cebreiro

Although the whole Camino de Santiago was fantastic, one of my secretly favorite places was: O Cebreiro... The second highest peak after the Pyrenees, in Galicia.

The weather was great as I walked through a beautiful forest up a steep mountain. Even though many pilgrims were on the same path, there was a silent and peaceful atmosphere floating all around.
Once I reached the top, magnificent landscapes appeared before me. Looking back, I could trace the whole path I walked all the way from France.. about 700km (430+ miles) and a month of bliss.
As I reached the tiny village with the same name as the mountain, I was first struck by the music I was hearing, Irish sounding music! I had to ask around to understand that Galicia had Celtic culture and some even insisted it was where the Celts originate from.

I loved the village so much that I decided to stay until the next morning. All I did was walk around, take photos, sit in peace watching the landscape and of course.. stuff my face with queixo do cebreiro (cebreiro cheese) served with local honey, pulpo (octopus) and flowing alcohol.
After a great freezing night, I was treated with this fantastic present, an ocean of clouds stretching at my feet across the valley.