Phuket Getaway

After that long trip I had almost a week off so we decided to take a short trip to Phuket as the original plan to visit Perth fell through while waiting for some administrative tie-ups.

Overall the trip was a great relaxing break and the resort was so commfortable that we never left it during the entire trip. Our days were filled with lounging by the pool, soaking in the sun, beach massages and wonderful dinners.. plus lots of photography practice as well.

Chicago

I was actually in Chicago a couple of days before Brussels and these are some of the pictures I took during my one day walkaround. If you read some of the comments attached to the pictures (you gotta go to the Flickr site to see them) you'll know that its was a quite a strange day (to me anyway) because of the rolling fog off Lake Michigan coupled with the bright sunshine.

Chanced upon the 'Bean' (top picture) and was quite taken in by the distorting effects it had on its reflections and I was intrigued enough to take quite a few pictures using this perspective.

If you like the concrete jungle, Chicago is quite a beautiful city with a very nice skyline. The next time I'm there I'm hoping to go up the John Hancock tower to take more pictures of the cityscape.

Brussels By Night

These are a two of my night shots taken in the Grote Markt in Brussels at dusk/ just after sunset. I must admit that I'm not too pleased with the way the Hotel De Ville turned out as I didn't have my widest lens on hand. This photo you see here (the top one) is actually stiched together... Fortunately I'm going to have another crack at it (hopefully) in about a week's time, hopefully with better results.

Bruges, Belgium

I visited Bruges on my second of four clear days in Brussels. A lot more untouched, this Bruges, in the northwest of Belgium is a predominantly Flemish town and about 90 minutes by train from Brussels. The improved weather I was hoping for didn't materialise and I was constantly darting in and out of small shops to avoid the regular drizzles. I spent only about half a day here and as such didn't really get a chance to explore the whole town and its museums and galleries. I did, however, go into the Stadhuis (top picture) which is like their town hall and has a very nice display on the second floor. Unfortunately no pictures of that (as usual its not allowed).

Another feature of this town is the river or canal that runs around it. Taking a boat ride along the canal seems to be a popular tourist activity.