My first batch of Istanbul pictures is now online. Go check it out at Picasa.
Category: media
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Look Up More Monday
A few years ago I was walking through my hometown Utrecht in The Netherlands quite bored, but I had to kill some time. For some reason while I was walking I looked up and suddenly found myself marvelling at a beauty I had never noticed before. I believe a lot of things in our surrounding go completely unnoticed, because we don’t look up much. That’s why I’d like to encourage you all to LOOK UP MORE!
Every Monday I will post a photo or two of shots I took while looking up. This is the first installment with some shots from Istanbul, Turkey.
The last one is a shot by my girlfriend Tsvety (visit her DeviantArt page) and was taken in Ephesus, Anatolia, Turkey. It contains the Library of Celsus, completed in 135 AD.
If you would like to participate, just post a pic every monday taken from an upward angle and post your link below! For this week don’t worry if your post is a day late. Just post your link and visit the others.
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Some “Thank You”s go out to…
This month’s EC top droppers. These are the people who stopped by my blog the most to “drop” a card at the widget at the top right. Since a drop’s always well-appreciated, I make sure to drop back, but another sign of thanks is presenting the top droppers of this month publicly. 🙂
1) Wonderful Pic Collection – About 2 funny pictures per day are posted on this site. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
2) iWalk, U2? – A travel blog & travel guide. Well-written and well-designed.
2) Travel Asia – An Asian travel blog.
2) From A Yellow House In England – The blog of an American ex-pat who lives in the English countryside.
5) Chuvaness… Chakanesss… Eclavu… – One of the most popular ex-pat sites on Entrecard. This blog’s written by a ‘Pinay dreamer’.
6) What a bald guy told me about technology! – A personal ‘technology’ blog about gadgets and software.
6) Search Engine Panel – A blog by a Toronto Search Engine Optimization expert.
6) Sonnie’s Porch – An Assistant Vice President’s take on life, from the Phillipines.
6) PragueConnection – Travel stories from a guy based in Prague.
6) The Traveling Pants – A blog covering a family’s travels, but often relating it to some historical background.
As you notice, many people tied. Would like to be in this list? Start dropping.
To all droppers: thanks a lot. 🙂
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EntreCard my way
While using EntreCard, I’m doing a couple of things to add even more value to my actions or drops. Since it’s rainy and grey outside (can’t wait to go to Turkey), it’s a perfect day to write about it.Firstly, I’ll explain what EntreCard is. Secondly, I’ll go through some of the basics for all the readers who are not members yet. Thirdly, I’ll explain what I do in the form of some tips and pointers, so hopefully the whole EntreCard experience will become better for all of us. 🙂
I find it extraordinarily hard to explain what EntreCard actually is. It’s a blogging community, it’s an advertising system, it’s a way to network with other blogs… On the main page Entrecard talks about themselves as “your businesscard 2.0”. The most essential thing about Entrecard is surfing to other community members’ blogs and “dropping” a card on their Entrecard widget (see top right sidebar). By dropping cards, you earn credits, which you then can spend to advertise on sites that are on Entrecard.
Entrecard partnered with SezWho, a comment tracking system, so that it can give you credits every time you comment on another person’s blog. Great way to stimulate community-forming on members’ blogs! So as you’re going through your daily dropping, be sure to leave comments! Maybe you get tons of comments nowadays and they don’t mean much to you, but remember that time when one or two comments did matter. Comment on other blogs and experience the gratitude and reciprocation.
Something else I do regarding comments on my own blog is I generally give them 5 stars through SezWho. What can I say? I love every one of them. This helps people to build their rep on the net.
If you like a certain post on someone’s site, or like the whole overall site… Stumble it! Digg it! Whatever you use… Just do it! Write a Tweet about it, it doesn’t matter. When using Entrecard, many people are so wrapped up in it, that they forget to give a “thumbs up” for content they like. Start Stumbling content you like of other Entrecard users and you’ll notice that the next time people you stumbled visit your blog, they might leave a stumble before leaving.
If you place an ad on a site… Stumble or Digg the site! Either when you apply for it, or on the day it’s actually running. Increase your chances of visitors in any way you can.
Reciprocate drops. Check your inbox and reciprocate. That’s the easiest way to get a basic reader community on your site via Entrecard.
Put some statistics on your website. I generally check for three things:
- Number of subscribers to the site.
- FEEDJIT. Since my blog’s about Istanbul, Turkey, it helps me to assess where most people’s visitors are from. I find that Europeans are generally more interested in my site than people from Indonesia or the Philippines.
- BlogCatalog. It allows me to see how often the blog gets visitors. It shows the names of BlogCatalog community members and shows how long ago they visited the site. It gives me an indication of the traffic the site gets.
When none of these are present, I can be a bit wary about spending my EC credits, but not always of course. A lot of Entrecard is about experimenting! After all, it’s just credits you’re spending, so spend away.
Monitor your EC statistics, award your top ten droppers publically (giving an incentive for others to drop on your site regularly), and make friends! Because EC offers such a friendly environment, if you’re the least bit active, it’s impossible not to make friends. 😉
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One World, One Dream?
Even though they haven’t caught the spotlight of the big media, there’s quite a bit of ‘Tibetan’ protesting going on in Beijing. One of the protests was on Tiananmen square and lasted for ten minutes before the participants were detained and deported. Have a look at this video:
Students for a Free Tibet sent the following statements:As China kicked off the 2008 Beijing Olympics yesterday, Tibetans and supporters in every part of the world staged hunger strikes, protest marches, solidarity vigils, and other direct actions to highlight China’s oppression in Tibet.
Just hours ago, five Tibet supporters held a dramatic protest in Tiananmen Square, calling for an end to the Chinese government’s occupation of Tibet. Four of the activists, lying down and draped in Tibetan national flags, staged a mock die-in with the famous portrait of Chairman Mao in the background. A fifth activist spoke about their reason for protesting there today. They were detained by security ten minutes after the protest began.Yesterday, three Tibet supporters, including SFT’s Grassroots Coordinator Kalaya’an Mendoza, protested near the entrance of the Bird’s Nest stadium, wearing Team Tibet t-shirts and holding up Tibetan flags in the air. Within 40 seconds, security guards tackled them to the ground. They were detained for several hours before they were deported. We are also happy to inform you that Iain, Lucy, Phil and Tirian – the four activists who were part of the banner hang action outside the Olympic stadium – are safely home after receiving a warm welcome from their friends, family and local Tibetans in their respective home countries.
Meanwhile, Chemi Dolkar, a Tibetan-American who traveled to Beijing to speak out for Tibetan freedom, was detained at Beijing Airport for 15 hours and eventually deported. Chemi arrived in her hometown Minneapolis last night, and right now she is speaking with the media to keep the Tibetan plight in the spotlight. Many dozens of Tibetans planning to go to Beijing to protest against the Chinese government have been denied entry into China.
The world is watching China today as the Olympics begin, and with the hundreds of actions taking place around the world – from Delhi to Kathmandu, Brussels to London, New York to San Francisco, Hong Kong to Toronto, and many more – the voices of the Tibetan people will be heard loud and clear despite the attempts of the Chinese authorities to silence them.
Continue to check out www.freetibet2008.org for further updates on the global uprising for Tibet and to find out how you can join actions in areas near you.
To support SFT’s continued efforts for Tibetan freedom, please make a donation today.
Tibet will be free,
Lhadon, Tendor, Kate, Heather, Han, Amy and the whole SFT HQ crew
Great message I’d say.
Meanwhile, during the opening ceremony of the Olympics, some Burmese people were commemorating the 08/08/’88 events.
The demonstrations of 1988 culminated in a massive nation-wide show of People Power on August 8 in which hundreds of thousands of people marched to demand a change in government. These peaceful demonstrations were violently crushed by army troops who fired relentlessly on the unarmed crowds in Rangoon and other cities killing more than 10,000 student, civilian and Buddhist monk protesters throughout the country. Thousands were arrested. (Burmawatch)
It’s a shame that we seem to have forgotten about Burma and I’m taking this opportunity to put another spotlight on the situation there. Burma Global Action Network just released an exclusive video from the International Burmese Monks Organisation containing a plea to the international community.
Visit the sites mentioned and find out what you can do.
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EvilAngle – TheSummerFiles (Free House/Dance Mix)
For those of you that know me, also know I mix music every now and then and post the mixes on my site called The MiX-Files. One and a half month ago I made a summer mix to get ready for the summer and to entertain me while travelling. Summer’s half way over, but it’s not too late to get into the right vibe if you haven’t already!
It’s summer! Sun, beaches, swimming, relaxing outside, reading, partying, holidays, seeing friends, picknicks… and here is the soundtrack! Here’s 3 hours of the best summer house music to get into the holiday mood!
Featuring artists like David Guetta, Bob Sinclar, Laidback Luke, Alex Gaudino, Axwell, Daft Punk, Deadmau5, Dave Spoon, Tocadisco and Ferry Corsten. For the complete tracklist, read below the download links.
All files as MP3 at VBR (Variable BitRate). You can choose from any one of the free file hosting sites listed behind the file.
Download first hour – MegaUpload | uploaded.to | rapidshare.de
Download second hour – MegaUpload | rapidshare.de
Download third hour – MegaUpload | rapidshare.deDownload whole 3 hour set in one file – MegaUpload | vipfile
Enjoy the music, enjoy the artists, enjoy the summer. Support the scene, support the artists, support the magic.
Tracklist below.
(more…)
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Black Sea Coast: Nesebar
As we got to Nesebar, we were a bit confused where to go. Everyone got off the bus at the beginning of the town, so we did the same, but we didn’t have a clue where the centre of the town was. Immediately an old woman comes up to offer a place to sleep and we take it.
A few hours later we’re ready to go and explore Nesebar. As we head out, one of the first things we come across is… a horse.
Hooray for Bulgaria. Anyway, we continued down the streets of the new town towards the old town. Once you get close to the old town, you’ll start seeing an increasing number of tourists, tourbuses coming for day trips, boats and harbours… and sea!
To get to the old town you have to walk over this dam built in the water. I suppose Nesebar used to be an island. It has 3 millenia of history behind it, which is slightly noticeable because of old ruins, but recently tourism has been on the rise and with the growth of the beach resort Sunny Beach (Slanchev Bryag), Nesebar seems to be getting swallowed by tourists. Not really my thing, I prefer to explore a bit myself. Therefore for food and shopping, I found it better to get out of the old town and into the new town, which was slightly more Bulgarian.
Since we were told there are no good clubs in Nesebar, we went for a night out to Sunny Beach and see what all the fuzz is about… See if it’s really a unique place in Bulgaria. And it was…
It’s not Bulgaria. If you want to see Bulgaria, don’t go to Sunny Beach. If you’ve been to Sunny Beach, don’t tell people you’ve been to Bulgaria; you haven’t. You’ve been to Sunny Beach, which is interchangeable with any extremely touristy and club-filled town at the Spanish coast.
Having said that, it’s an interesting place of modern architecture. Wealthy Bulgarians (some of them undoubtedly involved in the mafia) build huge palaces in honour of… err.. themselves probably. These palaces are beautiful and it’s no wonder so many tourists are willing to pay big bucks to sleep in Bulgarian mafiosi’s penis extensions.
The clubs… they’re decent. At most. The first we went to was called Lazur… and it was like high school, but with a LOT of alcohol. Kids dancing like it’s the first time they’re in a club, etc. We left soon and found a slightly better club where a waitress tried to rip me off, so I’m not even going to mention the name of the club. Actually, I will… Don’t go to Mania.
We got a taxi back which was 30 leva (15 euros), but because of my girlfriend, who’s Bulgarian, we only paid 15 leva (7.50 euros). Pretty expensive for a 5 minute ride, especially in Bulgaria, but oh, I forgot… Sunny Beach is NOT Bulgaria.
At the place we were sleeping, we discovered some kittens the next day and took some shots of them. They seemed to be rather sick though, so we kept a little distance. The pictures worked out well though. Click to enlarge.
Click here to see the whole Nesebar album…
After Nesebar, which is definitely a place to have seen in Bulgaria, we went to Sofia, where Tsvety did her things and I did mine for a few days. Then we both got on a plane and went to Holland. Time to show Tsvety where I’m from.
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Black Sea Coast: Sozopol
As I arrived in Sofia by bus from Macedonia around 8 in the morning, I was seriously considering skipping Sofia and just heading into the first bus to the Black Sea coast. I had told my girlfriend I’d be back in Sofia though and when I realized I’m too sweet to be a total dick, I let the idea of going straight to the coast go. I checked into the Art Hostel in Sofia and met up with Tsvety, my girlfriend, later that day. I think I must have told her about 20 times that she should come to the coast to me and she told me she’d have to see how her parents felt about it an equal amount of times. After all, she’d be coming with me to Holland for one month in just one and a half week time.
The next day I got the news… Yes, we were going to the coast together. That evening we met up at the central bus station in Sofia to take a bus to… Sozopol.
We did some basic planning and online orientation to see what hotels would be good there. Tsvety printed a map and marked the hotels on it. This was only to be used in worst case scenario, because generally Bulgarian old men and women offer quarters (kvartiri) to travellers for really good prices. As soon as we arrived 3 or 4 elderly Bulgarians gathered around my girlfriend and I and started promoting their place and telling each other to shut up. This was all happening in Bulgarian and since I had just fallen asleep at the end of the busride, after 4 or 5 hours of restlessness, I was in a very confused mindstate. One of them won, apparently, and I followed my girlfriend and him up a hill. He presented our room which was very clean and we crashed and slept ’til noon(ish).
The next day we went to the beach at the new part of town, since that was closest to our place. Sozopol is split into two parts, the old and the new. The best about the old part is all the old buildings (plus the only place with WiFi I could find was there (the bar’s called Lipstick)), the best about the new part is the strip with bars and restaurants along the beach.
We spent the first day exploring the new part of town and looking for wireless internet in the new and old part, since I had a conference website to do some work for. It took hours (literally) to find a place with wireless internet and once there I got to work. Tsvety walked around a while and took some more pictures. After that we went back to the hotel to change clothes and head out to the beach. Finally! However I’m more of an eater than a beach person, so we soon repositioned our asses from beach to restaurant.
The next day I got back to work at the bar. At the end of the day we walked around past Sozopol’s port and had dinner at a sea food restaurant. For the first time since becoming a vegetarian last November, I ate an animal. Mussels, to be exact. Only a few, since Bulgarian mussels don’t come close to Dutch/Belgian ones 😉 Never decided to completely stop eating fish though, it just turned out that way. That night Tsvety got rather sick from the chicken she ate (or maybe the mussels) and we spent the night at home.
See the whole album on Picasa…
We stayed one more day in Sozopol and then we took the bus north to Nesebar, for some more Black Sea coast time! More about this soon.
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Strumica – Last Days
That evening Mite and I decided to get our hair cut. For him it was his beardhair, for me it was the other headhair. In total, we got our whole heads cut. We walked a bit out of the town and into the hills. There were still a bunch of houses, but they got more and more sparse. We walked up a hill and up to the shabbiest barber shop I’ve ever seen. The guy did a decent job, although my hair wasn’t really shorter afterwards, only crooked, but it was for free since he was a friend of the family (not mine; Mite’s).
Being so happy with our new cuts, we decided that night was party time! Or maybe it was pre-decided. It doesn’t matter for the story, so I’ll keep it to myself, possibly carrying it to my grave. We got the whole group together and went to a few loud bars with FashionTV on their big screen televisions that were hanging from the ceiling. No difference between Macedonia and Bulgaria there. We ended up in some club and had a lot of smiles on our faces and alcohol in our blood. Excellent. The next day we did the same. See the pictures.
The next day we took all the children out to play in the park. It was really good and actually made me think twice about what I’m pursuing in my life. Activities like this make me feel really centred, calm and happy on a deeper level than the superficial level of every day happiness. For now I’ll just postpone this thinking about what I want to do with my life until a later point in time, probably mid-life crisis. Without further ado; the pictures! (As always, click to enlarge)
Click here for entire photo album…
The next day we chilled out and in the evening got together for one more drink since I’d be leaving. To those that were present: thanks for coming out to say bye! To those that were still up when I got into the taxi: thanks for staying up so late! Speaking about the taxi… I still had to go past a cash machine before I got into my bus back to Sofia (at 3am). We stopped at one machine, I tried… No luck. Other cash machine… same story. I started to get worried. We tried another, but nope. With the fourth one we finally had success. We headed to the busstation where we discovered the driver had no change. I went in quickly to buy a ticket, so I would have change to pay the driver. I tried to buy the ticket, but the guy kept repeating “600 denari, 600 denari”. I had given him one thousand and was wondering what the problem was… 600 more? Oh no… I’d have to go back into the city and get more money… I’d probably miss the bus. Then he put 400 on the counter and started writing my ticket. These people love to fuss about not paying in the exact amount. No more worries, paid the taxi, got in the bus, didn’t sleep in the bus… Ended up being awake for about 40 hours by the time I took my one hour nap. Back at the Art Hostel in Sofia. Back where I began.
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Strumica – Stop… Roma time!
That evening we celebrated a birthday at a bar in town. Isabelle turned 20 and as Leni and her boyfriend Vlado joined us, they surprised her (and us) with cake and chocolate. We had a drink, chilled out and called it a night at an unridiculous hour for a change.
The next day I could sleep in a little, because Mite and Isabelle had some stuff to do at the NGO’s centre. At around 12 I was picked up by Mite and we were going to have some coffee before our afternoon activity. This afternoon activity was something I’d been waiting for since the moment I decided to go to Bulgaria last year, so naturally I was very excited. In the afternoon, we’d be heading over to the Roma neighbourhood to visit the host family of one of the American girls, Alex. In this neighbourhood however, you are never left alone (that’s a positive thing), so I knew I’d see a lot of stuff I normally wouldn’t, or never have… and that there would probably be some great photo opportunities too. 😉
Mite and I headed outside and saw a guy sitting behind a car. It was the crazy man we’d seen the day before as we were sitting outside a bar. The guy seemed to be completely in his own world, or even dimension, and today was no different. Mite asked for my camera and he managed to inspire me quite a bit. He knows no shyness and that’s the reason why he gets great shots. Definitely a motivation to get out of my own comfort zone. The crazy guy hardly noticed the camera and I wonder whether he had any idea of what a camera is and what was going on around him.
Later that afternoon we visited the Roma neighbourhood. It was quite the experience. I’ve often heard Bulgarians complain about the Roma, saying they’re dirty and their neighbourhoods are like landfills and though they might be right, I wonder if they cannot see the beauty that’s right there. A speck of mud on a flower does not destroy the flower’s beauty, the obsessive and judgemental mind does.
I’ll try to explain what’s not captured in the pictures, but then I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Entering the neighbourhood, as a group that clearly was not from around there, we drew quite the attention. Children loved the cameras and came to pose for us. We walked around and immersed ourselves in the noise and continuous chaos of the neighbourhood. It was great to have people from Alex’ host family as our guides, this made the neighbourhood and the people so much more accessible. Also, Mite and his colleague Leni have been working with some of these kids for years, so they too knew quite a few people there. It’s hard to put into words what the neighbourhood is like though, so without further ado, the pictures.
As said we visited the host of Alex who had a huge house. They lived in Germany for decades, working there to earn money and went back and built a house the size of a villa. After having some coffee, we were offered to come up to see the view from the top balcony of the house.
Following the Roma hospitality, we headed back to the city so we could all go to dinner. On our way back we visited a mosque which was still under construction. An interesting fact about the Roma people here is that a lot of them see themselves as Turkish and even speak Turkish. Some don’t even speak Macedonian. A fair share of them is also Islamic (evidently). Turkey won’t recognize their claims for Turkish nationality however.
As the sun went down and the evening stole the day’s presence, more new experiences awaited me.
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