Penguin Walk

Posted on April 4, 2025 by Nolli

The Penguin Walk at Asahiyama Zoo occurs twice daily during the Winter months. It’s a popular event. Since the entrance fee oisonly 1,000JPY (approx $7USD/€7) I can see why.

The Penguins process slowly along a route around the zoo allowing visitors to get very close to them. As you can see from my video:

Asahiyama Zoo, Hokkaido, Japan

Video not loading/playing? try this link.

The penguin walk event usually starts in December depending on snow cover and is held twice daily: at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. It is usually only held once at day at 11am in March until around mid-March when the snow melts. The penguins can only do the parade if there is snow.

Getting there: Take bus numbers 41, 42 or 47 from Asahikawa Station. The journey takes about 40 minutes and costs 700 yen (about $3.50USD). Normally, there are 2 buses per hour. To take the bus, board via the door in the middle of the bus, take a ticket from the yellow machine and pay on exit by presenting the ticket to the driver.

Alternatively, driving takes about half an hour, the taxi fare is approximately 7,000 yen (just under $50USD).

Handy websites:

Asahiyama Zoo @ Asahikawa City web site https://www.city.asahikawa.hokkaido.jp/asahiyamazoo/index.html

also:

https://hokkaido.a4jp.com/asahiyama-zoo

Location:

Tags: Travel, Travel-pics

Beerlao

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Nolli

Beerlao Lager is a European Pale Lager style beer brewed by Lao Brewery Co. You can’t go anywhere in Laos without seeing the Beerlao logo, because it’s effectively state owned and has a near monopoly on beer sales.

5% alcohol by volume and brewed using local rice and imported hops and barley it is a pale amber colour with a pleasant and refreshing taste. It’s well suited to the South East Asian climate.

Best drunk cold, of course.

Restaurant price for a 660ml bottle was about LAK30,000 (= approx €1.30)

Official website:

https://www.beerlao.la

Angkor National Museum

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Nolli

The Angkor National Museum, is located on Charles de Gaulle Avenue also known as Preah Sihanouk Avenue in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The main galleries focus on the art and culture of the Khmer civilization, with collections mainly dated from the Khmer Empire‘s Angkor period circa 9th to 14th-century. So they contain examples from the earlier Hindu period as well as later Buddhist ones.

Hindu frieze at the Angkor National Museum — a delicately carved Hindu frieze

Seated statue at the Angkor National Museum

Hindu deity at the Angkor National Museum

Railways stations of the World – Kaoshuing

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Nolli

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaohsiung_Main_Station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaohsiung_Metro

Eventually the high speed line from Taipei will terminate here and the are preparing the station for this. It looks very promising so far. I also had to include the video taken in the entrance to the metro station. Trippy stuff.

Railway Stations of the World, Luang Prabang

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Nolli

Railway Stations of the World takes us to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Luang Prabang.

This station was opened in December 2021.

Noticeboard and foyer Luang Prabang Station, Lao PDR

Panorama of the inside of Luang Prabang Station, Lao PDR

Rather an attractive station that is very Chinese in so many ways: the furnishings, the layout, signage and even some of the announcements (I think). However, this is crowned by a wonderful architecture complete with local motifs. It really deserves to have more trains than it currently serves, but maybe, just maybe, if the Belt and Road does expand all the way down to Singapore as planned that will happen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luang_Prabang_railway_station

Shan Hai Pass

Posted on March 1, 2024 by Nolli

山海关 or the Shan Hai Pass is one of the most important and the most easterly of the passes through the Ming Great Wall.

It is built as a square, with a perimeter of around four kilometres (2.5 mi). The walls reach a height of 14 metres (46 feet), and are seven metres (23 feet) thick – see bottom picture. The east, south and north sides are surrounded by a deep, wide moat with drawbridges over it. In the middle of the pass stands a tall bell tower.

The location where the wall meets the Bohai Sea is nicknamed the “Old Dragon’s Head” (老龙头). The pass lies nearly 300 kilometres (190 mi) east of Beijing and if I could be bothered there’s a picture in this blog of that as well, guess you’ll just have to find it yourself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanhai_Pass

New Header Picture: the Plassey

Posted on December 4, 2021 by Nolli

The wreck of the Plassey, Inisheer, Aran Islands

The MV Plassey started its life as HMS Juliet, a naval trawler in the Royal Navy built at the beginning of WWII. during the war she took part in Operation Torch in 1942 and in the Mediterranean theatre. After the war she was converted into a merchant ship and sold to the British merchant service as the Peterjon. Later, in 1951 she was acquired by the Limerick Steamship Company and her name changed yet again to the MV Plassey (sometimes written as Plassy).

She operated around the coast of Ireland until 1960 when she was caught in a severe storm and ran aground on Finnis Rock, Inisheer, Aran Islands whilst carrying whiskey, stained glass and yarn. Luckily, the entire crew was saved. Two weeks later, a second storm washed her off the rock and drove her up the beach.

The Plassey is probably most famous for appearing in the opening credits of the TV comedy Father Ted.

Photo taken July 2019

Global Golden Hour: Sunsets around the world

Posted on November 30, 2021 by Nolli

Amateur Hour presents: Global Golden Hour

The Photos app that comes bundled with MacOs periodically produces slideshows. Normally, these are themed around places or dates. One caught my eye though – it was called ‘Golden Hour’ and included photos I’d taken from many places. Usually, photos taken around sunset are better because the quality of light is better.

Sunsets from

China: Tianjin, Beidaihe, Sanya

Thailand: Bangkok

Ireland: County Roscommon, the Irish Sea

UK: Leeds

Unfortunately, there is no easy way to export it so it could be edited. I had to re-create it manually using iMovie. This is the result I call it Global Golden Hour: Sunsets around the world.

The soundtrack is “In Memory of a Free Festival Part 2” by David Bowie which I thought was appropriate. All rights remain with the original artist blah, blah blah, no profit is being made, blah blah, fair use, blah blah.

Click here to open in a new browser window

New Header Picture: Pingdingshan

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Nolli

Nei Mengu — The extinct volcanoes of Pingdingshan, Xilin Gol, Nei Menggu

平顶山, 锡林郭勒盟，内蒙古

Pingdingshan in Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia has a very distinctive landscape. There are many extinct volcanoes from a time when this was the sea floor. This photo was taken in early October and the lush green grasslands had already faded to their winter brown. Even so you can see a flock of sheep in the foreground.

The interactive map is a new feature which I’ll maybe use again now that I know how to do it.

For tourist info click here

New Header Picture – The Cliffs of Moher

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Nolli

The Cliffs of Moher in County Clare attrac up to 1.5 million tourists a year.

Rising to a height of 214 meters they stretch for 14 kilometres. They are made up of sandstone and shale formin distinctive layers as can be seen in the photo.

The award winning visitor centre is dug into the hillside so it doesn’t detract from the scenery.

Alternatively take a virtual tour:

https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/google-360-inside-tour/

This photograph was taken in July 2019.

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Tag Archives: travel pics