In July 2000, I went to visit my cousin sister in Paris.  She studied Interior Acrchitectural in Paris for 7 years and I took an opportunity to visit while she´s finishing her Master Level.  It was middle of July, so I was also there during the Independance Day 14-July-2000.

the first place that I´ve ever wanted to be is at Eiffel Tower.  I spent half of the day there enjoying the sunny weather and beautiful scenery of Paris.  I went out by myself while my cousin was busy to finish her thesis, I took a map and take a metro tube...trying to explore things alone but I kind of like it!

then on the next day I went with my cousin to Sacre-Couer-Montmartre and Nothern Paris for another side of Paris scenery.

I went to Strassbourg alone to visit my old friend there...I stayed there for 2 nights.

that´s a Church with the Astronomical Clock in Strassbourg.  Then I had a boat tour and wandering alone in the city.  It´s such a beautiful city and I enjoyed myself exploring and meeting new people.

That´s all for now, will be continued...

In Dec 1998, I had a trip to Chieng Rai & Chieng Mai - Thailand, with some other friends.

with a group of friends I went to visit the palace in Chieng Rai, beautiful and very traditional structural built.  And in Dec the weather is slightly cold but not very cold as in Europe...so we could still wear thin clothes...we stayed in Chieng Rai juz for 2 days and the next day we went to Chieng Mai.

In Chieng Mai we went to watch the elephant show, and we had a elephant ride around the park...you can see behind me those elephants were taking a bathe...they´re quite friendly elephants I must say compared to the ones we saw in the African jungle.  On the way back, we visited the umbrella factory, silk factory and Gem s factory as well.

and then in the evening we went out for dinner at a very nice restaurant which presenting some culture shows...so that´s how we ended our day.

and then on the last day we went to the National Park by van and managed to get ourselves to th e highest spot in Thailand, it´s quite cold up there...along the way we made a few stop-over to visit some famous temples in Chieng Mai.

so that´s all about Chieng Rai & Chieng Mai that I could remember...

Here more old pictures of my previous holidays during working time...

Athens/Greece

those are some of my friends that travelled together to Athens & Istanbul.  From left:  Azmi & Zanna (wife), me, Razak and the others were somewhere else.  We´re in Athens around 3days...that was a week before X-mas and we´re wandering around in Athens city.  That time it was very cold and when we came back to the hotel, we´re damn knocked-out. 

and the next day we went to Acropolis and the area around there....

then we made a stop at the first Olympic Stadium...

on the 3rd day, we went to one of the museums in Athens but I really couldn´t remember the name and then to the open-air opera stadium.  look at those statues...they´re all without heads, there´s a history behind it but I couldn´t remember a thing anymore.

that was on the way back to the hotel, we made a quick stop at the private mandarin plantation juz to make some photos because we couldn´t help wondering such a big mandarin plantation...never in our country!

Istanbul/Turkie

on the 4th day we flew to Istanbul...and the moment we touched down at the airport it was snowing, that was the first snow in Istanbul after 3 years. I remember on the 1st day in Istanbul we had a boat tour and we went for a leather show.  And this pictures was taken infront of the Blue Mosque...you can see the snow quite normal juz around 10cm thick.  My foot was already paint, I felt like a needle poking my sole...so I didn´t really in a good mood to walk and make so much pictures...furthermore there were so many people coming to us asking to buy this and that...if you start talking to them, they´ll follow you around until you buy their stuff.....but I remember we had a good time and so much fun eventually.

that´s all for now!

Yesterday I was sorting out my old books and did some cleaning at home and accidently rummaged my old pictures and I found some of my pictures from previous holidays...I thought since I´ve not much things to share lately, perhaps some old pictures might help me refreshing my memories...

December, 2004 in Dubai

it´s an overview of Dubai City...looks a bit crowded but not so bad for a short holiday.  I had a stop-over in Dubai for 2 nights before departing to Germany.

that´s Dubai Museum, juz passing by since I had not much time for this trip...juz enough to make a shopping tour.  There are a lot of bazaars selling many different stuff such as spices, textiles, handicrafts, golds and many others...of course one place that I won´t miss...Gold Soak...

Dubai - City of Gold!!!  there´s hundreds of gold shops & you can find a lot of designs and varieties here...with reasonable bargain...bought a few pieces of course!

this is the view of the jetty...the cheapest transportation you can get in Dubai, per trip only 1.00Dirham for 2 persons.  The city is separated by the river...one side is old town and the other is new town.

in Dubai you can also find some snacks like fried banana, samosa & indian cookies for munching...they taste good too!

that´s a little bit about Dubai that I could share...