Back in 2007 I spent a wonderful day at a Jola’s initiation festival in The Gambia, West Africa. While taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the festivities, sitting on a rug under the shade of a tree with friends, one of the girls asked if she could plait my hair. Much to her frustration my hair would not do as it was told and refused to stay plaited! We had a great time chatting and laughing while she persisted but to no avail. She was a bright, cheerful little girl but this week’s travel snap shows a different side to her – a proud young daughter of the Jola tribe.

More about the day and a few more photos can be found in a previous post ‘Singing, dancing and some very loud bangs’.

This week’s travel snap takes us back to the island of beauty, Corsica and the lovely village of Agajola. I’ve visited several times and stayed there for a few days while on assignment for Corsican Places photographing the area. It certainly was a great base from which to explore la Balagne. This shot is my favourite from a series I took at different times of the day from just outside my hotel, looking back at the village and the sweeping bay of sand, known as Aregno Plage.

Photography Tip – Nightscapes

Usually, but of course there are always exceptions to the rule, the best time to take a photograph of a view by night is about half an hour after sunset when there is still some light in the sky but it is dark enough for an effective night shot. Find the spot from where you want to take your photograph, set up your camera on a tripod and wait. You will need a very long exposure so to avoid camera shake when you press the shutter, so use a shutter release or set the camera on timer. There is usually about a ten minute window when the light is just right. If you are looking east that window will be a little earlier then if you are looking west as there will be more light in the sky where the sun has set.

Travel Photo Roulette

This photograph is also my entry for Round 42 of Travel Photo Roulette: theme ‘evening’. Entries must be in by 11.59pm Monday May 14th. Do check it out; there are some really amazing photos entered so far. Glad I don’t have to pick the winner!

More about Algajola

You can read more about the area in my post Algajola and exploring La Balagne (written originally for The Corsica Blog.)

This week’s travel snap is a shot I took while visiting Arundel’s Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre in West Sussex, England. There are many beautiful birds there to photograph but one of my favourite images from the day was of this mallard, a very common duck in England. I love how this shot has captured the movement of the water as it passes over the wings with a shower of water droplets hanging in mid-air.

Photography Tip – Get Low

As well as needing a very fast shutter speed to freeze the movement, rather than looking down on the duck you’ll get a better shot if you get to their eye level, right down, lying on the ground with you camera balanced on a bean bag. This shot was taken with a 200mm fixed lens and 1/1600 shutter speed.

In 1927, at the age of 23, my grandmother boarded a boat to China following the man she loved to Shanghai.

The Inspiration Initiative
I’ve enjoyed reading other people’s recent posts about what inspires them to travel so I was delighted when both Suzanne from The Travel Bunny and Lucy from On the Luce nominated me to join in easyJet holidays’ Inspiration Initiative.

The idea is to write about ‘who, what, where and when’ has inspired you to travel and then nominate 5 other bloggers to do likewise. So here is just some of the things that have inspired me to travel.

Bubbling Well Road, Shanghai 1928 curtesy of Northampton Museum*

Who… Grannie
As a little girl I used to love listening to my grandmother tell me tales from her travels. Her fiancé had moved to Shanghai in 1925 to take up a teaching position. Two years later he sent for her to follow. I can’t imagine how my great grandparents must have felt about their daughter going off on such an adventure! The journey took weeks by boat rather than hours by plane as it would now and of course there were no mobiles, emails or skype to keep in touch with love ones.

They married in Hong Kong and then lived in Shanghai, where my father was born, in Bubbling Well Road now called West Nanjing Road.

Grannie’s stories about her life in China transported me to a world of haggling in the markets, holidays in Japan, visits to India and sailing on the Queen Mary. I remember laughing and squirming when she told me about her cook who had one really long finger nail; she was always telling him off because he used it to stir and taste his cooking! Last weekend I spoke to my father about what he remembers about growing up in China. I’ll share it with you in another post. It really is quite a tale.

What… Souvenirs and old films
The painted plates, vases and intricately carved furniture showing scenes of the orient that filled my Grandmother’s house in England fascinated me; pretty scenes of cherry trees in blossom, willow trees hanging over little bridges with figures in strange costumes. These and watching old films like Casablanca made me wonder what it would be like to go to far away, romantic sounding places like Timbuktu and Mandalay collecting exotic souvenirs as I went.

One of my photos of Kerala taken on my second trip to India with Annie. There are more photos on Flickr.

Where… India
Another person who was a big influence on me was Annie, one of the designers/photographers I worked with producing holiday brochures when I first started working in the travel industry. Every year we’d spend a few days together selecting images for the next seasons brochures. While there, Annie would also show me photographs of her big passion, India, telling me all about her travels. When she invited me on a trip to India I couldn’t resist. It is the most exciting country I have ever been to: the hustle and bustle of Jaipur, the calm serenity of the Kerala backwaters, luxury and poverty side by side, vivid colours and patterns everywhere. Over the next few years I found Annie an inspiration on many different levels and she encouraged me greatly with my own photography. I don’t think she has any idea just how much she influenced me, both professionally and personally. Thank you, Annie!

Here’s a link to another photo I posted from Kerala that had a few people hankering to pack their bags! Drifting along the backwaters of Kerala

Tanji fish market, a place I will take my friends to on their first visit to Africa

The Gambia
The company I work for now specialises in West Africa (amongst other destinations). I had only ever been to North Africa before so it has been wonderful to get to know another part of this great continent, in particular, The Gambia. Even though each trip is relatively short I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been and it has given me the chance to get to know a place in more depth. I now have many friends there and I’ve got involved with two Gambian schools. Back home I’ve founded a choir singing songs from around the world including many from Africa. We raise money to help the schools and some members of the choir now wish to visit The Gambia. So later this year we will be off. Most of them have never been to Africa before so it will be quite an adventure for them. I plan to make it one they will never forget!

One of my images of Corsica that I hope has inspired others to visit this beautiful island

Corsica
Another place I have returned to a number of times is the beautiful island of Corsica but I have yet to explore the interior. I’d love to take the train from Bastia to Ajaccio stopping off for a day or two here and there to enjoy the mountain villages and scenery. I’ve heard that the train ride itself is a real treat winding through the mountains, tunnels and gorges, at times hugging the cliff face, other times plunging into forests. At one point it traverses a valley via the enormous Vecchio viaduct, engineered by Gustave Eiffel. There is even a superb waterfall known as the bride’s veil which overhangs the railway before the train meanders through the lush green foothills to Ajaccio.

A few people have told me that my posts and photographs have inspired them to add Corsica to their ‘bucket list’ which is wonderful. I even heard today that my photos had inspired someone to buy a camera, which I was extremely pleased to hear!

When… Aged 10
My first journey abroad was at the age of 10, when my sister (aged 12) and I caught the ferry to France where we’d be staying with a French family for the week. It was very exciting being allowed to travel by ourselves on the ferry – not quite a “Slow boat to China” but an adventure non-the-less. It was a wonderful experience (apart from what looked like raw mince that they tried to feed me; I was somewhat less adventurous than I am now when it came to food!)

And now…
I’ve been blogging through ‘Travel with Kat’ since last September and I have really enjoyed receiving feed-back from fellow bloggers and reading their inspiring posts too. Suzanne from ‘The Travel Bunny’ has certainly got me hankering to visit Hoi An, Vietnam.

Lucy’s blog ‘On the Luce’ is another one of the many blogs I really enjoy following and I’ll be looking to her for some inspiration on my forthcoming weekend in Paris.

Recently I was lucky enough to meet and interview travel writer Frances Linzee Gordon. Her tales of travelling solo across countries such as Morocco, Ethiopia and Yemen are fascinating. She believes that you should never refuse an invitation while travelling. She goes by her instincts and uses her three-second rule of maintaining eye contact with a stranger to see if she thinks they are trustworthy. She is certainly a very inspiring lady! I have done some travelling on my own before but Frances has certainly spurred me on to step that little bit further out of my comfort zone. Perhaps I should now make the journey to Shanghai myself and walk down the street that was once called Bubbling Well Road. I wonder what my grandmother would make of today’s Shanghai. Yes, I really must go and have an oriental adventure of my own, walking in my grandmother’s footsteps!

My nominations…

Madhu, The Urge to Wander

David & Veronica, The Gypsy Nester

Sherry, Fabulous 50′s

Cynthia, Hapi Dayz

Jennifer, My Sardinian Life

Links

*Northampton Musem on Flickr

India photographs on Flickr

Gambia photographs on Flickr

Corsica photographs on Flickr

As regular readers of my blog will know the beautiful Mediterranean island of Corsica is one of my favourite places and the laid back, pretty, seaside town of L’Ile Rousse is one of my favourite towns.

This week’s travel snap is of a charming backstreet just a couple of minutes’ walk from the beach; the perfect place to find a great restaurant, souvenir or ice cream after a hard day’s sunbathing!

As with last week’s snap this is an HDR image but this time I’ve chosen to go for a less subtle but what I hope is a more artistic approach. Again I’d really value your feedback – good or bad, as I know HDR photography is not everyone’s cup of tea! See the unaltered and uncropped original on Flickr.

If anyone would like to find out more about HDR photography why not join me and the twitter friends I’ve made at ‘togchat’. Held every Wednesday at 8am and 8pm BST simply check out the tweets using #togchat. If you want to join the chat simply add #togchat to your tweets. There’s a different photographic theme each week and next week, Wednesday 2nd May, is HDR photography. You can also find the group on Flickr and submit photos for critique and questions about HDR photography there too.

This week’s travel snap is of the hotel Marine Club on the island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde (about 400 hundred miles off the west African coast). I can remember thinking how wonderful it would be to sit at the end of this pier sipping a cocktail as the sun went down. Unfortunately I was only there for a couple of hours photographing the hotel for the Cape Verde Experience before moving on to another one during a one day visit to the island but it was still a glorious day.

The air was fresh and the sea and sky so blue and clear. I’ve saturated the colours quite a bit in Photoshop as this is how I remember it and how the view made me feel – full on colour. I’ve also tone-mapped it in Photomatix (which I’ve just started using) to even out the extremes in contrast. How the final image looks to you will of course depend on your monitor and how it is set up but what do you think? Do you prefer a less saturated and (possibly) more natural image or do you like it in its fully saturated, tone-mapped glory?

Last summer I discovered the Weed and Wild Flower Festival in a little village in the Sussex countryside. A wonderful fantasy woodland had been recreated inside Bignor’s ancient church. I can’t imagine how long it took to build (or clear up!) but the effect was stunning.

When I first got there the church was packed but later in the day I went back and managed to get a few photos with it fairly clear. There was plenty going on outside the church all weekend including craft and local produce stalls, guided walks, a medieval village and a woodmen’s display area demonstrating traditional crafts. Typically English cream teas (a cup of tea plus a scone with cream and strawberry jam),  lamb roast and Ballards beer could all be enjoyed sitting on the lawn of the vicarage next door while listening to classical and folk music groups. The vicar even did some poetry reading. The highlight of the weekend on Saturday evening saw jugglers, fire-dancers and a host of other entertainers brighten up the churchyard.

This week’s travel snap… a lovely English village fete with a twist!

Having taken a break from my weekly travel snaps to host Travel Photo Roulette (which I really enjoyed by the way)  I’ll now return to my weekly posts featuring one of my photographs from my travels.

This week… Ostriconi beach, in the north-west of Corsica. The view looking down over the beach is simply stunning.

At the view-point from where I took this photograph last June, if you turn a little to your right you will see a river gently winding through green pastures with a backdrop of mountains (and of course that wonderful blue sky) until the river reaches the sweeping bay that is Ostriconi beach. It was so lovely I couldn’t stop taking pictures in both directions!

The only way to reach the beach is to hire a car (or bicycle), find the small turning off the N1197 to the beach, then find a parking space which is not easy at the height of summer, climb down the hillside, ford the river, walk across the sands and voilà, you’re there!

View Larger Map

See more pictures of Corsica, including the view from here inland on Flickr

Read about my travels in Corsica and other Corsican ‘Travel Snaps’ here

Holidays in Corsica from Corsican Places

When I was invited to come on a press visit by Borgobianco Resort & Spa, a luxurious hotel in Puglia, I couldn’t believe my luck! While I’d been on numerous photographic assignments this would be my first freelance trip. What a treat!

And so when the day came I packed my camera kit, pen and note-book and flew off to Bari airport via Milan feeling excited and, ssh… don’t tell anyone, just a little nervous.

At Bari I met up with Sage Russell from Food Pilgrimage and we were greeted by the driver from the hotel. Soon we were on our way and once outside Bari’s conurbation we were passing fields of ancient, twisted and gnarled olive trees, interspersed with blossoming almond trees rising from a carpet of vivid orange and yellow wild flowers. Every now and again, partly hidden by the trees, we’d spot a tumbled-down trulli, the traditional cone-shaped buildings unique to Puglia; a  beautiful part of Italy, yet to be discovered by mass tourism.

Pretty country lanes lead to the hotel which is a few miles inland from the lovely seaside town of Polignano a Mare. The fields of wild flowers and olive groves make an enchanting setting for the grand, white-stone hotel that nestles comfortably within its surroundings. You would never guess that it was built just 4 years ago as it was designed with the local architectural traditions and building materials in mind, in the style of the local masseria, the rather grand farm houses of the area.

On arrival we receive a warm greeting from Laure who arranged the press trip. Originally from France, she came to Polignano for a two week holiday. She felt so at home here she decided to stay!

Passing a spacious courtyard with a shaded seating area and a tinkling fountain, I am shown to my delightful room with doors leading out to my own terrace overlooking the gardens. It is decorated all in white, as is the entire hotel, creating a cool and relaxing atmosphere throughout. With indoor and outdoor swimming pools (with heated hydro massage pool), spa with sauna, steam room and gym, 48 rooms and suites, 2 meeting rooms and free Wi-Fi this beautiful hotel really has a lot to offer.

After un-packing I have a couple of hours to relax. My room is perfect with a spacious wardrobe, desk, comfy chair, flat screened TV and mini-bar. In the en-suite bathroom, everything I could possibly need is provided including a pretty matching set of body wash, moisturiser, shampoo and conditioner. The heated towel rail keeps the fluffy white towels and robe continually warm and dry. There is even a pair of slippers in the wardrobe.

We are offered an aperitif before dinner. Cosimo, our bartender and an expert at creating the most delicious cocktails with a unique flair and charm, readily suggests one of his favourites for me to try. My Aperol sour really hits the spot.

Upstairs in the restaurant the hotel’s head chef, Leonardo, has selected a special 6 course dinner to show off the best of all that the hotel and the region has to offer. Red mullet, scampi risotto and ‘slowly cooked’ shi drum (a fish, previously unknown to me) are on the menu, followed by two desserts! Cosimo, who is our waiter for the evening, recommends a  Tormaresca Chardonnay, to compliment our meal. I can see that the next few days are going to be a serious set back for my diet. Never mind. Needs must!

My stay at Borgobianco is just for a few days but I have a massage in the hotel’s spa booked and a tour of Polignano to look forward to. Plus we’ll be visiting the beautiful Alberobello, with its famous trulli lined streets, the little harbour at San Vito, the medieval town of Ostuni (known as The White City), and the stunning cave system at Castellana Grote.

And the weather, although a little chilly in the evenings, is a sunny 20 degrees plus during the day – perfect for exploring Puglia. What more could I ask for?

Last Sunday I woke up to glorious sunshine, made a cup of coffee and, as is my habit I’m afraid, checked my emails. I was delighted to see a post by Nomadbiba saying that I’d won the last round of Travel Photo Roulette (Sunshine) with this image taken just after sunrise in the backwaters of Kerala, Southern India.

It was a lovely surprise and I immediately started thinking about a subject for the next round, which I was really looking forward to hosting.

Local Character

I decided on the theme ‘Local Character’ remembering some of the wonderful people I had met on my travels such as the philosopher and poet, Guido, who everyone in the Italian town of Polignano knows (he can often be seen writing on the walls of the buildings of the towns) or this young boy in The Gambia who joined the crowd watching a singing workshop I helped run in a village school. He looked so cool with his hat perched at a jaunty angle. I think he’ll be quite a ladies’ man when he grows up!

Of course the theme can be interpreted in any way that inspires you!

Contest Overview

The contest rotates through travel and/or photography blogs as such, the winner of the previous round of Travel Photo Roulette hosts the subsequent round on their own blog. The new host then chooses the next theme, a generic keyword or phrase and players submit their interpretations of the theme over course of the week of the contest. At the end of the week, the hosting blogger chooses their favorite photo from the submissions and displays it as the week’s winning entry. They then include direction to the new host for the next round. Readers can attempt to lobby the author toward a certain photo via comments – the author can accept or ignore any lobby as they see fit. The game is repeated with the winner hosting the following week’s game and choosing a phrase for new photo submissions.

Guide Lines

• One submission per Blog (so sites that have 2+ authors only get one entry).
• Post processing is permitted, but photo altering (ie. photoshopping) is not.
• Abstract submissions welcomed as long as it fits within the interpretation of the chosen phrase. Remember, the hosting blogger chooses the winner, so if they cannot understand the submission, you might not win!
• Please try and keep your images medium-sized and web-optimized (around 600px).
• If you win, keep these in mind when choosing a new theme:

* Keep phrases general so that all bloggers can participate. Specific items like “Eiffel Tower” should be avoided but rather made open-ended like “monuments.” For variety, it is okay to say focused things such as “monuments at night” which most of us have pictures of. Phrases can be generic ‘signs’, or abstract  ‘religion’.

* Abstract thoughts are appreciated, but keep it within the realm that all readers will understand. No “Kafka-esque”, or “Overlooking Creation”. Use something that is able to be interpreted by all.

• After 1 year, phrases can be reused, however new photos must be submitted.
• No obscene pictures or phrases allowed. Suggestive phrases and photography can be accepted, but please keep it within reason.
• Keep the ideas and photos fresh!
• Pictures from your entire portfolio are fair to submit. You do not have to take the photo within the week of the contest period to submit it.
• Most importantly, ALL PHOTOS MUST BE YOUR OWN.
• One last rule, since this is a competition for bloggers, we need you to be a blogger to be declared a winner. Sorry!

How to submit your entries

To enter in the Photo Roulette competition simply leave a comment below with a link to the image (whether Flickr, Picasa or your own site) and I will upload it to this post. Don’t forget to provide a brief description or caption for the photo so the viewers can get a little background as to what’s happening. Check back here throughout the week to see all the entries as they come in and feel free to comment on them. The contest runs for 7 days from today, with the submission date being March 24th , 2012  – 11:59 PM March 31st, 2012 GMT (Saturday to Saturday). The winner will be announced in the days after the deadline, and they will host round 40.

**Note** Please enter medium-size web-friendly photos (around 600px). Large pictures slow down servers and increase page load times for everybody.

Past Photo Roulette Winners and Hosts

The following is a list of the previously played rounds of the game and the hosting blogger for each. This list also doubles as a winner’s table as each topic host won the preceding round! Click the host’s link to go directly to that entry to see some stunning photographs from the chosen term/phrase!

1. Nov 4–10, 2010  – Living the Dream – “Animals”
2. Nov 17–24, 2010 – Skinny Backpacker - “Road Signs”
3. Nov 29–Dec 6, 2010 – Dream a Little Dream - “Street Art”
4. Dec 8–15, 2010 – Flashpacker HQ – “Festival”
5. Dec 17–24, 2010 – Over Yonderlust – “Landmarks”
6. Dec 26–Jan 2, 2011 – Don’t Ever Look Back – “Beaches”
7. Jan 5–12, 2011 – ThePlanetD – “Portraits”
8. Jan 15–22, 2011 – Travel with a Mate – “Motion”
9. Jan 26–Feb 3, 2011 – Johnny Vagabond – “Water”
10. Feb 8–15, 2011 – Ken Kaminesky – “Urban”
11. Feb 21–27, 2011 – Travels of Adam - “Friday Night”
12. Mar 7–13, 2011 – Itchy Feet Chronicles – “The Journey”
13. Mar 19– 25, 2011 – Brendan’s Adventures – “Changing Seasons”
14. Apr 4–10, 2011 - Shutterfeet – “Storytelling”
15. Apr 13–21, 2011 - 10 Times One - “Piousness”
16. Apr 26–May 4, 2011 – Beached Eskimo – “Learning”
17. May 21–27, 2011 – Travel Junkies – “Architecture”
18. Jun 1–7, 2011 – Destination World – “Transportation”
19. Jun 8–15, 2011 – Living the Dream – “Paradise”
20. Jun 21-28, 2011 - Vagabond Quest - “Clothes”
21. Jul 4-11, 2011 – The Unframed World – “Symmetry”
22. Jul 16-25, 2011 – Beached Eskimo – “Home”
23. Jul 31 – Aug 7, 2011 – BackPackerBanter – “Inspiration”
24. Aug 14 – 21, 2011 – WanderingTrader - “Darkness”
25. Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2011 – Finding the Universe – “Tranquillity”
26. Sep 12 – 19, 2011 – Fearful Adventurer – “Food”
27. Sep 23 – 30, 2011 – Adventures of a GoodMan – “City”
28. Oct 06 – 13, 2011 – Globe-Trekking.com - “Reflections”
29. Oct 17 – 24, 2011 – Scene With A Hart - ”Framing”
30. Nov 9 – 16, 2011 – Vagabond Quest - “Silhouettes”
31. Nov 26 – Dec 3, 2011 – Hecktic Travels – “Music”
32. Dec 11 – Dec 18, 2011 – Globetrotter Girls – “Love”
33. Dec 25 – Jan 1st, 2012– Man on the lam – “Humor”
34. January 8 – Jan 15 – My Walkabout – “Winter”
35. Jan 15 – Jan 22 – The Art of Slow Travel – “Blue”
36. Feb 6 – Feb 13 – Ten Times One – “Depth of Field”
37. Feb 22 – Feb 29 – Runaway Juno – “My Glorious Digital Nomad Moment”
38. March 7 – March 14 – Nomadbiba – “Sunshine”

The more the merrier: Please share this article on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon and G+ and elsewhere to get more people involved. We love your entries!

Submit your entry by 11:59pm Saturday March 31, 2012 – let me know which of the entries below are your favorites in the comments.

I’m really looking forward to seeing your photos and will post them here as they come in (sorry if there is sometimes a bit of

GOOD LUCK!

1. The first submission comes from Denise, The Art of Slow Travel

“This is a local Balinese farmer who, in his spare time, climbs coconut trees with the agility of a monkey to amuse travellers and provide them with refreshments. Donations go towards his love of tobacco chewing, which he says strenghtens teeth. He also found it totally amusing that I’d want to take his picture. “

2. Veronica, GypsyNester.com

“I had jumped out of our car to snap some shots of this house and was terrified when I looked up from my camera and this man was standing right next to me! Turns out he was quite nice to us, despite the UNBELIEVABLE amount of spray painted messages (some of them quite vile) on his house – well, actually every inch of his property.”

3. Jeremy, Living the Dream

“I caught this old man smoking Sheesha while we were on our felluca ride outside of Aswan, Egypt. A great glimpse into Egyptian life.”

4. Heather, Travellers Playground

“A gentleman from Madrid  relaxing in the morning sun with his cigar and paper on a park bench.”

5. Travis, FlashPackerHQ

“Here’s a woman I met on the streets of Ginza, the Beverly Hills of Tokyo, Japan. She was walking down the street with this dog in a stroller and I just had to go talk to her. Quite the character.”

6. Bob, Piran Cafe

“Here’s one of a gentleman entertaining people hanging out on the Sacre Couer steps on Montmartre. It was mid-July, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the throngs sitting around were in an exceptionally good mood. He was terrific, performing atop a 3ft X 3ft (1meter square) stone pedestal at the base of the steps.”

7. Matt, Passport+Toothbrush (@Matt_and_Caro)

“Taken in Rome, in front of the coliseum, this pictures is of Angelo, one of the many men dressed up as a gladiator, posing with tourists. Even while working, he still kept smoking and though he had a great badass, Italian vibe about him. Clearly, this was just a job!”

8. Tash, Jouljet

“A family riding on a motorbike in the middle of crazy traffic in Galle, Sri Lanka. I love the daughter’s cheeky smile as they zip past us in our tuk tuk! This photo, to me, shows that friendliness of people, amid all that bustle!”

9. acrossthesouth

“A local woman strolling down the street in Riobamba, Ecuador holding a cell phone in one hand and a living rooster in the other. She was coming from the local market and was passing by really quickly, being very concentrated on texting. That’s what I call multitasking!”

10. Suzanne,  The Travel Bunny

“Here’s my contribution. This old woman was having a smoke as she sold souvenirs by the Japanese Bridge in Hoi An, Vietnam. She was only too happy to have her photo taken and actually posed up a bit for the camera!”

11. FourJandals

“Here is a shot from the Egypt Bazaar where we were resting out weary legs. This women was selling paper tissue boxes and the shop keeper came out and offered her a mint tea and a seat to rest as well. Caught her picking her nose!”

12. Matt, My World Discovered

“One morning I was walking in Beijing when I came across these two. The cobbler has obviously been around for a while, filling his role in the local economy. I especially love the Winnie the Pooh slipper he provides for his customers.”

13. nomadbiba (@nomadbiba)

“I took it a few days ago at Montreal’s Saint Patrick’s Parade, one of the oldest running in North America. On that day all the city comes together to celebrate their Irishness and it’s a great chance to people watch!”

14. Ross, Been Bogged Before

“It was taken at the Longshan Temple in Taipei. Every time I see this photo I can hear the chants that were being played at the temple. I was waiting to get a photo or two with no one in the background when this girl and her mother placed incense in the urn. The girl lingered a while to watch the incense burn.”