Travels

Autumn has been particularly beautiful this year. Until roughly a week ago, we had only little wind and not too cold weather, so the leaves stayed put for a long time. Sadly that has now changed… Luckily, we visited the picturesque National Park Söderåsen in Skåne, Sweeden while the colors were still at their best. Hiking the forest was a wonderful experience, following trails along the small river until it eventually took us up the ridge overlooking the rift valley....

Lyset er altid flot i Vadehavet, og mulighederne for fantastiske naturoplevelser er store — også når sommeren går på hæld! Efterårsferien er det bedste tidspunkt at opleve det fantastiske naturfænomen “Sort Sol”: Op mod 1 mio stære som ved solnedgang samles i rørskovene for at gå til ro for natten. Vi var heldige at se det to gange i år; én gang med Sort Safari syd for grænsen i Tøndermarsken, og dagen efter i Ribe Østerå. I Tøndermarsken anslog vores kyndige guide Frands (sp?) at der var omkring 700.000 stære. Vi har tidligere set Sort Sol (i 2008,), og dengang anslog vores guide Lau at der også var ca. samme antal. Under alle omstændigheder er det rigtigt mange(!), og det er en fantastisk at opleve på nært hold. Lyset og vores position i forhold til solen var ikke helt så god denne gang som sidst, og der var ikke så mange rovfugle til at få stærene på vingerne, men der kom lidt billeder og et videoklip ud af det. Videoen ligger her på YouTube (lydsporet er frit efter “Hør den lille stær”): ...

OK, it’s an old saying but nevertheless: The worlds best camera is the camera you bring with you, especially when there is a shot you’d otherwise have lost. Yes, the quality is not as good as when I bring my Lowepro bag stuffed with DSLR equipment and a tripod. But sometimes you just happen to experience a beatiful or maybe unexpected sight that only lasts for a few minutes, and you want to capture it in some form, for you to recall later....

Having just arrived back to Europe from a business trip to Tokyo, Japan, it once again striked me how cultural differences has a big impact on our behaviour and perception. In general, I find Japanese people very friendly and I like travelling in Japan. Usually when going somewhere, I often grab a Latte at the nearest Starbucks (possibly a Venti with an extra shot, making it a quad-shot), and this time was no exception....