Tag: Travel
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[Qingdao] 5 must-haves on your bucket list
![[Qingdao] 5 must-haves on your bucket list](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/pexels-photo-2736499.jpeg?w=1024)
All beer enthusiasts would have tasted the famed export from Tsingtao Brewery, whose name derived from its city of origin in Shandong Province. Unlike most Western lagers, Chinese beers tend to add rice into their fermentation process, hence lowering a certain taste of acidity in its end-products. For the sake of tasting only the freshest…
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[THAILAND] o17. AYUTTHAYA – OF RECLINING BUDDHAS AND WISHING WELLS
![[THAILAND] o17. AYUTTHAYA – OF RECLINING BUDDHAS AND WISHING WELLS](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/img_6629.jpg?w=1024)
Following a seafood-induced food coma and a brief exposure to Thai Buddhist rituals at renowned Wat Phanan Choeng, our local Thai friends took us on yet another cultural tour – the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, also known as Wat Lokkayasutharam. At this point it would be useful to note there are more than 2 Temples with…
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[TAIPEI] oo4. FAST & FURIOUS
Sometime at the end of last year, I took a fast, furious and fulfilling trip to Taipei with Elizabeth, one of 2 people I’m so thankful to have met at Singapore Airlines, both of whom are no longer there but are always ‘there’ with me. Taipei is all about the night markets, shopping and foodie-hunts whilst making…
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[PARIS] oo9.THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE
![[PARIS] oo9.THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1070276.jpg?w=1024)
Paris was a dream, and a very beautiful one. The procession at the Arc de Triomphe blew us away with its grandeur and oomph commandeered by top-tiered officials of Parisian council. Hi blogosphere, I’m back. I’ve missed this space, ab imo pectore (from the bottom of my heart). xoxo,Viktoria Jean
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[PARIS] oo8.GALERIES LAFAYETTE
![[PARIS] oo8.GALERIES LAFAYETTE](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1070190.jpg?w=1024)
And Paris is a woman’s town, with flowers in her hair; – Henry van Dyke A full-blown visual tour of Galeries Lafayette’s gorgeous interior: other than to gush over luxury goods I took the liberty of snapping otherwise passed-over gush-worthy details. Has anybody ever really highlighted the architectural wonder that is this shopping mall? Top-storey view: gorgeous and lofty. You…
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[PARIS] oo7.CARETTE
![[PARIS] oo7.CARETTE](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1070100.jpg?w=1024)
“When good Americans die, they go to Paris,’ the ghost said, after taking a drag on a small cigarette.” ― Karen Chance, Embrace the Night The sky decided on delivering a full-blown shower and a trio of very drenched Paris Explorers braved their way on foot across the Eiffel Tower and towards Trocadero. Pretty much everywhere in Paris’…
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[PARIS] oo4.PONT DES ARTS LOVELOCK BRIDGE
![[PARIS] oo4.PONT DES ARTS LOVELOCK BRIDGE](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1060952.jpg?w=1024)
“But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition So we found two very…
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[PARIS] oo2.NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
![[PARIS] oo2.NOTRE DAME DE PARIS](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/p1060849.jpg?w=1024)
“Paris is always a good idea.” ― Audrey Hepburn Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, which inspired Victor Hugo’s 1831 French Romantic/Gothic novel, stands resolute in the Parisian city center unscathed by ruining tides of time. The state of damnation of the Cathedral is the single most significant aspect of Hugo’s novel, influencing the ebb and flow of Notre-Dame…
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[MELBOURNE] oo4. WINTER SNAPSHOTS
![[MELBOURNE] oo4. WINTER SNAPSHOTS](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/20140806-203339-74019708.jpg?w=1024)
What’s great in Melbourne, besides taking photos with koala bears and trying not to get ass-kicked by kangaroos in their local zoos? . Just walk around the central business district and you’ll be surprised by all kinds of quirky finds. Hipster cafes, graffitied streets, an alley dedicated to pub-crawlers, giant chess pieces for challenging an opponent you’ve…
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[ROME] A NIGHT AT THE VATICAN
![[ROME] A NIGHT AT THE VATICAN](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1050130.jpg?w=1024)
Probably the only time you can catch the night scene outside St Peter’s Square is if you spend the night at Vatican City, or if you’re reading this as I’m about to show you a couple of my night scene captures. Outside St Peter’s Basilica on the day we arrived, there was a huge preparation…
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[ROME] 10 SNAPSHOTS OF VATICAN CITY
![[ROME] 10 SNAPSHOTS OF VATICAN CITY](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/p1050095.jpg?w=1024)
Bringing to you a quick showcase of the world’s smallest independent state – all 109 acres (44 hectares) around St. Peter’s Basilica and the palace of the Vatican. In and around are beautifully preserved cultural sites, lush green gardens, and museums which feature some of the world’s most famous sculptures and paintings. Home to architectural…
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[ROME] VATICAN CITY – A VIEW FROM THE TOP
![[ROME] VATICAN CITY – A VIEW FROM THE TOP](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1050003.jpg?w=1024)
The view from the top of Vatican City’s St Peter’s Basilica was exhilarating, breathtaking, and worth the claustrophobia-inducing flight of stairs we had to take to the top. Once in your life, or perhaps through somebody else’s eyes, you should see Vatican City from its proudest heights. Here are some pictures I snapped, enjoy! xoxo, Viktoria…
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[ROME] ST PETER’S BASILICA
![[ROME] ST PETER’S BASILICA](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1040920.jpg?w=1024)
We were both blessed and unlucky to have arrived in Vatican City the day before a huge and important event for the Catholic Church. Many parts of the basilica were closed due to preparations for mass. On the upside, we got to witness the procession which arrived to prep the church up. There were massive…
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[ROME] LIVING, BREATHING ART
![[ROME] LIVING, BREATHING ART](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1040856.jpg?w=1024)
Ancient art, very much still alive today. The pure gold in reflecting sun’s rays ignites a sense of silent power that only a calm basilica would bring. Mass in this majestic interior must have been a truly empowering and significant event. Am amazed at how this Panasonic Lumix GF6 of mine was able to capture…
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[ROME] INNER TRIMMINGS OF THE VATICAN CITY
![[ROME] INNER TRIMMINGS OF THE VATICAN CITY](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1040831.jpg?w=1024)
Be amazed at what human beings have achieved. Some dedicate their lives to creating art – intricate gold and bronze details adorn every inch of the ceiling at the St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. How did they get there, you ask. How did the people of the past achieve incredible feats like these. Patience, loads…
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[ROME] THE VATICAN CITY
![[ROME] THE VATICAN CITY](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1040822.jpg?w=1024)
We arrived, early summer morning, at the smallest internationally recognised independent state in the world! Dan Brown aficionados would undoubtedly link Vatican City to Angels and Demons, in which our all-time favourite Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon fights to stop the Illuminati from destroying Vatican City with the newly discovered antimatter. I loved every sequel, but Angels and Demons…
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[ROME] GRAN CAFFE ROMA
![[ROME] GRAN CAFFE ROMA](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1040794.jpg?w=1024)
Breakfast was pepperoni and salami pizza at the Gran Caffe Roma via Vittorio Veneto in Rome, Italy. Alfresco dining in the morning summer breeze gave us plenty of room for people-watching, which brings me to remembering the blatant stares we’d throughout our journey received from patrons of pavement cafes and restaurants. Sometimes I wonder if we’re…
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[ROME] THE COLOSSEUM
![[ROME] THE COLOSSEUM](https://viktoriajean.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/p1040782.jpg?w=1024)
Rome was not built in a day. Pardon the cliche but it’s all I could think about right here and right now. The Colosseum is the icon of Roman masculinity being the site of many heroic battles fought within its colossal proportions. I’ve had the nagging suspicion that the Colosseum’s root word comes from Colossus,…
Viktoria Jean 