day 232: Im-propaganda

Please admit it, Im-propaganda is just a fantastic name for an impro troupe in China. That´s the poster of last month, but we just had an performance last night, together with People´s Republic of Comedy.

day 230: 1p1d on stage!

1picture1day.com went on stage. From all the pictures I took on my journey through Asia the super cool improvisation group Channel 21 😉 in Suzhou developed characters and put a story together. That´s what came out of it: Shereen, a big city girl, and Shi Yuan, a cruise ship captain, get hired to take a sail boat back […]

day 229: island breeze

Where the huge Yangtze river (the 3rd largest river in the world) enters the Yellow Sea lies Shanghai. Before it enters the sea, there is an island, Chongming Island. (Quasi die Shanghaier Donauinsel…) Crossing the Yangtze to get to Chongming the river is so broad, it takes about 15 minutes by car. There we went […]

day 225: wallpaper

I walk to Chinese class almost every day. Every morning I see a beautiful wallpaper in a newly opened restaurant. I love the style. The manager described it like cold Nordic style and to make it more Chinese and happy, they put in the colorful wallpapers.

day 224: floating city

Floating City is a web series about the life of expats in Shanghai. Here is episode 3:  If you´ve spent some time here, it´s probably funny… @photo taken from Floating City FB-page.

day 223: room with a view

In Austria spring time is fantastic. So many flowers, the air is still fresh, but the sun is warming, you stretch your stiff legs from the winter and take a deep breath of fresh, clean air. You take a little trip to the country side, lay down in the grass and are happy to be […]

day 222: wall art

In China advertising can be easy. People just write their telephone numbers on walls in the streets and put next to it, what they are selling. I suppose, people do call, otherwise they would´t continue putting up their phone numbers on there. Even inside houses they put their numbers. I took this picture in an […]

day 220: Olafur

I saw an exhibition of the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson maybe 10 years ago in London. Right now he is exhibiting in Shanghai – and once again I loved him. He is one of the few artists who makes art, that is big, playful, fun, sensual and colorful. Just like I like it. In his […]

day 219: improv

I went with Channel 21, improv group from Suzhou, to Beijing Improv Festival. It was great. Very professionally organized, ver diverse shows in Chinese, English and bilingual. Among others there were “3 Dudes” from Hong Kong, “Beijing Improv”, “Zmack” from Shanghai…

day 218: cambio coffee

I went to the Shanghai Supper Club at Cambio Coffee. Cambio Coffee used to be a swimming pool, now they turned it into a coffee shop, art space and meeting place. Dinner was excellent as well. You can learn more about the Supper Club here: shsupperclub.com

day 217: sara

I was lucky to meet Sara. I needed some professional head shots taken of me, and a friend recommended Sara, a photographer, to me. She took me in her 2-storey studio, where she put plants, hung calligraphies and traditional chinese paintings. She made green tea and said: “Let´s drink tea. I want you to be […]

day 216: new friends

Hanging out with new friends in Café Vienna, with real apple strudel, Wiener Schnitzel and Melange. That´s the best cure against homesickness.

day 215: roof cats

Looking out of the window I see the roof cats. I´m in the oldest neighborhood of Shanghai, Xiaonanmen. Those cats hardly ever come down, the people throw the food up on the roof and the cats are happy. The nap in the sun up there, they jump from roof to roof. Sometimes they walk through […]

day 211: village in the city

One of the things I like about Shanghai is that, though it is a 25 million people city, in some areas it has a village feeling. People are sitting out on the street on their chairs, or they hang up their clothes on the street. I enjoy that, it takes away the harshness of any […]

day 2010: back to china

One of the first beauties of China is again chinglish. China and english are just a never ending love story, that always holds surprises. Here: a happy building in Shanghai.

day 201: Sunrise No.1

All you can do on Koh Yao Noi is go to bed early, rise early, enjoy the sunrise, do Tai Chi and Yoga, eat spicy food, go for a swim, ride your scooter, go to bed early. Repeat.

day 199: democracy

Here comes my last old photograph from Myanmar. The flag in the background is the flag of the National League of Democracy, the party fighting and working for democracy in Myanmar.

day 197: old gems

In the heat of Yangon I stumbled into another photo exhibition, with old photographs of people in Myanmar. Another gem.    

day 196: Deitta

Deitta is a non-profit organization in Yangon, that works to develop documentary photography and filmmaking. They, together with (National Geographic) photographers make workshops with kids and other people in Myanmar. Deitta have renovated beautifully an old building in Yangon, that feels more like an old conolial building in Latin America. Hardly any of the old […]

day 195: golden times

In one of the pagodas of Yangon. Girl and brother.   I thought it was ACDC…   Angry monch.   In the end it´s all about the money.

day 193: rush hour

Sometimes motivational t-shirts can be quite funny. Like this one: you will make it through rush hour easily when you got this shirt on. 🙂

day 192: jade rush

You might have noticed: I like Myanmar. But of course, Myanmar has it dark sides like poverty, human rights issues and drugs. In the infamous Golden Triangle of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand a lot of opium was produced. Nowadays there is still a lot of poppy growing, especially to make heroin. Not everything is exported […]

day 191: seaweed

Back to (street)food: This time spicy seaweed salad – with white seaweed and not green one, which I´m used to from Japan. The salad is spicy, has peanuts in it, coriander, tomatoes, cabbage and is super yummie!

day 190: from sheep and tourists

What is it with tourists that they just follow every footstep of other tourists? When it´s said to go to this restaurant everybody will be there. The restaurant next door will be empty. If you have to try grilled fish with this kind of sauce, they do it. I´m a tourist too, I also read […]

day 188: connected

I love the pictures when I pose with women, who I meet on the way. With many there is a mutual respect. They grab my hand, I touch their backs, we lean towards each other and take pictures. It feels like finding new sisters. We smile at each other, we use our hands and feet […]

day 187: BBQ

Back to street food. This time barbecued ocras, spicy tofu and quail eggs with sweet-sour chili sauce and tamarind sauce.

day 185: nostalgia

I arrived at a lake. The pick up truck carried me over dusty mountains surrounded by dusty fields. And then you´re there. A long lake surrounded by hills. Fields, where people grow vegetable in the fertile soil. There are hardly any sounds, myabe a car passing by or a truck. The sound of children playing […]

day 182: fading memories

Seen in the guesthouse in Katha, a small village by the shores of the Ayayarwaddy river. It´s quiet and sleepy here. The big brown river seems to force its pace on the inhabitants on the village. It´s quiet and relaxed here. A long time ago the famous writer George Orwell lived here. He served as […]

day 181: into the sunrise

We took the train from Naypyidaw to Bago and then on to Moulmein. The motorbikes were put in a luggage department. When I woke up after a night in a seat, the shaking of the wagon and the lights on (I could sleep by putting the sleeping bag over my head) the sun was rising […]

day 177: massage what…?

Ok, we all know, South-East Asia is famous for good and cheap massages of any kind. I don´t know if there is really a traditional Myanmar massage in Myanmar. But in tourist places like Inle lake people are promoting it. Typical, traditional, massage. So I went. And this is what the massage studio looked like. […]

day 176: green tomatoes

This time in our series “street pleasures” we have a green tomato salad, mixed with crushed peanuts, red, raw onion, fresh coriander, red chili, vinegar and oil. Super tasty!

day 175: no-tech

In times when computers were not used so much or didn´t even exist, people would write a lot. Letters to each other, in books, to keep notes. Maybe you remember that time. In Myanmar people write in books to keep track of the accounting. In the train stations computers are not known and big books […]

day 174: devil in disguise

This little sucker is little. You see that. But with chilis, size does matter: The smaller, the hotter. So you can imagine, how hot this little sucker is and why I left it on the plate.

day 173: red fuel

The fast and easy way to get fuel in your motorcycle is stopping by the many little private “gas stations” on the way. People put a shelf with plastic bottles full of gas in front of their houses. Some of the fuel is green or red. I think, the people just color them for fun. […]

day 172: roads

I am nor very picky. I say: Raod conditions could be worse. Of course the roads in Myanmar are bumpy, there are a lot of holes in the street, but still, who wants to go fast here anyway? I took those pictures close to Kalay, Chin state, north west Myanmar.

day 170: the lake

One of the other must-sees in Myanmar, next to Bagan, is Lake Inle (Inlay). And Inle does deliver. It´s a beautiful blue lake, some mountains around and the most fascinating part are the village not around but in the lake. The houses are built on sticks over the water, the streets are water and if […]

day 169: winding roads

The roads, that lead to the south from Inle lake are beautiful. Soon you leave the tourist crowds behind you, there is a little river next to the road and left and right there are some hills. People plant their crops and life is once again slow. To get to highway no. 1 between Yangon […]

day 167: tourists

I knew Bagan was going to be touristic. So I went with the (tourist) flow, because I knew soon enough I would be out in the country site with none speaking english around me. For sunset Bagan gets busy. Everybody wants to catch the best view from the highest temple to see the sunset.   […]

day 164: pleasure again

Here comes the full lunch menu. Lentil soup with cinnamon. Spinach and some other nice green vegetable with chili. Onions, tomato, tamarinde and something else. Little salad. Slimy capsicum/eggplant. Nice! I guess bamboo, but it tastes like mushroom. Pork.

day 163: how to travel alone

Today I won´t give you a picture but a nice advice I found on another blog. If you fear to travel alone, read it, you might take the next step after having read that: “How NOT to fear traveling alone”

day 161: boat ride

We put our motorbikes on a ship in Kalewa off to Monywa. On the boat there was not much to do but to hang out with the crew, to chat, to share food and to listen to music. Becca presented Western music, the crew presented Myanmar music, from Rock to romantic songs. When suddenly the […]

day 159: street pleasures

One of the pleasures in Asia is street food – I have mentioned that, right? Here are some of the pleasures I have encountered so far in Myanmar. A salad with a lot of shredded ginger, crunchy beans, tomato, cabbage and tamarind sauce. To get the real taste, get some green chili with it. Yummie! […]

day 157: changes

If you want to know what it feels like to walk around in a village in Myanmar do the following: Picture a completely naked man or woman walking around on the streets. Imagine what the people around would do. First their chaws would drop open, they would stare. If this completely naked woman or man […]

day 155: on the road

My friend Becca and me bought some little motorcycles in Mandalay. I can recommend Mandalay Motorbike there. Zach, an US-american guy, has been living there for 7 years, selling and fixing motorbikes. His little business is a place, where it´s easy to hang out a few hours. his wife is there, the two little sons, […]

day 154: oops!

Something went wrong with this truck. And it seems the guys around neither know how to solve that problem. Seen #ontheroadinmyanmar between Gangaw and Kalay.

day 153: golden times

The pagoda in Yangon is stunning. Even if you´re not a fan of religious buidlings, the gold of the Yangon pagoda will make you feel smaller. Here people hang out, lay down to sleep a while next to their favorite Buddha statue, eat some lunch with family, pray for a while or read a newspaper. […]

day 152: bumpy

Taking the train from Yangon to Mandalay is – let´s call it: special. It´s an old and solid train probably from the colonial times. It´s made out of full steel and is painted torquise inside. The upper class has beds and a ride costs around 10 Euros. The journey takes 14 hours. Slowly the train […]

day 147: myanmar actually

Es war ein Zufall. Eine beschwipste Frau hat mich angesprochen: „Hey, fahren wir nach Myanmar?“ Und ich hab ja gesagt. Ich weiß nur wenig über das Land: Aung San Suu Kyi, eine Militärjunta, die das Land brutal regierte, Aufstände, die von buddhistischen Mönchen und Nonnen angeführt wurden. Seit 4 Jahren ist das Land offen. Ich […]

day 144: healthy

There is not much to do on Gili Air, but to go snorkeling and diving. I did a beginner´s diving course. Only by filing out the sheet, asking me questions about my curet health status and history, I realized how lucky I am. No asthma, no heart problems, and so on. Uff, thank you! Still […]

day 143: awesome

Why invest in advertising and people who think about catchy slogans? This tattoo studio on Gili Air just keeps it simple. Get a tattoo and then you´re awesome. There is nothing more to add.

day 141: storm is coming

Rainy season has started in Bali and Lombok. Gili Air is dry and often you see the rain falling across the little stretch of ocean on Lombok.

day 139: the gilier, the smaller

The Gili islands are three tiny, tiny islands between Bali and Lombok. Gili Trawangan is the party island, Gili Meno is very quiet, and Gili Air is somewhere in between.You can easily walk around Gili Air in 1 1/2 hours. In the middle of the island is a little village. On the beaches there are […]

day 138: ecolodge

I have to recommend this place up in the jungle in Bali: Sarinbuana Ecolodge. It´s a littler heaven up in the cooler altitudes. That´s what my beautiful room looked like.

day 137: night butterfly

Here are some specialties of the Indonesian language. “Kupu kupu” means butterfly. “Malam” means night. So “Kupu kupu malam” of course means night butterfly – and you can find it up the mountains in Bali. But you might as well find a “Kupu kupu malam” in the dark back roads of tourist trap Kuta or […]

day 135: stars away

I am enjoying to be away from the heat and to be in the jungle. There is time and space to do – nothing. It feels like I´m “stars away”…