Paris

Paris

Not as tall as I imagined .....

This post was sitting in my "Draft" folder and I had forgotten about it till I was doing some housekeeping. Well, better late than never :)

My family had a holiday in Paris in July 2014. We were privileged to be hosted by a family friend. Our hosts were very hospitable and we had an opportunity to see Paris and France from a local perspective. It was a very different perspective from the impression I had as a typical tourist - tour of the River Sein, visit to cathedrals, dine alfresco and who can resist the shopping lure of Galaries Lafayette and fashion boutiques. Unless you are a hard core shopaholic with a bottomless wallet, you get tired after a while.

Our gracious hosts brought us to Versailles. It had not changed very much from my last trip there in 1984, some 30 years ago. The chandeliers, fresco paintings and bedrooms were more than impressive. The French have this knack of keeping the gold gilded ornaments nice and shiny.

Check out the golden gate

The Courtyard

The King's Bedroom

Oh, I saw the largest fireplace. It was the height of a man. Imagine the amount of wood that would be needed to feed the fire. Probably a couple of trees died every night to keep the folks around the fire place warm and toasty every night! I wonder if they toasted marshmallows in those days.

There are fireplaces and there are fireplaces

Check out the fresco painting

The highlight of the visit was the music and fireworks display from 8:30 pm to 11:00 pm. The music was no big deal really but the fireworks at 10:40 pm was not bad. The 2 hour wait was bearable because of the beautiful sunset. These photographs were special because we endured an evening drizzle to watch the fireworks. Fortunately, the weather was not too cold.

Sunset like a laser show

The colour palette appears

What a dramatic sunset

This is my first attempt at capturing fireworks. It was purely trial and error. I took many shots and  I am glad some shots turned out decent. I now appreciate what I my Physics teacher taught me in school about light travelling faster than sound. By the time you hear the "bang", it is too late. Therefore, just shoot away and hope for the best. Contrary to the information I read on the web about how to shoot fireworks, these were shot with shutter speed of 1/80 sec at f5.6. I did not have a tripod with me. It was not a fancy DSLR but a trusty Sony NEX5. It is a very decent camera :)

Hmmm.....interesting red spots

Like pretty flowers

Hibiscus comes to mind

We visited Montmartre and saw many street artists. Could not resist the river cruise on the Seine. These were some of the images.

Montmartre

That's not a statue

Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

Spotted this "Tuk Tuk"..... it is a long way from home

We took a short trip to Reims, which was about 130 km north east of Paris. It is a quaint town with half timber houses and an awesome Notre Dame de Reims.

Half timber house .... crooked too

Notre Dame de Reims

In awe of awesomness !

Check out the stained windows

Look what's holding the walls between the two buildings

Pascal Caffet - World Champion Dessert Chef - Irresistable

All that sugar in the pastries gave us energy to continue our road journey. No trip to France would be complete without champagne tour. We visited Pommery Champagne in Reims and were greeted by a cheerful looking chateau..

Cheerful Chateau

Louise Pommery ran the company after her husband, Alexandre died

Gorgeous looking vat

Staircase leading to the cellars

Part of the process to ensure clear champagne

The finished product

Does champagne make the elephant do that?

That evening, we witnessed one of the best light shows ever. With the cathedral as the backdrop, it was a feast for the eyes.

Love Gothic Architecture

There is a wonderful light show at 11:00 pm every evening. It was breathaking.

The evening sky was a perfect backdrop

The show begins

Simply awesome !

Thanks to our gracious hosts, we may be back to soak in more sights of France that is off the beaten path for typical tourists. Vive la France !

Ko Samui

We took a short trip to Ko Samui in late November. It was my first visit there and I was expecting that it would be not too different from Phuket, Krabi our Hua Hin. It turned out to be quite different. I think it is one of the nicer resorts I have been to in Thailand. Definitely worth a re-visit.

We flew SilkAir and I must say it beats all budget carriers (rightly so) and even full service airlines hands down. Although it was a short flight, the inflight entertainment is impressive. I had my iPad and was able to stream movies directly to my device. The picture and audio quality was great too. Frankly, it is better than what full service airlines with entertainment systems offer. I guess nothing beats a retina display :p Some passengers were watching the movies through their smart phones.

Audio and Video streamed to my iPad

When we arrived, we were greeted by a quaint and rustic airport. I love the thatched roofs and the resort feel about it. There were no aerobridges and we were transported to the arrival hall in a tram car, it reminded me of Disneyland.

Are we in Disneyland? Love the tram cars

We stayed at the Chaweng Regent Beach Resort. It is a very nice resort located by the beach and at the same time, literally across the road from "action". I understand that Chaweng offers the best beaches in Ko Samui. The sand is fine and the gradient is very gradual. The resort had two decent sized swimming pools. The reception counter was charming and the rooms were very nice.

Beautiful swimming pools - 2 of them :)

Reception counter looks like a throne

Our abode for 3 nights

Feeding frenzy at koi pond

The hotel sits right smack in the middle of the action in Ko Samui. There are shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, a boxing ring, cabaret shows (including Tiffany Shows), massage places, pharmacies, etc. Incidentally, medication is much cheaper in Thailand compared to Singapore.

Shop and eat till you drop

One lobster, please.

There are many stray dogs in Ko Samui. I met a few of my "best friends" at the beach and also at a fresh market. Some were overly friendly.

He came over and posed for me :)

Playful fella

We visited a fresh market and the sights were awesome. I could have stayed there all day taking photographs.

This scene reminds me of a time gone by

Soaking in the atmosphere

They pass the packages of vegetables like they are playing volleyball

Pak Cik grating coconuts

Thai desserts, anyone?

The seafood was great and inexpensive. Typically, you pick your fresh seafood and they cook it according to your preference. The presentation is great.

Check out the presentation

Pick your indulgence

Oh, we also had our required portion of vegetables

Barbeque by the beach

The beach was very nice. Managed to take a couple of interesting photographs.

Roasted corn

Boats are home for the day

Lonely out there

A storm's brewing

He is reading a book !

The trip would not be complete without photographs of the sunrise. These were some of the better shots.

Our first sunrise at Ko Samui

The boats complete the sunrise 

Saw this coconut and made it a part of the scene :)

Sunrise - Day 2

Love that red sun

As with all good things, they come to an end and soon, it was time to return home. I arrived in Ko Samui expecting it to be like Phuket but was pleasantly surprised. It was much better. It is interesting to note that there were quite a number of service staff who come from Myanmar and Philippines. I did not expect this as I felt that the Thais are extremely service oriented. Looks like they too have their fair share of foreign workers :)

This is one destination I wouldn't mind going back to. I hope it does not get too commercialised over time.