Photo of the Week: Traffic

April 20, 2015May 10, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 1 Comment

Hanoi, Viet Nam

The traffic in Vietnam is notorious. This picture of a gentleman smoking on his bike while surging ahead of the crowd was taken on the chaotic streets of Hanoi. The streets are often congested with motorcycles, cars, and bikes jostling to get to their various destinations. In Vietnam, crossing the street is often a feat in and of itself.

Every Monday of each week, I’ll share a photo with you from my adventures around the world and at home. Most of my photos have little or no post processing. If you would like to see more, please click the ‘Follow’ button.

Sydney: Bondi Beach

April 8, 2015April 8, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 4 Comments

Sydney is a seaside city with many world famous beaches located right around the metropolitan area. Bondi Beach (pronounced: bond-eye) is one of the busiest and most popular beaches in the city, only about 30 minutes from the city center. It is well known for it’s soft white sand as well as prime surfing location. The beach is only 1 km long and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world.

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Photo of the Week: Books

April 6, 2015May 10, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 5 Comments

Dublin, Ireland

This picture was taken in the Long Room, the main chamber of the Old Library at Trinity College in Dublin. This is the largest library in Ireland, built back in the 1700s. Along the corridor, there are 14 busts of great philosophers, writers and men who supported Trinity college throughout the years. To the left of the entrance, you’ll see a very ornate iron spiral staircase that people used to go up to the second level.

Inside, shelves are filled with old books from floor to ceiling, all organized alphabetically. The most famous book housed here is the book of Kells, a famous 9th century gospel manuscript.

This is my idea of heaven, something I aspire to have one day. A special wood-paneled room filled with books, where I can curl up and read all day.

Sydney: Graffiti

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 6 Comments

Sydney, like many other great cities around the world, has some incredible street art. The difference between Sidney and other cities is that they have a strict policy against graffiti. For the past decade, the city has continually inspected “hotspots”and removed many great murals as they get made. The government has a zero tolerance for street artists, and it is against to law for anyone to sell spray paint to a minor. It’s also against to the law for a minor to have any graffiti tool in their possession, and violators will be fined heavily. The stakes are high for these artists who wander the Sydney streets at night armed with spray cans, wanting to express themselves. Continue reading →

Photo of the Week: Overgrown Roots

March 23, 2015May 10, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / Leave a comment

Siem Reap, Cambodia

I’ve seen many iconic images of overgrown roots spreading over dilapidated temples in photographs and movies like Tomb Raider over the years. So when I finally got to see it with my own eyes, I was beyond excited. So excited, in fact that I jumped over a step leading into the temple, tripped and came tumbling down, camera and all. I got a nasty bruise, a few scrapes, and hundreds of pictures to remember this place by.

Ta Prohm is one of the many Angkor temples that was abandoned and reclaimed by nature when the Empire fell in the 17th century. When it was rediscovered later, this popular temple was left untouched by archaeologists, leaving it in it’s natural state. Massive silk-cotton trees grew tall over the broken down buildings, their large canopy blocking out the sun and the rest of the world. The gigantic gnarly roots twist over the grounds reaching through walls and windows, intertwining and becoming one with the temple. The weight of nature sits heavily on the man-made building causing it to bow down from the burden over centuries ago.

As you walk through the rubble and climb over trees, you can’t help but feel like one of the early explorers. This strange, haunted place indelibly made an impression that will forever be etched into my mind.

Austria: Exploring Hallstatt

March 18, 2015March 17, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 3 Comments

A while ago I wrote about Hallstatt as one of the places I wanted to see; so when we booked our ticket to Vienna, I knew we had to make a little detour. After doing some research, I found out that this picturesque village was only a 3 hour train ride from Vienna. We decided to make a day trip through the Austrian countryside.

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Photo of the Week: Souk

March 16, 2015May 10, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 1 Comment

Marrakech, Morocco

This picture was taken inside the biggest souk in Marrakech, off of Jemaa el Fna square. The market is a massive labyrinth with many crisscrossing walkways, each filled with stalls selling everything from leather goods, to rugs, to spices, to almost anything you can think of.

I picked this picture because the other day we met up with some friends for brunch and got to reminiscing about our ‘super duper fun’ trip to Morocco. Did you picked up on my sarcasm there with the air quotes and the italic fonts? Seriously though, it was a memorable trip, but for all the wrong reasons. Basically Murphy’s Law was at play, where anything that could go wrong, went wrong for us. The weather was awful the whole time with continuous rain and freezing temperatures…in Morocco! We almost got stranded in the Atlas mountains because of a freak snow storm…in Morocco! We had to cancel part of our trip because we couldn’t drive over the mountain. Then to top it all off, we almost got carbon monoxide poisoning in one of our hotels.

The sad part was, we’d all heard so many great things about Morocco and could not wait to go on this two week long trip! Our experience did not live up to the expectation and we pretty much had cabin fever after a week and could not wait to return home. One day I would want to go back to trek into the Sahara desert and camp overnight under the stars; something we weren’t able to do. Hopefully it’ll erase all the bad memories from the first trip.

Photo of the Week: Luxury

March 9, 2015May 10, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / Leave a comment

Dubai, UAE

On our trip to Dubai, we visited the famous Burj Al Arab, the world’s only 7 star hotel. The distinctive sail-shaped silhouette stands out among the city’s many stunning buildings. We got to see the decadent interior and experience the extraordinary service when we came here for afternoon tea service. We had a blissful time indulging our sweet tooth while admiring the view overlooking the Persian Gulf.

Photo of the Week: Atlas

February 23, 2015May 10, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / Leave a comment

Manhattan, New York

This past weekend a snow storm came and blanketed the city in a layer of white powder. I quickly changed into my cold weather gear, grabbed my camera, and headed out into the wintry city. I walked the length of midtown Manhattan, hoping to get a few winter scenery photos. As I trudged by Rockefeller center passing the oft-photographed art-deco statue of Atlas, I took this photo from the entrance of 30 Rock showing the vantage point from the back of the bronze sculpture looking across Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Vienna: Opera House

February 20, 2015February 19, 2015 / lifeafter9to5 / 3 Comments

Vienna’s State Opera House (Wiener Staatsoper) is one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. It is the epicenter of Vienna’s rich musical history. Completed in 1869, the opera house opened its doors to the public debuting with Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It is known for having one of the largest repertoires in the world, featuring 300 performances per year. With over 50 operas and ballets each season, there is a wide selection for people who wish to immerse themselves in Viennese culture.