the café in the grande mosquée de paris

what can i say? visiting the café in the grande mosquée de paris feels like being back in sham - having tea with your friends in an naufara. thanks to my dear tanguy for taking me!

paris, france

more info (french)

sai thong

very simple bungalows in between koh tao’s characteristic boulders along an empty beach with fantastic snorkelling and a wonderful little restaurant. you’ll have to walk through the rainforrest for at least 25 mins to reach any place where your cell phone will work and you can purcase something or use the internet. in other words, this resort is perfect!

koh tao

having made plans to go trekking in isaan in the north and visit villages and khmer temples, i was rather sceptical to be dragged along to koh tao. once we got there, however, it turned out to be a paradise. it’s a green and hilly, sleepy little island with empty beaches and strange rond boulders scattered all over it. there is a small centre with several dive centres, a mini mart and a few restaurants and bars – and suprisingly few partying backpackers. the diving was less interesting than expected but the curries were not!

raintree cafe

“there’s great pizza out in white river” my friend fiona wrote on my fb wall, so christopher and i decided to take the trip. we went down to mendana avenue and jumped on a bus to white river. there, just past the betel market, was raintree café, looking half-way like a village hut, situated directly onto the sea-side with a palm-tree roof and a lovely view out over iron bottom sound. we ordered a large veggie pizza, and i think it’s one of the best pizzas i ever had. the pizzas are wood-fired local style with locally grown ingredients. if you’ll ever find yourself in honiara, you know where to go. bring a book and take your time. they also have a bumblebee wireless hot spot.

white river, honiara, guadalcanal, solomon islands

the temple ruins of baalbek

the temple ruins of baalbek, overlooking the snow covered mountains and the stunning bekaa valley of lebanon is garanteed to take your breath away – at least mine. keep in mind that it is very chilly during winter – don’t leave from beirut in a t-shirt and sandals.

one of the ruins once aspired to be the the largest temple in the entire roman empire. although never completed and marked by the ravages of time and lebanon’s violent history, the six gigantic columns that are left today make a pretty impressive sight.

baalbek, the bekaa valley, lebanon

underwater pub

underwater pub is an atmospheric pub with a dive theme, located in cosy st. hanshaugen in oslo. the interior features an impressive range of historical artefacts from the underwater world, some of which are rented from the norwegian maritime museum. if you want a snack with your beer tapped from old SCUBA tanks transformed into beer dispensers, they offer delicious italian style pizzas from the pizza bakery across the road.

some pics from underwater

dalsbergstien 4, st. hanshaugen, oslo, norway

more info (norwegian)

every tuesday and thursday, underwater pub arranges opera nights with live performances by singers from the national opera. it is a very fun and genuine experience – the singers will stand up every now and then and perform a piece, and sit down and enjoy a beer in between. it goes on all evening. the opera nights are free of charge, and you can come and go as you like, but it is appreciated if you shut up during the performances.

more info (norwegian)

frognerparken

vigelandsparken, or frognerparken as we locals call it, is a beautiful park not far from majorstuen in oslo with 212 sculptures of men, women and children, all modelled in full size by the norwegian artist gustav vigeland. if you’re visiting oslo and want to hang out with the locals, this is where you’ll find us – all the kids, teens, students, mums and dads, elders, dogs, and pet mini pigs. we spend as much time as we can in the park, grilling, sunbathing, jogging, chatting, chasing sticks, rollerblading.. you name it

main entrance in kirkeveien, near majorstuen, western part of oslo, norway

more info

noosa national park

lokated by noosa heads and its city beach, noosa national park offers a peaceful and interesting retreat after an exhausting morning paddling for (what you think might be) the perfect waves. you can walk along the beautiful coastal track or follow tracks that will take you deep into the bush, through various sorts of forrests. choosing the latter option, you might run into koalas, and rare and threatened wildlife such as the glossy black cockatoo and the ground parrot, amongst others.

there’s great surfing along the coast of the national park, but only for those of you who are far more experienced than me. crappy surfers like myself will have to satisfy themselves with the city beach

noosa headlands, the sunshine coast, queensland, australia

more info