People and places

I sat opposite Felix on the Trans-Mongolian railway for 4 days. Despite not speaking much English and me speaking absolutely no Russian he was friendly, helpful and fascinating to watch. Almost the perfect companion -  he didn't want to play chess - he also ate the same meal of potato, soft sausage and cabbage three times a day for the whole journey.

Pointe Du Hoc was the site of a 225-man US Ranger raid during D-Day to destroy a gun emplacement. Over half of the Rangers were KIA.

Taken in Mandalay, Myanmar.

Rubjerg Knude is a collection of enormous, 30-40 meter sand dunes I have grown up watching shift and change a few kilometers away from our beach hut in Løkken, Denmark. For many years the lighthouse entrance has been buried under about 10 meters of sand - so it was a great surprise to visit from Myanmar this year and see it not only cleared and open, but with a mirrored art installaiton running all the way to the top. 

Home of Arakan Nature Lodge

The first photo of a project on the contrast between modern and traditional dress in young people in Chin State, Myanmar. This is Zing Dawt Cer, a 21 year old presenter of a youth tv show - she feels more comfortable in the modern outfit.

Interior of the Dr Sun Yat-sen memorial tower in Guangzhou, China. China is covered in memorials bearing the same name; Dr Sun Yat-sen is the founding father of the Republic of China and has near-mythical status among Chinese people. The interior of the monument is rather nicer than the outside, unfortunately.

Lombok, Indonesia, at around 2600m. The volcano at the top left is Gunung Agung, an active volcano on Bali over 200km away.

Aung La Nsang swinging some punches for the press before his championship match with Ken Hasegawa. He has spoken at length about the pressure heaped on him when fighting in Yangon; as Myanmar's foremost international athlete, he is expected to do well.
Nonetheless, Aung La won the match by knockout in the 5th round.

The Nanjing Massacre, or Rape of Nanjing, is one of the darkest episodes in modern Chinese history. Starting in December, 1937 the occupying Japanese army massacred between 40-300,000 civilians in an orgy of death and destruction. The memorial is a very difficult visit, not least because it is built upon one of the now-open mass graves of the victims. The strangest thing to see as a European, however, remains the Nazi role in the massacre; not contributing to it, but acting as a humanitarian force saving the lives of many Chinese citizens by sheltering them in the German embassy.

South Korea is a heavily industrialised country, with much of its landscape, workforce and finances invested in manufacturing and production. The success of the Korean economy subsequently bears a heavy environmental price; this is actually one of the better days of visibility I have seen in the capital. Yet Korean industry is not the only contributor, nor even the worst - up to 50% of Seoul's air pollution drifts southward from Korea's giant neighbour China.

Kyeik Khout pagoda in Thanlyin, a 45 minute drive from Yangon.