The year in cities

I love to spend time in cities, immersed by the creative chaos of mankind. This year I've seen a fair share of them:

Tokyo, Marrakech, Ulaan Baator, Novosibirsk, Seoul, Amsterdam, Beijing, Inverness, Irkutsk, Kyoto, Moscow, Oban, Perm, Incheon, Omsk, Zhangjiakou, Riga, Ballachulish, Qingdao, Krasnoyarsk, Ulan Ude, Stirling, Helsinki, Balabinsk, Edinburgh, Portree, Sainshand, Essaouira, Shimonoseki, Immouzer, Hiroshima, Arvika, Luss, Zhangjiakou, Mallaig, Yekaterinburg, Pitlochry, Halmstad, Glenfinnan, Borås, Kirov, Takayama, Busan, Kungsbacka, Glasgow, Agadir, Stockholm, Fort William and many more.

Roughly 50 cities in 10 countries covered in 8 months. And loving every second of it. Well, maybe not the hours I carried a heavy backpack through endless Japanese train stations with fever and sinusitis, but I recovered.

Memorable episodes includes getting lost in the labyrinth alleys of Marrakech, singing Marilyn Manson songs at a karaoke bar in Tokyo, trying to find the invisible Depeche Mode bar in Moscow, listening to a chinese band performing Rammstein covers at a bar in Qingdao, see geishas silently pass by in the Pontocho district of Kyoto, having a sip of black balsam in Riga, finding my favourite ice cream parlor Coldstone in Seoul, seeing Lenin and Mao, drinking Oban in Oban, having excellent pancakes in Amsterdam and finding the bar from Lost in Translation on 52nd floor.

Outside the cities I also enjoyed riding horses across the grassy plains of Mongolia, having vodka race with a large Russian on the Trans-Siberian railway, driving car across Isle of Skye and getting told to stay away from the mine fields close to the border of North Korea.

Cities across nine time zones.

More photos available:

• Mongolia - Riding in the tracks of Genghis Khan
• Japan - By shinkansen across the country from west to east
• Japan - Tokyo : Getting lost in translation
• Trans-Siberian railway - From Moscow to Beijing
• China - beyond the chairman
• Korea - Across the peninsula from north to south
• Scotland tour of Bagpipe Bastards
• Morocco - Beyond the mint tea
• Moscow - Shades of red

Wherever you are, relax and have a Happy New Year!

Related posts

• From Gothenburg to Tokyo by train
• Alone in Kyoto
• A day of war
• Going bananas in Beijing
• Tent heating in Mongolia
• Dawn in Ulaan Baatar
• Plane crash on Trans-Siberian
• The black balsam of Riga
• Bagipe Bastards Scotland tour
• Memories of Skye
• Having pancakes at Prinsengracht
• A sip of Arabian coffee
• On the desert road

• Filed under category Travel.
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