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Yangon's circular railway - 50 cents for a three-hour ride

Yangon’s circular railway – 50 cents for a three-hour ride

If you’re in Yangon, Myanmar and you have three hours to spare, take a ride on the circle train. This slow, rickety train goes around the city and stops at 39 small railway stations along the way. The whole loop is about 46 km long and will take approximately three hours to complete. At every station, people get on and off and vendors sell their wares. It’s a whirlwind of colors, sounds and…

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At Bangkok's Temple of the Coffin

At Bangkok’s Temple of the Coffin

Only a few steps from the sinful streets of Patpong in downtown Bangkok lies Wat Hua Lamphong. It’s known as the temple of the coffin. Visitors to Hua Lamphong temple can earn merit by giving donations to sponsor coffins for the poor and homeless. The temple mixes Thai, Chinese and Indian rites. There are Buddhist shrines, you can pray through the joss sticks at a Chinese looking altar, and…

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Chicago http://wp.me/sdYD7-chicago What can I say about Chicago except that it's one of my favorite cities? Do I need to tell you that it's home to almost ten million people and the third-largest city in the U.S.?

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Gucci, Prada and Paul Smith – they’re all at Bangkok’s newest luxury mall ‘Central Embassy‘. It opened on May 9, 2014 on Ploenchit Road – within walking distance to at least three similar high-class shopping malls. Though I’m not sure who needs yet another mall with stores for the super rich, the architecture is fascinating.

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Most of these pictures were taken simply looking up at the seven floors of the shopping center in its atriums. All in all, the space is vast – and that’s probably the biggest luxury in a crowded city like Bangkok.

And since Central Embassy isn’t a mall where they just play muzak, there were even some flautists and a string quartet taking care of the entertainment the day I was there.

Central Embassy Mall in Bangkok Gucci, Prada and Paul Smith - they're all at Bangkok's newest luxury mall 'Central Embassy…

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Fiji impressions

I was able to spend two weeks in Fiji in 2013. It was an amazing experience. Friendly people, beautiful beaches, unbelievable coral reefs and colorful tropical gardens. But Fiji is also a place where the luxury of the tourist resorts is worlds apart from…

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Indian Summer in Bavaria

Bavaria’s Lower Franconia region is picture-book Germany. The Main river snakes through the landscape, passing rolling hills, vineyards and picturesque villages and towns. This region around Würzburg, Aschaffenburg and Kitzingen is especially beautiful in…

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Sydney Opera

Sydney Opera, a set on Flickr.

insert sydney gallery

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Myanmar impressions

I love South-East Asia and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel extensively in this part of the world. But nothing prepared me for the splendors of Myanmar. I was totally amazed when I visited there earlier this year: wonderful people, beautiful…

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Feels like fall (2012 edition)

This year’s autumn has been spectacular in Germany. The weather has been perfect and we’ve seen some amazing fall foliage.

The pictures in this slide show were taken in different places: near the Rhine and along the Sieg river in the west of the country,…

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Visiting Kuala Lumpur's Chinese and Indian districts

I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last month and strolled around the city’s Chinese and Indian quarters. Even though I’d been to KL before, I’d never been to some of the streets and temples I stumbled upon this time.

I visited the Hindu temple Sri…

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Wat Pho through my eyes

Wat Pho is one of the most-visited temples in Bangkok and it’s one of the most photographed. So…

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Today we are adding .me (to .com, .org and .net) as a new option for upgrading to your own, custom domain name on WordPress.com. All of our domain mapping options cost just a couple dollars per...

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Remember your old admin bar (displayed at the top of your screen while you’re logged in to WordPress.com)? Up until today, it’s looked something like this while viewing an individual post:

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Isn’t it nice to have a brand new theme, or two, on a Thursday? Maybe you’ll remember, this day in September—because today it’s double the fun with Magazine and Parament now available in your...

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We’ve written before about our efforts at WordPress.com to help you get more attention for your work. And we’re here again with a new feature: follow.

After weeks of experimentation with...

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Every now and then I like to remind people about upcoming WordCamps. WordCamps are locally-organized, casual conferences held all over the world that focus on WordPress. Bloggers, developers, and...

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Nishita is a simple, minimally-styled photoblogging theme—now available for WordPress.com blogs. With a choice of dark or light color scheme, the muted design puts all the focus on your photos. Not...