Geneva Days March 2015

Views of Bangkok from The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

The The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) building is one of only a few tall buildings in this part of Bangkok. It offers beautiful views of a beautiful city. ESCAP's regional focus is managing globalization through programs in environmentally sustainable development, trade, and human rights. 

Looking towards Yaowaraj & Bang Rak

Monsoon Season

View looking West towards the Mae Nam Chao Phraya river

Looking over the 1st Royal Thai Army HQ, Banglampoo, Rattankosin and Siriraj hospital

Golden Mount with the skyline

View down Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue

Rain & Fog over the UNICC

View looking towards Bang Rak

ESCAP works to overcome some of the region's greatest challenges by providing results oriented projects, technical assistance and capacity building to member States in the following areas:

• Macroeconomic Policy and Development
• Trade and Investment
• Transport
• Social Development
• Environment and Sustainable Development
• Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction
• Statistics
• Sub-regional activities for development 

Source

The Pantheon in Rome - Opened since 126 AD

Pantheon - Piazza della Rotonda, 00186 Roma, Italy 

Post by Michael LaPalme.

Post by Michael LaPalme.

Post by Michael LaPalme.

Winter Weekend in Amsterdam

The reason I created this blog was so that I would have a place online to share my travel and photography experiences. Sometimes, if my work schedule becomes too hectic my photography and blog take a back seat to my professional commitments.  As spring is quickly approaching the rest of the world, I wanted to post some photos from a short weekend trip to Amsterdam I took during February of 2014.

MC Escher Inspired Selfie in Amsterdam

I was on-site working for a client of mine in Europe and jumped on a quick flight over to the Dutch capital one short weekend

Houses along one of Amsterdam's canals

Store front in Amsterdam's Chinatown

Beautiful statue along Amsterdam's Canal 

Life along Amsterdam's canals

Bicycles rule in this city.

Closed for business this early in the morning.

Beautiful, quiet neighborhoods

Public street art

National Monument Dam Square

National Monument Dam Square

Blue hour over old churches and canals in Amsterdam

Dutch take-away food very popular with residents

Blue hour in Amsterdam city center

Statue near red light district

Tagged by local and international visitors.

At first light the city is quite calm and peaceful.

Psychedelic storefront selling magic truffles and other mind altering substances

Bangkok Shutdown 2014

Thai monk during his morning alms rounds on my street in Bangkok

As the political situation in Thailand continues to worsen it is unclear if and when the city will return to normal. Not all of Bangkok resembles a war zone... In neighborhoods outside of the protest areas life goes on as normal. People in Bangkok seem to be enjoying the lack of traffic and peace  on the city streets. The photo above was taken with my camera phone as I was out walking the dogs this past week.

Téléphérique du Salève

If you are in Geneva and looking for interesting things to do try heading up to the top of the nearest mountain for some incredible views across the valley. The "Téléphérique du Salève" view point overlooking the city of Geneva and surrounding valley is very easy to get to and is highly recommended.

My wife and I boarded bus #8 at the rue de Mont Blanc neaer the Garre Cornivan for the 8km trip to Mont Salève. 

It is very easy to get there via Geneva's fast and efficient public transportation system.

We crossed the Rhone river with her clear icy blue water and headed south-east towards the nearest mountain range. 

 The city bus passed through the shopping districts along the lake just under the old city and then through several pre war residential neighborhoods towards the French border at Veyrier. 

At the last stop we disembarked and walked down the street a couple of hundred meters past the French border checkpoint. 

No one stopped to check out passports as we walked across the border. The walk to the cable carriage station took about 10 minutes.

 It is a 5 - 10 minute walk from the bus stop to the cable car. The price for return tickets was 13,60CHF.