Photo Thread

**strangeirish** · 25/01/2010, 1:23 AM

**stann** · 26/01/2010, 12:43 AM

The impressive Charles' Fort, Kinsale, in some glorious winter sunshine at the weekend.

**Mad Moose** · 26/01/2010, 10:41 PM

This is back in 2007 and its the Abbey of St Edmund at Bury St Edmunds. It was late October and very very warm. I'd only moved to Suffolk a month earlier and it was a freakishly warm month or two for the time of year.

I've gone for contrast here between the Abbey ruins and the modern cathedral. There's something about the light surrounding the main cathedral thats really nice.

This was the view from work down on Portman Road. I think it was just a camera phone so the image isn't great but happy memories.

Bury St Edmunds gain. I just loved that old road sign which was a minature lighthouse.

**Closed Account 2** · 28/01/2010, 1:21 AM

Pics from my travels over the 18ish months:

Beijing, China

Transsiberian Railway

Terlj Park, Mongolia

...

**Closed Account 2** · 28/01/2010, 1:22 AM

...more

Baikal, Russia

Moscow, Russia

Baku, Azerbaijan

....

**Closed Account 2** · 28/01/2010, 1:22 AM

...more
Kazbegi, Georgia

Ararat/ Yerevan, Armenia

Sevan, Armenia

**Closed Account 2** · 28/01/2010, 1:24 AM

St Petersburg, Russia

Atlas Mountains Morocco

**Mad Moose** · 28/01/2010, 6:27 AM

I think we need a collective thank you for a contribution like that Edmundo. Absolutely fantastic pictures and thanks for sharing them. I love the photo's taken in Georgia and Armenia.

**Bluebeard** · 28/01/2010, 6:44 AM

Your on the mark on that HB.

On the back of that, some of my longer term holiday plans are being rearranged, or at least being rearranged.

**endabob1** · 28/01/2010, 7:35 AM

Edmundo I watched a documentary about a Canadian Couple who went to lake Baikal in Siberia, it looks an amazing place, although they were completely off their heads. They had their 9 month old kid, expired visa's and no preparation of any sort, they hired a canoe to paddle on the lake it was one you had to assemble so it could be carired in a backpack, except they never tried to assemble it until they got to he lake and then spent hours trying to put it together.
With expired visas they sepent weeks on the run and hiding out from the police before paying a bribe to someone in immigration to get new visas, nutters. The place it self looks awesome though and your pictures are excellent

**Mad Moose** · 28/01/2010, 7:46 AM

Originally Posted by Bluebeard

Your on the mark on that HB.

On the back of that, some of my longer term holiday plans are being rearranged, or at least being rearranged.

As I still have my heart set on Iraq I may follow suit Bluebeard.

**Closed Account 2** · 28/01/2010, 9:35 AM

Thanks for all the comments, if any of you are planning on going to these places and want advice feel free to PM me or post here. I'll try and post more pics later on this week...

I didn't see that progam endabob, but it sounds like a stupid idea to go there with no preparation. Irkutsk is the only major town near the lake, but it's about 60-70km from it much of the area around the lake is devoid of population and there are hazards there (bears and the Amur Tiger esp to the north of the lake) if anything had gone wrong it would have been game over for them. It's well worth a visit if you get the chance - you will go by the lake on any of the Transiberian routes (i.e. both ones to Vladivostok and Beijing), and just get off at Irkutsk station, or you could even fly to Irkutsk airport from most major Russian cities and few Japanese cities. There is a new train route that goes to the north of the Lake ("Amur line") which is supposed to be very senic.

Also about those Canadians, it's madness to go to Russia without the correct documentation or to overstay a visa - you can end up in serious trouble (jail is not unheard of) and often you end up on a banned list in terms of getting future visas. They take visa and individual's mobility very seriously there, when you go for the visa you need to put every town you might want to visit down on the application, and if you stay in a place for more than 72 hours you need to get OVIR (a hybrid of police and the local council wardens) to stamp the visa paper - often you can just pay a big hotel $10 to do this on the spot (even if you're not staying in a hotel). But if you follow the rules it's pretty simple. If you travel in this part of the world it's worth trying to pick up even the most basic Russian (not that hard to learn to be honest) and knowing cyrillic is a must for trains / metros / buses.

**endabob1** · 28/01/2010, 9:39 AM

In their slight defence they did have a sattelite phone with them and they were in touch with a park ranger who was kind of their fixer and put them on the road to the immigration bribe, they had been looking at potential jail and 15,000 usd fines.

It's just weirdly uncanny that I watched that progam Tuesday night & then came on here to see your pics, weird.....