Recent Comments

Feeds

fierce

Posted on June 29, 2008 @ 4:10 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, indonesia, people, travel, wordpress

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

java aynaku travel illustration

The train from Jakarta to Surabaya had slowly left in the late afternoon; sitting in my second class berth, I was contemplating the nearby thriving tropical landscape from one of the wagon’s window, when a fellow swiftly entered my compartment. He was an elderly tall man with an old fashioned suit on. This unexpected travelling companion fascinated me immediately. Actually he looked like one of Conrad’s literary heroes, with a deep mystery of his own. I fancied about him, a man travelling on a shoestring at a time in his life when most of people have settled down for ever…I started to gaze at him apprehensively, somehow trying to send him a silent and gentle enquiry: “just talk to me”. On the contrary the old man looked at me fiercely for some everlasting seconds, then got up and- as quickly as he had entered-he got out and vanished…
I wonder if he had put me at the top of his danger list just for being so much like he was.

Illustration Friday’s topic is: fierce

elettricity

Posted on May 10, 2008 @ 5:54 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, indonesia, philippines, sailing, travel, wordpress

gili trawangan aynaku travel illustration

Lightnings are electrical discharges, giant sparks of electricity, from mature storms. Lightnings cause a lot of electric current to pass through water; wooden boats are not safe at all since the vast majority of lightning injuries and deaths occur on small boats with no cabin…
The short sea passage between Gili Trawangan and Gili Air found me on board a small local boat without a cabin. It is always crucial to listen to the weather on a small aquatic vessel: during that early afternoon at sea, the sky was threatening, thunderstorms were forecast and lightnings too…
When the first powerful strike came and the air filled with static electricity on a giant scale, the anxious boatman pumped up the engine, trying to get the boat fast, trying to get to land and find a safe building: actually it was raining and pouring! The storm went on for half an hour and our navigation turned out to be very uncomfortable…
When we got Gili Air’s sandy beach at last, everything was over: off course!

Illustration Friday’s topic is: elettricity

gardens

Posted on March 8, 2008 @ 5:00 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, fun, travel, ukiyo-e, wordpress

 

lotus.jpg

Modern Singapore is a city of concrete, glass, freeways and shopping centres.This city state is one of the Asia’s four “dragons”- the Asian economic boom coutries. The fact that so many western expats live and work in Singapore, lies exactly in its thriving economy, altough the place itself is really nothing special and the main interest for residents is usually, and simply, taking rest from the hustle bustle of everyday life, as soon as they get the chance. As an architect I have been frantically working in Singapore for several months and used to get damn bored in the week ends. On these occasions the best thing that ever happened to me, was to visit the city’s parks; among them is the Singapore Botanic Gardens, a botanical institution, a tourist attraction, a popular place with photographers, with its unique collection of orchids and a beautiful lotus lake…
While sitting and contemplating by the lake, Japanese poet Yugen’s haiku ironically resounded in my mind:
“Ah! If one could but make a clear and flowing river of this stagnant lotus lake!”

Illustration Friday’s topic is: garden

 

 

 

multiple

Posted on February 23, 2008 @ 11:27 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, fun, philippines, travel, wordpress

In the Philippines, the western wind is called Habagat and the rainy season comes with it. The rains in Boracay were usually a bit oppressive to me, as the dullness went on for weeks, driving my mood to absolute lethargy; moreover I was running out of money quickly. All of us …

theory travel at home

Posted on February 16, 2008 @ 7:36 pm by massimo | Filed under: africa, blog, travel, wordpress

Twenty years ago Madagascar was in my mind: it was the place I wished to go at all costs!
I got hold of guidebooks, maps, and an atlas even; everything that could be possibly useful to me was collected and then recklessly scattered upon my room’s wooden floor…
I spent hours fancying about my …

old manali’s blankets

Posted on February 2, 2008 @ 6:02 pm by massimo | Filed under: another green world, india, travel, wordpress

Manali, at the northern end of the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh, is a hill station situated at a height of 2050 m in the Himalayas. It is a very popular and crowded tourist spot for Indians and foreigners in summer and in winter: actually too crowded according to my standards.
That’s why, …

african plains

Posted on January 20, 2008 @ 4:56 pm by massimo | Filed under: africa, another green world, blog, travel, wordpress

I come from a hilly region and I’m not used to open prairies and plains.
This is the reason why, I can’t forget Amboseli National Park’s breathtaking views, one of the most classic of Kenya: the gigantic Kilimanjaro mountain, with its 5,985 meters dominating the plains.
Noteworthy Kilimanjaro is not within the limits …

little things that makes life easier…

Posted on December 7, 2007 @ 8:00 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, japan, travel, wordpress

Lousy hotels are familiar to long term travellers. At Maharaja Palace, a third class Tokyo pension house, it happened to me to wake up in the middle of the night and find out that a bunch of cockroaches were actually going for a stroll upon my body…the nasty little things!
Times are changing …

animal rights

Posted on November 24, 2007 @ 11:21 pm by massimo | Filed under: animals, another green world, blog, travel, wordpress

I always hated the zoo. Simply I try to figure the way an animal feels behind the bars of a cage, or what it might prefer to do instead. I like to think that every living creature was born to be somehow free, so set them free…
The cute, black, little monkey …

great Indian desert

Posted on October 13, 2007 @ 11:33 am by massimo | Filed under: another green world, blog, india, travel, wordpress

The Rajasthan desert  is the biggest desert in India; it encompasses about 70% of total landmass of Rajasthan and hence it is identified as the “Desert State of India”.
Rajasthan desert becomes very hot during the summer and it experiences extreme climate. Days are hot and the nights are cold .The desiccated land …

« Previous Entries