Sanaa, Yemen - The Magic City

Arriving at dawn on a bizarre overnight flight from exotic Eritrea via mysterious Sudan was suitably surreal for this magic city. My first view of Sanaa, from the airport to a guesthouse in the enchanted Old Town was one of the greatest 'wow' moments of my travels. The unique yemeni architecture like a vision from a dream. The khat chewing red-eyed men with big knives in their belts shouting 'welcome' the perfect soundtrack.

Asmara, Eritrea - Italian 1930's Architecture

One thing I definitely wasn't expecting to find in a little known East African country like Eritrea was lots of beautiful italian 1930's architecture. Eritrea was invaded by Italy, and Mussolini between 1935-1941 sent his most experimental architects to make the capital Asmara a showcase of modernity and style for his new 'empire'. Being a big fan of architecture myself I was amazed by the fantastic Futurist, Modernist and Art Deco buildings throughout this unique city.

Siauliai, Lithuania - Hill Of Crosses

In the middle of the Lithuanian countryside, near Siauliai, I found a hill covered in hundreds of thousands of crosses. Starting in the mid 1800's as an homage to fallen fighters in the struggle against the Russian Empire, it grew during the Soviet occupation of 1944–1990 as a symbolic protest. The Soviet authorities bulldozed it several times, but the people kept coming back with their crosses. A very powerful site with a special energy...

For travel info about Lithuania I recommend this guide by Bradt.

Tokyo, Japan - Cosplay Crazy

Definitely my favourite of the many Japanese urban tribes, cosplay (from costume play) is a trend that started with dressing like cartoon, movie or pop characters. One sunny saturday morning on my first ever trip to Tokyo I was walking around the Harajuku teen fashion area and suddenly found myself in the middle of their main meeting place, the Meiji Jingu bridge. Completely fascinated, as I had never heard of this cosplay thing before, I spent the rest of the day photographing and talking to these amazing people.

For books about Cosplay:

Search Amazon.com Books for Cosplay

My favourite is by photographer Shoichi Aoki:

For travel info about Tokyo I recommend this guide by Lonely Planet

For Japan they also publish this one