SKYWATCH---In Varanasi.....

 About to catch a boat like the ones here for an evening ride along the west bank of the Ganges in Varanasi, India's holiest of cities.

Looking east across the Ganges during a sunrise boat ride to watch India's holiest city awaken....

See other skies on SKYWATCH FRIDAY.

Daily Haiku

 The sacred Ganges

Holiest of all rivers

Flows on forever

Must be hard....

Snapped a photo of this lady in Dubai airport, waiting to board for Lucknow, India.  It must be awfully hard to maneuver a camera when your face is covered, even partially.

Thia handsome young man was showing off his hunting falcon in one of Dubai's ultra-modern shopping malls.

Two women enjoying a coffee at the same mall as above, while the man behind them is texting.  That's a two-story waterfall behind him.

Daily Haiku

All over the world

People want the same from life

Why not get along?

ABC WEDNESDAY--"O" is for "Offers, anyone?"

Any readers out there have a cool 11 million euros....or is it dollars....?  I guess if you've got that kind of cash, it doesn't matter.  Call one of the numbers on the lower photo and make an offer for the buildings belonging to the former Embassy of the United States of America, which was located on Belgrade's main thoroughfare, Kneza Milosa.  The Embassy moved a few months ago to a new location, which you can see a bit of on this link, the reason being that our embassies have to be a certain distance from the street.

It saddens me to see the upper photo.  For years after I came here, the Embassy was quite approachable.  Then came the sealed-up windows, the cement block barricades, a real guard booth, and even the closing of an adjacent street.  Residents of that street could enter, but you just couldn't drive down it.  The Embassy took on the appearance of a prison.

See other O's on Mrs.Nesbitt's ABC WEDNESDAY.

Daily Haiku 

Once upon a time

Welcoming not foreboding

Before and after

A tiny interlude.....

Oh, caught without a photo.....  I am currently in India and hope to be posting from here by Thursday!  I'd preposted some photos, including tomorrow's ABC Wednesday, but somehow skipped today's.

Daily Haiku

No photo today

Due to my forgetfulness

Only this haiku

WEEKEND REFLECTION--waiter descending

Still sipping my coffee with my friend at Hotel Moskva.  I am incorrigible with camera in hand. This is a reflection of the window through which I shot last Monday's photo, and it shows a waiter descending the spiral staircase to the cafe's upper level.

See other reflections on James' WEEKEND REFLECTION.

Daily Haiku

In the netherworld

Of shadows and deception 

How can we find truth?

SKYWATCH--symmetry at night

I showed you this building on September 30th, and now you see it at night, with a little dose of my Peeping Tom inclination.

See other skies on SKYWATCH.

Daily Haiku

Not want to be seen?

Discourage those Peeping Toms 

And pull the curtains 

Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night....

'Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night' is the U.S. Postal creed. Not sure if the 'rain or sleet' would deter these avid chess players from finishing a match, but the dark doesn't seem to bother them.

Daily Haiku

Silently they sit

Contemplating their next move

Hoping for checkmate 

ABC WEDNESDAY--"N" is for "Nose"

While I was walking near the Turkish Embassy with my former student from Turkey a week or so ago, this dog poked its nose through the gate....

See other N's on Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC WEDNESDAY.

Daily Haiku

Behind iron gate

Locked in with familiar scents

Sniffing desperately

 

When you gotta go....

Not an advertisement (wouldn't be a very good one) for Aperol, but an unfortunate juxtaposition.

Daily Haiku

Wise Confucius say:

He who consumes drink

Knows where bathroom is 

From across the street at 1000mm...

Across the busy street from Hotel Moskva, where I was having a birthday (hers, not mine) coffee with a friend, lies McDonald's.....one of the (I believe) 5 or so here.  Using my little Nikon P510 at its maximum zoom of an equivalent of 1000 I took this photo. I kind of like how it turned out.  Not bad for 'in the dark'.

Daily Haiku

Lurking across the street

Sitting with camera poised

Clicking unnoticed

SUNDAY BRIDGES--again and again

Probably like many cities, Belgrade's bridges are numbered and to contribute to a meme like Louis La Vache's SUNDAY BRIDGES takes a bit of imagination.  Belgrade's most visible bridge is the Bridge Over Ada, which looms here, appearing quite close to the lamp post in Kalemegdan Park, but it isn't.

I should do a series like Bob Crowe's Arch Series!

Daily Haiku

Do not trust your eyes

For their will often deceive

Hearts often do, too