There are few things that inspire me more than large cities, sprawling with buildings in all directions. I love to walk along the streets, synchronize my heartbeat with the city’s unique pulse and feel its energy while immersed by the creative chaos of mankind. There is something alluring about old cities where people have been living for generations and every corner has a history. This year I’ve seen a fair share of them.

Tokyo, Marrakesh, Ulaanbaatar, Novosibirsk, Seoul, Amsterdam, Beijing, Inverness, Irkutsk, Kyoto, Moscow, Oban, Perm, Incheon, Omsk, Zhangjiakou, Riga, Ballachulish, Qingdao, Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Stirling, Helsinki, Balabinsk, Edinburgh, Portree, Sainshand, Essaouira, Shimonoseki, Immouzer, Hiroshima, Arvika, Luss, Zhangjiakou, Mallaig, Yekaterinburg, Pitlochry, Halmstad, Glenfinnan, Borås, Kirov, Takayama, Busan, Kungsbacka, Glasgow, Agadir, Stockholm, Fort William and many more.

During the past 8 months, I’ve visited about 50 cities in 10 countries across 9 time zones. And loving every second of it. Well, maybe not the hours I carried a heavy backpack through endless Japanese train stations with fever and sinusitis, but I recovered.

Djemaa el Fna, Marrakesh Djemaa el Fna, Marrakesh.

Memorable episodes includes getting lost in the labyrinth alleys of Marrakesh, singing Marilyn Manson songs at a karaoke bar in Tokyo, trying to find the invisible Depeche Mode bar in Moscow, listening to a Chinese band performing Rammstein covers at a bar in Qingdao, see geishas silently pass by in the Pontocho district of Kyoto, finding my favorite ice cream parlor Cold Stone Creamery in Seoul, seeing the remains of Lenin and Mao, having excellent pancakes in Amsterdam and finding the bar from Lost in Translation on 52nd floor.

Busy crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo Busy crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Outside the cities I also enjoyed riding horses across the grassy plains of Mongolia, sharing meals with a large Russian on the Trans-Siberian railway, driving a car across Isle of Skye and getting told to stay away from the mine fields close to the border of North Korea.

Wherever you are, relax and have a Happy New Year!

6 comments

  • avatar
    12 Jan, 2009

    Gosh, U’re THE man when it comes to cities and some MC68k code! ;) Well, I’ve visited Kungsbacka, Stockholm, Stenungssund and Gothenburg (does that count?) in 2008… ;)

  • avatar
    12 Jan, 2009

    Of course it counts! I had a short roundtrip to Kungsbacka today, no rain but quite cloudy.
    I missed you at the Front 242 concert last friday, by the way. ;)

  • avatar
    19 Jan, 2009

    Well, Larry got my attention some days before the event of the Front 242 at Trädgår’n but sadly we just missed that out because we’re just too lazy… I suppose it was quite ok? ;)

  • avatar
    20 Jan, 2009

    Yeah, it was pretty good!

  • avatar
    mandus
    22 Jan, 2009

    Heh, yeah that list is quite impressive. I’ve been in Malmö and also visited Lund and Copenhagen. Probably Trelleborg to (but that’s almost like going abroad with the palm trees and all).

  • avatar
    22 Jan, 2009

    Ah, the sweet palm trees of Trelleborg! Hard to believe it’s been 14 years since I visited you down there in the tropical south. :)

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