When you’re traveling, do you see more during the day or at night? Check out these night time photos of places from around the world taken by your fellow wanderlusters.

Connie Hum

Connie quit her job and left New York City in 2009. Since then, she’s lived in Istanbul, sailed the Mediterranean, slept in a cave inside Petra, belly-danced in Cairo, practiced meditation in India, trekked the Himalayas and volunteered in Thailand. Connie is now calling Hong Kong home, if only she would stop getting lost! Follow Connie’s (mis)adventures on www.connvoyage.com or Twitter at @connvoyage.

Kelsey Freeman

Kelsey is something of a nomadic jack-of-all-trades. After having moved 28 times in 8 years, she’s currently living near Washington DC. She works odd jobs as well as being a graphic designer, web designer, photographer, and writer.

She is also a former professional tall ship sailor, she’s working on her private pilot’s license, and she rides a vintage Russian sidecar motorcycle. She is an avid historical reenactor and travels frequently within the east coast to attend events. Photography is her true calling though and she is passionate about exposing people to cultures, places, and people they might otherwise never know about.

She loves to travel and used to live on a small, rural island in South Korea. Her favourite country is Switzerland, she’s currently planning a journalism expedition to Mongolia, and she once spent a year living out of her truck, couchsurfing around the USA and Canada!

Kevin Revolinski

Kevin Revolinski is the author of The Yogurt Man Cometh: Tales of an American Teacher in Turkey and the Bangkok expert for NileGuide.com. His website and blog are at The Mad Traveler.

Michael Hodson

Michael just completed a sixteen month, round-the-world trip without taking a single plane.  His blog — One Lap, No Jetlag — is at www.mobilelawyer.blogspot.com and you can Twitter him at @mobilelawyer.

Lash

Lash is passionate about traveling the world nomadically and sharing her adventures and the cultures of countries she visits. Way back in 1991 she quit my job in the USA, packed up and moved to Japan. She lived in Kyoto for 6 years, saving money to travel the world. In 1997, mission accomplished. She left Japan and began her world travels… Fast forward to 2010: still traveling! Check out her blog Lash World Tour.

Toby

Toby and Karen are your hosts at the Gibbs Bay Inn. Toby grew up in Nepal, India and West Africa and Karen is from a small village in East Sussex, England. They have a passion the mansion, service, the Caribbean, family life and running this beautiful old Guest House. “We love how there is always some old timer on the island who has an anecdote or scandal about the property from the old days.  As we watch the sun disappear over the yard-arm with our guests we always feel we have found our Nirvana.”

This is the Ottoman Empire’s Imperial Council, where meetings about political, administrative and religious affairs took place. The council members usually met Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday after prayer at dawn. Read more about my trip to the Topkapi Palace in my Istanbul Series.

For the freshest fish sandwiches in Istanbul, you have to make a pit stop at these fish boats in the Eminonu district. I don’t know how they cook all day long on the boats. It made me nauseous to watch them make my fish sandwich as the boat rocked back and forth. For more about my trip to Istanbul, check out my Istanbul series.

The Rumeli Hisari, also known as the Rumelian Castle, is a fortress in Istanbul, Turkey located on the European side of the Bosporus River. It was built in four months and 16 days by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II to prevent aid from reaching Constantinople via the Black Sea. The Rumeli Hisari is now a museum and a theater venue.

Read more about my travels to Istanbul in my Istanbul Series.

Istanbul seems like eons ago but I took this trip in September 2009. I had some great laughs inside The Blue Mosque, mainly because my boyfriend, JC, got lost in translation. Read about it in The Blue Mosque: Etiquette & Communications and feel free to browse through my Istanbul Series.

The Kadesh Peace Treaty, in Istanbul’s Archeological Museum, is the oldest known peace treaty in the world. It’s dated 1258 BC and signed between Ramesses II of Egypt and Hattusili III of the Hittite Empire. Partial translation of the treaty reads:

“Treaty of Rea-Mashesha-Mai Arnana the great king, the king of the land the of Egypt, the valiant, with Hattusilis, the great king of the Hatti land for establishing good peace and good brotherhood worthy of great kingship forever. These are the words of Rea-Mashesha-Mai Arnana: Now I have established good brotherhood (and) good peace between us forever. In order to establish good peace (and) good brotherhood in the relationship of the land of Egypt with the Hatti land forever.

(I speak) thus: Behold, as for the relationship between the land of Egypt and the Hatti land, since eternity the god does not permit the making of hostility between then because of a treaty (valid) forever.

If an enemy from abroad comes against the land of Egypt and Rea-Mashesha-Mai Arnana, the king of the land of Egypt, your brother sends to Hattusilis, the great king of the Hatti land, his brother saying: “come here to help me against him” to Hattusilis, the king of the Hatti land shall send his foot soldiers (and) his charioteers and, shall slay my enemies.”

Capadocia is a region in central Turkey but these shops were located in Istanbul, under the shadows of The Blue Mosque.

My New Year’s Resolution: To be happy & healthy in mind, body & spirit. And travel a crap load more.

I started A Pair of Panties & Boxers as a reminder to myself to never conform to society’s norm in the daily grind of a 9-5. I didn’t want my job to be the reason I stopped seeing beyond four walls and I didn’t want the burden of saving for grad school keep me from seeing the world. I figured the best way to travel as much as I can is to start a travel blog because in order to write about my travels, I’d actually have to go and travel. When I start running out of things to write, that means I need to get on a plane, train, bus, boat or any type of transportation fast – not that I don’t get that urge to just jet every single day. But sometimes, we do what we have to do and not what we want to do.

It hasn’t been a year since I started blogging but I thought I’d still wrap up 2009 featuring my top 10 most popular blog posts of the year. I hope all my readers enjoyed growing this blog with me these past 6 months. Thanks for sticking around.

So without further adieu, here are the top 10 posts for 2009.

1.  Photo Friday: Kaifeng, China

Kaifeng, China

The beauty of traveling through China is that sometimes, I feel like I’m in two places at once – the past and the present.

Read more…

See #8 for related post.

2. Facing Mud Made “Squatties” In Yunnan

The one thing I absolutely loathe about China is the lack of Western toilets. Those hole-in-the-ground-you-have-to-pee-by-squatting apparatuses make me cringe every time. I’m a girl — how am I supposed to pee that way?!

So when my roommates and I decided to trek westward for fall break, towards rural Yunnan and Sichuan, I had to put on a brave face and come to terms with the fact that I’d be using nothing but “squatties.”

Five hours into the bumpy bus ride and two bottles of water later, I was bursting with thoughts of shiny automatic-flush toilets and marble sinks.

Alas, what greeted me at the makeshift rest stop was an outhouse made out of mud and three little children asking for a 50 cents fee for using their “bathroom.”

Read more.

3. Hangzhou, China: Stunning Sunset On The West Lake

The travel bug bit somewhere between Wuzhen and Suzhou. We returned from Suzhou Saturday night. But by Sunday morning, JC and I already had our bags packed and a one-way ticket in our hand.

We took the next departing train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. It was an hour and a half of smooth sailing.

Read more…

4. The Blue Mosque: Etiquette & Communication

The Blue Mosque sits directly across from the Hagia Sophia on the Hippodrome, also known as the Sultanahmet Square. It’s hard to say which is more impressive. They both rival in beauty. With six towering minarets, The Blue Mosque dominates the Istanbul skyline.

Read more…

5. Poverty In Pudong

I paid ¥20 for a cab ride down to People’s Park (人民公园), ¥10 to see the Gaudi exhibit at the MOCA, ¥40 for lunch at Pizza Hut, ¥50 for a shuttle ride to the Oriental Pearl Tower, another ¥50 for dinner and ¥1o for extraneous expenses. I dropped ¥170 like it was nothing because in my mind that was only $10.

My friend (at the time) JC and I walked along the Huangpu River that night. We saw a boy in ripped rags and torn slippers. He looked about 10 years old. He approached us raising a flower in his hand and said…

“一块，一块。要不要花？”(One dollar, one dollar. Do you want flowers?)

He haggled a little. We politely declined. I turned around and watched him zig-zag his way down the path. He made sure not to miss a single couple. JC and I sat down on the stone-rimmed flowerbed and watched the boy pace back and forth under the moon light.

Read more…

6. My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets

Travel Secret #1: Art of Cheap Accommodations
Travel Secret #2: Kaifeng, China
Travel Secret #3: Climb The Great Wall When It Snows

What are some of your best kept travel secrets?

Share!

Read more…

7. Chinese Migrant Workers At The Plaza de Oriente

JC and I walked non-stop these past two days. It was either restless leg syndrome or it was the excitement of being in Madrid. I thought we would take it a little slower on the third day but nope – not when traveling with JC.He only knows one speed – and it’s just go, go, go, go, go!

We began the day with a trip to Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid.

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8. Kaifeng, China: Chinese Jews

This was Kaifeng’s welcome to us. Fog? Pollution? Combination? I don’t know but it was one hell of a welcome. I held out my hand and saw nothing. I looked down and I had no feet. We blindly walked forward – away from the train station and closer to the sound of the road. We had a hard time crossing the street. We couldn’t see the cars and bicycles and they couldn’t see us. We played it by ear. Literally. And hailing a cab? I want to say, “Fuggedaboutit,” but we managed to do so. Till this day, it still puzzles me.

Read more…

9. Merhaba Istanbul!

I’m a nerd. I like math and I like to plan. Excel is my best friend. I can’t live without my planner. When it comes to traveling, I get excited at the thought of creating a new spreadsheet. Budgeting is my favorite part. How low can I go?

Read more…

10. A Snowman On The Great Wall of China

I conquered 7,200 steps to the top of Taishan and trekked 4 hours around the West Lake in Hangzhou. Climbing The Great Wall? Sure! No problem. Except I forgot to factor in the high altitude and nearly freezing temperature. Read more…

This post is part 17 of 17 of my trip to Istanbul. The series intends to give more than just a I-saw-this-and-did-that review. It aims to share the voice inside my head as I explore a world I’ve only read in books.

Spice Bazaar - Photo from Elizabeth Anne Designs

The Grand Bazaar is a maze that expands over 58 streets. The shops inside are filled with jewelry, pottery, spices, carpets and restaurants. The Spice Bazaar is the second oldest bazaar and shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar. You would think that shopping in these two bazaars would consume most of the day but it didn’t for JC and I.

We saved our visit to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market for our very last day in Istanbul. We’re not big on shopping but we made an attempt to buy souvenirs. It was a failed attempt. The hawking turned me off and made not want to buy anything. Like any popular tourist attraction, it was overcrowded and swarmed with shoppers. Plus, it was raining that day so many people decided to visit the markets to escape the rain.

Changcheng Restaurant

After a hectic stroll through the bazaars, our last day in Istanbul ended with dinner at Changcheng, a Chinese restaurant! “Chang cheng” literally translates to “long wall.” That’s what we call The Great Wall of China in Chinese. The restuarant was so close to where we were staying, the Hali Hotel. We had no idea it was right around the corner until the day we took a cab to the Chora Church.

We were one of the first customers to arrive for the night. Our Turkish waiter spoke a few Chinese phrases and we complimented his pronunciation. After we placed our order, there was a flock of Asian tour group that came and quickly filled up three large tables. We said hello as they walked by and their tour guide actually came over to introduce himself to us. We chatted for a little bit and learned that many of the tourist in his group were professors from Taiwan and Singapore.

Changcheng Restaurant Menu

Our hostess was from mainland China. She told us that she has been living in Istanbul for about 4 years and that she speaks a little Turkish. We asked her if it was a hard language to learn and she it was easier than she expected. It’s interesting to know where the Chinese diaspora extends to. It was like a little piece of home in Istanbul. It sure felt nice to have some hot fish soup.

If you’re ever in Istanbul and craving some Chinese food, check out Changcheng Restaurant.

Changcheng Restaurant
Binbirdirek Mahallesi Peykhane Sokak No:46/1
Sultanahmet, Istanbul
Tel:(0212) 458-6760
Fax: (0212) 458-6759
www.changchengrestaurant.com
info@changchengrestaurant.com