i’ve never had a chance to explore hong kong like i did this past june. i’ll be back again later in august, but i wanted to share a small visual journal of some of the hustle and bustle of the city.
hong kong has always intrigued me even when i was younger. i had a chance to get to know the city and subway system fairly well as a child, so coming back this year was an easy experience. this time i brought two close friends with me who were visiting for the first time, which allowed us to all explore further and see more of the sights and sounds of the city.
can’t wait to visit home again in august. until then, hong kong.
hong-kong
visualjournal
it’s hard for words to describe the feelings i felt from my trip to iceland. back in june 2015, i made the trek with two adventurous friends who wanted to explore something a little less ordinary. we were amazed at the photos we had seen of the country, and wanted to see it in person and capture some images for ourselves.
after being awake all day and arriving at keflavík international airport at 6 am local time, we began our sleepy journey into the city of reykjavík to pick up our camper van, wifi modem, groceries and gas cards. after that, we immediately began our first 5 days on the road around the southern coast of the country.
in hindsight, we all felt that booking a 7 day trip to iceland wasn’t long enough to explore the entire country as we had wanted. but during that time, we had a lot of amazing experiences exploring. here’s a few of my favorite shots from our time there.
on the road:
the first day was the one of the most interesting. after getting on the road later than originally planned, we visited our first stop, gullfoss. we immediately began to experience some of the iceland climate as the winds were intense, blowing waterfall spray into our faces and camera lenses at every angle.
after this first experience, we took a super long detour to visit our second waterfall for the trip, haifoss. unfortunately, due to being early season in iceland, and after crossing two rivers that had made its home on the gravel road, our 4x4 camper was stopped by a roadblock telling us to turn back. although we were upset, we had no choice but to continue on to the third stop, which was seljalandsfoss (another waterfall…i know, we really wanted to see some waterfalls on this trip..).
this was probably the most memorable part of the entire trip. after being on the road for 3+ hours from taking detours to visit a waterfall we couldn’t get to, the feeling of relief we got from finally getting to seljalandsfoss was an amazing feeling. this waterfall is one that i’ve dreamt to visit, and it was so surreal to finally see it in person.
we spent what must’ve been hours at this waterfall, and it was getting to be about 11 pm. it was hard for us to keep track of this though, because during the summer months, there are days where you essentially never see the darkness. we got back to our camper van hoping to drive to the next destination which was only a mere 30 minutes away, when our camper had decided to break down.
we spent the next hour making phone calls, trying different things, googling for answers, but nothing seemed to help. the rental company wasn’t able to get a mechanic out until the morning. it probably didn’t help that we were a little far from civilization, but regardless, there was not much we could do. we just had to wait til morning.
when morning finally came, we were met with a mechanic who was unable to locate the issue, and we all came to the conclusion that it was probably the starter of the car (sidenote: we determined that it wasn’t a battery issue prior to the mechanic arriving, as the camper stayed on all night, charging our devices, with no issues). a couple hours later, we were met with two other mechanics who had brought the replacement starter, and began work on the camper. between editing photos and various naps, they finally had everything installed and when they went to try and start the car; nothing. at this point, we spoke to the rental company again, and they decided the best course of action was to send us another camper van.
finally, our new camper van arrived and not a minute too soon. at the time of leaving seljalandsfoss and heading to our next stop, it was about 5 pm the following day. every detail of our time stuck at this waterfall will forever be vivid in my memory, but the trip only got better after this point.
following the first day, we continued down the southern coast of iceland. it’s quite convenient to get around the country, as there is one big “ring road” which acts as the main highway of the country. as we continued along our journey, we were blessed with a vast array of sights to see. iceland has a sort of untouched, raw, natural beauty that can be seen even driving along the road. at a few of our destinations, we ran into travellers from around the world who were visiting for the same reason as us, and that hit really close to home. it’s amazing to find people around the world who share the same interests and aspirations to see as much of this beautiful planet as possible.
after the most inspiring and amazing 5 days on the road, we returned back to reykjavik and returned our camper and checked into our airbnb crib for the next couple nights. after our second night, we had to wake up at 4 am to take a $150 CAD taxi ride to the airport to our next destination.
unfortunately, this blog has a 20 image max per post, so i had to cut down the images shared from reykjavik. but in these words and images i hope to have at least shared a tiny glimpse into this magical country. iceland is a beautiful country formed by ice and lava, and the unique landscapes that you see here are some of the most awe-inspiring and beautiful in the entire world. whether you’re a photographer or not, i full-heartedly recommend anyone to come and experience this for yourself. after a week in iceland, i was left with a feeling of inspiration and a new lust for life. and since we were only able to experience the southern parts of iceland, i’ll be back in the future to explore the rest of the country to it’s fullest extents.
until next time, iceland.
