Astana, Kazakhstan

In the hotel lobby it is a beehive of activity. Nervous men rush from one end of the big entry hall to the other, surely trying to organise some meeting. Waitresses pass with coffee and colas. Security men speak into their wrists with a little clear wire hanging from their ear.

Having been here during communism, I can't help

but compare. Astana is probably an extreme example of change. Astana was a small isolated village then and now it is a bustling capital city. It's youthful population is energetic and excited. Contrary to many countries, the dynamic young professionals here don't pin their hopes on eventually leaving, immigrating to a richer country. They want to stay and build their future and fortune here.

The city is really astounding... a Dubai in the steppe. This picture was taken this evening at around 22:00. There was a light and water show with music as families and couples walked around and enjoyed the cooler evening air.

Astana, Kazakhstan

This afternoon, I'm off to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. We will do a report on the economy and one on architecture. It should be interesting because Astana is a city sprung up from the steppe. Nine years ago there was hardly anything there. Now it looks like Dubai! I was just there in April when it was minus 5 degrees Celsius. In the steppe, with winds that come directly down from the arctic, Astana has extreme temperatures, 40 below in the winter and 40 above in the summer.

At Frankfort Airport... a bit of complaining. (picture of the international atmosphere of a Macdonald's restaurant at Frankfort airport)

Some plane trips are great with no problems. But these flights don't go through Frankfort. Others may have a better experience here, so this is just my personal opinion. On the positive side, I've only lost my baggage once going through Frankfort. On the negative side, you walk forever between plans and there is a definite deficit of smiles here. The last two trips since April, the airport personnel barely look at you much less greet you. Today I was expecting to be told I had to wait 3 hours until the check-in opens 2 hours before the flight to Astana. The man behind the counter glanced up at me with a look on his face as to say "What stupid question do you have for me?". No "hello". No "may I help you?". Just a bothered look. I say hello. He gives me the expected bad news with a "I could care less" look. I provoked his bad mood with yet another stupid question. "Where can I wait?" He replies as though I am testing his patience (which I kind of was) "The counter 954 opens two hours before the flight." Now there are many ways to give a frustrated client bad news, but this way probably isn't in written in the Lufthansa Code of Conduct (or?). I eventually found a café with a nice view of the runway where I am now calm and venting my frustration in this blog, hoping a Lufthansa manager will see it and give a talk to his employees.

Many people say Paris Charles de Gaulle has moody employees. But I haven't had that experience. They have always been friendly and smile when they tell me every other flight that my bags are lost. But, said in a friendly manner, I can take it. Lost baggage is what I expect when going through Paris.

So, in my travelling book, Amsterdam remains the best airport... friendly, big, but well organised and they haven't lost my bags yet.

Oh, just one more reason why you should avoid Frankfort. While every other airport in the world checks your boarding pass and leaves you with the little stub just before you board the plane, here in you-would-think-very-efficient Germany, they let the waiting room fill up and then tell everyone to leave again so they can check boarding passes at the entrance to the waiting area. So families, with kids, older passengers tramp back outside, form once a gain a line and have their boarding pass checked and then go back to their seats to wait with their little stub.

Luxembourg

This has nothing to do with being a cameraman, but I thought I would add it anyway. I spent the weekend with my nephew, Tom, who is 11 years old. We went to the Bitburg Airshow in Germany and my good friend Serge took us up in a small plane, a Cessna 182, for a flight over Luxembourg. Tom actually flew the aircraft! He was pretty good too. Who says computer games are bad for kids!

St. Petersbourg, Russia

A much better day today! The weather is great today. In comparison with yesterday it is like day and night... except there is no night here! We went out to get some shots of this beautiful city with blue skies and sun. When the city was called Leningrad, it was dirty and grey, even on a sunny day. People called it beautiful then too, but I think it was because of the glorious past you could just still see under the blackened, cracked walls. But today, that glitter is back. And especially now during the White Nights, the city shines.

Today schools let out for the summer. Young students were all dressed up in suits and frilly dresses taking pictures of themselves near the city's sites. As they saw me with the camera, they asked me to take pictures of them with their camera. So, we had a quick, improvised model shoot.

To get some different shots, we took a boat ride on the Neva river. The boat rocked a bit much, but we were able to get some interesting shots of the city seen from the water. But the absolute best shots were to come. I had always wanted to see the Palace bridge open up. It is a very famous shot during the White Nights and on all the postcards. Everyone gathers next to the Neva and waits for the bridge to open at 1:25 in the morning. The sun is just setting and the sky is red on the horizon. The bridge is brightly lit and tourist boats fill the river to watch the spectacle from the water. You can hear the disco music coming from the students' boats as they dance on deck. You have to see it! More pictures on my Facebook page!

St. Petersbourg, Russia

A rainy cool day in this northern city. It's hard to get spectacular pictures from a light that is very flat and grey, but we try this morning to get a feeling for the atmosphere of St. Petersbourg. The big event today is to film the repitition and concert of Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky Theatre. The concert hall was rebuilt 3 years ago after a fire destroyed the old building. The Mariinsky theatre will be celebrating its 150th birthday this year.

But the unexpected highlight of the day is a 9-year old Korean girl who is playing piano in the ballet room where we were to set up an interview with the Maestro. Ju-Hee Lim is extraordinary! (www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/without/links_to_banners/ju_hi_lim/) Ju Hee looked like she really enjoyed playing piano and was not the least bit nervous with all the attention and the fact that she would soon play for hundreds of people in one of the best concert halls in the world. As we were setting up in another corner of the room, she even came up and handed each of us a candy.

As it is raining, we decide to film film the White Nights tomorrow. In this cold and rain, there isn't much atmosphere to speak of, let alone to film! After the interview with Gergiev a bit after midnight, we go looking for a restaurant. The only one we find open is the suchi bar from yesterday, so we go back there. It does get dark here though. At about one in the morning, it is pitch black, maybe darker than usual because of the overcast and dark clouds. Hopefully tomorrow we will have better weather and get to see what the White Nights are all about!

St. Petersbourg, Russia

All went well at the airport. Either the rules have become less strict or more normalised or I played my bit as a tourist and breezed past the customs agents with ease. The airport Pukovo in St. Petersbourg is better lit than in Moscow and is much friendlier. It is a small airport for such a city. It seems even smaller than Luxembourg's airport.
It is 11 o'clock at night and still light. The cars have their headlights on and the street lights are lit, but it seems like that magic moment when the sky is still light, but the earth is dark.
It has been maybe 10 years since I have been to St. Petersbourg and much has changed. This evening, sitting in a Suchi bar on Nevskii Prospekt, I looked at all the young Russians and a few foreign students in fashionable clothes, playing on their Iphones and remembered being on this exact corner when the city was called Leningrad. Then, the cars never put on their headlights, not bcause it was light but to save the bulbs which were hard to find. There were hardly any restaurants, much less suchi bars. Most of these kids don't remember what things were like then and I'm happy for them. It is amazing how things have changed in 15-20 short years.

St. Petersbourg, Russia

Packing my bags for a 2-day shoot in St. Petersbourg, Russia. Tomorrow the 21st of June is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. St. Petersbourg is at 59 degrees 56 minutes North latitude, so the sun doesn't set at night, which makes for a good street party. We will be filming for "Musica" on Euronews, featuring a concert at the Mariinsky Theater and an interview with conductor Valery Gergiev, also artistic director of The Stars of the White Night Festival.

Russia is one of the most difficult countries to get into, even harder for journalists. I don't know why they make it so difficult. Something to hide? I have been travelling to Russia and the former Soviet Union for many years and things haven't changed in over 20 years... the same dark entry hall with stern-faced uniformed customs agents who bark orders at you. Well, I'm hoping things have changed a bit. I haven't been back in a few years, so we will see. But there is still that knot in the stomach in anticipation of lots of problems, negotiations, paperwork at the border.

Korea Football-YouTube

South Korea

Today we head out of Seoul for a 5-hour trip by van to Gyeongju on the south-eastern coast of the peninsula. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC - 935 AD) which ruled most of the Korean Peninsula between the 7th and the 9th centuries. The picture to the left is of Bulguksa, a temple complex from the 8th century. Inside this building is a large golden Buddha. Although we were sent by the Korean Tourist Organisation to film this sites, the local authorities didn't allow us to film the Buddha, so you'll just have to believe me that he is in there. We never found out why they wouldn't let us because normally it is just not allowed to use a flash, but you can film. Maybe it is something to do with cultural sensitivity or respect or maybe Buddha is just camera shy.

In the area, there are many earthen mounds. These are burial sites for kings and royalty. They put down the casket, built a room around it and then covered it with dirt. You can go inside one that has been excavated and see the jewellery and treasures with which they were buried.

The Kindom of Silla was also into Astrology and built this tower to observe the stars.

South Korea

We are in Korea on the invitation of the Korean Tourism Organisation. An interview with the current president of KTO turned out to be very interesting. His name is Charm Lee and I'm sure he has much more to say than we had time to ask in our little interview. Mr. Lee is a naturalized Korean citizen originally from Germany. A big man, towering over his colleagues, Mr. Lee is the first foreign-born, naturalized person to hold such a high post in Korean society. His appointment caused much debate in Korea. He speaks perfect Korean, from what I can tell because I would be easy to fool. He has lived in the country for 30 years and is married to a Korean women. He became famous through acting in television and I'm sure he has many more stories to tell. I hope to come back to Korea and do a portrait of this interesting person straddling two very different cultures.

South Korea

Séoul, Korea

I am here working for Euronews (www.euronews.net) doing stories on Korea. If things go well, we might be able to do a series of stories on Korea which would be very nice. Today, however, football, or soccer, is on everyone's mind. South Korea is playing Greece and some 2 to 300,000 fans brave the rain to come out onto the streets of Seoul to watch the game on huge TV screens.

A goal in the first minutes of the match sent the street into a frenzy! But it was a very friendly frenzy, lots of jumping up and down, hugging and screaming, but not so much as to bother the next person or the cameraman trying to get a steady shot of the jubilation. Doing a stand-up at the end of the match was another story. Sophie, the journalist, had to attempt it several times before she could get her message across without fans jumping all over her or screaming so loud you couldn't hear her.

With the excitement filmed, we quickly made for the van and on the way to the hotel, I began downloading the images from the camera into the computer. Next a quick edit and then the images are sent via internet to France and within a couple hours are on air.

Sophie, looking pretty excited (or maybe overwhelmed) about it all, poses in her new all weather gear with Sunglim, our Korean fixer.

South Korea

Luxembourg-Séoul

Heading to Seoul, South Korea, I first take the small jet, an Embraer 145, to Paris. In the bus from the terminal to the plane, I think I must stand out a bit because everyone else is dressed in a suit and tie. It's mostly businessmen on this flight and I don't have anything against businessmen of course but they do tend to dress similarly; dark blue or black. The tie is the only thing that might distinguish one from the other. As I stand in my reporter's vest (an old one with torn pockets, but it is hard to find a good vest, so you keep the one you have as long as it holds up!), and khaki pants with big pockets, I am happy that they all do their work. It's good that everyone wants to do different things and I certainly wouldn't want to do their job. Someone has to make the factories, banks and companies work. And someone has to fly around the world taking pictures. So, I'm happy while standing out in the bus.

The choice of meals in most planes is chicken, beef or pasta. On Korean Airlines, the stewardess asked if I wanted beef or rice. My first thought is that these two usually come together. But I thought I would take the riskier route and ask for rice. I was served Bibimbap. It was great! You have to mix it up yourself. Apparently, "bap" is rice and "bibim" means mix or stir up. So that's what you do. You empty out the bowl of rice into a bowl of spinach, peanuts and other vegetables, pour in a tube of gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste) and a packet of sesame oil. Mix it all up and mmmmm!! It is a cold meal, but good. Especially interesting to mix during turbulence!

Incheon Airport is very modern, very clean. It is well marked so you can't get lost. The passport control and customs people are friendly and make things very easy. As a cameraman, customs can be a headache. For some reason, cameramen with even the lightest gear fall into the film category and have to temporarily import and export the camera and gear. This is called a carnet ATA. It usually isn't too complicated, but if the customs agent doesn't have much experience or the computers aren't working you can spend a long time in customs. Now I work with a smaller camera which falls more into the tourist category, so I avoid all that paperwork.