Arabia is not only a part of the city of Helsinki, it is also home to one of Finlands most famous maker of porcelaine and ceramic. In 1873 Finland was the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomus part of the Russian empire. Finland had previously been a part of Sweden until 1809 when Russia took control of the territory as part of a peace agreement with Sweden. Arabia was founded by Swedish porcelaine maker Rörstrand in 1873. It was located on a piece of land where Rörstrand was granted permission by the Russian Tsar Peter III to build a factory to produce tableware for the Russian market, the land was called Arabia hence the name of the company.
The entrance to the old factory building, there is now a Bistro in this space.
The old factory building houses a store where you can by Arabia porcelaine and also glassware from iittala, another company in the group of companies that Arabia is part of. This building also has a museum where you can follow the history of the factory and see some products, current and older ones.
This sign says in Swedish translated to English:
MUSEUM
Inaugurated May 22 1948
Planned and set up by
KURT EKHOLM
Interior design by
WERNER WEST
lighting fixtures by
PAAVO TYNELL and L. JOHANSSON-PAPE
Below is the sign in Finnish
Art ceramics/glass is part of what Arabia and the other companies in the Fiskars group make as well as tableware, this is part of the Museum exhibition.
The blue diver .
The beloved Moomin family, created by Tove Jansson in the 1930-s. She wrote the first book: “Moomin and the great flood” during the winter war in Finland, when Russia tried, unsuccessfully, to invade Finland . Tove Jansson both wrote and illustrated the Moomin books.
A typical tablesetting with Arabia Paratiisi (Paradise) series designed by Birger Kaipiainen that Arabia started making in 1969 and they are available currently as well.
In the Yucatan State in Mexico lies the city of Celestun, it is surrounded by mangroves and in the open waters surrounding the mangroves you can find the Pink Flamingos.
Pink Flamingos
The Pink Flamingos in Celestun are Pink because of their diet which is high in pigments from alpha and beta carotenoid. The richest sources of these elements come from algae and different invertebrates that the constantly feeding Flamingos ingest.
Black vultures Coragyps atratus
This area is home to as many as 300 different bird species.
A fisherman
It is not only the Flamingos that are getting their food out of the bays and the mangroves in the area. The area is full of crab tines that provide for the fishermen and their families.
I believe this is a blue crab Callinectes sapidus or in Spanish called Jaiba azul.
This is one popular catch in the area, and the crabs provide sustenance for many families in this part of Yucatan.
I think this is a Juvenile Double crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus.
High up in the Mountains in Northern Thailand lives a moth, it is close to the mountain village of Pai, so this is the Moth Of Pai. Moths and Butterflies are similar creatures, so the above might be a butterfly, maybe in the Pappilonidia family, but Moth of Pai also sounds better than the Butterfly of Pai… or maybe not…
Bangkok Bumblebee
In Thailand, in the big city of Bangkok, Sukhumvit area, on top of a high-rise next to small single family homes lives a Bumblebee. Sometimes the Bumblebee takes flight and sometimes in what could be nectar drunken flight, it seems to almost stall while correcting the direction of travel and trying to level out.
Doves of Chiang Mai
In the North of Thailand lies the city of Chiang Mai. The city was founded sometime between 1294- 1296 as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom and remained so until 1556 when it was occupied by a tribe called the “Taungoo”. You can read more about the history of Chiang Mai here.
Da Nang International airport arrival area is filled with taxi wranglers and other questionable characters, be aware! I use Grab whenever possible and I have not had much problems with the service.
Da Nang International Airport (DND) Arrival, with the usual scam artists and taxi customer wranglers.This sign points to the downtown area of Da Nang.Buildings along the Han river.
Da Nang – Bridges and Beaches.
Da Nang has about 1.13 million inhabitants as of 2019 and it is what is called a first class municipality. It is the fifth largest city by population in Vietnam and it is one of only four centrally controlled cities in the country. Da Nang is the educational and commercial centre for the central coast of Vietnam.
Han River swing bridge.
The port is a big part of Da Nang’s importance as a trading hub. The port is well protected and it used to be accessible by going up the Han river. This is where the country’s first swing bridge was built to make it possible for ships to get into the harbor and at the same time have a bridge for transportation across the river in the city centre. Today the bridge swings for tourists instead of ships since other ways to access the port has been developed.
The Han river swing bridge seen from the side.
The round column in the middle of the bridge is where it swings around and opens up for ships that are higher than the bridge span to pass through going up river and into the harbor.
Han River bridge opens.
Today the bridge opens for tourists during season April – September every weekend Friday and Saturday night 23:00 – 23:30 (best info – check schedule locally for viewing).
A fishing boat on the Han river with the Dragon bridge in the background.
In many ways Da Nang, as well as the country of Vietnam is a mix of high tech new ways of design, ways of doing things and the old traditional ways of getting things done and the way things look.
Dragon BridgeThe head of the Dragon.The head of the Dragon from another angle. The dragon breathes fire at certain times at night.
The Nguyen Van Troi, Tran Thi Ly Bridge (most often just referred to as Tran Thi Ly Bridge) was finished in 2013. The bridge was designed and built by Finnish firm WSP and it replaced two older bridges. The old bridges were named after two revolutionaries in the Vietnam war that ended 1975, one for Tran Thi Ly a female who was imprisoned and tortured in Saigon and the other for a male fellow revolutionary named Nguyen Van Troi.
Tran Thi Ly Bridge
Beaches
My Ke Beach wild surf.Scooters riding along the beach road.
The beaches in Da Nang span between 20 – 30 miles depending a bit on who counts. However, this is a long stretch of public beaches on the South China Sea that attracts vacationers and surfers en masse.
One of the hotels lining the beach road in Da Nang.Sometimes the hotel pool may be a good option to the wild sea.
Vinfast
The Vietnamese brand Vinfast is manufacturing affordable e-cars and e-scooters.
Vingroup is a private company headquartered in Ha Noi with entities in among many areas, retail, hospitality, real estate, healthcare, education and even auto and scooter manufacturing. In 1987, the founder Phạm Nhật Vượng studied at the Ha Noi University of Mining and Geology and was sent on a scholarship to the Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute.
After finishing his studies and graduating in 1992, he moved to Ukraine and opened a Vietnamese restaurant. While he was operating the restaurant, he also started making and selling instant noodles. He founded a company called Technocom in 1993 which eventually became a market leader in dehydrated food products. The company was sold to Nestle in 2009 for USD 150 million.
After the sale of the company he moved back to Vietnam where he already had started a Vinpearl resort back in 20003 and he had developed the Vincom City Towers in Hanoi that opened in 2004. The two entities Vincom and Vinpearl were later merged to form the Vincom Group in which one of the brands is Vinfast. The once restaurant owner Phạm Nhật Vượng is now recognized as the richest (in monetary terms) person in Vietnam with an estimated net worth according to Forbes magazine in October 2019 of USD 7.8 billion which is about VND 181 trillion (VND=Vietnamese Dong).
A closeup of a pretty attractive looking Vinfast e-scooter.
Sidewalk scooter repair and junk yards
This like many shops spills over onto the sidewalk with their business.Sometimes the business completely takes over the sidewalk…
Son Tra Night Market
Overview of the night market area.
Night markets are common and popular all over South East Asia. Part of the attraction is of course the food, and when another thing that adds to the attractiveness is the fact that nighttime is a cooler time that brings some respite from the sweltering daytime temperatures that are getting more and more common.
Entrance to the night market.One of the food stands.Children’s ride area.One of the food stands.A majority of the food offerings are seafood, fished locally.One of the seating areas.
Public Art
Birds in a tree.
Along the Han river walkway there are many public art sculptures to enjoy. Art is well supported by the local and country government so public art and museums are plentiful throughout the country. I think art is part of what makes a country great and Vietnam has a great thriving arts community.
More of an abstract piece.A Marble female figure.Beautifully carved Eagle and a serpent.Abstract kissing couple.Female with Lotus flowers.Female face.
