In Hamburg it is cold and gray — frankly, I would much rather be back at Dream Beach.

Dream Beach, Nusa Lembongan, Bali, Indonesia

Many modern high-rise buildings are very similar to each other. It is all about the glass and the steel and can get very impersonal at times. The Petronas Towers, on the other hand, are very distinctive, beautiful buildings. Despite being designed by an Argentine-American architect, they incorporate many elements of Islamic art. Not only does this show that the architect actually engaged with the surroundings of the building he was designing — Malaysia is a Muslim country — but it also gives these towers a look that is simultaneously very modern and very local. It is always good to see examples of non-westernized modernity and these towers are an icon of that thinking.

I love the Petronas Towers and could not pass up the opportunity for this photo-op picture. The only pity is that Kuala Lumpur was covered in a constant smoggy haze when we were there. Apart from seeing these architectural masterpieces, I honestly did not enjoy the city too much.

Read more about the Petronas Towers at Wikipedia.
See all of my pictures of the Petronas Towers.

Take Bill Clinton, for example. He is a political genius and was a great president but — as we all found out — he is also a sex addict. George W. Bush was an alcoholic, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was a regular at a high-profile escort service, John Edwards cheats on his wife while she is battling cancer, Joschka Fischer was constantly oscillating between being obese and running marathons. The list goes on and on — and while these are all politicians, you could probably add successful businessmen, entrepreneurs and journalists, just that you don’t usually find out about them because nobody bothers to dig up the dirt.

Barack Obama, though, seems above all that. At least on paper, he’s perfect. He is athletic, good-looking, intelligent, religious, a family man, loves his wife, adores his daughters. He is patient, well-adjusted, listens to advice, but able to take decisions and stick with them. Sure, he used to smoke but his wife asked him to stop and because he loves her so much and has a will as strong as steel, he quit. Oh, and yeah, he is the best speaker the world has seen in years. What is wrong with the guy? He simply cannot be that perfect.

I am seriously curious: what will it be? Will he dump his wife and start an affair with Paris Hilton? Suddenly become obese? Become a coke-head? Or is he really perfect?

The Boston Globe has just started a new blog. So far, so boring. But wait: this blog features collections of high-resolution images that illustrate current news events. And as you can see from the sample, these images are stunning! Each post revolves around a certain topic (e.g. the state of affairs in Afghanistan) and provides a number of beautiful, interesting, informative, stunning pictures.

This is one of the best new things on the web I have seen in a while. So, go, go, see the high-res version of the shot above, more shots from Afghanistan or see more posts at The Big Picture.

Seen on Gadling

Hah, but wait for 2010! Give Klinsmann another four years and you are going to see us win our next World Cup in South Africa!

By the way, it is absolutely amazing what introducing a new program with the word “Communication” in its title does towards getting girls to a university. We now have a study program with a quota of 70+% women at IU! As I said, amazing.

After convincing my significant other that a hiking trip actually is a good way to spend two days of her precious vacation time in Mexico we got on our ways to Cerro del Potosí — Nuevo León’s highest peak — with Tec de Monterrey’s Club de Montañismo. That, however, I did not realize before getting there. My Spanish still not being quite up to speed, I did not really understand that “desnivel 1800m” actually means that we will be crossing 1800m of altitude by foot. Once it was too late to turn back though I did figure it out.

Cloudy Shadows by magnusvk.

Starting in a small village at the mountain’s foot, we started walking over small paths, forest aisles cleared for fire protection or just crossing mountain meadows and trees. The way was quite steep in places but always manageable. The further up the mountain, the more breathtaking the views. As we came closer to the top breathtaking started to take on a more literal meaning of the word — breathing at 3800m is not easy if you are not used to such altitudes. It can be quite frustrating to just take three or four quick paces before you find yourself out of breath again.

Radome by magnusvk.

On El Potosí’s peak, there is a radar station used for civil aviation. The station is constantly manned by two maintenance staffers. Their station is quite cozy compared to the night’s chilly mountain air and since we had heard that they are very friendly to campers wanting to use their facilities (no wonder! I would be bored too) we just went and knocked on their doors. Amenities include heating (with sub-zero temperatures outside this cannot be overestimated), running water, a fully-equipped kitchen, a billard table and satellite TV. This gave us the chance to prepare a hot cup of instant noodles and even some tacos with frijoles and cheese.

Sun Breaking Free by magnusvk.

For the night, however, we retreated back to our tents and the outside cold. We can all attest that it was sub-zero during the night though we had no thermometer to test our hypothesis. The next morning, we got up to see a beautiful sunrise — or, actually, some of us did while lazy me staid in the warm sleeping bag a little longer. After packing up our equipment, we started our descent before we eventually safely made it back to Monterrey. All in all, it was an expedition of extremes — from Monterrey’s 500m of altitude to a whopping 3800m, from Monterrey’s 35°C to a probable -5°C during the night. And I loved it.

See all photos.