" An amazing coincidence in Madrid " Part 1 - Madrid

the story of meeting Liz Whitaker (the director of Bob the Builder
....not Thomas the tank...haha!! Similar style i agree) is a complete conincidence!

Bob the Builder



opening sequence of Bob the Builder

Pingu

"Eskimo Disco 7 - 11"
that they have just finished a music video featuring Pingu , very nice!

i was in madrid attending the festival, and the final night of the festival, We (guests) were put into the festival car that takes us to the venue!...some one at the back was screaming ...

" who is that gentlemen sitting in the front? ".some drunk lady was asking me.

I briefly introduced myself " Hi, my name is Thomas Leung and I am from Hong Kong, I am here with my film .... and Sonja (the nice croatian animator) added " Sukki's Story is his film " and "she just said " I am Liz, nice to meet you! "

the remaining journey was really short and the rest of the conversation was this girl asking the german guy sitting with us in the car if he is making lots of money, a very good life and stuff like that. I never know who she is, what she does and how she looks.

when we get out of the car, that girl was already gone~

the day after, i was about to check out of the hotel and was having this converation with the nice croatian couple! during our conversation, i realize that the girl from last night was - THE director!!I feel that i missed one great chance to chat with her during the festival, and i should have ask her questions about her works! they encouraged me to contact her while I was in London, and i thought....why not!

the last day when I was at the airport, I just email Liz with her email address from the festival catalogue.

the following day, I was already in London, online in an internet cafe at OXFORD street, i got Liz's reply!! that was really one of the best emails that i received lately!!

" Hello Thomas,

I'm more than happy to talk with you, however, our studios aren't actually located in London but in Manchester. If you would like to visit our studio then you can get a train from Euston station (in London) to Manchester Piccadilly, it's about a 3 hour journey, then a tram to Altrincham.

It would be easier for us if you came on Thursday or Friday this week, I'm afraid I would only be able to spare you a couple of hours as I'm starting a new episode of Bob and so am busy but your welcome to look round the studio and meet Bob and Pingu!! If you'd like to come let me know and I will send you more details of how to get here.

Cheers liz x "

i thought...3 hours is nothing! I sure can go back and fourth manchester in a day! And, it will be a cool adventure story to tell you guys! So, i go crazy googling and planned my whole trip in an hour! the day after, i went to Euston Station to get my train ticket and everything was ready to go!!

--------------- to be continued -------------------

RECAP #3 a nice walk in Madrid City~

one of my best tip for all you world travelers is to buy a book about the place that you are going! When I was planning my trip, my Dad said...." you are only going for a short time, and you don't need to buy a book ", lucky that I didn't listen to him! At least, with the book, i got the map of the train and a few articles about where is where, which is the most famous tourist spots and stuff!!

my book is pretty good and they even have a recommended traveling route, and i followed!

these nice buildings are everywhere in Madrid, which is a photographer's heaven!!

while I was walking in the city, it was just a mater of changing lenses for my camera, lucky that i brought my fish eye lens as it gives some interesting perspective to my shots!

this is the plaza MAJOR, beautiful place, and there are a lot of restaurants next to the corridors of ths square. But since most of the restaurants' menus are in spanish only, i picked the one that has English~ And for your information, the most famous food in Spain is called Jaemon, which is a special kind of ham, quite nice, and I enjoyed it!

it is good to be travelling on your own, you get to control your own pace! but one day, I will be travelling with a couple of best friends~


this is the statue in the middle of plaza major~

a panorama shot of plaza major (created with autostitch) -free shareware for PCs, let me know if you want it. All you have to do is to shoot the whole panorama environment, with a few overlaping area. All you have to do is to import the photos in the program and it will does it all!

my first meal in the city - scramble eggs with mushroom and garlic vegetable soup