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Lens-Artists,  Street photography,  Themed galleries,  Travel in general

Gallery: finding fun around the world

September 16, 2024 / 55 Comments

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing

George Bernard Shaw

A recurrent theme in this blog is my contention that people are pretty much the same the world over when it comes to the basics. We all want to feel safe, to have enough to eat and to feel connected to others whom we love. What I have mentioned less often, is that we all also want to have fun from time to time. Whether well-off or poor, and wherever we live, we all need times when we can put aside any problems and find a way to relax and enjoy ourselves.

And it’s remarkable how similar our ideas of fun are, wherever we are. Adults enjoy music and dance, play board games, play or watch sports, or simply spend time relaxing with friends. Children like to play too of course, with toys, with each other or alone. They also enjoy engaging with pets and other animals.

For this week’s Lens Artists challenge Egidio asks what we do for fun. I think my monthly Changing Seasons posts give you all a good idea of my answer: travel, photography, cinema, art exhibitions, eating out …

But for my own post this week I have, as so often, gone off on a bit of a tangent. Since my own fun is found often in travelling and travel photography, I thought I would share images of other people having fun captured mainly on those travels. A couple however were taken much closer to home, including my feature photo of dodgems at the recent Ealing Blues Festival.

A few of these shots you will have seen before, but I couldn’t resist including them as they fitted the theme so well!  

Men seated on low stools playing board games

Playing Chinese chess (cờ tướng) on the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam

Men seated at tables playing chess

In better times, games of chess in a subway of the Kharkhiv metro, Ukraine

[apologies for the poor quality of this image, it was quite dark down there]

Men standing and sitting around a table in a city square

Group of card players in Palermo, Sicily

Two men playing chess on a low wall by a lake

Playing chess in the Grand Park of Tirana, Albania

Family group at a picnic under a tree

Family picnic in Moranbong Park, Pyongyang, North Korea

Pedal boat shaped like a duck with family on board

Boating in Bei Hai Park, Beijing, China

Women in swimsuits on a plastic slide shaped like a giant frog

Enjoying a slide at Munsu Water Park, Pyongyang, North Korea

Group of people dancing, the women in colourful dresses

Mass dancing on the streets of Pyongyang, North Korea

[mandated by the regime on days of national celebration but nevertheless clearly enjoyed]

Women in traditional dresses dancing, watched by a crowd

At a dance festival in Cuenca, Ecuador

People standing in front of a stage with a band playing

At the annual Blues Festival in Ealing, west London

Men in football shirts cheering above a row of flags

Newcastle United fans at a football match

Group of young people on stone steps

Teenagers ‘hanging out’ in Bologna, Italy

Girl peeking from behind a door
Girl peeking from behind a door

Playing hide and seek in Bhaktapur, Nepal

Small girl throwing seeds towards flying pigeons
Small girl surrounded by pigeons

Feeding pigeons in Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, Nepal

Two children with small goats

Playing with kid goats in Yangigazgan, a desert village in Uzbekistan

Boy seated on the floor in a doorway with a tortoise

With his pet tortoise in Getsemani, Cartagena, Colombia

Children playing by a simple building

In the school playground in Sopchem, a village in northern Laos

Small boy in a miniature car

In the Piazza Maggiore, Bologna, Italy

Young boys on skateboards in an area covered with graffiti

Skateboarding on London’s South Bank

Boy jumping among soap bubbles

Bubble fun in the Piazza San Michele, Lucca, Italy

Photos taken between 2006 and 2024

55 Comments

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