zion

zion is potentially cool, but was seriously overcrowded when we went
we enjoyed bryce and the capitol reef area much more

grand canyon

we began our great southwestern national park tour at the grand canyon,
which is quite a bit more exciting than your average hole in the ground!

joshua tree

on a wednesday, we drive into the desert!

joshua tree national park greets us with boulders

the rocks are surprisingly grippy and pretty easy to climb and scramble upon

like clouds, they beg our imagination to assign a likeness

the joshua tree, a real desert hero

joshua pose!

cholla cactus garden, a spiny, prickly place...

the san gorgonio pass wind farm is home to hundreds of whooshing windmills...
...quite a sight to behold

where in the world is poo fly? (vol 7)

you thought he was gone, but no!
just enjoying a long cold winter in a furry ushanka.

the aptly named

a cold february day on the great wall of china!

this is a "wild wall" portion of the greater great wall
(thankfully touristless)

"wild" because many sections of the wall in this area were in ruin...

...and in some cases, completely overgrown

it's mind-boggling how the wall clings to the terrain across intense elevation changes

further evidence of my visit!

a different type of streetwalker

when you see something like this on the street in a foreign country...

i find it's best to do something like this!

bafflement: it's what's for dinner!

when someone like me sits down to eat alone at a restaurant in beijing, knowing not a word of mandarin, it can be comforting to see some english descriptions of dishes on the menu. however, ripe with the finest chingrish around, these translations can cause more confusion (and tears of hilarity) than clarity. enjoy the following selections from a place i visited for lunch.

poor piggy

for those in a hurry

you might be too if you were scalloped

a vegetarian dish, perhaps?

?!?!?!

...

"sheep's leg greedy bullfrog (do the boiler...)"
i guess that's what the bullfrog gets for being greedy

BONUS: "jumbotron" description from an acrobats performance

"bounding vigorously - ball catching"
(what this turned out to be was a mind-blowing juggling show)

mondulkiri, cambodia

my last major excursion in cambodia was to the eastern province of mondulkiri, a mountainous region where nights are cool, ants are many, and elephants are man's best friend.

my main goal was to travel by (elephant) foot into the forest,
which was pretty easy to do with twenty bucks.

i was only "saddled up" for half the day (i walked back alongside the elephants) because the "basket" in which we were seated was so small that my knees were tucked into my armpits for about the whole ride. not comfortable. but fun anyway.

we ended at a waterfall and swimming hole, where a group of kids were launching themselves into the water below. it would have been pretty interesting to have had access to such a playground as a kid.

after a much-needed bath, our elephant took a few minutes to scratch an itch...

this was how we moved (note the child "driver")

for five relaxing nights, i stayed in this simple little cabin -
an excellent way to wrap up my time in southeast asia

"rabbit island" (koh tonsey, cambodia)

a short boat ride form the southern coastal town of kep is "rabbit island",
where we stayed for a couple nights in bamboo bungalows.

all along the beach were small groves of trees with hammocks strung on every available limb

bokor hill (kampot, cambodia)

back on the motorcycle again, we set out to reach the top of bokor hill. it's a very eerie place, featuring some palatial old houses, hotels, a church and a casino, all long ago abandoned and in ruin. at the top of the hill (1000m), we were among the clouds, which added to the spookiness of the place. the main access road is under construction and usually off limits to anyone but organized tour groups. however, it was luckily open for a few days because of the chinese new year; we happily took advantage!

i suspect this was a concrete water tower in its day

here is the casino building, perhaps the largest structure on bokor hill.
every part of the building is still accessible.

behind the casino is a cliff that tumbles off into the whooping, chirping, cackling mountain forest, on this day almost completely obscured by the clouds

vientiane (laos)

i was only in vientiane for one day, during which i visited a couple used bookshops and loa pdr's very own arc de triomphe style monument. form the top, i could see most of the city, which looks like little more than a town. it must be the calmest capital city in the world...

vang vieng (laos)

on the road from luang prabang, there were some incredible rock formations and mountains...

...which i tried to capture out the window of our van

i learned to ride a small motorcycle and made myself busy cruising around the
villages west of vang vieng town

the mountains are riddled with caves and i squirmed through child-sized crevices and tunnels on my stomach until i realized they are certainly not made for giants. i spent the rest of my time in daylight.

with sunset approaching, i rode back to town, which has turned into an alarming, spring-break-esque party capital of southeast asia. i really don't know how a scene like vang vieng comes to be, but it is fairly shocking (seemingly oblivious to the local population)...and thankfully avoidable with some effort :)