More Photos from Perth

Christmas Morning at the beach! Lani's First christmas
Christmas Brunch with The Baxter's

Maddi, me and Tiff Little Lani!! she is So cute. Next time I see her she should be walking and saying Auntie Tomie

Sunrise from King Park... my one sunrise shot in Perth.
Another Beautiful Sunset over the Indian Ocean

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year From Perth

Karen and I arrived to Perth on Friday Dec 13th! Maddie was at the airport to pick us up! it was so nice for me to see a friendly face picking me up. We had taken the red eye from Hong Kong so we were taken-via the scenic route- to Simone's House for a shower. Again it was so nice to be welcomed into a home with a yard, kitchen and couch!!!! Luxury for me. They day was spent catching up with Maddie and Jeff! getting some baby love from Lani and meeting Maddie's twin sister Tiff. The next day we would head down south to Margret River for a 5 day holiday. Oh- I can't forget to mention the BBQ we had! Finally steak, wine and a beautiful salad... i was in heaven. For the past 2 weeks i have eaten like a queen. Here is a quick over view of my time in Perth.

5 days chillin on the beach down south with a run, swim, bike and wine tasting mixed in there.

We had a bit of cold and rainy weather but it didn't stop us from having a great time!

After another great 3 weeks of travel with Karen she decided to go home for Christmas and New years. So again I had to say good-bye to her. It was sad but again I truly enjoyed sharing this experience with her. I wouldn't trade it in for anything.

Then back up to Perth to get ready for Christmas. Did some shopping, site seeing and of course run, bike and swim. I am with Maddie and Jeff let me remind you. Maddie's childhood friend Simone has a holiday of about a month so she and I spent about a week trying to figure out where we wanted to go anywhere in the world!!!! It was harder than one would think to pick a place to go at this time of year. After a week of talking about it.. on Boxing Day we booked a one way flight to South Africa from Perth!!! A bit freaked out but we have picked... SO the past week has been getting ready for my next adventure. I got shots, clothes shopping and of course I bought a new lens!! I want to make sure I capture the game properly. And we booked our return ticket so Simmy can get back to work, I was trying to push for her to stay longer but no go.

I hope this finds you all well! I have enjoyed my time here in Perth and will get another week once I return from Africa. I am off tomorrow and will be gone for 3 weeks. Perth reminds me a lot of San Diego and have felt right at home here. I have been lucky to have Tiff, Dave and Simone to take care of me. And Jeff and Maddie of course. They are on their way home and I will see them when I return to SD! Happy New Year

Enjoy the Photos

Down South

Smith's Beach

"The Twins"

Busselton- Home of the Western Aus IronMan

Karen and I on the Jetty in Busselton

Maddie and Lani have Fun!!

Little Miss Lani

Daddy's Little Girl

The most amazing sunset

Perth from King's Park

More photos to come... stay tuned

Vietnam

lunch of a fish! we weren't sure of how it would be.. it was great!

overlooking the Mekong river.. on the bike
A happy Vietnamese! They have nothing in life but at the same time everything in life

more people on the river

Our personal tailor!
Motor Bikes! craziness!

Our elephant ride just outside of Chiang Mai

Jake, a novice monk we chatted with in Chiang Mai.

A 'Karen' Hill Tribe Village we visited.

Sunset in Koh Lanta, the second beach stop we made in the south of Thailand.

Thailand

Tomie arrived in Thailand Nov 25 and explored Bangkok: shopping malls, yoga, beer drinking. Karen arrived Nov 26 and didn't explore Bangkok then or later in the trip because of the short amount of time we had to travel between here and Vietnam. We flew to Northern Chiang Mai straight away and spent 5 or so days in the busy city, 2 0f those days blending into the local scene on our own scooter. Neither of us had driven a bike before and for some insane reason, when Tomie handed me the keys to the scooter and told me I was driving, I said okay. There are no words that can relay to you the fear and adrenaline that consumed me as I tried to a.)drive a motorized bike b.)drive on the left side of the road c.)not get hit by one of the thousands of bikes and tuk-tuks or trucks or taxis on the road. Insane. No rhyme or reason. No traffic signals or signs. Okay, mayber there were one or two lights in the city and maybe we did pass those same one or two lights two or three times on any given trip around the city as we found our way in and out of the city. A relatively small city surrounded by a moat. Easy right? Well, that first trip on that bike took us about one hour to find the road that took us to the temple we were en route to that day. We also rode an elephant, cruised down a river on a bamboo raft, visited a few temples, ate lots of delicious thai food, had dinner at some great venues along the river, went to the night market, had a massage for about $3.

Then we went south to the beach. Railay is a peninsula that is called an isthmus. No cars. Get there by long-tailed boat from Krabi. This was a sample of paradise at much cheaper rates than we are familiar with. 4 beaches on this small area and each different than the other. It was hot and the water was beautiful.
Perhaps you have heard of Phuket or Kho Phi Phi. We chose a more remote area and are so thankful we did after taking a snorkeling day cruise and stopping into Kho Phi Phi just for lunch. It was like a cruise ship terminal. So many people. Our snorkeling trip also took us to the beach where the Leo Decaprio movie The Beach was filmed. Too crowded. Beautiful, but way too many tourists there. Look at what we enjoyed instead!!

Long-tailed boat with one of the many islands in the background.

Maya Bay - The Beach

Sunset from Railay West Beach

Perhaps the prettiest beach on Railay

Incredible India!

Well I not sure I would say Incredible and India in the same sentence. At least for Delhi that it is. I just got to Bangkok after spending 3 days in Crazy India. Today was such a luxury for me. I got to eat fruit,veggies and watch TV. you have to love International flights. Here are a few pics from my time in India.

While on my Drive to the Taj Mahal I would see Camels, cows, monkey, lots of people, and bikes of all kinds on the road as well. Different kind of freeways.

I felt like a rockstar! about 5 different India guys asked if they could have their picture with me. Since I have been taking lots of the pictures of the local people I figured I could return the favor. It seemed to make their day. (the Taj Mahal in the background)
The TAJ!! Yes it is amazing. Bigger than you could ever think of. The pollution impacts the photos and color a bit but it was still worth seeing. I left Delhi at 4 am drove 4 hours to see the Taj and Agra Fort and then returned to Delhi the same day. Figured I wasn't planning on coming back so 8 hours in the car wouldn't kill me. Anyways I wasn't driving.
More street shots... I might have forgot to mention that the cows are sacred in these parts. They roam the street if they aren't put to work. I can't wait to eat one! I went the entire time in Nepal and India without meat. I knew I shouldn't have let Karen get me use to burgers every other day. When I get to Aus that will be the first thing I eat.
Typical transportation.

More Nepal photos

Overlooking Pokhara from the Stupa on top of the hill. We took motorbikes instead of walking. It was a nice luxury.We rented motor bikes for the day to tour around the lake.
Rice fields
Today was the day I went Paragliding. It wasn't the best experience for me. I lost my breakfast 4 times. Once in the air and 3 times when I landed. The first 5 mins were great.

More nepal photos

A Temple after crossing the pass.A 91 year old Buddist Monk. He gave us a blessing for crossing the pass
Sunrise on Poon Hill
Last photos before sarah, James, Amy and Carrie go a different way
Sunrise