Straights of Hormuz

I do not fear your geopolitics. Bring on the diving.

This guy

Sophia and I were sitting on a cliff overlooking the sea about 100km south of Muscat when this guy swam up to see what we were up to. He was about 3ft long and a foot and a half wide. After looking up at us a couple times he decided that was enough and swam away.

Oman Fort

2.25 miles above the sea

Zermatt: Life Inside a Snow Globe

Heart of Darkness

Pnomh Penh, February 2006

Fireworks, Beijing 2006 style

This was the first year that Beijingers were allowed to light off fireworks in the downtown area after a number of years of restrictions. They went completely apeshit. This is the view from my hotel room, note that some of the fireworks are shot from people's 20th floor windows. 安全第一！

Baltic Crossing

On the ferry from Helsinki to Talinn. Yeah, that is a bear on the beer and reindeer meat in my hand.

Lake Como Bicycle

Perfume Pagoda

When I took this photo I was all like "Dang this is the most unique thing and I happened to capture it just in the nick of time (pats own back)." Then at dinner the other guy in our boat had taken the exact same photo as me. Oh well.

Side note - at the time this guy (Chris, a German software writer) had been making a site that let you play virtual tag or something using gps and handhelds. Dude is either way rich or way bitter now that Four Square is boomin'.

Good Luck, Barge

Shanghai is at times referred to as "The Paris of the East" and if you live here long enough you might even start to believe that load of BS. Just flipping through some photos from our trip last year (on the fifth straight day of truly miserable weather here in "TPOTE") reminds me just how absurd that comparison is. Here we have a barge, attempting to enter the Seine that has run into some difficulties. However, to be on a barge attempting to enter the Seine, life really does not have that many difficulties - one would think.

15,200 Feet Above WenHai

At the base of Snow Dragon Mountian, Yunnan Province. Notice the herd of yaks on the right side.

Photo Finish

Only in China can you take over the horse track after the races for your own event.

Pray, Homie.

ZhaMei Monestary, near Lugu Lake on the Yunnan/Sichuan Border

He's on a boat, yo.

Another from the Lugu Lake b/w Lomo series. This one happened thanks to Andrew and I getting lost while hiking. We ended up 2 hours in, pinned between the lake and a cliff facing a major back track through some shitty hiking when we stumbled across this guy and his buddies cutting down trees in the woods. They gave us a lift in their traditional "pig's trough" boat for 100 rmb and complained that we somehow ended up ripping them off. Whatever. Fun times, good shot. Shot this and the previous photo with the Diana F+ Lomo using their ISO100 b/w film.

Probably The Best Photo I've Taken (to date)

This is up in Lugu Lake, Yunnan/Sichuan Province, China. Went there for a week plus. Shot using my Diana F+ Lomo.

Star Mooring Farm

Beautiful place, lots of cows and trees.

The Pilgrimage: Burnside Skatepark

Well, its been a solid decade since the thought of flying through the air on a glorified plywood plank has seriously crossed my mind, but during the visit to Portland I felt like I needed to make the pilgrimage to the world renowned Burnside Skatepark. This spot has been around for as long as I can remember with features in magazines galore, skate videos, even video games.

It took us awhile to figure out exactly where it was. While we were there I had the single greatest experience of my life involving someone asking me for money. A kid came up to Luke and me, looking sober enough to be coherent and said the following:

Can you give me two dollars and fifty cents? My friends and I are cooking a pasta dinner and we just realized that we don't have a cheese grater. We really need a cheese grater for this meal so please give us a spare two-fifty.

It goes without saying that I did not give him $2.50, but have since regretted not asking him to trade me a plate of food for cash. Maybe even a sliver of the cheese he so desperately needed to grate would have parted me from my $2.50. Then again, maybe I'm just not hip to Portland slang, and he was telling me that he and his friends were dope fiends.

Sisters, outside of Bend, Oregon

Really enjoyed our time in the Bend/Sun River, Oregon area. Only spent a little bit of time there, but it was enough to make me want to come back. The drive from Portland is amazing, progressing along the Columbia River, up to Mt Hood, then through the high desert. Lots of different landscapes to be seen in just a few hours. There will be more photos from the drive posted at a later date.

Once we got in we decided to do some hiking. This is the first of the two hikes we did; a 7+ mile saunter up to and through a desolate lava flow, surrounded by The Sisters (two of the peaks shown), and some of the other Cascades. Hiking over volcanic rocks is a bit uncomfortable, as its similar to poorly packed gravel. Lots of minor slips, but no major falls. We went to a short peak, around 6,000+ ft, had a couple apples, took some photos, and went for a massive Western style breakfast. Good times.

Meet me tonight in Atlantic City

Made it through Atlantic City this time around. First time in a long time I've been there and the weather was good. Usually I go to the beach house in the dead of winter, to do my best to kick the depression up to eleven. Living in the tropics has made me soft, I know.

Didn't quite realize the Guardian Angels were still roaming the streets, keeping us safe. Felt like I had somehow stumbled into 1978 when I saw them. I mean, seriously-- vigilantes on the streets of Atlantic City? Would have made Bruce proud.

Now there is a big building project, it'll be the tallest building in the state. Four huge cranes are towering over the boardwalk and ocean below. It's been bought by Chinese investors, because the locals all went broke.