Hey all, I’m back in the USA… twas a great trip, but it’s nice to be in my country again, though not yet home, as I’m now in LA for Siggraph.

One o these days I’ll put up some of my photos, but I took well over a thousand, so it might take a while to sort through em… I’ll prolly just wait till after Burning Man and then post a massive selection of images from Europe, Souteast Asia, Siggraph & Burning Man, which, of course, should excite you all cause I take such purdy pictures. 😉

Ok, enough of this, I’m runnin away….
I wonder, am I the only one that reads this? Most likely.

Dad and I are now in Chiang Mai. Yesterday and the day before, we were in Bangkok, and toured the night market (hookers GALORE) and explored the Grand Palace, which is pretty much THE most incredible & beautiful place we’ve ever seen.

Today was all about elephants… wonderful wonderful creatures… We pet them and hugged them, rode them and fed them…. we even saw elephants paint, play soccer, & play the harmonica. I had no idea how smart and talented they are. Truly the highlight of our time in Thailand.

Dad and I are in Hue now, after spending a few days in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City…

Saigon’s quite a place… lots of people and more motorbikes than you can imagine. Traffic is utter chaos: a wild frenzy of beeping and swerving in every direction, yet somehow it seems to work out. (for the most part)

We took a boat trip down the MeKong Delta, and have eaten all sorts of food, all of it very tasty, and much of it staring back at us. Snake wine tastes just like normal saki, but you get the unique experience of drinking alcohol that has had a dead snake pickling in it for god knows how long. sweet. (Supposed to make you more verile… watch out world!!!)

Today in Hue we took a guided tour of a whole bunch of temples, monasteries, and the like. (Between Singapore and Vietnam, we’ve seen a ridiculous amount of incredibly ornate places of worship, and paid our respects accordingly)

Vietnam ain’t the vacation paradise that a place like Australia is, but it’s beautiful, full of history, and cheap as hell. $1 = 15,000 dong, and that’ll often get you a beer and some change. Kickass.

Verdict: Australia kicks ass.. gotta go back again for much longer….

Met up with Dad and toured ’round Singapore. I was a bit fearful at first since chewing gum will get you caned, etc but it proved to be a very nice place. We visited a bunch of temples and gorged ourselves on pepper crab and more.

Ok, off to Ho Chi Minh city…..

Wow, Byron Bay is great, why am I only here for 3 days? I started off in the Rainforest Resort, but ditched that hostel, as it’s a 40 min walk/$10 cab home. Now I’m at this place called the Arts Factory, and it’s great. I got a free didge lesson and am a much better player now… almost got the circular breathing too!

The beach here is just fantastic…possibly the best I’ve ever seen… certainly the finest sand. Walked the beach with my didge till sunset, then wandered back into town where I found a bunch of hippies playin drums, so I played along wth them while another fella I met played guitar.

Now it’s about time to go get some dinner and some beers… Tomorrow I go back to Sydney, and then I’m off to meet Dad in Singapore!!!

CHEERS
-S

Oh, it’s so nice here in Airlie Beach! I got here a few days ago, and left on a boat for a 3 day, 3 night SCUBA trip around the outer Great Barrier Reef & Whitsundy Islands. Some great diving: 10 in 3 days. Even better, we were on a big comfy catamaran with nice hot showers where we were fed great food by our cook, Dan.

Today was spent wandering around Arlie, where I met some folks who I hung out with and played diggerido with on the beach while they played drums.

In a few minutes I catch a bus to Byron Bay…

So I skipped Cairns and went right to Townsville to dive the Yongala wreck. (sunk 1911) It was amazing how much life had already grown on that thing… it was more reef than shipwreck. Very cool. I finally got to try out the underwater casing for my camera, and it held up just fine, producing some nice shots.

Tomorrow I head to Airlie Beach for a 3 day 3 night dive trip to the great barrier reef…

Greetings from Sydney, mates. This place is great. I’ve done the walk around town, wandered over the bridge, and taken the obligatory zillion photos of the opera house. I bought a didgeridoo from a neat lil gallery (not a shitty souvenir shop) and I love it. Very cool: a small tree hollowed out by termites, and fixed up by an aborigine artisan. I can make some neat sounds with it, but nothing resembling music yet….and the whole circular breathing thing just baffles me…

I’ve been here a few days & parked in Kings Cross, which is Sydney’s red light district. Some great people watching in this area… and a pretty neat club across the street. I’m staying at “the Funk House”, which is quite fun, and full of backpackers from all around the world. The other day I went to the Blue Mountains with Dan, my Canadian roomate. We hiked and saw the “Three Sisters”.

Tomorrow I head to Cairns, at which point I’ll hit various SCUBA attractions as my bus my way down to Byron Bay….