Wild camels somewhere in Mongolia.

San Francisco, CA. Some guy paired these two creatures to generate tips.

Okinawa, Japan. At a cafe, this cat jumped right onto the chair next to my table and started eating from a bowl. Obviously, he had done this before.

Cheyenne, Wyoming, June 2009. Check out how much gas prices have risen in one year.

Rishikesh, India. Cows in the street are a common sight.

Varanasi, India. Steps leading down to the river are called ghats. Varanasi has dozens of these narrow ghats, most of which have animals cohabiting with humans.

Rishikesh, India. Cows eat directly from dumpsters and ditches in India. This pile of trash was on fire, but that didn't bother the cows until licking a hot piece of coal. Check out the "American Spoken English Institute" sign painted on the brick wall behind the cows.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. A large calf feeds from its mother in the middle of a dirt road.

McLeod Ganj, India. This picture was taken literally within a couple hundred meters of where the Dalai Lama lives.

More cows from India. Varanasi. I could never figure out how Hindus see the cow as such a holy and motherly creature, letting them cohabitate freely, yet will sometimes tie them up and take ownership.

Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka. This beautiful beach town was massacred by the tsunami a few years back. While walking around, I was surprised by this huge water monitor. It must have been over 6 feet long. You can see its tongue flicking.

Varanasi, India. Most of the people in the picture traveled to this location for funerals or religious travel. They will sleep in the open air, sharing space with the cows. During my time in India, I came to really love the cows, which were so docile, tame, friendly, and seemingly content.

Kota Kinabalau, Borneo, Malaysia. These tiny turtles were being sold for about $2.75 each. One street market there had vendors selling all kinds of animals illegally. Most had signs saying "No Pictures."

Ko Chang, Thailand. People visiting Thailand who want a wonderful beach experience away from the crazy tourist areas (like Phuket) should check out Ko Chang.

Rishikesh, India. One of my favorite pictures! This road was really smooth compared to most, which made it all the better for napping.

Colombo, Sri lanka.

Of all the pictures I took in the last year, this is my favorite! My #1 of about 5,000 pictures. To me it sweepingly symbolizes modern India. Really, I should say that it reflects my perceptions of the country. In the picture, I see an animal that is respected enough by the people to be painted with a purple religious bindi (forehead dot), yet has two legs tied together and is standing idly in the scorching sun, matted in its own excrement. I see India as this incredibly religious country, so religious in my opinion that traditions and beliefs overpower common sense to help oneself. The donkey's bindi represents the strong spiritual nature of India. The tied legs represent the self-sabotage or self-inflicted suffering that so many seek or feel they deserve. The dirty hair represents the inability or apathy to help oneself.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka.

Rishikesh, India.

Ko Chang, Thailand. At sunset, monkeys sit on the rooftops near the main street, catching bananas that people toss in the air. This mama monkey is full of bananas and enjoying a little relaxation with baby.

Manali, India.

Hilo, Hawaii.

Agra, India.

Hong Kong.

Mongolia.

Pinnawela, Sri Lanka. Every afternoon, elephants rescued at this orphanage stroll to the water for a drink. Elephants housed here include abandoned babies, blind adults, and elephants with missing legs from land mines.

Okinawa.

Manali, India.

Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. This lizard was so well camouflaged, I was lucky to see it. Some heavy googling was necessary to figure out what this thing was called. It looks like a cross of snake head, frog legs, and lizard scales and tail.

Sri Lanka. Imagine seeing this on your bathroom sink. Now imagine it crawling into the hollow plastic handle of your disposable razor.

Friday morning at Angkor Wat. One of my favorite things to do is watch or take pictures of other people watching and taking pictures of something else. Confusing?

this is what everybody stands around waiting for: sunrise. I took in one Angkor sunrise and three sunsets.

On the ride to the airport Saturday morning, I try to cram some final pictures I had planned on taking...like all the unusual forms of transportation. They use these trailer beds to haul people around, too.

I have to say, this picture drives me a little crazy. In fact, I nearly wrote an entire article about it. See all the empty seats? There are MANY. I took this picture after everyone had boarded. I took my own row where I could stretch out. Now notice the girl with the hairbun thing in the window seat on the right side of the plane. She made the other two people in the row move so that she could get to her assigned seat. For some reason, all three of them sat in their assigned seats the entire flight. WHY?! I don't know why this gets me worked up, but it does!

As you can see, I take my backpack storage very seriously. It was my one and only possession for which I was responsible. In Kuala Lumpur, I stored it for the day at this airport locker area.

This bus took me from the airport to downtown KL, Malaysia. While in the airport, I took 5 minutes at the tourist desk to get a free city map. On the bus ride, I decided I had enough time to see Chinatown and the Petronas Towers.

Once in downtown, I picked up a subway ticket to make my way around. Notice my shirt. I wear it for over 48 hours. It's retired now.

Taking in Chinatown...probably not the best choice on a limited layover, especially seeing that I would be in CHINA the next morning.

Hey, I told you, one of my favorite things to photograph is other people taking photographs. I find these people more interesting subjects than the sticky rice it looks like they are capturing.

In a high-end Malaysian grocery store. I liked how the juices were so orderly as to type and size.

Standing outside the Petronas Twin Towers, this was to be the highlight of my day in Malaysia. These are the tallest twins in the world, and used to be the unqualified tallest towers until 2003.

When I went inside to get a ticket to the skybridge connecting the twin towers, they were "sold out." It turns out they usually distribute all the free tickets before noon, and I was arriving in the afternoon. Luckily for me, I understand the power of friendly persistence. While others were being turned away left and right, I managed to work my way into the lineup.

I checked out all the history while waiting for my chance to see Kuala Lumpur from the Skybridge.

This is the group I joined, an Indian family from, um, India! They were extremely happy to have me join the party, especially the guy in the bottom left.

Prior to escalating to the Skybridge, we were shown a 3-D mini movie about the towers. I tried to keep the shades, but that didn't work out.

After the towers tour, I went to a bookstore in the mall right next door to make a layover plan for Beijing. After that I took in a movie. While in line, some woman offered to give me this free ticket for a couple dollars, which was less than the regular priced tickets. I accepted. You can see the writing on my wrist. That's my reminder of the next takeoff time. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the ending of Inglorious Basterds, and had to rush out of the theater to make my flight.

While running to the subway to catch my flight, I had to take one last picture in front of the brightly lit towers. It's not my best self photo, but time was of the essence. When I returned to the airport, they told me I was at the wrong airport! It turns out there are TWO major airports in KL, and Air China used the other one. Ugh. Luckily they are 15 minutes apart, and I made the flight.

Many countries are showing graphic images of smoking hazards. We'll probably see this in the U.S. soon. Who knew smoking could mess up feet?

This little map, that I ripped from a subway magazine, became my day planner, complete with email addresses of new friends, schedules, bus routes, money spent, and journal of events. What's shown is in the early stages. I left the airport at 6:50 AM and had a 2:00 PM flight. Could I see the Great Wall in such limited time?

Tiananmen Square, my first stop. In my very short stay in china (7 hours), I was very impressed with how modernized people and infrastructure were. I was surprised to be one of the very few Western tourists. The large majority of people on the subway and at the tourist sites were Chinese. I imagine places like the Great Wall have Mecca-like status for Chinese. Take a look at the blurriness of the sky. For once I can pass blame to something other than my camera and photographic skills...that blurry sky is Beijing smog, some of the worst in the world.

Realizing I was on a super tight schedule, I didn't have time to stand in the enormous line to see Chairman Mao. You can see I had to tug around my backpack all day. I was still in the same shirt...

I made my way over to a park by the Forbidden City, where folks were doing morning Tai Chi (or some other sort of martial art/calisthenic).

Yep, bicycles are still popular in China!

In front of the Forbidden City, soldiers were marching around. I tried to take a self portrait with some of them in the background, and was surprised to see this guy eyeballing the camera. He needs to work on his military bearing!

After speeding through Tiananmen Square and seeing the front of the Forbidden city, I had to make my way to the Great Wall! I nearly took this little cab thing, but the prices were too high, so I walked it.

Just like Halong Bay in Vietnam, I found the logistical setup for moving throngs of tourists to the Great Wall absolutely machine-like. This long line moved so fast. As soon as a bus would load the seats, it left. The next bus would move forward, load every seat, and leave.

Somehow all the Chinese tourists could sleep on the hour long bus ride to the Great Wall. I was exhausted from all my sprint tourism, but managed to stay awake for this picture.

This picture was taken in Badaling, probably the most popular tourist spot for Great Wall walking. I had such limited time that I took some pictures and video, then went right back to the buses without ever actually buying the $6 ticket and standing on the Wall. You can see the Chinese pollution well in this photo.

While I literally ran back to the bus stop, backpack bouncing, to stick to my strict timeline, I stopped briefly to get these pictures of a girl imitating art for her mom.

On the subway from Beijing to the airport, I found amusement in the little information card. I really think they (governments, businesses) should email me their drafts. Before going to print, I will ensure their products are top quality. Stay tuned for a "million dollar idea" on this topic...

Before boarding, I snapped one last picture of the airport hygiene necessary for any sprint tourist! USA or bust!

I was lucky enough to stay at a fairly secluded island in Halong Bay, Monkey Island. I climbed to the highest point on the karst formation to take this picture. My bungalow is one of the smaller ones to the left.

For whatever reason, Halong Bay was a fantastic location for pictures of the sky. You can see the sun hidden behind a cloud discus, and miraculously my little point and shoot camera picked up some of the brilliance of colors emanating from the merger.

Halong Bay has thousands of tourists, hundreds of boats to move them around, and dozens of small time vendors selling Oreos and beer. I saw more Oreos and Ritz (both Kraft) in Vietnam than any other American products.

Part of the typical Halong Bay tourist package includes a night on a boat. With low expectations, I reluctantly caved into the practicality of working with a tour agency. Here I am having a great time, jumping off the boat's top level as the sun sets.

I love this picture because it looks so fake! The camera is obviously focused on the background while I appear blurred. It seems to create a visual effect that the background, Halong Bay, is a poster hanging on the wall behind me...or, that my figure is nothing more than a cardboard cutout.

A fellow American at the US Embassy told me where the best view of Hanoi can be seen. I went and took this picture. The body of water to the left, Trúc Bạch Lake, is where Senator John McCain landed in his parachute several decades ago.

Taken in Hanoi's Hoa Lo Prison Museum, this poster brags about American aircrew captured. The museum is full of similar displays, matched only in number by propaganda pieces proclaiming how well American Prisoners of War were treated. It's enough to make any red-blooded American pissed.

Vietnam War POW rules.

I don't know what makes my blood boil more, seeing the ridiculously staged propaganda nonsense and knowing that the truth is the polar opposite, or hearing other Westerners make comments about how well American POWs were treated. I started calling them Jane Fondas.

Tunnels are everywhere in Vietnam, from the Cu Chi tunnels near Ho Chi Minh, to the Vinh Moc tunnels in middle Vietnam, to the Kinh Thien Palace in central Hanoi. All have small sections open to the public. This picture shows a very well maintained tunnel complex running several stories underground, and was used by military and political leadership for strategy sessions.

Another war museum in Hanoi shows more of their war trophies. Of course, they don't tell the fates of the servicemen who operated this equipment.

This is Ba Dinh Square and Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. The entire structure, a national treasure, is complex and heavily guarded. I was unable to see Ho Chi Minh's body because it was in Russia undergoing annual maintenance.

A flower seen near Love Waterfall in the amazing and mountainous NW region of Vietnam.

Trails in the mountains and to villages are narrow and unrefined. Motorbikes can cover much of the terrain, though. While motoring along the more distant trails, I was stopped in my tracks by pigs, cows, water buffalo, ducks, dogs, and people.

My $5/night hotel in Sa Pa rented their brand new motorcycle to me. I'll never rent new again (but that's another story). Here I consider whether to proceed on foot or bike. What do you think I did?

These H'Mong women work throughout the day, making clothing, while also selling them. They work the thread on their long walks into town, all while carrying bagpacks full of products for sale. Behind them are motorcycles for rent, and a sign for hairdressing, shave, and massage.

Cat Cat is a village in NW Vietnam. The beauty is unmatched with anyplace I've ever been. The unfinished building to the left is the filming location for the Amazing View video. As I rode a motorbike throughout the region, I saw countless fairytale-like vistas. Should I ever return to Vietnam, seeing this region again will be the reason!

Many H'Mong women selling clothing and jewelry in the mountain villages have hands stained a blue-green color. It comes from the indigo dye used on traditional clothing.

This little girl who was happy to have her picture taken is completely oblivious to the booger running down her face! I saw more kids like this, with snot coming out of one nostril, that I started to develop a theory. Maybe H'Mong are genetically predisposed to having deviated nasal septums? It's something for a serious scientist to investigate. In any case, if you ever read anything of the kind, remember you heard it here first!

Though difficult to see, these are live frogs! The guy on the motorbike bought some for dinner. The frogs are tied up by a leg (look at the top frog). Please don't tell PETA!

H'Mong women trekking up the hill.

A couple kids playing near the side of a tiny mountain road, near a tiny village.

If you look like a tourist, have a friendly expression, and are willing to talk, this is what happens! Anyone who thinks communism is alive and well in Vietnam hasn't been. One hotel owner told me regarding progressiveness and capitalism, "The people are so far ahead that the government can't keep up!" Take a look at their shoes, too. Many of these women and girls walk 2-3 hours each way on steep rocky roads every day to sell their handicrafts. No wonder they are grateful when offered a ride home on a motorbike. I didn't buy much from them, but I much enjoyed being their free taxi driver!

All of Vietnam's distance roadsigns, from Phu Quoc Island to Sa Pa, look like this one. They are stone tablets, mostly with weathered paintjobs, on the side of the road.

Scarecrows in the rice paddies.

A little bundle of flowers.

Silver Waterfall, one of the most famous in Vietnam.

A Dao woman in Sa Pa selling handicrafts invited me for lunch at her house in neighboring Tả Phình village. I accepted and took a 20 minute motorbike ride there the next day. The same journey takes her over two hours of steep walking. While the food was cooking, I stepped outside to look around the house and snapped this picture of a mixed fuels (to include bamboo) firewood stack. All houses in this region have open fires inside. Imagine a campfire in your living room!

A butterfly on the path to Love Waterfall in NW Vietnam.

Taking an overnight train ride from Hanoi to Loi Cai costs $16-$25 if you want the top of the line service. I like air conditioning and a soft bed when trying to sleep, so I went for the best Vietnam has to offer. This is it.

If there's one thing I've done consistently while traveling, it is getting lost. I leave the hotel without a compass, watch, map, or GPS. I intentionally take the less traveled roads. In this picture, I am returning from My Son, a famous World Heritage site of ancient civilization. When I came to this bamboo bridge on my return, I knew I was definitely lost. Time to get from hotel to My Son--1.5 hours. Time to get from My Son to hotel--4.5 hours. Tourists seen while lost--ZERO.

At the time, it seemed like a perfectly good idea to ride across this bamboo bridge, held together with rubber inner tubes and thin wiring, on a motorbike.

After a long day in the sun, I returned to the tailor to try on the shirt that I ordered only 24 hours prior. It fit! I picked the fabric, the collar, sleeve length, and cut of the bottom. Hoi An tailors are so good that you can bring a picture of your favorite designer clothes, and they will have a fitted, quality replica to you in hours. The cost? Low. Shirts are about $10-15, pants $15-30, suits can be had for as low as $100, and dresses $20 and up.

Near the fast growing beach town of Mui Ne are sand dunes. Overly aggressive little kids, like the one in the picture, try to convince tourists to rent little plastic sleds for surfing the sandy slopes.

Mui Ne has nice, but eroding beaches. The winds are perfect for wind and kite surfing. At the far end, traditional fishermen dock their boats.

Mui Ne's rapid growth is evident driving towards the coast. It is only a matter of months before these cows are pushed further inland, replaced by hotels and concrete paradise.

This huge Buddha on the hillside overlooking Đà Nẵng is giving the A-okay sign.

Đà Nẵng.

Occasionally, I have individuals or groups express great interest in me. Normally I'm highly suspicious, but it's hard when an entire family wants nothing more than to have a "family picture" taken with me in it. I have no idea who these people are, but they were really excited and had one of the real family members operate the cameras! Why are so many of them looking off to the side?

On the drive from Hoi An to My Son, I pulled my motorbike over to get a snap of this student mob going to lunch (it was noon) on bicycles. It looks like the dress code doesn't include headwear, as you can see a variety of ballcaps.

Just outside of Hoi An, I was very careful to ride along the sliver of road uncovered by rice. Not one minute after taking this picture, a huge dumptruck went rolling over it. You can see the many tire tracks. This rice will probably end up being bagged and making its way to your local grocery store. Rinse before cooking!

Phú Quốc island is Vietnam's largest. Though slowly developing, it is undeniably a future luxury haven. Word has it that Vietnam plans to make the island a special economic area, bureaucratically free from traditional tourism and commerce strangleholds, and not unlike China's Hong Kong and Macau. In other words, it's going to be a cash cow, most likely complete with casinos. In the meantime, you can enjoy bungalows like the one I stayed in (pictured), for $5 night.

Phu Quoc Island has many years of development before it becomes the Macau of SE Asia.

These plants, being dried on the road, will eventually be dyed, then woven into strong, colorful floormats and other products.

Very often in the rural areas, I'd see roads lined with food and plants being sun dried for processing.

When school lets out, all the "soccer moms" que it up to pick up the kids on their scooters.

Two women completing a "Money for Melons" transaction, unsubsidized by the government, that will inevitably stimulate the local economy and environment through job growth and carbon offsets via increased melon production.Whew!

To get to the early morning floating markets of the Mekong Delta, I had to get up well before sunrise. This was one of only a very few days I've woken before sunrise in the past three months. Luckily, my reward was an incredible sunrise with pink skies.

On the Mekong Delta, dozens of boats converge, creating a "floating market."

Bamboo poles with items for sale hang on boats in the floating market. This makes finding a specific fruit or vegetable very convenient.

The majority of boat drivers, buyers, and sellers on the floating market are women. Men could often be seen napping on Hamocks on the bigger boats, obviously after doing the hard work! Ha!

This was the first time I'd ever seen a floating backhoe. This big Caterpillar helps clear the debris and groom the marketplace routes in the shallow, soft Mekong Delta.

Most houses along the delta are constructed with inexpensive scrap that serves only as shelter from nature's elements.

The floating market has many sole proprietors. Notice the color of the water. Before sunrise, many of the people living on the delta could be seen bathing, washing clothes, and brushing their teeth using this very water. Makes you feel fortunate to be born in a country where water is taken for granted, doesn't it?

Famous Vietnamese Singer Thùy Dương in the Makeup Room. I got hooked up with a backstage pass at a TV studio on a day they were shooting "The Music Show," a program of popular songs by various artists.

A staple Ho Chi Minh City landmark, this basilica features a statute of Virgin Mary that "cried" tears down her cheek in 2005, creating huge traffic jams for days.

It seems I can't go to any foreign country, including Communist Vietnam, without seeing billboards of President Obama. Doing a little research, this advertisement is for a book written by an American on purposeful speaking. Is there really a market for this product in Vietnam?

A very common site---scooters act as transportation, lunch benches, makeout locations, and street vending stands. Less money forces more resourceful spending.

Ho Chi Minh City, often still called Saigon by residents, has over 7 million people, and likely an equal number of scooters. Notice the street has walkers, bicyclists, buses, and loads of scooters.

I've seen quite a few scooters carrying three people at a time. Occasionally, a four person scooter will pass. Residents call these machines motorbikes, but I have a hard time calling them anything other than scooters.

"Got room for one more if you still want to go to Aspen. I can get 70 miles to the gallon on this hog." A new friend let me drive her scooter in downtown HCMC for over an hour on Saturday night, literally four hours after I arrived in the country. There is no way I could do the same. Thank you Vivian!

This stuff makes water boarding look like child's play.

This durable badboy is still flying in some countries. Be gentle with the landing light, though...

More warbirds from the Vietnam War.

The Cu Chi Tunnels are a vast underground network for covert living, moving supplies and troops, and storage. Additionally, they offer several principles of war like security, maneuver, and surprise. Only a very minuscule portion of the tunnel system is open for tourists. The rest of the tunnels are off limits, except for Vietnamese military...Wikipedia says there are just over 100 kilometers of tunnels, but a guide at the tunnels told me 250...

This is a typical tunnel entrance. Notice the camouflaged cover just above the hole. The hole is about the size of a junior high mathematics book.

This is as far as my body would go into the hole. Talking with some Vietnamese folks, many of them would not fit today either as they think the population has grown substantially. Because the normal entrances are so tiny, plus-sized cutouts and tunnels have been made to accommodate tourists.

To keep an adequate supply of air in the tunnels, small air holes were created. This porous rock is one of the more inconspicuous air sources.

I made a poor decision by asking for an extended tunnel tour. I really wanted to go in deeper to some of the not-so-touristy alleys. I was too big to crouch and the floor was too moist to crawl. I compromised by doing the duck walk for a few hundred meters. If you don't think that is tough, try doing the duck walk across your living room, letting your butt come no higher than 2 inches off your heels. I had to put myself in the pushup position every dozen steps to keep my quadriceps from cramping.

Vietnam is hot and humid. These underground tunnels offer no cooling, as I thought they would. Many of the off limits tunnels are allegedly smaller than these offered up for tourists. Vietcong lived, planned, ate, received education and medical care, and died in these tunnels. Many lived in these tunnels for years. Are there Laws of War against torturing yourself?

After suffering through the long tunnels, we were treated to a common Vietcong dish, tarot root. It tastes like baked potato and is dipped in a tasty cinnamon, sugar, and peanut dry mix.

I didn't understand this woman's clothing. Maybe somebody else can explain.

A little girl looking back at a relative during Naadam 2009.

Over a dozen Mormon missionaries on an Ulaanbaatar street. Mongolia has one of the highest number of Mormon missionaries per capita in the world. Wonder why?

This cartoon of Mongolian laws was posted on the side of a building. I found it hilarious. Obviously, from the poster, it is illegal to get chased by a cow skeleton or punch people. What other laws can you see being broken?

In one of those rare did-that-really-just-happen moments, an angry drunk driver raged down the sidewalk, and turned sharply onto the street just feet away from me. He then intentionally rammed into the front of the forward yellow bus and into a car. After that, he moved back onto the sidewalk and sped away as people literally jumped out of the way. Hopefully no one got killed. Afterward, I snapped a picture of his bumper on the sidewalk.

Mongolia has some of the most beautiful land I've seen, much of it free from the fences and powerlines seen in other nations' countrysides. Unfortunately, Mongolia has a small littering problem. Note the plastic bottle in the picture.

Outside of Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, there are few miles of paved roads.

Overcast skies

Goats. Many goats, everywhere.

Toyota Land Cruisers have to be the most popular vehicle in Mongolia.

Being spiritual on Kublai Khan's old stomping grounds.

This is as close as we came to wild camels. I jumped out of the vehicle to get this picture.

More camels.

I moved in for a closer picture, but the camels wanted nothing to do with me. Here they are running away from me with their silly floppy humps.

Some herders at sunset proving that motorized transportation isn't always the best. Notice the menacing terrain.

We stayed in this ger for a night. You can see some dairy products being dried on the roof, a fallen basketball hoop, and part of a solar panel on the other side of the ger.

An active shrine for a recently-passed relative was inside our ger. A little bit of food from meals is left for the deceased person, and the candles are lit at night. The little blue wrapped candy was part of the offering we took to the family in exchange for letting us stay the night. They left a piece at the shrine.

One of the most efficient practices I saw in Mongolia was using cow dung as fireplace fuel. These are free, easy to collect, easy to handle, require no tools, and burn well. Essentially, we are talking about condensed, dried grass.

Jigjidiin Mönkhbat is a Mongolian sports hero, 1968 Olympics Freestyle silver medalist, 6-time national wrestling champion, and father of Yokozuna sumo star Hakuho Sho. He sizes me up here, and sees I have the reach and a bit more hair. He, on the other hand, has "old man strength" and the ability to crush me. It should be a good match.

Flower.

Every ger, it seemed, had a dog standing guard. This dog is making the rounds.

Another flower.

Yet another flower.

This is the first of a series of 8 lakes, only 5 or 6 of which still have water. I'm standing on a steep mountainside in this picture, and the driver is telling me to move back to level land.

Mongolians build these rock shrines everywhere.

This past year, I've had a fascination with shipping container homes, so I was happy to see this series of shipping container stores in a small Mongolian country town.

Side view of a shipping container store.

Mongolia has vast amounts of gold, but lacks the infrastructure, equipment, and organization to mine it properly. Because the country has no way to enforce laws, individuals have gone out on their own or in small groups to pan.

Ninja miners have no incentive to repair the land they mine, so the valley ends up destroyed. You won't see pictures like these in travel guides.

The mining destruction to the valley is evident.

Some of the ninja miners can afford heavier equipment.

Birds of prey everywhere.

This picture could have been taken in any valley, near any mountain. Mongolia has more cows, horses, sheep, goats, and yaks...

Mongolia is making real gains in road improvement, but they completely close the new routes while in progress.

View from above, near the highest waterfall in Mongolia.

Girl taking a freethrow. Indiana has very little on Mongolia when it comes to love of the game.

Gers, the Mongolian nomadic dwellings, don't require a single nail. The wooden frames are held together with rawhide rivets, then covered with a thick felt.

I ran into this little wild puppy while on a hike. You can see a den to the right. He was very careful about eating outside his home. Getting close enough to to take this picture took about 20 minutes, as I gained his trust.

I took the orphan puppy some leftover dinner and tossed it in his den. You can see he is still very uncomfortable with me being so close. I, too, am a little uncomfortable since I never received my rabies shot!

Some little kids playing around.

Nomadic families let nothing go to waste. Since their diets consist almost entirely of meat and dairy, they produce multiple products. This tin of dairy cream can be eaten plain, as the boy demonstrates, or put in milk tea as a light sweetener.

Many gers have satellite dishes. From what I was told, the nomadic families pickup several channels for free with these basic dishes.

Mongolians have finer teeth than anywhere else I've been. This dawned on me after being there over a week. A Mongolian woman told me she thought it was because of all the calcium they eat from dairy. I'm sure that's a large part of it, but they must also be genetically predisposed to having such straight, nicely formed chompers! Seriously, who would have thought Mongolians would have such fantastic teeth?!

More environmental fallout from mining.

This rock has a lot of folklore holding it up. One fun piece is that any person able to toss a stone over this huge boulder will be rich. Watch me attempt it in my video section. Do you think I was able to throw it over?

This woman hitched a ride with us. She jumped off a horse-pulled wagon, and the wagon driver was gone before this woman even asked us for a ride. It is poor manners to not help a neighbor, so it was no wonder they assumed correctly that we would give her a lift.

Gers get shifted around occasionally. Notice the gravel bed to the right. The terrain, even within the small area of Mongolia I saw, is so varied.

At nightfall, this long stream of horses made its way to the river. I thought for sure that they were being guided by a person, but they were not! It was a magnificent sight to see them all moving along, coordinated, on their own.

This poor yak lost his herd and has to put up with all these goats and sheep.

Wild country dogs in Mongolia have these thick, heavy tails. I never figured out why. Does anyone know?

Mongolian pond at dawn.

The proven roads are well traveled and defined.

Small town at sunrise.

Not everyone in country towns lives in gers open to the world. This little town has small cabins with privacy fences throughout.

Though this eagle is used for tourist pictures, Mongolians have a centuries-old history of using eagles for hunting. Eagles, falcons, vultures, and hawks are seen frequently in the country.

A man shows us his items for sale---a bucket full of airag (horse milk), and what I think is a sheep.

A woman pours airag into a recently used water bottle. Plastic 1.5 Litre water and cola bottles are the default storage containers for milk. Airag in the country is cheaper, costing just over a dollar per gallon.

Our driver had us finish bottles of water so he could get them filled with airag on our last leg back to Ulaanbaatar.

Nearly every family owns this style of cruiser motorcycle. Apparently they handle the terrain well, and can accommodate up to four passengers! Most are made in China or Russia.

One of the better basketball hoops I saw.

Many herders paint their animals to indicate ownership. Check out the magpie sitting on the top rail. Surprisingly, I also saw seagulls.

This is the first time I've seen gasoline sold at such a low grade (80). At 92 grade, fuel costs about $2.87/gal by my math. 17 July 2009.

Mongolian horses are small. I took this one for a ride. When I returned, the little boy in orange jumped on him and showed me how to ride properly. His feet were a foot off the stirrups, he used no crop, and had no fancy gear, but he knew how to handle that animal. All Mongolian children become experts in horses.

Slaughtering and butchering sheep for dinner is about as mundane for the nomadic people as washing a car is for an American.

This small child has nothing better to do than hold the leg. It's difficult to say whether the child is a boy or girl.

Almost all animals are used for anything practical---Mongolians eat them, make clothing from them, use them as transportation.

Sharpening the scissors...

Nomads, naturally, are nomadic. I had one chance to see a relocation in progress. This family packed all their belongings onto camels for the trip.

About 15 minutes behind the family, other herders moved along the animals. Traffic came to a halt until the bridge cleared.

Like horseback riding, wrestling is a national sport, something that every Mongolian boy does. The rules are fairly simple. Whoever is taken down first loses. Feet and hands are about the only body parts that can touch the ground without being considered a takedown. You can see the boy in blue still has a chance as he struggles to keep his balance.

Sprinting away.

Inside a cave.

This tiny cave entrance was in the middle of nowhere. We found it only because some others were near. Stopping for a look was worth it...

Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake. Dozens and dozens of rock shrines have been built at this beautiful lake.

My camera doesn't do the magnificence of this mountain justice. It is really big and I climbed to the peak!

On my descent from the mountain top, I ran into this little problem and decided to answer. How could anyone not want a picture on top of this thing?

Another look at this rock stuck between two larger rocks, and the problem to reach it.

A major pitfall in traveling alone is not having trustworthy, competent friends nearby to snap cool pictures. Luckily, when I climbed on top of this weird, stuck rock, the sun was setting and I was able to get a picture of the shadow. You'll just have to believe me when I say that the person in the picture is me!

Buddy's 1994 car, nearly 300K miles, great condition! Sacramento, CA. June 2009. Anyone out there have this beat?

Most expensive cereal I've ever seen. Maui, HI. June 2009.

At an old timers party with Robert. Hilo, HI. June 2009.

Here I am finding out that tourist attractions are a waste of time because of so many, ahem, tourists. Kilauea Volcano, HI. June 2009.

Robert holding his musubi at the Hilo drag races. Musubi is basically sushi except there is SPAM in place of fish, and the rice is treated slightly differently. This cheap meat is a local favorite. Hilo, HI. June 2009.

This little guy was hanging outside the house, early morning. Hilo, HI. June 2009.

In San Francisco, even rival animals can find ways to get along with each other. 15 Jun 2009