Funk

In a funky funk. And I know exactly what the unattainable cure is.

Why I love Australia: Reason 6

I'm the one with the cool accent.

Why I love Australia: Reason 5

They call McDonald's, Macca's.

What I love about Australia: reason 4

2 hole punches in a piece of paper is standard. Not 3.

What I love about Australia: reason 3

The saying: tough titties

Why I love Australia: reason 2

They actually drink their tap water. It took a while to get used to, but now I feel like such a brat having to drink bottled water all the time in LA.

Why I love Australia: Reason 1

Australians refer to the 2000s as the naughties! ...the notties!... the knotties.. get it.

Live.

I feel like I've lived a lifetime in the past six months that I've been in Australia. I've met so many strange and beautiful people. I made quick decisions and went on random adventures. I laughed hard and lived in the moment. I cried sometimes and thought about going home. I fell in love in the city and got lost in my dreams. I had my heart broken, and may have even broken a few hearts. I've tried my best not to hold back, and I've learned so much about myself along the way.

Often times, I'm reminded about a person or place I encountered in the past few months that I had completely forgotten about. It can feel like it was years ago.

Some experiences are so unreal that it feels like they're memories from a past life.

So maybe I haven't just lived a lifetime in the past six months.

Maybe I've lived several.

From up high

I'm standing on the balcony laughing to myself. I think there might've been a cricket game. But everyone's wearing red, and I'm playing Where's Waldo.

I'm the hero of this story

I don't need to be saved.

Jean Paul-Sarte

"If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company."

Tasty

Tasty is a type of cheese in Australia.

I've been avoiding posting because I'd gotten so caught in the fact that I had so much to catch up on. I wanted to chronologically post about my adventures, from China to Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines and then finally Australia.  But as time passed and the piles of photos I'd collected steadily grew into an intimidating amount, I convinced myself that there was just too much to catch up on, and I stopped writing.

Well, I forgot about the simple fact that I can write about whatever I want, whenever I want.

And now, I can't wait to get started again.

Mark Twain

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness and many of our people need it sorely on those accounts.  Broad, wholesome charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."

Beijing Photo Diary

Olympic Park, Bird's Nest

That's not fog, that's pollution... This was probably our third day in China, and it was getting a little hard to breathe.



The Great Wall of China






Summer Palace







Lunch with a local family


Wait.. what?




... and last but definitely not least... STREET FOOD.

Anais Nin

"Are you also willing to become an exile?  Or a scapegoat?  We are the notorious scapegoats, for living as others live only in their dreams at night, for confessing openly what others only confess to doctors under guarantee of professional secret.  We are also underpaid; people feel that we are in love with our work, and that one should not be paid for doing what you most love to do."

China 2012. Who doesn't belong...

The Chinese people's fascination with foreigners was my favorite part about China.  It wasn't rare for people to come up to us and stand next to, and sometimes in front of us to pose for pictures.  A few times, we would be posing for our own pictures when a few Chinese people would jump into our photo to take pictures too.  Before we knew it, there'd be dozens of cameras pointing and flashing at us.   I guess you could say it felt like being famous.  Basically, head to China if you need an ego boost.  On this particular occasion, a Chinese tour group at the Summer Palace had interrupted our tour guide to ask if her group can take pictures with some people in ours.  2 people volunteered and this was the result.

Sheer excitement.

Thoreau

Preview

"Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life."

    Ghost Train to the Eastern Star - Paul Theroux

I know it's been a while.  But aside from going through and editing the thousands of pictures I've accumulated over the past 3 months, traveling around Asia, losing and (thankfully) recovering about a thousand pictures from Cambodia, I've been busy getting settled into life in Melbourne.

It's been a crazy ride and sometimes I still can't believe I've finally made it here.  But I'll bore you with the details later ;)

For now, a preview of what's to come.


Cambodia:










Thailand:













Philippines:







Australia:

Fresh Air Fiend

"Travel is a state of mind.  It has nothing to do with existence or the exotic.  It is almost entirely an inner experience."

                                 -Paul Theroux