So we arrived back into Beijing on a bit of a high, just in time for the Olympic opening ceremony! Before we left for the wall we had bargained for a room in a hostel very near Tiannenmen Square. We managed to get a room for half the ad...

Wake up to find that my cheek is surprisingly only a little swollen and hardly bruised- thanks to Nurse Phoebe's cold beer can compress :) We wake up too late to get the Hostels free morning pancakes and decide to see a few sights before hitting the beach Made it to the Chinese Theatre for a couple action shots, some star searching, a photobooth photoshoot, and some walk of fame photos Afterwards we travel out to Santa Monica for lunch at what becomes known as our "regular place" thanks to...

8.16.08 Haines   We made it to Haines!  It was a looong trip, but beautiful.   First, we headed through many construction sites down the Alaska Highway from Tok.  While that was a little tiresome, it is to be expected in Alaska.  Summer is the only time they have for road repairs.  The road heaves that look like ribbons of highway waving in the breeze are caused by permafrost melting.    Ciao did fine on the roads, but as ambassadors of Texas we ...

    The World’s largest golden teakwood mansion   Upon his return from Europe in 1897, H.M. King Rama V (1868-1910) used his personal money to purchase orchards and paddy fields between Padung Krungkasem Canal and Samsen Canal for the construction of a royal garden which he named “The Dusit Garden”   The first permanent residence in Dusit Garden was Vimanmek Mansion, built in 1900 by royal command of H.M. King Rama V.  The king had the Munthatu Rattanaro...

Pictures from the ICNSE to the Algerian Sahara. Jul-Aug 1982