With a connection in Dubai on our way home, I figured, why not, let's stay for a couple nights at the land of extravagance. We didn't have much time here, between arriving at 1 AM and leaving at 5 AM a day later, it left 1 full day to check things out. After walking around and looking for the textile souka, we quickly realized how hot it is here in the desert, just like Vegas on a nice August afternoon. So hot that we saw a squirrel putting suntan lotion on...

Tonight we say "Paalam", goodbye in tagalog, to the Philippines after a great 16 days here together, and completing the 2nd stage of the epic journey and time in SE Asia. Connor is in flight right now on his way back to LAX, and Rosanna just landed in Hong Kong for her connection back to LAX. Haley & I begin a new journey for our first trip to Africa. Weird feelings abound, as Haley had to say goodbye to Connor for a month, and Rosanna and I said our te...

I completed the first video production, which includes Thailand & the motorcycle trek in Myanmar. Long story, but because my videos include copyright songs, I can't post them unless they are private (even though I pay for the songs ). And since the video is private, it won't allow me to link through the blog post. Anyways ,  simply click on this link below and it will take you to my Vimeo page, where you can watch the video: https://vimeo.com/225094016 P...

Back in Manila last week, Alasdair told me about one of the funny things we'll hear, related to the greetings. The Filipinos are very formal and excellent with their hospitality. For hotel and resort training, they are given specific written instructions on how to properly greet guests and customers, and it naturally always begins with "Hello Sir/Ma'am" Well, that's appropriate, but many have taken it literally and left out the distinction of which one to u...

It's always intriguing to experience the different traditions, practices and languages while traveling through the countries of SE Asia. And sometimes, our language comprehension and pronunciations can provide for a humorous experience. For instance, during our trek in Myanmar with Sam, he once commented to Haley about the salad. Different part of the world, and naturally, different pronunciation -- but to us, instead of "salad", it precisely sounded like "sl...