Angkor

Angkor Wat, shortly after sunrise.
I started off my backpacking trip in Cambodia, paying a visit to the temple complexes of Angkor. There is simply no place like this on earth. The history, architecture, and beauty of the temples is endlessly fascinating, and the sheer scale of it all is incredible.

The serene stone faces of Bayon.
Ruins of Ta Prohm	Hiking up to Kbal Spean
Banteay Srei	View from the top of Bakong
Worshippers at Angkor Wat

The Great Railway Bazaar

Here's a peek at my recent travels, my first shot from Cambodia.
After months of flitting between Bali and nearby southeast Asian cities, I'm finally on a proper southeast Asia jaunt, backpack over one shoulder and camera over the other. Since Christmas I've been traveling around Cambodia with my brother. Now he's on his way back to America and I'm in Saigon. Tomorrow I head north on the night train, making my way to Hoi An.

I try to keep my travel expectations low to non-existant to avoid unrealistic disappointment, but the notion of riding the night train across a foreign land holds an unshakeable romanticism. After reading Paul Theroux's account of his voyage on this train, I have no chance of reigning in my imagination.

_{"'No one knows it,' said Cobra Two. No one in the States has the slightest idea how beautiful it is. Look at that -- God, look at that!'}

_{We were at the fringes of a bay that was green and sparkling in bright sunlight. Beyond the leaping jade plates of the sea was an overhang of cliffs and the sight of a valley so large it contained sun, smoke, rain and cloud -- all at once -- independent quantities of colour. I had been unprepared for this beauty; it surprised and humbled me in the same degree the emptiness had in India. Who has mentioned the simple fact that the heights of Vietnam are places of unimaginable grandeur? Though we can hardly blame a frightened draftee for not noticing this magnificence, we should have known all along that the French would not have colonized it, nor would the Americans have fought so long, if such ripeness did not invite the eye to take it."}

_{- Paul Theroux, The Great Railway Bazaar
via Travelfish}

Leaving Bali

The last photo I shot in Bali, of the Negari rice fields and the mountains after the rain.
My time working and living in Bali has come to an end, at least for the time being. I hope to call the island home again someday, but it's time for me to take my adventures elsewhere. Both the near and distant future are unknown to me, but for now I'm going with the flow and taking everything as it comes.

Gratitude

A Balinese offering
Tonight my brother arrives in Bali to spend a couple weeks with me, and I couldn't be more excited to see him and grateful to have family close for the holidays. The last year of my life has been simply astounding, and has brought me so many new and profound experiences I never could've imagined. I'm endlessly grateful for what I have and proud of what I've accomplished. Here's to an incredible year, and an off-the-charts spectacular 2012.

Singapore

Cityscape from the top of Marina Bay Sands. We had to sneak in.
I recently spent a weekend in Singapore, eating all sorts of delicious new foods and spending an inordinate amount of time ducking into shopping malls to dodge rainstorms. Singapore and Bali could not be more different, but Singapore's orderliness and luxury was a welcome change for just a couple days.

Singapore's powerful economy in action.

At the Louis Vuitton flagship store

Preparing ramen

Guerilla Poetry

I hope to come across Robert Montgomery's provocative street poetry some day. What's beautiful in photos would be staggering in person.