tokyo!

quick blog update since i only have 6 minutes left on my computer here..

made it to bangkok and currently residing on khoa san road for a few days. off to the islands on the 25th.

we spent a few days in tokyo. was blow away by the sheer size of it. i was told the heart of the city itself was 8 million people. and the greater tokyo area, engulfing so many other cities -- so close together it was impossible to tell them apart -- is 36 million!

the train system was a maze to navigate. so many lines to choose from, so many ways to go. with the signs all in japanese, it was quite an endeavor!
shinjuku station at rush hour was a sight to see!

we also went to the 45th floor of the tokyo government building and saw the extending skyline. it was hard to know if it ever ended. .. .





later, now, we are waiting to catch a train from bangkok to chumphon. from there, to koh tao where hopefully we'll learn how to scuba dive! :)

it's been fun in bangkok. we have taken many a ride in tuk tuks! seen a bunch of beautiful temples. talked to many nice people. eaten a lot of noodles and rice!

hope everyone is doing well.
we miss you!

a week in the desert.

on a whim, the night before my friend eric took off for the desert, i decided to accompany him to the craziness known as burning man. without really being prepared and not knowing much about the event at all, i followed my companions into the desert.

i cannot really describe the experience fully.

it was a community. it was a party. it was an art exhibition.
it was a celebration.
it was harsh living conditions.
it was a task.
it was a joy.

i barely got to take pictures because i was constantly in awe of everything.
those that i did hardly gave justice to it.

in addition, i also got to experience/see ridiculous dust storms (lasting for hours), extreme heat and cold, a double rainbow, and a meteor shower.

the final burning of the man and the burning of the oil derrick was just amazing.
there are videos of the oil derrick burning that barely begin to touch on what it was like. look 'em up though. the mushroom cloud alone is worth it to see.











more pictures here.

the waters of santa fe

after taking off from colorado, i made my way south to santa fe.
i met up with my friend eric and hung out at his pad for a few days.






his friend paul took me to abiquiu lake, where we ate lunch to some pretty scenery and went cliff jumping.






we also went to some nifty mineral infused hot springs called ojo caliente. that was relaxing and soothing on my dry skin.



the next day, i crashed a wedding with eric.
i also helped him prepare to go to something called burning man.

i didn't know what that was so i watched a documentary on it and found it to be very intriguing.
eric offered me room in his camp if i wanted to come with..

.. so i agreed.

more about that to come.

pictures of santa fe, here.

rapid city, south dakota

well, i'm in colorado right now.. but i have so much to update you with so i'm going to do this in chunks.

i left madison on the 10th of august and drove 11 hours to rapid city, south dakota.
it was a long drive (especially through south dakota. that state gets very boring in the middle there) but i made it safe and sound. and early too!

my kind host, bill, took me for a hike on the first day around sylvan lake. we then checked out some native american art and chilled out at a coffee shop.



on my second day, anna and emma joined us on our adventures. we went to see mount rushmore,



crazy horse (this is awesome. the scope of this is just amazing.),



custer state park (we saw sweet rocks, mountain goats, buffalo, antelope and a ga-jillion prairie dogs),



and wind cave (the fourth longest cave in the world!).



eventually, i will upload all my pictures on webshots..
but i have stuff to do today so you, patient readers, will have to wait.

until then, i bid you adieu.

more pictures: here