• So, we totally got into Russia. Cleared immigration, walked-out-through-customs into Russia. And then went to the Red Square and the Kremlin and Revolutionary Square and took the metro around all day long. That’s just crazy talk.
• And we didn’t tell anyone! The time UPS lost our passports for 3 days? Yup. They were going to the Russian embassy.
• But we’re safely out of Russia, and while Putin likes to bomb places, like Ukraine and Syria, he has yet to indicate his desire to attack China or Australia. So I think we’re safe. Hooray!
• Southeast Asia…my head hurts. I’ve hit it so many times. I have bumps on my bumps. Ouch.
• I have never been more thankful for innerspring mattresses than I am right now. Rock hard twin beds. Or bedsprings that stab my in the side or back all. night. long. Or…no beds. Just a thin mat on some sticks. I miss my pillow-top mattress.
• Cambodia – they use US dollars. Everywhere. The temple tickets (which they put your photograph on to prevent theft) are all priced in US dollars. The ATMs have US dollars. Everything is in US dollars…or Cambodian Riel. 4000 Cambodia Riel to 1 US Dollar (ish). The math hurt my head after a while.
• We saw some gibbon monkeys going between temples. I’m kind of sad there were no monkeys in the temples though. I think it’s because we were there too long after sunrise.
• Angkor Wat is massive. Huge. Giant. And overrun with tourists. See it – 100% worth it, but then go somewhere else. There are a bajillion temples around in the forests – look at a map and explore. We spent 24 hours in Cambodia, but I know how you can spend over a week exploring temples.
• Speaking of temples, my favorite was the forest temple – [insert name]. It was just like the Forest Temple in real life!!!! [Ed. note: and by in real life, he means the Zelda video games…]
• Thailand – overnight trains are useful in that they are both transportation and hotel, but 14 hours on a Thai sleeper train, twice…
• Tigers…we were the only people there without a guide or driver. This “do it yourself” Thailand thing started out well.
• I sent a friend of mine a photo of me walking a tiger. His response: “I don’t know if you know this, but a tiger ate the dog you were walking.” That made me laugh.
• Elephants! I have a lot I could say about elephants. But mainly I’d like to emphasize the good the Conservation Center is doing for their health and welfare. They have a free hospital for any elephant in the country, including free lodging for owners. They take in any injured, sick, or retired elephant. In Thailand, elephants are half owned, half free. Like…2,000-3,000 wild elephants are all that are left in Thailand, and another 2,000-3,000 domesticated/owned ones. And while logging and thus work elephants have been banned since the late 80’s, Asian elephants are endangered, and so there are still many elephants that are owned but can’t be “free” and survive on their own and they live to be 70+. The Conservation Center is the only government-run one in the country, and while they still use the elephants for tourism, they’re making due with the situation they have and caring for them as best they can. They’ve tried reintroducing elephants to the while, but the herd killed the last one they tried to introduce. Our elephant’s owners (mahouts) cared deeply for their elephants, and had for decades (the elephant I cared for was 57 years old). Anyways, enough about that – for more information, please see: http://www.thailandelephant.org/en/thaielephant.html
• I love my elephant. “Dee mak” – good elephant. And then I pat her head or belly and she flaps her ears a lot and wags her tail happily.
• I wish I had more elephant photos, but they all have me or my wife in them looking at the camera. That and I was focused on riding and dealing w/the elephants v. taking photos.
• Bangkok was another crazy city, this time looking for food. I love spicy food. I enjoyed our Thai food experience.
• Next stop – China!

And again, where we’ve been over the past ~7 weeks: