Malaysia & Other Travels

            

Above are four pictures from Mabul island off the coast of Borneo Malaysia.  The diving around there is great, but the real gem is the island Sipidan, which is 30 minutes by boat and has a mass of marine biodiversity that will blow astonish you.  It is ranked as one of the top dive spots in the world and without a doubt worth a trip.  I bumped into a number of dive masters who came from Thailand just to dive here.  It is wonderful.  Below is a video by one of the local dive shops:



I have filled in a map below showing the places in the world I have been fortunate enough to visit.  I have to thank my family and my choices so far that have let me experience delectable foods, hike in the rain forest, climb ruins, and dive under the sea.  I hope to keep traveling and exploring close to home and across the seas.

I hope you too are seeing all the places you longed to see and remember you don't have to be rich to travel the world you just need the will and the desire.

Cheers! fellow travelers and explorers.

visited 17 states (7.55%)

Japanese Ginkgo Leaves (fall's last hope in the face of winter)

I wanted to make a video that said goodbye to fall and embraced the long cold winter to come. The ginkgo leaves , which held their shape and color until the beginning of the winter, were the best and last standing representative of fall I could find. 


I think the images show a little bit of fall and the soundtrack "Mir" by Doc foreshadows the winter to come. The video was filmed on a Canon T1i with a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8f lens.

Japan International Balloon Fiesta (saga) 佐賀インターナショナルバルーンフェスタ

A trip to Saga-ken, Japan for the 10th annual International Balloon Festival held in November 2010. The five-day festival received over 500,000 visitors and had contestants from Switzerland, America, Sweden, China, among other countries. On the fourth day of the festival, mother nature provided a beautiful sunset as balloons came into the landing area. Being there felt like being in some alternate reality fantasy novel where balloons were the main form of air transport and the Hindenburg had never gone up in flames. It was an amazing sight! The night fantasia at night where the balloons light up to music was wonderful too. Enjoy the pictures and video.

For more information on the festival visit the following link: http://www.sibf.jp/

1st track Sean Wright - Naked Shoulders
2nd track Adragante - Kerridwen