For the first few months of our blog, we used to upload images in their native size, which is 4K. This is rather insane and I have now decided that it is not something we want to do for several reasons: 1. Upload & download bandwidth cost 2. Upload time 3. Readers really don’t need 4K images The first step was to stop the madness. So, since late August we have been batch re-sizing our images using the Photo Editor app for Android. We copy the images we have selected to add to the blog into an upload/ folder. Then we batch process them to a maximum width or height…
-
-
Data Management – Photo Backup While Traveling
When we set off on our several months long trip to south-east Asia, I always expected us to take A LOT of photos. I had heard horror stories of people that lose or have their SD cards stolen during the last week of traveling, loosing all of their photos. This was not a risk I was willing to take, so I planned for some redundancy. After just over 5 months, naturally the megabytes are mounting up and we are getting low storage warnings on our TF700 Asus tablet, Emma’s iPhone and sometimes even the camera’s SD cards. In total that is 16GB (iPhone), 64GB (tablet) and 64GB (2x 32GB SD…
-
Land Borders Fascinate Me
I find it amazing that we can cross so easily from country to country here in South East Asia. Right now we’re in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and across the river sits Thailand. When we were in Lao Cai (the city before Sapa in Vietnam) we were taken to the bridge that acts as a border crossing into China. China was so close we could even see their billboards plastered with Chinese advertisements! I guess I’m so amazed by it since Australia has no land borders and for us to travel to another country we have to fly! What else fascinates me is the border between China and Russia.…
-
Broke
Not money broke yet, but I am broken and I currently feel like a leper. Every man, woman, child and stray dog looks at me weird with or without my bandages on my face. They even point and stare. We also discovered there’s a crack in our camera’s flash unit, caused by the motorbike accident. Luckily it works fine though I do wish I brought some gaffer tape with us. My kindle is also broken. Discovered this when I settled in on the beach in Dong Hoi, ready to read some trashy book. It’s currently half frozen with a weird, pale stain on the screen. I looked it up and…
-
Who Am I?
I’ve now been told by various Vietnamese people that I look Vietnamese, Cambodian, or even Thai. Cambodians think I might be Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Korean or Chinese. Thai people have asked if I’m Vietnamese, Cambodian or Chinese. Either way, locals end up chatting to me in their language before realising I’m just some bogany foreigner. Then they laugh.
-
A Traveler On Travelling
It has now been just over two months of being on the road and I find myself battling with some unexpected emotions. We set out with the goal of traveling “off the beaten track” and failed to explain to some that we are not simply going on a six month holiday. We packed very light, got a bunch of vaccines, have a tight budget and are taking Malaria prophylactics. So how is it that I have just seen World War Z and am comfortably blogging from an air conditioned cafe of which I had earlier read Trip Advisor reviews from my air conditioned room? Before leaving, I had this idea…
-
The Motivation to Blog…
… Has all but disappeared. We have much to catch up on. We went on a trek with an elephant, a leech sucked my blood, we got involved in elephant politics, I accidentally let a baby drop on its head, we traveled from Cambodia to Vietnam, and now we think Lionel has malaria. More to come.
-
The Ever Present Issue Of Money
The elephant trek was largely a great experience, despite me constantly wondering if I’m yet again funding the extinction of a species. Mr. Tree had convinced us to get a guide for an additional US$20. He was supposed to speak fluent English, explain everything about the elephant and the jungle and take us to meet some local villagers, living deeper inside the jungle. Fact is, he barely spoke to us at all. Emma tried about four times to engage him in a conversation. He didn’t know how old the elephant is, how many elephants belong to his village and barely got the name of the elephant out. Suddenly he vanished…
-
The Rich, The Poor And The Confused
Playing candy crush in an air conditioned bus on a ferry, eating a chocolate croissant while two hungry children knock on the window pointing at our food is not a situation I expected to be in and I didn’t like it. I wondered who is more helpless, the one helping or the one being helped? Sure, I can give these girls my bread, that woman $5, this boy my shorts until I am naked with no money, begging myself. I won’t have ended their suffering and now there is one more beggar on the streets. I find that giving money is a lazy way of helping, because it is impersonal…
-
Elephant Politics In Mondulkiri
Hellbent on visiting the Elephant Valley Project, we ended up deciding against it and opted for a local elephant trek. We were met with very passionate anti-EVP opinions and stories by the locals and even after the trek with the locals, I left Sen Monorom with mixed emotions and concern for its future. I wonder if anyone has any true welfare thoughts for the region and its elephants or if it is all a battle for coin. Elephant tourism brings a lot of money to the region, so naturally, whether you are a local trying to make a living or a Western business man, you are going to want a…
