For the story behind the day read here. Make sure to double click the link as sometimes it hangs.

We took the kids down to the national park today. It was as splendid as ever, if seriously drought stressed, more so than I have ever seen. Funny thing about the desert: if you'd never seen it before you probably wouldn't know it was drought stressed, but if, like me, you have, you'd notice the difference.

Regardless, it was a fantastic day. The series today starts here. The full series is here.

Enjoy!

We visited Marfa and the surrounding area today. We are off to Big Bend National Park tomorrow, which will be an all day trip, posting tomorrow is doubtful.

Today's photos, about 50, begin here. The full set can be found here.

Also, for those of you who have asked to see a photo of The Brunette, there is one available on my Facebook page.

Enjoy!

I had a great day with The Brunette and her kids. We spent the day in the Fort Davis Mountains. We'll do a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory tomorrow night.

There are close to 100 photos. The full set can be found here and the beginning photo starts here.

Enjoy!

Life is resuming a normal pace after my surgery two weeks ago. My right arm is also improving and most of my pre-accident movement has returned to normal, although at times it is a bit painful. One thing I know for certain: my boxing days are over and I doubt I'll ever be able to hit a baseball or softball as I once could. Time will tell. My stitches come out today, which means I will no longer have to shower with saran wrapped around my shoulder. The oddest part of it isn't the pain, it's the strange feeling of having a titanium plate above my pectoral muscles. There is nothing fun about realizing one is mortal and not forever 19 years-old, but I digress.

Those days in the hotel in Medan before returning home were rough. Father had to return to Toba to gather our things and was delayed an extra twenty four hours because the ATM at Toba was out of cash. The painkillers the hospital in Medan gave me were adequate to the task, but there was still an exceptional amount of pain. Getting out of bed was excruciating. Try it when you have a shattered collar bone (the doc here in Austin told me there were six shards in my shoulder when he reconstructed the bone) and two cracked ribs. Eating was a trial. Sneezing or coughing was a searing jolt of pain.

All of this was ameliorated by the kindness of the staff at my hotel--and the kindness of Sumatrans in general. Rarely in all of my travels have I encountered a more generally kind and thoughtful people. One of the staff even drew an uncanny portrait of me. Everyone, and I mean every single human being I encountered from the first moments in the village clinic in Ambarita to the day we flew out of the airport in Medan, was exceptional. While the same holds true to a lesser degree in Malaysia and Taipei the contrast between the moment I arrived in Los Angeles and Indonesia was just absolutely exceptional. I'm still trying to digest and better understand what it is about the American character that makes people so mean spirited when they see an injured or handicapped person, but it is what it is. Eyeopening, if a bit heartbreaking.

If you are ever in Medan, Indonesia, I highly recommend the Hotel Grand Antares. And for $35 a night? It cannot be beat. I do not, however, recommend getting injured--there is nothing fun about that.

I hate flying and rarely do I have anything good to say about carriers, domestic or international. But, if you are ever in South East Asia and are looking for cheap, quality, on time air travel you can do no better than Airasia.com. The service was impeccable. The planes are all new Airbus jets. The flight attendants kind and helpful. The ease of check in and purchase unreal. The destination list is also superb. Highly recommended.

Traveling with a physical disability gives one a unique window on a society's mores and values. Often we are taught that places in Asia are less compassionate than the US. This is not true. But traveling with a physical disability--even a temporary one--also gives one insights into the quality of a place's transportation infrastructure. Malaysia and Taiwan are cleaning our clocks on everything from infrastructure to manufacturing. Having endured more than 48 hours of travel from Kuala Lumpur via Taipei to Los Angeles with a shattered collar bone and broken rib brought it home to me. All of their public investments are paying off. Mass transit is highly effective. Highways are clean, smooth and without potholes, this in places that get lots and lots of rain. Airports work and are incredibly efficient. But when I got to Los Angeles? It was a mad house of disorganization.

Also, the TSA seemed to go out of their way to make life miserable for me, forcing me to remove my sling--a sling of cloth and plastic rings mind you that had made it through the TSA x-ray detector with no problems while on my body--and run it through the x-ray machine on its own. They were rude and didn't care that I was in serious pain. They were unhelpful with my shoes, which are a bitch to tie one-handed. Then, the flight from LA to Austin the airline people seemed to go out of their way to make my life miserable. I had to request a supervisor's supervisor in order to pre-board due to physical disability.

All of this in contrast with the kindness of the South East Asians. Sometimes I can't help but to think we live in a culture that actively likes to cause pain to those already hurting.

. . . or collar bone is broken in three places. I'm scheduled for surgery Monday morning. It's going to be a few more days yet until we return to regular blogging. My apologies. It is good to be home, however. I'd post the photo of the x-ray but I can't get the doc's office to forward it. But this is a pretty good approximation of what mine looks like.

Also, sometime tomorrow I'll post the full last set of photos, some of which are hilarious, with the right context. Dad even shot a few videos, too, so there will be plenty of laughter, as well.

Apropos of Numerian's post on Greece and our discussion on the value of work and differing cultural perceptions of what, exactly, work is, I offer you this photo:

The above man is no doubt working hard, but so is this guy. And what about these folks? And how about this lady? Or these ladies? All three of them run shops dedicated to the tourist trade. If I wanted something they would jump up and serve me, but right then they are playing. Is that work? Is it work when an American is sitting at her desk Facebooking until her boss runs by and she pretends to work?

Or how about this lady? It's seven in the morning in this photo. Is she working?

Work takes many forms and here at Toba no one is lazy, no matter the languid pace of life here. It's the same in Greece and pretty much every where else.

The last two days worth of photos begin here and are interspersed with my Dad's photos.

As usual the full set can be found here.

Enjoy your Friday and your weekend!

So, I know not all of you will appreciate the bird photos, but hey, I like the birds. Call me a freak, I don't mind. Thus far I have seen 24 new species of birds on this trip. Actually more, but I've only gotten decent photos of 24. If you are so inclined you can see the photos of birds from this trip beginning here and move forward. The big winner, thus far for me, has been the Coppersmith Barbet which I saw this morning. He's the one pictured above. My full set of world birds can be found here, with birds from a far afield as Ethiopia and Texas.

Enjoy!

No, really! I've completely forgotten. It took a few days but Toba hasn't changed. I hope it never does.

Lots of new photos here and moving forward. The full set, as always, can be found here. Enjoy!

I have officially been re-infected with the Lake Toba lazy virus.

The day dawned a bit cloudy and overcast but by nine in the morning the sky was blue, the hills jurassic green and the waters holocene blue. Cumulonimbus, silvery, floated across the lake as father and I climbed higher and higher in up the mountainside of Samosir Island. It was just another glorious, priceless and perfect day at Lake Toba. And then a photo comes along and just absolutely steals the show.

I confess I was a touch worried the monsoon season would bring bad weather. But the temperature is perfect and the Bataks as friendly and kind as ever, children, old men and women all shouting, "horas" to father and I as we zoomed further up the mountain side.

It was just one of those days that Lake Toba produces. Perfect in almost every way.

Today's photo can be found beginning here and moving forward. The full set, as always, can be found here.

For those of you interested in farming and farmers and farming practices, start with this photo of coffee plants, and these guys and these guys. Also, Don should like the photos of rice and corn. I'll spare you all the photos of chickens, those fuckers are everywhere.

For the full set, best to start here and move forward, as always the full set of Indonesia can be found here.

Enjoy!

As always, you can see the full set here. Probably best to start with this one and move forward.

Enjoy!

From the travel diary, October 28, 2011:

After the Security Check, Penang Airport

It was a breeze, the airport. No worrying about shoes. Just a quick, clean exit from passport control, a short security check and many, many smiles. We sit and wait for the 45 minute flight across the Straits of Malacca to Medan, Indonesia on the island of Sumatra. Our goal: orangutans.

Midair, over the Straits of Malacca

It is to be regretted that one can longer catch a ferry from Penang to Medan. One can longer taste the salt on one's lips or see the tropical clouds languishing over the gentle, gentian-blue of the Straits of Malacca. Some things are to be mourned in this hyper-fast world of ours and this is one. A man or woman cannot call him or herself truly free until they have done so.

Leaving Medan, Sumatra

The smells hideous, the traffic execrable, the air is thick with diesel fumes and cloves. Palm trees line streets chaotic with mopeds, trucks, taxis and tuk-tuks--a motorcycle with a covered side-car, the ubiquitous travel form unique to South East Asia. Buildings, new but dilapidated from thirty monsoons. Skies, mostly cloudy with a chance of Noah's floods, this monsoon has been the wettest in decades. La Nina has her effect here too.

Not a single American car, or product to be found here, all Daihatsu, Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai. A platoon of crisp-dressed soldiers disembark from their truck to subdue an impromptu proteest forming outside of town. The devout attend Friday prayers, scuttering along towards the mosque on dusty streets to the sounds of the Azan.

And then it happens, town and city disappear into a vibrant green of rolling hills, palm oil plantations and clear rivers. The vegetation clings to everything. Traffic dies down. People walk from farm and field to village, kids in tow. Dark, Melanesian skin and multi-colored dresses, skull caps and smiles. Everywhere smiles.

We pour out of our car to a roadside feast of fish, vegetables and rice. A hundred different birds chatter in the trees.

Arriving in Bukit Lawang

We pull in to the hill and river side village of Bukit Lawang. Children play in the streets. Villagers bath in the river. A gibbon hoots from the forest.

Time slows to the old ways, the ancient rhythms. We have arrived.

Dad and I are heading to Indonesia today, flying from Penang to Medan. We hope to be in Bukit Lawang by sunset and be able to get up and see orangutans in the morning. Only a dozen new photos this morning, which you can see here. I'll catch up with y'all tomorrow.

Today's photos can be here.

Dad and I arrived in Penang late last night our time, early morning your time or some such. Grueling 48 hours of travel. But we made it. Hope to have some photos up soon. Have I missed anything important?

Here is slightly less than a dozen morning, pre-sunrise photos from the streets of Penang, enjoy!

The Brunette and I took a Sunday drive today out to the Post Oak prairieland east of Austin.

We saw some cool birds, like the juvenile Crested Caracara, Northern Flicker and an Eastern Bluebird. We then drove through Bastrop following the Old Camino Real, where we got some shots of the fire damage that raged through the area last month. We also some took photos in an old tractor graveyard and got a tour from the man who owns the land and restores them, including a rare fully restored 1940 John Deere. The full set can be found here.

Enjoy!

As mentioned before I'm leaving for Indonesia and Malaysia Monday morning. While I am away Agonist contributor Lex will be our guest Editor/Blogger in chief while I am away. We'll also be doing a book giveaway for best original diary while I am out in the jungle wilds of South East Asia. The winner will receive a book of their choice.

Have fun while I am away and play nice!

On Monday morning I leave Austin for the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Once we arrive there, via Kuala Lumpur and Penang, my father and I will trek into the jungle for a couple of days and seek out orangutans in the wild. I'll be blogging while I am away, but only on topics related to my present travels.

Then again, if I wanted to blog about primates I could stay home and write about the GOP presidential primary, although that might be an insult to primates the world over.

I do hope I'll have time to revisit Lake Toba, but father and I have left our itinerary open except for our time around Bukit Lawang and a visit with some friends in Malaysia (an old Australian army vet I met in 2008) and pals from Singapore.

In the interim--two weeks to be exact--there will be at least one guest editor and we'll have a prize for best diary post while I am away. So, getting your typing fingers ready. More on the guest editor(s) once the slot(s) are finalized.