This week’s Travel Tip is from Ted, who lives in Chicago. Happy #traveltuesday dear readers!
Traveling is all about the experience, accumulating memories and documenting them. Some photos can be happy, some sad and some inspiring. Some however are really quite interesting and fall into neither of those categories but still evoke strong emotions. These are the “strange photos” category. My Five strange photos from around the world are:
5. Everglades National Park – Florida
Talk about an odd couple. Here are two natural enemies just chilling on the shoreline. In a couple of years this baby alligator will not see his friend here as a mate to spend a lazy afternoon with, but will see him as prey.
4. Chicago – Illinois
Some drunken jerk vandal decided to pick up one of the nice trees that lined our street and carry it over to the other block for some dumb reason. Or was it a drunk? Anyone seen the movie the Two Towers? Ever hear of an Ent? Maybe this tree is an Ent and just decided to mosey over to the sunnier side of the street. I joked with the members of our condo that the tree migrated to be on the cool side of the street (i.e. the side where I lived,) but no one from the other side replied to my jest.
3. Kyoto – Japan
Hanami is the festival in Japan where the blooming of the cherry blossoms are celebrated. Maybe the only thing more beautiful than the cherry blossoms are gieshas and maybe the only thing more beautiful than geishas are the gorgeous kimonos they wear. In a lucky shot I was able to catch all three in a photo just exploding with color.
2 – Halong Bay Vietnam
The equation for this picture is one bottle of consumed whiskey, one crazy Australian, one crazy American, a goofy hat, a torchlight, a couple of fishing poles, and a tour on a boat in Vietnam’s beautiful Halong Bay.
1. Khao Yai National Park – Thailand
What is the first reaction when a snake slithers ten feet from your bare legs in a foreign country where deadly snakes abound? Is it fear, panic, terror, jump ten feet in the air or all the above? I am sure I had the same knee jerk reaction when this occurred to me in beautiful Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. However, after recovering from the initial shock I got a closer look at the snake and realized something was already in its mouth. The snake was in the process of swallowing a whole horned lizard. Phew, my legs were safe.
About this week’s Guest Writer:
Ted Nelson has been adventure traveling since he was 10 years old following around his dad. He has gone hiking, canoeing, and cross-country skiing all over the Chicago area, America, and the world. He writes adventure travel articles for Examiner.com. He can be followed by subscribing to his articles at Examiner or by the e-follow options below.
Follow Ted on twitter @travelingted
Ted’s website: Examiner.com
Your website rocks. I am proud to have my pictures and writing on this site. Thanks for the honor.
Ted!! awesome tip 🙂 will u write more… ? Mwuahahaha 🙂
Anytime.
Geezzzz…. What a terrifying moment! I though that thing bit you for a second.
Amazing collenctions you have! 🙂 I am not a fan of geishas but the kimono is certainly beautiful.
But I have to say, my favorite is the one you and Auzzie friend! haha You look super fun and he looks like saying “Oh wait.. whaaat..?” Fun! 🙂
Juno.
LOL, never thought of it that way, but yea i guess so!
my favourite one is the geisha. GORGEOUS.. don’t know who is upstaging who.. right? they are all beautiful and fighting for my eye’s attention.. and they are ALL winning! haha
Yea, we had a great time on the boat tour. He actually took the photo of me with the straw hat and glasses that is on my bio pic.
haha really? 🙂 Now I can see it’s the same outfit! Right? haha Awesome!! 🙂
Love the first shot… friends til death do us part! LOL
hehe.. kinda like u and me.. till death do us part eh.. except.. me NO EAT U!!! LOL
Lovely shot of Hanami. I do miss those cherry blossoms!
me to apple.. it’s PINK !
Happy travel tuesday! thanks for sharing your photos!
thanks darling Jen! awaiting my Atlas.. excited! (never won anything before, let alone ALL the way from Canada.. hmm.. must be a sign :P) LOL
Oh, now I wanna go to Kyoto next! I miss hanami…
at least you can SAY u miss it.. me , i’ve never seen it tho i’ve been to Japan so many time.. WAIL! LOL
HAha.. ted is so funny. My version – Q: What do you see when you see a snake barely ten feet away from you? A: Take a picture and twitter it. LOL..
LOL. how grim. i would RUN AWAY! haha
yikes! if i saw a snake up close, i wouldn’t have the courage to look closer at it! but what’s the safest thing to do … run away fast or back away slowly?
i dunno.. LOL. u better ask Ted 😛
I think either option would do the trick. Fortunately, this snake already had its mouth occupied, so no worries for me.
I think if I saw a snake that close, my knees would go wobbly. And I probably cannot run away. >.<