In late 2009, I traveled to Thailand for the first time. At first, I was dreading the 19 hour flight from Los Angeles to Bangkok, but Thai Air made the trip as pleasant as possible. I spent a week in and around Bangkok, then headed down to the island of Phuket, where a tsunami hit in 2004. The area had recovered, but water marks on the walls of inland restaurants served as reminders of the devastation that nature can cause on our civilizations. While walking home from dinner one night, I came across a group of local musicians performing their version of the popular song by Beyoncé, “Single Ladies”, which I found amusing:

I posted a few other videos of a tuk tuk ride through Bangkok, trying out new foods from street vendors and children playing with blown up condoms.

As I explored, as always, my camera was in hand. (surprise, surprise) Here are a few shots from my explorations of Bangkok markets and temples (click to expand):

Kiwi, as most refer to her, is a Southern California artist that I met several years ago while I was back in the chilly North East. We were more like “virtual acquaintances” – connecting and communicating across different creative communities, where the name associated with her portfolios would differ from Melissa Nichole, Mae Fitch, Kiwi Monster, Kiwi (and I think there was a Kiwi M in there, too).

Last year she surprised and flattered me by starting to paint one of my photos on wood. (finished version)

Always intrigued by her beautifully unique look (she’s part Native American), I asked Kiwi if she’d allow me to photograph her. Without much convincing we found some time to get together over the past year. Incidentally, she showed me around some amazing areas out in the desert east of San Diego where I wound up getting some great landscape shots and returned to on my recent road trip.

Aside from painting on wood, Kiwi delves into a variety of creative ventures – including photography. She is known to pick up non-traditional cameras and films, like the medium-format Holga, which she’s been tinkering with lately. When we went out shooting together a few times, I noticed that she truly has a different perspective when she looks through the viewfinder. You can find some of her photography and other art on flickr until she gets her act together and finishes her portfolio website.

I’ve been on the road for almost a week now, driving along Route 8 from San Diego through to Tucson, Arizona. With no solid plans, I’ve managed to find out about upcoming highlights and worthwhile detours from my Twitter followers and Facebook fans – as well as a few people I’ve met along the way.

One of the first unplanned stops that I came across was the Desert View Tower in Jacumba, California. It is a stone tower in the middle of nowhere that was built in the 1920’s by a local land owner (Bert Vaughan) to commemorate a route which was once a difficult pass, but was becoming more trafficked as railroads and improved roadways were being constructed nearby. A stone sculptor added some carvings around the tower in the 1930’s, which I came across while hiking across the field of boulders leading up to the tower.

I met the current owner, Ben Shultz, who has lived there for the past 10 years. He has so many pets running around, I suggested that he start a zoo to bring more people in to see the tower.  Being quite a prankster, he sent me on what turned out to be a wild goose chase for the famed “desert springs” up on top of the tallest peak in the area. Here are a few snapshots from that hike up to the springs (click to view full size). The Desert View Tower can be seen in the background of the final shot (behind the springs):

For the past three years, I’ve spent the holiday season through the New Year driving around Baja Mexico in a Jeep.  I enjoyed it because the weather was gorgeous and it gave me time to get away from civilization, which always helps me think about where I am in my life and what I’d like to do in the coming year. The result of my first drive through Baja, in fact, led to my changing coasts to set up shop in Southern California a few months later.

This year, after tossing around a few ideas including the Pacific island Kauai, I decided to stay a little closer to home and skim the Mexican border, from California, through Arizona to Patagonia for a few weeks. Instead of a Jeep, which is great for off-roading, I’ve recently become a fan of RVs, which let me have all of my gear along and many of the comforts of home. If I need to stop and wait for the sun to set in order to get the shot that I’m looking for, no problem!

Another thing that is driving this road trip through Arizona is a new website that I recently launched to host my constant exploration for great food and dining experiences. If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you may remember my tinkering around with tossing in restaurant suggestions from my travels here and there. Well, now I’ll have Hit the Dish to handle my restaurant and recipe raves from across the country. I encourage you to check it out and pass along any “must try” spots, especially Arizona restaurants, in the near term.