Taken on my first week on Madeira island on the south coast.  The weather was warm but the winds were strong. In the background is a cafe (the white ‘chimney’ is an elevator) with a stone-sculpted beach at the bottom.

In Northern Thailand, one of our guides (and resident of the local villages) was enjoy a few hand-rolled cigars. We asked him what they were and found out that they were banana-leaf cigar. A buddy and I took a few puffs and they were smooth, strong and a bit sweet. A few minutes later, both of us felt a bit of a quick, short (but noticeable) high.

We didn’t follow up too much further but later than night three of us were quietly invited to a cabin in the village for some opium. There was one man already there, scars on his face in a dark candle-light filling up a small bong. We took turns having a few hits. The stuff was relaxing but not too strong. I’m guessing this is what was in the cigar we had earlier, but in much stronger concentration. Either way, that whole day was surreal and very memorable.

These monks joined myself and many other visitors waiting for the sunset at Bakheng Hill in Angkor. The actual sunset was nothing spectacular but there was a unique energy from having people all around the world gathered to watch the sunset in this magical place.

Continuing with the recent snake-theme, here’s one that’s alive. At the Tonle Sap floating village in Cambodia (near Angkor Wat) this girl was showing her snake off. This village is home to a few thousand people who live there all the time. It is mostly a self-sufficient village with schools, restaurants, gas-stations, store and, of course, a crocodile farm. Visitors are invited to hold the pet snakes or baby crocodiles there. It was a unique experience to this kind of entirely different lifestyle.

On our first night trekking near Chiang Mai, Thailand while we were sitting around the campire our guides (who have some of their families live in the village) brought a snake. They had caught it just recently caught it and were skinning it with a knife. They would put it over the fire for short period of time to make it easier to skin. With the meat, they were going to make a snake stew for the next day.

Surrounding the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is a modern school. The Killing fields themselves are fenced off but the kids run up to a few opening in the bushes and watch the visitors. They’ll mess around and play and ask to have their photo taken. At which point a few of them might pester you for money while others seem to genuinely enjoy having their photo taken. I took this shot as they were trying to organize themselves for a group photo.