Coral Tree in the Sky

This picture is very simple, but I love it. In the picture itself, I enjoy the color of the sky and the unique flowers of the coral tree. I think this tree is native to Australia, but we were in Carlsbad, California when this picture was taken.

The other reason that I love the picture is for what it reminds me of, although this may not mean much to anyone else. Wes and I were in California in March 2005 when he took me to San Diego for a surprise weekend trip. We were supposed to be spending the week at my parents house and he booked the flight from there! It was on this trip that he proposed (and I accepted) - he did a great job and it was very sweet. All of the pictures from the trip will always have a special place in my heart, despite all the other great places we have been together since then.

Rainbow at Sunset

This bright red shot just goes to show that good can come out of what was otherwise not a great day. To keep a long story short, Wes and I had rented a car and were driving around the south island of New Zealand for about 10 days in January 2006. We had had pretty good weather most of the time and I was looking forward to the drive on our second to last day because this took us through the middle of the island - the guide book showed pictures of beautiful mountains reflected in stunning, glassy lakes. Just our luck - that day it rained and rained and rained - all you could see were clouds. No glassy lakes. No mountains at all. To top off the end of the drive, it was getting late and we were about to run out of gas when we realized the gas stations in New Zealand close. No 24-hour pay-at-the-pump options were jumping out at us and we started to worry where we were going to make it to our destination. Arriving in town on fumes, we were able to buy gas about 5 minutes before the last station closed. We checked into our hotel and then were off in the rain to find dinner.

Just as we were sitting down to eat, the rain let up and a bright rainbow could be seen over the water in the setting sun. It cast a red glow over the whole place. Everyone in the restaurant was getting up to take a look. Naturally, I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures. I was not sure it would capture the light correctly, but in the end it turned out alright. A nice end to the day.

Hong Kong Bird Market

While Wes and I were living in Hong Kong, we spent most of our time on Hong Kong Island - that is where we lived, where I worked and where Wes went to school. We would often take Saturday trips to Kowloon, on the other side of Victoria Harbor, for shopping or just a little walking tour. One of our favorite places to visit, and to bring friends who came to see us, was the Bird Market. Because of the tiny apartments that most people in Hong Kong have, there is not a lot of room for pets. So, birds are a very popular pet for people to keep. The men at the market showed how much they loved their birds by bringing them out for a walk in small cages and often talking to them. It was not uncommon to see groups of men together with their pet birds, just passing the time on the weekend while the birds got some fresh air. The markets sold all kinds of birds, cages, and accessories. They even had live crickets to feed the larger birds. This picture is of one of the cages of birds waiting to be purchased. I felt like the one bird in the middle was looking at me as the calm in the middle of a hive of bird activity.

Faces of Bayon

The Bayon temple, built around the year 1200, is close to Angkor Wat outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia. The most significant feature of the Bayon are the face towers that dominate the complex. This is a close up of one of the large faces there. It is not completely clear what expression they were trying for 800 years ago, but it looks to me like he is smiling just a little bit.

Ancient Angkor

As promised, I have added some of our Cambodia trip pictures to the shop, as well as on flickr. I went with sepia on these because I think it best captured the feel of the place. I have also included the color versions above so that you can compare!