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My art portfolio is up! Soon I will post the illustrations that will be showing at Wash Perk Coffee Shop next month in the Washington Park West neighborhood. Check it out!

www.lightningminded.com

+ My sister is a comic genius

This is her web series! http://weekenddetectives.com

+ Quote of the day

However many ways there may be of being alive, it is certain that there are vastly more ways of being dead, or rather not alive.

– Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker,

+ Penny Pepper and Otis the Wolfmouse

+ Our last two days, in Bangkok again before the long trip home.

We went to a Hindu Temple in the city, they did not allow pictures so this is just a peak at the amazing buildings within the walls. Prayers and offereings were plentiful in the colorful complex. 

A record shop that offered many Thai Albums 

Sunday market with food and artisans.  It was rainy and humid.

We ate dinner one evening on the patio here. Small delicious plates and wine. It had two tiny staircases upstairs. We sat behind a white sheet that was installed for a movie and performance by a french woman who made a movie about Marylin Monroe. 

+ Temple of the Golden Buddha in a Thunderstorm

This was one of my favorite temples we went to during the trip. The paths around the property were lined with giant bonsais like these and many benches to sit and relax and soak up the beauty around you.

Vietnam Buddhas were very different from Thailand and Cambodia. They liked to give them halos of neon.

Temple dogs

offerings on a small shrine

A miniature shrine with offerings nestles between a couple Bonsai trees

The temple next to the golden buddha. The storm rolled in at the same time as we did. We took shelter in this beautiful space for about an hour while it poured. 

+ Dalat pt. II

We found a bakery in town and went three days in a row. Thier mung bean pies were my favorite. 

the view from a pizza shop we liked. We ate dinner the next night across the way at Long Hoa

the wine was...ok

A completely vegetarian restaurant we ate at our last night in Dalat.

This Daewoo stole my heart. I hope we meet again and she becomes mine. 

My mint macha Latte from Zen garden cafe

This is the hostel we rented our scooters from.

+ Dalat

After our day and a half in the big city of Ho Chi Minh, we flew to the small town of Dalat. We stayed with an older couple in their home on the top of a hill. Dalat is nestled in rolling lush green mountains and produces flowers in greenhouses for much of the region. We at 4 nights in the town and rented motorbikes everyday, exploring the countryside, visiting Buddhist shrines, getting caught in rainstorms on windy roads looking for a coffee shop to take us in.

roadside flowers

we did not stay here, we wish! We cam across this quiet and mostly empty resort and took a walk in their gardens

Notice the fisherman nets and tiny old boats

passionfruit vine

+ Saigon on foot

We arrived at night and crashed after our first real meal in 3 days. 

A wall of Saigons' own Notre Dame

This street was lined with bookstores the entire block. 

Mmmmm.. modern furniture. 

Vintage Bookstore window.

The Post Office, built by the french.

I can't get enough architecture. I really can't.

The View outside our friends 4th floor apt. 

We had the best iced coffee yet once we were in Vietnam. Thuc coffee was sweet and delicious but played horrible american pop music so we checked out the woven goods next door and bought a couple little baskets from the nice woman outside.

Passionfruit Juice or Passion Fruitjuice?

Vietnamese food!

A brewery opened by Brewers from Colorado. What a small world. Pasteur Brewing was so delicious and had a greatly appreciated western vibe that was so rare on our travels. 

Night time people watching with leftovers and some cold drinks

Dollar beers and tiny chairs. Most restaurants, street vendors, or people just hanging out, all loved the tiny stools and chairs.  My next time in Asia I want to archive all the street seats, it was really interesting.