Kokpar (rugby on horseback! dead goat polo!) August 2025, 51°12’00.9″N 71°41’08.6″E

In the Kazakh national game, teams vie to grab a goat carcass (above), and drop it in a ring for a point on either side of the playing field. Beyond that it is hard to figure out what counts as a foul and why there are restarts.
I never get rainbows to turn out well, but we had a rainbow!

Slovenia by iPhone Summer, 2025

Recently, I was in market for a new phone and a new underwater camera. In the end I decided to buy an iPhone 16 pro and scuba housing. I don’t dive enough to need a camera strictly for diving and the housing I bought is rated to 130 feet. I started my photo habit on a canon slr, switched the digital with my next body, and a couple in between and now use a 5d mark iv and I did not expect much from my new phone’s camera. I shocked by how good it is. The following were all taken and edited on my phone, as is this blog posting. I will still carry/lug my camera bag and a literal ton of glass for long exposure and lens options but it’s getting close…

Found randomly in an alcove of a church in Ljubljana.
Taken with the scuba housing on while canyoning
Ok technically Italy but just barely, Cormons, Italy
Old Town, Ljubljana
Low light/night mode in a cave
Wide angle, some distortion on the edges, which is the same I get from my fisheye lens
1x lens of a church
Very zoomed in of this dragon
Triglav zoomed in on 10x and cropped a bit after, still good resolution!

Astana, Thanksgiving 2023, 51.152119, 71.425818 B&W Edition

Astana is a throughly modern city but interesting for photos nonetheless.

Statues without explanation in a city park. Latter at the national history museum we learned a little more but I quite enjoyed the mystery.
The Circus!
Really surprising placement.
Not a lot of trees in the steppe, but I found these in the city park.
Just on a bridge’s sidewalk.

Angkor Wat and around in color 13°24’46.8″N 103°51’56.6″E January 2024

My family and I have been fortunate to be able to see a lot of the world. Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples were about the most impressive place I have been. I would love to go back. I took about 2,000 photos there and it was hard to pick which photos to post. I hope you enjoy.

Angkor Wat just before sunrise.
On a bridge tot one of the gates leading out.
Cars for scale.
The whole complex is still very much a place of worship.
The jungle has completely grown over many of the temples.
There is so much to see over such a large area, you can often be by yourself.
Butterfly
The light was pretty here, but these walls are hardly unique. Everywhere you look there are ornate carvings.
The tree growing through this gate is easily 150 feet tall.
Jungle encroachment.
In the evening troops of monkeys come out to play on the temples and harass tourists for treats.
Sunset.

Phú Quốc, 10°05’08.1″N 103°59’36.5″E December 2023

For our last bit of time in Vietnam, we headed to the island of Phu Quoc for some diving and relaxing.

The new “Sunset town” According tot our dive master, it is only 3 years old.
What was there before, complete with a cable car to go right over it.
Obligatory Nemo shot 1.
Obligatory Nemo shot 2.
Like Missouri in an ice storm but in 30 feet of water.
More H2O fun
Fishing boats at sunset.

Hồ Chí Minh 10°46’17.2″N 106°41’54.4″E December, 2023

Saigon that was, was as busy Hanoi but much more vibrant. It was not at all what I thought it would be like.

Sidewalk butcher, overhead view
Not the first and surely not the last place of worship we saw,
Across the river from we stayed is thoroughly modern,
More fresh fruit and vegetables than you could shake a stick at.
This guy kept a watchful view over the market street, above the afore mentioned fruits and vegetables. He reminded me of Romanian women staring out their windows of the blocks.
I can think of worse ways to spend my day.
The river was not super clean but that did not keep the birds away.
More bikes!

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