Warmun Aboriginal Community sunset, outback Western Australia

During my time working in regional Western Australia I was lucky enough to be treated to this sunset on a daily basis. I never got bored of leaving work each evening and being treated to the above sunset. The perfect way to end the working day.

Moments like this make any journey worth it.

There are some moments on a trip like this that money can’t buy and this was one of them.  We had just had an unforgettable 2 days on the slow boat down through Laos, from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang, and were arriving as the sun was setting over the Mekong River.  The picture above was taken as the boat quietly chugged along the in the last few moments of daylight.  Needless to say – if you have read our previous post about the journey – we were all feeling quite subdued and exhausted.  However upon seeing the sunset along the stunning Laos countryside the exhaustion was replaced with a new-found appreciation for our adventure.

A true professional.

This little boy showed the adults how to do it on the Mekong Delta tour. When presented with a Burmese Python, this groovy dude jumped at the chance to have a go holding it.

As you can see from everyone’s reaction in the background, everyone was delighted to see him having so much fun with the snake.

He also deserves his prime place as Photo of the Week on Borebags purely for wearing those trousers. He is a real dude!

Mother and Baby Monkey - Picture taken on Monkey Island, Halong Bay, Vietnam. Photo taken by Gareth Livingstone. Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

During our visit to Halong Bay (blog to follow soon) we had the opportunity to stay in a bamboo beach hut on an Island known as “Monkey Island”.  Named so mainly because of the monkey population that lives on the island.  After a quick afternoon snooze our guide took us on a bit of a trek over the rocky terrain and onto an neighbouring beach.  We were informed that this was where the main monkey population hung out.  We were initially unenthusiastic about the trek as we were sure we wouldn’t see anything more exciting than the renegade monkeys of Lopburi.  We were pleasantly surprised when a mother and baby monkey took a stroll down to the beach to check out the tourists.  The mother was unphased by our presence and allowed us to get close enough to take the picture above.

The gracious winner accepts her prize money.

As part of the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chiang Mai, Chinatown was running a kids talent show.  The show basically consisted of many unenthusiastic kids carrying out traditional Chinese song and dance routines.

This little girl was chosen in the final 10 and stood smiling graciously as the 3rd and 2nd prizes were given out.  All the other finalists were huffing as the hadn’t been chosen but this little girl stood firm, smiling throughout, thinking she hadn’t won.  In actual fact she came 1st and beamed as she picked up her cheque for 7000 baht (approx £140).