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Insights from the Pavement: Stop Seeking Approval

Self-worth is a value that is often lacking among our more important attributes.  It can lead to depression, low self-esteem and even missing out on opportunities because we’re just not confident enough to engage in worthwhile challenges.

These effects, of course, have further problems and add to even more negative points in our lives.  But it is important to know that we are not alone when we begin to doubt ourselves.

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Click the image to visit the photo album.

No matter what you tell yourself, no matter what your closest friends tell you and no matter what the stranger sitting across from you says, we all feel self-doubt from time to time.  How much and how often generally depend on a lot of environmental factors that may not even have anything to do with us or our level of accomplishment.

In the farthest reaches of this world, this issue is prevalent.  And even then, there is also the emotional opposite of this particular level of self-consciousness: over-confidence.

In either of these extremes, there is one characteristic that links them both and which is undeniable — once we know what we’re looking at.

What you’re worth becomes much clearer once you’ve found out where your limits are.  Traveling, by way of expanding our horizons, gives us a direct line into that better, more expanded version of ourselves.  And once we look back over that amazing mountain that we’ve just climbed, or trace our fingers over the map delineating the long trek we just made, our level of self-worth seems just as large and impressive as the feat itself.

Therefore it is not only a natural effect that travelers are, themselves, better people than what they left at home, but that they also begin to see that they have a much greater sense of what they can achieve for themselves.  Seeking the approval of others, then, becomes about as useful as the pair of hiking boots that they destroyed after 5,000 miles of hikes through distant lands and over many mountains.

And, metaphorically speaking, the approval of others served its purpose for us when we were in these previous shoes.  Shedding them and donning our new shoes, however, is what is necessary and ultimately inevitable, the “further” we go in our lives.

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Like the image from this article?  Visit the photo album HERE.

Insights from the Pavement is a new style of blog that I am trying out.  These will be posted a couple times per week for the next few months.  And I am interested in what my readers and passersby think of them.  So be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

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Insights from the Pavement: Avoiding Negative People

Along this journey of life, we encounter people who seem to require that we meet their standard or that they perhaps don’t have time for us.  But you don’t have to travel far to meet these types of people.  In fact, I’d bet that we can think of two or three people like this right off the top of our heads.

We could spend our entire lives wondering why we just aren’t good enough for these individuals.  Or we could realize that we, as independent people, are likely not the only ones that don’t quite cut the mustard for them.  And in these cases, it is very easy to understand how their dissatisfaction with us is not limited to those other individuals in this person’s circle.  Indeed, these types of people are also likely very dissatisfied with themselves.

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Click the image for the photo album

When looking at this problem with this in mind, it’s almost immediate that we conjure up compassion for them.  Knowing that they are stuck in a cycle of negativity and that they are only hurting themselves in their negative plight, is part of understanding that it is up to us to ensure that we take responsibility for our own satisfaction and happiness in this life.  And the moment that we realize that someone else seems to require us to provide them with the same satisfaction and happiness, we get a glimpse of their lack of ability to provide that for themselves.

From many years on the road, lessons like these seem commonplace.  Meeting people of various cultures, nationalities, races, beliefs: this is a universal characteristic of people the world over.  Everyone is chasing after happiness.  Even those who seem never to have it in their lives.

While it may seem unorthodox, by complaining and even inviting drama into one’s life, people who act in this way do find some satisfaction from, at the very minimum the relief that they get feeling like their problems are greater than someone else’s if they can manifest the cycle of negativity that impulsively creates that reality for others.  By casting out this attitude to others that their problems are less profound than theirs, or by painting the picture that even the slightest problem is so terrible that they just can’t stand it, they are underpinning the notion that they are ultimately “above” or “better than” these items.  Therefore, they claim the right to cast their judgment over the entirety of whatever issue is at hand.

Understanding that people have these shortcomings on the global level will also help us to understand on the local level just what it is that drives the pattern of negativity in the lives of those who thrive on it and set it in motion by spreading gossip to others about it.

No matter where you go, this will always be a part of life.  But if you know what it looks like (or worse; if you are in this cycle yourself), you can easily avoid it and start to look at things more positively.

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Like the image from this post?  Check out the album from Alaska HERE.

Insights from the Pavement is a new style of blog that I am trying out.  These will be posted a couple times per week for the next few months.  And I am interested in what my readers and passersby think of them.  So be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

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Insights from the Pavement: Meeting Yourself along the Way

If done right, traveling will instill in the traveler the right mix of confidence and real-world experiences that garner never ending personal growth.

Travel, for many people, is a glamorous, unreachable activity they search for their entire lives.  In some cases, it’s a motivator.  In others, it’s “just not the right time.”

Whatever the conclusion, it always seems to reward those who engage in it.  And it treats us to myriad lessons and replenishes our drive.

At least, this is what people “just know” about those who have traveled – it’s the persona that experienced travelers carry with them that shines through.  People know that it took a lot of courage to leave the comforts of home in exchange for the rocky shores of the unknown.  And for this reason travel is seen the world over as very a coveted and enticing activity.

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Click the image for the photo album

What people must be learning on their treks abroad is also something that people back home are intrigued by.  Finding a “favorite country” or answering questions like “weren’t you scared,” or “how did you handle [that challenge]” are among the many indicators that people in the stay-at-home community are truly curious about the wilds of the foreign world.

Eventually, every traveler is faced with challenges on the road that they simply never had the ability to plan for when preparing for their journey.  This is one of the many things that separate those who do travel from those who want to travel.  But once you’re out there, nothing stands in between the traveler and these inevitable, life-changing challenges.  Traveling removes this buffer by throwing the traveler into a foreign place where their tools have been stripped away and everything they have learned is practically useless.

The type of savvy and wit that works in our native lands does little to overcome obstacles that defy even our most commonly tackled problems in our home lives.  And it’s challenges like these that allow us to realize that the tools that we use to make our everyday lives easier, may well be shields that we actually use to shelter us from seeing what we’re really made of.

And in that, traveling allows us the opportunity to metaphorically “shake hands” with the person who navigates difficult waters without the use and convenience of our previous box of tools.

Thinking on our feet, critically assessing threatening situations, quickly finding exits and myriad other resources are among the many wonderful tools that traveling brings us.  But none are more important than the moment when we dust ourselves off, look back upon our last sensational achievement and realize that we have just met the real person within.

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Insights from the Pavement is a new style of blog that I am trying out.  These will be posted a couple times per week for the next few months.  And I am interested in what my readers and passersby think of them.  So be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

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My Films Made it to IMDB!

This morning I got some great news:  Not only did I not die during my sleep, but I awoke to find out that my movies had been listed on the International Movie Database, IMDB.com.

For those of you who don’t know, IMDB is the go-to website for all of Hollywood’s smash hits.  They have every single movie ever released within the U.S. and they even list most of the world’s foreign films as well.

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To top that, they have a totally enmeshed network of links that allow its visitors to click from movie to actor to director to producer to film company and more.  Just go there and check it out.  You’ll see what I mean.  It’s a veritable smorgasbord of movie geek delicacies.

And now they have the best travel documentaries ever made: The Travel Geek series!  So we can finally say that IMDB is complete.  HAH!

What great news!  I was so stoked when I found out that I checked my website email and I found out that not only did I receive the distinguished honor of being listed on this massive and widely known website, I also had an official offer in my inbox as well.  I won’t go over the details here, but let’s just say that it was including paying me for my listing and possibly even purchasing the films and paying me to complete even more.

Oscar’s; here we come!

There has been so much momentum with my films in the last six months, that I figured, now that I have this amazing news, I may as well take this opportunity to list them here.

While traveling, I’ve done a lot of things.  I’ve published four books, finished my master’s degree, produced more than 75,000 images on my online gallery and released four feature films.  And that has all been since 2011.

But there’s been a lot more.  My YouTube channel has nearly 50,000 page views and more than 200 subscribers.  This blog is followed by 1,200 other bloggers, 1,545 registered email followers, almost 4,000 Twitter followers across four accounts and 3,523 Facebook followers.

In the last four months, I’ve seen the largest spike in followers, viewers and readers than in any time that the blog has been running.  And I am just getting started.

In the very near future, I am going to be publishing an ebook for each of my online galleries.  And since there are more than 3,000 photos across 60+ albums, that’ll be quite a lot of books!  And that’s in addition to a deal that I am working on to publish a series of travel short stories and journals later this year.

I have an app currently being built so that I will be able to deliver the ebooks as cheaply as possible to iPad, iTunes and Google Player users.  So there will soon be an app available to view those books and possibly even this blog at the flick of the finger.

So thanks a lot for sticking with me throughout the years.  And look forward to even more in the months to come.

To see my listing as the Director of the Travel Geek films, go to www.imdb.com and in the search bar search for “Cyle O’Donnell.”  The direct link is HERE.

I have also been notified by the company that I will be featured on several of the documentary blogs that are upcoming, and also that they know about my “Travel Geek: Documentary Singapore film which will be listed shortly.

They have asked that I keep them abreast of my latest films, as it’s obvious that it is a series of films that I am creating.  And so I should also be seeing Travel Geek: Documentary Malaysia being listed hopefully by the end of the year.

I have just gone for my first filming session to Borneo.  While there, I also filmed a short for my Top Ten Travel Tips for Exercising on the Go. But I plan on going for my second set soon.  Once I have completed what I hope to complete there in June or July, I may be finished filming for the entire documentary.  So if that’s the case, I will be releasing Travel Geek: Documentary Malaysia ahead of schedule!

I’ll keep you posted on all the progress.

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What do you think?  Have you watched my films?  Do you like them?  Do you think that they could be better or is there any advice you can offer?

Go to my YouTube page and watch a few of the other videos.  Do you like the content? What can I do to make it better?

How about IMDB?  Do you go there and do you have anything to add about the page that these movies are listed on?

 

Thanks for your comments!

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Penang for the Chinese New Year Part One

Travel Update:

This past week was the Chinese New Year.  And since it’s one of the biggest holidays for public and government workers, I spent almost an entire week on the road.  It was so nice to get back out and explore my favorite place in Malaysia: Penang.

Penang is one of those places that presents a near opposite persona to the rest of a country.  In the case of the very conservative, very Muslim Malaysia, Penang is much more liberal.  It caters to tourism in a way that most other places in this country do not – or at least will not.  And because they have become more dependent on this form of income, they have long since started to “put up” with the more unpleasant backlash to including many foreigners in their commerce – at least they’ve done so in terms of the way that the foreign element is seen in a majority Muslim country.

My trip started on Thursday morning and because it’s the monsoon season, my trip took more than 12 hours!  I left my home port at around 9am and changed buses in Seremban.  Then I traveled on what should have been an eight-hour bus ride to Butterworth.  From there, I took the ferry across to the island of Penang.  And then it was a short city bus to India Town inside of the Georgetown area of the city.

Being that it was the first evening of the New Year break, it was pretty difficult to get a hotel.  But I finally checked in at the “Red Inn” on the historic colonial street, “Love Lane.”

Love Lane is the road where one’s “love life” took an expansive turn when the city was first established by the British in the turn of the 20th century.  And the name quickly changed from its original designation, which predates the finality of the settlement – and which clearly was not instituted by the colonial era British settlers.

As the story goes, young men from the Catholic school (then named the School of the Assumption Church) would come to this street to meet with the girls of the Farquir Street Covenant School.  This street, even today, because of its narrow, high buildings abutting either side, was a clever and opportune location for escaping much of the risk of meeting in other highly visible locations nearby.

As the students grew up, they simply named it “the Lane of Love” which then stuck as this generation was the first to expand upon the building of the infrastructure.  Later still, it became even more iconic as more and more westerners used Penang as their jumping-off point to Thailand and parts south in Malaysia.  Because many of the old buildings were converted into hotels, it became a hotbed of prostitution and confirmed its appropriate title in the city maps and history books.

Today, this area likely resembles what it must have looked like back then.  Only now, the prostitutes have penises and the only clergy in this area aren’t out hunting nuns.

Penang’s location so close to Thailand has poised it to be the one-stop shop for all visa-runners and renewers from the country to the north.  And when they (and all the other through-traffic that frequents this island) come here, they bring with them a hint of their party lifestyle from Thailand.

The local shops here have adapted to selling passport photos, …

[Continued on Penang for the Chinese New Year Part Two]

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Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan Out now!

At long last, the film has been edited, finalized and uploaded.

And here it is:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UjwVuDBwas&w=560&h=315]

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Original YouTube description:

Follow Cyle O’Donnell, the Travel Geek, along more than 5,000 miles of trains, cars motorbikes, planes and boats — not to mention 20-or-so miles of hiking — through Far East Asia’s hidden gem. With filming spanning more than nine months, this trek covers everything from Chinese New Year in Tainan’s fireworks battle to Changhua’s legendary Lantern Festival; from windsurfing Penghu’s gale-force winds to eating raw pigs with Lanyu’s aboriginal natives; from high atop Taipei’s tallest towers, to the hinterland of tribal Taroko Gorge, this ultimate travel documentary is sure to inspire the mind and ignite the travel lust.

Travel Geek Documentary Taiwan has taken more than a year to complete. In the cutting room, the editors spent two-and-a-half months sifting through 114 Gigabytes worth of files spread out among 2,866 fils from 68 folders. And when it was finished, the final cut was one-hour-and-59-minutes long with more than four hours of outtakes, extra footage including marketing and subscriber media.

The experience of living and filming in Taiwan was amazing. And during the time the I spent in Taiwan, I also visited North and South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and the Philippines. So this film is the culmination of much enjoyment and success. And throughout this time, I also changed a lot as a media professional, a photographer and even as a person.

It’s bittersweet to see this particular film released because in addition to finalizing the edits and releasing it, I have also closed off another important and learned time in my life. And as I watch this film, I can’t help but be nostalgic and reflective of all the times in between the shots that no one else will feel quite so moved by but me. And while this film was captured before I left for film school (meaning, I didn’t have quite the gear that I have now in order to make it a little more “professional”), I still think it turned out pretty well.

In any case, it is my pleasure to announce the latest release of films in the Moving Stills library, Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan. If you enjoy it half as much I did making it, I will be able to call it a success.

A special note just to subscribers is sent out that offers how to get free downloads and discounted packages of the Full-HD, 1080p version of this film, along with director’s notes, a signed script and the entire photo gallery that I shot from this trip.

Be sure to subscribe and get free stuff and inside tips from all my trips, and the videos that follow.

Please “Like,” Subscribe and share!!

More videos at https://www.cyleodonnell.com/films

Subscribe to Cyle O’Donnell’s travel blog at http://www.cyleodonnell.me

Follow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cyleodonnell

and http://www.twitter.com/travelg33k

Find the Travel Geek on Facebook at:

Personal page: http://www.facebook.com/thetravelgeek

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So you think you're busy?

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Many times I’ve wondered why so many people like to sit and complain about something and then, when the option comes for them to get up and do something about it, they remain seated and seem to come up with a reason that they are disinterested in action.  And this is after moaning and moaning about this thing or that stuff or “those people.”  And it was just so important that it’s worth taking up all that time and energy to talk about.

This is probably where phrases like “bark is bigger than bite,” and “walk the walk, or talk the talk” came from.  And it stands to reason that those doing the most talking, or barking as it were, do the least walking… or biting.

Well, I’m proud to say that I’m a biter.

Hey, before you put your head in the gutter, you know what I mean.  I’m talking about putting action behind my lust for adventure and for producing a world of media for us all to share.

When I was growing up, I always threatened to do things.  Normally they amounted to the more annoying things related to being a stubborn and unruly child.  But as my mother somberly recalls, I’d always actually do them.  So she grew to know my claims as solemn promises rather than empty threats.  And there have been only a few, very purposeful times in my life where this has not been the trend.

I can’t recall if it was for the satisfaction, or if it was my plan all along.  But I like to think that I have always been a man of action because this is just something we should all embrace: doing what we say we will do.

Having said that, I have always talked about the traveling and the writing and the photography that I’d someday publish.  And I always knew that I’d be doing it, too.  But until I started traveling, all I could do was fantasize.  Of course, my family traveled a lot when I was younger.  And I got to see a lot of the states.  But when I’d write in my journal or take my video camera and make little mini-movies with my brother, they would always be firmly grounded in our current location.

And so I’d wait.  Wait until the time of my life when I could finally break free from the shackles of normality and trade the mundane for the magical.

And I have realized with growing profundity over the course of the last nine years that I have finally made good on my youthful promises.  I’ve finally been able to climb over this giant challenge that I made to myself (and indeed to the world I’d consigned myself to explore) when I was younger.  And I have gone out into the world, produced a heap of photos, published several books and made a library of movies — all while traveling and seeing the grand planet that I knew was out there when I was a kid.

Why this whimsical trip down memory lane in an otherwise travel-focused blog?  Well, apart from releasing the blogs in January, I have been focusing on my latest film.  And along with taking up much of the time that I’d normally be blogging, it’s taken a lot of effort, too.

So much effort, in fact, that I have not gotten much sleep since the turn of the new year.  And the process for this film started even farther back than that.

In the last year, I spent nine months gathering footage for my feature length film in Taiwan. In doing so, I covered more than 5,000 miles on trains, cars, motorbikes, planes and boats — not to mention 20-or-so miles of hiking — while gathering 70-plus hours of footage, on which I spent the last two-and-a-half months and hundreds of hours cutting, composing, recutting and editing so that I could release it by the due date of February 28 (the official anniversary of the last day of filming).

And in that time, I’ve sifted through 114 Gigabytes worth of data spread out across 2,866 files from 68 folders of completely original media; and composed and added 15 musical themes and 215 soundtracks; all to produce one full length, two-hour film and more than four hours of extras and outtakes.

And this is in addition to editing dozens of photos, revamping two websites, editing 50-plus pages of my latest book, keeping up with this blog and shooting two weeks worth of footage for future media productions here in Malaysia.

In my personal life, last but not least, I was dealing with a lengthy personal challenge, moving halfway around the world and getting a job working as a college professor in a new place with very limited accommodations and still being expected to be at work on time and perform as I would under much less demanding circumstances.

Whew! Now THAT’S busy!

In any case, I’ve finished the film as of 9:30 last night.  And I am now awaiting the first render to finalize, which takes about 16 hours on my computer.  I will watch it for the first time in its completed form tonight and check for errors, transitional problems, good flow and all the other things that a good director should be watching for.

And when I am satisfied that it is worthy of the global audience, I’ll be releasing one more of my childhood dreams to the world.

I am very excited about this latest release.  It will be twice as long as my longest documentary to date.  And while that’s not necessarily a good thing in today’s fast paced, watch-on-the-go, five-minute YouTube videos, at the very least it will hold the potential to bring me into the realm of serious travelers and respected documentary filmmakers.  And that’s the exciting part — among all the other very fulfilling parts that come along with the finality of a year-long project.

This latest film was captured more like a journal than either of my two preceding films.  It wound up being 1:58 (1hr & 58m) and I was the only camera operator for most of the footage.  So many of the shots are handheld, pointed at myself and I even had to coordinate shot sequences so that I could later edit with that sequence in mind.  So not only did this project require a lot of forethought and planning, but it was also the result of a lot of introspection and taking lessons from what I learned in my journals and my previous filming expeditions.  I wanted that “gonzo journalist” style in this latest one.  And I think that my planning helped me achieve that.

And while I did keep journals from all of the places and experiences in this film, I never released them here on my blog.  So this latest doc also has a sense of nostalgia in that I am able to blog through one of my videos.  Trust me; it has the personal touch that comes through in this blog.  So I am happy to finally see it come to life.

As always, the film will be available for free as a 720/30p YouTube video.  But if you’d like to purchase a Full High Definition 1080p copy, it will come with all of the extra short films that were created, many outtakes that were not used in the feature, lots of HDR photos and trip journals.  And because you’re a subscriber of this blog or because you are subscribed to my YouTube channel or follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll also get all the production photos, planning and script notes, a PDF of a signed script (originals available) and photos from the road that will never appear online.  It’s all ready for immediate download; all for $8.99!

Please visit the Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan film page for more details and to view extras from the trip.  And when the film becomes available, I will update the blog and post the final details.

Thanks to those of you who have commented, shared, sent feedback throughout the filming and subscribed to my YouTube channel.  I hope you continue to share, comment and enjoy these as much as I enjoy making them.  I like knowing that I have created something for people to share and that makes the world a little bit better during the time that I happened to have visited.

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Update: Travel Geek Documentary: Philippines (New Updated Version) Out Now!

Update on the latest activity at the Travel Geek Studios in Malaysia: Your viewer response in action!

A new, updated version of Travel Geek Documentary: Philippines is out now.

Due to lots of awesome comments on how to make my first feature length film even better, I have!

As many people noticed, a lot has changed in the last couple years. Among them the exchange rate has gone up in the Philippines. So, in keeping with the truest documentary standards, I have updated the blurb at around 8:42 talking about the cost of entering the Pinatubo National park. In addition I also changed up the latter sections of the film. Watch both and see if you can find them all!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBTF5ymgRZo&w=560&h=315]

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If you liked this video: Subscribe to me on YouTube

Be sure to also swing by and visit the Moving Stills Media films page to check out what else I have been up to.

And, as always, check out the photos from the Philippines in the Photo Gallery.

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Journal 54: Back from Macau

So I just returned from the Macau and Hong Kong trip and I feel like I have been walking through the desert for weeks.  I can’t believe how exhausted I am.  I don’t know if it’s because I am getting older or because the area is so small that visitors feel they can walk the entire thing and not be completely wasted afterward.

But I can assure you, I am completely wasted.

Having said that, though, I can also say that I have seen the entirety of what Macau has to offer and, as always, I enjoyed my time in Hong Kong.

I only spent one day in Hong Kong this time, but it was great to get out and do a photo-walk of my favorite places thereabouts.

I visited an old friend in the market north on Nathan Road and I got to do one of my favorite things on Hong Kong Island, which was to ride the double-decker buses and shoot the views from above.  And I even ate at one of my coveted places – Agave.

I haven’t eaten good Mexican food in a long time.  So it was a welcomed visit to the restaurant.

As always, it was very expensive.  But I think that I came away with some great experiences.  And the film that is currently in post-production will be released soon – hopefully by Sunday.

Well, this is just a short journal to highlight the upcoming media from the trip.  And I also wanted to make the point of apologizing that I have not been able to release my book as planned.

I guess I just bit off more than I could chew with everything going on and also trying to stay on top of the release.  I will hopefully be able to squeeze it in there with all my edits (photo and film) for the upcoming documentary.

And then, of course, there’s the long-awaited Taiwan Documentary that I have been filming for and working on since January this year (2012).

So there’s lots happening.  And I hop that this weekend greets you all well and that I can get this film out, get the book released, give away my free copies to all promised recipients and then get on to finishing the Taiwan documentary.

Until then, I will be steadily and dedicatedly working!

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Headed for Macau

Greetings all.

As the journals from the Philippines unfold, I will be headed to yet another filming trip in the Chinese Special Administration Region (SAR) of Macau.  I hope to be taking a chopper over to Hong Kong.  But that might not be in the cards.  But that might pale in comparison to the plans I have for diving off the tallest bungee experience in the world — the Macau Tower.

The video below details the gear that I will be bringing along for the ride and using for filming, blogging and hopefully releasing a video while I’m there.

The journals from the Philippines will still be released.  In fact, the last journal is slated for April 4 at 1pm EST.  So at that point I should be prepped to announce the book release and be finished with all the journals from the Southeast Asia portion of the blog.

Far East Asia is being filmed and documented now and I hope to have much more of that by the end of the year.  But until then, enjoy the rest of the SEA journals and I will see you stateside!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRBpoW4R-cU&w=1280&h=720]