The Shack at Bai Dai

This picture was taken in September 2011 at The Shack in Bai Dai Beach, Vietnam.  The waves at Bai Dai are wind generated beach breakers and can reach 1-3 meters in the high season of October through April.

Родина-мать зовёт!

This photo was taken in 2008 by Rosie O'Neill near Manzhouli, China. The statue in the picture with me is actually a replica of a famous Russian statue called "The Motherland Calls." The title of this blog entry is the Russian name. The original statue was built in Volgograd to commemorate the Battle of Stalingrad. When it was dedicated in 1967, it was the largest sculpture in the world, standing 86 meters(284 feet) tall. The statue in the photo is obviously much smaller. You can view a picture of the original statue by clicking here.

Kyoto Giant

This photo was taken in 2007 by Cris Cordio in Kyoto, Japan. I am 6'4" or 193 cm tall. The average height for a man age 18-29 in Japan is about 5'6" or 171 cm.

Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome

This photo was taken in 2007 at the Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome in Fukuoka, Japan. The Fukuoka Dome was built in 1993 and has a seating capacity of 35,695. Frank Sinatra played his last public concert there in 1994. The stadium is the home of the Nippon Baseball League's Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. The Hawks won the Pacific League in 2010, but fell in the Pacific League Final Stage to the Chiba Lotte Marines in 6 games despite holding a 2-1 series lead after 3 games. The Hawks haven't won the Japan Series title since 2003, but have a strong team heading into 2011.

Covered Chairman Mao

This photo was taken in 2009 at Century Square in Jilin, China. The normal skate spot had been largely walled off due to renovations to Chairman Mao's statue for the 60th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 2009. You can see the statue covered in red(of course!) fabric behind the wall. Century Square's Chairman Mao statue is relatively small compared with ones in other cities I have seen. One must wonder what Chairman Mao would have thought of skateboarding.

Moon Jellyfish

This photo was taken in 2011 at AQWA Aquarium in Perth, Australia. Pictured is a moon jellyfish, a common jellyfish belonging to the genus Aurelia. Ten species, including the moon jellyfish, in the genus Aurelia are so similar that it is impossible to identify differences without genetic sampling. Moon jellyfish lack respiratory, excretory, and circulatory systems. They feed on plankton, using their tentacles to trap and paralyze the small animals while small cilia move the food into the jellyfish's gastrovascular cavity. Little is known about the vitamin requirements of jellyfish, but since they produce digestive enzymes it is reasoned that they can process fats, carbohydrates, and proteins just as most animals can.

Hoa Lo Prison Memorial Garden

This photo was taken in 2009 at Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi, Vietnam. Hoa Lo Prison was used by the French to house Vietnamese revolutionaries and later gained infamy in America as the prison that American POWs sarcastically referred to as the "Hanoi Hilton." The memorial garden is a tribute to all of the Vietnamese who died at the hands of their French captors. The French were exceptionally brutal, keeping Vietnamese prisoners chained to a large, flat table by their ankles then torturing them and executing them by means of the guillotine. The words on the wall mean, "High Indomitable Patience - Eternal Glory."