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Our friend Craig Ferguson has released a new eBook.  From his website:

Travel Photography Essentials is an eBook designed to get you up and running with travel photography. From beginner level right through to enthusiast this 98 page book was created in response to many requests for such a resource. Within the pages are sections covering basic settings, composition and techniques as well as advice regarding pre-departure preparations. The bulk of the eBook though is taken up with subject oriented advice. Covering a range of common travel photography scenarios including people, landscapes and nature, festivals, city life and more. Rounding things out is a look at image management including basic workflow, monitor calibration and what to do if you think your photographs are good enough to sell.

Travel Photography Essentials eBook is priced at only $15.

As a launch special, from now until February 28 2014, if you use the code travel33 you can get $5 off the purchase price of Travel Photography Essentials.

Here is the link to his site where you can order the eBook: Travel Photography Essentials

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Long-time readers of this blog know that I occasionally go to Taoyuan to hang out with my friends Mr. Lee and Mr. Sun, aka Lee and Paul.  Unfortunately, Mr. Lee passed away several years ago.  Wednesday night I got a call from Paul’s wife, which has never happened before.  My worst fears were realized: Mr. Sun passed away a few days ago, from liver failure.  We had a lot of good times in the past, and like Mr. Lee, he will be missed.  Goodbye my friend.

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Geotagged Photos by MJ Klein, including DUTCH OVEN COOKING PHOTOS!

I left you in the last installment with a shot of this fire pit, and after talking with the campground owner I decided to build a fire in this pit and cook here.  When I rolled down the window as the owner approached our van, he froze and gave me the “foreigner stare” until I spoke Chinese to him.  He said that no Westerner has ever been to this campsite before.  Can’t say that anymore!

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Geotagged photos by MJ Klein

Recently, my wife has developed an interest in camping.  I try to encourage her to experience new things and cultivate new interests, so, we took our camping gear that we’ve acquired over time (at my suggestion) and went camping with her sister (shown here holding Phoenix), Hui-lien.  This is a shot of our tent setup, and our VW van next to it.  Notice the gravel surface.

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Video by MJ Klein

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Dashcam Video

Hui-chen suggested that I post this video.  We were at Costco on Sunday and it was jammed full of people.  Parking spaces were scarce, so naturally when I saw someone leaving, I stopped my car and put on my turn signal to indicate that I wanted the space.  That is an internationally recognized practice.  So, what do you do if a car comes along and the driver refuses to acknowledge your presence and tries to park in the space you want?  This is exactly what happened.  Let me give you a rundown of the video:

As the video starts, I’m driving in the parking lot.  As I slow to a stop, you can see a man on the left side of the screen (near the support column) getting into his van.  I instantly recognized this as a parking opportunity, so I stop and put on my left turn signal.  At 17:07:55 you see his lights blink as he turns off his car alarm.  By this point I’m waiting with my left turn signal on.At 17:08:16 another car passes me on the left, and goes on to park up ahead.  At 17:08:30 another car passes me on the left, sees the van about to leave and pulls up ahead to wait for it.  At around 17:08:40 he’s still stopped, so I honk my horn to indicate my presence and therefore my desire for that parking space, me having been there before he came along.  So, how does he respond?  By pulling further ahead and discharging his wife to walk over and “hold” the space for him.  The van backs out and I pull in.  The wife, standing there, looks at me incredulously.  I roll down the window and she sees my face, and says “sorry” in English.  Believe it or not, her husband ran over in a rage and started berating me for parking there when his wife was holding the space for him!  Then the husband went off on a tirade, telling me that I had been waiting for another space and I was on the left side of the aisle (he denied passing me on the left to get to where he was).  This guy and his wife were apparently totally obvilious to the fact that they passed me with my turn signal on!  They even threatened to post their dashcam video on Facebook and Youtube.   I’ve already posted my to Youtube and now the blog, so I hope to see their video soon, which will only show the fact that they are wrong!

But, You Be The Judge

Here is the video:

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Photos by MJ Klein

The Giant Little Yellow Rubber Duck has invaded Taiwan – and your favorite blogger was there to get photos!

Naturally we had to take Phoenix to see the duck.  But don’t get me wrong – we didn’t make a special trip just to see the duck – we were in Kaohsiung visiting the family and it just so happens that the duck was just down the street.  But why call it “The Giant Little Yellow Rubber Duck” you might ask?  Well, that is a cross-cultural name I came up with.

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Photos by MJ Klein

Suddenly, I realized that I’ve taken so long to publish these installments, that it’s been over a year since the events happened!  I owe you, Dear Reader, one more installment in this series, so here it is, finally!

I had the morning to myself so after relaxing in my room, I went out in search of some food.  Across the street, I spied this meat grilling….

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Geotagged photos by MJ Klein

Recently we joined reader Stefan and his lovely wife and daughter for a visit to Taiwan’s Green World.

It was a perfect day for walking around: occasionally overcast with the sun not too strong.

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Photos and video by MJ Klein

This morning, my wife and I were on the way to the highway exit when we stopped to get a few things at the local 7-11.  I was driving, and I parked (our new) car on the side of the road in a legal space and turned on the flashers.  My wife went to the store and I stayed in the car with Phoenix.  After my wife returned, Phoenix wanted a bottle so Hui-chen began preparing the bottle when a bus struck our left mirror, virtually shearing it off.

This is the bus, after I honked my horn to induce him to pull over.  The driver turned out to be unpleasurable to deal with.

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