On a brisk winter day on the streets of Otavalo, we roamed aimlessly around town photographing anything and everything that caught our eye. The typeface on these walls took me back to my junior high days, sitting in Mechanical Drafting class, T-ruler in one hand, pencil in the other, graphing away.
SLEEPLESS IN SAIGON
With already 12 months behind us and decidedly another 3 to go, we made our way back to Saigon, a budding metropolis of young creatives and entrepreneurs. Though it's long been the country's center of commerce for locals and foreigners alike, in the recent years, there's been an increasing infiltration of relevant fashion, art, and music enhanced by this new wave of progressive minds.
We came here with the notion of setting some groundwork for what's to come post-voyage, excited to be in the midst of this imminent cultural transformation, though mildly circumspect about the fate of age-old traditions. In our hearts, we hope this collision of old and new will coexist well into the distant future, while retaining their respective charisma and authenticity.
TOTES MAHOUTS
We saw so many of these massive mammals during our trip through Africa, but this was the first time ever we got this close to them. Aside from the referral of my younger brother and his girlfriend, we did extensive research into different farms before visiting this one in Thailand. It was important to us that the elephants were well cared for and ethically treated, not exploited.
Within the first 15 minutes of our visit to Patara, we knew we'd chosen the right place. The caretakers focus on the rescue, recovery, reproduction, and re-introduction of the elephants. Their efforts in the conservation of this endangered species include seeing to the successful birth of 31 calves over the past decade with zero mortality and 8 more on the way.
Just one afternoon with these soft-hearted creatures (who eat 5% of their body weight on a daily basis) and we were smitten.
