Back from my trip

I got back from my 3 week trip to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia yesterday afternoon. I'm at work today, but I have the rest of the week off because its a holiday.

I had wanted to keep updating my blog while I was on my trip, but I didn't feel like it. I'll write about the trip later. I have several thousand photos to go through first.

Golden Buddha at Wat Traimit

Today I went to Wat Traimit to see this statue. It's the largest cast gold statue in the world. I think I read it was an 80 or 90% gold alloy. It was cast in something like 10 parts, in the 13th century. It's almost 10 feet high and weighs over 5 tons.

I'm in Thailand now

I got to Bangkok late last night. I will write more after I go through all the photos I took today.

New bag: Aeronaut

At some point in the last several years I became very interested in bags. Not ugly designer bags, but functional bags and luggage.

I am going on a trip next week, so I thought it would be a good time to get a new bag. I got a Tom Bihn Aeronaut, which is made in Seattle, Washington. The bag has a shoulder strap, and also backpack straps that can be put away when they are not being used. I won't be taking anything that doesn't fit in this bag, including the small back pack I will use when I am out sightseeing. I tried packing it, and there is plenty of room, including my small backpack and the jacket I will wear to the airport, which I won't need once I get to Bangkok.

The packed bag weighs about 20 lbs. I really wish I could bring less stuff. I'm going to go through what I plan to bring and see if there's anything else I can leave out. I'm not taking many clothes, its just the weight of all this random stuff that adds up. The two heaviest things are my netbook (3.2 lbs), Nikon D90 DSLR + 18-200mm lens + flash (total wt. about 3.4 lbs).

I won't be able to carry it on the plane, I'll have to check it because Air China has a ridiculous 11 lb weight limit for carry on bags.