That relative peace and tranquility was quickly dashed on our way out as large Chinese tour groups with tour guides speaking through bullhorns once again invaded the premises. And it got worse…

The clouds looked dark and threatening, but they hadn’t delivered any precipitation. However, the winds were howling and that made the cable car ride a bit scary as we were swaying in it…

Like many of the hikes we had done in the Southern California area this year, the one we intended to do today was a repeat of what we did a long time ago when we were still…

Before we got deep into the white stuff (without chains), we decided to turn around and call it a defeat. So we wouldn’t see neither Koosah nor Sahalie Falls as I had feared…

…this trip seemed like it wasn’t meant to be because there was predicted bad weather (funny how the forecast gets worse after you make the booking last week) and Julie wasn’t feeling well…

It has been about six years since our last trip to Switzer Falls. Back then, it was during a disappointingly dry winter so the falls itself was disappointing despite it being February…

It was a little before 9am when Mom, Julie, and I left the parents’ place for Sturtevant Falls. In my heart, I wanted to leave earlier, but with a combination of a long week of work…

I was getting a bit tired of stopping at some unknown pullout, getting out of the car, inspecting the scene for Ortega Falls, getting back on Hwy 74 without getting in an accident…

I think it was almost eight or nine years ago since the last time Julie and I spent any bit of time in the Santa Barbara area for Valentine’s Day. Back then, we weren’t waterfallers…

It had been a very dry winter even despite some sporadic storms that showed up in November and December. But we knew January was unusually warm and was…

I was looking forward to the plane ride partially to at least try to get some sleep and fight off this apparent fever. But at the same time it was gonna be one hell of a long flight. Julie reminded..

Since we’re not even half way through our trip, this was worrisome. And sure enough after a few more minutes of touring the temples at Doi Inthanon, the lens got completely stuck. So from now on…

The taxi driver pointed to the alley way. This didn’t look like the street we arrived to the Baan Chantra in. So it looked like we were had and now we had to figure out where we were and how to get…

I had never driven on a 4wd road quite like this before. There were long, curvy, and steep stretches where some parts of the road were so badly beat up that they put concrete rails in which you…

After a few minutes more of taking additional photos of the scene (trying to bring home tangible memories of this rarest of places on the planet), I finally took up on Robert’s suggestion…

Julie somehow didn’t buy his explanation. But after we surrendered the tip and went back to our hotel room did we look into our guidebook and learned that we had been scammed all along…

The next two hours or so of driving was torture for me. That was because my nausea returned and I knew that I was going to throw up again the next place…

Unfortunately, Julie started to feel fever and chills. It made her night sleepless, and the fear that she might be stricken with malaria also kept me awake all night…

…we just sat there and watched the lions – seeing what they’re doing next; hopefully getting in better more photographable positions. What ensued was a bit more than we bargained for…

Suddenly, Chester’s car made a loud bang and the entire backside of the car sank to the ground… when we all left the car, the severity of the situation became immediately known…