I didn’t move about as much as I expected to in 2011. Five countries, an extended stay in Thailand, a couple of months at home, then dipping into Central America for the first time made for a busy year. Here are a dozen photos from 2011 — I hope you like them. Happy New Year!

Click Here to view all 12 photos.

While walking through the markets in Chiang Mai, I often see these hand-carved soaps for sale and couldn’t resist grabbing a shot. You’ll sometimes find the vendor carving them from small balls of colored soap between sales — well worth stopping a moment to watch. They’ll usually ask for 150-200 baht per piece, but a little friendly haggling will drop that price considerably.

To view at full-size, CLICK HERE.

My new friends Mark and Sa were getting married and I was thrilled for them. Even better, Sa shyly asked if I would be their wedding photographer. I’d never shot a wedding and carefully explained that I had no idea what I was doing but that I’d try my best. She was happy. I was ecstatic.

To view extra-large photos and the story CLICK HERE

I can’t stand working in my hotel room. Instead I hang out at cafes and coffee shops around town. The ideal office has wifi, accessible power, preferably a shady outdoor table, a breeze or fan and a wait staff that doesn’t mind me hanging out for hours drinking coffee and fruit smoothies. It’s a tricky combination.

I headed out today at 7:30, planning on stopping at my usual early-morning spot, Ratana’s Kitchen. It’s just around the corner from my hotel and I like to sit outside in the morning and start my day. Today they weren’t open yet and the waiter was standing outside watering the plants.

I thought I’d kill a few moments and walked down to the 7-11 to buy an energy drink and peruse the huge assortment of odd things for sale in the coolers (Essence of Chicken? Why?). Ten minutes later, I checked back at Ratana’s and the waiter was still standing unmoving in the same place, watering the same plant. A bit concerned, I checked his pulse — it was weak but steady, so I left him to his duties and headed to my back-up office.

The backup in this case is Black Canyon Coffee, just inside Tha Phae Gate in the old city. It’s a tourist trap and pricey, but they have decent wifi and it’s a great place to people watch. But Black Canyon has a fatal flaw: they tend to play the same CD over and over for days at a time. Recently it was, inexplicably, John Denver and yesterday it was a collection of rock songs sung in a crooning lounge style interspersed with Whitney Houston hits.

Later in the day I’ll have plenty of options: Archer’s Restaurant, which was one of my first spots and a favorite, Bargin Booze Cafe (yes, that’s how they spelled it. They’ve changed the name to Bamboo Cafe — this saddens me), Ahka Ama Coffee (best coffee in town, but a 30 minute walk), or even Blue Sky Bar, which not only sells the cheapest beer in town and has amazing service but also shows the SciFi channel on TV all day. (Supposedly, they’re open 24 hours a day but visiting a bar at 8 in the morning didn’t seem like a very productive idea.)

Girding myself, I opened the door to the fading strains of I Will Always Love You which not only made me cringe but triggered a memory of a small cafe I’d spotted a few days before, tucked down a quiet soi off the main road. Maybe they were open?

And they were! The Peppermint Coffee House turned out to be exactly what I wanted: they open at 7am, have great food and fair prices, fast wifi and friendly service. They even bring you free ice water to drink — unheard of in this town. Check them out next time you’re in town and tell the waiter, Abu, that Johnny sent you.

If you’re traveling this summer, why not travel slower and consider Thailand vacation rentals as a way to both save money on accommodation and to get to know a destination better. Renting a vacation home gives you a comfortable place to base yourself for exploring the surrounding area as well.

With over 200 posts on the site, quite a few tend to disappear into the archives, never to be seen again. So when Jodi at Legal Nomads and Dani and Jess of Globetrotter Girls nominated me to participate in the 7 Link Challenge, I jumped at the chance.

Katie at Tripbase started the ball rolling last month. The idea is that you dig up seven posts that fit seven certain criteria and make a new post out of them. You then nominate five more travel bloggers and it keeps rolling until we choke the internet with blog posts or all decide we’re just damned sick of it.

So here are my 7 links. I hope you enjoy them.

Most Popular
What Does a $4 Bungalow in Laos Look Like?
I have to say I never expected this one to take off like it did, but apparently a lot of people want to know about cheap bungalows in sleepy river towns. And for four bucks, I think it looks pretty good, indeed.

Most Controversial
A Rant: Travelers Who Piss me Off
Well, with a name like that, what could I expect? Although I have to admit that there was surprisingly little backlash from the Lithuanians (or maybe they’re just biding their time).

Most Helpful
How I Just Saved Hundreds on Travel Shots
I saved about $500 by getting my shots done in Bangkok rather than back home, which is enough to travel here for about two weeks. That’s about 450 plates of pad thai or 250 large Chang beers, so give it a look.

Surprisingly Successful
Depression, Burn Out and Renewal on the Streets of India
I didn’t really expect for this post to gain much traction as it’s a pretty long read for the web and the first half, at least, is well… depressing. It’s easily the most personal thing I’ve written for the site, so it was very gratifying to have it go over well.

Most Beautiful
Photos from the Ganges at Sunrise
This is by far my favorite photo post and I don’t know that I’ll ever top it. I was able to spend five mornings by the river in Varanasi and shot about 1,500 photos. Amazing place!

Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved
Three Mistakes on a Hot Day in Bangkok
One of my first posts after starting this trip, it’s also one of my favorites (as well as my most embarrassing). The site was pretty young then so it’s been moldering in the archives for a year and a half now.

My Favorite
Fighting the Fear: On Two Wheels in Vietnam
I think this is my favorite because it was so hard to write. I really wanted to capture what I was feeling and beat my head against it for days. When it finally came together, I was quite happy with the result.

As for keeping the ball rolling, I’d like to nominate these great bloggers:

Drew Gilbert
Globetrooper
The Expert Vagabond
The Aussie Nomad
Go, See, Write

One place I haven’t visited yet and am really looking forward to exploring is Bali. It may have to wait a bit but you can bet I’ll be checking out Bali holiday packages as soon as I can.