Here it is...

The End...for this trip at least.  I'd like to thank you all for flying Lone DeRanger Airlines...it's been my pleasure lying to you, making fun of you, and generally pulling your legs and other things.  I would say this years comments were the best yet...never have so many made fun of such of such an honourable, truthful, ethical, and serious celebrity...wait until I tell Popey!  I promise I will find a way to send out notices without everyone's email address showing next time...until then, get over it.
Anyone got any ideas about where we should go next?

Possibly...well maybe...ok, I really don't know...

I wrote that title last night, and something wonderful, and witty was about to be written...but now that I'm sober, I have no idea what I was going to say...
It's our last full day in Hong Kong.  I want to acknowledge 2 people for recognition...the first, FARTMAN!...he got a new grant to continue work as the lizard proctologist!  Way to go FARTMAN!!!

Second, Wild Gary for his inability to post a single comment this trip.  Last year he hogged the comments...posting 2, 3, sometimes 5 comments per day.  Last year he had a comment on everything...even shit I didn't write about...what a goof!...doesn't he know who I am?  I wanted to thank Alexa and Tristan for putting us up in Hong Kong, so we went out to a fancy restaurant last night.  Nur...I think the name was longer but they couldn't afford a bigger sign...

...hey look...when you spell it backwards it's RUN, which seems to be what Cassandra is doing this morning...poor thing.  The food was wonderful...lot's of little courses like these...

 ...very fancy!  Today, we went out to some little island, and the fishing village out there.  To get there we went on a huge gondola ride...up above the airport...

 ...up at the top was "THE BIG BUDDHA"...ya, no kidding!

 ...why they would make a statue of some guy trying to catch a fly, I have no idea!  From there we took a bus down to the little fishing village  Tai-O...

 ...had lunch with these two beauties...

...Tristan and I had some of these...

...didn't buy this...

...and finally saw an old Chinese lady...

tomorrow at this time we will be in the air, on our way home.  It's been a wonderful trip...now this is your last chance to tell me just how wonderful at reporting I truly am...hahahahahahahahahahaha!
Here are a few spare photos while you think up something good!

 ...look out world, we're comin' home!

The Dutch are blind, and the Chinese are deaf...

CAN YOU HEAR ME?...DO I HAVE TO YELL LOUDER?  I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, BUT I THINK THE CHINESE HAVE GONE DEAF!  WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS YELLING AT EACH OTHER...CAN'T WE JUST NOT YELL?  THEY MUST BE DEAF...I'M NOT SURE HOW MUCH OF THIS YELLING I CAN DO...IT'S LIKE TRYING TO TALK TO MY BUDDY LUF...BUT I THINK HE JUST IGNORES ME!  ANYWAY, WE GOT INTO HONG KONG THIS MORNING AT 6:20 AM...WENT THROUGH THE IMMIGRATION LINE WHERE EVERYONE YELLED AT EACH OTHER...THEN GOT IN A CAB AND THE DRIVER YELLED AT US, AND WE STARTED YELLING AT HIM...IT WAS A YELL-FEST! ANYWAY, NOT TOO MUCH TO REPORT TODAY...HAD LUNCH WITH ALEXA AND TRISTAN, DIDN'T YELL...GOT A PIC OF A COOL BUILDING...

 ...COOL AND HAZY IN HONG KONG.  I LIKE THE PLUMBING THEY DO HERE...EASY TO SEE WHEN THERE'S PROBLEM...

...SEE WHAT I MEAN...

...TOMORROW WILL BE EASIER...I'LL GIVE MY VOICE A REST...SEE YA!

Another last day...Maldives this time...

We are an hour from boarding the plane to Hong Kong, and I thought I could get the post done.  Capital city of The Maldives is Male...pronounced Molly...why they insist on spelling it wrong I have no idea.  Anyway, first place I've been to that was airport on one side, marina on the other!

...those are the boats that brought us back from the island we were on...Bandos.  We did a little exploring in Male this afternoon...Muslim everything...lots of women who looked like they were about to rob a bank...but didn't as far as I know.  Here is one of the big mosques behind a big tree...

...here's Cassandra heading into the national museum...

...the Chinese gov't donated the museum...nice ceiling...

...couldn't spend any time in a city without going to a market with Cassandra...anyone know what this stuff is?

...and I know Luf knows what this is...

...some of the people looked like this...

 ...we had tea at a cafe overlooking the port...

...then went to the old Muslim graveyard...

 ...got a little tired, so we took one of these back to the airport...

...they have soooo much perfect sand here that they dump it out by the airport to get rid of it!

...and this shot doubles as the sunset, and the town ferry...

...now, the Red Eye to Hong Kong!

5 days remaining...

Yep, 5 days left on this trip...2 more here, 3 in Hong Kong, then home sweet home.  This has been a really good trip...we loved Sri Lanka, and it was exciting to see the people's reaction to the new government.  The Maldives has been wonderful in its own right...although today was kind of rough out on the ocean...no snorkeling today!

  ...that's the breakwater for the resort...those lamps are about 8' high, and the breakwater is about 30' wide at that point.  They hit the wall with enough force to wash all the way over! A couple of flowers on our way to and from meals...

...so we are at the second last sunset for The Maldives...not a bad one...