That year in 2009 was dry, but Lake Pichola in Udaipur had water in it. This is a man-made lake built in 1362 and through the centuries, palaces of marble have been build on its banks, with others being build on islands constructed by later Maharajas. The lake, then and now, brings a cool breeze to combat the hot Rajasthani sun.

A mother cat and her kittens find a nice quiet place to rest at the entrance to a pagoda in a cupboard designed to house your shoes when at prayer.

Buying a camel is a lot more difficult than it might seems. Making an emergency stop for bread while sailing along the Nile River in Egypt one evening I am confronted by a boy who wishes to sell me a camel or two. The mouth is the most important place to start. He opens the ornery animal’s mouth to show me how it’s done. We agree he is a good beast, but also that he doesn’t list on the airlines companion animal allowance. Egyptian coffee in tiny glasses cures all language and distance barriers.

You don’t see many elephants in Udaipur anymore. There are a lot more sensitivities these days. It could also be that car traffic in the old city is too much for the infrastructure of tight one-lane roads and alleys. An elephant would make for a pretty huge traffic jam. But back in 2009, tourists could hire a painted elephant to transport them through the tight streets and alley’s to sites such as the Gangour Ghat Gates.

Each morning before the busy day arrives, pigeon devotees come to feed their birds. You see the same people every day and they really are serious about the birds in their care. After the pigeons eat they fly in kits across the calm waters of Lake Pichola. The kits of pigeons narrowly miss each other in their noiseless flight. The morning sun begins to frost the tops of the palace walls with an orange glow and at once, you feel whole and calm.

The Mawari Horses of India are a rare breed of warrior horse and highly prized. They are distinctive in that they have a straight back and nose. The nose can sometimes be almost Roman. The ears are curved and touch slightly when pointed forward. White horses are very special and have very pink skin and bright eyes. A pinto like this one are the most popular. Sonepur is the place to purchase such a horse, where Indians come from all over to haggle over their intended purchases, usually reserved for personal riding or for ceremonial purposes. They are not allowed to be exported, but small numbers of them can attain a travel Visa for temporary travel. They are a protected animal.

Meet Mickey Mouse, the most ornery camel I have ever spent time with. Dude is always angry! He sports a recklessly abandoned dental plan, a lion-like yell and despite his ornamentation is not that pretty. He was also after my camera bag which I had placed on the saddle horn and he would have bit me if he had the chance. Still, he was a really fast runner and I was lucky to have a tongue left in my head after each sprint.

A short trip outside of Chiang Mai you find the zoo-like Elephant Nature Park started by Lek Chailert. Dozens of distressed elephants make their way to the park, along with hundreds of mistreated dogs, cats, water buffalo and other assorted animals. Here we stayed the night with the elephants and walked around with them during feeding times. To me however, it was the mahouts that looked after them that were most interesting. Each elephant has its own caretaker. Their hearts are married to that one person. It is a lifetime bond for an elephant that lives as long as a human. These two elephants are named Nong-Paeng and Dayam. No one could tell me the boy’s name. Like an inner-city dog park, everyone remembers the dog’s name, but almost never the owner. Here too seemingly?

A young male tattooed with the beginnings of a Dayak design on his shoulder takes me outside of the longhouse after our morning coffee. He gets me to meet his fighting cock who enjoys being groomed and held, but his calls were incredibly piercing. He looked excited to show off his skills in the ring. The Iban tribe exist on Borneo’s Rivers in communal longhouses where they now dry farm rice and pepper instead of their traditional headhunting ways.

Sapa, in the highlands north of Hanoi continue to bring hearty tourists to trek its steep rice terraces and meet the Black, Red, Flower and White Hmong people of the area. The fields are routinely burnt after harvest to clear and add nutrients. Water buffalo are still used by the Hmong for all manner of farm work and are considered a valuable asset to a family.

We are just waking up from an open night on a mattress on the top of a dune. Eggs and tea are being made on an open fire. The camels have hobbled off in the middle of the night to find greenery to eat and are found on the horizon and brought back. The first two big ones are for us, the small one carries the two men accompanying us. I’m glad they walked off. They regurgitate food all night and they generally aren’t that easy to be around.

Cambodian Croc Farm. Crocs sun themselves before taking a dip in their pool.

Frogs are consumed all around the world and in Asia, you usually find them alive and with legs and arms tied snugged up to the body. I had not seen them sold this way before: head removed and skinned to show their meat. The market that morning had suffered a deluge of rain and the brown water rose to my knees which brought with it cool air and an almost fresh smell.

located off the heavily Pirated side of Malaysian Borneo sits one of the most treasured dive sites in the world - the 600 foot vertical wall of tiny Sipidan Island. Through a series of dives we encountered hundreds of Sharks, massive Sea Turtles everywhere, man-sized Bump-head Parrot Fish and spinning vertical tubes constructed of thousands of Barracudas. Other dives were “muck dives” spent hovering a foot off the sandy bottom looking for micro-life that is so incredibly rare. The whole time watched over on the surface by a boat of armed soldiers dressed in SWAT gear along with 40 more on the Island with heavy anti-aircraft guns. Kidnapping is not looked at well by the Malay government, hence the addition of the 150 man Destroyer parked off-shore. Safe to say us four strangers from Canada, France and Japan felt entirely safe!

A Russian soldier from a visiting navy ship, clobbered by heat and feeling the effects of the night before sleeps hard on the steps on the way to the Dambulla Caves, Sri Lanka. The monkey checked out the hair on his legs and tried to make him wake up. Eventually his friends showed up and poured a bottle of water on him and he came to life. Lots of tension.

Breathtaking light enters the East side of the monastery and if it wasn't already incredibly warm, a cat finds a ray and plops down to rest. A boy who followed us in to the monastery makes sure he is comfortable.