As we’re closing up, I wanted to share a small collection of our favorite photos from the trip. As I posted recently, we took over 14,000 photos over the course of the year, all with a point-and-shoot camera (a Pentax Optio WP).  Like all our photos, these are untouched with the exception of minor cropping.

 If you’d like to browse more photos, the “photos” keyword brings together our dispatches on this site. Also, you can see all our Top 20, top 220 and/or all 1500 photos we shared on Flickr.  

OK, on to our favorites:

 This is a Costume Play Kid in Harajuku, Tokyo, Japan.

Snow Flowers while dogsledding near Banff, Alberta, Canada. 

This little girl just happened to step right into place at the Amber Fort, Jaipur, India.

A violent curl at Kaena Point, Oahu, Hawaii

 A Mongolian Horseman on the Mongolian Steppe. Part of the Trans-Siberian railway.

Kabal Chai Waterfall near Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Cyclo in the monsoon, Hoi An, Vietnam

Thai Boy Fishing Near Bangkok, Thailand

Romance with guitar, Cadaques, Spain.

Brother and Sister, Sri Lanka

Plumeria, Luang Prabang, Laos.

Lofoten Islands Fjords, Arctic Circle, Norway.

If you like these, I bet you'll dig the panoramas. 

 I'll be posting "best of" photos soon, but for now I wanted to share a few that are not necessarily best-of, but have made an impression on some readers.

 This guy in Vietnam with all the LIVE ducks on his motorcycle (next 2 photos) seemed to strike a chord with lots of readers.  I couldn't believe how calm they seemed, considering.

Speaking of motorcycles, this is how I look when I drive. 

 Speaking of ducks, Mongkol ate this one in Cambodia.  A little too, um, mature for me.

 Speaking of eating ducks, this century egg nearly made me barf on video.

The next two photos go together too.  As our friend Jeanine pointed out, they offer an interesting juxtaposition of Russia.  The second photo is inside a Moscow subway.

 This pier in Koh Lanta, Thailand was not built for this kind of surf and as the waves approached it became rideable. It broke into pieces overnight.

 Einstein is huge in Portugal.

 On and on in a crowded elevator.

 Purchased at the China/Mongolia border, Johnny Worker was nearly the downfall of a few Tran-Siberian travelers.

 This was just before I was decapitated at a hair salon in Shanghai. I recovered fully.

 Gender bending Costume Play Kids in Japan. Sometimes cute, but in this case quite scary.

Over the course of the trip, I put together nearly 100 panoramas, using the Pentax Optio WP (which has a panorama setting) and Panorama Factory software. Here is a collection of our favorites.  The country names link to all posts from that country.

Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand 

 Peka Peka Beach, South Island, New Zealand with Maitland.

Franz Josef Glacier, South Island, New Zealand 

 Doubtful Sound, Fiordlands, South Island, New Zealand

Suncorp Rugby Stadium, Brisbane, Australia 

 Long Beach, Great Keppel Island, Queensland, Australia

 Singapore Rooftop

 Sri Lanka, Negombo Beach

 Sri Lanka Elephant Safari

 Kandy, Sri Lanka, from Hotel Topaz

 The Taj Mahal, Agra, India

  Mt. Kanchenjunga at Dawn, Tiger Hil, near Darjeeling, India

 Rai Lay Beach, Thailand

 East Coast of Koh Lanta, Thailand

 Koh Lanta Beach, Thailand

 Pimalai Resort Pool, Koh Lanta, Thailand

 Koh Phi Phi Thailand

Loh Dalam Bay, Koh Phi Phi Thailand

Matsumoto Castle, Japan

 Vang Vieng Mountains, Laos

 Angkor Wat, Cambodia

 Hong Kong Harbour Peak

Three Gorges Dam, China

 Henningsvaer, Lofoten Islands, Arctic Circle, Norway

 Lofoten Islands, Norway

 Lofoten Islands, Norway

 Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark

 Siena, Italy from the Duomo 

 The Barrio, Lisbon, Portugal

 Cadaques, Spain

 La Seu Gothic Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain

 Grand Canyon, South Rim, Arizona, USA

 Grand Canyon, South Rim, Arizona, USA

 Zion National Park, Utah, USA

 Lake Powell, Utah, USA

 And finally, I shot this panorama from Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle just days before we left.  During the trip we would look at it sometimes to remember home.