DAILY PHOTO: A Gray Lake

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Photograph of Big Almaty Lake (Үлкен Алматы көлі) near Almaty, Kazakhstan. The lakes color changes over the course of the year. Here it is a sediment loaded gray color.

DAILY PHOTO: Tall Pines, Kolsay Lake

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Photograph taken from a mountain trail around the Kolsay Lakes in Kazakhstan with tall evergreen trees in the fore and lake and valley in the rear.

DAILY PHOTO: Amboseli Cranes

Photograph of two Gray-Crowned Cranes foraging in the Amboseli wetlands.
Photograph of two Gray-Crowned Cranes foraging in the Amboseli wetlands.
Photograph of one Gray-Crowned Crane standing tall in Kenya's Amboseli National Park.

DAILY PHOTO: Valley, Boz-Salkyn

Photograph of valley with yurts in Boz-Salkyn, Kyrgyzstan.
Photograph taken on the Boz-Salkyn trek, south of Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan.
Photograph taken down the mountain at Boz-Salkyn, Kyrgyzstan.

DAILY PHOTO: Dirt Road in the Laotian Countryside

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Photograph taken in the countryside near Vang Vieng, Laos, featuring: rice paddies, dirt road, clouds, and karst topography.

DAILY PHOTO: Perspective is Everything, Kuala Lumpur

Photograph of Kuala Lumpur's skyscrapers, including the Petronas Towers, taken from a high hotel window.
From this perspective it isn’t apparent that the Petronas Towers are taller than anything around them.

PROMPT: Local Custom

Daily writing prompt
What’s the most interesting local custom you’ve encountered?

My wife and I once had tea in Nagaland with men who’d been cannibals in their youth, but they weren’t anymore (and — in point of fact — probably didn’t have the teeth for solid food anymore,) so I don’t think that counts.

For the most part, I don’t think of customs as being more or less interesting, just — sometimes — unexpected. I’ve noticed that most people see cultural customs as the strange behaviors other peoples do, while their own culture’s customs are largely invisible to them (i.e. “That’s just how things are done; it really couldn’t be done any other way.”) So, I guess it’s been most interesting, having returned from living abroad for more than a dozen years, noticing just how many strange and baffling things Americans do.

DAILY PHOTO: Structure 10 Ruins, Ek Balam

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Photograph of ruins of Structure 10 (seemingly bleached white) taken at Ek Balam, a site of Mayan ruins in the Mexican Yucatan.

DAILY PHOTO: Three Views of the Well at Mul Chowk

Photograph of an ornate well in a courtyard at Mul Chowk in Patan's (Lalitpur's) Durbar Square. Taken from the front.
Photograph of an ornate well in a courtyard at Mul Chowk in Patan's (Lalitpur's) Durbar Square. Taken from the side.
Photograph of an ornate well in a courtyard at Mul Chowk in Patan's (Lalitpur's) Durbar Square. Taken from above.

DAILY PHOTO: Views of the National Museum of Qatar

Photograph in the courtyard of the National Museum of Qatar in Doha.
Photograph of the National Museum of Qatar with palm tree -- taken in Doha.
Photograph of the National Museum of Qatar taken from an elevated view in Sheikh Abdulla bin Jassim Al-Thani Palace.
Photograph of the National Museum of Qatar flagpole.