Dinner time at Day of the Dead | Photo by Lauren Girardin

Though we returned from our round-the-world trip several months ago, Todd and I are still updating Ephemerratic with stories and images from the global road—

"Yeah, right," you harrumph.

Gah! We're caught! The real world has sunk its sharp little teeth into our haunches and is gnawing away at our muscles.

We've both been fortunate to find full time work in a crappy economy: Todd's back to substitute teaching and I'm consulting on marketing and communications. Between earning money and our extroverted tendency to never say no to a good party, we're having trouble making time for Ephemerratic.

Hidden San Francisco park | Photo by Lauren Girardin

It's also been wonderful to be back in San Francisco. We're going on Bike Posse rides around the city, hanging out with much-missed friends, eating burritos—

"Excuses are for wimps!" you holler. "Give us more travel stories! What about China? The Philippines? South Korea? Bali?"

We hollaback: "Damn, Reader. That's some tough love."

If we looked hard at our schedules, we have plenty of time most days to spend on Ephemerratic-related whatnots. I'm still struggling with the physical limitations – it's literally painful to get on the computer to write after spending 50 or more hours a week at the same keyboard to get my consulting projects done. I know I am supposed to suffer for my art, but I'd prefer an existential crisis to carpal tunnel.

So, with that confession, we hope you'll still keep reading when we manage to eek out a post.

Oh, look! The sun's come out in our backyard. Why don't I go hang out there for a while instead of in front of this computer...

Our distracting backyard | Photo by Lauren Girardin

As our storytelling heads into China and its cuisine that often challenges the Western imagination of what is edible versus what is best left for grinding into hotdogs, I can’t help but think about cultural food norms.

We encountered plenty of food in China that took bravery and a bit of mental trickery to eat, but we didn’t have to travel to a foreign country to get weirded out by food. There’s plenty to be had at home in San Francisco.

Kombucha close up | Photo by debra solomon

(Keep reading on www.ephemerratic.com for questionable edibles you can get in San Francisco)

Sometimes my mind wanders off from Asia and starts thinking about the next trip. In those moments, I'm happy to be able to find a guest blogging gig on other travel sites like The Brooklyn Nomad.

In "Festivals for Pyromaniacs" I write about global effigy burning celebrations like Zurich’s snowman-torching Sechseläuten; Antigua, Guatemala’s devil-barbecuing La Quema del Diablo; and Cheung Chau's (near Hong Kong) ghost king-roasting Bun Festival.

Please hop on over to The Brooklyn Nomad and share your comments about massive displays of things on fire.

In other good news, my photo from a Madrid bullfight is the lead image on The Observers' article, "Catalonia bullfighting ban: breeder fights back." The article author, Alejandro Melgarejo, is a bull breeder and would value your comments on the issue of bullfight bans.

You can read my story about attending a bullfight in Madrid here.

>> Read the "Festivals for Pyromaniacs" story on The Brooklyn Nomad

>> Check out my Madrid bullfight photo on The Observers

Fantastic frog figurine from the Hong Kong Museum of Art | Photo by Lauren Girardin

The Ratings Explained:

• YEH – Like a hot, fresh baked egg tart. YEHs are as good as you can get, especially for your backpacker buck, although sometimes a YEH is only relative to the other worse options in town.
• MEH – Like lukewarm pork fat (lukewarm or not, it's still pork). An intense level of indifference best describes a MEH experience. Got time to kill? Hong Kong dollars to burn? Checked your email? Sure, fine, do it. Whatever.
• NAH – Like cold, leftover chicken feet. NAHs are worth avoiding at all costs. Likely to cause aggravation, frustration, or a need for Cipro.

Read on for the YEH-MEH-NAHs, our travel tips of where to (and not to) eat, drink, sleep, and visit in Hong Kong.

(Email and RSS readers, visit www.ephemerratic.com to read the travel tips from Hong Kong)

All night shopping in Hong Kong | Photo by Lauren Girardin

The social melee in Hong Kong’s Mong Kok neighborhood induces our first bout of culture shock on this trip. Most of the past three months we’ve traveled slowly overland through swaths of mellow and, relative to Hong Kong, underpopulated Southeast Asia. Here, we face a wall of people every way we turn.

(Email and RSS readers, visit www.ephemerratic.com to read the rest of the story about Hong Kong)

What would you do if $22,000 suddenly appeared in your life? Would you spend it on stuff? Gamble it away in the stock market? (C'mon, don't you ever learn?) Or, would you, like Christina Ammon, invest it in people? People who have been carried away by generosity to make a difference in this world?

Better yet, if you're getting engaged, would you spend $22,000 on a beautiful diamond ring and, in so doing, help Christina help others?

Todd and I first heard about Christina's With This Ring Project when she commissioned Todd to make a drawing for the project's website. Travel writer Jeff Greenwald (who some of our friends will know has a fierce talent for limbo) is the catalyst in this story, weaving a connection from Christina to Todd in that magical way he has.

When Christina inherited her grandmother's diamond engagement ring, it didn't take her long to decide to auction it off and do something meaningful with the proceeds.

Christina will divide the auction money between people and organizations she has met during her far-flung travels of this world. She'll give it away to those who are making a difference in exchange for little more than the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from doing good. Recipients include Quilts for Kids Nepal, Himalayan Raptor Rescue, 100 Friends, The Sarswati Foundation, and more.

If you're in the mood for marriage, then Christina has the diamond engagement ring for you. It's quite a rock: 3.21 carats set in platinum. The auction runs from January 1st through February 7th, just in time for Valentine's Day. All you have to do is bid.

>> Read more at www.withthisringproject.org or on the project's blog

>> Follow the With This Ring Project on Twitter and on Facebook

Playing with my twitching food

We skip willy-nilly through the time-space continuum over on Matador Network, who just published my new travel story about eating live animals in South Korea. Here's a taste:

My chopsticks finally aim towards the last untried morsels, a substance that can be generously described as resembling chunks of slug. Its glossy, soft flesh is a mottled mix of khaki green, deep brown, mustard yellow, and blue-gray, combined to make a surface both artful and repulsive.

Thanks to the dozen complete strangers that have commented on the post. The comments are worth reading too. I'd love to read your comment on Matador.

>> Read the rest of the story on MatadorAbroad.com

You don't get to see or do much when you get kicked out of a country. So most of our YEH-MEH-NAHs are for things within a few blocks of our hostels, the immigration office, and Pantip Plaza. That's right - we didn't see a single one of Bangkok's sites. But we did eat!

(Email and RSS readers, visit www.ephemerratic.com to read the travel tips from Bangkok, Thailand)