
It’s around this time of season one often reflects upon events that have transpired over the course of the year – typically a time of contemplation, relaxation and gratitude. It’s a time when wishes are spawned and plans are hatched for how to manifest thoughts/ideas into reality as the calendar turns yet another page. It’s the time of year we let our loved ones know we care about them – wishing them prosperity, well-being and health.
As far as travel blogs are concerned, it’s the time of year we thank our readers and summarize some of the ‘best of posts’ of the year. I’d like to do all of that right now; I really appreciate all of the support I’ve received this year! However, what I won’t do is bore you to death with another gag me with a fork post rehashing old refried beans (of blog posts) or waxing on nostalgic about the joy of travel.
Instead, I’ve decided to share some of the more quirky, bizarre, outrageous, outlandish, humorous, funny, ridiculous, absurd & truly off-the-charts moments I’ve experienced while travelling over the years, as summarized in a photo essay.
I’ve been building up a lot of good Karma points with my Smiles around the world series of late and now it’s time for the Pied Piper to collect a small ransom. After-all, this is a blog with the moniker, “Miles away from ordinary…dripping with sarcasm.”
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted something quirky, and as such, I’ve decided to put in a herculean effort as my end of year post.
Sit back, scroll the mouse down the page, chuckle a little bit and have yourself a Merry ‘whatever it is your celebrate’ and a Happy New Year!!! :)

“Hey, we all pick our noses from time to time. Fortunately, most of the time there isn’t some swarmy sort with the audacity to fire off exposures from a comfortable distance
”
A Chinese man picks his nose on the streets of Shanghai, China.

“No wonder he’s grinning from ear to ear – I didn’t notice his t-shirt until I got back to my guest house and was perusing through my photos.”
A Chinese farmer wearing a fuck you t-shirt – Dali, China.

“Okay, I want you to make an outrageous face!”
A Thai monk making a strange, silly, bizarre face – Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“Now stick out your tongue! BUENO!!!”
A Thai monk sticking out his tongue and acting silly – Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“You lookin’ at me??? Ya talkin’ to me???”
A rather unhappy/disgruntled looking fish – Amritsar, India.

“I like Coke!”
Monkey drinking coke outside of the Batu Caves,Malaysia.

“I like Pepsi!”
Monkey drinking Pepsi outside of the Batu Caves, Malaysia.

“I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, sooooooo sexy it hurts!”
A man flashes his bulbous belly in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

“Manly men”
A Laos monk grabbing himself (touching his privates) – Vientiane, Laos.

“Manly men part 2″
A man washing his private parts/genitals in the Ganges – Varanasi, India.

“I was thinking of submitting this shot to Crest or Colgate as a stock photo.”
A close-up shot of a camel`s disgusting teeth – Thar Desert, India.

“Chew on this!”
A man chewing on something – Dhaka, Bangladesh.

“Ethical Computer Hacking…LOL”
A funny signboard in India: ‘Ethical Computer Hacking.’ – Amritsar, India

“ANYBODY who has been to India will get a kick out of this. What? You mean it’s not a toy???”
Think before you honk – Kolkata, India

“Thanks for showing me how it’s done – I almost forgot.”
A Korean urinal signboard depicting a man urinating – Seoul, Korea.

“Is this where they came up with the saying, ‘Walk softly, carry a big stick’ came from?”
A sort of scare-crow’ type of sign used by the Akha hill tribe (long penis) – Northern Thailand.

“Meet Gilad – all decked out in his tightly clad!”
A man with natural man boobs wearing a speedo and lounging like a lizard on the tourist beach of Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

“The ones in the previous picture are ‘real’ man boobs, these on the other hand are not.”
Thai lady boys going topless and showing their surgically enhanced breasts – Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“WAAAAASSSSSSSSUUUUUUUPPPPPPP”
A monk mimicking as though he was using a cell phone – Mcleod Ganj, India.

“Smoking, profanity and scaring off animals – all in a days work for this monk in Thailand.”
A monk scaring off the roosters while smoking a cigarette – Ayutthaya, Thailand.

“Look at that goofy tourist!”
Nomadic Samuel acting like a goofball outside MBK – Bangkok, Thailand.
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
Haha, I like the “too sexy for my shirt” shot! That song is going to be stuck in my head all day.
Audrey recently posted..A Year In Retrospect
Audrey, I owe you an advance apology for that. I hope it won’t stick for too long

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Funny, Crazy, Outrageous Travel Photos
I can’t believe you’ve been keeping those from us!! Did you enter the humor photo roulette over on manonthelam.com?!
Abby recently posted..Colors of Costa Rica
LOL, I’m fully of surprises Abby
I did just enter one on Ray’s site! BTW, happy New Year!
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Valley of the Moon Panorama | Atacama, Chile | Travel Photo
Great photos!
“Ethical Computer Hacking” is actually a regular expression/term. Steve Jobs claimed himself an ethical hacker and I do the same. Hollywood gave “hacking” a negative ring.
Happy travels in 2012!
Greg recently posted..Climbing Sumatra’s Gunung Sibayak
Thanks for the clarification Greg! This instantly renders the photo as pretty lame. Maybe I’ll take it down. Best wishes in the NY!
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Valley of the Moon Panorama | Atacama, Chile | Travel Photo
These are AWESOME Sam!!! Love the comments too ~ Hilarious! What a year you’ve had! Thanks again for sharing
Thanks Jordanna! I’ve got some quirky pics
Happy NY to you!
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Valley of the Moon Panorama | Atacama, Chile | Travel Photo
Lol! The monk making silly faces is my favourite
LOL, those are probably my favourites as well. I really had no idea what the ______ he was doing, just glad I had my camera at the time

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Valley of the Moon Panorama | Atacama, Chile | Travel Photo
Oh my gosh i FREAKIN LOVED THIS!!!!!!!!!! XD !!!!!!!! AWESOME shots man!!!!!! =D
Maria Alexandra @latinAbroad recently posted..Funnest Puerto Rican Christmas tradition: La parranda puertorriqueña
Thanks Maria!!! Happy New Year! Big year for ours blogs

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Valley of the Moon Panorama | Atacama, Chile | Travel Photo
YOU ARE HILARIOUS! Ha ha ha … awesome post and as usual made me laugh. Happy new year .. I want to see more photos like this.

cheryl recently posted..Christmas Markets: Schönbrunn Castle In Vienna.
That’ll be a tall order to produce more like this
Happy NY to you! Really great to discover your blog of late.
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Valley of the Moon Panorama | Atacama, Chile | Travel Photo
Ha ha, don’t disappoint me!
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoy.
cheryl recently posted..Weird And Offbeat Museums: The Katten Kabinet in Amsterdam.
Ha ha! If only all these poor people knew what you were going to do with their photos (especially that last guy with the ridiculous hat!!)

Turtle recently posted..Travel ideas from bloggers for 2012
That guy at the end is a bit of fool, I’d have to say

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Soo many things I love here: “Wassssup,” Right Said Fred, monkeys. etc.
It’s quite the random post! I must admit that
Glad you enjoyed it 

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
These are brilliant. I have to wonder though — why do monkeys drink so much soda? What have we done to them?? Love the post.
DTravelsRound recently posted..The A-Z of D’s Travels ‘Round
Well, unfortunately locals and tourists have been giving it to them (or should I say allowing them) to drink it. They’re terribly addicted to it now. I saw several fighting over a can! It’s honestly not a good thing at all.
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Way to change up the obligatory year in review into something funny. Nose pickers around the world: beware of Nomadic Sammy

Traveling Ted recently posted..Perfume River moto-bike in Hué, Vietnam
Thanks Ted!
Reminder to others: Keep those fingers out of places they shouldn’t be…LOL
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Haha, love it! I really need to shoot more photos while I’m on the road. You’ve got so bloomin’ many!
Chris recently posted..My 7 Favorite Beach Bars
Hey Chris, I do have way too many…it’s almost a burden…LOL Looking forward to checking out your efforts as you hit the road.
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Well thanks for making me sit through the Wassup video again. Ha. I can’t believe you have so many pictures of monks doing weird things. You should start a Tumblr of them. Great post, although I would have appreciated some of the belly shots being a little smaller!!
Laura recently posted..Travel for Love’s Best of 2011
Thanks Laura! I hadn’t seen the Wassup video in ages myself
Sorry for those bulbous bellies 

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Hilarious! Love love love the monkey drinking the pepsi! Those teeth!
Jade recently posted..Making Travel Dreams a Reality, A Photo Trip through 2011
Those monkeys are sure cheeky!

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Thanks for the photos of morbidly obese men in speedos … with these pics seared into my consciousness, it’ll be a wonder if I will ever be able to get aroused again

James Shannon recently posted..End Of The Road: Hunkered Down In Hanoi
LOL, I’m sorry James, unfortunately my pockets aren’t deep enough to pay for counselling

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Love em all, what a nice selection of humorous pictures.
Bodlagz recently posted..Nang Kwak – Thailand’s Beckoning Lady
Thanks! It was fun putting it together

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Love these – the details are awesome!!
Andrea recently posted..Best of Our 2011 Travel
Thanks Andrea!

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Haha, love these pics. What is it with old fat guys wearing Speedos? Not cool.
I have no idea! I have to admire how comfortable they are doing it but…

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
A great collection! Gotta love the funny facial expressions and silly animal behavior.
Stephanie – The Travel Chica recently posted..The Hardest 34 Kilometers
Thanks Stephanie, I’m hoping I’ll build up my collection over the years

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Excellent – some really funny photos. I’ll have to try a bit harder with mine.
Rob recently posted..Perth – The Heartbeat of Western Australia
Rob, best wishes with that! The more you practice, the better the results, I find.
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Hahaha you never fail to make me laugh! Beware of Nomadic Samuel because he’s a paparazzi!
Anyway, the last photo is cute hahaha Happy New Year!


Micamyx|Senyorita recently posted..Binondo, I Shall Return!
NS is a dangerous dude, best wishes to you in the NY as well

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Haha, love this!! Some really great shots here – and great funny faces!
Amanda recently posted..Thursday Traveler: Cailin O’Neil of TravelYourself.ca
Thanks Amanda! Happy New Year to you!
Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Awesome shots dude, got me smiling there! That shot you took ” Man chewing on something” in Bangladesh, he’s chewing on a sugar cane. In most part of Asia, that’s how we traditionally chew, suck and ‘drink’ our sugar cane.

Yaszmin recently posted..Broga Hill in 2011 – Things Have Changed A Lot Over The Years
Thanks for the clarification Yaszmin. That’s actually what I thought but since I wasn’t quite sure I didn’t put it down

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Nice one! I like quirky photos.
Rachel recently posted..100 Books in 2011
Thanks Rachel, I’m sure you’ll build up quite the collection during your time in Korea

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Hilarious! Great photos, Samuel.
Christy & Scott recently posted..Paris in Black and White
Thanks Christy & Scott!

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Great photos! So many candid shots captured! Makes me think of looking at my own albums to check if there are any.
soloflightEd recently posted..Cebu Trip: Whale Shark ‘Butanding’ Encounter in Oslob
I bet you’ve got quite a few. Certainly a good excuse to brush off the dust and peruse through the vaults

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
hahaha awesome photos! especially the last one

Jade – OurOyster.com recently posted..24 Hours In Cape Town – The Only Guide You’ll Need
I heard that guy at the end likes to play the fool

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
These are almost too absurd that they’re hilarious! They are definite keepers as you will always get a smile when you think of your experiences in these places. That last photo is especially funny

Sherry recently posted..“Stargazing on Top of Mauna Kea”
Thanks Sherry! That guy at the end is a bit goofy

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Ba ha ha. A great antidote to the Smiles series
My fave is the not-so-serene monk.
Natasha @ Wandering Kiwi recently posted..Destination Uzbekistan: Bukhara
Natasha, I have no idea how I’ve built up such a quirky collection of monk photos

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
Ha! Hilarious stuff man! I have to be less shy about taking pictures when things go down, but I have a whole page for all the crazy, gross and funny things I run into while traveling. Thanks for the good laugh man! Check out my travel funnies if ya want!
http://justchuckinit.com/category/travel-funnies/
Thanks Ryan, I’m heading over there right now

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Buckingham Fountain | Grant Park, Chicago | Travel Photo
What an awesome post! I’m a huge fan of sites like Engrish.com and Fail Blog and some of your pics are funnier than those. Good one, Sam! Happy New Year.
Charu recently posted..“Behind the Scenes” Series: A Q&A with MMGY Global on Working With Travel Bloggers, Tips for Writers & More
Thanks Charu!
I think I’ve got enough material to do another one of these soon

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Cats of Bangkok, Thailand | Photo Essay
Oh, you goofball, you! Quite a selection here — you’ve certainly got a talent for catching people at just the wrong moment. Funny stuff!
LOL, thanks Cathy! My mischievous streak sure shines in this post. It’s official, nose pickers beware!

Nomadic Samuel recently posted..Cats of Bangkok, Thailand | Photo Essay
This is a great post. I re-shared the bugger on my Facebook.
the ‘man with natural man boobs wearing a speedo and lounging like a lizard on the beach. – also has a shrunken right leg. How the hell does he get by?
Nice one, Samuel.
Loic recently posted..Chrome Users: Try the WordPress.com Extension
Thanks Loic! Much appreciate
Lol! These are so cool!
Go. recently posted..Goodbye Bucephalus!
Love the ‘ethical computer hacking’ sign!
“Chew on this!” gets my vote. The man is just chewing along baby…
Hilarious!
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