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. ย 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. ย It’s the time of year we let our loved ones know we care about them – wishing them prosperity,ย well-beingย and health. ย
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. ย I’d like to do all of that right now; I really appreciate all of the support I’ve received this year! ย 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. ย
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. ย
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 smallย ransom. ย After-all, this is a blog with the moniker, “Miles away from ordinary…dripping with sarcasm.” ย
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted something quirky, and as such, I’ve decided to put in aย herculeanย effort as my end of year post. ย
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!!! ย ๐

“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 :P”
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 wasย perusingย 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.
[vsw id=”39YUXIKrOFk&ob=av2e” source=”youtube” width=”648″ height=”525″ autoplay=”no”]

“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.
[vsw id=”eLkZTJczirU” source=”youtube” width=”648″ height=”525″ autoplay=”no”]

“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. ย What? ย 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.
[vsw id=”UDTZCgsZGeA” source=”youtube” width=”648″ height=”525″ autoplay=”no”]

“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.
That shirt. I saw someone with something similar to that and I could not help but laugh.
Thank you for sharing! These are awesome and hilarious! ๐
Thank you! Glad you found them funny ๐
Great photos. Crazily funny stuff.
If you like crazy and traveling you should know about the guy who pushed an empty wheelchair across Australia, or the guy who golfed across Mongolia! nutters.
Thank you! Those are pretty crazy adventures as well ๐
Hilarious!
โChew on this!โ gets my vote. The man is just chewing along baby…
Love the ‘ethical computer hacking’ sign!
Lol! These are so cool!
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.
Thanks Loic! Much appreciate ๐
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! ๐
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.
Thanks Charu!
I think I’ve got enough material to do another one of these soon ๐
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 ๐
Ba ha ha. A great antidote to the Smiles series ๐ My fave is the not-so-serene monk.
Natasha, I have no idea how I’ve built up such a quirky collection of monk photos ๐
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 ๐
Thanks Sherry! That guy at the end is a bit goofy ๐
hahaha awesome photos! especially the last one ๐
I heard that guy at the end likes to play the fool ๐
Great photos! So many candid shots captured! Makes me think of looking at my own albums to check if there are any.
I bet you’ve got quite a few. Certainly a good excuse to brush off the dust and peruse through the vaults ๐
Hilarious! Great photos, Samuel.
Thanks Christy & Scott! ๐
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. ๐
Thanks for the clarification Yaszmin. That’s actually what I thought but since I wasn’t quite sure I didn’t put it down ๐
Haha, love this!! Some really great shots here – and great funny faces!
Thanks Amanda! Happy New Year to you!
Nice one! I like quirky photos.
Thanks Rachel, I’m sure you’ll build up quite the collection during your time in Korea ๐
Hahaha you never fail to make me laugh! Beware of Nomadic Samuel because he’s a paparazzi! ๐
Anyway, the last photo is cute hahaha Happy New Year! ๐ ๐
NS is a dangerous dude, best wishes to you in the NY as well ๐
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… ๐
Excellent – some really funny photos. I’ll have to try a bit harder with mine.
Rob, best wishes with that! The more you practice, the better the results, I find.
A great collection! Gotta love the funny facial expressions and silly animal behavior.
Thanks Stephanie, I’m hoping I’ll build up my collection over the years ๐
Love em all, what a nice selection of humorous pictures.
Thanks! It was fun putting it together ๐
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 ๐
LOL, I’m sorry James, unfortunately my pockets aren’t deep enough to pay for counselling ๐
Love these – the details are awesome!!
Thanks Andrea! ๐
Hilarious! Love love love the monkey drinking the pepsi! Those teeth!
Those monkeys are sure cheeky! ๐
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!!
Thanks Laura! I hadn’t seen the Wassup video in ages myself ๐ Sorry for those bulbous bellies ๐
Haha, love it! I really need to shoot more photos while I’m on the road. You’ve got so bloomin’ many!
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.
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. ๐
That’ll be a tall order to produce more like this ๐ Happy NY to you! Really great to discover your blog of late.
Ha ha, don’t disappoint me! ๐
Thanks so much. Glad you enjoy.
Way to change up the obligatory year in review into something funny. Nose pickers around the world: beware of Nomadic Sammy ๐
Thanks Ted!
Reminder to others: Keep those fingers out of places they shouldn’t be…LOL
These are brilliant. I have to wonder though — why do monkeys drink so much soda? What have we done to them?? Love the post.
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.
Soo many things I love here: “Wassssup,” Right Said Fred, monkeys. etc.
It’s quite the random post! I must admit that ๐ Glad you enjoyed it ๐
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!!) ๐
That guy at the end is a bit of fool, I’d have to say ๐
Oh my gosh i FREAKIN LOVED THIS!!!!!!!!!! XD !!!!!!!! AWESOME shots man!!!!!! =D
Thanks Maria!!! Happy New Year! Big year for ours blogs ๐
Lol! The monk making silly faces is my favourite ๐
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 ๐
These are AWESOME Sam!!! Love the comments too ~ Hilarious! What a year you’ve had! Thanks again for sharing ๐
Thanks Jordanna! I’ve got some quirky pics ๐ Happy NY to you!
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. ๐
Happy travels in 2012!
Thanks for the clarification Greg! This instantly renders the photo as pretty lame. Maybe I’ll take it down. Best wishes in the NY!
I can’t believe you’ve been keeping those from us!! Did you enter the humor photo roulette over on manonthelam.com?!
LOL, I’m fully of surprises Abby ๐ I did just enter one on Ray’s site! BTW, happy New Year!
Haha, I like the “too sexy for my shirt” shot! That song is going to be stuck in my head all day.
Audrey, I owe you an advance apology for that. I hope it won’t stick for too long ๐