A journey from just south of San Francisco down the pacific highway, across to Sequoia national park, up to Yosemite, across the sierra Nevada range via Tioga Pass, then up and back across the mountains at Monitor Pass to Lake Tahoe. I have made the videos one stage at a time, in six parts. This first part takes in the coast and Monterey, and the elephant seals at Gorda

Amazing place, well worth a visit

From the coast along highway 46, up through the southern Sierra Nevadas to Sequoia national park. I was really pleased whilst on the path to the General Sherman Sequoia tree (worlds largest) to get a really good video of a black bear who came amazingly close to the path.

Both snow and sun, on consecutive days in Yosemite National Park.

The ride from the western side of Tioga Pass Road, down to highway 395 on the eastern of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The final part of our California trip from Mammoth Lakes north to Lake Tahoe, via Monitor Pass, and our stay at Lake Tahoe.

We stayed at a small resort in Thailand, 20 minutes south of Hua Hin, called Pranburi, at a lovely boutique hotel, the Praseban, right on the beach. Just 14 rooms (most of which were unoccupied that week, as the place is mostly used by Thai people, and there were a few problems in Bangkok at that time) The first full day, we woke up to rain, but as we were jet lagged, and just wanted to sit about, it didn't really matter, but for a few minutes each hour or so, I went out to the patio and recorded what I could see. The colours were better in the rain than in the sun, no bright patches or shadows.

Some places to go, things to see, in Langkawi, Malaysia. Langkawi means Eagle Rock in Malay, and there are a few eagles to be seen in this video. Langkawi is the biggest island in that little group, but it is surrounded by smaller ones, making a sea excursion worthwhile. There is also a cable car up up to the highest point - for no better reason than that it's there, and the views are lovely. They have built a spectacular high walkway between two peaks, one end of which can be reached from the upper cable car stop.

We rented a private holiday home away from the usual tourist towns, and had a lovely laid back holiday. We still managed to see most of the sights - except the main tourist towns. Well, we did have a quick look, the tourist bit is all the same everywhere, wall to wall sunloungers and shops. The rest of the island is well worth seeing.

This was what we really enjoyed, the intimate city, small cobbled streets, unexpected monuments, where people work, live, eat, all amongst the history of centuries.