Almost every time I head to northern Kentucky to visit my aunts I swing by Kroger for oatmeal sausage. It's one of my childhood favorite foods that my grandparents served. The quest for oatmeal sausage, also called goetta, has been a lifelong venture. When we used to live further away, I would freeze it and wrap it in newspaper to bring it home. When I lived in overseas, I'd bring packets of Skyline Cincinnati-style chili mix with me. To my delight, White Castle cheese burgers were sold at the American Club grocery store in New Delhi. We rarely bought them, maybe twice, but they were like an old friend to call on if need be. Then there's Hatch green chile that is roasting in various spots of New Mexico this time of year. I used to buy a bunch and freeze it to use throughout the winter.

In an article published this past April on the Web site now public: crowd-powered media, John Carrey presents startling facts about China's roads and the number of people who wreck when navigating them. One statistic he cites is that 45,000 people are hurt every year. India's traffic accidents are not as numerous as China's, but the numbers are increasing.

As more and more people get disposable income, I can see how the statistics might get worse before they get better. Sure, curvey roads that hug the side of mountains are horrific (see post) but driving where more and more people have quickly acquired motorbikes, motorcycles and cars because more people can afford them, adds to the mayhem.

When I was a kid, I thought it would be swell to learn to ride a unicycle. There's something magical about a unicycle --something circus-like. Here's a tour of Vietnam that might give the people who live there the impression that the circus has come to town, and it's a happening you can join.

If you do know how to ride a unicycle, or think you maybe could master it before March of 2008, you can hook up with Grasshopper Adventures' unicycle tour of Vietnam. Starting in Hanoi, a group of 24 unicyclists will travel through Hue, Hoi An (my absolutely most favorite town), Quy Nhong, Nha Trang and end up in Ho Chi Minh City. So far, 20 unicyclists from various parts of the world have signed up. As of August 27, there were four slots left. If you want to see who you will travel with, check out the riders page. The youngest person is 18, and the oldest is 51.

Since the tour is mostly along the coast, this will make for a gorgeous ride. I've been to Vietnam 5 times and have traveled on the same road in a car. That was an adventure of another kind. Not once did I see a unicycle.

It was in Europe where I first discovered that people in the rest of the world don't wait for green signals before they cross streets. There, people actually crossed streets if the light was red! I couldn't believe these jaywalkers; so bold! so brazen! Weren't they worried about getting a ticket? Then I realized that people are usually smarter than streetlights when it comes to crossing intersections, and I was soon gleefully rebelling against my rigid American upbringing by crossing streets against lights.

But when I was on a walking tour in Rome, our guide told us to just step into traffic. The drivers will adjust to you, he said. The first time I crossed that street I was bulging with adrenaline. Now I was a real rebel.

Then I went to Vietnam. There, the streets are clogged with motorbikes chugging through city streets. As in Rome, when crossing the street you don't wait for a break in traffic -- you just go. Drivers anticipate you, and the worst thing you could ever do is hesitate. Hesitation gets you hit, because traffic flows around you.

I'm waiting for Vietnamese coffee shops to sprout like Starbucks in mini-malls all over America. Such a coffee-crazed country is a ripe market for a drink so strong, rich, and crazily caffeinated.

I was prepared for pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) when planning my trip, as Anchorage already has a couple of Vietnamese restaurants. But I was completely taken aback by the quality of Vietnam's coffee, which is sold on the sidewalk for a few cents.

Cups are brewed individually by pressing coarsely-ground beans inside a stainless steel filter and pouring boiling water over them. A lid covers the top, which keeps the water hot while it drips into your glass. Often, as much as a half-inch of sweetened condensed milk has already been added to the glass -- it was always too sweet for me so I was careful not to stir too much, leaving most of the sticky milk on the bottom.

There are a places where bats in their natural habitat take center stage adding to the tourist draw of a place. I've been to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico where bats fly out every evening from April to October (or thereabouts) and to the Bat Pagoda in Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. This is where bats bigger than a dinner plate hang in trees everywhere you look.

I found out this past Wednesday when I was at the Columbus Zoo for the last Wednesday night kid's program of the summer, (It makes me sad to write that) that the Bat Fest is going on next weekend, September 1-2, in Austin, Texas. Mark Tillack, otherwise known as Musical Mark, and one of the performers for the program, has come up with a series of bat songs geared for children. This has put him on a quest to find out more about all things bats. The Bat Fest caught his attention. When he mentioned it to me as we were talking after his show, it caught my attention. Here's what I found out.

The Bat Fest is a large arts and crafts show with bat events. For example, if you come dressed as a bat you can win a prize--a serious prize. The best bat costume can fetch $200. The Batman Stage features different musicians (maybe a possible stop for Ember?) and there are rides, food and educational displays besides quality craft and art items to buy. From the photos, it looks like some are bat related and some are just nifty.

Man, do they love their scooters in Asia!

This photo of a traffic jam in Saigon is a typical scene repeated hundreds of times in cities across Asia. Can you imagine what it would be like if all of these commuters had cars instead? Hell!

Thanks go out to Dave for capturing this slice of live in Vietnam. If you would like to be considered for our Photo of the Day honors, jump on over to our Gadling Flickr Pool and upload away!

My friend Dave just returned from his second time ever traveling abroad. As you can tell by the above photo, his second time out of the United States wasn't an easy trip to Mexico or Paris. No, Dave decided to be adventurous and pay a visit to Vietnam. And this photograph is proof.

Although it may seem cliché, the telltale Vietnamese straw hat pictured above is still worn quite regularly in Vietnam. Dave nicely caught this one in action while touring the muddy waters of the Mekong Delta. This, folks, is quintessential Vietnam.

• The first overnight bus I ever took was from Bangkok to Surat Thani in Thailand. We were wooed by the amazing price of this bus ride, but a couple of days later, we realized how they make their money -- we were very stealthily robbed during the night. How they got to the wallet that I hugged to my chest all night is beyond me. A night of firsts, this was also the first time I've been robbed -- actually make that the only time (fingers crossed.) We splurged on the train on the way back and enjoyed a crime-free rest.
  

Kai, Alan, and Nate are Huge In Asia. Literally, their website is called Huge In Asia. Down on their luck, loveless, mono-linguistic, vaccine-free, and broke, the trio of Americans hatched a plan: move to Asia and become celebrities. Simple!

To document their celebrity-transformation, they created a website that chronicles their efforts ("A travel vlog about life, liberty, and the pursuit of international fame") while highlighting different cultures and people they encounter. To get a look at their take on life in Hanoi, check out their hilarious version of Hanoi Hustle:

Music parodies don't appeal to you? Then be sure to check out the excellent video called "What Am I Eating?"

Guys, in my book, you're already celebrities.

When searching for an image for my post on travel washing machines, I saw several shots of people doing laundry the old fashioned way--by hand. Here is one of them.

This shot, posted on Flickr, was taken by abrinksy in Udaipur, India. There is something about laundry that makes people get an urge to whip out their cameras. Here are other photos that caught my eye...

I guess if you're going to live in a floating house, you may as well pick a nice place to let it float. This great shot from Feserc captures a mother and son hanging a fishing pole off their front porch and into Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. It's not the most technically perfect shot, but it sure does give you a feeling for what life is like for some people in this part of the world.