An eco-tour up the Kinabatangan River in Borneo had become a bucket item for us on this trip. It was finally here! We walked up to our pickup point at Wisma Ku, about 6 blocks from our hotel. We drove a bit and stopped for lunch at the Sepilok Jungle Resort, a luxury spot, not […]
Learning
Kompong Khleang
Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. It is very near Siem Reap, so there are a bunch of tours to various fishing villages. We’ve been told that the closest one is a tourist trap, full of scams. Kompong Khleang is the furthest from Siem Reap, and the most authentic. We signed […]
Luang Prabang à la Noy
We had such good luck with Noy on our waterfall quest, that we decided to use him again for a tour of the sights of Luang Prabang. Noy grew up in the country on a farm. His mother passed when he was quite young. His dad moved to Vientianne. When he passed, Noy was on […]
Rolling on the (Mekong) River
Sunrise To an inveterate sunset junkie, it is forgivable to have forgotten that there are also things we call sunrises. When one’s hotel room looks out across the Mekong River to Laos, facing East, one is quickly reminded of sunrises. We got up early for breakfast so that we could make it to the immigration […]
Northern Thailand Magical Mystery Tour – 8 – Elephants
I must admit, elephants make good photo models. There are probably too many photos here, but I already deleted several hundred. Ethical Elephant Tours There is a great deal of debate about which tour is the most ethical. From a Western perspective, we can rule out riding of elephants for sure. Many tourist don’t care. […]
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Northern Thailand Magical Mystery Tour – 7 – Chang Mai
It is Thanksgiving this day, not that you’d notice in Thailand. In honor, and absent any evidence of turkey and stuffing, we decided to do a Thai cooking school. We also couldn’t help but hear the screams and cries of children during recess at the school next door. Chang Mai Our hotel was located across […]
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National Museum of Thailand
The National Museum of Thailand was a reasonably short walk from Sabai Sabai. The skipper told us it was worth it, so we went. Just in case you wondered what we’d look like in traditional Thai garb, here you go: On our way, we saw a school class doing an activity in one of the […]
Manuel Antonio
Manuel Antonio is two first names. Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio is a small National Park in on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, just south of the city of Quepos. Established in 1972 with a land area of about 3 square miles (the smallest of any Costa Rican national park), it is the destination of as many as 150,000 visitors annually and well […]
Berlin Rhymes
Cover Photo: Ellen posing in front of a “Trabi” or Trabant, an East German vehicle. Ellen’s Thoughts: Who Knew! Not at all what I expected! Then I am not sure what I expected.We went on a walking tour and the guide was fantastic! He was 28 years old, doing graduate school in Sociology after deciding […]
Coimbra
Formerly the capital of Portugal, its most important university was established here over 500 years ago. It would seem that back in the day, when a university was to be built, they spared no expense. It is a long walk up a hill, or steps, to the campus. Across the river are several convents, probably […]