Luang Prabang, Lao Peoples Dem Rep We arrived safely in Luang Prabang, but not without incident. Less than half way through our “1 day” river cruise, the engine on our boat blew. Apparently the gear box was shot after the captain tried to engage two engines at once. They managed to pull over to the …
Chiang Mai, Thailand Some Northern Thailand adventure – started at Roong Ruang (great location, but fully booked), moved to Green Tulip House (quiet location). Wow, what fun we had in and around Chiang Mai… Rock Climbing at Crazy Horse Butress with Chiang Mai Rock Climbing Adventures. It’s been a long time since any of us …
Bangkok, Thailand We’ve set up camp in a friend’s house in Pathumwan district of town. We’re within a 10 minute walk from the PoenChit skytrain station, and 30 minute walk from Lumpini Park, Suan Lum night market, and MRT station. We had a day or two to explore the neighborhood before Grant’s brother, Dave, arrived. …
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Staying at the Yellow House Hotel (Nga Hoang). Although it felt like we were staying in one of the few designated “foreigner ghettos”, Saigon was a fun, vibrant, city. Night life seemed to go on well into the morning (unlike Hanoi). There were plenty of worthwhile sight too. I’m glad …
HoiAn, Vietnam We took the sleeper train to Danang, and are now staying in Hoi An, at the Thanh Xuan Hotel. A typhoon is threatening to strike any day now, but so far, the weather’s quite pleasant. Danang appears to be quite a wealthy town, with plenty of expensive cognac and whiskey on display. Tourists …
HaLong Bay, Vietnam 2 days of kayaking with Handspan Adventure Travel. Kayaking around Halong Bay was one of the many highlights of this year’s adventure. After a lengthy day of interviewing tour operators, we decided to go with one of the more reputable, albeit pricy, companies. You get what you pay for, and I think …
Hanoi, Vietnam Staying at the Prince III hotel (65 Hang Cot, (84-4)8280620 or 9280775). Vietnam (unlike the other parts of Asia we’ve been in lately), really does have good, fresh, coffee. Hanoi was quite the wakeup call after the relative ease of Bangkok. We were staying in the Old City, which I found at first …
Bangkok, Thailand Staying at Hotel Reno (40 Soi Kasemsan 1, t: (662) 215-0026-7, 612-3096-7) for 3 nights, and to celebrate the King’s Birthday. Landing in Bangkok was yet another pleasant surprise. Some people seem to hate it, some love it. I love it. Again, it must depend a lot on where you’re coming from, and …
Kathmandu, Nepal We’re back at the Yanki Hotel for a couple of days. Since we didn’t have time to hike to Mount Everest, we decided to take a sunrise flight along the edge of the mountain range to see it in person. It was breathtaking. Being in the Himalayas has felt like a religious pilgrimage. …
Dunche, Nepal 9 days of Bliss on the Langtang trek. The Langtang trek is described by many sources as accessible by taxi. Tecnically, that may be true, but I do not recommend it. I wish someone had warned us. The road becomes a rough dirt road, which is basically just a “flat” surface carved many …
Kathmandu, Nepal Can’t get enough of the Himalyan treking! Two days to regroup for the next trek – staying at Yanki Hotel…
Pokhara, Nepal We’ve completed our 3 week trek in the Annapurna conservation area – safe, sound, healthy and a tad sore! Currently in Pokhara at the Suprina Hotel to chill for a couple of days. We had a couple of days of recovery in Pokhara before heading back to Kathmandu. Pokhara was a good half-way …
Annapurna Circuit, Nepal We hired an experienced gent named Krishna – a porter/guide from Asahi Treks and Expeditions – to help with translation and to carry our main pack. The peak altitude on the Annapurna Circuit trek is at 5416m which we expect will present some very good challenges… It’s a very well travelled …
Kathmandu, Nepal Stayed at the Nirvana Garden Hotel, and then moved to the more affordable Hotel Yanki. Once again, I’m discovering how perception is highly dependant on expectations and recent points of reference. Coming from Delhi, we found the Kathmandu air to be refreshingly clean (perhaps we lucked out with some freak weather phenomenon), traffic …
Blue skies, pleasant streets, is this Kathmandu? Read More »
Delhi, India After a relatively luxurious express train ride through the night, we arrived back in Delhi, greeted by millions of fireworks. It felt like we were entering a war zone, with bombs going off all around us. The air was thick from the gun powder smoke. As we walked a block to our hotel, …
Amritsar, Punjab, India Amritsar is home to the Golden temple, the Sikhs’ temple of God. The state of Punjab is where the majority of India’s Sikhs live. We arrived in Amritsar in time to drive to the border with Pakistan, and observe the mindboggling daily border-closing ceremony. India has actually erected a stadium of bleachers …
Dharmasala and McLeod Ganj, India One thing our tour guide was quite helpful for was arranging first rate transportation. Rather then the dreaded 12 hour public bus, we were treated to a 8 hour jeep ride to Dharmsala. Jeeps are definitely the way to go on these gnarly, pitted, roads. After a couple of weeks …
Home of the Dalai Lama and the exiled Tibetan gov. Read More »
Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India After a long, 10 hr private bus ride, past countless trucks spewing deisel exhaust, and roadside piles of burning tar and garbage, we arrived at the beautiful hill station town of Manali. The town is surrounded by snow covered peaks, and cooled by glacial mountain air. Although we didn’t get to …
Shimla, India Out of the desert and into the mountains… We took a public bus to Shimla, from Chandigarh (after an exciting tuktuk race through town from the train station). I had to run a bit to board the bus, since the driver decided to leave just as I was exiting the bathroom (even though …
Bikaner, India Home of the Junagarh Fort. After a long bus ride to Bikaner, we opted to miss out on the additional 1 hour ride to see the rat temple. Instead, Grant and I took a rickshaw into town, to check it out. Bikaner, a city of 600,000, is not very touristy at all. The …
Jaisalmer, India The “Golden City”. Most buildings in Jaisalmer are made of beige sandstone, and the town is overlooked by a large, lived in, fort that looks like a massive sandcastle. The village within the walls of the fort is very medieval looking, with narrow jagged streets, livestock wandering everywhere, and homes made of stone …
Osiyan, India Departure town for our camel safari and night in the desert. Osiyan is the birthplace of Jainism, but the town was cursed and now Jains can no longer liver there. However it is still a pilgrimage destination, with Jains from all over India coming to visit the temple, which is maintained throughout the …
Jodhpur, India Home of the Mehrangarh Fort. It’s a beautiful structure, with excellent views of the city. The best way to see this particular fort is with the aid of a rented audio tour unit. As we walked through the complex, our audio guide told us stories of what it was like living in this …
Pushkar, India Home of the world famous camel fair. In addition to being an important religious pilgrimage destination for locals, it has also become a popular destination for less religiously motivated Israelis who come to take in the readily available drugs. As a foreigner, we couldn’t walk through the streets without locals asking if we …
Pachewar, India Staying in a 300 year old Rajput fort. A Rajput family is running this guest house as a means of keeping up the fort. It’s a beautiful building, with dark dungeonous stairways full of bats. In the early evening, our host walked us through the village, which is full of tiny homes made …