Category: Asia
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Jordan – the Red Desert
My first impressions of the middle east were formed in Jordan. In April of 2013 Val and I landed in Amman, Jordan’s largest city. We weren’t sure what to expect. Tremendous hospitality, rich history, and dramatic landscapes are wheat we found there. The kindness of the people is what immediately comes to mind when I…
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Amritsar, India
The state of Punjab in Northwest of India is the vibrant homeland of the Sikh religion. In the city of Amritsar stand’s the Golden Temple, the beating heart of the Sikh people. It is not only their most sacred site but also one of the world’s great centers of religious tolerance – a rare and…
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Delhi, India
Love it or hate it Delhi has everything. It contains some of India´s most impressive architecture and offers a dazzling array of food, art, religious, and cultural variety. Knowing we would need a place to decompress each day we put a lot of effort into finding a good room. We spent hours but were richly…
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Agra, India
North Central India is plagued by heavy fog in winter. Apparently, Indra, the Hindu god of weather, forgot about our travel plans and sent an extra heavy curtain just as we wanted to go to Agra. Our train was canceled giving us a chance to sample long distance bus travel in India. True to form…
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Orcha, India
Valerie and I travel for extended periods. Time is a valuable and we choose to spend ours traveling. Most people either have time or money but not both, sadly we are no exception. We go to amazing places but always on a restricted budget, which can be quite challenging. The most unfortunate aspect of this…
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Khajuraho, India
India is overflowing with legendary sights. The erotic temples of Khajuraho are no exception. They appear like a mirage out of the scrub brush, dust, and stunted trees of the arid plane. The audacity and lewdness of what the carving depict the temples is offset by the incredible quality of their craftsmanship and starkly contrasted…
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Varanasi, India
The Ganges is India´s most sacred river and most important pilgrimage. To Hindus dying here guarantees transcendence from the cycle or reincarnation and a direct path to heaven, all sins washed away. Cremation on its banks, even simply spreading ashes in its waters, is auspicious and believed to bring salvation to the departed. Varanasi, perhaps…
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Destination India
India had been whispering to us for years. Traces of its influence were everywhere, flavoring everything we had seen in Asia. Travelers told stories of incredible sights, cheap living, and unlimited adventure. Others spoke of a darker side filled with food poisoning, sanity-testing beggars, filth, and frustration. For a long time we didn’t feel ready…
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Leaving Nepal
With two weeks left on our Nepali visa we considered our options. We had to return Kathmandu to get our Indian visas but what would we due while we waited for them? We said goodbye to wonderful Pokhara and returned to the chaotic street of Thamel, Kathmandu’s tourist district. We found a cheap hotel with…
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Annapurna Base Camp, Nepal
Annapurna is the deadliest of the world’s big mountains. One climber dies for every two that make it to the summit. Avalanches scour the entire standard route. Ed Viesturs, America’s premier high altitude climber and six time Everest summiter, spent 18 hours in the death zone climbing across a nearly flat ridge to avoid this…
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Annapurna Circuit – Part 2
A road has overtaken the second half of the Annapurna circuit.* A small section, near the trail’s end, remains blissfully free of traffic. Tate, Jo, Val and I jeeped, walked, and bussed as fast as we could to get there. After two weeks of brown Himalayan desert the sudden green was striking. Flowers adorned every…
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Annapurna Circuit – Part 1
After 31 wonderful days in the Everest region we found ourselves back in Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu. It is not a relaxing place. Motorbikes weave through pedestrians with horns blaring. An endless stream of touts offer drugs, guides, bus tickets, girls – you name it. Litter is strewn everywhere and stray dogs rule…
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The Three Passes Trek, Everest Region, Nepal
Having recuperated from the week long trek from Jiri to Namche Bazaar we bid steak dinners and apple pie farewell and continued our ascent into the Everest region. We listened to the peaceful chants of Buddhist monks at the Tengboche monastery. We enjoyed our own private guest house, for lack of other guests, in Orsho…
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Into the Khumbu, Nepal
Most people fly from Kathmandu to Lukla to get into the Khumbu (region around Mt. Everest). Flights aren’t exactly cheap and the Lukla airstrip’s safety record is pretty spotty. We decided to take a bus to the town of Jiri (a 9 hour journey as death defying as the flight) and walk from there, making…
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Destination Nepal
I’ve dreamed of going to Nepal since I was a little boy. By the time I started climbing mountains my teens but I had already read dozens of books about epic ascents in the Himalaya. Their pages had told of incredible suffering, tragedy, triumph and heroism. The Himalayas offer some of the harshest and most…
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September with Sasa 2012
September was a great month for us this year. It kicked off in Thailand with the arrival of Valerie’s mother Sasa. For those of you who don’t know Sasa (has your head buried in sand?) she’s hilarious and having her with us shed new laughter-packed perspective on some of our favorite Southeast Asian hotspots. Here’s…
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Yala National Park, Sri Lanka
Waking Val up before 9am can be a dangerous endeavor. Waking her up at 4:15am is downright suicidal. I was willing to take the risk to see Yala National Park. Without much fuss we found ourselves upright on the dark street at 4:45am. A jeep collected us. At the park gate our driver ushered us…
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Ella – Sri Lanka
The central hills of Sri Lanka are home to many small villages. The land is beautiful. Pine trees mingle with eucalypts and other more exotic arboreal species. Smiles are as abundant as the verdant tea bushes that blanket vast tracts of hillside. The town of Ella is particularly charming. Days there are spent walking, eating…
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Trains in Sri Lanka
After a lackluster experience in Kandy we were in search of greener pastures. The train ride through the central highlands of Sri Lanka is as much a highlight as the destination. With this in mind we headed to the station, bought tickets, and boarded a train. Our last train ride, in Myanmar, was one of…
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Kandy, Sri Lanka
Extrapolating from our love of sugar laden snacks that we would love the city of Kandy may have been unwise. We were covered in sweat by the time we stepped onto the busy sidewalk. The smell of exhaust hung thick in the air and horns blared. Our backpacks made us double-wide and hurried pedestrians pushed…
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Destination Sri Lanka
We would have been happy to stay in Komodo and dive the days away but our visa was fast expiring. With Valerie’s mother coming in late August we had three blank weeks and no plan. To solve this riddle we asked four questions: Where haven’t we been or should we return somewhere? Are the flights…
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Diving Sipadan, Malaysia
Before we arrived in Semporna, the jumping off point for diving Sipadan island, we’d taken an overnight bus to Tawau, arranged a 60-day visa to Indonesia, and bussed it back to Semporna. We had bloodshot eyes and nowhere to stay. In other words it was business as usual J. We quickly found a great new…
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Destination Borneo, Malaysia
The very name conjures up images of dense jungles, head hunting tribesman, and venomous species at every turn. Once this would have been the case, but sadly one of the world’s most important rainforests is all but gone. Borneo is one of the world’s largest islands. It is home to three different countries: Indonesia, Malaysia,…
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Coron, Philippines Above Water
We didn’t just dive in Coron, here’s a few photos of our adventures on land and on top of the sea.
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Coron, Philippines
After coming from the tourist centric El Nido it was refreshing to arrive in an actual settlement. Coron is a popular travel destination in its own right, perhaps more popular than El Nido, but the local people still go about their lives with little regard for their snap-happy visitors. Coron’s biggest draw card is shipwreck…
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El Nido, Philippines
El Nido is a small village near the Northern tip of Palawan Island. By Filipino standards it is remote, but its firm established on the backpacker tourist trail has brought abundant accommodation, restaurants, and prosperity to this once sleepy town. El Nido is pleasant enough by itself but the real allure is its proximity to…
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Destination Palawan, Philippines
Palawan is considered to be the last frontier of the Philippines. It was long separated from the rest of the country by a 24 hour boat journey. Today it is much more accessible. A cheap flight wisked us to Puerto Princessa, Palawan’s largest city, in an hour. Puerto Princessa, known locally as “Puerto, is one…
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Moalboal, Philippines
The most interesting part of our trip to Moalboal was the ride there. From Oslob we were going to catch two different busses when I realized that many of the visitors had arrived from Moalboal and would soon be returning. I approached a few vans and asked if we could catch a ride. They were…
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Oslob, Philippines
Should we go to Oslob? The question had been plaguing us for weeks. Well, actually just me because when I asked Val if we should go to Oslob she replied, “is that in the Philippines?” It’s a place to see whalesharks. We’d had a lackluster whaleshark experience in Donsol and a thrilling one in Panglao.…
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Apo Island, Philippines
Continuing on with our “best of the Philippines” diving tour we boarded a boat to Dumaguete, Negros. It’s a small city whose populations is buoyed by a large university. Pizza places abound in college towns the world over and we were happy to spend a day indulging in baked cheese and air conditioning. We saw…
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Alona Beach, Philippines Diving
Our first trip out of Panglao was to the world famous Balicasag Island. A 45 minute cruise brought us to this marine sanctuary, just in time to share it with two dozen small fishing boats. Dan’s words rang in my ears “there’s one big difference between conservationist and the local fisherman they want to stop.…
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Bohol, Philippines
Bohol lies in the dead center of the Philippines. It has a plethora of attraction such as the chocolate hills, the world smallest primate the tarsier, 16th century churches and abandoned beaches. They were all entiing but we came with a singular purpose – the tiny island of Panglao, off Bohol’s Southern coast. For the…
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Malapascua – A Sad Goodbye
For an island that has so much to offer there’s one thing that Malapascua doesn’t have and that’s an ATM machine. In the interest of our budget and seeing the rest of the Philippines it was good that we had to leave but it made it no less easy to do so. Without access to…
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Malapascua, Philippines
Getting here was an adventure. We left Donsol about two minutes too late and the ferry tickets we needed went to the person directly in front of us in line. The next ferry was twelve hours later, and no, we couldn’t buy tickets in advance. Welcome to the Philippines. This turned into something of a…
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Donsol, Philippines
We weren’t to keen on the idea of spending more than a day in Manila but competing with the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos escaping to anywhere within 12 hour of the city for Holy Week was even less appealing. So we waited. Our days in Manila were spent in no less than twelve shopping…
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Entering the Philippines
It seemed miraculous to hear the wheels touch down on Philippine soil. Our Malaysian airport foray had proven disastrous but, at long last, we were here. Budget airlines utilize the Clark International, leaving a two hour bus journey to Manila. We changed our Malaysian Ringgits ($) and headed to the ticket counter. Of course, we…
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Frantic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I’ve heard that bad luck comes in threes. I don’t know that’s true but it does seem to come in series. I started the week by missing my international flight to Bali. I couldn’t board the plane because my passport was 2,000 miles away living it up in our former rental. Once out of Australia…
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One Day as a Divemaster in Komodo
We rise early. It’s 6:30am but the roosters have been crowing all night. I shake Val; she squirms in protest but finally wakes up. “Wh–what?” she mumbles. “Time to go,” I whisper and stumble across creaky wood planks to the bathroom grasping for my toothbrush. Val steals five more minutes of sleep. Labuan Bajo is…
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Another day in Komodo, Indonesia
It’s January 2011 and Val and I have been in Komodo, Indonesia for six months. Today we guided four Ukrainians and a Czech through the aptly named Manta Point dive site. I vividly remember our first dives at this site. I would marvel at Nun, our most experienced divemaster, spotting mantas from seemingly impossible distances and…
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Life in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia
This is a small photo tour of our lives in a small town in East Indonesia. Scroll to the right, or down on mobile devices, to begin.
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Divemaster: Part 5
Today we snorkeled 800m (1/2 mile) as fast as we could. My lungs raced to keep up my legs, which would have certainly caught fire had they not been in water. Val dominated the race, but my bruised ego took a backseat to the fact that I’d finished the last requirement of the PADI Divemaster course.…
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Divemaster: Part 4
The last week has been a dream come true for us. We have been guiding a group of nine Korean divers through the blue playground. They are a happy and excitable bunch. Our euphoria should be coming from the superb diving and invigoration of leading our own dives, but in reality its the inexhaustible supply of…
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Divemaster: Part 3
What a difference a few weeks make. We’ve accomplished so much and acclimated to the rhythm of life in a dive shop. Exams are finished, 15 of 20 skills are mastered, our 400m swim and 100m diver tow were fast enough, 15 min treading water was a breeze, we’ve mapped a dive site, and made our…
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Komodo: The First Dive
Today Val and I made our first real dive in Komodo. We’ve actually been in the water for the last few days, but only in a few meters of water to assist brand new divers complete their courses. We hadn’t been to any real dive sites… until today. Wolfgang, our instructor, tells us to back…
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Divemaster: Part 2
Our first weeks have gone by in a blur. We’ve completed exams, spent hours mercilessly repeating skills, and above all else dived – A LOT. Wolfgang is pushing us along. He let us take our exams without the slightest bit of a teaching. “If you need my instruction then I am happy to give it,…
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Divemaster: Part 1
Val and I are becoming PADI Divemasters. For those of you that don’t scuba dive a divemaster is basically a professional dive guide. They are responsible for safely leading divers through the beautiful, yet ever deadly, underwater world. PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) is the largest SCUBA certification agency in the world. They have finely tuned…
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Arriving in Labuan Bajo
Arriving at the airport in Labuan Bajo was encouraging. Despite the poetic soliloquies we’d heard about the diving here, not a single person had a kind word for Labuan Bajo, so our expectations were pretty low. The airport, if a bit small, was clean and modern and as a bonus it was a nice temperature…
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
With the DM decision finally made, we headed to our hub in Kuala Lumpur to arrange plane tickets, visas, and shop around for gear that we would need to embark on our new, much anticipated, endeavor. We began this trip in mid-September 2009 with lots of diving on the agenda and DM training as a…
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Penang, Malaysia
Here we are again, painlessly over the border and back in Malaysia. The free 3 month visa on arrival certainly contributes to the ease of entrance. Ushered into the country in the back of a minivan, our driver delivered us safely into the heart of Georgetown on Penang Island. Having no clue as to where…
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Contrast – Bangkok
Flying into Bangkok was a shock to the system. Sure only 28 days had elapsed, but what a difference those 28 days had made to my outlook. I couldn’t help but be struck by the modernity, efficiency, and general cleanliness of everything. Cleanliness? Bangkok? Really, it is true. During the taxi ride that would eventually…
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Yangon, Myanmar
Yangon (formerly Rangoon) is one of the more interesting major cities we have been too. The electricity only works about half the time. The buses are made mostly of wood, and many of the temples predate the birth of Christ. We arrived in time for the annual water festival to celebrate the new year. A…
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Back in Bangkok….
This bus ride was an interesting one. Taking one vehicle from our hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia we arrive at the border and cross on foot. After getting our visas stamped we walk into the no-man’s land between Cambodia and Thailand. The bus attendant says we have to wait for 30 minutes before we are…
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Bookworm…
As a student for the last 4 1/2 years, working a full-time job, and often a part-time job as well to pay for my education and the “lifestyle” I had grown accustomed to (code for: I can’t -and have no desire- to learn to cook and therefore go out to eat, A LOT!), I often…
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Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Angkor Wat is the crowing jewel of Cambodia. Angkor Wat is actually a single temple amongst many but its astounding beauty has given the entire area its name. It is the largest religious structure on earth and was built around 1,000 years ago. Over the centuries the temples have been ruled by Hindus and Buddhists…
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Yet another smooth, successful border crossing puts us into Phnom Penh (PP), the capital and largest city in Cambodia. It’s busy and sweltering hot which aids in our decision to employ a tuk-tuk to take us around and look for a cheap hotel. Along with a new friend Jose, a Spaniard currently living in Dominican…
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Saigon, Vietnam
We were expecting Saigon to be a lot like Hanoi, which is to say so busy that your personal countdown to explosion starts the minute you arrive. We were pleasantly surprised. The pace is crazy and the amount of commerce is intense, but unlike Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was built for modern-sized human…
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Nha Trang, Vietnam
Nha Trang is one of the most developed beach towns in Vietnam, the kind of place we generally steer clear of. It happens that it’s also a good way to break up a very long bus journey from Central Vietnam to Saigon and the Mekong Delta, so we disregarded our inner masochists and booked a…
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Hoi An, Vietnam
Getting here was quite and adventure. All of the regular “open tour” buses that pick you up from your hotel were full. The direct bus to Hoi An had already left by the time we got to the Hue bus station. So we opted to head for Danang, the fourth largest city in Vietnam and…
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Hue, Vietnam
Hue, Vietnam was the royal capital for the Nguyen Lords, a fuedal dynasty that controlled all of Southern Vietnam between 1744 and 1802. They were able to hold the capital until 1945, when the last emporor adbdicated and the Communist party was established and based in Hanoi. The Viet Cong took the city, which lies…
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Ninh Binh, Vietnam
After stopping briefly back in Hanoi to pick up our visas for Myanmar we got in a bus to Ninh Binh, Vietnam. I’d seen this place before, from out the window of a bus, and thought that it looked beautiful. The guidebook described it as “Ha Long Bay or rice paddies” – good enough for…
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Cat Ba Island, Vietnam
Leaving the frantic pace of Hanoi, we hop a bus to Vietnam’s third most populous city Hải Phòng (which doesn’t feel very busy by comparison). Arriving late in the evening we find cheap accommodations. “This place smells about right” Scotty declared upon detecting the familiar mildew smell that greeted us at the entrance, indeed! In…
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Hanoi, Vietnam
Just the name conjures up images and connotations. The nicest bus we’ve ever taken brought us into the heart of the beast. Traffic was insane, crossing the street seemed like more like a suicide tactic than a means of moving around. Sights and smells attacked us from all directions. You knew it was coming, and…
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Vientiane, Laos (Heading to the Nam…)
Leaving Laos is a little bittersweet. The people here have been beyond kind and regrettably we aren’t going to be able to check out any of the Southern parts of the country, at least not this time around. We are feeling the crunch of time. With a flight to Myanmar a mere 2 months away…
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Vang Vieng, Laos
“Do you want some motion sickness pills?” asked a concerned co-passenger. “It’s not motion sickness.” -Scotty 5 hours in to an 8 hour mini-bus journey… Vang Vieng is a funny place. It’s naturally beautiful. Precipitous limestone mountains rise up like a stegosaurus’ back on the other side of a beautiful river. There’s plenty of hiking,…
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Luang Prabang, Laos
Aside from the constant smoke, a staple here in Laos, Luang Prabang is an inviting town. We would have liked to stay longer, but not being able to breathe freely really put a damper on our visit. Located on a peninsula where the Nam Khan river meets the mighty Mekong River, this quaint town is…
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Mong Ngoi, Laos
Travel in Laos is usually a difficult affair, so the boat ride from Nong Khiaw was a much appreciated pleasure. The hour long ride saw us pass limestone cliffs, submerged to the head water buffalo, tribal villages, small rapids, and lush hillsides. Though tightly packed we watched the passing scenes in relative comfort, getting more…
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Nong Khiaw, Laos
Getting here was a little slice of magic, and another dose of torture. But after many hours in mini-busses on bad roads, a lesson on how to play pitong (Laos’ version of Bocce Ball), and a few thousand less kip (currency of Laos), we slowly untangled our way out into the sun. Nong Khiaw is a quiet town on the…
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Luang Namtha, Laos Gallery
Image from out trek to visit the Hill Tribes of Laos.
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Luang Namtha, Laos
–Day One– Fully rejuvinated we book a 3 day trek and hit the road. There is another couple booked with us, we are told, but they have canceled so we’re on our own! Our guide “Woot” gives us a preliminary run down as we cruise to our starting point in a Saengthaew (improvised pickup truck…
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Arriving in Laos
Val’s feet splash down on the wet sand and it’s official, we’ve reached Laos. As we walk up the hill to immigration the a brilliant sun sets over the mighty Mekong river. Getting our visa is the first taste Laos bureaucracy, a legendary monster of lethargy feared by travelers round the globe. Fortunately the hype…
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Chaing Mai, Thailand
North, north and further north. Hopping another bus we find ourselves finally in Chaing Mai, touted as the culture capital of Northern Thailand. This place has it all: hand-crafts, jewelery, tons of religious sites, classes on yoga, language, cooking, and meditation (among others), shopping, traffic, art, night markets and, of course, bowling. The city is…
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Krabi, Thailand Part 1
I’m pretty sure Scotty shed a tear when we left the beautiful beach in Southern Thailand. What he didn’t know was how many more, tears of happiness he would be shedding when he beheld the wonders of the Krabi area. Arriving by bus, the place wasn’t much to look at at first. From the back…
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Ayuttaya and Sukhothai, Thailand
It is time to leave the city and head north. The problem is we do not know where we want to go. We arrive at the bus station armed with nothing more than a direction to head in. After consulting the guide book, Scotty and I narrow down our northern destinations to 3: ranging from…
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Bangkok, Thailand
Well, you might say this place has a reputation. And we’d probably tell you that from what we could see peeking around corners, its reputation is well deserved. We took a 12 hour night bus from Krabi to get here and our sleep schedules never really recovered. Each night we’d set an ambitious agenda for…
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Krabi, Thailand
What do you do when you’ve enjoyed 2 of the 3 things a region is famous for? Go for the third right? So we set out to complete the trifector with Daniel and Nina, our comrades from Finland. Large limestone cliffs and pillars, or “karst”, are common throughout mainland SE Asia, but in Krabi they are…
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Life on the Beach, Thailand
After a surprisingly fun night in Satun drinking Thai Whiskey with a local family, we hopped a boat (a large modern speedboat!) headed for the nearby islands of Ko Turatao National Marine park. The ride took us past dramatic limestone and granite bluffs rising defiantly from the ocean. The park comprises over 50 densely forested…
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Arriving in Thailand
Indonesia and Malaysia share a common language, which happens to be one of the easiest in the world to learn. After 4 months of real world practice we had gotten pretty good and were beginning to feel like we’d pierced the clueless tourist veil. Then came Thailand… From the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia we took an…
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Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
We ended up staying in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for 3 weeks. Celebrating Val’s 30th Birthday, Christmas, and New Years. We had a fantastic time, but needed to reintroduce some adventure into our lives – enter the Cameron Highlands. The 3.5 hour bus ride went by in a blink and when we stepped of the bus…
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Considering that we have been gone for 3 months, taken 8 flights, and traveled about 13,680 miles (22,016 km), our travels in SE Asia have been limited to Indonesia and a few days in Malaysia. So when we once again showed up in Kuala Lumpur we were excited to begin a new chapter and truly…
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Bali, Indonesia
…and then suddenly we found ourselves in Bali, the most touristy area in Indonesia, and we would quickly find out why. Bali is a beautiful and lush island, a Hindu stronghold in a predominately Muslim country. Bali is known for it’s great cuisine and emphasis on the arts and culture. We head to Ubud first,…
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Mt. Bromo, Indonesia
As we began readying ourselves to leave Yogyakarta it became clear that getting to Bali was going to be a headache. We could take a train, which would undoubtedly be the most comfortable and scenic. The problem was the length, requisite overnight stops meant hotel rooms and the hypothetical bill was adding up quickly. The…
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Central Java, Indonesia
Yogyakarta (pronounced Joe – g – jah – kar – tah) is the cultural capital of the island of Java, Indonesia’s most important and populous island. A little over 500 thousand of the island’s 120 million people live here and they are fiercely proud of their unique customs, art, and language. Jogja, as the locals…
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Lore Lindu National Park Trek, Indonesia
This particular destination was not originally on our SE Asia radar of things to do, but a landslide covering a large section of road created a major detour for us. Arriving in Tentena, we learned that an already 20-hour long bus ride to Tana Toroja was about to be made a lot longer by the…
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Underwater Togean Islands, Indonesia
Here’s the evidence of our underwater escapades in the Togean Islands, courtesy of our divemaster. Those of you that know Chori-zo will be happy to see his foray into his native habitat.
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Togean Islands, Indonesia
The Togean Islands are a collection of limestone plots huddled in a large peninsula formed by North and Central Sulawesi. They are a well known, but difficult to reach, place to forget time and become one with sand and sun. We started our Togean Odyssey in Manado, near the Northeastern tip of Sulawesi. First we…
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Bunaken, Indonesia
***I had to make this photos very small to get them uploaded, which is unfortunate because they have lost a lot of quality in the process and I had to remove many of ones containing expertly hidden fish. Take a moment to look closely at them as there may be hidden treasures you don’t notice…
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Bunaken, Indonesia Photos
Pulau Bunaken is a small island off the Northeast coast of the Sulawesi, Indonesia. We’re here for only one reason – to dive! The sea here is rich with life and has especially incredible corals. So far we’ve done nine dives but will be doing a few more before we head to the Lembeh Strait. …
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Bukit Lawang Trek, Indonesia
Welcome to the jungle baby!! Arriving in Bukit Lawang (Boo-keet Lu-wang) after a very long travel day, we were snagged up by a local guide who promptly guided us off the bus, to a a hotel room, and into a jungle trek package. We signed on to leave bright and early the next morning for…
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Orangutans in Bukit Lawang, Indonesia
Orangutans are critically endangered. Their biggest threat is the ever growing palm oil industry. Palm oil is used in countless products, in fact is very hard to avoid even when conscientiously trying to. To grow palm oil large tracts of land are cleared, by logging or often by burning, and replaced with palm trees. These trees…
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Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Banda Aceh definitely deserves its own post. Banda Aceh was the epicenter of of the earthquake that caused the 2004 Boxing Day Sunami – killing over 300,000 people. Aceh took about 80,000 casualties, roughly 5 of every 6 people. Driving through the area now you’d hardly know anything happened here. Besides the odd concrete skeleton,…
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Pulau Weh, Indonesia Photos
Well we’re back in Kuala Lumpur and finally have reliable internet. Here are the photos from Pulau Weh, Sumatra, Indonesia – enjoy!
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North Sumatra, Indonesia
We’re still in Pulau Weh for one more day. Next we’re off to search for Orangutans in Gunung Leusur National Park and then back “home” to Kuala Lumpur. Two days ago we did the best dive of our lives at Batee Takong. To start we dropped to 45m (160 feet) to witness larger sea fans…
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Safe, Sound, and Happy
Hey Everyone, The internet has been a bit dodgy. We were completely unaffected by the Earthquakes near Padang, and equally unaffected by the earthquake and subsequent Tsunami in American Somoa – which were over 600 and many thousands of miles away respectively. We completed our PADI Rescue Diver Certification last week – which means we…
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It’s official….
Well, we did it! We are officially Advanced Open Water Divers. The class was not super challenging but we got a lot of good information out of it and (of course) a chance to do some awesome diving. The fish life here is so diverse that we see new types of fish everytime we are…
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Pulau Weh, Indonesia
Finally we made it to Pulau Weh… It took a bit of work but we’ve been able to relax for the last four days. We are in Pulau Weh, which is a small remote island off the Northwestern tip of Indonesia, just off Indonesia’s largest island of Sumatra. To get here you must go through…
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Batu Caves, Indonesia
We started our day today with lamb, chicken, and pork in a variety of delicious sauces at an Indian restaurant next door to our guesthouse. We also had an orange soda (a symbol that we’re really on vacation), tea, and a bottle of water. It cost us 15 ringgit – about 4 US dollars. Full…
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Val Goes Bald
I’m in Asia…..finally!! Yeah. I have made some attempts to post sooner but the Internet apparently hates me in Malaysia. I was lucky enough to get to spend some time with many of my family members, take some photos, and make some new memories of home before taking the amazingly long series of plane rides to get here.…
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Landing in a Jet Plane, Malaysia
Guess what? We’re in Malaysia! After 27 hours we finally have a room booked in the “Little India” district of Kuala Lumpur. Everything went pretty smooth, with the hardest part being the grind at LAX and getting on our initial flight. The Hong Kong airport is a marvel, it’s by far the most modern airport…
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Leavin’ on a Jet Plane, USA
Today is the day. In a few hours we’ll get on a plane to fly 15.5 hours and 7,254 miles to Hong Kong, then another 4 hours and 1,559 miles to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We’ve had an awesome week in California with Val’s family and friends. We’ve gorged ourselves on In & Out Burgers, California…