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Cost/day:
$30/day per person
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
A stroll through the Luang Prabang morning market brought something different to my senses every time. One morning, I saw a woman with a pile of chickens on the ground for sale. I thought the chickens were dead, but one of them started to get up and the woman shushed it like a dog and it laid back down. A little further down, a … Read more »
We spent a couple of weeks researching Sulawesi and found very little information for independent travel on the island. Then, I lucked into Dodo Mursalim’s contact details on a TripAdvisor forum.
Dodo turned out to be a gold mine of information and he bent over backwards to help us do Sulawesi our way.
He rented us … Read more »
Cost/day:
$20 per person.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
Both strange and incredibly, incredibly sad was seeing the many uses of empty US cluster-bomb shells. Laos was shelled continually by US planes during the Vietnam War. Injuries and deaths are still occurring to this day due to unexploded ordinances from these bombs, mostly cluster munitions. Seeing the use of the empty bombshells for flower pots, tables, etc. was shocking. Learning of this … Read more »
Last week, I heard that a friend of mine had been in a serious motorcycle accident in Bali. A serious accident – broken ribs, fractured pelvis, collapsed lung. He wrote about the experience – about his injuries, about being restricted to the fetal position in the hospital and now, 2 weeks later, being able to finally stand up for the first time. All amazing things to hear for someone that you care about, but what … Read more »
While this is my story, I’m sharing it because we all have family and those that we love. When we least expect it, tragedies happen and the skills that we hone while traveling can be invaluable in getting us through.
Truth is – this year has been a roller coaster of euphoria and darkness. In February, I rode a Ural motorcycle through some of the harshest ice roads in Siberia and into the Arctic Circle. … Read more »
Cost/day: $20-25 per person
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately? There is a type of vehicle in Luang Namtha that I have not seen anywhere else in Laos or Southeast Asia. The locals call it a tec-tec, which I’m assuming is onomatopoeic because that is the sound the extremely loud, water-cooled engine makes.
Describe a typical … Read more »
I am 15 minutes into my hike down the muddy little stream when a tree carving captures my attention. Sticky with sap and arcing brown across the bark, it seems to have been made recently.
I drop to my haunches and run my fingers over the design. After three days of living … Read more »
Cost/day:
$50-55/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
Without question it is Wat Rong Kuhn, otherwise known as the White Wat. I read plenty about this wat, designed by Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat, and even saw dozens of pictures. Words and pictures alone did not prepare me for the grandeur, beauty and strangeness of this place.
Sometimes I wonder if modern travel writing still has anything fresh to say, and I can’t really find a satisfactory answer.
This question became much more pressing after I discovered an American publisher who reprints old travel writing gems from early 20th century’s Asia. I’m talking about DatAsia press, based in Florida.
Perhaps the evenings are what captivate me the most, when the heart of the island basks in the falling light. People hurry home from work on their motorbikes, picking up food from the market on their way. No tourists can be seen, save by the hostels and Western style bars, but they are few surrounding the … Read more »
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