In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, I thought that I would share my favorite Ireland experiences with you. The Ireland I love is mossy single-lane roads, small pubs where the whole town comes out for the live music, overgrown roofless castles, and soda bread with every meal. I keep going back to Ireland, because every time … Continue reading
To me, Tibet is the most mysterious, unforgettable destination in the world. The majesty of the Himalayas, the unique cultural treasures, and the beautiful and warm Tibetan people combine to create an achingly overwhelming experience. When you add the sudden lack of oxygen and resulting lack of sleep, the result is dreamlike and surreal. I … Continue reading
The seven days I spent in Tibet haunt me. I dream often of thick clouds of incense smoke settling heavily on air that is thinned by extreme altitude. In my dreams, I am light headed again, I can’t catch a breath, and my heart is pounding with the sounds of monks chanting to the thrums of the drums and … Continue reading
I’m not an overly experienced diver, but I have been lucky enough to complete more than 30 dives in some of the most beautiful locations in the world. I earned my SSI Open Water Diver certification in Thailand, and I received my PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certification in the Red Sea in Egypt, which are both … Continue reading
Only 36 km from the China-Vietnam border, and a overnight train ride from Hanoi, lies the quiet mountain town of Sa Pa, which straddles the misty, rice-terraced highlands of Vietnam. Sa Pa is home to migrant lowlanders and a great diversity of ethnic minority peoples, primarily Hmong and Dao. The villagers from areas surrounding Sa … Continue reading
The sound of China will remain forever in my mind as the cacophony of pounding hammers and shovels scraping rock as men build skyscrapers with crude hand tools. What is so astonishing is that the same act in America would be accompanied to the roaring of teams of excavators and electric saws. In China, you … Continue reading
Just a three-hour bus ride from Hanoi is the UNESCO World Heritage site of Ha Long Bay, the azure home for 1,200 limestone islands called karsts. The magic of Ha Long Bay is the stuff of legends. According to ancient folklore, Ha Long was the resting place of dragons sent by the gods to defend … Continue reading
One of my most highly recommended travel experiences is to visit a local market. So of course, when I went to the Northern highlands of Vietnam, I took my own advice. At the Bắc Hà, Sunday Market, located in a rural district of Lào Cai Province in the Northeast region of Vietnam, the smells of … Continue reading
Tonle Sap lake, located just 15 km south of Siem Reap, is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. This gigantic lake that stretches its muddy waters far beyond the eye can see is literally the fish bowl of Cambodia, providing more than half the fish consumed in Cambodia to feed 3 million people per … Continue reading
As I perch on a single piece of temple stone that seems lonely for the wall it was once a part of, its fellows carted away long ago by ancient Khmer villagers, I sense the forest around me—moist, strong, and distinctly alive. I swear I can see the forest slowly encroaching before my eyes, ready … Continue reading
