RETURN TO BHUTAN Yet again I find myself at the Drukair check in counter of Bangkok’s Suvarnhabumhi airport, at the unreasonable hour of 4:30 a.m. Twelve Bhutan bound clients make up my entourage. The usual grumpy Thai staff processes our bags and tickets and scrutinizes visas, not the best introduction for the happiest place on … Continued
I was at the end of my trip of Asia. 10 hours from Manila, 3 hours through Banaue and Bontoc. 13 hours in total. I had little time left in the Philippines so I had one day to do Sagada. I actually remember first hearing about the place when I was in Laos. A couple … Continued
It was my last new destination of a trip that had spanned a mere 9 months. The north of the Philippines. An untouched place as a whole really. Banaue in particular, had evaded me on my last trip to the Philippines which were 4 months previous. I thought it was one of the clearest things … Continued
The Wagah Border Ceremony between India and Pakistan To say that the border closing ceremony at the Wagah border between India and Pakistan was the most bizarre day of my life is an understatement. Witnessing this daily tradition between the two countries to me felt like an anthropological experiment, like I had just walked into … Continued
Murree, Pakistan’s Most Popular Holiday Destination: If you are a teacher in any Pakistani school and ask your pupil to write an essay on “A trip to Northern areas”, I bet 90 % of the pupil will write an account of their trip to Murree. And if you have ever wondered which place is considered … Continued
WATCH: 38 Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyuang Shwe, near Inle Lake, Myanmar (Burma) All week the people have been preparing for the Golden Buddhas to arrive for the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival in Nyuang Shwe. On October 21, they finished building everything. From 5am on October 22, there was music. At 8am, people … Continued
Happy September and L’Shana Tova (Happy Jewish New Year!) Do you get our newsletter? This is from our recent news: Fun in the Philippines Our two weeks of travel in the Philippines have been varied and fantastic! Our visit included sharing the underwater world of Balicasag with giant turtles and a tornado of jack fish as well … Continued
Thank you to Charu at the Butterfly Diary for publishing my article about India: “Raft Building on the Banks of the Lake Palace, Udaipur: Changing the World One Bottle at a Time.” I thought sharing this piece on backpackers changing the world was a good fit for Rosh Hashannah, the beginning of the Jewish New … Continued
Kerala is a travel destination with a lot going for it. It was the breadth of landscape in this one small South Indian state that constantly surprised me and filled my one month there with such variety even though I wasn’t clocking thousands of travel miles. Bus journeys of only a few hours will take … Continued
WATCH: 37 Biking Inle Lake Myanmar (Burma) Our first stop was to figure out our transportation back to Mandalay. We met friendly five year-old Mimi. On the road, we saw a group practicing their leg rowing. The ride was beautiful—we saw red lotus flowers, fields and many animals. The road was not so good so … Continued