Preparing for the Sand Festival at Haeundae Beach, Busan, South Korea. Busan We arrived late and hungry in Busan from Seoul. We had splurged on our location for an incredible view, with a hotel on the edge of Yeongdo Island overlooking Busan Harbor. On the wharf across from our hotel, there were a ton of pojongmacha stands (aka pocha - outdoor restaurant carts). It smelled soooo good, but there was not an open seat to be found, so we opted instead for one of the ubiquitous ho

DMZ Sculpture at Imjingak Peace Park, South Korea. The DMZ 6 AM found us waiting outside for a bus to take us to the border with North Korea. It's not surprising that a guided tour is the only way to gain access to the most heavily fortified strip of land in the world. The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is 4km wide, stretching 250km along the 38th parallel between North and South Korea. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) running through the middle is the official land border betwe

Lotus Light Festival in Seoul 2025. Seoul A late flight from Taipei to Seoul plus a long drive to our hotel meant that we finally crawled into bed around midnight. Huge bowls of delicious spicy porridge the next morning got us motivated to explore. We quickly realized we had chosen a fantastic place to stay, but had no idea yet how true this was. Located in Insadong Neighborhood, our hotel was surrounded by a cultural center, a temple, and a walking street. Multiple palaces,

The water taxi to Ita Thao, Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan. Sun Moon Lake: We were originally torn over whether to include Sun Moon Lake on our...

The view from about halfway up Xiangshan Mountain, Taipei. Taipei: By the time we got to Taipei, street food and a convenience store...

National Theater performance in the Nhà Hát Cải Lương Theater, Hanoi Vietnam. We left the comfort of our Dalat home for our last trek in...

The sea monster bar at Crazy House in Dalat. Continuing adventures in Dalat... there was so much to explore - both in the city and the...

Sunset from our "home" at Blue Mountain Homestay, Dalat. Interlude: We are so far behind in posting that this all seems like a lifetime...

Street Mural in An Bang, Hoi An, Vietnam. Our next adventure was a week in Hoi An/An Bang Beach, with our friends Ed and Buffy, for...

Night life in the Binh Thanh District, or "Little Tokyo 2," in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Within a week of arriving in Dalat, our hosts...

Hai An beach on Con Son Island, Con Dao Vietnam. At long last, Good Morning Vietnam! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) We finally made our way to...

Wat Klang Khlong Watthanaram in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Even after a hair-raising day of driving us all over the mountain, our new-found...

Chiang Mai Flower Festival 2025. Coming back to Chiang Mai from Mae Tha Village, it turned out that our hotel (near the famous Tha Phae...

Tha Chomphoo Bridge in Lamphun Province, Thailand. From Chiang Mai, our friends Toby and Nuna brought us to their subsistence farm in the...

A Detail from Wat Phra Sing in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Coming from Singapore, it was a huge contrast plunging into the crazy confusion of...

Supertree Skyway in Singapore Gardens by the Bay What better way to shake off a 10 hour flight than by jumping on public transportation...

Moody Milford Sound on a cloudy day Flying into Queenstown gave us a great view of one of the rare "braided rivers" that occur here. ...

View of the Kaikoura Ranges, along the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway We caught the early morning train from Christchurch to Kaikoura, a 3...

Memorial Bridge on the Avon River, Christchurch Our place in Christchurch was blocks away from the Riverwalk, a fun little district full...

With our entire crew assembled, we were finally ready for a road trip. Driving from Napier to Rotorua took us through steep and twisting...