Destinations

 

Vietnam

Blon, Stieng Ethnic Group, Vietnam

Blon, Stieng Ethnic Group, Vietnam

B’lôn, 90, from the Stieng (Xtiêng) eth­nic group, sits in front of her small wood­en house in South­ern Viet­nam. Her ear lobes are elon­gat­ed with ivory earrings.

Pra, Ta Oi Ethnic Group, Vietnam

Pra, Ta Oi Ethnic Group, Vietnam

Pra, 92 smokes her pipe in the liv­ing room of her house in the coun­try­side of cen­tral Viet­nam. She is from the Ta Oi Eth­nic Group and walked from Laos with her fam­i­ly, many years ago. 

Nga, Si La Ethnic Group, Vietnam

Nga, Si La Ethnic Group, Vietnam

Nga and her friends are from the Si La eth­nic group. They live in a remote vil­lage in the moun­tains of North­ern Viet­nam. With 909 mem­bers, the Si La are one of the small­est eth­nic groups in Vietnam.

Hong Kong

Man Mo Temple, Hong Kong

Man Mo Temple, Hong Kong

The air is heavy with incense smoke, large coils hang from the ceil­ing. One of the old­est tem­ples in Hong Kong. A qui­et, calm atmos­phere, in con­trast to the bus­tle and ritzy streets of Cen­tral Hong Kong. Man Mo Tem­ple on Hol­ly­wood Road is the largest and most famous…

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery

Ascend a wind­ing stair­case lined by gold­en, life-sized stat­ues of Bud­dhist men, each a unique char­ac­ter with a unique facial expres­sion. The artist who cre­at­ed them was clear­ly quite cre­ative and as you ascend the 400+ steps to the Ten Thou­sand Bud­dhas Monastery, the…

5 Interestingly Unique Things in Central — Hong Kong

5 Interestingly Unique Things in Central — Hong Kong

A roar­ing bronze lion named Stephen with shrap­nel holes from WWII, a man who looks like Gol­lum and took his name, can­nons to fend off bad spir­its, here are 5 inter­est­ing­ly unique things in Cen­tral Hong Kong that you might have oth­er­wise missed. And they’re all free to…

Laos

Tham Pa Seuam, Thakhek Laos

Tham Pa Seuam, Thakhek Laos

Tham Pa Seuam (Pa Seuam Cave) is a beau­ti­ful 3‑kilometer long riv­er cave which can be ful­ly appre­ci­at­ed by rent­ing kayaks as part of a 3‑hour tour inside, or swim­ming through the cave. Oth­er­wise, you can walk to the entrance of the cave but can­not go very far inside…

Buddha Cave, Thakhek Laos

Buddha Cave, Thakhek Laos

The Bud­dha Cave is one of the first stops on the Thakhek Loop, not far from Thakhek, Laos. 6 km down a dirt road off of Route 12, known local­ly as Tham Pa Fa (Pa Fa Cave). This Bud­dha Cave is filled with 229 bronze Bud­dhist stat­ues up to 500 years old which can be seen inside behind a short gate. It was­n’t until 2004 that the cave was dis­cov­ered or “re-dis­­­cov­­ered”.

Getting a Vietnam Embassy Visa

Getting a Vietnam Embassy Visa

Get­ting a Visa for Viet­nam, if you are fly­ing into the coun­try is fair­ly straight­for­ward, with lots of agen­cies to help you get a Visa on arrival. I’ve described the Viet­nam Visa on Arrival process here. How­ev­er, there is far less infor­ma­tion and no online agen­cies to…

China

Yubeng Village – A Photo Journey to Tibetan China

Yubeng Village – A Photo Journey to Tibetan China

I just returned from 4 days of hik­ing in this beau­ti­ful remote moun­tain vil­lage in Chi­na. Yubeng! Tucked in a val­ley sur­round­ed by glaciat­ed peaks right on the bor­der with Tibet. The only way to get here is by foot, or for those with a bad case of Ambu­lo­pho­bia (fear…

Yubeng Village China — Complete Guide

Yubeng Village China — Complete Guide

Nes­tled in a farm­ing val­ley on the bor­der of Tibet, amongst lush green forests, sur­round­ed by rugged glac­i­er cov­ered moun­tains lie the 2 small vil­lages of Upper & Low­er Yubeng. There is a dirt road that goes to the vil­lage, how­ev­er you must hike in (or take a mule for the less walk­ing inclined “hik­ers”). The val­ley is amaz­ing­ly beau­ti­ful with spec­tac­u­lar views of the moun­tains, alpine hikes to water­falls and glaciers,

A year and a half traveling so far…

It’s been almost a year and half since I set off to Europe. I’d imag­ined I’d be gone for about 6 months before return­ing to Los Angeles….well that didn’t real­ly hap­pen. The longer I trav­el the more the con­cept of home becomes, well, kind of just a con­cept and not real­ly a spe­cif­ic place. Home is where you make it.