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Cambodia, Destinations, Featured Partners, Food, Intrepid

Frogs and Eels and Pig Heads

January 16, 2013

We’d been in Siem Reap for just one night and wandered through the buzzing downtown market stalls: woven scarves and metal jewelry, tourist T-shirts and carved trinkets. Colorful, and fun to gawk at while eating ice cream from Blue Pumpkin, certainly.

But what fun to get up the next morning, hop in a remork, and ride in the opposite direction of the crowds toward a real taste of the vivid, smelly, real-deal village markets supported by the Cambodian families of Tonlé Sap.

Twenty minutes through the countryside, a turn down a few smaller roads, and we arrived at the outskirts of the morning bustle, where space is first-come-first-serve and people set up in the wee hours to claim the best spot. Continue Reading…

Cambodia, Destinations, Featured Partners, Intrepid, Landscape Architecture, Musings

Tonlé Sap Tour: Visiting the Floating Villages of Cambodia

January 9, 2013

An odd juxtaposition: being in a hurry, surrounded by a slow and ancient way of life.

We sped toward Siem Reap, Cambodia on a six-hour bus ride from Phnom Penh. The dinner hour pit-stop barely gave us time to catch our breaths, and we were off again, aimed for few nights’ stay near the temples of Angkor Wat. I watched the sun set out the bus window, glazing everything from rice paddies to rustic roads with warm light, causing me to consider the farmers working the land to grow a living with each passing day.

When we arrived in Siem Reap, we knew our time was limited. Though we planned to join people from around the world in flocking to see the ancient Hindu temple complex ruins of Angkor, we also wished for a chance to experience something a little farther from the crowds, something a little more insightful about present day life in rural Cambodia. Enter: a visit to the remote floating villages of Tonlé Sap.


Floating Village of Kampong Phluk: Tonlé Sap Tour

Tonlé Sap is Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake, a UNESCO Biosphere welling up to 15,000 square kilometers in the rainy season, draining to the Mekong River, and shrinking to 2,700 square kilometers during the dry season. North America’s Great Salt Lake is 5,483 square kilometers, by comparison.

One and a half million Cambodians live in 127 communities around and on the water. Lake dwellers live in bamboo floating houses and stilted structures, fishing for a living and navigating the waterways as they’ve done for centuries, though motors and foreigners and outside developers are changing the tides. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Musings, New Zealand, Tidbits About Us, Travel Plans

The Night Before Christmas: At the Auckland Airport

December 24, 2012

It’s been a kiwi Christmastime. This November and December, we’ve traversed the North and South Islands of New Zealand, and I’ve been soaking up the spunk and joy in the little things, like this Christmas video from my favorite shop in Auckland.

A Night before Christmas from Pauanesia | Filmed & Edited: Tama Jarman
Music: ‘Walk in the Park‘ by the Wellington Ukulele Orchestra


Tonight, the spunk and joy is accompanied by a bit of melancholy and a large dose of gratefulness.

I’m so close to winging my way home.

It’s Christmas Eve: a few hours before midnight on the 24th of December (a day that sounded so, so far away when we first departed Portland on January 5th). We’re sitting in a hotel room just down the road from Auckland International Airport. Continue Reading…

Cambodia, Destinations, Social Work

A Psalm for Cambodia

December 18, 2012

A Psalm can take many forms, one of which is a heartfelt cry of misery followed by an exclamation of hope. This is the story of autogenocide, justice and joy in Cambodia. Warning, this post contains accounts from our travels which some people may find disturbing.  

We braced for entry into Cambodia, in part because we knew we’d come face-to-face with its brutal and recent history of war, torture, and terror.

Continue Reading…

Destinations, Laos, Musings, Photography

Discovering Laos: On the River, Through the Streets, In the Moment

December 12, 2012

We entered Laos by water, crossing the Mekong River at Chiang Khong in Thailand and coming to the banks of Huay Xai, Laos for passport stamps and paper shuffling. Eyes open, minds curious, we toted our bags aboard a long boat and began our eight days in the country with a two-day drift down the Mekong toward the ancient city of Luang Prabang.

Time unfolded slowly, as it has along these banks for eons past…

Humbling to think these quiet forests and isolated village have watched the water flow for centuries. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Places, Food, Thailand

Creamy-Sweet and Salty-Hot Cooking Lessons in Chiang Mai

December 9, 2012

Q: What’s the next best thing to growing up in Thailand and learning to cook Thai food from your mom?

A: Taking cooking lessons in Chiang Mai from a local Thai chef, learning secrets she learned from her mom and tricks of the trade she’s picked up as a pro in Thailand…and around the world.


Celebrity Thai Chef “Yui” Siripen Sriyabhaya, at her home-based A Lot of Thai Cooking School

Here’s the thing. Much like any spot in the world open to eager tourists, Chiang Mai is chalk full of touted “authentic” experiences. Elephant rides and cooking schools, for example. Continue Reading…

Destinations, Featured Places, Food, Landscape Architecture, Thailand

The Travelling Soul: In Search of the Northern Thai Spirit at Tamarind Village

December 7, 2012

The most beautiful glimpse into Lanna culture came from an unexpected turn down a lantern-lit walkway. After admiring handicrafts and tasting our way through local dishes during a warm evening wander through Chaing Mai’s Sunday Market street stalls, Ted pulled me aside.

“What’s down there?”

A bamboo grove lit by spotlights and floating lanterns beckoned us onward, away from the noise of the street and toward the promise of a grand discovery. The flags said something about Travelling Souls… Continue Reading…

Destinations, Musings, Thailand

Remnants of a Kingdom: Snippets from Life in Lanna

December 6, 2012

Time rushes by, changing the shape of life, leaving traces of history in its wake.


Wat Lok Molee, Chiang Mai, Thailand: Lanna Architecture dating to the 14th and 16th Centuries

Chiang Mai, Thailand. I knew it by reputation only from other travelers who ranked the ancient city according to its satisfying food culture, internet connectivity, and ease of access along “the route” through Southeast Asia. In my mind, I supposed it existed as a fortified outpost of location-independent entrepreneurs and thoughtful sojourners sustaining themselves on cheap street eats and sharing the buzz through online media.

In many ways, it proved gratefully so.

In other ways, Chiang Mai revealed itself differently to us, giving unexpected gifts of retreat and solitude, a healthy disconnect and an appetite for observing, learning, and living well.

Naively we entered the former capitol of the Lanna Kingdom.

I readily admit I’m only just beginning to learn the outlines of Thai history.

I’d never heard of the Kingdom of Lanna.

We came based on Chiang Mai’s reputation as a worthwhile stop on the traveler’s circuit and instead stepped into a culture with roots deeper and wider than the boundaries of Northern Thailand and ripe with meaning to discover. Continue Reading…

CarRentals.co.uk, Destinations, Featured Partners, New Zealand

The Promised Land: From Oregon to New Zealand

December 3, 2012

We’re obsessed. Like new parents about their kid, or grandparents about their new grandchild (you know who you are), we can’t stop talking about her, bragging about her, and comparing everything to her.

We love Oregon. It’s that simple.

Yes, we think she’s the greatest state in the union (but not in the same way Texans do). Yes, we believe Oregon has something to offer everyone. Yes, Portlanders live 90 minutes from world-class windsurfing, skiing at Mt. Hood, gorgeous coastlines, and fertile farmland.

I could be preaching to the choir.

There’s just one problem with living in a paradise. It takes quite a place to actually compete with the beauty of Oregon. Continue Reading…