Archive for January, 2008
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
Talking Shop
Imagine going into your favorite store and finding that everything fits you perfectly, comes in your favorite color and fabric and is 75% off. That pretty much sums up our time in Hoi An, Vietnam. The town was a major port until its river began to dry up; it now finds its commercial edge in […]
No Comments » - Posted in Vietnam by Shanna
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Goin’ Down Backroads…
We’ve covered a lot of ground the last few days, most of it via motorcycle. From Don Khon, we drove (and, by “drove,” I mean Derek drove and I lazed on the back of the bike) north to the Kingfisher Eco Lodge in Kiet Ngong. We haven’t been to Africa yet, but I’m pretty sure […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Vietnam, Laos by Shanna
Saturday, January 19th, 2008
Who Needs the Ocean to Enjoy the Islands?
After flying out of India and enjoying a couple of rejuvenating days in the cosmopolitan city of Bangkok, Thailand, we boarded a plane to the largest city in Southern Laos - the bustling metropolis of Pakse (population 66,000). Laos (pronounced like “cow”, but replacing the “c” with an “l”) is a country that has been […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Laos by Derek
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Delhi: The Good, The Bad and The Wildly Confusing
I’ve heard travelers say that, when it comes to foreign experiences, there’s India, and then there’s the rest of the world. No place is this more true than in Delhi. 1 Our family has an apartment in Delhi, and the promise of both their company and free lodging kept us there for more than two weeks. […]
4 Comments » - Posted in India by Shanna
Saturday, January 12th, 2008
Varanasi, the City of Life (and Death)
Warning: Because this entry discusses cremation in fairly vivid detail, it may not be for everyone.
Varanasi is to Hindus as Mecca is to Muslims or the Vatican is to Catholics: many of the religion’s most devout spend a lifetime planning and saving for the visit they hope to someday pay to the holy city. A […]
1 Comment » - Posted in India by Shanna
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
Small Money, Big Change
Two years ago, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh - one of the poorest countries in the world. As a result of the award, the microfinance activities of Grameen Bank and other similar institutions around the globe were brought to worldwide attention. I was particularly intrigued […]
No Comments » - Posted in India by Derek
Monday, January 7th, 2008
A Golden City
Tourists come to Amritsar primarily for two reasons - to visit the Golden Temple sacred to the Sikh religion and to watch the closing ceremony at the border crossing between India and Pakistan. After a 7-hour train ride from Delhi, we checked into our hotel with the goal of checking these two activities off our […]
1 Comment » - Posted in India by Derek
Friday, January 4th, 2008
A “Monument”al Love
In structuring our itinerary for this trip, we have tried to stick to places that are new to both of us. We are making several exceptions for places that one of us has visited before and truly loved. When we knew we were meeting Shanna’s parents in Delhi, India to attend a wedding there, there […]
1 Comment » - Posted in India by Derek and Shanna
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
Clap Your Hands, Say Om
To be honest, I was fairly skeptical about the commitment I’d made to my yoga-instructor mother to spend a few days at an Indian ashram with her when she and my father met us in India this month. Looking at the ashram’s website, which featured an orange-clad guru surrounded by orbs of twinkling lights and […]
