Malaysia is one of the world’s 17 “megadiverse” countries, with Borneo being their crown jewel of biodiversity! The world’s third largest island, fringed by a coral reef, covered with a 130-million-year-old rainforest, and teeming with endemic species, this is a place of epic proportions. While Borneo is shared between two other countries (Indonesia and Brunei),…
January 22, 2022 marked TEN YEARS since we left on our HoneyTrek. It was supposed to be a one-year honeymoon to check off everything on our bucket list, but we quickly realized that’s not what it was about. It is about getting off that track, connecting with locals, and finding (and creating) the good in…
Bucket list is often a euphemism for the dreams I’ll get to someday. Why wait– especially when many of these epic destinations are way more affordable than you think. We’ve been honeymooning since 2012 and have experienced world wonders across the seven continents and kept our average budget under $40 a day per person. Of…
There is a goat on the roof, as we take the local bus between the volcanoes and beaches of Flores, Indonesia. His feet shuffle across the metal with each curve in the jungle-lined road, though no one seems to notice–except the villagers. Not too many people pass through the center of this Nusa Tengarra isle,…
A string of tiny tropical islands, fringed in coral, dotted with palm-trees, and traveled only by horse cart and bicycle…the Gilis are a place of traveler legend. Our boat skidded onto the shore of Gili Trawangan, the biggest isle in Lombok’s six-mile-square archipelago. Three naked kids splashed around in the water, while their grandpa in…
A message popped up from our travel buddy Deb, “Want to dive Komodo?” Visions of nine-foot-long dragons attacking our air supply went through our heads. “Let’s do a liveaboard in Komodo National Park, I hear the diving is killer.” Gulp. Deb is a proper scuba junkie with 357 dives around the world, and counting. So…
An ash-covered thorn taps into my arm, threatening to leave a permanent mark. We’re sitting in the bamboo home of Whang-Od, a 95-year old woman and the last Kalinga tattoo artist keeping this 1000-year-old art alive. She pauses from her playful tattoo demo, cocks her head and smiles as if to say, “You want one?”…
A tricked-out Jeepney blaring Bon Jovi pulls up to the stoplight. The driver, wearing a stone-washed jean jacket belts out, “You give love a bad name,” touches his rosary dangling from the rearview mirror, and drives away. Where are we? The Philippines, colonized by the Spanish then the Americans (yes, the U.S. had colonies) is…
Even after 50 years under a military regime, Myanmar’s smiles can’t be suppressed. The people have a resilience and inner joy that cut through their dark past and unstable present. Life’s not easy in former Burma but no matter the conditions–stoking a kiln in 100-degree heat, paving roads in flip-flops, hauling 80-pounds of bamboo on…
There is a traffic jam of Cinderella-style carriages outside the Pyin Oo Lwin train station. The trappings of the Victorian era and a cool breeze make this former British hill station feel instantly different from any other town we’ve seen in Myanmar. Set at 3,500 feet above sea level, Pyin Oo Lwin was the Brits’…
There are certain areas in Myanmar that tourists still can’t visit and Hsipaw is practically an island surrounded by the “no-go zone.” That said the alluring mountains and diverse hill tribes in this section of the Shan State are perfectly safe to visit–but you need a guide and some guts. It was late in the…