After we returned to town from our second day on Inle lake, we came across a young monk’s initiation parade. After some research, I found that amongst the Shan people, boys between the ages of 7 and 14 are initiated every year into local temples in an elaborate three day ceremony. People dress in elabrote costumes and in this case, the initiated boy rode atop a horse.
After our first stop in an isolated Khmu Village where I took these Joyful Portraits of Khmu Villagers, we continued hiking through the jungle to another isolated village, this time a Hmong Village, whose inhabitants are also known as Lao Theung, or “Laotian of the Mountain Slopes.” According to Countrystudies.us, little is known about this…
While were chilling out in Muang Ngoi, we heard from some other travelers about some rural villages within walking distance that had homestays. We decided to check it out depsite not really knowing where we were going. It was hot and we got lost, but had fun finding our way through these expansive fields and…
After wandering around Peurto Princesa I made my way towards El Nido via a 6 hour local bus ride. I had read about El Nido on a lot of other travel blogs, particularly Nathan Allen’s I Dreamed of This: Paradise Found El Nido, Palawan, and I was also told by my Filipino friend, Dinny, that…
After Bali, mom and I decided to head to Lombok, Indoneisa. Unfortunately, by this point, she had missed a step walking down the stairs and badly sprained her ankle, or so we thought. We found out later it was actually cracked. So it was a good thing that we had already done most of our…
Updated September 10, 2022 For the last few weeks of my trip I traveled around Burma on my own. My first impression upon landing in Mandalay (or driving from the airport) was “wow, the land is sparse.” It felt like endless open, dry space for miles…every once in a while a horse cart would trot…
Last year, I met Samart (AKA spicy Joe) through couchsurfing, and he invited me to his bungalows a few hours from Chiang Mai.Little did I know before I arrived, it was an entire operation of volunteering, eco lodges, farming, cooking, and culture exchange.Click here to read about last year’s experience. You can stay at Spicy…