Part I: Asia, Motorbikes, and Us
A year ago in Cambodia, we had the misfortune of spending a night in a rat-infested, side-way leaning, bamboo bungalow which simultaneously happened to be 50 feet from a busy road full of thundering trucks, while also tilting into a muddy river where local fishermen started their morning calls to […]
Hand of God and Goal of the Century: Azteca Stadium
-Arbitro corrupto! Arbitro corrupto! We are sitting in the nosebleed section of Azteca Stadium on the outskirts of Mexico City, listening to hilarious chants of local boisterous soccer fans. We are sitting so high that I feel a little dizzy and a bit worried that my nose may actually bleed. […]
Accidental Medical Tourism or When Will This Stop Hurting?
Four days before we flew out to Vietnam, when the backpacks were already laid out on the floor in preparation for packing and to warn the cats of the upcoming vacation, I woke up with a sore throat. I spent the previous evening hanging out with my toddler niece, who […]
How Saigon Became Ho Chi Minh City and how Ho Chi Minh City Almost Killed Us
We landed in Ho Chi Minh City after struggling not to sleep through a thirteen-hour flight to Tokyo, a three-hour layover full of Japanese snacks, and another five-hour flight to Vietnam. We arrived in the early evening, damp air around us deceptively cool, but the asphalt still radiating warmth from […]
Itinerary Hell: I Hate It Here, I am Never Coming Back!
One of my very first trips, straight out of college, was a group tour around Europe with my best friends. We were completely inexperienced in international travel, the Internet wasn’t really as useful back then as it is now, and we had no idea how even to start planning something […]
Perfect Pitch – Jazz and Baseball in Japan
If someone tells you that they experienced jazz and baseball on their trip, would you be able to correctly identify the country? If you guessed the U.S., try again! I am talking about Japan. The Japanese are crazy about jazz and baseball. The American presence in Japan following WWII left […]
