Night Trains

Years ago, when we were staying on an island in Cambodia in a little bungalow on the beach, Victor walked off the bed platform in the middle of the night and fell down a few feet.  He wasn’t fully awake and somehow didn’t hurt himself.   When his mom heard this […]

Next on the Bucket List: Oktoberfest in Munich

I was chatting with my cousin, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany, and telling her all about our 36-hour trip to Munich just to attend the opening of Oktoberfest. “Have you ever been?” I asked her. “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “We are not big drinkers at all!” “Neither are we!” I […]

People Live Here. Nuratau Mountains.

We were outside the Jizzakh train station, patiently waiting on our Yandex Go taxi driver, when another taxi pulled up.  The driver, a tall lean man in his early seventies, leaned out the window, “Where are you heading?” We explained that we were waiting for another taxi and he nodded, […]

Full Bloom in Namangan

A Tajik woman in a colorful dress was elbowing and pushing me away.  I was too close, and she demanded space. She was also bothered by my camera, hissing at me that it kept poking her in the back.  But what could I do? We were in the crowd, and […]

I Think I Wanna Marry You

It was morning, and the studio was empty, except for Khushnud and I. “Where is everyone?” I asked. “Eating plov,” Khushnud replied casually, as if that explained everything. It did not. After a bit more prodding, I learned that every traditional Uzbek wedding begins with plov, a traditional rice and meat […]

Monterrey, Mountains, and Unexpected Mexico

By Julia / June 18, 2026

For those of you following along, I mentioned how our tickets to Monterrey had been canceled twice, and it was becoming increasingly unclear whether the universe really did not want us visiting this part of Mexico or whether Viva Aerobus was only pretending to offer flights there. Well, we finally […]

In the Saddle: Conquering Cerro de la Silla

By Victor / June 11, 2026

Its image is everywhere — on labels of tostadas and tortillas, wall murals, and even in the logo of the local baseball team. It’s the symbol of the city. The most recognizable landmark.  It is as iconic as Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf or Cape Town’s Table Mountain. Cerro de la […]

São Paulo: Hate At First Sight

By Victor / June 5, 2026

“Skip São Paulo. It’s just a concrete jungle. Nothing to see there,” was the advice I received while planning a trip to Brazil. Nonsense. We are big city people. We love architecture, museums, and restaurants. Big cities have this never-ending energy and are always full of activities and things to […]

Bad Things

By Julia / May 28, 2026

We arrived in Taipei on December 13th and left on the 18th to explore Alishan. On December 19th, 2025, a 27-year-old man threw smoke grenades and stabbed people in a Taipei metro station, killing three people and injuring eleven others. He then killed himself by jumping from a building. This […]

Taiwan: Shaking in Our Boots

By Julia / May 22, 2026

It was an evening of our last day in Kaohsiung, and we were visiting the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas.  Temples in Taiwan usually have dragons painted by one set of doors to indicate that those doors are used to enter the temple, and tigers by another set of doors, which […]

Day Lilies, Yuli Noodles, and the Mountain Mist

By Victor / May 14, 2026

Of the four days in the East, we spent three days driving up and down the coastal highway.  These days were filled with stopping at ocean viewpoints, exploring the shoreline’s rugged geoparks, and learning about local indigenous culture. But as we navigated through this narrow stretch of land, sandwiched between […]

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