Taiwan: Shaking in Our Boots
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
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 […]
The Wild, Wild East: Taiwan’s Enigmatic East Coast
Like Alishan, we considered cutting the East Coast out of our itinerary entirely. The region was remote, and it was a logistical puzzle to plan. Also, it was the only place in Taiwan where we needed to rent a car and potentially drive through what looked on the map like […]
Food. Taiwan. Must I Say More?
I wanted to write about the top 10 dishes we ate in Taiwan and quickly realized that the list was way longer than 10 and each dish deserved its own blog post, and this would quickly spiral into Two Cats Backpack Eats Taiwanese Food for Entirety of the Foreseeable Future […]
Breakfast of Champions in Taiwan
One thing that never stopped surprising me about Taiwan is how you can be strolling down a sidewalk one moment and the next, you are suddenly in the middle of a busy restaurant. And I don’t mean just outdoor seating, which is common enough around the world. I am talking […]
Eating Our Way Through Vietnam
Asia has the best food. Period. No arguments. Every time I state this unequivocal fact, Victor tries to mumble something about Mexican food, then realizes that I am willing to physically fight him over this and quickly changes his tune. And so, Victor and I agree – Asia does have […]
Clothes Make the Man, Vietnamese Tailors Make the Clothes
“Twenty-seven and a half!” the woman called out and quickly slid the measuring tape down my body. “Right shoulder higher than left shoulder!” I started twisting to look at my unequal shoulders in the mirror, but she quickly forced my body back, while methodically calling out numbers and body parts. […]
Murder on the Dragon Pearl
Part II of Adventures on the Anti-Love Boat in Halong Bay Our first lunch on the boat was served on the lower deck, on dark red tables covered by crispy white linens. Victor and I picked the table closest to the railing, so we could enjoy the unobstructed view of […]
Out of Our Comfort Zone – Backpackers on a Luxury Cruise
Part I of Adventures in Halong Bay Through the years of traveling, we have slept in cars, vans, buses, trains, airplanes, a garden shed, a hut, bungalows, a remodeled horse barn, hostels, motels, guesthouses, strangers’ houses, hotels, and once on a lawn in a park (well, that was a nap […]
Part II: Welcome to the Jungle … on Motorbikes!
Start with “Part I: Asia, Motorbikes and Us” here. Our evening in Hue we spent rearranging our next day’s schedule and our understanding of who we are as people. “I moved our Airbnb stay in Hoi An by one day and rescheduled the tailor appointment,” Julia said, “We are all […]
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 […]