Hi friends. We have been in Istanbul, Turkey for just over a week. This city is beautiful and charming, and a great place to be during this Coronavirus madness. Until yesterday, there were no confirmed cases in Turkey; today there is 1 confirmed case and likely many more. Turkey acted early and quickly to close …
A Quick Jaunt in Kuala Lumpur
We spent so much time in Penang that we had only three days to explore Kuala Lumpur (KL) before our flight to Bali. We rented a car for the 5 hour drive from Penang to KL. It was scary at first because Robby was not used to driving on the left side of the road. …
Penang, Malaysia: Great Food, Great Art, and an All Around Great City
We wrote all about settling into our five-week stay in Penang here, but we did a lot more than send our kids to classes and preschool. Penang checked all the boxes for a great place to visit – art, culture, history, fun, and really really good food. Street of Harmony On our first full day …
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Penang, Malaysia: Settling In
We ended up settling in Penang by happenstance. Our original plan was to hop south through the Thai islands and make our way to Penang, which is in northwest Malaysia (just under Thailand), and head to mainland Malaysia from there. But being on the go all the time was getting pretty hard, and Robby and …
Cambodia: Siem Reap and the Angkor Temples
Siem Reap is an enigma. The roads are riddled with potholes the size of water buffalos but are flanked by four star resorts on either side. Tourism is booming and there is a relatively significant daily fee to see the Angkor temples but trash is everywhere, infrastructure is lacking, and blackouts are common. Nonetheless, Siem …
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Cambodia: Phnom Penh
Our original plan was to spend only a week in Cambodia exploring the Angkor temples in Siem Reap. But as Reed learned about Cambodia’s recent history and how everyone was forced out of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city, by the Khmer Rouge in the mid-1970s, he said he really wanted to see it, so we …
Thailand: A Farmstay and An Island
We had two very different and special experiences in Thailand worthy of their own post. The first was a farmstay in northern Thailand and the other was our “mini vacation” in Phuket, an island in southern Thailand. Thung Dong Farmstay There are so many unique experiences to be had in northern Thailand. We wanted to …
Thailand: From Bangkok to Chiang Mai
There is no easier place to travel in Asia than Thailand. The travel trail is well worn, the food is familiar and delicious, and the people are so nice and friendly. It was nice to finally get there. We all agree that Thailand is really one of the greatest places on this planet. We spent …
Vietnam
We are on a trail through Southeast Asia far more traveled than the one we were on in China, and it is so much easier (not to be confused with easy, just easier). We were pretty giddy to get off the plane in Hanoi, check into our Airbnb, and grab our first of many banh …
China: Gorgeous Lijiang and Our China Budget
We can’t quite remember how we discovered Lijiang and added it to our itinerary. We had heard that Yunnan Province – where Lijiang is located – is beautiful and worth a visit, but we really did not know what to expect and, frankly, after three weeks in China, we were ready to move on. But …
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