September 27, 2017
Today was a looooong drive from Fes to the Sahara just outside of the city of Merzouga. A friend of a friend runs the Sahara Garden. Brahim coordinated everything for us and welcomed us upon our arrival with open arms. Truly an amazing human being. We were welcomed with dinner and singing and dancing around a bonfire.
September 24, 2017
Our second stop in Morocco was the blue city of Chefchaoen. A small city located up on a hill, wandering thru the medina surrounded by so many shades of blue was quite a different experience from Tangier. We stayed at Casa Perleta, a small bed and breakfast recommended by our friend. It was perfectly located within the upper hill area of the medina. The blue hues of the walls of Chefchaoen are believed to have originated when the Jews came while escaping Hilter in the 1930s. The blue is said to serve as a reminder to lead a spiritual life while symbolizing the sky and heaven.
September 11 - 15, 2017
Enroute to our close friends' wedding in Greece we found a cheap flight to Paris via Reykjavik, Iceland and decided to take advantage and do a little stopover in an effort to (fingers crossed) see the northern lights. We decided to restrict our few days to just the southern highlights along the coast. The first thing we noticed was that even though it was supposedly shoulder/low season in Iceland there were significantly more people than when we came the year before in August.
November 26, 2016 - November 29, 2016
We spent the next three days exploring in and around Inle Lake. The lake is huge and lined by reed marshes and canals that take locals to the small towns that surround the lake. We visited local markets and saw some of the local craftsmen still practicing their trades - boat-making, weaving, fishing, and metal-working.
Enjoy the photos!
November 23, 2016
After Yangon, we made our way to another popular Myanmar destination - Bagan, mainly known for the thousands of temples spread across 40 square miles. Between the 11th and 13th centuries, there were more than 11,000 structures (temples, pagodas, monastaries) in the area and only about 2,200 remain today. We spent the next two days exploring the area, getting up before sunrise and finding the best vnatage point for sunset.
November 21, 2016
First impressions of Yangon, we all seemed a little discombobulated and felt really confused where we were, who we were seeing, who Burmese people were, etc. This might have been because of the heat and the intense week we had in India. We tucked ourselves away in a super western hotel to collect ourselves and set foot outside again.
November 12 - November 20, 2016
We were lucky enough to be a part of TOMS in its early years. Nearly two and a half years after we left, we were blessed enough to participate in a TOMS giving trip in India with two incredible partners, Karuna Trust and Aravind. For more information on each organization please click on the links. Both are amazing organizations in different ways.
November 10, 2016
Visiting Bhutan wouldn't be complete without a hike to Tiger's Nest. This Buddhist monastery considered to be one of the most important in Bhutan, hangs on at the cliff's edge more than 3000m above sea level.
The temple was first built in 1692 and believed to be where Guru Padmasambhava meditated for three years, three months, three days, three hours in the 6th century. Guru Padmasambhava is a real historical figure said to have brought Buddhism to Bhutan from Tibet and believed to be the second reincarnation of Buddha.
November 9, 2016
Today was spent exploring the valley of Punakha. Initially we passed the Punakha Dzong set between what is said to be a male and female river. This dzong is also known as Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong, which means very awesome dzong or the palace of great happiness or bliss. But we will come back to this dzong later. We did happen to run into a National Geographic tour group as we stopped to take a photo. I think we preferred our small private trip after seeing the large group tour bus and I'm pretty sure we paid less for our private tour.
November 7, 2016
When we initially chose the itinerary I'm not sure we read all the details or quite understood what the roads and transit time would be between cities. Today was a long day driving from Thimphu to Trongsa. Thankfully, we had a stop about a third of the way at Dochula Pass, home of 108 stupas built by the eldest queen mother as a memorial in honor of the Bhutanese soldiers who were killed in December of 2003 in the battle against Assamese insurgents from India. The pass is at an elevation of 3,100 meters (10,200 feet). In the distance, on a clear day, you can see the snow capped mountain peaks of the Himalayas. Thankfully it was a clear day for us.
November 5, 2016
Before this trip, we were deciding between Nepal and Bhutan. After our friends Sean and Marcel told us about their trip last year, we decided on Bhutan. Lucky for us, Marcel had done a ton of research on tour companies, so we contacted the same group that coordinated their trip last year, Adventure Planet Travel. The owner of the company, Ugyen, was very responsive and gave us several suggested itineraries based on our interest. We decided on a 7 day itinerary focusing on central Bhutan.
November 2, 2016
I hope you're reading this next post on a full stomach. If not, you're tummy will definitely grumble for the next few minutes.
In our 24 hours in Nagoya could be summed up in two words, it would be "happy tummies". All we did was EAT EAT EAT. We had every intention of seeing the fall colors here but again, we were a little too early so we did the next best thing.
October 28, 2016 - October 30, 2016
Halloween isn't Halloween, until you've done it in Tokyo.
Our best friends, Hajime and Maily, spent last Halloween in Tokyo and told us it was the best party of their lives. It didn't take much convincing us or Jonathan's cousin, Stef, to join in the party this year. Knowing the Japanese and their love to dress up, we knew we had to be something special. I would try to explain what we were...but I feel like the pictures can pretty much do all the talking. Just as we expected, there was a big party in the Shibuya area, where thousands of people flocked the streets and would stop to take pictures with anyone and anything!
September 24, 2016
Big day hike today, about 12 miles round trip to the top of Cloud's Rest and back. Unfortunately, Wallace misplaced his water bottle at the top of the ridge on the way from Cathedral Lake to Sunrise Lake, so we were down to four water bottles. Stupid us, we also decided not to bring a water pump and instead tried to ration the four bottles amongst the five of us.
September 20, 2016
Jonathan and I returned from a close friend's wedding in Boston two days earlier and spent time with family all day Monday. Early Tuesday morning we left LA and headed north, past Mammoth Lakes to the east entrance to Yosemite National Park. Jonathan finally got his wish -- taking me backpacking in Yosemite. I remember early on in our relationship, he talked about how he had gone backpacking and I asked, "Is that where you were a life preserver on your back?!". Wow - so innocent and so naive! I think I meant a backpack but called it a life preserver instead.
August 1, 2016 - August 2, 2016
We couldn't visit Iceland without seeing puffins. Iceland is known to be home to 60% of Atlantic Puffins during the breeding season. Did you know that these puffins spend most of their time at sea and only return to land during the spring and summer to breed? We made our way to Látrabjarg Cliffs to see if we catch a glimpse of these cute animals.
July 29, 2016 - July 31, 2016
From Jökulsárlón Lagoon, we drove almost 3 hours to our next waterfall. Hengifoss is the third tallest waterfall in Iceland and is surrounded by basaltic strata with thin, red layers of clay between the basaltic layers. It was a nice 2.5km hike from the parking lot where we got to enjoy the scenery of rolling hills and smaller waterfalls up to Hengifoss.
July 27, 2016 - July 29, 2016
With a week to spare before going home, we decided to make our way to one of our must-visit places, Iceland. Thankfully, flights with the new WOW air also made it the cheapest destination we could go to for a week from Amsterdam. Even better, Brexit made our flights even cheaper when we purchased them in British Pounds. Thaaank yoooou, Brexit!
July 20, 2016 - July 22, 2016
Arriving midday from Florence, we found parking and headed in to Rio Maggiore via train. Upon arrival in the first of the five towns of Cinque Terre, we discovered the coastal path was closed due to a collapse of the trail during a previous rain storm. Instead, we found a trail that went up and over the hill to the next town. There were lots of stairs and it was hot and humid ... let's just say we were pretty happy when we got to Manarola and had an amazing meat and cheese spread and plenty of wine.
