About 45 minutes down the road southwest from Jianchuan, along the busy Lijiang-Dali road is a town where most travelers fail to stop. No one pays too much attention to Shaxi these days. Its heyday is long gone. Once it stood on the busy Tea Horse Road—a less famous trading route than the Silk Road, [...]

The standard bukhanka. Not the worst but not the best. This is what a lot of food consumption comes down to in the capital.   The Soviet fossils in Ashgabat are strewn over the surface of daily life here. One in particular is the bukhanka. This is the Russian word for “loaf”, as in “loaf [...]

One of the temples on Emai Shan sacred Buddhist mountain. By Stephen Bugno The Good The sights—Where else can you see the Great Wall of China, panda bears close up in their hometown, or a gorge the likes of Tiger Leaping Gorge? Nowhere. That’s why you come to China, for these heavy hitters. I won’t [...]

Photo Credit: Alex Dodd   The following post is brought to you by Skyscanner. Body Most of us, when preparing to travel, don’t take a bathroom cabinet of drugs and potions with us on holiday. This is because we either believe we won’t get ill or that we’ll be able to furnish ourselves with the [...]

Despite a high per capita income for Djibouti, this is one of the most common means of transport in the city. By Jett Thomason I like Djibouti in the morning. I wake up early in the US, so jetlag throws my natural tendency into overdrive with a 3:15, 4:30, or if I’m lucky, 5:00 am [...]

By Danielle L Krautmann Disclaimer:  As I believe my previous blogs reflect, I love living in Cajamarca, Peru. I love the people, culture, climate and lifestyle.  But after two years, there are just a few things I’m afraid I’ll never be able to accept.  Keep in mind if I made a list of the bones I [...]

A bowl of Guilin Rice Noodles By Stephen Bugno Some specialties of Guangxi Province China is a foodie’s utopia—the regional diversity of offerings is outstanding. Although it can’t compete with the powerhouse food regions like Sichuan, Beijing, or Guangdong, Guangxi Province still had some interesting food culture to investigate. Guangxi Province is located in southern [...]

The following is a guest post. The Yorkshire Dales are well-known for their attractive blend of rolling hills, woodland, wild moorland, dramatic landscapes and gentle valleys. The scenery here is some of the finest in all of Britain. Opportunities for great walks abound. Visiting pleasant little dales towns and villages provide a glimpse into traditional [...]

The shops are all closed up. There’s hardly any foot traffic or cars on the streets. Red lanterns hung around the city add to the atmosphere. But the most noticeable way to tell it’s the Eve of Chinese New Year is by the excessive and near constant explosions of firecrackers. Children light them off. So [...]

The day we named the school   One day last June, I went for a jog with my new friend Shannon.  She had moved to Cajamarca as part of a Fulbright grant to teach English at the university.  While she loved her life in Peru, she missed working with school-aged children and was looking for [...]

Some of the kids that live on my street during one of our English lessons. By Danielle L. Krautmann Home is where your heart is. It seems simple enough, doesn’t it? There’s no place like home.  But when you live a nomadic lifestyle, traveling to a new place every year or two, it can be [...]

The following is a guest post by Juno Kim of RunawayJuno.com This is New Zealand: one of the world’s most well-known scenic places and one of the most adored countries on earth. However, New Zealand is not all about astonishing landscapes or adrenaline-rushing bungee jumping. It’s about the intimate feel of the place that warms [...]

By Isabel Eva Bohrer When traveling to Ireland, many of us assume that people speak English. Which they do. But especially when it comes to food, the Irish language has left its traces and English-speaking visitors often find themselves in need of a little deciphering when it comes to the menu. Here are ten typical [...]

By Stephen Bugno San Blas used to be important. It was a crucial port when trade between Spain and the Philippines was in its heyday. Then Acapulco took over and San Blas became a backwater. But that’s why it’s a fantastic, little, chilled-out beach town today. Set 90 minutes down a narrow two-lane road bounded [...]

[The following is a sponsored post] Anyone planning a trip to London any time soon will be faced with a dilemma on how best to travel around in the English capital. There are plenty of options – go on the London Underground, catch a bus, hire a bicycle, jump on a boat, hail a taxi [...]

[The following is a sponsored post.] I’m sure everyone has their own tips but from my own travelling experiences, I’ve developed this list of key ingredients to a better holiday. They’re not applicable to every holiday, but I use them more as a checklist to make sure I’ve got all my bases covered and to [...]

By Stephen Bugno I am definitely not a mall person. You might even be able to classify me as a mall hater. Here are five reasons I didn’t fight malls when I visited Singapore. 5) A National Obsession To understand Singapore without eating at or entering a mall is like trying to understand Ireland without [...]

(continued from: To Be a Gringa: Part One) The Ex-Pat Community of Cajamarca, Peru   Amy and her husband Eric arrived to Cajamarca on a sunny Thursday morning.  A driver picked them up from the airport and drove them and their two dogs to their furnished home.  After a quick nap, they went and met [...]