In Tibetan Buddhist culture, prayer flags are an ever-present reminder of religiosity in the course of day-to-day affairs. In every instance of this cultural background that I’ve seen, from the far north of Mongolia and south to the Himalayas of Nepal, I’d seen prayer flags fluttering everywhere but never made […]
Nepal
Kathmandu Monkey Temple
In the three weeks I spent studying for the GRE, the only real tourist site I made a point to visit was Swayambunath, the Monkey Temple. About 10 minutes after I showed up, one of those surprisingly violent monsoon rains rolled in out of nowhere. After passing the time chatting […]
Charging Rhinos in Chitwan
I came across this little lady while walking through Nepal’s Chitwan National Park with two guides and two randoms, and we were all stoked to spot some cool wildlife after spending most of the day fruitlessly looking. As we cut through the forest on a barely trodden path, our guide […]
Trekking Everest Base Camp
Trekking Everest Base Camp My experience with trekking up to Mount Everest Base Camp actually started outside of Nepal, in the common room of the Khongor Guesthouse in Ulan Baatar, Mongolia. In the course of a conversation with another American (Heather, from Arkansas) who was also headed next as a […]
Chitwan Elephant Park
Apart from the wild tiger/rhino/bear/crocodile populations of Chitwan National Park, there seem to be domesticated elephants EVERYWHERE! It isn’t at all uncommon to pass an elephant going the other way on a walk down the main street in Sauraha village just outside the park. Even on the day that I […]
Trekking the Solokhumbu District
Thirty-five days in a row is a lot of trekking. I started with a few friends at the airport in Tumlingtar at 518m (1,700ft), walked all the way up to Mt. Everest Base Camp at 5,366m (17, 604 ft), and then back down to the bus station at Shivalaya at […]
Hey there! I'm Stephen, this is my travel blog, and that's me in the poofy hat.
I'm a photographer / writer traveling since 2008, and I've been doing my best to visit amazing places.
My current focus is Central Asia, because for a hiking and camping enthusiast it's as good as it gets.