One of my personal highlights from Tibet was the Sera Monastery . In the mountains just outside of Lhasa and admittedly touristy, it was still a nice experience to be in a Tibetan Monastery at the heart of Tibet watching robed monks debate each other in Tibetan. Certain groups were […]
Countries
Posts from or about various countries I’ve been to!
Potala Palace
No photos allowed inside but, here, two exterior shots of Lhasa’s Potala Palace. The inside of beautiful and ornate and bejeweled, and brings to mind a lot of questions about the ideals of asceticism in practicality.
Realities of Traveling in Tibet
I’ll readily admit that I had this whole fantasy built around the idea of Tibet, the way so many liberal-leaning Westerners seem to. I had also been living in China for nearly a year before I went to Tibet, so I had a pretty realistic view of the Chinese position […]
Jungle Hiking in the Mentawi Islands
Before we left modernity, our guide Ed said that we should bring lots of little gifts to hand out while we were in the jungle. In Mentawi, this mostly means two things: smokes and candy. Fully stocked and excited to go, Batiste and Joanna (a French couple I met in […]
Tibet Prayer Flags
Tibetan Prayer Flags Prayer flags just like these fly all over Tibetan Buddhist areas throughout China. Because these are blessed, every time they wind catches these flags and casuses them to blow a little bit of positive Karma goes towards the person who hung them. With the number of these […]
Palau Nias Beaches
Being an Indonesian island, Pulau Nias has lots of good beach and ocean options. I spent most of my days on Nias just driving a motorbike from beach to beach. I’d swim and read for a little bit, get antsy, and drive on to the next beach I found to […]
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.