Tomohon Market Before we left town, we did manage to squeeze in a visit or two to the Tomohon market. I’ve put up pictures of markets from a number of places in Southeast and Central Asia, and by comparison the atmosphere of this one was pretty boring. So instead, I’ll […]
Travel Words
Sumatra’s Bunaken Island
Bunaken was just as much an excuse to get out of Manado for the weekend as it was a destination for diving. After settling into a place called (aptly) Panorama and checking out the view from our hillside waterfront bungalow, we lined up two dives with the dive master and […]
Kandy’s Itinerant Elephant Population
The other memorable daytrip I made from Kandy was to an Elephant Orphanage outside of town. Having read and heard about two separate orphanages in the area, I ended up at the one I hadn’t meant to go to originally. As I talked about a few days ago, a big […]
Hiking in Matale
The first of two interesting daytrips I made out of Kandy was to the Aluviharaya Cave Temple complex. While the road-level cave temples were a nice wander, the real attraction of the place was the Sitting Buddha on top of a hillside above the temple, overlooking the surrounding valleys. After […]
Abu Dhabi Palace Hotel
Abu Dhabi Palace Hotel If the beach is the natural highlight of Abu Dhabi and the Heritage Village the cultural highlight, then the Palace Hotel is some sort of ostentatious absurdity highlight. Walking up, of course, the presentation is grand as you approach the main entrance via an alleyway of […]
Abu Dhabi Heritage Village
Abu Dhabi Heritage Village My personal highlight for Abu Dhabi was definitely the Heritage Village. A kind of open-air museum, it actually did a very nice job of presenting the traditional cultures of the Emirates without feeling tacky. Exhibits included examples of traditional architecture, crafts, and lifestyles. This place was […]
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.