-
Sayulita
This was an unconventional trip for me, so a bit of backstory is probably necessary. Before planning this year’s Coachella weekend with friends, I got the idea firmly planted in my head that I wanted to have a beach holiday for the week following the festival. No plans, no activities, no sightseeing. I wanted upwards of a week to relax, recover, and, quite frankly, do as little as possible. Mexico was the obvious choice, so I started researching places that were within a short flight of San Francisco. Funny enough, my barber – a Mexican-American who owns a small salon…
-
Goodbye Again
Another year, another trip to Southeast Asia, another NYE weekend in Bangkok. Unfortunately for us, both Nock and I came down with colds after leaving the island, so the weekend was a bit more sedate than I’m used to. The one thing that made us feel actually better was Feuang Nara, a restaurant around the corner from our Airbnb. We ate there twice in two days, so I feel confident in saying that the service is terrible, but the food is incredible. I ate so much at dinner on Saturday that I barely ate for the next twenty-four hours. On Sunday,…
-
Koh Phi-Phi
Throughout 2017, I had occasionally kept in touch with my friend Nock, who I had met last year while I was in Vientiane. Once I knew I was definitely going back to Southeast Asia for this trip, I told her and we made plans to go on holiday at the end of the year. She works long hours – too long, if you ask me – and was feeling a bit burnt out, so I suggested we find a relaxing island to go to. She had already been to all of the places I suggested, so I offered up Koh Phi-Phi. I…
-
Saigon
The train ride from Mui Ne to Saigon was par for the course for the developing world: people selling weird foods, a disgusting toilet, and really pretty scenery to watch for hours. After arriving at the train station, we hopped in an Uber to our guesthouse and got our first taste of Saigon traffic. As we lurched and crawled our way through thousands of motorbikes, bicycles, cars, carts, and pedestrians, I wondered to myself: “Oh shit, it’s not going to be like this everywhere, is it?” Answer: yeah, it’s like that everywhere. After we checked in to our cute guesthouse, got…
-
So That’s What They Mean by “Canyoning”
Back in November, after the trip itinerary was finalized, I knew that I wanted to schedule at least one full-day excursion in Dalat. I told myself I would research options once I was on the road, but ended up being busier than I thought I would be, so Laurie offered to look into it. She did some research and sent me a link to a “canyoning” adventure. I assumed “canyoning” was some cute Vietnamese synonym for “trekking” or “hiking” – but in a canyon, obviously – so I signed off on it. Truthfully, I didn’t actually open the link, but…
-
Dalat and Mui Ne
With my work finished for the year and our time in Chiang Mai at an end, Laurie and I met at the airport on a Sunday morning for our flight to Vietnam. During the hours and hours of travel research and obsessive flight searching that preceded this trip, I had found a direct flight from Chiang Mai to Saigon. It doesn’t operate every day, but it saves time and money compared to flying through Bangkok. Being the holders of e-visas, we were confused about how to proceed after landing in Saigon, but we figured out that we could enter any…
-
Chiang Mai
My two weeks in Chiang Mai were very much a continuation of the working holiday that had started in Bangkok the week prior. I found a nice guesthouse in the north-eastern corner of old city that I’ve walked past for years but never patronized; I derived a strange, satisfying closure that after all these years, I finally stayed there. I stuck to the same early morning routine as the previous week, again mainly because my guesthouse room was bathed in sunlight at 7:00 in the morning. There was never any question that I would go back to Punspace, my favorite…
-
Ekkamai
You know how’s a good way to start a 39-day, trans-Pacific trip? As you’re settling into your tiny economy seat and mentally preparing for a long and uncomfortable flight, the lead flight attendant announces to everyone that the cabin doors have been closed and you realize that the plane is only one-third full. Sofas for everyone! Armed with sleeping pills, earplugs, a sleep mask, and a row of seats all to myself, I had the easiest 14-hour flight ever. Dinner, sleep, breakfast, movie, done. Hello Asia! After a short layover in Taipei and a (relatively) short flight to Bangkok, I…
-
Southeast Asia Part Oh Who’s Counting Anymore
Another December, another trip to Southeast Asia! Shocker, right? Having used only two weeks of vacation the entire year, I decided in September – while in Beirut, actually – to embark on another winter adventure. If you’re wondering why I keep doing this, see my post from last year because the reasons are just as relevant today. Given the success of working remotely last year and the appeal of being able to extend the trip, I pushed my luck a bit with my manager and told him I’d be gone for five weeks: three weeks of working remotely and two weeks…
-
Lebanon
My trip to Lebanon for my friend Omar’s wedding ended up being a massive friends reunion full of eating, drinking, and socializing, which doesn’t make for the best writing, so this won’t be one of my normal blog posts. Instead, this is more a reminder of what we did and where we went, with a few observations thrown in here and there. I even brought my camera to Lebanon and still barely took any photos! The week was incredibly engaging in so many other ways. Monday A decently full day of flights starting Sunday afternoon in San Francisco ended at…
