Welcome to Dharavi, the largest slum in Mumbai and one of the largest slums in the world. Dharavi is home to an estimated 1 million residents packed into an area a little over a square mile (1.75 km2), making it one of the most densely populated areas on earth. Given extreme difficulty as well as [...]
The financial and entertainment center of India, Mumbai is sometimes referred to as a microcosm of the larger country. A significant wealth disparity is an inescapable reality as lavish residential and corporate skyscrapers grow like trees out from knolls of impoverished neighborhoods. The streets are the heart beat of the city and the everyday interactions [...]
True serendipity strikes very few times in one’s life. That in mind, when greeted by one of these rare moments, our mantra during this trip has always been “lean into it”. This was one of those moments. Meeting our Future Hosts Our trip to Mumbai was predicated on meeting up with Arjun Ramen and Lavanya [...]
Short, sweet, sublime. That was our trip to Apo Island. A tiny island, Apo is 30 acres big (.3 sq miles) and located about 4 miles off the coast of Negros Island in the Philippines. Getting there is no easy feat either. We flew into Dumaguete City. A 30-kilometer car ride later we were looking out [...]
The Best Beach in the World! That is the headline of our trip to Boracay. Named the World’s Best Island in 2012 by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the distinction did not let us down. After spending a little less than a week in the metropolis of Manila, Alison and I were ready for a few days [...]
The Great Wall of China! Yes it’s kind of a big deal. We couldn’t have been more excited to embark on this momentous event. We booked our journey though a local travel agency and were incredibly impressed with the outcome in hindsight. They picked us up from the front door of our hotel early that [...]
The imperial mecca of China, Beijing carries with it quite a bit of expectation. Showcased in the 2008 Olympics, I was extremely excited to see what this this city of massive coordination had to offer. Since our flight to Korea wasn’t for another five days, we had some time to kill. With a wide open [...]
With less than 48 hours on our stopover in Xi’an it’s pretty transparent that our only reason for traveling to this city was to see one of China’s most popular and revered cultural attractions, the Terracotta Army. While Wikipedia can certainly do a much better job of telling you all the “cool” history about the [...]
Below is a collection of photos from the Muskoka Foundation Photography Workshop we recently taught in the city of Dali in China’s western Yunnan province. All photos were taken by the students and the ones included below were chosen by these students as the best photos from the class. If you are interested in reading more [...]
It always amazes me how the smallest gestures somehow end up yielding the most profound impact. Dali was one of those experiences for us. It all started several months ago. Alison and I received an email from Daniel Anggara from the Muskoka Foundation. Following the mantra, “doing good as you go”, Muskoka focuses on connecting [...]
Just reading the name “Tiger Leaping Gorge” makes you feel like you are in China. Commonly named as one of the top 10 things to see in China, this is a very special piece of natural wonder that we were not about to miss. A stones throw away from both Burma (Myanmar) and Tibet, the [...]
Check out this detailed interactive map to get a visual picture of our journey. And just incase you missed it, here is a link to our month by month, country by country RTW Itinerary as well as a link to a full size version of the above RTW Travel Map complete with a list of our [...]
We made a brief stop in Manila and had the treat of staying not at a hotel, guesthouse or hostel- but at a home with family! My Mom’s Dad’s Sister’s Daughter’s Daughter is Susan. Susan is married to Greg and they have 3 kids, Scott, Ryan and Ashley. Greg is on a three-year work assignment [...]
We made a brief stop in Manila and had the treat of staying not at a hotel, guesthouse or hostel- but at a home with family! My Mom’s Dad’s Sister’s Daughter’s Daughter is Susan. Susan is married to Greg and they have 3 kids, Scott, Ryan and Ashley. Greg is on a three-year work assignment [...]
Kyoto is a place you go to breathe, meditate and marvel. The wonders of this city have the potential to calm even tightly wound souls and to transform busy minds into places of peace. As the well-preserved cultural capital of Japan, Kyoto was fortunate to be spared from massive destruction during World War II. Due [...]
Who knew Seoul, South Korea was the most Western place in the East. We arrived and quickly found it to be an incredibly comfortable, well-developed, cosmopolitan city. Maneuvering all around the city was a breeze. We took some taxis but primarily utilized the extensive and amazing underground subway system. Koreans line up in an orderly [...]
With a population of over 23 million people, Shanghai, China is the most populous and most developed city in China. Arriving without expectations, Shanghai quickly became one of my new favorite large cities of the world. The Huangpu River divides the city into two major districts, Puxi, west of the river and Pudong, east of [...]
Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, is an incredibly vibrant, fast paced, bright, vertical city. It is also one of the most densely populated places in the world. The international status of the city makes it a really easy place to visit if you don’t mind a busy city. The public transportation system [...]
Leaving mainland China by ferry, we arrived in Macau just an hour later. This city known to many as the Vegas of the East has a little more than only bright lights and slot machines to offer. Macau was the first and last European Colony in China. In 1999 China took formal sovereignty over Macau [...]
Welcome to Dharavi, the largest slum in Mumbai and one of the largest slums in the world. Dharavi is home to an estimated 1 million residents packed into an area a little over a square mile (1.75 km2), making it one of the most densely populated areas on earth. Given extreme difficulty as well as [...]
The financial and entertainment center of India, Mumbai is sometimes referred to as a microcosm of the larger country. A significant wealth disparity is an inescapable reality as lavish residential and corporate skyscrapers grow like trees out from knolls of impoverished neighborhoods. The streets are the heart beat of the city and the everyday interactions [...]
True serendipity strikes very few times in one’s life. That in mind, when greeted by one of these rare moments, our mantra during this trip has always been “lean into it”. This was one of those moments. Meeting our Future Hosts Our trip to Mumbai was predicated on meeting up with Arjun Ramen and Lavanya [...]
Short, sweet, sublime. That was our trip to Apo Island. A tiny island, Apo is 30 acres big (.3 sq miles) and located about 4 miles off the coast of Negros Island in the Philippines. Getting there is no easy feat either. We flew into Dumaguete City. A 30-kilometer car ride later we were looking out [...]
The Best Beach in the World! That is the headline of our trip to Boracay. Named the World’s Best Island in 2012 by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the distinction did not let us down. After spending a little less than a week in the metropolis of Manila, Alison and I were ready for a few days [...]
The Great Wall of China! Yes it’s kind of a big deal. We couldn’t have been more excited to embark on this momentous event. We booked our journey though a local travel agency and were incredibly impressed with the outcome in hindsight. They picked us up from the front door of our hotel early that [...]
In the very northwestern tip of the Yunnan province, bordering Tibet is Shangri-La or Zhongdian, Yunnan, China. This area is primarily a Tibetan county. With very strict regulations and rules to enter Tibet, this was as close as we were getting. Shangri-La is located at an altitude of 3,200 meters and the climate is much [...]
Sometimes a place deserves a second chance to win you over, certainly a country as large as China deserves a segmented review. Overall my first impressions were pretty hasty and harsh, but with a second look I realized China offers much more than meets the eye. From a tourist perspective, China doesn’t need you. This [...]
Our first of several “Chinese Sleeper Bus” experiences broke us of any trepidation we had about managing travel in China. During the 27-hour bus ride from Laos to Kunming, China, the language changed, the government changed, the people changed. It was on. A sleeper bus isn’t something I’d recommend for persnickety travelers. There is a [...]
Photos of our visit to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China. Enjoy!
Photos of our visit to the Summer Palace outside of Beijing, China. Enjoy!
Photos of our hike on the Great Wall of China near Beijing, China. Enjoy!
Photos of our visit to the Bird’s Nest (National Stadium) in Beijing, China. Enjoy!
Photos of our tour of the Forbidden Palace, Beijing, China. Enjoy!
Photos of our time touring the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’An, China. Enjoy!
Welcome to Dharavi, the largest slum in Mumbai and one of the largest slums in the world. Dharavi is home to an estimated 1 million residents packed into an area a little over a square mile (1.75 km2), making it one of the most densely populated areas on earth. Given extreme difficulty as well as [...]
The financial and entertainment center of India, Mumbai is sometimes referred to as a microcosm of the larger country. A significant wealth disparity is an inescapable reality as lavish residential and corporate skyscrapers grow like trees out from knolls of impoverished neighborhoods. The streets are the heart beat of the city and the everyday interactions [...]
A Warm Welcome – Mumbai, India
True serendipity strikes very few times in one’s life. That in mind, when greeted by one of these rare moments, our mantra during this trip has always been “lean into it”. This was one of those moments. Meeting our Future Hosts Our trip to Mumbai was predicated on meeting up with Arjun Ramen and Lavanya [...]
Short, sweet, sublime. That was our trip to Apo Island. A tiny island, Apo is 30 acres big (.3 sq miles) and located about 4 miles off the coast of Negros Island in the Philippines. Getting there is no easy feat either. We flew into Dumaguete City. A 30-kilometer car ride later we were looking out [...]
The Best Beach in the World! That is the headline of our trip to Boracay. Named the World’s Best Island in 2012 by Travel + Leisure Magazine, the distinction did not let us down. After spending a little less than a week in the metropolis of Manila, Alison and I were ready for a few days [...]
The Great Wall of China! Yes it’s kind of a big deal. We couldn’t have been more excited to embark on this momentous event. We booked our journey though a local travel agency and were incredibly impressed with the outcome in hindsight. They picked us up from the front door of our hotel early that [...]
The imperial mecca of China, Beijing carries with it quite a bit of expectation. Showcased in the 2008 Olympics, I was extremely excited to see what this this city of massive coordination had to offer. Since our flight to Korea wasn’t for another five days, we had some time to kill. With a wide open [...]
Terracotta Army – Xi’an, China
With less than 48 hours on our stopover in Xi’an it’s pretty transparent that our only reason for traveling to this city was to see one of China’s most popular and revered cultural attractions, the Terracotta Army. While Wikipedia can certainly do a much better job of telling you all the “cool” history about the [...]
Voluntourism / Student Photo Gallery – Dali, China
Below is a collection of photos from the Muskoka Foundation Photography Workshop we recently taught in the city of Dali in China’s western Yunnan province. All photos were taken by the students and the ones included below were chosen by these students as the best photos from the class. If you are interested in reading more [...]
Voluntourism / Photography Workshop – Dali, China
It always amazes me how the smallest gestures somehow end up yielding the most profound impact. Dali was one of those experiences for us. It all started several months ago. Alison and I received an email from Daniel Anggara from the Muskoka Foundation. Following the mantra, “doing good as you go”, Muskoka focuses on connecting [...]
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