Bagan, Myanmar is one of Myanmar’s most famous destinations for tourism. There are many ways to explore Bagan’s many temples, either by bike, by taxi, by scooter, or by big tourist bus. In our opinion, Bagan is the perfect place to explore by bicycle. The streets are relatively quiet, there are great sandy roads that take you to villages and …
Bagan, Myanmar…a mystical land of temples in a tropical, misty landscape. The best way to see Bagan is by sunrise hot air balloon, a big splurge on our round the world budget, but very much worth it for these bird’s eye views over this beautiful place. A Hot Air Balloon Ride Over Bagan Our morning started before sunrise, when we …
Yangon, once known as Rangoon, is the largest city in Myanmar. This city was our introduction to Burmese culture, and we had seven full days to spend here. Most people tour through Yangon in two or three days but we needed the extra time to get our Thailand visas. Having the extra time here was awesome…it was great to go …
Khajuraho, India is home to UNESCO World Heritage temples, some of the finest temple art in the world. It is the erotic carvings that make these temples so famous, with some of the carvings featuring images from India’s famous Kama Sutra. Tim and I were intrigued by these temples and these carvings, so Khajuraho got added into our itinerary. We …
Varanasi, also known as Benares, is the spiritual capital of India. This is one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited cities, dating back to the 11th century B.C. Varanasi is a city of pilgrimage for many Hindu and Jain people. It is auspicious to die here and many people are brought here to be cremated right along the water’s edge. …
During our time in New Delhi, our visit to chaotic Old Delhi was a highlight. This is a crazy place, with the traffic, noise, congestion, and even the odd smells we encountered. A walk through chaotic, Old Delhi is something to consider doing on your visit to India. Our Experience in New Delhi New Delhi, the capital of India, is …
After traveling almost four weeks through India we finally made it to the Taj Mahal, wonder of the world. Here is our quick tour of the Taj Mahal in photos. Taj Mahal in Photos On our first day in Agra we went to the sunrise point of the Taj Mahal. Here we had our first views of the Taj Mahal. …
Jaipur is one of three destinations in the “Golden Triangle,” a group of three cities that most people visit even on the quickest trip to India. In the Golden Triangle are New Delhi, the capital of India, Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, and Jaipur, the pink city. From what I read, most tourists do not love Jaipur. It’s crowded, …
Jaisalmer, India, a small city located in the desert just 130 kilometers from India’s border with Pakistan, was our home for five days. When planning this trip and learning that we could go on a camel safari in the desert, sleeping under the stars at night, we all got very excited. What a cool thing to do! We had plenty …
Knowing that I would be turning 40 while in India, I had great plans for celebrating my birthday. But India had other plans for me. The day before my birthday, on a six hour car ride from Udaipur to Jodhpur, I began to have a headache, fatigue, and fever. Tyler and Kara had just gotten over cold like symptoms so …
We spent three days in Udaipur, a city that is labeled as India’s most romantic city and one of its least hectic cities to visit. One of Udaipur’s claims to fame is that it was featured in the James Bond movie “Octopussy.” Hotel Boheda Palace We stayed at Hotel Boheda Palace, a great hotel with reasonable prices and views over …
As a grand finale in Mumbai, we took a street food tour, and it was by far our favorite thing we did while staying in this city. Using Reality Tours again, who we used for the tour through Dharavi, we spent four hours on our last evening in town trying foods prepared in food stands on the streets of Mumbai. …
Mumbai, our second stop in India, is a city that exceeded my expectations. After our tour through Nepal, Bhutan, and northeast India, we were all ready for another big city. Mumbai, known as Bombay until 1996, is one of the world’s largest cities by population. This city is the fifth largest in the world and the largest in India. Most …
Mumbai, known as Bombay until 1996, was the first major city we visited while in India. Mumbai is known for its film industry, being home to Bollywood, and its slums, made famous by the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire.” Sixty percent of the Mumbai population lives in slums. While in Mumbai, toured the Dharavi slum, Mumbai’s largest slum, with Reality Tours. …
The four of us have finally arrived in India. This is a country that we have both been looking forward to and fearing, if that makes any sense. We know that India is filled with amazing sights and some of the world’s best food, but also has hazards by the handful. When we tell other travelers that we will be …
Pokhara, a small city located about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Kathmandu, is a popular tourist destination in Nepal. This city is located on Phewa Lake at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains and is the beginning of the Annapurna Circuit, another very popular trek in Nepal. Pokhara is known as the adventure capital of Nepal and this is …
Kathmandu, Nepal…how best to describe this crazy city? Chaotic, dirty, loud…but Kathmandu is also exotic, beautiful, and captivating. The streets are dusty and dirty. Even though you want to look up at the thousands of signs over your head and in the windows of the shops, you must always be looking down to avoid stepping in potholes, on burning …
Trekking to Everest Base Camp (EBC), a bucket list item for many travelers, is not just an adventure for twenty or thirty year olds. It is possible to trek to Everest Base Camp with kids, as we proved in October 2014. Tyler and Kara were 10 and 11 years old when we trekked to Everest Base Camp. Kara had turned 10 just three …
Trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal was one of the highlights of our trip around the world. In fact, this trek was so important to us that we planned the entire year around this two week adventure. Trekking to base camp was more challenging than we anticipated, both physically and mentally, but was absolutely worth it. While traveling through …
Our visit to the United Arab Emirates was very brief, really just a layover between South Africa and Nepal on our trip around the world. The UAE is a country that Tim has always dream of visiting, these cities born from oil and paved with gold. We had three days of luxury before heading to Nepal, a country on the …