If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Denpasar
Denpasar, Bali’s gritty capital, isn’t known as a tourist destination. You’re either there for the beaches, as we were in Amed, or you’ve come for the new age hoohah and you’re in Ubud or its…
Ubud: The Heart Of Darkness
Ubud is full of galleries, boutiques, and performing troupes, and is billed as Bali’s cultural center, aside from the capital, Denpasar. It’s also one of Bali’s most heavily touristed areas, which is why, net, we…
Temples & Textiles
Once again, fabric beckoned. After our visit to Tenganan to see their double ikat geringsing, we planned a visit to Sidemen to see songket brocades being made. The Besakih Temple was close enough to Sidemen…
Day Tripper
As lovely as it is to bob in the water, you just knew we couldn’t go a full month with nothing but ocean for entertainment. To what I’m sure will be absolutely no one’s surprise,…
Bali? Hi!
Bali, land of deep, resonant culture, jaw dropping natural splendor, and breathtaking coral extravaganzas. Also, land of wellness centers, yoga retreats, and invasive tourists. Getting the one without the other is a challenge, happily accepted.…
Huế To Go
We had one last road trip in us before leaving for Indonesia. The Imperial City of Huế was a convenient three-and-a-half hour bus ride from Hội Án, and an easy decision. A provincial capital since…
Mỹ (other) Sơn
Don’t think for a moment that Cambodia’s Angkor-era ruins are the only dead things in Southeast Asia. There’s us, of course, but there are also spectacular ruins of the pre-Angkor Champa kingdom that dot Vietnam.…
Hội Án Crafts
Hội Án’s arts and crafts scene is completely different than Hà Nội’s. Hà Nội presents as a typical capital city, collating handicrafts from all over Vietnam, while Hội Án offers a more local perspective and…
Landing In Hội An
This is something of a new cadence for us. When we set out we’d settled on about three months at each location, enough time to marinate in terroir. Then we noticed that the last few…
Hill Country
After our visit to Cát Bà and Hạ Long Bay, we took one more excursion from Hà Nội. We visited the mountainous northern region of Sa Pa, home to the Mountain Hmong, with a side…