Tag: travel
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Tokyo Drifting
For the rest of our stay in Japan, we were at the Super Hotel! It was very no-frills, and the check-in is on the second floor – so when we walked in the door and were greeted by buttons and an elevator, for a shining moment we thought it was going to be a robot hotel!…
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Ryokan Adventure!
We got on the bullet train for about an hour ride north of Tokyo, hopped on a shuttle in a tiny town for an hour ride – and our van died going up the mountain! It was pretty high, with snow still on the mountain tops and about 55-60 degrees when we got there. Another…
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Tokyo First Impressions & Toilet Tales
Well it took 30 hours of travel, our first vending machine stop, and some friends at the konbini (the convenient store – they pulled out a phone book of maps (?) and got us on the right path) to get to the apartment. Sarah and Matt were already asleep and we were exhausted, trying to…
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Travel Log
Our last ATX meal? Salt Lick breakfast tacos, of course. Excited but sleepy, we got on the plane only to be told the plane’s battery wouldn’t hold a charge. It might be a quick fix or they might have to fly parts in. (Which seems inefficient? But maybe that’s just me.) The grumbling out loud…
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Unexploded Ordnances in Laos
Visiting the Laos Unexploded Ordnances Center in Luang Prabang is a sobering experience. Per capita, Laos is still the most heavily bombed nation in the world. Even now, one person almost every day is injured or killed by unexploded ordnances in Laos – sometimes by a bomb that has been there for fifty years. During…
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Khàwp Ja̖i Lãi Lãi, Tamarind!
Khàwp jai lãi lãi means thank you very much in Laos (sounds to me like hop jie la lie – but then again, I got some laughs so that might not be right!). Tamarind is a delicious brown lumpy thing that tastes waayyy better then it looks. Also, the name of my new favorite restaurant…
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Ock Pop Tok Is A Fun Thing to Say
Ock Pop Top means east meets west, which is actually a good title for this entire trip I think. It is also the name of a social enterprise that seeks to empower women through their traditional skills, as well as promote Laos textile design. We made our way to one of their store fronts in…
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Laos Pals
After breakfast this morning, we hopped on bicycles and went for a cruise in Luang Prabang. We ended up at the library, where kids and teens can show up to practice English with tourist volunteers every afternoon. We were just kind of checking it out before lunch where a young guy struck up a conversation with…
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A Two Day Trip Down the Mekong in a Slowboat
It rained all night, hard and heavy. We went to bed early, and then got up early to by boat tickets. It was still raining, but we figured they must travel in the rain all the time so no sweat! We were a couple hours early, so we stowed our bags on the boat and…
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Michael Jackson, The Predator & A Border Crossing
The last thing we did in Chiang Rai was visit the White Temple. We asked guest house lady to call us a taxi, but she asked one of her employees to do it instead! Which was fine with us. The White Temple was … interesting. It is not that old, in fact it is still…
