The tiny village of Chavayan is located on Sabtang Island, part of the Batanes region of the Philippines and permanently locked in a time long since passed. There is just one long and lonely road in and out of the village, which helps keep the village isolated. It is nestled on a thin strip of … Read more
Murals depicting Kama Sutra scenes are often full of passion, this week’s FriFotos theme and a very fitting one as today is Valentine’s Day. The murals at Prambanan (Candi Pramabanan), a 9th century Hindu temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia are no different. There scenes depict passion between a man and a woman (or multiple women), animal … Read more
Meski di Vietnam sekarang saya berpikir tentang Indonesia setiap hari. Aku kangen teman-teman saya disana, pantai bagus, wanita cantik, tapi banyak saya rindu makanan maknyuus. Pada April 24 Vietnam visa saya habis dan kemudian gue pulang ke Indonesia. Tapi mau apa ketika saya kembali? Saya sudah jalan-jalan semua Java, Bali, dan Lombok pakai motor. Sudah … Read more
Being a travel blogger has become a pretty popular gig these last couple years. (I won’t call it a career because it is only that to a limited percentage of us.) New travel blogs are popping up daily. The attendance at the North American TBEX, a travel writer industry convention held annually in both N.A. … Read more
Sometimes the hustle and bustle of city life gets to be too much and you just need to escape. That’s how it was for me after living in Jakarta for six weeks. So I called up my friend Riyanni — you may remember we did a tourism film on Siak, Indonesia together last September — … Read more
After five years of on-and-off, back-and-forth travel in southeast Asia I have finally arrived in Vietnam, the Land of the Blue Dragon (whatever that means). Oh wait, turns out that’s a book and not based on a myth. How unexciting… Anyway, where was I… My plane landed in Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport just before 3am … Read more
Life out of a backpack, always on the move, well it can get tough — especially being alone in one strange place after another. It’s not all glory and glamour, far from it. In fact the road can be a harsh mistress indeed. A lot of us have been there, especially we solo backpackers. Although … Read more
The sheer number of travel blogs on the web has exploded over the last couple of years and it has gotten increasingly to keep up with all the newest ones, let alone stay up-to-date with all their posts. For quite some time now I have wanted to start a monthly series highlighting my top picks … Read more
When asked to choose between beaches or mountains I invariably opt for higher altitude. Don’t get me wrong, beaches can be nice, but after seeing several hundred all around the world they are essentially all the same — sand and water. However all frozen mountaintops offer both a unique view and a different method of … Read more
When visiting the Batanes island chain in the far northern reaches of the Philippines, one island in particular stands out: Sabtang. This island is only home to 1,500 people but is well-known throughout the country for its white sand beaches, old stone houses, and Mission-style churches. Sabtang Island northeastern coastline Thankfully the weather was … Read more
Batan Island is the central island in the Philippines northernmost province, Batanes, and is dominated by Mount Iraya, an active volcano. Visitors of the region will land in her shadow at Basco, the main town and home to all the hotels and homestays. The southern half of the island also has a volcano, although this … Read more
Twelve hours ago I arrived in Hanoi for the start of my three months in Vietnam looking for a change of pace from life in Indonesia. Rather than travel the traditional south-north route — or vice versa — I will be using Hanoi as my home base for tons of short trips around the country. … Read more
