Chichijima, Ogasawara

Arriving into the harbor on Chichijima, the main island in the Ogasawara archipelago, was like arriving in the new world. After a long and arduous journey aboard the Ogasawara Maru we pulled into the gorgeous port to throngs of islanders welcoming us to their island. It was very nice to be greeted so warmly after […]

The 25.5 Hour Ferry to Ogasawara

The Ogasawara Archipelago is located about 1000 km south of Tokyo. The entire area is administered as a single rural municipality, Ogasawara Village, which itself is a subprefecture of Tokyo. The archipelago consists of four island groups: the Mukojima (Bridegroom Island) group, the Chichijima (Father Island) group, the Hahajima (Mother Island) group, and the Volcano […]

#300 Jeju Island

Three years ago, when the Travelers Century Club added Jeju Island to the list of countries that I had to visit to achieve my goal I was a little annoyed. I had already spent some significant time in South Korea proper and Jeju wasn’t exactly the easiest place to get to. You really had to […]

Taipei 101

Taiwan has been the easiest or most commonly visited place that I hadn’t been for a long time now. That fact always annoyed me so it was only a matter of time before I visited the island. Many people visit as a stopover en route to somewhere else but it had never worked out for […]

Lost in Translation

The past week or so has been pretty hectic for me, with a lot of planes, places, booking stuff, researching, touring around and very little sleep. After Sri Lanka, I headed to the Maldives for a few days to chill and because I had to get a plane from there; since it was booked before […]

My Trip to North Korea

I just went to North Korea. Yup, I did. It still sounds weird to say it as North Korea or as they like to call it, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), has redefined the term rogue. Their isolationist stance toward most of the world, their controversial nuclear weapons program, missile testing that has […]

Four Days in Tibet

“Go to Tibet and see many places, as much as you can; then tell the world” ~His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tibet is a land that has inspired wonder and existed with an aura of mystery for centuries. It has piqued the imagination of many Westerners as little was known about this remote Shangri La […]

Beijing to Lhasa By Train

Inaugurated in 2006, one of the worlds great train journeys, the Beijing to Lhasa train opened with much fanfare and eagerness. This engineering marvel through the Tibetan Plateau topping out at an altitude of 5072 meters took decades with the difficult conditions at such high altitudes and cold temperatures. However, against the wishes of many […]

Mongolian Barbecue

If you were to mix up dramatic landscapes of empty deserts, rolling green hills that look like putting greens running up a mountain, snow capped peaks and sparkling lakes-you would have the start of a place like Mongolia. Throw in a few felt yurts of the nomad people, Buddhist temples, ruins, great wildlife, warm hospitality […]

The Great Wall of China

I have seen pretty much all of the modern wonders of the world and now all of the new seven wonders that were voted last year. I believe that the Great Wall of China is as good as any of them. Today, I had the priviledge of walking and climbing the wall for several hours […]

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