LifePart2AndBeyond.com Travel Blog
Is Laos the Next Retirement Destination in SE Asia
As part of my retirement adventure, I made a promise to myself that I was not going to stop traveling until I had closely experienced a fair chunk of the world. My goal roughly has been to base in different places for one year and then move onto another. Although I've...
Photos of the Massive Buddha Dordenma Statue in Bhutan
Buddha Dordenma Statue in Thimpu, Bhutan Overlooking the southern approach to Thimpu, the capitol of Bhutan, the Buddha Dordenma will, at 169 feet, be one of the world’s largest bronze Buddha statues. The colossus is built to contain over 100,000 8- inch-tall and...
Marfa Ghost Lights in Texas
Marfa Lights Viewing Area While on my little road trip adventure last year I took a small detour to visit the town of Marfa. There really isn’t much there but, for some reason, the town felt like an oasis in the bat shit crazy otherwise known as Texas. Located in the...
Photo: Chinese Tea Eggs
I came across this pot of Tea Eggs in the China Town are of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tea eggs are regular eggs, boiled in a concoction of tea and other spices; commonly cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise and cloves. They are also called Marble eggs because of their...
Storms Over the Painted Desert
While I was visiting the Unites States last year some friends needed help moving their little convertible automobile from California to Texas. Since I am always looking for new ways to have more adventures, I jumped at the chance to “help”. My plan was to roughly...
I Have Been Accepted as a Getty Images Photographer!
I have been accepted by the Getty Images as a contributing editorial and creative photographer! Getty is one of the most prestigious photo agencies in the business and I am excited by the opportunity. I am also pleased to have another outlet for the photography I make...
Adventure in a Thailand Treehouse Hotel
Jonathan on the Deck of a Thailand Treehouse Why Stay in a Treehouse Hotel I guess I am just a big kid at heart. The last home I owned before I retired and went traveling was set high among the trees and became affectionately known as “The Treehouse”. When Sarah and I...
Choeung Ek The Killing Fields of Cambodia
Clothes of the Victims of The Killing Fields Are Still on the Ground It took me over a year to get around to writing this. Even now it creates a lump in my throat and makes me feel physically sickened. I am writing about a place, about 10 miles outside of Phnom Penh...
What does it Cost to Live in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a Month
I get a lot of people asking me to be more specific about the cost of living in Chiang Mai and what is the average monthly cost being in Chiang Mai as a retired expat. Again, as I pointed out in post about how I afford my life, the way I do things may seem...
7 Images of Erawan Shrine in Bangkok
The Erawan Hindu Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand was built in 1956 on the grounds of the Grand Hyatt Erawan to appease evil forces that were causing workers to be killed during the hotel’s construction. It is believed that the mishaps were occurring because the...
5 Reasons You Should Not Do World Travel
I often hear from people who say they wish they could do world travel more but they don’t. They know there are thousands of reasons to travel and thousands of places in the world to see, but they stick pretty close to home. Most of them, are fully capable of devoting...
Cambodian Rice Noodle Soup with Blood Tofu
When it comes to street food sometimes things are not what they appear to be. At other times things taste far better than they sound; for instance, blood tofu. Last summer I went on a tour and street food adventure in Cambodia with my friend Pin Vannak. I knew I was...
Photo: Lotus Flower Harvest in Cambodia
The Cambodia flower, the lotus flower is one of the most plentiful flowers in Cambodia. Everywhere you travel in SE Asia you will find them in lakes, ponds, canals and even in roadside ditches. The flower is not only beautiful, the lotus flower has symbolic meaning in...
Surgery at Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai
Today I checked into the newly opened Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai, Thailand for some minor day surgery. I don’t normally like talking about medical conditions, but several years ago I found a small bump, about the size of a small marble, on the right side of my head,...
Sarah’s Thai Spa Adventure
I love Thai massage, no not that happy ending kind of massage but the fabulous traditional, sometimes painful, slightly tortuous massage that’s like doing yoga but without the effort. I never need much of an excuse to have a massage, oh look I have an hour free...
Ngapali Beach on the Bay of Bengal
I had mixed feelings about going to Ngapali Beach on the west coast of Myanmar. The guidebooks said that it was the most popular beach in Burma and I am not a big fan of busy. I had talked to people, that hadn’t been there, that said it was crowded and overpriced so...
Photo: Does This Work?
This street scene, from when I was on my little adventure in Hoi An, Vietnam, just intrigued me. I found it compelling with a number of elements but I couldn’t figure out a graceful way to combine them all into one cohesive photograph. There was the wall, with the...
Doi Suthep Chiang Mai
Fifteen kilometers from Chiang Mai, Thailand is one of the country’s most sacred temples, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, usually known simply as Doi Suthep, a name it shares with the 1,676-meter tall granite mountain that the temple towers over the city from. At night the...
Hotel Review: Peninsula Hotel Bangkok
When the 5 Star Riverfront Peninsula Hotel in Bangkok offered to host us after our 10-mile run as part of the ultra-luxury heaven in our “Heaven and Hell” weekend Sarah and I were very excited. In the past, most of our retirement adventures have been in great to...
Street Food: Chiang Mai Sausage
I love my street food and that goes doubly so for sausage and Chiang Mai, Thailand is famous for many things, one of them being Sai ua, or simply in English – Chiang Mai Sausage. Sai ua is grilled pork sausage and it is a typical food of the Northern provinces and...
Jon & Sarah
It seemed almost inevitable that we, Jonathan and Sarah, would one day meet: two independent travellers from different corners of the globe, we shared a bond that many travellers experience, a mutual love of adventure and a belief that the planet is a better place when people leave their comfort zones and discover new lands and cultures. So, when our paths finally