LifePart2AndBeyond.com Travel Blog
What Is the Cost of Living in Bali for a Month?
Since I posted my Easter greeting from Bali, Indonesia yesterday I have had a lot of people ask what it costs to live in Bali for a month. The cost of living in Ubud, Bali does not have to be expensive, but how much do you have to spend? The flippant answer would be...
Happy Easter from Bali
I am not a very religious person but I do enjoy many of the holiday traditions from my childhood. My favorites always revolved around a great meal. Even though the holidays are completely different here I do miss Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas ham, and Easter roasts....
The pursuit of happiness vs. the pursuit of property
The pursuit of happiness vs. the pursuit of property This article was originally published in the April 13, 2014 edition of “The Dallas Morning News”. This is the third essay I have written for the folks at DMN and I look forward to doing more soon! In 1776, America’s...
5 Photos from Bhutan’s Strongman Competition
One of the highlights of Bhutan’s gathering of nomadic highlanders known as the Nomad Festival is the strongman competition where herders from the Himalayan frontiers and villagers near Bhutan’s Bumthang district compete (and drink Arra) to see who is the strongest....
Rainy Day in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico
Images of Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar
Spend enough time in Southeast Asia and you begin to run the risk of what many people call “temple burnout”. In Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I live, there are over 300 temples. Many, no most of them are quite beautiful and worthy of a visit, but there are so many of...
Top 24 Photos of 2013
Last year I did a post called my "Top 12 Photos of 2012". 2012 was an amazing year for me with many changes; many improvements and a few challenges. I intended to do a "Top 13 of 2013" but after going through the over 11,000 images I made in 2013 and the total flood...
Burma Tea House Etiquette
There is something enjoyable about slowing down, taking a seat and having a cup of tea. I am not talking about your posh, formal English High Tea — but something just as civilized in the true sense of the word — and to me more enjoyable. When in Burma I quickly...
Photo: Wat Chedei Pagoda
Thailand Monkey Temple
Monkeys at the Lopburi Monkey Temple (Updated: July 2018) I had never heard of the Thailand Monkey Temple (Phra Prang Sam Yot) in Lopburi, Thailand until just before I visited and I didn’t really expect to find something so unusual in this otherwise seemingly ordinary...
A Tale of Capturing the Moment in Photography
I took early retirement not only for the travel and have some adventures, but to pursue my passions of writing and photography. I have always liked telling stories and putting a light on other people’s lives by capturing the moment and making environmental portraits....
Photo: Basket Boat in Vietnam
Bo Sang Umbrella Village
Bo Sang Umbrella Village is the most colorful of the craft villages surrounding Chiang Mai, Thailand. The techniques for making these umbrellas dates back from over a century ago when a monk, Phra In Tha, brought the knowledge back from Burma and taught the Thais how...
Nomad Festival on Our Bhutan Trip
Why Bhutan in February? One of our reasons for wanting to go to on our Bhutan trip in February was to see the annual Nomad Festival. Every year nomadic herders from Bhutan's Himalayan frontiers and nearby gewogs (villages) gather in central Bhutan’s Bumthang district...
Bun Cha in Hanoi
Bun Cha just gives me that warm, at home, feeling wherever I am in the world. When I arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam it was cloudy and cold. It was one of those days when just you want some comfort food. Fortunately finding good food among the old French colonial buildings...
Photo: Route 66
Bamboo Train in Battambang, Cambodia
A Classic Rail Journey? Lonely Planet says riding the Bamboo Train in Battambang, Cambodia is, “one of the world’s all-time classic rail journeys.” Um, maybe. I have been on a lot of train trips and I guess I really don’t know what makes a journey a classic. Their...
Cycling Angkor Wat
Why Cycle Angkor Wat? The Angkor Wat complex near Siem Reap, Cambodia is a massive collection of over 1,000 temples ranging in scale from the legendary Angkor Wat to nondescript piles of brick rubble being quickly being lost to the ages. At its peak over a thousand...
Phi Phi Island Images
Ko Phi-Phi Don island, just a short ferry ride from Krabi, Thailand is one of those places you dream about. Before I retired I was only aware through books and magazines that such places as this existed. Tropical breezes, white sand beaches, inviting warm waters and...
Wordless Wednesday | Ta Prohm Temple, Angkor, Cambodia
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