Our van life across China leads us to be invited to an all-expenses-paid trip to the Valli car launch event in the mountains of Morganshan.
Asia
INSPIRATION & ADVICE FOR TRAVELING THE MIDDLE-EAST, INDIA & SOUTH-EAST, NORTH-EAST + CENTRAL ASIA
Traveling the capital of Ashgabat, with all the security and surreal architecture, I understand why Turkmenistan is dubbed - “The North Korea of Central Asia”
Kang village climbs the mountain in a stack of earth walls, balconies and roofs and this settlement, in northeast Iran, has been inhabited for over 3000 years.
Travel advice + inspiration for horse trekking in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to the high altitude Ala Kul Lake.
1994: In the mountains of northern Vietnam I stay with a traditional Hmong family who live an ancient lifestyle barely touched by the modern world.
Van camping amid the peace and tranquility of the Pu-erh tea plantations in Xishuangbanna in China's southern Yunnan province.
Hiking in northern Laos to stay in an Akha Hill-Tribe village near the Chinese border.
Exploring the desert mountains of Gansu and meeting Yugur nomads while van camping a few days at a waterhole used by their flocks of sheep. In this wilderness, I celebrated my 54th birthday.
An overnight stay at a high mountain pass on the Tibetan Plateau reveals a stark, monochromatic landscape the next morning.
An ancient city lured us – but the isolation seized us. Exploring Ganjia as winter approaches. From an ancient fortress and snow mountains to a living goddess temple and a sacred Tibetan cave.
Looking at the women of Minab Market reveals the ancient trading routes that once connected southern Iran with the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, and beyond.
Lazy beach days are always good. Some pictures and advice for enjoying 4K Beach on Koh Rong Island - away from the party scene.
Within the 400 year-old Yongtai fortress- in the Silk Road Corridor of Gansu - a village of soldier-descendants survives, herding goats and sheep amid the arid surrounds.
Staying at the cave house village of Lijiashan during winter 2011 and a revisit there in summer 2020.
The freedom, the beauty and the irony of van-traveling the mountains of Yunnan in China as the world stays locked-down with the coronavirus. But there's still a few issues ...
First impressions of traveling in Tehran - Iran, in 1990. Racing across the city in a taxi amid chaotic streets that seemed asking for accidents every minute.
Part #2 of story heading into outer Indonesia to Papua in search of my GF -Erica's, long lost father that she hadn't seen for 30 years.
Back in 1989 ... I simply walked into the entrance of Petra, Jordan, paid my fee, and wandered in with a sleeping bag under arm.
Visiting the ancient stone towers of Mestia - lost amid mid-winter snow, drinking with locals, surrounded by the high peaks of the Caucasus Mountains.
Traveling the Silk Road trade route thru China's Gansu province on a long train journey from Lanzhou to Jiayuguan Fort + the Thousand Buddha Caves.
SUBSCRIBER ONLY POST. Yemen is fascinating! Get my take on the history + culture of Yemen.
Standing on a crag the ancient tower houses of Al Hajjarah and the surrounding Haraz mountains evoke an Arabian Nights mystique.
Entering a small town in Saddam's Iraq seemed a quiet and friendly experience - until a children's parade proceeded down the mainstreet.
Last night I dreamed a disturbing dream. And that nightmare seemed real the next morning - walking the streets of Kontum in Vietnam.
Within the Kaluts region, you could be forgiven for wondering if you've stumbled into a lost city - as miles of eroded sand towers & blocks stick out of the desert.
From van-camping over a lake and mountain panorama in Yunnan, to being sent to a quarantine area during the Coronavirus outbreak in China.
Visiting the Kurdish village of Palangan, its houses stacked on top of each each other while stepping up the mountainside.
Visit the Hutou battle museum and explore the tunnels where the Japanese defenders of Hutou Fortress fought the Soviets for 11 days after the end of World War Two.
Surreal artwork based on my experience of being caught amid a riot in East Jerusalem during the first Palestinian Intifada in 1989.
Jaw-dropping views on the North Korea border - visiting Changbai Mountain & stunning Heaven Lake.
Van-camping in China, near Jian at Wandu Mountain City ruins, amid the valley of nobles tombs at the ancient capital of the Korean Goguryeo Kingdom.
Van-camping in China on Peach Island in the middle of the Yalu River opposite the misted mountains and border towers of North Korea.
Acknowledged as the "worlds oldest observatory", Zorats Karer is a 7500-year-old stone circle often-called the Armenian Stonehenge.
The Maya-like, Koh Ker Temple Pyramid towers above the jungle and is unlike anything at Angkor.
Our first 48 hours of van-life in China. The hazardous highways of Hebei lead to blissful van-camping at Golden Beach.
Old Sanaa is an Arabian Nights vision - straight from the tales of the 1001 Nights. And it's one the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.
I was walking the streets of Taizz in Yemen, when suddenly this folk musician stops and offers to play a tune for me as crowds gather around.
Black + White Photography: Traveling across North Korea on the deserted highway from Pyongyang to the DMZ border with South Korea, on a bleak and foggy winter's day.
Australian United Nations Peace-Keeping Force of armored personnel carriers (APCs) assemble and then set off on a reconnaissance mission to the volatile Indonesian border nearby.
Xinye is a time trip - reaching back 100s of years, this ancient Chinese village remains intact from the Ming and Qing eras.
A dental disaster when a broken tooth became a root canal and then a torturous extraction and a drugged high.
Video of boys surfing barefoot down ancient irrigation channels amid the mountain villages in Yemen.
Visiting a fishing village of the Muslim Cham people on the Mekong River, amid the high fishing season in Cambodia.
From the window of the bus, I watch 3 guys put a squealing pig into the cargo hold below, somewhere in central Laos. Is this cruel or?
At last, we arrive in "Little Tibet". Surrounding blue sky. Massive brown mountains. Snow jagged peaks. Tails of bright prayer flags.
Video of traditional Mongolian folk music - with throat singing - recorded in a tent in Karakorum, Mongolia, once the capital of Genghis Khan's empire.
In quiet Koh Kong on coastal Cambodia, there's this homeless - probably crazy - guy sitting on the pavement alone, and so I buy him a meal.
Traveling the Srinagar-Leh Highway. Travel photo-story and advice for the journey into the Himalayas. Built by the military, this is the only road linking isolated Ladakh with Jammu and Kashmir states.
The shrinking of the Aral Sea is dramatic at 'the port' of Moynaq in Uzbekistan, with its cemetery of rusting ships - now stranded 170 km from the actual shore!
Exploring Anlong Veng - the ex-Khmer Rouge stronghold - on the trail to Pol Pot's mountain jungle hideaway, and visiting his pitiful grave.
The Marsh Arabs of Iraq are a unique Middle Eastern culture that have thrived in the marshlands of southern Iraq for millennia. I visited them in 1989.
Are you worried about traveling India? Don't be. Check-out this seasoned India travel advice on handling touts, beggars, hotels, transportation, etc.
The night hike up Kawah Ijen to Indonesia's famous blue-flame volcano, complete with green crater lake and workers extracting sulphur amid toxic smoke.
New Year 2017 started for me in North Korea in Pyongyang. I went to North Korea by train from China, and traveled with a Chinese tour group.