Most visitors to Thailand have a good-sized list of things they want to experience in the country and riding an elephant is usually one of them, but if they knew the treatment those elephants are forced to endure, most would probably make a new list. The problem isn't the riding itself, though. Unless, you top the scales somewhere around the 'morbidly obese' range (that's a … [Read more...]
Survive New Delhi Station and the Rest of India is Easy
New Delhi railway station serves as a great introduction to India in that it combines much of what is annoying about the country into one location. Every visitor to India will have stories of annoying touts and scams and some people will have nothing but. In actuality, only a small part of the country provides the fodder for these stories; unfortunately, that small part is the … [Read more...]
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain: Choose the Correct Chairlift or Suffer
When you imagine spending a day in the mountains, you don't generally picture yourself second-hand smoking hundreds of cigarettes amidst thousands of people in a large, dimly lit room, but that's pretty much what a day on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Xueshan in Chinese) near Lijiang in China's Yunnan province looks like for most visitors. Waiting times for a chairlift … [Read more...]
Bagan by Horse Cart: The Best of Three Bad Options
When most people think of Myanmar, they imagine a hazy, flat plain with hundreds of reddish-brown stupas poking up above the patchy tree cover. The area they are picturing is called Bagan. It lies in Myanmar's dusty central plains on the banks of the Irrawaddy River and is characterized by not hundreds, but thousands—over 2200, to be exact—temples and stupas. Due to its … [Read more...]
Leaving Danba Difficult Thanks to Minivan Drivers
Following our measly breakfast, it was time to head back to Danba. After our experience with the drunk driver the previous day, we were naturally not all that excited at the prospect of hiring another van to take us back to town. We asked our hosts if they could help us find a sober ride, but they actually ended up just driving us themselves for a very fair price. It was a nice … [Read more...]