Overland - Thailand to Portugal
a road trip
Share- Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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Our readers selected Chiang Mai as the place for us to spend 6 months writing our book, Strip Off Your Fear. We had a great time exploring the city and area while balancing work along the way. Wonderful 6 months, but it will be great to start moving again. -
- Monday, April 2, 2012
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We crossed the border and stayed in Laos for a couple of days, bicycling around the rice fields and meeting interesting people, including a 70-something woman backpacker and lifelong adventurer as well as our friend Wall, a Chinese backpacker who helped us transition into China from Laos. -
- Thursday, April 5, 2012
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Our first stop in China! Our friend Wall introduced us to noodles for breakfast and to the Northeast Fat Mother Dumpling Shop, where we enjoyed a special dinner with Fat Mother and her son. We are already impressed with the infrastructure in China, though a bit overwhelmed by the number of people (and we aren't even in a big city yet!) -
- Saturday, April 7, 2012
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We stayed here for a few days at the Hump Hostel, a great layover spot with fun people. We tried the locally famous over the bridge noodles and Warren got the chance to beat up a Chinese soldier (he declined). We learned more about the 50 ethnic groups in China as well as morning exercise in the park, taking caged birds to work or the park so they won't get lonely, and how much the Chinese make use of their public parks. -
- Wednesday, April 11, 2012
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We broke away from what we thought were the big cities and came to Dali for some hiking and nature. The path along the Cangshan Mountains (reached by mere mortals with a chair lift but by us on foot), is paved all the way around - the easiest hike we've ever done! Still stunning, so much so we did it 3 times the week we were there. The city of Dali is charming but slightly touristy, though you can bypass it all by hiking or by taking a bike ride along Erhai lake. -
- Friday, April 20, 2012
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This is the jumping off point for Tiger Leaping Gorge, so we spent a few days here on either side of that expedition. It's a cute town with way too many yak meat shops. We met new friends from Hong Kong, Australia, France, and Belgium while here - and we kept running into those fun Aussies all through China! We stayed at the Panba Hostel and loved the staff and location. -
- Tuesday, April 24, 2012
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This 2-day hike is billed as a must-see for tourists in the area, and we took the bait. We'll grant you that it is beautiful and challenging, but if we had it to do all over again we'd skip this one and do something else. -
- Monday, April 30, 2012
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We spent a 5 days here enjoying this beautiful lake which sits at 2,500m. It is a great place to relax, hike, and learn about the Mosuo, the last matriarchal society on the planet. This is also where we met our first long-haired, pot-smoking Chinese person - who also, incidentally, owned a monkey. -
- Friday, May 4, 2012
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Pandas! Chengdu is part of the Sichuan Province and was our first stop outside of Yunnan. We went to the Panda Base center and saw adorable bears. This is also where we met new friends from Hong Kong and New Zealand as well as met up with those crazy Aussies again! -
- Saturday, May 12, 2012
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The most beautiful hostel of our journey in China was in Xi'an: The Seven Sages. It is built in an old courtyard-style community home and is so peaceful and relaxing. We walked the top of the walls surrounding the city and ran into our friends the Aussies again! We also saw the terra cotta warriors as well as the less-known and equally fascinating tomb of Jingdi (with far less crowds to boot). -
- Saturday, May 19, 2012
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What can we say? The Wall is...GREAT! While we were not huge fans of living in Beijing for a month as we awaited our Russian visas, we did really enjoy the visit to the Wall and seeing Tiananmen Square and other famous Chinese sites. The air quality in Beijing is a challenge, though the metro is superb as transport (if a bit crowded). -
- Wednesday, June 20, 2012
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The country is one of our favorites, filled with rolling hills, grassy plains, and stark desert. We stayed with local families for much of our time here, arranged by Gana from Gana's Guesthouse. The food is heavily mutton and milk-based with very few veggies, so don't feel bad about bringing your own food on excursions (we existed on ramen noodles and and peanut butter and crackers). We had some of the most amazing adventures of our trip in this country, and we can't recommend it enough. Check out the website to read more. - Sunday, July 15, 2012
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The largest freshwater lake in the world, and truly the best-tasting water we've ever had. Our first stop in Russia was slightly marred by bad weather, but we made up for it by meeting new people. Our favorite foods: shashlyk (a lamb kebab) and - of course - caviar! - Saturday, July 21, 2012
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This is the site where the Romanovs were killed, and despite this gruesome history it is a quaint little town. We had sunny weather and enjoyed the quirky attractions like the giant QWERTY keyboard along the canal as well as the beautiful churches. We again enjoyed shashlyk, though we ventured out and ate Chicken Kiev and piroshky as well. It took 48 hours by train to get from one side of Siberia to another - hard to believe! -
- Tuesday, July 24, 2012
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Moscow is a great city, and blue skies and long days of summer meant exploring it until almost midnight every night. We loved The Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral as well as the food, street life, and architecture. An unexpected bonus was the museum of Russian art near Gorky Park, which showed the evolution of styles from 1900-present, strongly influenced by politics, as you can imagine. -
- Friday, July 27, 2012
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We are definitely in Europe, now! St. Petersburg looks different from every other city we've seen in Russia. It is absolutely stunning with huge buildings, wide avenues, and bright colors. We visited the famous Hermitage Museum to see world-class works of art as well as the funky Ethnographic Museum, which houses Peter the Great's collection of bizarre freak show medical oddities from his European travels in the 17th century. We were also able to witness the annual Navy Day celebration on the embankment as well as meet up with some friends from the train for a farewell meal. -
- Wednesday, August 1, 2012
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We took an overnight bus to Riga, with the intention of continuing on to Vilnius, Lithuania and spending a night there. However, once in Riga (which is absolutely beautiful) we decided to book another 24 hour bus ride to get us to Berlin. We'll head back to the Baltic states for deeper exploration in the future but our excitement for Berlin won out. -
- Thursday, August 2, 2012
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- Wednesday, August 8, 2012
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Loved visiting our friend Almut and discovering more about German wines! Walked along the Rhine and enjoyed a mini reunion with friends from our time in South America. Loved reconnecting with friends we made last year. -
- Monday, August 13, 2012
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We stopped to spend a few days with our wonderful friends, Andrew and Alison, from http://www.cheeseweb.eu. We spent our time reconnecting, trying new Belgian beers, and eating great food. Plus, we were there at the perfect time to see the flower carpet unveiled in the Grand Plaz. -
- Sunday, August 19, 2012
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Spent a delightful evening here en-route to Slovenia. We walked along the Danube and enjoyed a stroll through this lovely town. -
- Monday, August 20, 2012
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We enjoyed a week of hiking and relaxing here in the northern part of Slovenia, just south of the Austrian border. Our friend Russ and Michelle were taking care of a 150 year-old farmhouse and we enjoyed good conversation, fresh veggies from the garden, and a week of crisp clean air. It was a great way to see Slovenia for the first time. Now we want to return. -
- Monday, August 27, 2012
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We only stopped for an hour en-route to Lucca, but had time to pop out and see the Grand Canal on a beautiful day. -
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Lucca, Italy (6:30 pm)
We LOVE Italy, and were exciting to visit the country together for the 1st time. We settled on Lucca during our train trip from Slovenia and had a tremendous 4 nights here. We wandered this beautiful old city, enjoyed some outstanding food, and captured some great photos and memories. It was a reminder how much more time we want to spend here. -
- Thursday, August 30, 2012
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Pisa, Italy (8:00 am)
During our train journey to Marseille, we passed through Pisa. We took advantage, ran off the train in order to catch sunrise over the leaning towner. It was great to see the duomo as well as this poorly built tower without any tourists. -
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Marseille, France (8:30 pm)
Wine, cheese, and bread. Seriously, how is it possible to not enjoy France? We spent our time wandering around this port city on the Mediterranean Sea, watching amazing sunsets, and consuming as much wine as we could. -
- Tuesday, September 4, 2012
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- Thursday, September 20, 2012
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- Sunday, September 30, 2012
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- Thursday, October 4, 2012
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- Sunday, October 14, 2012
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- total distance: 16,380 miles (26.361 km)
Travelers
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Married with LuggageSeattle
Followers
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Jerre DumbrillOrange, CT, USA -
T Numno1日本, 神奈川県横浜市 -
HOT TODDIESPoland -
RickLos Angeles, CA, USA -
Byron DumbrillWest Hollywood, CA, USA
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