Hiking the Foothills of the Himalayas – The Annapurnas
Hiking in the foothills of the Himalayas was on Mark’s bucket when I met him 14 years ago, before a bucket list was a thing. Sometimes a long anticipation of … Read More
mountains
Tiger’s Nest: The Cultural Icon of Bhutan
As the grand finale to our trip in Bhutan, we climbed to Tiger’s Nest monastery (Taktshang) near Paro. Tiger’s Nest is by far the most photographed site in Bhutan. It … Read More
A Royal Encounter, Hiking with the Queen Mother of Bhutan
So, you’re just going to have to trust us on this one because we have no photographic proof, but we did, indeed, hike and share a small lunch with the … Read More
Kuzu zangpo la – Greetings from Bhutan
The Kingdom in the Clouds. The Happiest Country in the World. The Last Shangri-la. Mystical. Magical. What a fascinating country. Bhutan is a (virtually completely) mountainous country roughly equal in … Read More
Takayama – Gateway to the Northern Japan Alps
Next stop, Takayama. We took a shinkansen (a Japanese bullet train) from Yokohama to Nagoya, then switched to an ‘express’ train from Nagoya to Takayama. An express train is slower … Read More
Our Stay in a Japanese Ryokan
Our hotel in Takayama, Hidatei Hanaougi, is a ryokan. The hotel’s website lists ‘Heart-warming hospitality” as the Number 1 reason to stay there, and we couldn’t agree more. From the … Read More
Gorillas in the Mist-y Impenetrable Forest
“Last but not least” is a definite understatement for the final leg of our East African Adventure….trekking to see mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Besides our summit … Read More
Day 7 on Kilimanjaro
The mood was high our last morning on Kili. Sure, we and our guides were excited about our successful summit of Kili yesterday. But the whole trekking team took on … Read More
Day 6 – Summiting Kilimanjaro
Summit Day dawned early. We had a 2am wakeup call. Lucky for me, I had been able to sleep from 8 to 12:15, and just rested from then until 2. … Read More
Day 5 on Kilimanjaro
Summit Eve! Today we would hike across the ‘Saddle’ between Mawenzi Peak and Kibo, reaching our highest altitude yet, 15,180′. The good news this morning was that Mark was feeling … Read More