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En route to paradise via tourist purgatory
- Aperture: f/2.4
- ISO: 50
- Shutter Speed: 1/2513 s
- Focal Length: 4.28mm
- Camera: iPhone 4S
Hat Prah Nang on Railay in southern Thailand probably fits the description of paradise for most people. White sand beaches line a calm turquoise sea where karst limestone cliffs rise strikingly hundreds of feet out of the water. This also happens to be the place where Her and I suffered the worst bout of food…
Surat Thani
- Aperture: f/2.4
- ISO: 160
- Shutter Speed: 1/20 s
- Focal Length: 4.28mm
- Camera: iPhone 4S
Surat Thani is not a destination. For travelers it is a transit town used to reach places like Koh Samui, Koh Phangan or, in our case, Khao Sok. There really isn’t much for tourists to do besides sleep for an evening and wake up early to catch a bus or a boat. But that doesn’t…
Two tickets on the Roach Express, please
- Aperture: f/2.4
- ISO: 50
- Shutter Speed: 1/3247 s
- Focal Length: 4.28mm
- Camera: iPhone 4S
Our original plan after visiting the temples of Ayutthaya was to take a night train to Chiang Mai. This would have saved us a night in a hotel and gotten us to Chiang Mai early in the morning, refreshed from a night of resting on the train in a first-class sleeper berth, so we could…
Approaching maximum Wat-age
- Aperture: f/4
- ISO: 4000
- Shutter Speed: 1/20 s
- Focal Length: 10mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
“You got soup? On a train?!” This was my question to Her as she returned to our train car, bowl of curry noodle soup in hand, after searching the Bangkok station for lunch. “It’s better than your rat on a stick!” Her replied, referring to the skewered, grilled meats I had purchased during my own…
Singapore Budget Breakdown
Singapore was somewhere between the cheapness of Southeast Asia and the expense of Australia/New Zealand. It is certainly possible to stay in Singapore very cheaply just as it is possible to break the bank there, but we tried to take a middle road. We stayed just 4 nights, and found a double room for about…
New Zealand Budget Breakdown
Our blog continues getting further behind as we keep traveling and struggle to find time to write blog entries, but I will be diligent in keeping our budget posts coming as we complete the blog entries for each country. New Zealand, although not nearly as expensive as Australia, is still not quite a budget traveler’s…
Singapore: Not as sterile as you might expect
- Aperture: f/4
- ISO: 800
- Shutter Speed: 1/2.5 s
- Focal Length: 10mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
I expected Singapore to be much cleaner. After years of reading about how clean and modern Singapore is, I had expected a city-state that resembled more of a hospital ward than the bubble and pop of a 5-million person melting pot. To be fair, our initial interaction with the city-state was the Changi International Airport,…
Rotorua stinks…literally!
- Aperture: f/20
- ISO: 400
- Shutter Speed: 1/250 s
- Focal Length: 10mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
After the wedding, we had a few days at our disposal before catching our exit flight to Singapore. We chose to spend it touring the geothermal wonders of Rotorua. When we explained our plans to Her’s English family members, several of whom had visited Rotorua en route to Auckland, they bristled at the mention of…
Winding roads and rough seas
- Aperture: f/22
- ISO: 200
- Shutter Speed: 1/125 s
- Focal Length: 10mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
We spent the morning before we had to head out toward Picton doing some kayaking around Abel Tasman park. The Kaiteriteri Kayak company was our operator of choice, and we decided on a two-hour self tour around the bay. We arranged the excursion through our lodge, but it is possible to just show up at…
Christmas abroad
- Aperture: f/29
- ISO: 200
- Shutter Speed: 1/160 s
- Focal Length: 14mm
- Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Kia Ora! We’re a tad behind on our posts, but we’re working to catch up! In the meantime, a very belated Merry Christmas to all of you! Christmas Day abroad was a strange experience for both of us. Her and I have spent every Christmas of our lives with at least one of our families,…
