Istanbul

I'm down in Istanbul for the weekend enjoying a bit of sun.  The tourism numbers have really decreased in Istanbul, due to world events, so it's a great time to go and save a bit of money on an awesome trip!

Heading out to the Bosphorus Straight

Ortakoy Mosque

Kucuksu Palace

Cafe's near the Blue Mosque

Inside the Basilica Cistern

Looking down the Basilica Cistern

 Visiting Ayasofya with new friends.

The Blue Mosque

Spices in the Spice Market

Northern Myanmar Winter 2015

From Bagan I went north by night bus to Kalaw and did a trek to Inlay lake.  The lake is a great place to hang out for a day or two and explore the floating gardens on the lake.

After a few days hanging out in Inlay lake I headed north to Mandalay.  To catch up with my friends that had headed on ahead I had to take a local bus and head for Kyuakme.  I did manage to met up with them in Kyuakme where we spent the night.  Kyuakme is a neat place to visit since almost no tourists stay there.  We tried our hand at hitchhiking the next morning and easily caught a ride to Hsipaw.

Hsipaw was our starting point for some amazing hiking with Mitch Michael through tea plantations, rice farms, and the mountains.

 Fields of peppers drying between Kyuakme and Inlay lake.

 Trekking near Inlay Lake

Traditional fishermen on Inlay Lake 

 Inlay Lake

 Kids outside one of the floating pagodas.

 One of the lakeside villages.

 Mountain roads heading towards Kyuakme.

Hitchiking to Hsipaw - Photo Credit Andi Anderle

 One of the rice fields hiking in Hsipaw.

 One of the Northern Shan villages near Hsipaw.

Southern Myanmar Winter 2015

As a bit of a detour from my usual European travels I wandered through Asia for a couple of months this fall and winter.  I wandered through Hong Kong, China (work trip), Thailand, and Myanmar.

Myanmar is a wonderful country that is changing really quickly and still hasn't seen nearly as much change due to tourism as Vietnam or Thailand.  If you want to get a little off the beaten path I highly recommend it!

As I have so many pictures from Myanmar I figured I would break this into two posts.  This first post is from my travels between Yangon and Bagan.

Inside Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon 

 Shwedagon Pagoda built between 6th and 10th century.

Kids playing inside Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

 The "Circle Train" that circles Yangon, the locals use the time to prepare vegetables for market.

A very brave monk reading between two moving trains.

 Waiting for sunrise sitting on a temple from the 12th century

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 First balloon of the morning over the thousands of temples in Bagan.

All of the balloons cruising over the thousands of temples. 

 Entrance to one of the larger temples in Bagan.

 Sunrise on the second day in Bagan.  It's hard not to take thousands of pictures with a view like that!

 Sunset at one of our favorite temples.

 The best way to explore around all of the temples, hitting up the dirt roads on electric bikes!

A bit of a traffic jam.

Norway Spring 2016

Well it's been ages since I've thrown up a blog post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been out traveling.  It just mean's I've been lazy!  Last year I ran up a total tally (without counting repeats) of 27 countries, and so far this year (2016) I've been in China, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Thailand, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, and Norway!

So without any more excuses here are some pictures from around the Bergen area!















If you're in the Bergen area you should definitely rent a car and explore the fjords both north and south of Bergen.  Also a big thanks to my couch surfing buddy Bård for hosting me and my friends!