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(Emma) Out of the 25,000 orangutans in the world 5,000 of them live in Tanjung Puting National Park on the island of Borneo. We were fortunate enough to interact and see many of them. We have 4 days at the park; a really long time for a visitor. So that gave us lots of time! […]

Like Samuel Pepys, Dana has been a tireless chronicler of this year’s adventures. She is creating a tome that will entertain us for years to come. Some of the most entertaining things she records are lists of all varieties of meaningful and meaningless facts. We have started to show a few in the LISTS tab […]

(Dana) In the 1970s, littering was an epidemic in the US. Discarded food wrappers everywhere. Automobile passangers routinely tossed garbage onto anonymous forests and fields as they zipped past. Those who tossed didn’t see it land, so it didn’t exist anymore. Right? Then came what must have been one of the most influential public service […]

(Dana) By definition, travelling for a full year means that we each get to celebrate one birthday on the road: Emma celebrated with her “birthday elephant” as he crashed through the campsite in Purros, Namibia, Alex became a “peasant for a day” in Vietnam, learning how to grow vegetables and fish using age-old methods, and […]

(Greg/Dana) “You’re not bringing the kids there, are you?” our great friend Ruth Sherman asked as she gently warned us about Bhutan when we discussed our draft itinerary with her a few years ago. She had been here but even her first hand experience and soft admonition did not deter us from our plan. Now, […]

(Alex) “Great!” Mom says as we are driving into the city (actually the size of a really small town) of Mongar. “We get to spend the night in a traditional farm house!” Well if that is great news to her, then I don’t know what bad news is. Oh how I am dreading a night […]

(Andrew)  The Kingdom of Bhutan is a beautiful, land-locked Himalayan country of 700,000 people bordered by China/Tibet, India and Nepal.  It is primarily a rural country; its three largest cities are the capital of Thimphu 80,000 people; Paro (where the international airport is) 8,000; and Bumthang 6,000. Bhutan is a subtle country and you have […]

(Reis) As we go through countries in the world, we look for special opportunities to mingle with the people (and culture), to better understand them. When we discovered the chance to go to the annual Dup Chen Puja (Celebration of peace and happiness), in Bumthang, Bhutan, we eagerly agreed. The area of the Kharcchu Monestary […]

(Emma) Archery is the National Sport in Bhutan. The younger athletes are starting to use the American Hunting Bows and moving away from their real, traditional bows, and I can tell why! The traditional bows are two pieces of bamboo wired together; they are very hard to pull back and harder to hit anywhere near […]

(Dana)  Druk Path Trek in Bhutan.  5 days.  63 kilometers (37.8 miles).  32 walking hours.  Elevation from 2200 to 4250M (14,025 feet) and back to 2100, with several ascents and descents in between.  As reference, our peak was over 2.5 times higher than Denver. Camping every night.  No showers. It was supposed to be five days […]