My visit to the indigenous Brunca village of Rey Curré was one of the best cultural exchanges I’ve ever had in my travels. I went to learn more about the Brunca people, their cultural traditions, and their modern day struggles. I walked away with so much more!
The experience started with a 3-hour artist’s workshop with a couple who craft traditional Brunca masks among other pieces. I then heard stories depicted through paintings in their community center. After, the town museum helped illustrate Brunca history dating back thousands of years through Spanish colonization and up until modern times.
The best parts, however, were the simple conversations with all the people I met—how they formed their families, their perspectives on life in Rey Curré, and their efforts to protect their culture from further colonization. The food I ate and trinkets I walked away with were icing on the cake! I had an amazing time and I hope to be back again to experience their famous New Years festival one day!
Wow! I had an amazing time visiting the new, immersive art space in Miami called Superblue.
After going to the Van Gogh exhibit in May and Artechouse earlier this year—I was already hooked on these types of spaces. But this one totally takes the cake!
The experience is reasonably priced and not so popular that it can’t be enjoyed safely as we continue to experience high cases of COVID-19 in South Florida. You’ll just want to follow some of my “pro tips” in this post to have the best experience possible!
I missed pre-pandemic visits to art exhibits and museums. Especially as a newcomer to the very art-centric city of Miami, I couldn’t wait to dive back into the art scene here. As people get vaccinated and COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, there’s now more opportunities to get together with friends and see art safely indoors.
Two weeks ago, my friends visited from New York and Denver. I took them to the immersive Beyond Van Gogh exhibit. The exhibit made me feel like I was inside of Gogh’s paintings. It was awesome!
In this post, I share some background about the exhibit as well as photos and a video depicting our absolute joy during this experience.
The USA continues to surprise me with its natural beauty, innovative architecture, and multiculturalism. The Parthenon and its surrounding park in Nashville, Tennessee are perfect examples of all three of these.
The Parthenon is a replica of ancient Greek ruins still found in Athens today.
But you don't have to fly all the way across the Atlantic to see what remains of it! Head to Music City in the USA and make a detour to Centennial Park to find a replica of the construction as it would have appeared over 2400 years ago.
On my last full day in Bali, I hopped on the back of a motorbike with a local who showed me the highlights of the lower Karangasem Regency. My tour guide was Han, a local who offered to take me around the region. His tour turned out to be the perfect wrap up to my time in Bali.
There really is no experience like the one you can get from a local showing you around. I got a personalized tour of the region with opportunities to learn about Indonesian culture and take in some of the sights on my own terms. Han ended up driving me to 5 separate locations, including a traditional Bali village, two water palaces, a chocolate and soap factory, and a chilled-out, sandy beach. Below, I describe my experiences visiting each of these places, but the real story to share is how wonderfully well-rounded Han had made this tour.
Many travelers visit Ubud in Bali, Indonesia because of its well-known spiritual- and health-conscious atmosphere.
I focused my time on experiencing a handful of these mind-body-spirit activities. This post describes what to expect from these experiences, why I chose to focus on them, and how you can experience each on your own!
From yoga retreats to eco-green cafes, you will not be short of rejuvenating activities during your stay in Ubud.
I’ve visited many cities during my travels, falling in love over and over again with each. Cities like Reykjavik, Berlin, Chiang Mai, Wellington, and Melbourne all captured my heart in different ways. But I did not fall in love with any of these cities like I fell in love with Singapore.
The Singapore Government poured $35 million into one area of the city—Marina Bay. Money well spent, as the product is a masterpiece of architectural wonders, floral landscaping, and waterfront beautification. I could not stop snapping photos during my few hours spent between flights here. Marina Bay easily left me in awe with the city as a whole. Now I know I must go back—especially to see it at night and to stay at its mesmerizing, world class hotel.
The first stop on my road trip from Melbourne to Cairns was Sydney. I had half a day to spare and was able to enjoy a few of the city's highlights without a dollar spent. Roojin, a Canadian girl I had met at a couchsurf meetup in Berlin, was my tour guide for the day. We decided to hit some of the quintessential parts of Sydney within walking distance of the Harbour.
As we stared in awe at the Opera House architecture, strolled through the royal gardens, and took in the exhibition at the gallery, we realized the day we were having would make a perfect date! So here it is, the perfect plan for a date while visiting Sydney on a budget.
During my stay in Melbourne, I had one full day to see and experience the city. Considering it’s the “cultural capital” of Australia, there are many aspects of Melbourne life worth checking out. It’s famous for its dining experiences, sporting events, and proximity to the Great Ocean Road.
I ended up focusing on its art. And if the art is anything like my experience in Berlin, art always has something to say. Through Melbourne’s artistic highlights, including the street art, architecture, and music, I discovered both the controversial and the beautiful.
I love discovering unexpected gems during my travels. While exploring the West Coast and all its stunning, coastal scenery, I came across Hokitika, a charming beach-side location residents literally call “the cool little town.” I could not agree more!
Hokitika turned out to be a pleasant surprise both times I had the chance to visit. The first visit was for lunch with my two German friends and the second time was for some beach fun with Carolina. All of us were struck by this town’s vibrant culture and charisma as we tasted its food, observed its art, and learned about its golden history.
Near the end of my time in Thailand, I booked a $7 bus one-way from Chiang Mai to the city of Sukhothai. Sukhothai was the capital of Siam Kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries. Buddhism boomed there at that time resulting in the construction of many monasteries and other structures. Today, the ruins of the old kingdom are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The area is expansive and has well-maintained roads and pathways throughout making it best viewed by bicycle! I had the chance to spend a whole day there just before leaving Thailand.
I loved spending time in Chiang Mai. I even went back and spent two more nights there after living in Pai for a week. Available all over the city are opportunities to go on jungle treks and hill-tribe tours in the surrounding Northern mountains. But I did not need to do any of these to fill my time. I had already spent over a week in Chiang Mai, during which time I met a monk at Wat Chedi Luang, drove a motorbike up Doi Suthep, released a lantern into the sky at the Yi Peng festival, and celebrated Halloween as a Walking Dead zombie. If these activities weren’t already enough, here are three more experiences in Chiang Mai I enjoyed.
“I can’t believe I almost missed this,” I said aloud to my new friends as we walked down the sidewalk toward the Ping River. Above us, thousands of golden, twinkling lanterns were floating up and taking to the winds across the night sky, morphing and expanding along the thermals like a galaxy of stars. Just a few days earlier, I had made the decision to skip out on what would have been a much-too-short motorbike trip around the Mae Hong Son loop.
Instead, I met a Thai local named Samart who graciously hosted me for the week. I had the awesome opportunity to meet many of his friends, employees, and volunteers—a mixture of Thai locals and other travelers—who work with him at his bungalows outside Chiang Mai. Several of them had come into the city just for the Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festivals.
When I travel in big cities, I love to gain insight into the city’s culture by seeing what’s for sale at local flea markets. In Berlin, I visited one small and one large flea market event on consecutive Sundays. But if you’re not tired out from the first, you could easily visit both in one day!
Sundays in the south of Friedrichshain-District, there is a small flea market circling a “box” or block. Make it your first stop, but give yourself enough time! I told my buddy Frank to meet me in half an hour so I’d have time to make my way around. By about half way through, I had to quicken my pace and skip over a lot in order to meet him on time. There was just so much to see!
I spent 2 weeks visiting Berlin where I stayed in the neighborhood of Kreuzberg. I walked all over this neighborhood and got to know it very well. Walking around there, I couldn’t help but notice all of the amazing street art everywhere I looked. While I could admire the street art for what it was, I knew absolutely nothing about any of it. Who did it? Were they allowed to paint there or was it illegal? Is it valued by locals or seen as a defamation of property?
ll of these questions and more were, thankfully, answered by going on a free (tip-based) walking tour with Alternative Berlin. This tour was perfect for getting an authentic, off-the-beaten path understanding of the Kreuzberg neighborhood and culture. Guided by an Australian turned Kreuzberger/Berliner, I learned so many stories about the counter-culture and community of Kreuzberg, including its street art, squatter settlements, neighborhood resistance against capitalism and authority, and much more. I gained so much respect for Berlin and its people as a result of the knowledge I gained from this tour. So I am very excited to finally get to share these stories now!
A common experience while walking around Portland was coming across the uncommon. The city had some completely weird and random art displays spread throughout. Portland seems to breed or attract inventors and creators who think up the most interesting visuals and entertainment spaces. This post highlights just three aspects of the city that I felt "keep Portland weird"— street art, people's yards, and the Kennedy School.
To give you an example of what I mean by street art, I don't mean your typical mural found in Brooklyn, NY. I mean seeing that someone spilled a bucket of blue paint on the sidewalk and that then decided to make the best of the spill and use the excess paint to draw a blue smiley face right next to it. I wish I had gotten a photo of that one. Instead, here's a picture of a fire hydrant with eyes.
