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SOUTH KOREA | Sat, 13 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [80]
SELECTING A HOTEL IN A FOREIGN CITY, especially an Asian city, is a crap-shoot—even with Booking.com. We were lucky with Hotel Palace in Gyeongju and we really hit the Jackpot here in Daegu. Not only did we get a great rate, Rivertain Hotel comes ... Read more >
SOUTH KOREA | Thu, 11 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [64]
FOREWARNED ABOUT THE “IFFY” BUS SCHEDULE, we opted for a taxi for Bulguksa Temple Complex. It’s only about 20 kilometers from our hotel but I refilled my billfold with won anyway. I can’t speak for Buddha but Confucius say “... Read more >
SOUTH KOREA | Wed, 17 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [28]
IT WAS RAINING MONDAY WHEN WE LEFT DAEGU. Through the rain-streaked windows of our “bullet” train forested hillsides alternated with towering apartment blocks as we chugged through unknown cities on our way to Seoul. It was still raining ... Read more >
SOUTH KOREA | Mon, 8 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [71]
WE ARE USING BUSAN, KOREA’S SECOND-LARGEST CITY, to get acclimated to the country before working our way to Seoul. Which may be more difficult than we thought. The first thing we noticed was the weather—morning temperatures in the 40s, not ... Read more >
SOUTH KOREA | Tue, 9 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [63]
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CHEAPER TO TAKE the Busan Metro to the Sasang Bus Station but a taxi was less hassle. Besides, we are millionaires in Korea! Surprisingly few Koreans feel comfortable speaking English and we’re still struggling with gamsahabnida ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Fri, 5 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [81]
OUR FIRST STOP AFTER AN EARLY START from Tam Dao to Cuc Phoung was ostensibly a restroom break. But by the number of tour buses at the Vietnamese craft center we suspect that the guides get a bit of baksheesh from the paintings, silk, wood carvings and ... Read more >
SOUTH KOREA | Sun, 7 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [68]
WE FEW, WE HAPPY FEW, WE BAND OF BIRDERS. In a little over three weeks bouncing over several thousand kilometers of Vietnam, we’ve seen more than 350 species of birds—over 200 Lifers for Dave and Noreen and 125 new species for us. We have ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Sat, 10 Feb 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [222]
THE BEST PLACES TO STAY AREN’T ALWAYS at the beach. Tim’s AirBnB in the bush-town of Wandandian is idyllic; green fields, towering eucalyptus, chickens, horses—even Soxy, the affectionate English Chocolate Lab. I wish every host put ... Read more >
VANUATU | Fri, 16 Feb 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [190]
THE WIND PICKED UP ON FRIDAY EVENING and was blowing a gale by the time we arrived at the Majestic Princess. Circular Quay is a refreshing change from the commercial ports where cruise ships often dock and we spent the afternoon watching as ferries ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Wed, 3 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [64]
WE HAD PLENTY OF ROOM TO STRETCH OUT on the Vietnam Airlines 787 from HCMC to Hanoi—the plane is huge and was just over half full. The group, sans “the other John,” was heading north for the six-day “Northern Extension” ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Sat, 27 Jan 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [211]
OFFICIALLY AUSTRALIA DAY CELEBRATES the day Australia was “discovered,” January 26, 1788—roughly the equivalent of Columbus Day in the US. Indigenous Australians vehemently disagree—they have been in Australia for 60,000 years ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Thu, 1 Feb 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [208]
SOMEONE FOLLOWING OUR ZIG-ZAG ROUTE might think we suffer from terminal Attention Deficit Disorder. Yes, it would have made more sense to come directly from Bairnsdale to Mallacoota near the Victoria-NSW border. But Mallacoota is a popular holiday destination ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Mon, 5 Feb 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [207]
BATEMAN’S BAY IS ABOUT HALFWAY BETWEEN Mallacoota and Sydney. It also happens to be about the only place along the South Coast with halfway affordable lodging at this time of year. Our AirBnB is a bit shabby but works as a base for exploring South ... Read more >
NAURU | Sun, 4 Feb 2024 | By kiwiaoraki | Views [204]
Nauru! Another place where I’ve had to explain to everyone where it is. A tiny potato-shaped island 42 kilometres south of the Equator, Nauru is one of the smallest and least-visited countries in the world. Phosphate is what originally made Nauru ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Sat, 30 Mar 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [53]
THE MORNING BIRD CHORUS WAS DROWNED OUT by the WHOOP s, WA s and WOW s of the gibbons—Southern Yellow-Cheeked Crested Gibbons to be exact. A couple of black males and a dirty-blonde female with a baby hang—literally—around the park ... Read more >
TUVALU | Fri, 26 Jan 2024 | By kiwiaoraki | Views [133]
Pun intended, I'm having "fun" here in Funafuti, the largest and main atoll of Tuvalu. As one of the world’s lowest-lying, least-known, and least-visited countries, Tuvalu is seriously at risk of going under...not due to poverty, famine, wars, ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Sun, 3 Mar 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [71]
IT WAS NICE TO SLEEP IN A BED that wasn’t rocking after nearly three weeks afloat. Chiltern, our final AirBnB in Australia, is a charming cottage surrounded by lush gardens in the beautiful Blue Mountains of New South Wales. It’s spacious ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Thu, 7 Mar 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [66]
AS WE CONTINUED OUR SEARCH for the elusive Rock Warbler on Wednesday, we were side-tracked not by the Three Sisters but by three Superb Lyrebirds scratching and pecking in the leaf litter along Cliff Walk Trail. We watched until an irate Kookaburra strafed ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Sun, 10 Mar 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [62]
IT’S A LONG WAY FROM SYDNEY TO HUE—nine hours and 4300 miles through four time zones to Saigon another 600 miles to the Imperial City. Fewer than half of the A330’s seats were occupied on the Sydney-Saigon leg so we each had an entire ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Thu, 21 Mar 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [58]
HOANG GIA TRANG GUEST HOUSE in Ngoc Linh is as low as we can sink, lodging-wise—at least we hope it is. It’s the only game in town and features rock hard beds with a single sheet and blanket in which we wrapped ourselves like human burritos ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Mon, 25 Mar 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [41]
STAYING IN DA LAT WAS LIKE BEING ON R&R—a real hotel in a real city with a real breakfast (once) and even Italian food for dinner, also once. We even found a laundry around the corner.
... Read more >
VIETNAM | Thu, 28 Mar 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [41]
DAWN COMES EARLY IN MOUNT BIDOUP National Park and were on the trail by 5:30. It was a short but rugged hike to the first bird hide where the Collared Laughingthrushes were waiting impatiently as if we were late delivering their breakfast. Target Bird ... Read more >
SOUTH KOREA | Thu, 18 Apr 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [5]
SINCE A VISA FOR NORTH KOREA IS OUT of the question, I would have to settle for a peek into North Korea across the the D e m ilitarized Z one. Connie, who had already visited to the DMZ as part of a 1998 official military mission, came along for the ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Sat, 20 Jan 2024 | By graynomadsusa | Views [99]
IT WAS BLOWING A GALE when we arrived at MacLeod Morass Wildlife Reserve yesterday. The wind on the water and the scutting clouds made for some good photos but poor birding. When the wind threatened to blow us off the boardwalk we decided it was time ... Read more >
INDONESIA | Fri, 22 Dec 2023 | By graynomadsusa | Views [96]
WE SET OFF THIS MORNING TO EXPLORE BALI. It’s about 95 miles from Jimbaran to Pemuteran in northwestern Bali but the drive took nearly five hours. We didn’t drive ourselves—only a local or a maniacal tourist should challenge Denpasar’... Read more >