Craig and I began our long, dusty drive east. Our final destination was to be the Steens Mountain Wilderness in Harney County, where we hoped to camp for several days. We drove through Bend and entered into the flat brown landscape stretching towards Burns, a far cry from the lush Willamette Valley. There wasn’t much around besides sage brush, and the “towns” marked on the map were only comprised of tiny gas stations/convenience stores. In total, the drive took us nearly seven hours, culminating in a 17 mile gravel stretch to reach our campsite at Fish Lake. Alo [View Full Entry]

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We stood on a ridge watching the thick storm clouds roll in around us. I was back in my old hometown of Prineville, OR, after nearly five years away. During high school, the town (which has now ballooned to a population of nearly 10,000) seemed completely isolated from the rest of the world. Returning as a vehicle-wielding adult I am surprised to find that the brisk 3.5 hour drive from Eugene is astonishingly easy. The city of Bend, only thirty miles southwest of Prineville, is booming thanks to its dry climate and wealth of outdoor recreation opportunities. At one point it [View Full Entry]

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“By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show” -Samuel Johnson London is such an epic city that it provides an entirely different experience for each visitor. I suppose this can be said for many places, but it especially seems to hold true in the English capital. Our experience was a pleasant one from the moment we arrived in the Luton airport. Generally, passing through customs is an incredibly uncomfortable experience: large men in uniforms glowering at you over their high tech scanners. [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Istanbul on a cold morning in late February, watching the city’s suburbs roll past to the rocking rhythm of the train. We were running a bit late, and the blocks of gray apartment buildings seemed to have no end in sight. With a population over 12 million, Istanbul is a large city…seemingly even more exaggerated by its unique geography, sprawled across the Bosporus. Our first sight was the inside of the art deco train station, which inevitably conjured up images of the famous Orient Express and Agatha Christie’s most beloved murder mystery. We hadn’ [View Full Entry]

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“When first one catches sight of the sea, crosses the ocean and experiences cities and lands which for so long had been distant, unattainable things of desire-one feels oneself as a hero who has performed deeds of improbable greatness.” -Sigmund Freud The Hungarian man sitting across from me glances up from his crumbling loaf of bread and gives me a sympathetic look as I try in vain to disappear into my coat. I’m already bundled in practically every layer I brought, and it isn’t doing any good inside the frigid train car. We are roughly twenty [View Full Entry]

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Before arriving in Mexico, I had been a little apprehensive when it came to in-country transportation. After a couple of months on the road I was feeling pretty burnt out, and hardly in the mood to battle tooth and claw through another cramped bus station and spend hours on a rickety contraption that may or may not arrive at its final destination in one piece. Thankfully, my ignorance was quickly laid to rest. Mexico’s buses are by far the nicest I have ever seen, by far more comfortable and reliable than those in my own country. Almost all long-distance buses are [View Full Entry]

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Every year in October, the city of Guanajuato hosts the International Cervantes Culture Festival, named after the epic Spanish author. At venues throughout the city, residents and visitors alike can soak up the arts; ranging from music and theater to visual art. Even on a normal day, the city of Guanajuato is a very artsy place. In a way it seems like a strange divulgence for a city whose sole purpose was once mining. The silver-rich hills surrounding the city allowed it to thrive both during Spanish occupation and after Mexican independence. Today, Guanajuato is a liv [View Full Entry]

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As we descended into Guadalajara, I was quite pleased to see that the air below us was relatively clear. Given Mexico City’s reputation as one of the worst polluted places on the planet, I had worried that its much smaller neighbor would face similar woes. The woman sitting next to me on the plane (who also shared my dire fear that the sound of the wing flaps was really some kind of structural failure that would soon cause the entire plane to burst apart in mid-air) had been born in Guadalajara. For the majority of her adult life, however, she [View Full Entry]

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Initially, we stopped over in Taiwan to get a sense of the English teaching market, as we had several friends who had positive experiences either teaching or studying in the country. Taipei, a city of close to three million people, has several claims to fame; including the world’s tallest building, one of the world’s greatest population densities, and its continual tension with the People’s Republic of China. We arrived in Taipei at night, speeding past the hulking shapes of textile factories on the city’s outskirts. The metropolis, full of boxy gray buil [View Full Entry]

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We continued our journey by taking the train from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. The ride consisted of two overnight train journeys with a half-day stop in Butterworth, Malaysia. This gave us an excellent chance to cross over to Penang and explore the historic city of Georgetown. Its colonial buildings and bustling Chinatown have recently earned it a place on UNESCO's world heritage list. We arrived in Bangkok on a Saturday to a light drizzle and very packed train station. The gloomy weather, crowds, and traffic jam made it very difficult to find a taxi. Later, someone told us that it was [View Full Entry]

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