NEW YEAR 2019 – the crazy family tradition continues…

So my family has this crazy new year’s tradition where we welcome in the new year with a gourmet dinner, consisting of the number of courses of the new year. We have reached 19 now, and boy, it has become a bit of an epic cook-off. We are a bunch of amateurs that really enjoy […]

Safari in Madikwe, South Africa.

Going around the world just to come home and realize it’s the best place on earth! I had the absolute joy of going on safari in the Northwest Province of South Africa with a group of my best friends. Two of them have never been on safari, and it was a privilege to expose them […]

Cambodia – Angkor Wat

Getting up for sunrise is never a bad idea and somehow it never disappoints. This was more than true for us the morning we went to Angkor Wat, the Hindu/Buddist temple that stretches like a carpet over the jungle close to Siem Reap. Built towards the end of the 12th century the temple was either […]

Ryokan

Staying in a traditional Japanese inn – ryokan – must be the epitome of the Japanese experience. I’m yet to get into a kimono and walk the streets of Kyoto or participate in the formal tea ceremony, but I somehow sense that staying in a ryokan could be, by far, the most authentic. We stayed […]

Japanese Macaques – aka Snow Monkeys

After spending a week in Tokyo – of which I will have to write later because it was just so busy and I’m herding my thoughts on that one – we activated our Japanese Rail passes and left for Yudanaka, on the east side of Honshu island. This area is best known for its onsen (hot […]

Cambria

Moving more south, we reached the smaller town of Cambria, that had such a strong flavor of small South African West Coast town, that I felt homesick. The sea water was just as cold and the trees told me it could be just as windy. I loved walking this beautiful boardwalk and even got to […]

Monterey

What I love about traveling are the things that you get to learn along the way and not necessarily visiting places you already know about because of their history or any other remarkable feat that makes them stand out. This was my experience with Monterey and its Cannery Row, thus named after a novel written […]

San Francisco

A dreamy place, huddled in a blanket of fog that comes and goes at it pleases. One day there is not enough – what were we thinking – but if you have one day only, you make the most of it. It helps if you are up at six and ready to rock and roll, […]

Nobody’s perfect. Sigh.

I’ve come to realize I might be the worst food blogger out there. Between the husband and myself, we have to remind ourselves to take photos before we start devouring our food. Most of my photos here were taken a few bites down and the best photos were taken by the hubby. Sorry folks, but I’m […]

New York, New York!

The thing with New York is that she’s no stranger. She’s seen on the screen so often; you feel you have developed a personal long-distance relationship with her. And yet, after a whole week in New York, I feel like I hardly know this city at all. It’s tough to scrape the surface on this […]