One Year on the Road in Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand — Travel Status Update

Beautiful day up on The Peak overlooking Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Greetings from the New Zealand wine country. I just published this post from the Rabbit Ridge winery and vineyards 🙂 Well, a few days ago (March 4th to be exact) marked exactly one year since I began my international travels. It has been 12 months, but really it feels like only 12 days — the days just flowed by like a broken down dam. And, as they say, travel is the only expenditure that makes you richer. I was definitely a poorer man a year ago.

One year of continuous and uninterrupted travel outside of the United States, throughout East Asia, and parts of Australia and New Zealand. It has been quite an adventure to continually experience a wide spectrum of cultures and peoples and languages and customs and worldviews and religions and social classes and foods and skin colors and ethnic groups and climates and landscapes. I guess I just thrive on diversity. I’m really glad that I decided to take on this adventure. Now I want to do it all over again!!

This is Si. I did a homestay for several days in Sapa, Vietnam, with her and her husband and two kids. She cooks a mean dish of black chicken.

This is Si. I did a homestay for several days in Sapa, Vietnam, with her, her husband, and two kids. She cooks a mean dish of black chicken. Yes, a breed of chicken with black skin, black meat, and big fat feet.

To sum it up, over the past year, I’ve traveled to 14 countries and to 93 major destinations within those 14 countries. When I started out, I planned to travel to many more than 14 countries, but you might say that I ended up traveling slower and deeper than I anticipated. I really like to linger and interact with the locals and get off the beaten track. I really enjoy the tourist spots. The tourist spots are usually tourist spots for very good reasons, and are not to be missed. But I really enjoy the balance of getting off the beaten track and meeting locals, and experiencing the “real” country and its ways of life.

Given my slower than anticipated pace, for the past year, my travels have been contained to Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and portions of Australia and New Zealand. On average, my travels for the past year break down to about 3.5 weeks per country, and about 7 major destinations per country.

Below, I have provided a roundup of the countries and major destinations that I have visited over the past year, along with a gallery providing a smattering of photos, mostly from destinations that I have yet to post. As you know, I have not yet posted for each destination, but those posts are coming!! And you won’t want to miss them!! Trust me.

My guide in Bagan, Myanmar, standing near the top of one of the 8,000 ancient pagodas. Notice the bare feet. In Myanmar, and other Buddhist countries, it is required that you must be barefoot when walking in or on a pagoda or temple.

Originally, I had planned on my posts being more real-time and chronological, but it didn’t turn out that way. I was naive. My style of posting (destination-wide) takes a bit of time, and staying real-time is challenging when you are suddenly at the next destination and your time is consumed seeing that destination. For the next month or so, I’ll take a travel breather and stay at some destination in Southeast Asia (much less expensive there) that I have already visited. You know, take a vacation from traveling. That will allow me work on more posts 🙂

This guy was in my tour group for Potatso National Park in beautiful and mountainous Yunnan Province, China. He is a Chinese military officer on leave. He knew nothing about photography, and bought a very expensive Nikon DSLR. He was taking photos in automatic mode, and it was making me cringe. So, I ended up giving him a few basic lessons that day on how to use a camera in manual mode. He still sends me texts asking for pointers. I'll be staying for a while with his family in central China, where they will tour me around Henan Province.

This guy was in my tour group for Potatso (Padacuo) National Park in beautiful and mountainous Yunnan Province, China. He is a Chinese military officer, and was on leave at the time. He knew nothing about photography, but bought a very expensive Nikon DSLR. He was taking photos in automatic mode, and thus ending up with photos that were not better than that from a compact point and shoot camera. I ended up giving him a few basic lessons that day on how to use a camera in manual mode. He still sends me texts asking for pointers. I’ll be staying for a while with his family in central China, where they will tour me around Henan Province.

So, my blog will continue to remain alive going into the second year and beyond. After all, I am the endless traveler 🙂 !! My plan for the second year, and beyond, is to teach somewhere in Asia for about six months each year, and then continue traveling for the other six months each year. That is merely a plan, so it could change. Maybe I’ll just continue to travel full-time. I’m not fully decided yet.

I’m not sure if I could ever remain in one spot very long again without quickly getting itchy feet. Maybe I’ll just keep on traveling as long as my body will allow me 🙂 Regardless, whether I continue my world travels on a full-time or half-time basis, I will continue to travel.

Oh, and be SURE to check out my Instagram gallery for some of my best and favorite photographs!! I actually received kudos from National Geographic for a couple of the photos 🙂 I’m waiting for them to ask me to name my price. Haha. You can find me on Instagram by searching “Kurt Patrizi” or “endless_traveler”.

When I was in Nyangshwe, Myanmar, I stayed for many days at a family-owned and -operated guest house. Incredible people. They looked after me like I was family. We still chat almost everyday on Facebook. I’ll being staying with them again for sure. Anyone want to come along…..

I hope that you have been enjoying this blog. As I said, stay tuned for much more!!

As I mentioned, below is the country and destinations roundup, followed by a gallery providing a smattering of photos, mostly from destinations that I have yet to post. So click through the gallery, check out the photos, and read the captions. It will take only a few minutes and I think that you will really enjoy it. Be sure to read the captions! Click on the photos below to see captions and/or to begin a slide format.

China (12 destinations)

Already Posted

Shanghai | Suzhou | Zhujiajiao | Lijiang | Tiger Leaping Gorge

Posts Forthcoming

South Korea (7 destinations)

Already Posted

Jeju Island (includes the destinations of Jeju City, Seogwiposi, Seongbam Ilchulbong, Seopjikoji, Mount Sangangsan, and Jungman)

Post Forthcoming

Seoul

With new tourist friends from central China who were staying at my hotel. They are professional ballet dancers. More posts on China destinations coming soon.

With new tourist friends from central China who were staying at my hotel in Lijiang, Yunnan Province. They are professional ballet dancers. More posts on China destinations coming soon.

Vietnam (10 destinations)

Already Posted

Posts Forthcoming

Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) | Dong Xiao | Vung Tao

Thailand (9 destinations)

Posts Forthcoming

Cambodia (3 destinations)

Already Posted

Phnom Penh | Koh Rong | Sihanoukville

Malaysia (2 destinations)

Posts Forthcoming

Kuala Lumpur | Malacca

Singapore (2 destinations)

City of Singapore | Sentosa Island

Hong Kong Island (3 destinations)

Forthcoming Posts

City of Hong Kong | Lantau Island | Stanley | Aberdeen

The 600 year old Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan. The upper two stories are covered in gold flake.

Laos (1 destination)

Forthcoming Post

Luang Prabang and Surrounding Countryside and Farms

Philippines (3 destinations)

Already Posted

Boracay | Taal Town

Forthcoming Post

Manila

Japan (6 destinations)

Forthcoming Posts

Myanmar (5 destinations)

Forthcoming Posts

Yangon | Mandalay | Bagan | Nyaungshwe | Inle Lake

Australia (9 destinations)

Forthcoming Posts

New Zealand (18 destinations)

Forthcoming Posts

And don’t forget, if you scroll to the very end of this post, there is (as in all my posts) an area to leave comments or ask me any questions that you may have. As always, I would love to hear from you. I hope that you’ve enjoyed this post and the entire blog so far. Much more to come.