by Calvin Sun | Feb 2, 2022 | Camping, Fail, February 2022: Mali, Mali, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path
After breakfast in Segou, we made an early start back to the capital of Bamako. Mali is one of the few places I know of that requires a negative PCR test for COVID-19 to leave the country (within 72 hours of departure). So in preparation for our...
by Calvin Sun | Jul 4, 2020 | Camping, July 2020: New England (COVID), Maine, Weekend Trips
After 2 days in Portland and beginning at noon we drove up the 3 hours towards Acadia National Park, a 47,000-acre situated primarily on Maine’s Mount Desert Island. About a 20 minutes’ drive north of Portland, we stopped for a quick lunch at the...
by Calvin Sun | Dec 7, 2019 | Autumn 2019: Egypt Redux - 10 Years Later, Camping, Crisis, Doctor in the House, Egypt, Epiphanies on the Road, Fail, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come
Once in a while, I’m blessed to write up and release a blogpost that will stand the test of time in my memories. This is one of those posts. The irony of today rests in the fact that after a decade visiting 180 countries and...
by Calvin Sun | Nov 19, 2019 | Camping, How Did You Do That?, How's the weather?, Lessons Learned, Mythbusters, November 2019: Socotra Island, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Socotra Island, Walking Tours, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen
Special thanks goes to our Young Pioneer Tours guide Pier-André Doyon for the blogpost title. 240km east of the coast of Somalia and 380km south of the Arabian Peninsula lies a 132 km x 49.7km island called Socotra: a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to...
by Calvin Sun | Aug 21, 2018 | August 2018: Turkmenistan, Camping, Turkmenistan, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come
After taking a naked dip and lunch at Kow Ata, we headed into the desert to visit the infamous gas crater of Darvaza/Derweze, arguably the country’s most famous tourist attraction.Approaching the gas craters, we first stopped by a desolate village to grab some...
by Calvin Sun | Jun 3, 2018 | Camping, How Did You Do That?, June 2018: The Persian Gulf, Oman
After a few hours swimming in the beautiful water holes of Wadi Shab, Talal and the gang continued south towards Sharqiya Sands. Also popularly known as Wahiba Sands named after the local Bani Wahiba tribe there, it boasts sand dunes up to 100 meters high and 170...
