From our rooftop on the outskirts of the valley, the view holds several millennia at once – a 17th century pagoda, a 2,000 year old stupa on a distant hilltop, a freshly installed LCD billboard burning at a highway intersection, and everywhere between them the concrete and rebar of new construction spreading across the valley … More Kathmandu, a Love Story
What a year of homeschool it’s been. One of our favorite discoveries has been that learning happens everywhere, all the time — and nothing has made that clearer than our digital storytelling unit. Both Ada and Willem created short films centered on life in Nepal. They each chose their own focus, developed a research question, … More Digital Storytelling
A year before leaving Alaska, Kate and I knew we would need to travel to India at least twice to renew our Nepal visa. We also knew that India is not always an easy place to move through, and we found ourselves wondering how the kids would take it all in. India tends to inspire … More Forts, Trains, and the Spaces Between – India by rail
In the spring of 2002, I was sitting in the back row of my “International Preservation” class at Mary Washington College when Professor W. Brown Morton III (his actual name), with a mixture of gravity and charm, began telling a story of the Imperial City of Huế, Vietnam—its crumbling walls, its faded grandeur, and the … More Tạm biệt Vietnam!
We left Hanoi, and let the city unspool behind us as concrete gave way to fields, rice paddies, and farms. Hopping on a sleeper train, we snaked our way along the Red River and left the lowlands behind, gradually making our way to the craggy northwestern highlands on the border of China. Having spent a … More Bac Ha: Seldovia in Vietnam
Take a quick look at some PHOTOS and VIDEO of our time in Hanoi!
Our plane descended through towering, anvil-shaped thunderheads, and the hazy glow of urban lights started peeking through intermittent flashes of lightning. Ada gripped Mom’s hand tightly, and I remembered that we don’t come from thunderstorm country. We were all beat down tired from a marathon of long haul flights, airports, and jet lag. Coming in … More No chewing gum allowed
