The Last Ifugao Weaver of Batad

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Rita traditional weaver in Batad
Rita in front of her home, a few moments before we said goodbye.

I met Rita in Batad, one of the small villages perched among the 2000-year-old rice terraces of the jagged Cordillera mountain range on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.

No roads reach the mountain village. To get to Batad my friends and I hired a jeepney in Banue and rode an hour along a windy dirt road to the trailhead where we disembarked. We hiked an hour down the steep rocky trail into the village.

Most of the villages in this part of the Philippine Cordillera can only be reached on foot. 

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Taken By Surprise: Santana And The Singha Experience

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santana-blue

When I was invited on a blogger trip sponsored by Singha to try out their signature Singha concert experience, I figured “Why not?” My buddies Ian and Erick were also going on the trip and not much happens in the sleepy little beachside village 3hr southeast of Bangkok where I live.

I thought it would be a fun night out, but I wasn’t expecting much

Man, was I in for a surprise.

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34 Insane Photos From the Real Land of Ice and Fire

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Northern lights over Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon

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Photo: Moyan Brenn /Flickr

Epic battles in equally epic landscapes; who doesn’t love Game of Thrones?

The depictions of vast, barren lands north in of the wall in the series are mostly set in the Earth’s own real-life Land of Ice and Fire: Iceland.

Sitting on the fissure between two tectonic plates Iceland’s ice-covered landscape includes towering mountains, sprawling valleys, active volcanoes, glacial lagoons, natural hot springs, ice caves, and ferocious geysers.

These 34 insane Icelandphotos capture the surreal beauty of one of the world’s most epic geographic wonders. I’ve written before about my desire to take an Iceland vacation, and these photos just make me want to even more.

Before we get to the photos, check out this short (one-minute) video, which highlights the beauty of the country beautifully.

This video was created by Nordic Visitor, which is an excellent resource website for all the nordic countries that enables you to search for travel activities by destination (like Iceland), time of year, or travel style (for example, self drive tours).

**This blog post was brought to you by Nordic Visitor, but all opinions are my own, and the natural beauty featured within is the exclusive property of Iceland.

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5 Places I Have To Visit In 2016

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A lot of my travel blogger friends are always on the move. They count the number of new countries they visit each year and many seem to have the goal of visiting every country in the world.

I don’t.

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Six Ways I’m Building A Better 2016

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Matt surfing at Rayong
Spending more time surfing is not so much a New Year’s resolution as a lifelong goal. | Photo: Luigi Governi
This post was brought you by Overnight and the #ExploreMore project.

Yes, it’s another one of those ‘things I’m going to do in 2016’ blog posts. But, I think you’ll find this one different from most.

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Okinawa: The Secret is Out

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okinawa-lead

You’ve probably heard of Okinawa before, and there’s about a 99% chance that the first time you heard about it was in Karate Kid 2 and 3. It’s the place in Japan where Mr. Miyagi is from, and where Daniel travels with him to trim bonsai trees and beat up bad guys.

Beyond that, few people know much about Okinawa. So, I’m going to tell you about it. This post is about two things: 1) Why I’d love to visit Okinawa and 2) The recent Okinawa video series that the Be Okinawa has launched called Okinawa: The Secret is Out.

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