Podcast Episode Guide 2016
| Episodes | |
|---|---|---|
| Seeking The Christmas Spirit In Taiwan With The "Polar Express" Bullet Train For some, Christmas in Taiwan might not feel quiet like the time of year they grew up knowing. For one thing, Christmas is not recognized as a holiday on the island. If Christmas falls during the week it's a regular work day for everyone. | Dec 22, 2016 |
| Best Of "Live"-Boat Ride On The Perfume River-Hue, Vietnam The Perfume River divides the North and South sections of Hue. In the north, the Citadel, a walled fortress and the remains of The Forbidden Purple City, home to the Nguyen emperors. The South contains modern Hue, much of which had to be rebuilt after the Vietnam War. | Dec 14, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel Best Of "Live"-Cebu City, The Philippines On my recent trip to The Philippines I flew from Taipei,Taiwan direct to Cebu City, the second largest urban center in the country next to Manila with a population of approximately 1 million. The total surrounding metro Cebu City population is around 3 million. | Dec 12, 2016 |
| Saigon, Vietnam-Fast-Changing City Of Contrasts I was checking out Pham Ngu Lao and Bo Vien known as the backpacker center. I normally like exploring and photographing less touristy areas of a city but it never hurts to be familiar with places where you’re more likely to meet up with fellow travelers and exchange stories, suggestions and tips. | Dec 8, 2016 |
| Trekking The Great Annapurna Circuit, Nepal Part V-Final Episode Kagbeni is one of the most interesting villages in all of Nepal with it’s ancient Bonn Animist beliefs, statues and a picturesque location in the Kala Gandaki gorge. | Dec 4, 2016 |
| Trekking The Great Annapurna Circuit, Nepal Part IV We arrived at Thorung Phedi just before dark. An 8 hour day with an elevation gain of over 1000 meters. Long, tiring, and risky before a summit of the Thorung La Pass. But I was fine other then feeling the long day on the trail. | Nov 30, 2016 |
| Trekking The Great Annapurna Circuit, Nepal Part III There are two routes to Manang from Pisang. A lower trail that’s a little easier with less climbing and the upper route, slightly more challenging but also helpful for acclimating with bonus mountain views. We chose the route north of the Marsyangdi and headed for Upper Pisang. | Nov 21, 2016 |
| Trekking The Great Annapurna Circuit, Nepal Part II It’s a shame that many drive through this part of the circuit for upper Annapurna trekking and stays missing the epic river and waterfall views in this portion of the trail. The suspension bridge crossings that put you right in the middle of the energy path of the mighty Marshyangdi are breathtaking. | Nov 8, 2016 |
| Trekking The Great Annapurna Circuit, Nepal Part I The Annapurna Circuit Trek is one of the greatest hikes in the world with amazing views of the Himalaya’s Annapurna Massif, the opportunity to trek in two different river valleys of Nepal, the Marshyangdi and Kali Gandaki. | Oct 29, 2016 |
| Vietnam's Romantic Hill Town Train-The Da Lat Railway Da Lat is located in the South Central Highlands of Vietnam. It was established by the French during their occupation as a hill town resort in 1907. | Oct 16, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel Best Of "Live"-Annapurna Circuit, Nepal Part II I was truly looking forward to live streaming much of my recent trek of the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. This of course is one of the most popular hiking trails in the world with stunning views of the Annapurna range of the Himalaya. | Oct 11, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel Best of "Live"-Annapurna Circuit, Nepal I’ve have been very fortunate to have trekked some of the greatest trails in the world. Everest Base Camp in Nepal and Tibet, the once forbidden Upper Mustang region of Nepal, and India’s Singalila Ridge trek among others. | Oct 10, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel Best of "Live" Typhoon Alley-Taiwan I always get asked when is the best time to visit Taiwan. I always respond with almost anytime if you don't mind hot weather, rain, or an occasional typhoon. | Oct 7, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel Best of "Live"-Vietnam In this episode of The Best Of Far East Adventure Travel "Live" highlights from two great spots to visit in Southern Vietnam. The hill station town of Dalat and Vietnam's largest beach resort, Nha Trang. Two completely different experiences both filled with adventure activities and beautiful scenery. | Sept 27, 2016 |
| Best of Far East Adventure Travel "Live" Saigon Highlights Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is a rapidly changing urban landscape. On my recent visit I was surprised to still find some iconic sites left over from the Vietnam war days despite all of the new construction including a underground metro system. | Sept 12, 2016 |
| Best Of Far East Adventure Travel "Live"-Charming, Ancient Hoi An, Vietnam One of the loveliest times to explore and wander the atmospheric streets of Hoi An, Vietnam is the early morning hours. | Sept 4, 2016 |
| Best Of Far East Adventure Travel "Live"-Saigon, Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, or Saigon a name still used by many of it’s residents is full of history, culture, amazing nightlife, and a city that’s modernizing rapidly. On my most recent visit the skyline was noticeably filled with cranes atop new buildings and an underground subway under construction. | Sept 3, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel "Live"-Best of Chiang Rai, Thailand Chiang Rai, Thailand is one of the those places you end up staying longer than planned. Even though it's the largest city in the most northern part of the country there is a wonderful "chill vibe", evident in the slow place, the numerous cafes, wonderful Buddhist temples, including the original home of the Emerald Buddha. | August 26, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel "Live"-Best Of Bangkok, Thailand 2016 Bangkok, Thailand is full of history, exciting street life, notorious red-light districts, fantastic food and enough stimulation to call it one of the most exciting cities to visit on the planet! It’s actually the second most visited city in the world following by London as the top spot and preceding Paris in third place. | August 22, 2016 |
| Best Of Far East Adventure Travel "Live"-Nepal 2015 2015 will go down as one of the most challenging if not the most disastrous year ever for Nepal. From the worst earthquakes in over 80 years to a fuel crisis that literally turned the country upside down with line-ups at the pump that lasted for days to a lack of basic cooking and heating fuel for the majority of the population. | August 11, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel-Best Of "Live"-Kerala, India Kerala is one of my favourite states to travel through in India. It has an interesting history filled with some of the most varied culture and religion in all of the country. | July 31, 2016 |
| Far East Adventure Travel-Best of "Live"-Mumbai, India Mumbai, India is one of the most exciting destinations in South Asia. Easily the richest city in the region, the most expensive private home in the world is located there, it’s a roller coaster ride of experiences from visiting neighbourhoods filled with British “Raj” architecture, holy sites, crazy markets, and yes even long stretches of beaches, just don’t go in for a swim. | July 27, 2016 |
| Chiang Rai, Thailand's Temples, Cafes, Walking Markets=Super Chill OK, I don’t want to mislead you, this is not the busiest street in Chiang Rai and there is lots of traffic in the city but it’s easy to feel like it’s not busy in this town and surrounding area with a population of around 200,000. | July 17, 2016 |
| Ultimate Trekking Adventure - Everest Base Camp, Nepal-Part 2 Having completed one of the toughest days of the trek it was time to move back onto the busy trail to Everest Base Camp. From Dzhong La the next stop was Lobuche, with modest accomodations below beautiful Nuptse. We were surrounded by stunning views of the HImalaya joined by the hundreds who were on the same journey. | July 3, 2016 |
| Ultimate Trekking Adventure-Everest Base Camp, Nepal-Part 1 It’s one of the most coveted treks in the world. Everest Base Camp, Nepal. Far East Adventure Travel is proud to present two podcasts completely devoted to the magic of trekking this region. From crossing the sometimes treacherous Chola Pass to the final steps arriving at Everest Base Camp. And an early morning ascent of Kala Patthar for one of the best views of Everest in all of Nepal. | July 3, 2016 |
| Sri Lanka's Greatest Pilgrimage-Sunrise Climb To Adam's Peak Adam’s Peak or Sri Pada is located in Central Sri Lanka and is a 2200 meter conical shaped mountain. All religious faiths on the island consider a hike to the top the holiest pilgrimage. Most will make their ascent in the early in the morning to reach the peak for sunrise. | June 28, 2016 |
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| Chiang Rai, Thailand's Star Attractions-Black Temple/White Temple Wat Rong Khun or "The White Temple" is a popular tourist attraction located south of Chiang Rai in Chaing Rai Province, Thailand. | June 25, 2016 |
| The Slow Groove/Cafe Culture Of Vientiane, Laos Out of all of the capitals in Southeast Asia Vientiane takes the prize as the most laid back. You’d never believe it was the center of commerce, government and transportation. | June 17, 2016 |
| Taiwan's World Famous Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is one of the most popular Lunar New Year Celebrations in Taiwan. People will travel from all over the island just for this event which starts about two weeks before the end of Lunar New Year festivities. | June 9, 2016 |
| The North Face-Trekking To Everest Base Camp-Tibet Tibet changed my life. I have never looked at the world the same since. If you want to touch the deepest part of your soul, visit this land. The roots of spirituality are here. The sites and landscape are breathtaking. | June 3, 2016 |
| World's Greatest Fish Auction-Tsukiji Fish Market-Tokyo, Japan Tsukiji Market-Tokyo, Japan. Home to the world famous tuna auction where wholesalers bid on blue fin tuna worth tens of thousands of dollars almost everyday. For the lucky few who brave the early morning hour like myself recently it’s a chance to get up close to this unique arena of high stakes bidding on the most prized fish in the world. | June 1, 2016 |
| Temples, Gods, And A Whisky Drinking Goat-Kolkata, India The Khali Temple in the Khalighat section of Kolkata, India. I was here with my friend Subroto who was showing me the area. This is also where Mother Teresa’s home for the Dying Destitute is located. And it’s also where you can find Bhola The Goat. Yes, this goat is named Bhola, and he is cared for by the people of the temple. | May 27, 2016 |
| Greatest Camel Show On Earth-Pushkar, India This is the Hindu pilgrimage town of Pushkar in Rajasthan, India. I came here for the annual Pushkar Camel Fair. When camel traders and animal herders ascend on this town with 50,000 horses, cattle, and the star attraction, the camels. | May 26, 2016 |
| Swinging With The Gibbons-Zip Lining Laos Laos is a country that is very appealing to me. It’s in the heart of Asia but for some reason has remained a low tourist traffic area on the South East Asia circuit. Whether it’s backpackers or luxury travellers, the big numbers are not there yet. It’s surprising because it has amenities and activities to fit both group’s needs as well as amazing travel value! | May 26, 2016 |
| My Beloved Nepal-Part 5-Worship Amidst Ruins When I visited Nepal in May of 2015 the country was in the middle of one of the worst natural disasters in it’s history. Fear was felt everywhere as the second biggest tremor registering 7.3 shook the country on May 12 followed by more aftershocks. | May 15, 2016 |
| Guangzhou is the third largest city in China after Beijing and Shanghai. It’s historic name is Canton, recognizable for it’s world-famous food, one of the eight culinary traditions of Chinese cuisine. It’s also a busy important transportation hub and commercial center hosting the biannual Canton Fair, the largest trade fair in China. | May 8, 2016 |
| My Beloved Nepal-Earthquake Stories Part 4-Sankhu Devastation Sankhu, is a historic town that sits on the old Tibetan salt trade route in the Kathmandu Valley, 17kmh away from the capital of Kathmandu. | May 5, 2016 |
| My Beloved Nepal-Earthquake Stories Part 3-Fear and Homelessness Soon after I arrived in Kathmandu on May 12, 2015, the day the 7.3 earthquake struck the country fear, like a virus, once again spread throughout cities, towns and villages everywhere. | May 1, 2016 |
| My Beloved Nepal-Earthquake Stories Part 2-Patan's Durbar Square Patan is one of three royal cities in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, the other two are Kathmandu and Bhaktapur. All three former kingdoms feature a Durbar(royal) Square that are made up of temples, idles, shrines, and a former palace where each royal family lived. | April 27, 2016 |
| My Beloved Nepal-Earthquake Stories Part 1 For Nepal 2015 will go down as one of the worst years on record, for disasters, politics, everything! On April 25 at 11:56am an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 shook the country from it’s epicenter at Lamjung District at Barpak, Gorkha. | April 26, 2016 |
| Kanyakumari, India-Land's End Of The Subcontinent Kanyakumari India sits at the southern tip of the subcontinent. Technically it’s not the Republic of India’s extreme southern point, that title goes to Indira Point on Great Nicobar Island. It is however a popular tourist destination and important pilgrimage for many Indians. | April 22, 2016 |
| Beaches To Street Food-The Maximum City-Mumbai, India Experiencing the culture of Mumbai is as easy as hopping on a bus. Daily activities like riding the bus or local trains can be just as interesting and exciting as visiting an important landmark or museum. | April 16, 2016 |
| Cinemascope Edition-Atmospheric Hot Springs Village-Beitou-Taipei, Taiwan Beitou District is a short 20 minute MRT ride from Taipei, Taiwan but it feels like your in another world. Serene compared to the bustle of Taipei, the hot springs resort area of the district is situated right over the Tatun Volcano Group, making it a prime location for hot springs. | April 12, 2016 |
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| Cinemascope Edition-Bangkok's Dazzling Top Attraction-The Grand Palace The Grand Palace is the busiest tourist attraction in Bangkok. It has been home to the Kings of Siam and Thailand since 1782. It is not one building as the name implies but a series of buildings, halls, and pavilions set around courtyards, open lawns, and gardens. | April 8, 2016 |
| Cinemascope Edition-Wars, Opium, And Tea-Mae Salong, Thailand In Northern Thailand 15km away from the border of Myanmar lies Santikhiri, otherwise known as Mae Salong. It’s history was in part formed by the opium trade as part of the Golden Triangle. More recently it was settled by members of the 93rd division of the Chinese Nationalist Army who refused to surrender to communist China when they were defeated by Mao’s army in 1949. | April 4, 2016 |
| Chiang Mai, Thailand's "Chill" Saturday Walking Street Market Plan your trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand to fall on a weekend and you'll be rewarded with the opportunity to visit it's two major night markets or walking street markets. | March 22, 2016 |
| Taipei, Taiwan's Food Paradise-Shilin Night Market No discussion on the food of Taiwan would be complete without a visit to Taipei’s Shilin Night Market. This is one of the largest night markets on the island with streets that wind around a section of the city filled with food stalls, restaurants, clothing and souvenir shops, and amusement games. | March 18, 2016 |
| Luminescent Magic In Taiwan-The Taoyuan Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival marks the 15th day of the Lunar New Year and traditionally ends festivities. In Taiwan it's just the start of a spectacular display of creativity with paper, lights and even more high- tech tools used to dazzle the large crowds that turn out across the island for the festivals. | March 13, 2016 |
| Gods, Rockets, And Warriors-Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, Taiwan-Part 3 Another beehive is finished. The palanquins are directed away from the middle of the street so oncoming emergency vehicles can pass through the crowds and the piles of fireworks remnants. Appearing to be cruising the area, when someone truly is in need of emergency care I’ve seen these vehicles swiftly moving through the streets of Yanshui with the help of volunteers. | March 12, 2016 |
| Gods, Rockets, And Warriors-Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, Taiwan Part 2 We get the signal, they're ready to go. The men at the front of the palanquins quickly turn their backs to the wall, and brace for the barrage of piercing rockets. And the cacophony of the beehive began with roaring tides of bottle rocket streaks fired off in all directions. Exploding in mid air, sometimes right in front of my mask and tiny explosions at my feet. | March 7, 2016 |
| Gods, Rockets, And Warriors-Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, Taiwan The Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival is held every year in Yanshui District in Southern Taiwan. Locally known as the Feng Pao it is considered one of the most dangerous festivals in the world as well as being the third largest folk celebration. Why do they blow off millions of bottle rockets and firecrackers you ask? | March 2, 2016 |
| "Pearl Of Asia"-Phnom Penh, Cambodia's Top Sites Phnom Penh has been the capital of Cambodia since French colonization. It is the country’s largest city with a population of over 2 million. It’s the center of commerce, the arts, cultural heritage and diplomacy. Once called “the pearl of Asia” it was one of the most beautiful French built cities in Southeast Asia. | March 1, 2016 |
| Cochin-Kerala, India-Global Masala Mix Of Cultures With the diverse mix of beliefs, spirituality and cultures Cochin is also known as a very tolerant community with harmony like nowhere else in India. | Feb 14, 2016 |
| Lunar New Year At Taipei's Historic Grand Temples When asked when's the best time to visit Taiwan I usually say almost anytime but festivals, especially Lunar New Year celebrations are when the island's culture and spirit are at it's peak. | Feb 10, 2016 |
| Taipei, Taiwan's Dihua Street-Stocking Up For Lunar New Year Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year is the most important celebration in Taiwan and throughout most of the Chinese speaking countries and communities of East Asia, Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. | Feb 3, 2016 |
| An Eclectic Selection Of Tokyo's Top Neighborhoods It’s called shitamachi, the old town ambience of Tokyo’s past that has survived and in fact flourishes today in the Yanaka neighborhood, within walking distance of Tokyo’s expansive Ueno Park. You’ll find streets and alleys lined with old style merchant housing. Typically a shop on the ground floor with a living space above. | Feb 1, 2016 |
| Boating, Hiking, Discovering Pokhara, Nepal's World Peace Pagoda Pokhara is the second largest city in Nepal. Situated on Phewa Lake it’s close proximity to the Annapurna range of the Himalaya makes it a trekking center for the world-famous Annapurna Circuit. | Feb 1, 2016 |
| Petronas Twin Towers-KL Malaysia's Star Attraction Tour The Petronas towers or Petronas twin towers are located in the center of Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia. They were the highest buildings in the world from 1998-2004 until Taipei 101 in Taiwan took the reigns of the top spot. They are still currently the highest twin towers in the world. | Jan 25, 2016 |
| Luang Prabang, Laos-Drowning In Buddhism And Laos New Year Luang Prabang, Laos is one of the most picturesque towns in Southeast Asia. The name literally translates to Royal Buddha image. It’s rich history, beautiful architecture combined with a strong Buddhist monastic community makes it a place all too tempting to stay longer than planned. On my most recent trip to the former royal capital I was fortunate enough to be in time for the country’s most important holiday and festival, Pi Mai or Laos New Year. | Jan 21, 2016 |
| Discovering Ancient Gods and Organic Grains - Kagbeni, Nepal Kagbeni is one of the most interesting villages in all of Nepal with it’s take on Western shopping and food culture. But it’s much more than that. Ancient Bonn Animist beliefs, statues and a picturesque location in the Kala Gandaki, the world’s deepest gorge. Join me John Saboe for a special edition of Far East Adventure Travel Podcast on the Buddhist trail to the Upper Mustang-The Medieval village of Kagbeni, Nepal. | Jan 5, 2016 |
| Nature's Hindu Temple Offering-Batu Caves, Malaysia The Batu Caves are a series of limestone caves and cave temples located in Selangor, Malaysia. So easy to get to it even has it’s own train stop. | Jan 1, 2016 |
| Taipei 101's New Years Eve Blast Off- 2016 When you walk through the crowds around Taipei 101, Taipei City Hall and the Xinyi Shopping District of Taipei, Taiwan on December 31st, New Years Eve, you might not believe that this is not the most important celebration of the year. | Jan 1, 2016 |