• Home
  • About
    • Who We are
    • Affiliates
    • Disclosures & Guidelines
    • FAQs
    • Privacy Notice
  • Funding Your Travels
    • Banking on the Road
    • Credit Cards in Our Wallet
    • Spending
  • Contact
    • Media
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Partnership Opportunities

i should log off

log off and live!

  • Travel & Planning
    • Travel Reflections
      • Good, Bad & Ugly
      • Re-Entry
    • Travel Resources
      • Travel Tips
      • Travel Bloggers
    • Reviews
      • Gear
      • Operators
      • Travel Clothing
    • Travel Gear
      • Cameras
      • Danny’s Clothes
      • Electronics
      • Health & Hygiene
      • Jillian’s Clothes
      • General Gear
  • Destinations
    • Travel Guides
    • Africa
      • Egypt
      • Ethiopia
      • Lesotho
      • Kenya
      • Malawi
      • Morocco
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Sudan
      • Swaziland
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Zimbabwe
    • Asia & Oceania
      • Armenia
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Georgia
      • India
      • Kazakhstan
      • Laos
      • Thailand
      • Turkey
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vietnam
    • Caribbean
      • Antigua
      • Cuba
      • Jamaica
    • Central America
      • Belize
      • Costa Rica
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Nicaragua
      • Panama
    • Europe
      • Armenia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Czech Republic
      • France
      • Georgia
      • Germany
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Spain
      • Turkey
    • North America
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • USA
    • Middle East
      • Egypt
      • Israel
      • Jordan
      • Oman
      • Turkey
    • South America
      • Argentina
      • Brazil
      • Bolivia
      • Chile
      • Colombia
      • Ecuador
      • Peru
      • Uruguay
  • Weekend Adventures
    • Cycle
      • Pastimes
        • Beer & Wine
        • Books
        • Cooking
        • History & Culture
    • Dive & Snorkel
    • Hike
    • Trek
    • Whitewater
  • Photos
    • Photo of the Day
  • Family Travel
You are here: Home / Archives for asia

Photo:The Ancient City of Pingyao

October 26, 2011 By Danny

If you’ve ever seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, then you can imagine what it is like to walk around the ancient walled city of Pingyao.  When we were there the air was cold, the sky was dark and the streets were filled with domestic tourists.  Somehow, every time we walked into another small temple or old house the noise and the riff-raff just faded away and left us with beautiful pieces of history like this this small Pagoda.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

IF YOU GO:  There will be tour guides everywhere and you will be in more photos on other peoples’ cameras (the domestic tourists are very interested in foreigners) than on your own camera.  Find yourself a nice place to stay, order some green tea, and relax as village life passes you by.  If you get bored, there are some caves to visit nearby.  From Pingyao it is best to go north to visit Datong or south to visit Xi’an.

Filed Under: photos Tagged With: asia, China, Pingyao

Chinese Acupuncture

August 16, 2011 By Sean

Chinese Traditional Medicine is often looked upon as insane by Westerners. When I first moved to China, I would actually get upset at medical professionals when they told me the medicine or procedure I was looking for would not work, instead recommending tea or acupuncture. Eventually I realized I should heed their advice and visit an acupuncturist. After all, many of Asia’s medical practices have been around for over 5000 years, something pointed out to me almost daily.

I took a trip to the doctor and took off my shoes and socks as instructed. Sam, ironically the name of my Chinese doctor, took out a box of needles and made it a point to show me they were sterile before ripping open the package. He asked me where my pain was and was shocked at how many achy spots I had for my age, then he got to work cleaning some skin and then….

Then he STABBED me with a needle.

Ok, it was more like a quick jab followed by a twist. The twist makes it so that the nerves tighten up. A little twist and there is a little bit of pain, so he twisted until the pain went away.

My stomach churned whilst I watched the needles plunge quickly into my skin, but it was over just as it had begun. When I thought we were finished, he walked away without saying a word. A minute later, Sam returned with a machine unfamiliar to me. He explained it was going to send electrical pulses to the needles, which would make the tissue surrounding the needle jump. Sam continued by saying this would not hurt, but in fact relieve the pain because it allowed the tissue to relax and heal itself. All I could think about was how completely unnatural the needles and electrical stimulation felt to my body.

He turned it on slowly so as not to make the pulse too strong. It felt….weird! He had me lay still for a full 20 minutes before he began removing the needles from my body. When he finished, I couldn’t stand up! My muscles were just that relaxed.

Next, Sam offered to cup me, which clearly required further explanation. The procedure required that he take a glass bowl and place a flame inside it so it ate up all the oxygen. With the oxygen gone, Sam would quickly place the bowl on my back so as to suck the toxins from my body while also increasing blood flow to the area….and giving me some serious circular bruises for a few weeks.

The pain of the cups sucking on my skin was much more than I had anticipated and far stronger than the acupuncture had been but I managed to grin and bared it. Twenty minutes later, I was a free man. I shook Sam’s hand and dashed out of the hospital as quickly as I could.

In time I grew to love acupuncture. Although I still hate the process, it actually makes me feel better. I’ve gone back nine times since that first trip and can’t wait for my next treatment.

IF YOU GO: Acupuncturists in China are like lawyers in America, they’re everywhere! The procedure is affordable for everyone. If you go to China and want to give this a shot be sure to ask around for recommendations. The first time you do something like this you’ll want it to be a bit ‘gentler’ and if you don’t speak the language you’ll either need a translator to help you through it or you’ll need to find an English-speaking doctor.

Filed Under: Asia & Oceania, China, Destinations, Headline Tagged With: acupuncture, alternative medicine, asia, China, eastern, medical, medicine, needles, therapy

Tobias Index: Asia

January 27, 2011 By Danny

So we’ve counted and tallied our favorites and not so favorites from East and Southern Asia.  It was out last continent, but certainly not our least adventurous.  From a moto trip in rural Laos to a major festival in Chang Mai it was a fun place to end the trip.  Here’s our index of fun facts:

  • 8 Overnight trains.
  • 3 Overnight buses.
  • 8 Airplane rides within a continent prior to Asia.
  • 7 Airplane rides within Asia.
  • 3 Days spent on a motorbike.
  • 7 Countries.

IMGP6437

  • 25 Amount in dollars of our most expensive hotel room (a triple).
  • 7 amount in dollars of our cheapest hotel room (also a triple).
  • 478 Visa cost in USD per person paid officially to the governments of these 7 countries to enter or exit.
  • 4 Amount paid in USD per person in unofficial fees to border agents to enter/exit these countries.

IMGP9854

  • 1 visitor from home.
  • 5 weeks that visitor spent with us.
  • 3 shipments of clothing and souvenirs sent home.
  • 1 cell phone stolen.
  • 1 time we saw how the Chinese treat the Tibetans.
  • 1 time this whole trip our computer was examined by border agents.
  • 6 Hours we once spent adding hot water to our green tea at a Chinese ‘tea hall’.

IMGP6259

  • 1 Burmese python Danny used to freak Jill out as it wrapped around his neck.
  • 17 Custom made dress shirts purchased.
  • 10 Average price, in USD, of each of those shirts.
  • 2 Roaches Danny killed in his bunk during the night on a Thai train.

IMGP0838

  • 2 Super holy Buddhist festivals we attended.
  • 0 Days spent lounging on the beach.
  • 3 Number of cities where we were offered illegal drugs while walking down the street.
  • 2 Number of cities where we were able to order illegal drugs off a dinner menu.
  • 1 Number of cities in the rest of the world where either of those things happened to us.

IMGP6269

Filed Under: Asia & Oceania, Headline Tagged With: asia, index, numbers, stats

Connect With Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Featured Posts

Our Bucket List
How We Travel For Free
$ Travel Tips

Recent Comments

  • Barbara on Kayaking Kauai’s Na Pali Coast
  • Lori Hubbard on Review: Eneloop Batteries and Charger
  • TK on The Trouble with Philadelphia

Banking on the Road

It can be very hard to keep track of your finances while you're on the road long-term. Be sure to check out how we took care of our finances while traveling and feel free to email us any questions you have.

Adventure Guides

Torres Del Paine
China Adventure
Uzbekistan Overland
Egyptian Odyssey
Malaria
Argentina Adventure
DIY African Safari
South Africa Guide
Bolivia by Bus
How-To African Visas

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright 2008-2015 · All Rights Reserved · Contact I Should Log Off · RSS · Partner With Us · Privacy