Postcards from Chiang Mai
My yoga teacher training in January was set in Doi Saket, about an hour east of Chiang Mai, in the beautiful countryside. I had three days off in the four weeks that I was there, and two of those days were spent in Chiang Mai.
I’d been to Chiang Mai a decade earlier and done the tourist things then, so my days off in Chiang Mai (three in the month) were set on spending as much time as possible by myself. I primarily went into town to take advantage of all the variety of food there — Burmese tea leaf salad, bowls of khao soi, interesting vegan dishes, and plenty of mango sticky rice
There’s not much scenery depicted in these postcards, but there’s plenty of food!
Postcards from New Year’s Eve
Introducing a bit of time travel to you! After all, isn’t that what a postcard is — apiece of the past that’s made its way through time to your present?
Happy New Year from Tasmania!
I’ve neglected to share updates from the beginning of my move to Australia — although I don’t count Dec 2024 as such since I was only in Australia for two weeks (one of which I was in Tasmania) before flying out to Southeast Asia for yoga teacher training — and want to share postcards from New Year’s Eve, where I celebrated in my favorite place in the world: the mountains.
I’d booked a last minute trip to Tasmania to spend time with Kazu, his family, and Satori. I first met Kazu and Satori in Kazakhstan and we ended up crossing paths multiple times across multiple countries, becoming good friends along the way.
Hanging out at Honeymoon Bay, Tasmania
New Year’s Eve was magical. I hiked in Hartz Mountain National Park with good friends, watched the last sunset of 2024 from the top of Hartz Peak, and greeted 2025 surrounded by chosen family. Looking through these photos brought a smile to my face - how lucky I am to have forged lasting relationships with incredible people during my travels abroad. This was one of my favorite New Year’s - celebrating the turning of time, sending out the old and welcoming the new, in a way authentic to who I am and want to be, hopefully setting the tone for the year to come.
Postcards from Hanoi
I wasn’t prepared to fall in love or feel so at home in this city — many people I met on my journey to Vietnam warned me about the chaotic nature of Hanoi, but I absolutely loved everything about the city.
Hanoi felt like a good balance of East and West, the perfect blend for a modern city located in Asia. It’s a balance I’ve been seeking — and am still seeking — so it was fascinating to wander, explore, and examine Hanoi. There was the familiar sight of people who looked like me, familiar flavours that tasted like home, familiar characters written on buildings and streets, all which echoed my ancestral homeland. Then there was the comforting sounds of traffic beeping in the streets and comforting chaos of the people navigating the busy roads, reminding me of my home in New York.
I ate bowls of pho for breakfast in street stalls and sipped on delicious coffee in cozy cafes. I spoke to store vendors in English and chatted with locals in Chinese. I rode a motorbike like a local and took photos like a tourist. I was both at home and abroad.
Postcards from Ha Long Bay
The pictures really don’t do Ha Long Bay justice — there’s something that your brain does to process what you see in front of you that makes it more dazzling, more alive, than what is able to be captured on camera.
Postcards from Ninh Binh
A visual capture of my time in Ninh Binh; a written reflection here.
Postcards from Sapa
I envisioned gazing down on vibrant green fields of rice while hiking through lush mountains. Instead clouds obscured the view below as I slipped and slid through muddy trails. I was miserably cold at night on the trail, bundled up in multiple layers of sweaters and jackets, shivering under several tiers of blankets and comforters, and made the decision to head south to Hanoi the next day - the cold and the clouds were not worth it!
Food tour of Hanoi
First challenge of Crappy First Drafts: publishing when all I want to do is fall asleep in my queen-sized bed in the privacy (!) of my own room. Now all I want to do is fly back to Hanoi and feed my body and soul with delicious Vietnamese food.
Sighnaghi and Davit Gareja
SighnaghiSighnaghi is affectionately known as the city of love. It’s a very charming town in the Kakheti region of Georgia, also known as the wine region! Alaska and I spent one day and two nights there wandering around town, which is quite small. It’s the most touristic place I’ve been in Georgia so far so one day was enough for me. The red roofs remind me of Dubrovnik, Croatia and there’s something quite beautiful about seeing the town from above.
Davit Gareja MonasteryWe drove to Davit Gareja on our way back to Tbilisi from Sighnaghi. This monastery complex is located right on the border of Georgia and Azerbaijan - in fact ~150m of the road to Davit Gareja technically falls within Azerbaijan! The monastery has been a source of border dispute between the two countries as both claim rights to the monastery due to the monastery’s historical and religious significance. Unfortunately we were not able to hike to Udabno Monastery, the upper part of the Davit Gareja complex, because access was blocked off by Georgian border guards due to the recent Georgian-Azerbaijan tensions.
Davit Gareja was constructed in the 6th century by a group on Assyrian monks who came to this area to settle down and spread the word of Christianity. What makes this monastery complex so unique is that the monasteries have been carved straight from stone! All types of rooms, from libraries to bedrooms to living areas, are carved from the stone. It was fascinating to see stairs carved from the stone and imagine hundreds of monks carefully making their way to the caves. It reminded me of the caves in Cappadocia, Turkey.
Gergeti Glacier
I spent last weekend in Stepantsminda, officially named Stepantsminda but still commonly called by its former name Kazbegi. Stepantsminda was originally named after a Georgian monk Stephan but the name was changed to Kazbegi in 1925 during Soviet rule. Given the animosity between Georgia and Russia, it’s not surprising that the name was changed back to Stepantsminda in 2006.
Stepantsminda is a three and a half hour marshrutka ride north of Tbilisi, and it’s one of the most popular places to go hiking (the other is the four day hike from Mestia to Ushguli - more coming on that soon). Kazu and Satori happened to be in Tbilisi as well, so we made the trip to Stepantsminda together.
The hike to Gergeti Glacier was beautiful. We had a very early morning start at 5am in order to beat the forecast of afternoon rain and were rewarded with a glorious sunrise and stunning views of Mt Kazbek, the third highest mountain in Georgia at 5054 meters.
When we first arrived in Stepantsminda it was lunch time, so we followed our noses to a local bakery. The owner invited us in to see how he and his brother baked the bread. It was so cool to see the bread baked in a traditional manner!
You can see the two khachapuri baking in the oven
Kazu looking very pleased about our acquisition of khachapuri (cheese-filled bread) and lobiani (bean-filled bread). We were lucky to get them straight from the oven so the ooey gooey cheese was scrumptious. The lobiani made a perfect hiking snack for our trip up to Gergeti Glacier.
