SPOTTED Abroad​

Homestays in Asia are much like the B&B’s we have back home. Our first homestay in Asia occurred in Hoi An and was a delightful. Tea Garden Homestay had a lovely young family of hosts that prepared the most delicious breakfasts and offered up stellar advice on navigating the ancient city. We enjoyed the experience and loved getting to meet such a great family. They even had their own hobby farm complete with a luscious koi pond and stream, two alligator gar separate from

Just north of the Marble Mountains lies Lihn Ung Pagoda at the foot of Monkey Mountain. The pagoda itself is extremely large and impressive but what stands out the most and really attracts tourists to its grounds is the 67 meter tall statue of Buddha Guinean, the goddess of mercy, that overlooks Da Nang. #Vietnam

On recommendation from my brother, we ventured north from Hoi An to Da Nang to visit Marble Mountains. The mountains consist of 5 separate limestone and marble mountains that seem to rise out of nowhere. In the past marble was quarried from the mountains and carved nearby into numerous statues and jewelry. Today rock extraction from the mountains is banned, but the stone carving industry remains around the mountains getting it’s marble from nearby quarries. The mountains

Steven and I are foodies, so when we heard from many fellow travelers how good (and cheap) the street food in Vietnam was, we were excited! The best street food we had hands down was in Hoi An, Vietnam. In the market are several food stalls with many stall owners serving up a variety of dishes. After reading reviews on Trip Advisor we hit up Ms Chien (featured on Anthony Bourdain’s show 'No Reservations') for her infamous Cao Lau - a noodle dish only found in Hoi An. I

Overwhelming is an understatement when it comes to finding the perfect tailor in Hoi An. The best thing to do is check out Trip Advisor reviews and then take a quick visit into the shops that catch your eye. We also took the recommendation of our homestay hostess. Make sure to inspect their sample garments for quality stitching and use of quality fabric. Take note however, no one will really give you an exact price unless you are measured first and pick out all of the fab

The next stop on our photo tour at the fish market and village was the fish sauce plant. While the aroma was overpowering and slightly stinky (think anchovies), the images were beautiful. Defnitely some of our favs captured thus far on this journey. Afterward, we stopped for a delicious lunch. Yes, that is a snake picture that I took. I've come a LONG way:) Thanks again Etienne Bassot for showing us the ropes. #Vietnam

Being photographers who are also traveling at the moment with other photographers, we decided to book a photo excursion to a local fish market through www.hoianphototour.com. Our guide and instructor for the six non-professional photographers on the the tour was a local wedding photographer Etienne Bossot. He was a great guide and gave us some amazing insight to the people of the market and the traditions and events that occur there on a daily basis. Since he frequents the

After a 14 hour overnight bus ride, we arrived in the ancient city of Hoi An for a week stay. Our first three nights were spent in the actual old town area at the fabulous Tea Garden Homestay (more on that later) and our last three nights by the beach. Our homestay (essentially a B&B) was so wonderful, in retrospect we would've stayed there the entire time and just biked to the beach when we wanted to get some sunshine. The beach isn’t as fun or as happening as the city.

Before leaving Da Lat we happened apon an interesting home that was built by the former president's niece. She was an architect who after working years for the state decided to showcase her unique vision for her own home. The house, a functional residence and B&B despite it being a tourist attraction, was started in the early 2000's and is still in the process of being added upon. The name in Vietnamese is "Moon House" but because another historical home shared the same nam

While at Elephant Falls we spotted a huge smiling face off in the distance. I asked our guide/driver if we could make our way to visit the nearby pagoda and get a face to face meeting with the giant Happy Buddha statue. The pagoda itself was beautiful and boasted of some wonderful statues - though all were literally dwarfed in comparison to the big happy dude. The large, happy Buddha is said to bring happiness, luck, and fortune. He put a smile on our face, kept the sunsh