text: In my 365 days abroad, I toured 15 countries, two special administrative regions, and 107 cities, towns, and villages. We took 44 planes, 25 trains, nine boats, and seven long-haul buses; slept in 99 hotels, B&Bs, Airbnbs, and homestays, and toured an unimaginable number of museums, temples, palaces, farms, forts, and markets. It changed my life. And while the “greatest hits” list that follows is far from comprehensive, it’s a good start to remembering a year well-traveled.
  By Ashlea Halpern
  February 8, 2016
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  Swimming Solo in Colombo’s Swankiest Pool
  If there was a swankier hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka than Tintagel, I didn’t see it. This serene beauty, wedged into a narrow courtyard and encircled by Grecian sculptures and moody modernist art, was the perfect length for doing laps. Best of all, it was strangely empty most of the day. I definitely took advantage of the solitude.
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  Celebrity Spotting at Thailand’s Wildest Temple
  I was pretty sure nothing could top the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. Then along came Wat Rong Khun, a.k.a. the White Temple, in Chiang Rai, Thailand. I was floored by the complex exterior mosaics on the blindingly white facade and loved scanning the temple’s interior murals for artist Chalermchai Kositpipat’s fire-and-brimstone depictions of pop culture idolatries: Kung Fu Panda, Freddy Krueger, Michael Jackson, the Joker, and Harry Potter, among others.
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  Camping in the Indian Desert with Camels
  If you do only one thing in Northern India, make it an overnight camel safari with Pleasant Haveli in Jaisalmer. Our guide, Dev, and driver, Horo, treated their dromedaries like kings, and us like visiting royalty. We rode the camels deep into the Great Thar Desert, devoured a vegetarian feast cooked from scratch over a campfire, discussed art and politics late into the night, and fell asleep under a sky full of stars. I don’t use words like “magical” lightly, but there’s no other way to describe this.
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  Snorkeling in the Thai Islands
  When it came to unspoiled beaches, Palawan, in the Philippines, was hard to beat. But for an easy one-day snorkeling trip, I’d recommend Koh Hah Lagoon in Thailand with the team from Dive and Relax. It’s less than an hour from Koh Lanta by speedboat but feels light years removed—probably because most tourists do the Four Islands tour instead. When we slipped below the turquoise water in Koh Hah and found ourselves in the company of colorful surgeonfish, lionfish, cornetfish, giant morays, octopuses, and sea kraits—with no other boats in sight—we knew we’d made the right decision.
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  Seeing Sydney Through a Local Family’s Eyes
  Of the 99 strange beds we slept in last year, 31 of them were Airbnbs. Most were fine—clean, basic, impersonal. But a handful of hosts went above and beyond, actually fulfilling the site’s mission to give travelers a “local” experience. Nobody did this better than our hosts Scott and Lisa in Marrickville, Sydney, whose “massive warehouse loft apartment” came with elaborate Sunday brunches, tours of the local farmers and fish markets, daily handwritten notes suggesting things to do, and an invite to a weekly artists’ salon in Lisa’s studio. After a week at their place, we left feeling like old friends.
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  Taking Design Notes at India’s Prettiest Fort
  I can blow through a monolithic fort in half an hour. But something about the 283-year-old Nahargarh Fort in the Aravalli Hills of Jaipur, India, was transfixing. Maybe it was the sweeping views of the Pink City below. Or maybe it was the gorgeous, peeling frescoes in the Madhavendra Palace; each room more enchanting than the next. I must’ve taken 100 pictures, many of which will live on my inspiration boards for years to come.
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  Getting Offended at the Museum
  There were a lot of good contenders in this category: (the Don Antonio Blanco Museum in Bali, the Drug Elimination Museum in Yangon, Myanmar, the Vedic Expo at the ISKCON Temple in Delhi), but the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania, had the most extensive collection and the deepest context. Founded by millionaire gambler David Walsh, the multi-story underground lair is crammed with divisive works, many revolving around themes of sex, death, and the seven sins. Stirring up controversy is so important to Walsh, in fact, he has been known to remove a work if too many museum-goers say they like it. Reading the seething one-star reviews on TripAdvisor before and after our visit was half the fun.
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  Scarfing Down Soup Curry in Japan
  We ate well on this trip. But the one dish my I find myself craving again and again, and which I’ve yet to find back home, is Hokkaido-style soup curry. My first taste was at Nishitondendori Soup Curry Honpo in Sapporo. It was thinner than the Japanese gravies I’d had before and torturously spicy—in a good way. It was loaded with more than a dozen fresh vegetables, including lotus root and asparagus, and incorporated egg, cheese, and a char-grilled hamburger patty. I dug it so much, in fact, I sought it out again two more times—once at mini-chain Hiri Hiri and again at the excellent Rojiura Curry Samurai in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo.
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  Sailing Bai Tu Long Bay in Vietnam
  We thought we wanted to visit postcard-famous Halong Bay in northern Vietnam—until we started reading reviews about it. So we sought out an alternative. Indochina Junk's Dragon Legend is a 24-cabin boat that sails where the other junks do not: to peaceful Bai Tu Long Bay, about a half hour north of congested Halong. Ours was the only vessel on the water, which meant we had the storybook landscape—complete with towering karsts and untouched beaches—all to ourselves. What's that word again? Oh, yeah: magical.
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  Trekking in Myanmar’s Shan State
  We spent three memorable weeks traveling around Myanmar, but it was our time in the northern Shan State that sticks out the most in my mind. The lovely staff at Hsipaw Resort arranged a village trek for us, wherein we visited a local school (you can see the kids singing the Shan national anthem here), shared tea and oranges with monks in a remote Buddhist monastery, met old women shucking corn and young women weaving fans, and toured the fields of a pineapple farm. People were warm and gracious, especially after we busted out the handful of Shan phrases we knew. Our trek lasted one day, but next time I go back, I'll do it for a week.
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