Sunset in Etosha National Park | Namibia

Elephant Nature Park | Chiang Mai, Thailand

This week reform is blossoming across the beautiful country of Burma. We remember the hushed whispers about then prisoned “The Lady.” Two years later that lady is free and this week claims victory to a historic election. Cautiously hopeful a new day is dawning in Burma, here are portraits of the gently resilient Burmese.

Parasol Makers | Inle Lake, Burma

Thanaka Baby | Bagan, Burma

Fisherman | Inle Lake, Burma

The Long Walk Home | Inle Lake, Burma

Cheroot, Burmese Cigar | Bagan, Burma

Boat Driver | Inle Lake, Burma

Giving of the Alms | Mandalay, Burma

Luongi Maker Hard at Work | Mandalay, Burma

Karen Woman | Inle Lake, Burma

Scenes from Inle Lake | Burma

Rush Hour | Yangon, Burma

Lady Shepherd | Bagan, Burma

Street Vendor | Yangon, Burma

Morning Commute | Mandalay, Burma

Baby on Board | Inle Lake, Burma

Café Tortoni

Argentina's most famous cafe - Cafe Tortoni

Café Tortoni’s service is gruff, but always impeccable. You won’t mind that your waiter is not trying to chat you up after ordering the piping-hot churros and chocolate. Waiters expertly serve rich hot chocolate from still richer-looking copper kettles and matching cups. You will need the accompanying milk to relax the thick, lava-like chocolate. After dipping a warm, sugar-coated churro in your hot chocolate, you will feel the guilt that comes with such decadence, but not enough to deter you from dipping again and again.

If you need a jolt after the soporific chocolate indulgence, order a cortado, or espresso, to get your mettle back. Then, take a peak behind the velvet curtains to take in one of the café’s tango shows or head to the back to shoot some pool. Undoubtedly, after such an elegant experience and a look around at the walls of Café Tortoni, you will leave with a better history of the city and understanding of its people.

Café Richmond

Amidst the frenetic chaos of Florida Street, Cafe Richmond is a bastion of cool and calm

The décor is classic 1920’s with old chandeliers casting a warm glow over the long, meandering room. There are places still where a heavy haze of smoke just seems right. Café Richmond is one of them. Although smoking was banned in indoor bars and cafés a few years ago here in Buenos Aires, there are a few loopholes to get around the law. For this and to appease many of its clientele that have been frequenting the café for years, there is a smoking solarium toward the back. The bathrooms of the café are equally impressive in their décor and are worth a gander (seriously) when you patronize the place. Hang out at The Richmond long enough and you might begin to channel the writing voices of two of its leading habitués – Graham Greene and Jorge Luis Borges.

Cafe Richmond on Calle Florida is where Mad Men congregate

Café La Biela

La Biela is where the tres chic Portenos come for their cafe con leche

Patrons of La Biela have the fortune of enjoying their café con leche alfresco. Outside, one can enjoy a favorite Porteno pastime, people-watching. Indulge your curiosities and pass judgment on (or pretend to be totally indifferent to) the many tourists taking in impromptu tango shows, snapping photos of Recoleta Cemetery or admiring the bright white Nuestra Senora de Pilar Catholic church. In cooler months, this is a great place to warm yourself in the afternoon sun; during summer, cool off in the shade if you can snag a table underneath the great limbs of the famed ombu trees with their Wizard of Oz-like appearance.

Patio area at La Biela shaded by the long-limbed ombu tree

Las Violetas

The stained glass windows of Almagro's Las Violetas is more coffee cathedral than cafe

Enter through the gold-plated revolving door on Avenida Rivadavia and you will think you’ve entered a café built by Willy Wonka – the 1920’s version. The first thing you’ll notice are the magnificent glass cases filled with every type of sweet pastry your heart could desire: giant alfajores – mini shortbread cakes filled with dulce de leche and coated with sugar – and their baby offspring, fruit cakes, medialunas, cherry danishes, chocolate pastries, cakes and éclairs.

Like many other cafes of its time that sadly no longer exist, Las Violetas is enormous, having enough space to seat 200 guests at one time. Ceilings flaunting gold chandeliers rise 30 feet above finely-crafted Italian marble floors. The café was made more European during the 1920′s by the addition of French stained glass windows, giving it a bright, airy and open feeling. Female or not, one must head upstairs where the ladies’ restroom is located to take a gander at the café in all of its glory.

In a nod to Arthur Guinness, Las Violetas serves its coffee black as oil and thick as mud with a white, frothy, bubbling top. If tea is more your cup, then look no further than the Maria Cala tea service – an over-the-top spread of scones, finger sandwiches, cakes and pastries, meant for three, but large enough for six!

Bar and cafe at Alvear Palace Hotel in Recoleta

Disneyland or Xi'an, China? I can't really tell...

“I think if we were to visit the country China at Disneyworld’s Epcot Center, it would be eerily similar to the China we’re experiencing here,” remarked Laura in the final days of our visit. I could not agree more. It is no wonder that China limits visitors’ stays to 30 days. It seems that each day longer we stayed in China, we began to see past the pretty facades of hastily-erected new structures and started to notice the fissures. Even without China’s artificially advantageous exchange rate, everything seemed and felt cheap, and not in a good way.

Our introduction to China came in the form of Tibet’s euphemistically named “Friendship Highway” and the newly-completed and very impressive Lhasa-to-Beijing railroad. After discovering what the Chinese government had done to the ancient and historical Buddhist religious center of Tibet, we were not too surprised to see greater(?) development when we arrived to Xi’an, the midway point on our transcontinental trip. Xi’an is most widely known for the famous Terracotta Warriors, and dictated, in large part, our decision to visit this classic, walled city.

The Dallas Cowboys' "Jerryworld" can't compare to China's Terracotta Superdome

This theme of making a strong impression was evident all around the city of Xi’an. The city walls, ancient even by European standards, are an incredible sight to see. Tourists and locals are permitted to ride atop the extremely wide city walls and take in a bird’s-eye view of the city. All around us as we rode, we saw cranes knocking over the old and building the new. Only the new was meant to look old – that’s the weird part. Instead of protecting the original structures or working to refurbish them, the Chinese government seemed to have decided that it would be cheaper, easier and faster to tear down and build from scratch. So, as much as I was absolutely blown away by how advanced China’s infrastructure seemed to be, I couldn’t help but wonder how long it will last.

Riding bikes atop Xian's city walls in its circular park

In many ways, through my verbal and written critiques of the Chinese, I feel hypocritical. The first Americans did painfully little to preserve Native American art, cultures, traditions and worse yet – peoples. As a country we’ve done much to denigrate our environment. But, it’s because of these mistakes why I expect more from a developing country like China. Learn from our mistakes is what I’m asking.

I guess if our visit to China taught us one thing, it would be that one month is way too short to understand its past and too long for us to want to understand its future. The facades may fool you at first; they certainly did me. But stay long enough, and you’ll come away with more questions about China’s future than you had when you arrived.

Fiji is not an island, like I had always imagined. Rather, it is an archipelago of 333 islands that vary greatly. First, in size: many are but a blip on a map, capable of being circumnavigated in minutes. Others, like the mainland, Viti Levu, are quite large and require several days to tour around; Second, in landscape: there are volcanic islands, full of dry, scrub brush and rocky beaches, and others still with dense jungles enveloped by pristine, white beaches and a veil of mint green water; Third, and most notably, in cost: island resorts run the gamut from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (with one island resort going for a cool $70,000 USD a night) to all-inclusive backpacker hostels on the high-end of cheap.

Travelers typically choose to concentrate their time on one of the two main chains of islands – the Mamanucas closer to the main island or the Yasawas further north. Prices to both islands proved to be quite expensive due to a monopoly on the ferry trade, with the trip to the Yasawas double in cost. We quickly learned that the bartering methods we had mastered in Brazil and Argentina were a foreign concept to the Fijians. In the end, we decided that Mama knows best. We opted for the closer Mamanuca group of islands and set sail for our soon-to-be home, the $30 dorm bunk beds of Ratu Kini Backpackers Hostel on the island of Mana.

Like almost all of the island resorts, the cost was inclusive of a compulsory meal plan. Typically, I enjoy eating as a way of experiencing a culture, so I was a bit dismayed to learn that my restaurant and meal would be chosen for me. However, after arriving to Ratu Kini on the island of Mana, it became apparent very quickly why this is the case. All of the islands are very small, and still very well preserved. A slew of bars and restaurants on each island would only deteriorate the condition of the islands rapidly and take away from the beauty – which, simply, is why everyone is there in the first place.

Each day was spent doing something that we could hardly imagine doing just last week when we were home in St. Louis for Christmas. Again, because the islands are very small and there are no outside establishments, the resorts and hostels come up with some very creative ways to keep guests entertained. Similar to camp, each night had a theme. The theme of our first night was “Fijian Fun” with a traditional kava ceremony and some very entertaining Fijian songs and dancing. The next night at Ratu Kini consisted of a ridiculous cross-dressing session that was taken way too seriously by way too many people. It quickly became Studio 54 on acid. After happy hour – consisting of “stubbies” or short, fat, apothecary-esque bottles of Fiji Bitter or Gold – we witnessed the head dive instructor dressed as a femme fatale in a dance-off with the other cross-dressed guests. His/her dance included some very lewd and hilarious moves that would make top-end strippers envious. It ended as all great things do, with his 2-year old daughter confused and crying in the audience, asking, “Daddy, what are you doing?!”

Days began with the gulping of Fiji water (yep – they actually do drink Fiji water in Fiji, and it’s not $15 a bottle like in Vegas) to ward off any hangover that could’ve existed from the previous night’s fun and a communal breakfast with the other campers. We went for hikes around the island, through jungle forests, snorkeled and hired a boat with several others for an island-hopping adventure to take advantage of Fiji‘s beautiful waters.

We ventured to Matamanoa where we pretended to be guests at the posh resort and then to Monuriki, where they filmed the movie “Castaway.” Our group was pleasantly surprised to find the “Tom Hanks island” empty, with the exception of two nudist couples. Fortunately, we arrived before the big touring groups and were able to hike to the top to the caves and check out the incredible views of the surrounding islands.

After two days, we were ready to leave behind the camp-style life and took the bait on a great deal the Walu Beach Resort was offering on the island of Malolo. With the Australian reality TV show “The Resort” cancelled, the literally made-for-TV resort is in limbo and was offering free upgrades for guest staying in dorms to beachfront bures. Bures are the traditional thatch-roofed huts with pitched roofs. It was a second honeymoon of sorts, with a deluxe bedroom, two bathrooms and a sitting room, all with ocean views.

We took advantage of the resort’s amenities, including an ocean-front pool, hammocks and sea kayaks to head out to a reef to snorkel. There, we saw yellow sting rays with bright blue polka dots, Nemo, zebra fish, electric blue starfish, a sea snake and, on my last day, a shark! It wasn’t huge – only about a foot and a half long – but it was so incredible to turn around and see a shark right in front of my eyes (not to worry, it wasn’t a Great White and was far less interested in me than I was in him).

Our last day we spent on the main island and had fun drowning stubbies of the local micro-brew, Vono, and hashing over camp-life with other travelers we had met along the way. While initially disappointed in the camp life that was Fiji for us budget travelers, we came to appreciate the forced fun. We were both quick to realize that we had met and formed friendships with more people in the five days we were on the islands than we had in the six weeks we were in Brazil, where we stayed in private rooms in pousadas. Budget travelers, do not fear. Take our advice, there is still a place yet for you in the wonderful isles of Fiji.

Meet Beijing, where old greets new.

Remnants of our travels surround us. In the historic neighborhood of Old Town just north of downtown Chicago, we’ve created a home for ourselves in the form of a travelers’ den. A hand-carved chess set from Zambia sits on our coffee table, a tea set from Burma at the foot of our ottoman and a wooden shelf from northern Thailand is lined with guidebooks. A montage of black and white portraits of the orphans in Zambia puts our days in check and a world map suspended above a well-worn sofa, inspires adventures to come…Here, we feel at home.

While we dream up our next travel adventure, we’ve been trying to figure out just what to do with the 25,000 photos we captured from our journey. Enter: Easy Canvas. Easy Canvas Prints is a canvas creator that turns your photos into art. We were thrilled when they recently contacted us to do a review of their canvas prints and offer a giveaway to our readers.

Our Canvas Print

Thumbing through thousands of photos from our travels, it was hard to decide which photo to choose. We wanted something simple yet memorable. With the red-robed, stoic Masai Warrior against the great, green earth of the Ngorongoro Crater in northern Tanzania, this photo stood out.

We were thrilled to receive the 16 x 20 canvas print from Easy Canvas and were really happy with how it turned out. Because it’s on canvas, it looks and feels more like a painting of a photo than an actual photo. For the photograph we picked it turned out to be a good fit.

There are several ways you can customize your print. You can select the border wrap (depth) of .75″ or 1.5″ and you can choose the side of the canvas as either solid color, an image wrap or mirror wrap. We selected the .75″ and image wrap and were extremely pleased with the results.

Reader Giveaway

Now it’s your turn. In time for the holidays, we’re offering a giveaway for a free 16 x 20 print. If you’re looking for a great gift for a traveler friend or just looking for a creative way to display one of your favorite travel photographs, it’s easy to enter. Simply leave a comment below (or on our Facebook page) describing the photo you’d like to turn into a canvas. Feel free to share a description or link to the photo and we’ll select our favorite photograph as the winner of the contest. If you’re looking to make some more of your own prints, “Like” Easy Canvas on Facebook and they’ll give you 50 percent off your next print.

This contest is limited to readers in the US or at least those that have a shipping address in the US. It will run for a week and we’ll announce the winner next Monday, December 12.

Our print and this giveaway are sponsored by Easy Canvas Prints. However, the review of this product is our own opinion.

In three weeks we’re running the Chicago Marathon for these two (find out more here). We hope their stories will inspire you and perhaps move you to make a donation to their cause. If interested, please click the button below.

I can assure you Joseph and his little Momma will be eternally grateful.

We’re excited to share that the Chicago Marathon was a success and our marathon fundraising efforts a victory for those twelve little ones in Africa. We’ve raised nearly $3,000 for the kids and are still going strong. We are grateful for the support and the donations will certainly go a long way in Zambia. We’ll be working closely with the director of Oz Kids over the next few weeks to figure out how best to allocate this money. We’ll certainly be in touch to share details on how your contributions have benefited the children.

In the meantime, we wanted to share our path to the Chicago Marathon and a warm “Talumba” (thank you in the local tongue of Tonga) on behalf of the kids. Please check out the video below and thanks again for helping us make their world a little brighter.