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Top 10 Posts on A Pair of Panties & Boxers In 2010

Monica — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 11:45:00 +0000

2010 has been a tough year for me – mentally and emotionally. I know I haven’t been cranking out as many original posts as I would have like to lately. I’ve been working really hard and I can’t wait to fill you in on what’s to come in the near future. But first, I’d like to give a heartfelt thank you to all my readers for visiting my travel blog, my guest bloggers who help keep my blog running and all the friends I’ve made since I starting writing about my travels. I hope you know that every time you leave a comment, send me an email or tweet at me, it makes my day a little brighter because it reminds me that there’s more to life than my 9-7 grind.

2011 is going to be another crazy and busy year. I can’t wait to share my travels around the world and my travels through life with you. So wrap up this year, here are the top 10 posts on A Pair of Panties & Boxers in 2010. I hope you enjoy these posts. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays wanderlusters!

15 Ways To Volunteer In Africa

Guest post by @BorderJumping

Our Journey began in October 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — when we left to visit nearly every country in Africa. At every stop we are meeting with farmers, community organizers, labor activists/leaders, unions, non-governmental organization (NGOs), the funding and donor communities, and local press. Read more

One Week Itinerary For Honduras

It’s two months away but I still have the urge to take out my backpack and starting packing. I’m eager to leave, eager to see and eager to live. I can’t wait till I get on that plane to Honduras. I booked it for only $280! I’ve got my plate full working 50 hours a week, volunteering, studying for GMAT, researching grad schools and running random errands I don’t have time to do during the work week.

I haven’t had a chance to do much planning for Honduras. Although, experiences have taught me that things never…Read more

Temples From Europe To Asia

Temples. Temples. Temples. What can I say about temples?

Let’s just look at pretty pictures of temples instead.

Here is a collection of images submitted by travel writers around the world of temples from places like Uluwatu, Madrid, Greece, Cambodia, Italy, Cambodia, China, India, Nepal, Japan and Indonesia. Read more

I’ll be calling for photo submissions in the future for an upcoming photo collection post. If you’d like to contribute, please feel free to email me at monica@apairofpantiesandboxers.com.

7 Essential Items For Light Travelers

Sometimes I forget to eat when I travel. I get full off of life and everything else around me. That is until my stomach starts growling like a dinosaur and I realize that I’m half way up the mountain already.

Afterward, I started packing crackers. It was cheap and it was good enough to hold me down for the time being. Then I realized that granola bars, although slightly more expensive, are much better and healthier alternative.

Jaw-Dropping Sunrises Around The World

Today’s Photo Friday Special is inspired by my previous blog post, Sunsets From Around The World. It was such a big hit that I decided to feature sunrises in this edition. I thought I’d be receiving a lot less sunrise submissions than sunset editions. I mean, unless you’re jet-lagged or an insomniac, who gets up at the crack of down to catch the sun rise?

Traveling Latin America Safely – It’s the little things

Guest blog post by @Brendanvanson.

I remember the first time I left home on my own to travel the Central America I was 20 years old. Everyone around me warned of the thousands of dangers – real and make believe – that would exist in this strange part of the world of which I knew little about. I remember clearly my mom telling a friend of hers that I was going to Central America, where “the favourite pastime of people is kidnapping foreigners.” The truth of the matter is that the media always has a way of accentuating the negative aspects about different parts of the world. Read more

新年快乐！ Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is on Valentine’s Day this year. It’s different every year because the holiday is based on the lunar calendar. Learning about my own traditions has always been a hands-on, and sometimes painful, experience. When I was 5, I stuck my chopsticks upright in my bowl of white rice and got whacked. I later learned you only do that when making offerings to the deceased. Oops!

Chinese New Year celebrations began with the legend of a wild beast called Nian. “Nian” in Chinese means year. Read more

Hangzhou, China: A Stunning Sunset On The West Lake

The travel bug bit somewhere between Wuzhen and Suzhou. We returned from Suzhou Saturday night. But by Sunday morning, JC and I already had our bags packed and a one-way ticket in our hand. We took the next departing train fr0m Shanghai to Hangzhou. It was an hour and a half of smooth sailing.

Things I Can’t Stand When Traveling

I use to think that I was the most level-minded person on the face of this earth. I always heard two sides of the story before passing judgment and I’ve been told countless times before that I’m an extremely understanding person. I use to think I’d make the world’s coolest girlfriend. That was before I got a boyfriend and that was before I started traveling.

I guess certain things never use to bother me because I controlled everything. I planned for everything. I let no surprises hit me with a curve ball. That wasn’t always successful but most of the time it worked. But after I started traveling, I realized that I can’t stand it when…Read more

Make Your Bucket List Less Daunting With A F***-It List

Guest post by @Jetpacker

Bucket lists are cultishly popular right now. It seems like everyone is making a list full of life goals so lofty they make The Most Interesting Man In The World look like an incompetent jackass. Conquering fears. Gaining independence. Finding enlightenment. It all sounds so… overwhelming.

I needed something that would make my bucket list seem less daunting and more realistic. Read more

Which one is your favorite?

My Top 10 Posts of 2009

Monica — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:00:21 +0000

My New Year’s Resolution: To be happy & healthy in mind, body & spirit. And travel a crap load more.

I started A Pair of Panties & Boxers as a reminder to myself to never conform to society’s norm in the daily grind of a 9-5. I didn’t want my job to be the reason I stopped seeing beyond four walls and I didn’t want the burden of saving for grad school keep me from seeing the world. I figured the best way to travel as much as I can is to start a travel blog because in order to write about my travels, I’d actually have to go and travel. When I start running out of things to write, that means I need to get on a plane, train, bus, boat or any type of transportation fast – not that I don’t get that urge to just jet every single day. But sometimes, we do what we have to do and not what we want to do.

It hasn’t been a year since I started blogging but I thought I’d still wrap up 2009 featuring my top 10 most popular blog posts of the year. I hope all my readers enjoyed growing this blog with me these past 6 months. Thanks for sticking around.

So without further adieu, here are the top 10 posts for 2009.

1. Photo Friday: Kaifeng, China

Kaifeng, China

The beauty of traveling through China is that sometimes, I feel like I’m in two places at once – the past and the present.

See #8 for related post.

2. Facing Mud Made “Squatties” In Yunnan

The one thing I absolutely loathe about China is the lack of Western toilets. Those hole-in-the-ground-you-have-to-pee-by-squatting apparatuses make me cringe every time. I’m a girl — how am I supposed to pee that way?!

So when my roommates and I decided to trek westward for fall break, towards rural Yunnan and Sichuan, I had to put on a brave face and come to terms with the fact that I’d be using nothing but “squatties.”

Five hours into the bumpy bus ride and two bottles of water later, I was bursting with thoughts of shiny automatic-flush toilets and marble sinks.

Alas, what greeted me at the makeshift rest stop was an outhouse made out of mud and three little children asking for a 50 cents fee for using their “bathroom.”

The Blue Mosque sits directly across from the Hagia Sophia on the Hippodrome, also known as the Sultanahmet Square. It’s hard to say which is more impressive. They both rival in beauty. With six towering minarets, The Blue Mosque dominates the Istanbul skyline.

5. Poverty In Pudong

I paid ¥20 for a cab ride down to People’s Park (人民公园), ¥10 to see the Gaudi exhibit at the MOCA, ¥40 for lunch at Pizza Hut, ¥50 for a shuttle ride to the Oriental Pearl Tower, another ¥50 for dinner and ¥1o for extraneous expenses. I dropped ¥170 like it was nothing because in my mind that was only $10.

My friend (at the time) JC and I walked along the Huangpu River that night. We saw a boy in ripped rags and torn slippers. He looked about 10 years old. He approached us raising a flower in his hand and said…

“一块，一块。要不要花？”(One dollar, one dollar. Do you want flowers?)

He haggled a little. We politely declined. I turned around and watched him zig-zag his way down the path. He made sure not to miss a single couple. JC and I sat down on the stone-rimmed flowerbed and watched the boy pace back and forth under the moon light.

6. My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets

Travel Secret #1: Art of Cheap Accommodations
Travel Secret #2: Kaifeng, China
Travel Secret #3: Climb The Great Wall When It Snows

What are some of your best kept travel secrets?

Share!

JC and I walked non-stop these past two days. It was either restless leg syndrome or it was the excitement of being in Madrid. I thought we would take it a little slower on the third day but nope – not when traveling with JC.He only knows one speed – and it’s just go, go, go, go, go!

We began the day with a trip to Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid.

8. Kaifeng, China: Chinese Jews

This was Kaifeng’s welcome to us. Fog? Pollution? Combination? I don’t know but it was one hell of a welcome. I held out my hand and saw nothing. I looked down and I had no feet. We blindly walked forward – away from the train station and closer to the sound of the road. We had a hard time crossing the street. We couldn’t see the cars and bicycles and they couldn’t see us. We played it by ear. Literally. And hailing a cab? I want to say, “Fuggedaboutit,” but we managed to do so. Till this day, it still puzzles me.

9. Merhaba Istanbul!

I’m a nerd. I like math and I like to plan. Excel is my best friend. I can’t live without my planner. When it comes to traveling, I get excited at the thought of creating a new spreadsheet. Budgeting is my favorite part. How low can I go?

I conquered 7,200 steps to the top of Taishan and trekked 4 hours around the West Lake in Hangzhou. Climbing The Great Wall? Sure! No problem. Except I forgot to factor in the high altitude and nearly freezing temperature. Read more…

Photo Friday: The West Lake In Hangzhou

Monica — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:00:44 +0000

Hangzhou, China: A Stunning Sunset On The West Lake

Monica — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:54:24 +0000

Image Source

The first thing we did was go island hopping. In Xihu (West Lake), the most famous lake in Hangzhou, there are three smaller man-made islands. Nearby are three small pagodas erected from the water. On a full moon, each pagoda would be lit with candles. The light from the pagodas were then reflected on water, which gave the illusion of three moons. Hence the body of water near the islands is called, The Three Pools Mirroring the Moon.

In the evening, JC and I had dinner across the street from a beer festival. Unfortunately, we didn’t have tickets to the event. But in hindsight, that was a blessing in disguise. After dinner, we plopped ourselves down on a wooden bench near Xihu to watch the sun set. I was mesmerized by what I saw. With the soothing sound of water and the breeze through the trees, I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to speak. I just wanted it to last forever.

When the sun disappeared behind the horizon, we strolled along Xihu. Thinking that we were close to where we started, I suggested to walk around the entire lake. We ended up lost, hungry and trekking for the next 4 hours. We had to recharge after the third hour so we stopped off at a local mom-and-pop noodle shop. I had chicken noodles with flies on the side.

It was a relief to finally arrive at our hotel. Even after the 4 hour trek, the only thing I saw when I closed my eyes was the sun set at the lake. In an attempt to see it again, I suggested we stay another night. But there was one problem. We only had one pair of underwear and it was the pair we had been wearing all day. Then, JC had the brilliant idea of writing a book about our travels titled, “A Pair of Panties & Boxers.” This was the beginning of our travels together and story behind the title of this blog.

And yes, we wore our panties and boxers twice. Inside out.