Dream Trips

October 17 2025

Dream Trips: Horseback Riding on the Mongolian Steppe

Welcome back to the series of posts where I talk about some of my dream trips in the hopes of learning more about them and deciding if they are feasible or not. My past posts were about journeying on the old path of the Japanese Tokaido road and visiting the remote island of Socotra. Something that I’ve also always wanted to do is go horseback riding in Mongolia. Of course the image of Mongolian warriors comes to mind, but I have seen that tours on horses are fairly common for visitors to Mongolia and an important part of their tourist industry.

There are a ton of interesting locations and landscapes in Mongolia to visit for horseback riding. When you think of Mongolia, the first type of landscape that comes to mind are the endless rolling grassy hills of the steppe. Mongolia also has the Gobi desert, more arid grasslands as well as forests (though these are few and far between). Looking into popular areas further, the Orkhon valley jumped out at me. It features the classic hills that come to mind when one thinks of Mongolia, but it is even more strikingly beautiful with large hills that are more jagged and look more like mountains as well as many ponds and waterfalls. The Orkhon Valley National Landscape is a UNESCO world heritage site, another testament to the uniqueness of this area. Another reason that I am interested in visiting the Orkhon valley is because it is located just 360 miles southwest of Ulaanbaatar, the capital city. This makes the journey there much easier than other places located further across the vast expanses of Mongolia. Something I hadn’t realized until just now looking more closely into the Orkhon valley is that Karakorum is located there. This was the capital of the Mongol empire. Other interesting sites include monasteries and the Orkhon waterfall.

Thanks to the Orkhon valley’s status as a national park, there are many guesthouses and Airbnbs located there. As I’m sure you’re aware Airbnb’s can be hit or miss when it comes to pricing, but I found one in the area that costs $750 for a month long stay with the option of paying an extra $250 for a four day guided ride on horseback to a waterfall and $500 for a different weeklong trip. This may seem expensive but I really don’t think it’s too bad for a month-long stay and a week and a half of guided horseback riding. I’m sure costs can be brought down significantly by staying at a cheaper guesthouse and arranging horseback rides directly with locals. For the purpose of this post, and my own knowledge, this seems like an approachable cost for a trip to Mongolia and less than I would have expected.

Mongolians love to eat a ton of meat and milk including horses, which I respect but am a little apprehensive about. One thing I definitely want to try if I go is airag, which is a fermented horse milk drink that is slightly alcoholic.

Since the prices for this trip would not be as insanely expensive as I thought, maybe I will try to make a Mongolian adventure happen soon, so look out for posts about it in a year or so.

Thanks for Reading!

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September 5 2025

Dream Trips: Socotra

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Have you ever heard of Socotra? There was a period last year where I was getting videos recommended to me by travel influencers who visited Socotra, which got me really fascinated with the place. It is an island that is part of the country of Yemen, but located to the East of Djibouti around the entrance to the gulf of Aden.

People have described the landscapes and plants there as alien and other worldly which I can’t help but agree with. I mean look at that tree I put in the thumbnail, it’s so cool! It’s called a dragon’s blood tree.

Unlike mainland Yemen which has been dangerous to visit due to their civil war, Socotra is so far away from the mainland and of such little strategic value that it has been left largely unaffected by the conflict. As a result it is fairly safe to visit the island of Socotra. However, due to the Houthi strikes on shipping vessels in the area and regional tensions it may be best to hold off on a visit for a while. There are weekly flights from Abu Dhabi and a visa is required. Unfortunately you need to book with a tour company which is pretty expensive. For this reason, Socotra is definitely not a budget destination and will be staying on my list of dream trips for a while yet.

Arabic is spoken on Socotra, but so is Socotri, a language totally unique to the islands of the archipelago, which is really interesting. Nearly 40% of Socotra’s plant species and an even higher percentage of the island’s animals are endemic to Socotra, meaning that they only exist there and nowhere else.

Here are some of the places I’d like to visit in Socotra:

Dragon blood forest

This area has the most dense growth of dragon blood trees. The Diksam Plateau offers a birdseye view of the dragon blood trees and the surrounding landscape. Tour groups often set up a camp so that you can spend the night in the dragonblood forest. Imagine watching the sunset among these alien plants and watching the stars come out, totally free from any light pollution.

Hoq Cave

Seems to have some amazing stalactites and stalagmites.

Dihamri Marine Reserve

Looks like a great place to go snorkeling and enjoy the clear blue water. I wonder what kinds of marine wildlife one could spot while swimming here.

Arher Beach

This beach also has incredibly blue water and a white sand beach. There are also white sand dunes that surround the area.

Hike to Skand Peak

The granite mountains of Socotra offer yet another type of natural environment to explore. Everything seems a bit greener at this higher altitude, and it would be amazing to have the opportunity to hike up the Skand Peak, the highest point on the island.

Meeting Local People

It would be really interesting to meet the local people who call Socotra home. From videos I have seen these people seem to have a difficult life, with many fishing to make an income. At the same time I am sure they realize how amazing the place they live is and I’d love to learn more about life on Socotra. I would hope that at least some of the money spent with the travel agencies is going to benefit the people of Socotra.

Trips to Nearby Islands

Darsa island has an amazing beach and other nearby islands have some insane looking rock formations.

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July 25 2025

Dream Trips: Journeying on the Tokaido Road

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Some of my posts will be about dream trips I would like to go on in the future. I figure this is also a good way for me to do some research and evaluate whether a trip could be realistic.

Today I’m looking at whether trying to walk along the Tokaido road from Tokyo (formerly Edo) to Kyoto along or near the old path is still feasible. I first learned about the Tokaido road in a Japanese woodblock print class in college. There I saw Hiroshige’s series of prints depicting the 53 stations along the Tokaido road. Each stop had its own local delicacies, drinks, and places to explore. All sorts of people traveled along the Tokaido including the Daimyo from various provinces in their palanquins, along with their large retinues. They did so to fulfill the alternate attendance policy that stipulated that they split their time between their home prefectures and Edo. Merchants and regular people going on pilgrimages also frequented the Tokaido road and made use of the inns located at the 53 stations. Dangers on the road were not uncommon in the Edo period (1603-1868) and travelers would have had to contend with weather, rugged landscapes, and even bandits.

Learning all of this begged the question: is it still possible to walk along Tokaido road just as so many did during the Edo period? Or would this have me shambling along the edge of a modern highway for 300 miles?

The route begins at the Nihon Bashi bridge in Edo. It was first built in the early 1600s but its current version dates to 1911, meaning it survived the fire bombings of World War II. Sadly, it is apparently under a highway today.

The first stop will take me from the center of Tokyo to its outskirts with a stop in Shinagawa. My first stop outside of Tokyo will be Kawasaki, before going on to Kanagawa, and then Hodogaya, just an hour and a half further. Next will be Totsuka which is part of Yokohama, then Fujisawa which will hopefully already become significantly less dense in terms of people and traffic than previous stops. Hiratsuka, Oiso beach, and Odawara which is home to the incredible Odawara castle are next. It seems that each of the stops are only about 2 and a half hours apart which makes it possible to do one to two per day depending on what you are up for and how much you explore at each.

Hakone, with its onsen (hot springs) and views of Mt. Fuji is next. Then on to Mishima which seems to transition to countryside with amazing views of Mt. Fuji, Numazu, and Hara. Yoshiwara is next, which used to be a pleasure district and mysterious place that held the fascination of many inhabitants in Edo times. Kanbara, Yui, and Okitsu (in google Okitsuinouecho) follow. In this stretch I will have to try to find an alternative to walking along the main roads. Ejiri (Ejiricho) on the outskirts of Shizuoka, Fuchü, and Mariko will take me through the city of Shizuoka. The next small section will be the most rugged of the trip and includes Okabe (lost to time), Fujieda, Shimada, Kanaya, Nissaka, and Kakegawa. In Kagewawa I will have to check out Kakegawa castle.

After a stop at Fukuroi I will be closing in on the next city on my journey, Hamamatsu, which I have not heard of until now. Taking me through the city are the stops of Mitsuke, Hamamatsu, Maisaka. The next stop, Arai (Araicho Hamana) lies just below lake Hamana. Shirasuka, Futagawa, Yoshida, and Goyu (Goyucho) follow. At this point I will once again enter a section of countryside that is a rare part of this mostly urban walk. Next are Akasaka, Okazaki, Chiryu, home to Chiryu shrine, and Narumi. By this point I will already be closing in on the City of Nagoya. Then I will pass through Miya, and the longest time between stops from Miya to Kuwana will be about a six hour walk. Yokkaichi, Ishiyakushi, Shono, Kameyama, Seki, Sakashita present the biggest hole in the route and will require further research to flesh out. An approximate place that the route picks up again is Tsuchiyama with multiple places in the same area having that name close to where the stop is supposed to be on the Tokaido road.

After getting through that section there are only a few more stops before the end. Rural Minakuchi, and Ishibe lead to Kusatsu on the outskirts of Kyoto. The final stop Otsu (which I can’t find) and Kyoto’s Sanjo Ohashi Bridge will mark the end of the journey. Like the bridge in Tokyo that marked the start of the Tokaido road, this bridge is a pretty gross modern structure compared to the beautiful bridge that stood in its place centuries ago, Hiroshige’s famous artistic depiction of which can be seen in the thumbnail of this post.

I will explore the many temples around Kyoto and most likely take the train to Nara and Osaka as well. It seems like this journey is doable but it will be quite the time commitment. I would guess it might take me around a month if I want to take my time with the 300 mile walk. Another drawback is that it is so city heavy and I would really like to hike around the mountains in the center of Japan and go to Hokkaido. If I end up going on this adventure you can expect posts about it in the Spring or early Summer of next year.