Around The World With Dan Perry

My guests today are Ross and Theresa. They met several years ago in Beijing, China. They fell in love, traveled the world for two and a half years, got married, and had two kids. Pretty much in that order. During the show we discussed all of this, as well as their love of yoga, and the "Yoganda" project, which teaches widowed women in Uganda to make yoga mat bags. Theresa is the founder of Taozi Tree Yoga. If you are interested in attending one of her yoga classes in Beijing, there is a link to her Wechat account at the bottom of her website. Theresa also has set up a fundraiser for The Yoganda Project. Thanks for checking it out!

My guest today is Brittany Dunn. She's a great storyteller, and on this episode she did not disappoint. She told me the craziest "welcome to China" story I've ever heard.

In this episode I sat on the roof of a Beijing bookstore to talk with Alice Chen. She's from Weifang, in Shandong province, China. Right now she's specializing in cross-cultural communication; she gave me many great tips to improve my skills.

My guest today is Ruby Tsai from Taiwan. We recorded our conversation from the top of a sand dune in the Gobi desert in Mongolia.

My guest this week is Tsenddavaa Nasanjargal, AKA Davaa. She and her husband own an amazing guesthouse called the Mongol Ujin Tourist Camp in the village of Khatgal, Mongolia. Davaa is passionate about the nomadic lifestyle that is still so prevalent in Mongolia, and she was generous enough to talk about it with me on the show.

I met Maria on the train to Ulan-Ude, Russia. She is an amazing leader in the Buryat community. She talked about her culture during the show.

Katie and I (especially Katie) have been dreaming of coming to Lake Baikal for quite some time. Now we are here! How did we arrive? Listen to this week's episode to find out.

Here is an update on our last week. Katie and I have been traveling across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Train. We started the last week in Suzdal, a little village near Moscow. We ended it in Krasnoyarsk, around 4000 KM to the east.  

Natalya works for a company called United Tours, giving free walking tours of St. Petersburg. We talked about life in Russia, her time living in Egypt, and travel in Cuba. Bonus: I discussed my attempt to visit Vladimir Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow.

While staying in Helsinki, Finland, Katie and I met Jari and Nadezhda. They used to live in Beijing, so we had a lot in common. We swapped many China stories, and I found out that they had taken the Trans-Siberian train from Vladivostok to Helsinki. Katie and I are at the beginning of our own Trans-Siberian experience. Currently we are in St. Petersburg and plan to head east to Lake Baikal, then south to Mongolia. On this podcast, Jari and Nadezhda gave me some great tips on riding this famous train across Russia

In this episode, I go over our hike in Iceland and I give a few tips if you're interested in traveling there. Katie also gives some advice on food preparation.

Morgan and I did a follow-up podcast, where she discusses her continued weight loss and skin removal surgery.

On this week's show, I talked with Paddy Robertson about our two-day bicycle trip from Beijing to the Iron Wall Silver Mountain, AKA the Silver Mountain Pagoda Forest. This is officially recognized by the national government as a AAAA scenic spot, and it was one of the 28 designated tourist destinations during the 2008 Olympics. It's a sacred site of Buddhism, originally built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The current incarnation was built during the Liao Dynasty (907-1125).   Officially, the Silver Pagodas have been closed since 2014, but, as you'll hear during the show, Paddy and I found it easy to get into the park anyway.  

Nina Krafft is a friend who lives and works in Beijing, China. We talked extensively about life in Beijing, as well as travel around China in general.

Nitai works at The Hutong, a cultural exchange center based in Beijing, China. We discussed the types of trips he runs through the Hutong, ranging from Great Wall excursions to bicycling around Yunnan province.

My guest today is Debbie Ma. She's from Taiwan and has lived for a long time in Beijing. She's an acupuncturist and home brewer. She taught me the basics of how acupuncture works and we discussed the home-brewing scene here in Beijing, as well as travel in Japan.

My guest today is Lisa Gay. She has lived in China and Japan for a number of years. We talked about her upcoming trip around China, and of course we told a few travel stories.

My guest today is Mich Albor, from the Philippines. Katie and I plan to visit her country at the end of this year, so I got a lot of great advice from her.  

Carlos VillaWolf and Leah Ittner are good friends of Katie's and mine. They lived in Beijing for four years and moved to Ho Chi Minh City about ten months ago. They were back in Beijing to visit friends over a long weekend, and we managed to squeeze in some time to record this podcast. This one is full of sage wisdom; I hope you enjoy it!