Author Britnee Johnston

On Olkhon Island, there are few choices of where to stay in the small town of Khuzhir. We chose Solnechnaya, also known as Sunny Hostel, for its location near the beaches and Shaman Rock at Lake Baikal. We...

Naadam Festival is a countrywide celebration in Mongolia that takes place in several cities and most smaller communities in July each year, with Ulan Bator hosting the biggest gathering of all. When we booked...

When I first arrived in China, I thought the food was going to be like this: Or like this: Apart from the Donghuamen night market in Beijing and the occasional chicken feet and squid tentacles seen at...

Traveling by train is a great way to see China and cover a lot of ground on a smaller budget. In our month in China we took six different trains with the majority of them being overnight trips. And while a...

No one drove in their lane in Yangshuo. In fact, they frequently drove on the wrong side of the road. At the roundabouts it was a strange harmony of cars, buses, scooters and bicycles weaving in and out...

At the end of a long train ride we arrived in Zhangjiajie early on a rainy morning and, using the directions given, caught the local #6 bus into town. Thanks to a heads up from an English-speaking local, we...

When we arrived in China we needed a little rest time and the Shanghai City Central International Hostel was a good place to do just that. For three days we hibernated in our air-conditioned room and the...

As a relatively unknown destination for Westerners, Zhangjiajie is a small city in China that is the gateway to some of the most stunning natural wonders in the world. If you are like us and enjoy the beauty...

Our last stop in Japan was a comfortable one in Hana Hostel, Hiroshima. Located close to the main train station, it was just a quick walk with our backpacks before we were lounging under air conditioning in a...

There are many ways to get around Japan through public transportation including subways, busses and bullet trains. One of the most popular options is the JR Pass, (Japan Rail), which provides train and ferry...

There's no better place to monkey around in Kyoto than at the Iwatayama Monkey Park with 140 free-roaming Japanese Monkeys (Macaques). The park had only three rules: no touching the monkeys, no picking up the...

Kyoto was our longest stay in one city here in Japan. Since we were there for five nights, we chose to book a dorm room instead of a private room at Bakpak Kyoto Hostel to make the stay less expensive. Both...

Tokyo is one of the world's most expensive cities. Although food and accommodation was high priced during our visit, we were able to offset costs by sightseeing only at pre-planned spots, discovering many of...