With Gamcheon Village’s population shrinking, the residents got creative and decided to build larger, more permanent homes and attract the new tourist trade. They decided to paint the exteriors of their shops and homes bright colors and turn the village into a cultural center with the installation of tiled art, sculpture and museums as random as early history and dolls.

2016 has been a banner year in travel for the Peters’ family. We found ourselves out of our element, out of comfort zone and way out on a limb– or zipline. Read the 2016 in Review about this past year which took us to Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand three times.

The temple is always in a state of maintenance and construction. The artist wants Wat Rung Khun to have pilgrimagers that return to Chiang Mai not unlike those who return to Spain’s Sagrada Família or India’s Taj Mahal. And not unlike Antoni Gaudí and Shah Jahan, Ajarn Chalermchai does not expect to see his great work completed as its expected to take approximately 60 and 90 years to complete.

The DMZ isn’t your typical tourist destination. Learning all the things that happened there, watching them watch and photograph you and signing the “possible death” waiver adds to the tension. I did learn a lot and seeing it first hand put most of it into perspective.