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There’s been a little movement throughout the travel community – an attempt to unite travel bloggers and create a list of the most unique travel destinations and secretly amazing places to visit. Nellie over at Wild Junket nominated me to participate in Tripbase’s “3 Best Kept Travel Secrets,” and that’s a pretty hard task because there are some amazing places out there.

But there are a few places and experiences that particularly stood out in my mind as I backpacked around the world:

1) India’s Festival of Color, Holi

Holi is a Hindu festival that takes place primarily in the north of India, but also regions all over the world with large Hindu populations. This Festival of Color celebrates the end of winter’s sorrow and the start of spring, and all of the joy that spring entails.

One of the rituals of the holiday is celebrated by exchanging colored powder with your neighbors on the morning of Dhulendi…and by “exchanging” I mean they throw buckets of colored water on their neighbors, rub highly pigmented powder on cheeks and foreheads and the kids roam the streets with huge water guns, ready to soak unsuspecting people “playing” Holi. Holi’s Festival of Color was incredibly fun to celebrate with the Indian people and will forever bring a smile to my face when I think about the country and its warm and joyous people.

2) Trekking in remote Laos

Laos ranks as one of my favorite countries to visit – the culture is incredibly relaxed and Laotians are generally friendly and warm. And though you can get a feel for the culture in Loas’ small cities, the real heart of the country exists in the remote villages. The small town of Hongsa is hard to get to, and once you do, there aren’t many people who speak English.

But that’s essentially the charm. Trekking within the remote areas of Laos gave me a window into the unique Hmong culture and a deeper appreciate for the basically silent struggle this ethnic group has faced in the past several decades. I found the journey into this remote and more poverty stricken regions some of the most humbling of my trip.

3) Chitwan National Park

Nepal’s Chitwan National Park lies within the southern region of Nepal and near the border with India; the National Park contains a wide range of indigenous animals from the single-horned Indian rhino to Bengal tigers, monkeys, and elephants. The eco-tours through the park create an incredibly up-close experience with the animals.

The opportunity to bath the elephants was enough to make me feel 10 years old again; because the elephants have to be bathed in the river on a daily basis, the mahouts (the elephant trainers and caretakers) allow tourists to play with the elephants in the water while they cool off. The bath session ends with the elephant unceremoniously dunking you in the water so that you can swim to the shore and then rub her down and massage the dirt out of her tough skin.

Keep an eye out on the this post as I’ll soon announce the other five out travel blogs who graciously let me tag them to participate in the 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets game.

No Debt World Travel

Adventure Rob
Twenty-Something Travel