BorderHopper's VirtualTourist Home Page
| Page Views: 34,107 | The Travels of James Robert Bierman & Family by BorderHopper - last update: Jul 11, 2009 |
Recent Travels: Panama City, San Blas | Paradise found! San Blas Islands, Panama 2009 |
March 20th, 2009: BIG NEWS: We are expecting twin girls in July. Our family is growing & we're very excited (even if it means fewer trips abroad). Our son McKinley can't wait to be a big brother!
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Recently I have been putting together my travel videos & editing them into short films. I've been able to post my films up on the internet so that I could share them with anyone who is interested. Most of my videos are between 5 to 10 minutes in length and have been edited with music. The quality is so-so due to the website hosting the videos but you'll get a good idea of what I've put together depicting my travels.I personally think they are pretty fascinating..I hope you do too!
Please check out my latest video projects:VIDEOS UPDATED-11/16/2007
NEW!Viva Guatemala:Another Backpacking AdventureNEW!
NEW!Legless in CambodiaNEW!
NEW!American Child in ParisNEW!
Our Journey to Nicaragua
FAVORITE!Memories of Cambodia
Wild on the Streets of Bangkok
Water Gives Us Life: Tonle Sap Lake
Into Cambodia:Border Crossing Hell
Bangkok at Night in 3 Steps
Konichiwa Kyoto
FAVORITE!My Search For Killer Charles Manson's Death Valley Hideout (with actual recordings of Manson & his followers)
Northern Thailand:Long Neck Villages & Elephant Treks
A Lonely Mexican Road
The Fast & The Curious
An Urban Family: Los Angeles City of Angels
Shooting my Soviet Rifle (Guy fun)
My name is James Bierman, born in California, citizen of the world, married to my wonderful wife Wacharaporn, and proud father to an adventurous little boy named McKinley Nile Bierman. I'm fast approaching my 35th year here on Earth and I promised myself that I'd never allow my age to surpass the number of countries I've been to. . Damn the car payments, monthly bills, job, and poor excuses...find the time in life to ditch it all and see the world. Now don't go and ditch the family...just bring them with you. I like to think that a family who travels together stays together. Well, here's a little about me: I call home here in the San Fernando Valley in the city of Los Angeles. I work in a Los Angeles area hospital, with one of the best trauma programs in the entire country, as a Cardiology Technician. I never imagined that I'd end up working in a medical field (especially considering I'd always aspired to be a photo-journalist & hated science back in my school days). My wife and I have a 2nd home in Bangkok, Thailand & try to get back to Asia as often as possible. There was a time in my life when I'd have said my greatest accomplishment was backpacking around the world, half of which was entirely by myself, over the course of one year. Surely that was a great accomplishment but now I'd say my true greatest accomplishment was starting my own family & raising our beautiful son McKinley with my lovely wife Wacharaporn. We've also added a new family member..."Rocky" our English Bulldog. He's our youngest baby...born in Medellin, Colombia! |
| A Jolly Good ol' Time w/ my travel buddy |
|  | ...Eventually Took Me Around The World A Round-the-World Adventure: A Journey of 24,902 Miles
On February 28th, 2001 I started my round-the-world journey, a journey born from my curiosity for the world and the people who inhabit it. After a year of planning & contemplating which of several routes was best to take my friend Jason VT: 34N118W and I departed Los Angeles and set out across the Pacific for Asia with one backpack and its contents. We soon learned that all the planning in the world did nothing to keep us from deviating from our original planned route. It was clear that this would turn out to be a journey that would literally just go with the flow. The majority of our trip was done overland by utilizing public transport?be it bus, trains, sometimes planes, and even an occasional boat. The hardships were numerous but the adventure was worth every penny we had saved, and every dollar we had spent ($8000 USD in all). By July we had wandered through Southern China, South East Asia, Bangladesh & India. Reaching Afghanistan by August was a goal of mine, a goal not shared by my friend. The situation in this region of the world progressively became worse and tensions between India & Pakistan were growing after the failed peace talks between India?s Vajpayee and Pakistan?s Musharraf, talks which took place while we were traveling through India. By the first week of August the Taliban in Afghanistan detained several American & European aide workers and accused them of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, a crime which the Taliban saw fit to punish the accused to death. My friend wanted nothing to do with Afghanistan and in retrospect his hunch was probably right because several months later an all out war, sparked by the September 11th terrorist attacks, had consumed the country. Besides, his heart wasn?t into the journey anymore. It remained in Vietnam, a country where he had left his heart with a woman he had fallen in love with months earlier. While in Delhi, India my friend decided he?d return to Vietnam to pursue this relationship so we parted ways. He went East and I went West, alone. The closest I came to Afghanistan was a flight that skirted the southern region of the country and that was it. Traveling solo I eventually made my way to Egypt, a land I instantly fell in love with. My time spent there easily became a highlight of my entire journey around the world. From Egypt I headed north to Eastern Europe and eventually found my way to Sweden...
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| McKinley in Tikal, Guatemala 2007 |
| | Travel Videos & The Places I've Been **UPDATE:My Newest Travel & Family Videos 2007:
A little video I made about land mines in Kampuchea Legless in Cambodia. Check out my son in Paris, France:
Un Enfant en Paris.
Scenes from my 2nd home in Bangkok, Thailand Neon Thailand. My 3 year old son hitting home runs:
The Future of American Baseball: He's Only 3 Years Old.
Our family trip to Costa Rica: Street Scenes in San Jose, Costa Rica. Beautiful Nicaragua...a perfect destination
Family Backpacking in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.
Backpacker Without Borders
The 40 Countires I've been to: United States, Mexico, Canada, Taiwan ROC, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, PR China, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Kuwait, Egypt, Romania, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Vatican Holy See, Italy, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, Columbia, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia!!
States within the US in which I've travelled: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Missiouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, & District of Columbia (Washington DC).
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| I'm at far right w/ rag tag group in Libyan Desert |
| | Borderhoppin' the World |
| Me filming for Swedish TV-8 |
| | My Recent Travels & Latest Updates UPDATES:*
February 20, 2009: We flew into Panama City and headed from Albrook Airport to Carti, Panama in the Kuna Yala region. Mac enjoyed our flight on the Twin Otter airplane that took us over Panama to the San Blas Islands. Made friends on Wichub Wala & enjoyed the slow life with our Kuna hosts.
August 22, 2008...Back in Lima Peru and have enjoyed the history at Macchu Picchu. The border mountain pass between Chile and Bolivia was the hardest part of this trip as it was above 16,000 feet. Not easy for folks from sea level! Viva South America...Mac spent his 5th birthday in beautiful colonial Cusco. ciao!
August 6th 2008: (South America) Heading to Quito, Ecuador-Ipiales, Colombia-Lima, Peru-Arica, Chile-La Paz, Bolivia-Cusco, Peru-and topping it all off at Machu Picchu
March 2008: My son and wife are in Hong Kong & Thailand visiting family.
October 10th,2007: We are in Flores, Guatemala! This journey has taken us from Guatemala to Caye Caulker, Belize. From Belize to Honduras, and El Salvador. On previous Central American trips we've travelled to Nicaragua & Costa Rica......leaving only Panama as our last C.American country to visit.
May 2007: We've added to our family after welcoming our newest addition named "Rocky". Our English Bulldog was born this past February in Medellin, Colombia and came to us via Miami. We truly are a worldly family!
February 2007: My wife Wacharaporn made her first backpacking trip to Europe with our son McKinley. They departed for Frankfurt, Germany & followed a route that took them to Innsbruck, Austria-Venice, Italy-Zurich, Switzerland-Paris, France-Luxembourg-Brussels, Belgium-Amsterdam, Netherlands & back to Heidelberg, Germany before their trip home.
October 2006: We packed up for a month long trip back home to Thailand. This is a usual destination for us but this time around it should be fun since McKinley is more aware of his surroundings & will enjoy his travels a lot more! We met with VT member/friend 34N118W-Jason & daughter down in Malaysia & Singapore(a vacation from our vacation).
July 2006: My best friend Jason, a fellow VT'er, has welcomed a healthy baby girl named Emily (his 2nd) into his expanding family out there in the sticks of Nam (j/k). Congrats Jay... 34N118W
December 10, 2005: Our travels this year have taken us away from our usual South East Asian destinations to the equally enchanting lands of Central America. The highlight of our travel year 2005 was the time we spent together in Nicaragua & Costa Rica. We were truly impressed with all that we experienced in Nicaragua & it is our hope that my upcoming pages will inspire anyone who hasn't been there to go there! In December we will be taking one last trip for the year when we fly to Atlanta, Georgia to visit my East Coast family for Christmas and make a visit to the new Aquarium in Atlanta. So, what are our plans for 2006? Thailand (our 2nd home), Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Philippines! cy~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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| Proud Daddy with my twin girls. July 7, 2009 |
| | Our Worldly Family |
| McKinley & friends on Caye Caulker, Belize |
| | My son McKinley Nile Sensiw Bierman My little buddy
McKinley's List of Countries:
1. Thailand
2. Myanmar
3. Laos
4. Cambodia
5. Malaysia
6. Singapore
7. Taiwan
8. Japan
9. USA
10.Mexico
11.Costa Rica
12.Nicaragua
13.Guatemala
14.Belize
15.Honduras
16.El Salvador
17.Germany
18.Austria
19.Italy
20.Liechtenstein
21.France
22.Luxembourg
23.Belgium
24.Netherlands
25.United Kingdom
26.Switzerland
27. Canada
28.China (Hong Kong)
29.Ecuador
30.Peru
31.Chile
32.Bolivia
33.Panama
(pretty cool for accomplishing this by the age of 5)
Backpacking around the world is a great accomplishment but it doesn't quite compare to what I consider my greatest of all accomplishments.......being a Daddy to one incredible son! McKinley is now 4 years old & the joy he's brought to our family exceeds all the joy I've ever experienced in travelling. My little guy is on his way to setting a new family record for miles travelled throughout life. His life began somewhere in Western Cambodia, he was born in Thailand, he's been to Japan, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Laos, Myanmar,Taiwan, etc.. he's crossed the Pacific Ocean no less than 10 times, flown across the United States 12 times, and accompanied Mommy & Daddy on a backpacking trip to northern Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, & Japan. He's already been on 57 different airplanes all around the world & been to over 30 countries. I coludn't dream of a better travel companion! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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**A photo of my son,McKinley Nile (le_Nil), was published in the June/July 2006 issue of National Geographic Adventure Magazine in an article titled "The Insider's Guide to the Great Parks"..an article detailing adventures and experiences in the National Parks of Canada & the USA. His photo is attatched to a page within the article titled "Moments to Live For (Five of Life's most essential experiences, done perfectly in the parks)" #1: Create a Family Tradition (included in the sub-article is the photo of my son under a giant Sequoia tree in Sequoia National Park, California.** |
| Daddy & son at our home in Bangkok after his birth |
| | %About Life in Thailand Bangkok: Bahn Sweet Bahn
We have a comfortable little home in an outlying district of Bangkok which we don't see enough of these days. There was a time where we had planned on living there full time but for now the oppurtunities are greater for us here in Los Angeles. |
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 Comments for BorderHopper | | | | |
TravellerMel Mon Sep 14, 2009 16:40 UTC
Congratulations on the new babies! | matcrazy1 Thu Sep 3, 2009 22:27 UTC
Hi James. How are you? Happy belated birthday. Sorry, I was off VT, crazy travelling around Ukraine and Moldova that time :-))) | GlobeTrekr Sat Aug 29, 2009 16:14 UTC
Happy Birthday homeboy! Hope you have a good one and all is well. | Donna_in_India Sat Aug 29, 2009 15:15 UTC
Hi James - hope you have a wonderful birthday! Congratulations on the twins! Hope you are getting some sleep. :-)) |
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