 Introducing Chris Riedy
Chris has always had a deep curiosity of other cultures and peoples. He fell in love with Indonesia while attending the University of Hawaii, eventually earning a degree in Southeast Asian Studies and learning Bahasa Indonesian. His schooling included home stay semesters in Ujung Pandang, Indonesia as well as Seville, Spain.
After graduation, Chris worked for a vacation network as an activity coordinator in Hawaii, where he developed deep expertise in understanding and responding to travelers’ passions and needs. He has also been a sales manager for an Asian tour operator, where he specialized in dive tours to Indonesia and Thailand.
San Diego is home base for Chris, where he had added travel videos to his diverse talent base.
Chris loves to share his passion and experience for all things Asian. He looks forward to connecting with you as a leader for Explore Asia’s adventure tours to Southeast Asia and South India.
 Maureen O'Crowley
Maureen O’Crowley has a love affair with South Korea, dating back to her teen-age years when her father was stationed there and she took full advantage of immersing herself in the culture.
And then there is the other love affair. She married a South Korean, another link to her passion for his country and her adopted one.
With travel in her blood, Maureen jumped into the travel business and eventually owned her own agency. Later, she had a stint with the Korea National Tourism Organization in LA.
It was during this period of her career that Explore Asia connected with Maureen. We were impressed by her deep knowledge of Korea, her charm and her palatable love for her adopted country.
Now she’s living and working in Seoul and is in charge of marketing for Seoul Welcome, a coordinated effort of most of the city’s major tourism and government entities.
 Buzzy Gordon
Buzzy's passions are introducing Westerners to the wonders of Oriental medicine and wellness techniques, its culinary delights and percussive music traditions.
He has had Asia in his blood since his first visit in 1975, when he arrived as a backpacker after traveling overland from England to Nepal.
For a year he lived in Bangkok, teaching English at Thammassat University and standing in as the "rabbi" for Bangkok’s Jewish community. He later returned to Southeast Asia to work as a regional journalist based in Singapore and now travels frequently to Asia, including India where he is a veteran participant in Ayurveda's Panchakarma detoxification regimen.
 Judy Halbakken
Judy and her husband Dave left a comfortable life in Bellingham, Washington, and recently
moved to Bangkok in order to completely immerse themselves in the part of the world they
have come to love. They didn’t find it too much of a sacrifice to make those dreams one
true. Judy’s spirit of adventure has been with her since childhood.
. Her sensitivity to what
she experiences has led her to travel writing. In person and through her writing, her passion,
her sensitivity and her ability to create visual images personifies who she is.
Check out Judy's contribution to Explore Asia's blog where she describes why she lives to travel.
 Dave Halbakken
Dave recently moved to Bangkok with his wife Judy. As a teen, his interest in visual art was
piqued by several trips to the Chicago Art Institute, where he discovered abstract
expressionism. He also found a stillness in the Minnesota wilderness that continues to
beckon. After working with sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and conceptual art, he settled on
photography as his primary medium.
He pursued nature and landscape photography, for many
years exhibiting in the San Francisco area. Now his main photographic interests are the
cultures of Southeast Asia and their relationship with the earth. He primarily shoots photos for
sale through stock agencies.
 Barbara Ye
Robinson
Having grown up in China, though she has lived in Seattle for 20 years, Barbara still feels her
deep roots in China. She runs her own travel business doing air tickets, tours, vacation
packages, cruises and travel insurance. She is a world traveler and has visited over 50
countries with her husband Richard who is her webmaster/photographer.
As a world-wide
destination specialist, Barbara's specialty and heart is still in China and Asia. Recently she lead a Yunnan, with an extension by rail to
Tibet.
 Roger Harmon
Roger has been connecting people in Asia for over 20 years as an anthropologist, educator,
photographer and former Peace Corps director for Thailand. Now living in New Mexico, he
shares life and travels with his wife Nancy.
Like all our tour leaders, the siren call of tropical
Asia keeps Roger going back for more. Roger relishes his role as a tour leader, treating his
groups to unique experiences with people and places off the beaten track. Because he
arranges and facilitates meaningful exchanges with village people in Southeast Asia, travelers
are eager to help the people they meet.
 Nancy Harkrider
Nancy was about 10 when she first realized she wasn’t going to be content with living out her
life in Texas. She got so excited when she encountered Southeast Asia in a National
Geographic that she announced to her mother that she wanted to go to the jungles of Borneo
and watch sunsets over the South China Sea.
It took three years of working in Europe and
time in Oregon for raising her children to finally fulfill her Asian wanderlust dream. She and her husband Allan
lived and worked in Asia during the 90’s where her passion for culture, people, textiles and food
went over the top. She loves writing about it, talking about but most of all sharing it real time
with other Americans.
Nancy's expertise is Southast Asian food and wine and of course the culture.
 Remembering Allan Friedman
Allan's dad, who always wanted to travel to and photograph exotic places, instilled that
wanderlust in Allan. Straight out of university, Allan worked for Pan American Airways, whetting
his appetite for travel.
When he went to Asia the first time in 1990, he knew he had found a
home for his passions. Allan’s skill as a tour leader went far beyond his deep knowledge of the
region. It was focused on his ability to bring cultures together so that everyone got comfortable
enough to engage, making for memorable travel experiences. Those lucky enough to travel with Allan always remarked that he made ordinary experiences magical.
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