While scouting for the first descent of the Baro River in Ethiopia, a tributary of the White Nile, I heard about a Peace Corps volunteer, Bill Olsen, 25, a recent graduate of Cornell, who decided to take a dip in the river at Gambella, a village near the South Sudan border. The locals warned to stay away from the river, which they claimed was busy with monsters. Bill ignored the cautions, and swam to a sandbar on the far side of the muddy river, … [Read more...]
Traffic Jam in Manilla
John M. Edwards trades in his Jeepney for a cab ride to a connecting flight through the traffic-jam capital of the world: Manila! On my way back from Cebu in the Philippines, with my then preggers girlfriend, we received word from the crackling cockpit that our plane was making an unscheduled stop in Manila, so all passengers could connect from another airport to their intended destinations. “WHAT?!” my now-ex girlfriend Susan Shrike (not … [Read more...]
Exploring Bermuda, an Introduction to the Island
Getting Here There are nonstop flights to Hamilton from a number of cities along the east coast of the USA as well as London Gatwick. It is surprisingly a short flight from many major metropolitan areas including New York (under 2.5 hours) and Toronto (about 3 hours). Many airlines service the island with nonstop flights including Air Canada, American, British Airways, Delta, Jet Blue, United, US Airways and Westjet among others. Bermuda … [Read more...]
Wrinkles and Dimples
Entering through the gates of our destination, I stopped in my place. Through the gleam of nature in the dainty courtyard was a tiny old woman, approaching us. She was welcoming us but my heart wavered, quickening a beat or two. An earlier encounter with an old Chinese woman was one I would not soon forget. It had been only days earlier when we were waiting at a bus stop, fully laden with our backpacks, moving onward. People were going about … [Read more...]
A Traveler’s Passion
I had my first taste of travel back in 2007 when I went on a group tour throughout Europe to six countries in twenty days. It was a group of kids from all over New Jersey that I did not know, but after those twenty days we were like a family. At the time it was my dream to visit London, I was obsessed with the accent, the culture and seeing the sights. I always wanted to see the London Eye and when I finally did, it all hit me. That moment was … [Read more...]
Sumatran Blend, Ripples on the Edge of Time: Toba or not Toba?
An American backpacker treats Sumatra, Indonesia’s “Lake Toba”--filled with crunchy Elysian entrepots --as a writers’ retreat where backing off comes with the territory “Characters are just like black marks on paper. . . --William Gass, Fiction and the Right of Life I arrive by high-speed hydrofoil across the Malacca Straits to Medan, the ersatz capital of Sumatra, during Ramadan. I was, of course, on my way to flop down and relax at the … [Read more...]
Coober Pedy
South Australia is full of strange places and the mining town of Coober Pedy is no exception. On first sight there isn't much to see for a place billed the 'opal capital of the world'. But that is for a very simple reason: it's all underground. Due to the incredibly high temperatures in the area, the locals decided to escape to the coolness that underground dwelling affords. You'll find houses, museums, art shops, mines and gemstone shops and … [Read more...]
Body Laotian
John M. Edwards sings the Buddha electric, embarking on a quest in the Laotian capital for the world’s most unique body posture. People thought I was a lunatic for coming all the way to Laos, a landlocked nation without any beaches, for a “vacation”? Even I thought I was out of my mind. After a couple of days lying on the wavy grass in the hazy egg-yolk-shaped sun of Vientiane, a Southeast Asian Wild West boomtown, though, I was bronzed … [Read more...]
Pie-eyed for Pizza: A Love Story
“I could eat pizza seven days a week.” The sentence grabbed me, but I couldn’t decide whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was on a site where few sentences grabbed me: Match.com. I jumped to two possible conclusions: a) NBlikesbikes is really boring, or b) NBlikesbikes is really quirky. I have a soft spot for the quirky, and while I was mentally kneading a) vs. b), NBlikesbikes e-mailed me. After a few messages, he asked me … [Read more...]
A Sanka in St. Petersburg
The "Manhattan Candidate" John M. edwards has an Eye-Opening experience in Cold War Russia's St. Petersburg: Attempted Brainwashing Anyone?! The Neva is clad in granite Bridges stand poised over her waters --Alexander Pushkin INTERESTED in finding the St. Petersburg salon where the protagonist of Doestoevsky’s Notes from the Underground is snubbed and ridiculed by his friends, I set off for that fair city sometime in the springtime, I … [Read more...]
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