I went out to get a cup of java in Java and ended up on an infernal coffee odyssey through the Indonesian archipelago. Stretching out like a Komodo Dragon some 6,400 kilometers across the Ring of Fire, from the coffee plantations and wild orangutans of Sumatra to the primary rainforests and decorative penis gourds of Irian Jaya, Indonesia is the ideal launching pad to crash land into some of the most dramatic sights in Southeast Asia. … [Read more...]
How to Make the Best of Night Buses
It was about 3 in the morning and I pulled out of the hazy half-sleep I’d goaded myself into, there was a small commotion over the aisle where my friends were sitting –hurried whispers, rearranging and by the time my brain caught up with what was going on my friend was sitting in the aisle, half asleep himself, soaking wet. I tried to steady myself to figure out what happened, but any way I shifted threw my balance. We had the last row of … [Read more...]
Experience Midsummer Like a Local in Five Baltic Sea Cities
In Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Riga, Warsaw and Hamburg alike, Residents Enjoy Their Summers to the Fullest, Inviting Visitors to Join Celebrations and Laid-back Summer Activities. Los Angeles, April 29, 2014 – Connected by the Baltic Sea, shared history and cultural traditions, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Riga, Warsaw and Hamburg have, above all, one thing in common: Locals worship their summer with warm winds and short nights when the sun barely … [Read more...]
Foraging with Pascal, a Professional Wild Food Forager in Los Angeles
A few hours spent with Los Angeles based wild food forager, Pascal Baudar will open your eyes to the wonders and diversity of the edible natural world. That natural world will come alive in ways perhaps you didn't think were possible. Plants growing wild which can be harvested and prepared as food are literally everywhere. Pascal is one of only a very select few professional wild food foragers in Los Angeles. There is a reason for that - … [Read more...]
The Bar with no Name – New York City
Coming to loggerheads with an obvious British actor at an anonymous Irish bar in TriBeCa is like slumming it for a short story. . . . “What do you call this place anyway?” I asked over a pint of Harp at an attractive antique bar with no name in TriBeCa on West Broadway below Canal Street. “We haven’t decided on a name yet.” The bartender, who resembled Tom Jones, was drying glasses. His name was “Seamus” (as in Seamus Heaney, translator … [Read more...]
What to do in Seoul
When traveling to East Asia Western tourists often hawk to Tokyo or cities in China, not to mention Hong Kong, which attracts an astonishing 50 million visitors per year. Largely left off the itinerary is Seoul, acting often as a stopover point (which is appropriate, as Incheon Airport has been named the best airport in the world.) But tourism in South Korea is gaining traction. It’s repeatedly been voted the world’s most wanted travel … [Read more...]
Through Death and Sky
“Welcome to Fiji”, announced the captain of the Atlantic Pacific, Boeing 747-400. It had been a 10 hour and 45 minute flight from Los Angeles to Nadi, the third largest municipality on the Viti Levu Isle. Fiji was the first stop of a Cultural-Volunteer Expedition Lead by Carpe Diem followed by, New Zealand, and Australia. Our purpose was to live, learn, and aid, to fully acclimate ourselves in the spirit of Fiji. As the team left the plane, we … [Read more...]
Unbridled: A Memoir
After my divorce, I needed to travel, to go on a journey to find myself. What better place to start than Ireland, home of my ancestors? During my trip I found images and parts of me that I didn't know existed. I found them in the faces and personalities all around me; in their laughter and ability to laugh at themselves; in the scenery; the castles and cottages; in the weather- stormy and changeable like myself; in the roads: driving on the … [Read more...]
Beirut in the Baltics
John M. Edwards is drawn into the Wild Wild East of “Europe Minor.” After the collapse of communism in the USSR, inflation in the freshly minted Baltic republics of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia rolled up the ruble into the cheapest toilet paper around, so I decided to go East and stock up. I needed a cheap place to wipe my ass because I was then unemployed, and an Orwellian year of freelancing in Paris had left me as restless … [Read more...]
One of the Keys to Happiness is a Bad Memory.
For the past decade, I’ve had this recurring nightmare. It involves concrete apartment structures hundreds and hundreds of stories tall and one city block wide. I’m usually stuck on one of the top floors, which are so high in the sky that small communities complete with little stores and schools have been established up there. Rickety walkways strung from windows connect the buildings so the tenants don’t have to make the journey down and back … [Read more...]
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