As a result of hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney has become known worldwide as one of the most beautiful and friendly cities in the world with it's Sydney Opera House on the harbor, it's beautiful coastline, and the many great places to stay. Perhaps you've finally set aside time for your dream vacation in the oldest city in Australia, or maybe you have a marketing business trip scheduled for your newly formed company, and your first stop … [Read more...]
Bringing Europe Home
July 16, 2004 Gutten tag! Hello friends! Greetings from the Viennese Internet cafe! I just returned from paying my respects to some of the great classical composers of our time! Some people make pilgrimages to Rome or Mecca, but I pay homage to people like Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Strauss. Standing before all of them lined in a circle around me felt like a religious experience. I only wish I had the power to bring them all back to … [Read more...]
La Gomera
La Gomera: Island of whistling wind and whistling people. La Gomera, the second smallest of the Canarian Islands, is an island rich in culture, food and history. Some travelers believe that the nearly perfect round shape of the island helps to concentrate a lot of positive energy in this place. Whether this is true or just a cross between Chinese "Feng-Shui" and "New Age Beliefs" doesn't really matter. What really matters though, is that La … [Read more...]
Franco’s Ghosts
November 4, 2003: Today in the news, Franco is still dead but you can still vote for him. Two weeks ago, I stood in front of one of only three still-remaining statues of the late Spanish dictator who died on November 20, 1975. A week later, back home in San Francisco, my Spanish partner cast his ballot: a ballot which still includes Franco's political party "Falange" - Spanish fascists. There's no escaping Franco. Astride his horse, with … [Read more...]
Going Cal-ing in Ibiza
Every now and then, I'll combine English and Spanish words and come up with something that truly annoys my wife, who happens to be from Spain. These "Spanglish" concoctions are usually pretty cheesy, but I must say that I'm not the only one guilty of this. Spaniards themselves do it. For bungee jumping, for example, they've invented the word puenting combining the ing ending from English with the word "puente" (bridge) in Spanish to form a hybrid … [Read more...]
Whitewater Rafting Forges Bonds Stronger than the Rapids
Colorado River Rafting is a Trip Visualize the boat's brow cutting through the swirling, surging water; the sun sparkling on the frothy waves, making tiny rainbows; the abrupt lurch of the craft, as the surging waves suddenly shift direction. The adrenalin is pumping, all senses alert, with nature working overtime to orchestrate a thrill you'll never forget. That's what most people think a raft trip entails, but there's much more going on. … [Read more...]
Devils Do Good
This story takes place in Cuzco, Peru where the author attended a shamanic ceremony that involved taking San Pedro, a cactus used in certain Peruvian religious rituals and known for its ability to open areasof the mind that are normally unreachable. The article describes the author's hallucinogenic experiences during his initiation, and shares the mystical philosophies of the shaman and medicine women who introduced him to San Pedro. They … [Read more...]
Burma: Poverty, Government Greed & Human Sweetness Part I
Burma Part I August 18 2002 Rangoon (renamed Yangon) Burma We took Thai Air to Rangoon. Bob left his Lonely Planet Guidebook Burma (renamed Myanmar by the military junta) on the plane and of course someone had pocketed it by the time we debarked. But we remembered the Yoma Hotel downtown and headed there. At the Yoma a French Canadian couple at dinner loaned us their LP so we could locate a bookstore somewhere in the city. Incidentally the … [Read more...]
Our Time in China
The opening up of China is a stirring idea. A foreigner traveling alone today is privileged to see more of China than almost any Chinese has seen in his or her lifetime. I wondered what we could learn-traveling alone. Our images and ideas of China have surely been contradictory and distorted over time. In the years of the Cultural Revolution after 1966 tens of millions of Chinese had become the instruments of their own terror...a million were … [Read more...]
Three days in Laos
Day 1 Greetings all from the heart of Laos! I'm writing from Vang Vieng, sort of a Gimmelwald of Laos... in other words the Laotian version of the Swiss Alps. I walk out of my hotel room onto a balcony that faces the most ethereal, exotic scene! Mountains in the shape of fingers and hands and what not jet up towards the sky, covered by foliage, and below lie palm trees, the village, and the river. Laos is the 10th poorest country in the … [Read more...]
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