Just a ferry ride away from Bali are the beautiful islands of Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, and Gili Meno. I stayed on Gili “T”, where I put my new scuba certification skills to the test. And this was the absolute perfect location to do it! The water visibility was amazing and the ocean was teaming with an incredible variety of coral and fish. When I arrived and checked into Gili Yoga, I was half-drugged from the dramamine I had taken, just … [Read more...]
How Todays Hipster Makers Travel
The hipster maker culture The maker culture, part tech, part traditional, has been taking the world by storm, at least the hipster spaces. Now you can regularly find $90 courses teaching you wood-working, brass crafting or something similar along those lines. Its cool, definitely, but I always feel a little underwhelmed after participating in these kind of overpriced workshops. You make something really really simple (in the interests of … [Read more...]
Gelato World Tour 2.0
New Gelato Partner for the Second Edition, that will start in Singapore Record requests for participation from Australia for the first stage: 16 gelato artisans in Asia / Pacific in the race for the title of World's Best Gelato Rimini Fiera – The second edition of Gelato World Tour will start in less than days in Singapore making the city state the Gelato Capital of the World for 3 days in March 2015. The event will also be an occasion to … [Read more...]
THE 10th Annual Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show Will Bring Thousands of Travel Options and International Culture and Cuisine to Long Beach February 21-22
Nation’s Largest Travel Show Will Feature Roster of Celebrity Expert Travel Speakers Including Samantha Brown, Rick Steves, Pauline Frommer, Peter Greenberg and Phil Keoghan (LOS ANGELES, CA) – Tens of thousands of travel enthusiasts will once again be inspired by the sights, sounds and culture of faraway destinations from across the globe as the nation’s largest consumer travel show returns to the Long Beach Convention Center on February 21 … [Read more...]
Backpackers – by Paul Bellamy
This is not just your ordinary tale of backpackers seeing the world. The scene is the late 1980's in South East Asia - before Internet, before cell phones, before instant communication around the world. Two budget backpackers (Andrew and Kirsten) are trying to see the world on the cheap - pinching pennies by staying in ratty cockroach infested hostel dorms and quickly running out of money. Then Andrew discovers a money belt full of money and … [Read more...]
The Amazingly Industrious Trishaw Driver from the Sultan’s Kraton
John M. Edwards rides around into infinity with an amazingly industrious trishaw driver skilled in perpetual motion for a mere pittance (a pocketful of rupiahs) at the Sultan’s Kraton in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. At the Sultan’s Kraton in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia, I stood face to face with “The Great Man”--the Sultan himself! Since I was a known American “oil baron,” not a gas station attendant but part owner of a privately held oil and … [Read more...]
Café Hopping in the Hot Spots of Indonesia
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...]
What do Van Morrison, The Godfather of Punk, and Seamus Heaney have in Common?
There is a theory of “primitive affluence” that suggests that when a society has its primary needs met by Nature...food, shelter, clothing…then it will turn to creativity. Bali, a tropical island in Indonesia where the rich volcanic soil produces an abundance of food and materials for fabrics and building, is held as an example. The trope is that “everyone in Bali is an artist.” Yet, while it is true that most everyone spends days carving, … [Read more...]
The Abominable Sumatran
"Get your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty apes!" A shaggy American with a Yankees cap and soul patch spat out the words haltingly, photographing a rust-colored simpering simian with a winsome pout who looked vaguely human. Unfortunately, the American was me. It was a fair imitation of Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes. Except we weren't extras in a futuristic flick where evolution goes awry. (As you'll remember, in the film, … [Read more...]
Cock-a-Doodle-Don’t, Cockfighting in the Philippines
John M. Edwards attends a horrific “cockfight” on Bantayan Island in the Philippines, only to end up wondering what exactly were the ingredients in the national dish of adobo. . . . The roosters swaggered around like Mick and Keith, with dangerously sharp spurs attached to their legs. While the apocalyptic poultry sussed each other out with malice, the excitement began to build. My two new Norwegian backpacker friends snapped photos with … [Read more...]