Hana is located on the Eastern side of Maui. The "Drive to Hana" is popularized on t-shirts and is often discussed among tourists. This "drive" usually takes about 2.5 to 3 hours although it can certainly be done in a shorter time if there is little or no traffic. Many tourists make this drive out and back in one day and as a result the morning can see quite a bit of traffic out and in the afternoon much of this traffic returns. If you can swing … [Read more...]
Bangkok Day Tripping
We are always going into Bangkok for something. This time for yellow fever vaccinations - I had mine last year for Cote d'Ivoire (good for 5 years) - this time around for Syy for our January trip to Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique. Its not easy getting Yellow Fever vaccs in Bangkok - only available on the weekdays - hospitals don't offer it so we ended up going to the Red Cross Clinic at the Snake Farm. This time of year Bangkok is … [Read more...]
Tales from the Desert Kuwait
Staring out at the blackened waters of the Persian Gulf from high atop our hotel room near old town Kuwait City. The sun has obviously set and we are free to go out on the streets and eat food. 8 more days of Ramadan await us and our daylight appetites. Upon flying in our flight attendant enthusiastically made an announcement, "If you would like to see a spectacular view of desert sand, please pull down your window shades". Based on her tone … [Read more...]
Hanging out in the ‘Desh
We leave for our trip to the Deep South with 38 other Bengalis. We are the only western tourists on this trip - we will fly back because of the great distance and terrible delays that plague the river ways this time of year (usually fog related). Interestingly the airline we fly back on is called United....Airways that is. We are seeking out sightings of the rare Royal Bengal Tiger, one of the last few places in the world that you can see this … [Read more...]
Fun at Los Angeles Events
Rode in to town on the 5 on the inspirational wings of Don MaClean's American Pie blasting away on KRTH 101.1 FM. Needed some inspiration in the form of music as I certainly wasn't getting it from staring into the haze and smog that often hits the Los Angeles area this time of year. I was in town for only about a day and it was packed with events. I always like how whenever I spend any sort of time in Los Angeles events just seem to materialize. … [Read more...]
Pass the Prosciutto Please!
Having loaded up on fresh prosciutto this morning we were set for the rest of the day. Its not Italy so the prosciutto is not served with melon. Wanting to duplicate our love for the Italian prosciutto experience, we bought a melon from one of the numerous vendors in the fruit/vegetable market for the equivalent of a dollar. Thinly sliced, fresh - makes all the difference in the world. Like most niche foods - go to the source for the authentic … [Read more...]
Squid on the Floor
At sunrise the buzz of motorbike traffic has not yet begun, and the street is oddly quiet. We come out of the alley and onto the sidewalk where shop owners are opening up and iced coffee vendors await their first customers. We're out here at this hour waiting for a van, which soon arrives. The four of us shove our bags in the back and groggily climb in. The previous afternoon we booked a Halong Bay tour from one of the hundreds of vendors in … [Read more...]
Musings from Mussoorie
There are some incidents that occur in your life, that change the way you look at things. Then there are some that just bounce off of you without a visible mark, but later those memories come back to you at the oddest hours of the day, and you realise that they did in fact, leave a mark - they left one deep within your soul. This is what happened with me; I wouldn't say it was a bad experience, on the contrary, it pushed me into an existential … [Read more...]
Cherry Blossoms, Korea
Cherry blossom viewing in Korea is met with the same sort of enthusiastic hedonism that I've previously only encountered in American malls on Black Friday morning. "Please do not pick the cherry blossoms," a woman's voice pathetically pleads over an intercom. "If you pick the cherry blossoms, we will have nothing for our festival. Enjoy with eyes only," she announces in Korean, English, and Japanese at regular intervals throughout the … [Read more...]
Tongue-Tied
The one I want to wrap in my arms and bring home is Nebras. I didn't even know her name when I return to Iraq, shortly after the assault on Baghdad. I am armed only with a photo of a beggar touching her nose with her tongue. I had met her a few months before, when I'd traveled to Iraq with a women's delegation, just five weeks before the U.S. bombings and invasion. Unfazed by impending disaster, the little girl, old enough to be in … [Read more...]
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