South India ~ Original India

“I don’t speak Hindi”, my guide at the Sri Ranga temple announced – with more than a slight sense of pride. Yes I’m in Tamil Nadu, in the deep south of India, where Tamil has been the language for nearly 4,000 years. Little wonder they feel the Taj Mahal is a very recent usurper of […]

Myanmar – latest info

Burma has over several decades changed its name, its flag, the side of the road they drive on, and the location of its capital – but very little else. Until a year ago. Now the country is being accepted back into the international community, things are changing at breakneck speed. The biggest impact on tourists […]

The Road to Mandalay

Back in 1890, a young 24 year-old named Rudyard Kipling was making his way back to England from India when his ship made an unscheduled stop in Moulmein, the previous capital of British Burma. He was reportedly so impressed by the looks and confidence of the Burmese women he saw that he was motivated to […]

Weaving, water, and wineries

Inle Lake in the early dawn is magical. A gentle mist rises, the sky goes from indigo to mauve to blue, and as a backdrop there lie the mountains that cover so much of Shan State. In the far distance is China. And occasionally into view comes a fisherman setting up for the day. No […]

Biking Bagan

I’m not much inclined to get up before dawn. The more so when it’s New Years Day and I’m engaged in trying to navigate unlit streets on an ancient bike with no gears. My body is telling me it wants to be asleep, and my brain is just about registering all the signs of a […]

Cuba Libra

Cuba is extremely tough to describe. For many it is the tourist enclaves that exist at the best beaches and which actively exclude everyday Cubans, providing all-inclusive resort accommodation to Canadians, Europeans, and Russians. With good roads, carefully manicured lawns, and ‘local’ handicraft stores, it is about as close to the real thing as a […]

Tourists

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” G.K. Chesterton         I know that every foreigner who comes here influences the place (just think of Mark Anthony), but there are foreigners and then there are tourists. I couldn’t figure why the only international flights I […]

Albania via Greece to Cairo

      As I write this, with the green fields of the Nile Valley flashing by the train window, it is extremely hard to conceive that just one week ago I was taking a similarly long trip in what now seems a different world. The only similarity is that I am the only foreigner […]

Vini Pu and other Montenegran oddities

I think it is high time I published some thoughts (and photos) on Montenegro. Now I find myself on my last day in Ulcinj in the far south, with the call to prayer at the mosque on Friday the first I have heard since I was in Morocco. The owner of my guesthouse described himself […]

Toledo con jamon

     I love places that resist the urge to become complete slaves to tourism. And, thankfully, Toledo is just such a place. Of course, I do accept the potential hypocrisy of being a tourist and decrying tourism, but I can justify that by saying I never buy t-shirts with a town name on, fridge […]

Hola Ecuador

      Quito is by far the prettiest of the Andean capital cities I’ve seen, not that it gets much competition from Lima or Bogota. The old city has been mostly left alone, and probably has had to be since it got one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Site awards. Just think big […]

Cultural disconnects

What a culture shock; Sri Lanka to Dubai. But even before leaving Sri Lanka, on the way out of Trincomalee, I saw the last of three fancy-looking children’s playground with very colourful and carefully constructed equipment (lord forbid the little angels should learn to take care). Now there are plenty of things the children of […]

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