It’s good to have a routine. It gives us comfort. It fills in the guesswork. Doe Bay Fest gave us routine. Every morning, we would wake up to Bloody Marys made by Kevin. Kevin lived next door to us. We were on his turf, actually….
I revel in the queue these days. Lines speak to me. New driver’s license, new medicare card, wait for a flight to arrive, wait to exchange my krone back to dollars. I get to go through it all over again, as slowly as possible. I…
Four weeks into Van, far too many weeks since the trip ended, and far far too many weeks since our last post. Rest assured, my ofthewrld.com faithful, that Berlin, Copenhagen, Odessa, Padua, San Juan (Washington) and far, far, far too many others will received the…
It was a heated duel. Truth be told, I was losing. I forgot how many times the computer had beat me in Connect Four (3 in a row). I lost track of the number of headlines that included corruption or Charbonneau as I read from…
and 24 hours and 2 buses, one minivan, and 1 long shared jeep ride back up into the mountains, and we’ve arrived in Darjeeling. The new motto, as it was forcefully impressed upon us by our guesthouse owner, Lama, is ‘beat the heat’. Stay in…
Almost three weeks into Nepal, and we are about to head off on our second trek, this one to the Langtang Valley. Baffled at how nothing in Kathmandu’s bpacker district has any breakfast or even a tea shop open before 7am. Bleary eyed Nepalis, c’mon!…
We've been in Kathmandu for one day, and I've already: Hit a motorbike. The sky was dark, the masses of shops to my left, bright and appealing. With my feet walking, but my head turned sideways, I strolled smack into a parked bike. The two…
The motorbike. The symbol of Vietnam. The country's utmost point of pride. “90 million people live in Vietnam today, and we have 55 million motorbikes,” one tour operator exclaims. “9 million people live in Saigon. And can you guess the number of motorbikes? Nearly 7…
A few highlights of the last month: Smoggy, sumptuous Saigon: where we sampled all forms of transport and movement – rowboats and speedboats down the Mekong, high speed slides at a waterpark on the outskirts, public buses to war museums and art galleries, and dark…
1. Find a reason to do nothing. Vietnam is a fascinating country, and with so many places to go, touts to outsmart and dishes to attempt to order from fully Vietnamese menus, justifying sitting around won't be easy. For a simple way out, try getting…
