Travels in the Riel World

Don George, to say the least, has done his share of traveling and writing. He has worked as a Travel Editor for the San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle, Salon.com, and Lonely Planet Publications. Along the way, he’s traveled to more than 65 countries. Recently, when his daughter and son graduated from college and high school, respectively, he had the idea to write his own version of a commencement address and to put down on paper some of what he’s learned through his life journeys. The result was recently published in the online magazine Recce. Some of his observations:

1. Pursue your passion - If I have one mantra that I’ve followed throughout my life, it’s this one. It started with that impetuous decision to live abroad for a year, and it continued at the end of that year, when I had to decide whether to go to graduate school in creative writing or comparative literature. After a sleepless Athenian night, I chose the path of my passion: writing. And it is no overstatement to say that everything that has happened to me professionally since then — the fulfilling, fortuitous life I have made as a travelling scribe for the past three decades — is a result of that fateful choice. So, my number one precept would be pursue your passion, and keep your mind open to the opportunities that pursuit provides.

2. Listen to your gut- Early in that Parisian summer, after a frazzling week trying to find an apartment, I was faced with two final choices. One was located in a fashionable tree-lined neighborhood and was sparkling clean and modern; in comparison, the other seemed dingy, threadbare and old-fashioned. But the latter building had towering wooden entrance-doors that opened off the rue de Rivoli, and a creaky filigreed elevator that rose ever-so-slowly to the third floor, and the apartment had airy French windows that opened right onto the Tuileries. Somehow it just felt right. I took it and the neighborhood quickly became my home away from home, where the local café-keeper automatically brought my café creme and the six-table sawdust bistro always soothed with perfect biftek-frites, and the soul-soaring Ile de la Cite was only a dusk-lit walk away. And when I came home each night, I felt like I was walking into the heart — threadbare, dingy, old-fashioned — of the city I loved.

When in doubt, silence the world around you and listen to your heart. Since then, whenever I have been traveling and trying to decide if I should follow Path A or Path B, I have heeded the still voice inside me. It’s never wrong. And it’s the same with the big decisions about Life-Path A or B too. Deep inside, we know which way we should go. The challenge is to cut through the din of our fears and imposed preconceptions and the roar of others’ expectations to hear the deep core.

All of George’s insights are well worth reading. Check them out.

You’re gearing up to do some extensive traveling. You’ve got the time and the money. Where to go? Europe, Asia, Latin America? What about the islands of the Pacific? It’s a region that many people never really consider, but Gary Arndt wasn’t one of them. As he explains in a recent story he wrote for Indie Travel Podcast, the Pacific was the first region he headed to when he began his round-the-world journey and he found it to be “one of the most wonderful, and under-explored, places on Earth.” Here is an excerpt from his story describing a few of his favorite Pacific island destinations:

Palau - Palau is one of the smallest countries in the world with only 20,000 citizens. Yet, it has over 18 states, all of which have their own license plates. Palau has the some of the best diving in the world in the rock island of Korror. What Palau is perhaps most famous for is the Jellyfish Lake. In the middle of some of the rock islands are salt water lakes connected to the ocean through fissures in the rock. Thousands of years ago jellyfish were caught in the lakes and evolved away their stingers due to a lack of predators. Today you can swim with the jellyfish and they are totally harmless!

Pohnpei, Micronesia -If there is one place I’d describe as a hidden travel destination, it would be Micronesia, in particular the island of Pohnpei. It is a very difficult place to get to. The only flights are between Hawaii and Guam. It is probably the most beautiful island I’ve ever been to and is the home of one of the best, unknown ancient ruins in the world: Nan Modal. I describe Nan Modal as a cross between Macchu Picchu and Venice. It is made of stone with canals between all the structures. Aside from the history and mystery of Nan Modal, Pohnpei is just flat-out beautiful. The tropical fruit, flowers, the lagoon and the people make it a truly wonderful place.

Gary picks out six islands as being among his favorite Pacific destinations. Check out the rest of them in his article.

One of the big debates going on in Washington and around the U.S. these days, of course, revolves around the nation’s health care programs. I’m no policy wonk, so I’m not going to wade into a debate about issues here, but rather point out that even health care is related to national culture and values. Jacob Weisberg described this connection in a recent issue of Newsweek. A good chunk of his column is devoted to exploring the pros and cons of our current system, but he also does a nice job of showing how culture and health care are related.

In his new book The Healing of America, the journalist T. R. Reid employs a clever device for surveying the world’s health systems: he takes an old shoulder injury to various countries. In the United States, a top orthopedist recommends joint-replacement surgery, costing tens of thousands of dollars. In France and Germany, doctors steer him instead toward a regime of physical therapy. In Britain, they tell him to go home. In India, he is treated, quite effectively, with herbs, massage, and meditation…

He’s right that we can learn much from practices elsewhere. But the lesson I took away from his book was somewhat different: health-care systems are not just policy choices, but expressions of national character and values. The alternatives he describes work not just because they’re well designed but because they reflect the expectations and traditions of their societies.

All advanced, wealthy countries have health systems that are more egalitarian and cost-effective than ours. Each also has its quirks, which reinforce familiar stereotypes. Britain, land of the stiff upper lip, provides what to us seems shockingly minimalist treatment…The Japanese, on the other hand, love doctors and visit them, on average, 14.5 times per year, three times the U.S. rate. They do this in an orderly, ritualized way, usually bringing a bottle of sake or cash in an envelope as a gratuity.

Interesting stuff. And if you want to know more details about culture and health care in the U.S., check out his piece.

Agra, India.

Everyone has seen the classic front view of the Taj Mahal. But it’s just as interesting and spectacular from the side. This particular view is framed by the entrance to a mosque that is set just to the left of the Taj Mahal.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’m a fan of taking life sabbaticals, or career breaks. So it’s always nice to read about the positive experiences that other individuals have had in taking time off from their career, whether to travel or engage in some other worthwhile activity.

Michael Bontempi just wrote about his own career break and travel experiences for the Briefcase to Backpack site. Like pretty much everyone I know who has ever attempted this, he had an incredible experience, time to reflect on his life, and no problem finding a new job and resuming a career when he was back home. Here is an excerpt of what he had to say:

My career break gave me the opportunity to reflect on my previous 14 years of experience and helped me to reevaluate my career path and evaluate if I was on the right track. Ironically, putting our 9-month plan together started me on the decision path for my next role. It came very natural to me to orchestrate all the moving parts that would be required to enable me to enjoy my career break and ensure that our life back home was in order at the same time.

So as I started my career search at the beginning of 2008, the one frequent question that was on everyone’s mind was “how I would be able to explain my career break to a new employer?” To be honest, this was not something I was overly concerned about. I had decided that when asked, I would tell my story as it happened. To hide the truth or try to spin this time into something it wasn’t would be foolish. Surprisingly, most of the negative reaction to my career break decision came from the recruiters I worked with, and very little concern from the potential new employer. In today’s competitive market, some could view a career break as a handicap, while most see it as a differentiator…

For anyone that is considering a career break with hopes of returning to a career, you will inevitably have many doubts, concerns and questions. But at the end of the day, the choice to take a career break is not just about the travel - it’s about you. It’s about trying to reflect on all that you have accomplished and what you haven’t and determining if the current path you’re on will eventually put more in that “accomplished” category.

Check out his entire story, and the rest of the Briefcase to Backpack site.

There are many ways to differentiate between cultures. I have to admit, though, that one way I hadn’t thought of was in the different ways that cultures prepare and enjoy their cups of tea. But Allen Burt recently wrote an intriguing article for Matador Travel that did just that, reviewing six tea cultures around the world. England and China are on the list, as you might expect, but here is an excerpt about some of the other interesting choices:

Tibet - After passing over 13,000ft mountain passes to the Tibetan Plateau, Chinese green gives way to its western cousin, butter tea. A mainstay of the local diet, generous portions of (often rancid) butter and salt give Tibetan tea a uniquely unpleasant flavor that is undoubtedly an acquired taste. Tibetans take advantage of the butter’s oils to protect their lips from the high-altitude sun. Consequently, the higher you go, the more butter in your tea.

Morocco - Sipping hot mint tea in the souks of Marrakech, Morocco, entails more than you might expect. You sit among boiling cauldrons of lamb heads, watching as your tea is poured from large steaming copper kettles at arm’s length into tiny palm-sized glasses. The addictive sweet mint tea is served throughout the day. Alcohol is regarded as taboo in traditional circles in this Muslim nation, so mint tea acts as the social beverage of choice.

Peru - The coca leaf, notorious for its roll as the principal ingredient in cocaine, has been used for centuries in Andean tea. Among the Inca-descended Quechua in particular, the ancient brew is still consumed to alleviate the effects of life at altitude. Try the tea in the mountain city of Cuzco, where tourist accommodations offer a complementary cup on arrival.

Read the entire article for his other insights about these and other countries.

The summer road trip season is in full swing in the United States. So is baseball season. This is, therefore, a great time to combine these two American passions and plan a baseball road trip. Not just a jaunt to see a few games and stadiums, but a journey that enables you to explore the history of the sport between games at some of the country’s most cherished ballparks.

I created my own version of the ultimate baseball road trip, which I published on Examiner.com. It’s a two-part journey that enables you to explore the history of baseball, as well as take in games at some of the country’s most cherished ballparks. You can read my description of the journey here (and here), and use these Google maps to follow along.

View Ultimate baseball road trip (part one) in a larger map

View The ultimate baseball road trip (part two) in a larger map

Yes, it’s true. It’s not an easy sell at the moment, but the Afghanistan government is looking to the future. It is training people to work in the tourism industry and is taking steps to try to lure travelers back to Afghanistan, which at one point was actually a popular stop on a tourist trail from Europe across the Middle East and Central Asia into India.

Even as troops fight militants in the south, government officials and donors in Afghanistan’s central Bamiyan valley are training tour guides and teaching restaurateurs about customer service. It’s an attempt to draw tourism and return one small part of Afghanistan to normalcy.

The challenges are many - land mines, dangerous roads outside Bamiyan, and, not least, Afghanistan’s reputation as anything but a tourist haven. But the hope is to persuade history buffs and adventure seekers that Afghanistan can be safe, and locals are eager to give it a shot…

There are now signs that tourism is increasing again, however slightly. Airport and hotel records show more than 400 foreigners had visited the Bamiyan area by early June, up from about 180 the same time in 2008, said Najibullah Ahrar, a representative from the information and culture ministry. He said many of them may have mixed work in the area with seeing the sights.

Ask any traveler that question and you’ll get an interesting litany of answers. Or perhaps no good answer at all, other than the recognition that, well, yes, travel really is addictive. But I just came across an interesting essay by Leigh Haugseth on her blog, Fresh New Life, in which she comes up with some pretty good answers to that question. Here is an excerpt:

We get a chemical high. When you take a risk, your brain produces the feel good chemical dopamine which gives you a short high.  The more risks you take, the more highs you experience.  Studies have shown that dare devils, such as those that climb outrageously high mountains or do extreme sports, have lower levels of dopamine inhibitors. This means when they take a risk, they get an even higher shot of dopamine than the rest of us, producing a more addictive high.

We feel like we’re actually doing something productive with our lives. Being on the road can get tedious at times, but overall, it’s constant newness and wonder. Something we don’t experience in our daily humdrum lives.  We’re constantly learning and experiencing life.  Being on the road and interacting with different people is more productive than sitting in the same meetings, with the same people, in the same office every day. 

It makes us feel adventurous.  When we set off on a new adventure, no matter how afraid we may be, feelings of boldness and bravery take over and we  feel ready to take on the world.   Anything can happen that day, anything is possible.  This is what we dream about when we’re whiling away in our cubicle.  These feelings are real and very addictive.

These are just three of the seven interesting answers that she produced. Check out her entire post, and then start dreaming again about hitting the road.

As someone who has survived taxi rides in Cairo, I found this recent Matador Travel article by Nick Rowlands to be hilariously accurate.

Taking a taxi in Cairo is the Egyptian equivalent of Russian Roulette. You’re going to need nerves of steel, plus a little bit of luck, if you want to arrive at your destination with life, limb and wallet all intact…

To survive the journey with only minimal psychological damage, you will need both the patience and the fatalism of a saint.

You’ll spend most of the ride spluttering and wheezing your way through the inevitably gridlocked Cairo traffic, but when a gap does open up, you’ll career through it like a kamikaze rally driver on crank. Lane markings and traffic lights are treated as irrelevant urban art installations, and rules of the road as nothing more than a quaint rumour. Most drivers think indicating direction is a sign of weakness, and only use their brakes as a last resort. They use their horns, however, with passion and commitment: like a cacophony of bats that avoid bumping into things by constantly squeaking.

Your driver will smoke, and he will talk on his mobile phone. He’ll lean out of the car to abuse other drivers, yet he’ll manage to look you in the eye whilst asking the most intrusive personal questions. He’ll also thoroughly examine you using his multiple interior mirrors. Ladies, watch your angles!

To cope with all this, you need to adopt the insha’Allah (“God willing”) approach to life. The insha’Allah world view says that everything that happens on Earth is God’s will. Even if you are hurtling the wrong way down a one way street, while your taxi driver simultaneously texts his wife and grills you about yours, there is nothing you can do about it. Your story has already been written, so just relax.

Check out the rest of Nick’s humorous story about Cairo taxi rides.

Monument Valley, Utah

The stunning red buttes and mesas of Monument Valley, in a Navajo Nation tribal park on the Utah-Arizona border. To see a few more of these photos, check out a photo essay on Monument Valley that I recently published.

Street food both entices and terrifies travelers. To sample the food that is sold by vendors on street corners is surely one of the quickest ways to delve into the tastes and yearnings of a culture. But pick the wrong vendor and it can also be the quickest way into several days worth of stomach cramps (and more). Terry Ward recently surveyed the street food of different countries for World Hum, though, and recommended eight of the planet’s best cities for enjoying this local cuisine. A few of her recommendations:

Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico City’s street food is deliciously diverse, from tubes of fried dough powdered with cinnamon called churros to roasted corn to carnitas and freshly squeezed fruit juices. But perhaps the best dish in the capital is the ubiquitous tacos al pastor, found on nearly every street corner. Hunks of marinated pork topped with pineapple are cooked gyro-style on a spit until tender. Then chunks are sliced off and served atop two-bite corn tortillas. Cilantro, chopped onion and a squeeze of lime make a perfect garnish. 

Istanbul, Turkey - Pushcarts laden with inexpensive eats are practically as prevalent as people in Istanbul, where you can find sustenance for every meal without ever entering a restaurant. For breakfast, take your Turkish coffee or tea with simit—a donut-shaped piece of bread covered with sesame seeds that’s lovely with jam or cheese. Kofte—skewers of minced meat shaped into sausage-like forms that are grilled and stuffed into bread—make a good lunch. And you can puzzle-piece together dinner by hitting vendors selling corn on the cob (grilled or boiled), lahmajun (grilled flat bread topped with a thin layer of meat, tomatoes, onions, peppers and parsley) and midye dolma (mussels stuffed with rice, pine nuts, raisins and fresh herbs).

Stone Town, Zanzibar- Come sunset in Stone Town, Forodhani Gardens on the waterfront turns into a spectacle of brazier-bound seafood, salivating tourists and feral cats foraging for leftovers. “It’s a total seafood orgy—I’ve never seen so many fish and crustaceans getting chopped and skewered,” said Christopher Vourlias, a World Hum contributor who puts Forodhani on his shortlist of all-time best street eats. Think lobster, crab claws, shrimp, barracuda, octopus and skewers of flopping fresh fish. Due to its popularity with tourists, seafood here is pricey by local standards. Expect to pay about $4 for lobster and one or two bucks for a skewer of snapper. You’ll save cash by feasting like the locals do, opting for goat meat skewers, grilled cassava, spiced naan bread and samosas.

Check out the entire story for more recommendations in Morocco, Vietnam, Korea and other countries.

Paul Theroux has, over the years, provided us with some wonderful literary accounts of his global travels. His latest venture, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, actually retraces a trip from Europe to Asia that he wrote about in his 1975 book, The Great Railway Bazaar. He talked about these journeys and other topics recently in an interview that he did with National Geographic Traveler. An excerpt:

In your latest book, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, you retraced your 1973 Great Railway Bazaar journey. What changed between trips?

“Even a rickshaw wallah has a cell phone,” an Indian said to me. In 1973 I tried to make two phone calls in four and a half months—one, from Japan, succeeded, the other, from India, failed. Cheap watches and blue jeans were almost unknown in the wider world in 1973, but everyone has them now, in Americanized cultures. In 1973, China was undergoing the Cultural Revolution—the whole of China disrupted with mass hysteria—and now, of course, the Chinese manufacture most of our goods.

What’s stayed the same?

Undoubtedly village life in rural India—the pattern of harvest, or drought, debt, hunger, and the pieties of Hinduism. This in great contrast to parallel developments in information technology.

What surprised you?

The forgiveness in Vietnam. After we dropped over seven million tons of bombs, 13 million gallons of Agent Orange, and killed millions of their people, Americans are greeted politely, welcomed, urged to have some noodles. It’s a great lesson to anyone familiar with other wars and atrocities.

If you could retreat from the life you live now, what would you do—and where?

I have spent my whole life searching for the best place to live. I spend the summer on Cape Cod, where I spent my happiest childhood days. I spend the winter in happy Hawaii, bathed in marine sunlight. I make forays to the coast of Maine. These are sun-kissed days. Why retreat?

Sure, you know about Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. But what do you know about Zoroastrianism or Yoruba? A number of readers may be familiar with the Baha’i faith, but have you actually heard of the African Mami Wata religion? Chris Wary published a unique and interesting article recently on Matador Travel, profiling six unique religions that he suggests are virtually unknown in the West. Following are his overviews of two of the six religions. The entire story is definitely worth a read.

Zoroastrianism- Zoroastrianism is based on the teachings of the first millennium BCE Iranian prophet Zoroaster. There are estimated to be between 150,000 and 210,000 Zoroastrians in the world today, mostly in India and the United States.

These small numbers mask the historical importance of this religion. Both Eastern and Western religions can trace ties back to Zoroastrianism, meaning the religion has most likely had more impact on the world than any other belief system.

Zoroastrians believe in one universal God, Ahura Mazda, who is in conflict with the forces of chaos, led by Angra Mainyu. Humans need to take an active role in the conflict by performing good deeds and having good thoughts and words. The conflict will ultimately be brought to an end when Soashyant, a savior, comes to Earth and reanimates the dead.

Yoruba- The Yoruba religion is the beliefs and practices of the people located in the areas that are now Benin and Nigeria before they encountered other outside religions. There are no specific numbers documenting the number of followers, but many believe that Yoruba is the largest African-born religion in the world. It has also heavily influenced several Afro-American religions such as Lucumi in Cuba.

The main belief of the Yoruba peoples is that all humans have a manifest destiny, referred to as ayanmo, to become one with the divine creator, known as Olodumare. Our destinies are determined through our thoughts and actions in the physical world. The Yoruba see life and death as cycles in the physical and spiritual realms while the spirit moves towards union with Olodumare.