Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.9, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

# Ryan Murdock

Writer, Traveller, Reader of Books

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://ryanmurdock.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Glowing Still by Sara Wheeler](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/06/glowing-still-by-sara-wheeler/) - Wheeler is a perceptive guide to culture and place, and the challenges of solo travel. This new book broadens her scope to include aging and the passage of time.
- [The endless steps of Yamadera](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/06/the-endless-steps-of-yamadera/) - The Yamadera temple complex — founded in 860 AD — clings to the slope of Mt. Hoju in Yamagata prefecture. Are you ready to climb its 1,000 steps?
- [Even More Words That Piss Me Off](https://ryanmurdock.com/2026/05/even-more-words-that-piss-me-off/) - It's time for another savage assault on idiotic affronts to the English language.
- [The Secret Stasi Prison at Hohenschönhausen](https://ryanmurdock.com/2026/02/the-secret-stasi-prison-at-hohenschonhausen/) - The East German Stasi’s secret prison in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen locked up and interrogated some 11,000 enemies of the state for criticizing government policy, listening to Western music, and simply wanting to emigrate.
- [The Best Books I Read in 2025](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/12/the-best-books-i-read-in-2025/) - These are the best books I read in 2025. I've got some great reads to recommend, from travel literature to history, biography, fiction and more. How about you?
- [My 800km Farewell to Europe](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/08/my-800km-farewell-to-europe/) - I’m back at my desk after hiking the length of the Pyrenees, from Atlantic to Mediterranean: just under 800 km, with 51,000 metres of elevation gain and descent, in 35 days.
- [Is this the world’s worst underwear?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/09/is-this-the-worlds-worst-underwear/) - Icebreaker should really change the name to Crack Chafer, because that’s what these things excel at. They’re the worst waste of forty bucks I’ve ever spent on gotch.
- [Night train to nowhere](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/07/night-train-to-nowhere/) - My attempt to reach the Pyrenees by train failed before it began. If you believe in the myth of German efficiency, then this one’s for you...
- [Summer update 2025](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/06/summer-update-2025/) - There will only be one episode of Personal Landscapes podcast in July, rather than the usual two, and no episodes in August. We'll reconvene in September.
- [You’re missing out](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/06/youre-missing-out/) - Not following Personal Landscapes on Substack? You're missing out on long form essays, recommended reading lists from my guests, videos, book reviews, chat and more.
- [The mental shift from expat to emigrant](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/05/the-mental-shift-from-expat-to-emigrant/) - The older we get, the wider the range of things we will never do. In order to make a life somewhere, you have to let your old life go.
- [The Philosopher and the Wolf](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/03/philosopher-wolf/)
- [The Innocent Anthropologist](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/02/innocent-anthropologist/)
- [A Plague of Caterpillars](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/02/plague-caterpillars/)
- [Not a Hazardous Sport](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/03/not-a-hazardous-sport/)
- [So It Goes by Nicolas Bouvier](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/10/so-it-goes/)
- [Coasting With Jonathan Raban](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/07/coasting-raban/)
- [Old Glory by Jonathan Raban](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/08/old-glory/)
- [Personal Landscapes podcast has moved](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/04/personal-landscapes-podcast-has-moved/) - Personal Landscapes podcast has moved to Substack. Please consider joining the Member's Club to support the costs of the show.
- [The Longest Way Home](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/02/the-longest-way-home/)
- [Clair Wills on Ireland’s missing persons](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/04/clair-wills-on-irelands-missing-persons/) - Clair Wills joined me to talk about Ireland’s mother and baby homes, the stigma of illegitimacy, and how secrecy can shape a family and a society.
- [Deborah Lawrenson on her mother the spy](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/03/deborah-lawrenson-on-her-mother-the-spy/) - Deborah Lawrenson joined me to talk about Cold War Moscow, growing up as an embassy child, and the shock of discovering her mother’s cloak-and-dagger past.
- [Talking travel writing on the Interlocutor podcast](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/03/talking-travel-writing-on-the-interlocutor-podcast/) - We spoke about my first book, Vagabond Dreams, breaking into magazine travel writing, life in Malta, and my recent book A Sunny Place for Shady People.
- [New podcast appearance](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/03/new-podcast-appearance/) - I spoke with Chris Braucks about Malta and my book A Sunny Place for Shady People on his excellent podcast Natürliche Ausrede. Listen on iTunes, Spotify and the usual places.
- [Michael Asher on crossing the Sahara by camel](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/03/michael-asher-on-crossing-the-sahara-by-camel/) - Michael Asher joined me to talk about crossing the world's largest desert, Saharan cultures, and what it was like to see the Nile after nine arid months.
- [Northern flight](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/02/northern-flight/)
- [Charles Nicholl on Rimbaud’s lost Africa years](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/02/charles-nicholl-on-rimbauds-lost-africa-years/) - Charles Nicholl joined me to talk about the allure of the poet Arthur Rimbaud, his ‘lost years’ in Africa, and his late reputation as a traveler and Arabist.
- [Malbork Castle](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/02/malbork-castle/) - Malbork Castle, built in the 13th century by crusading Teutonic Knights as their Baltic stronghold, is Europe’s largest castle by land area.
- [Paul Theroux on life’s vanishing points](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/02/paul-theroux-on-lifes-vanishing-points/) - Paul Theroux joined me again for a wide-ranging conversation about Vanishing Point themes like aging, childhood reading, and how taking risks can make you wise.
- [Cultural appropriation is nonsense](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/02/cultural-appropriation-is-nonsense/) - Of all the bizarre transgressions used to shame social media foes in our increasingly hysterical society, the concept of ‘cultural appropriation’ is surely
- [A gadabout in Gdansk](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/01/a-gadabout-in-gdansk/) - Gdansk was at the heart of turbulent twentieth century Europe. Today, this wonderfully walkable city is on the rise both economically and culturally.
- [Pamela Petro on the Welsh presence of absence](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/01/pamela-petro-on-the-welsh-presence-of-absence/) - Pamela Petro joined me to talk about her obsession with Wales, the presence of absence, and how the sense of loss and longing drives creativity and invention.
- [Katja Hoyer on daily life in East Germany](https://ryanmurdock.com/2025/01/katja-hoyer-on-daily-life-in-east-germany/) - Historian Katja Hoyer joined me to talk about daily life in East Germany, why the Berlin Wall reduced political tensions, and why it all fell apart in 1989.
- [The Best Books I Read in 2024](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/12/the-best-books-i-read-in-2024/) - It’s that time of year when I tempt you to obliterate what remains of your savings. These are the best books I read in 2024
- [Julian Evans on Odesa and Ukraine](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/12/julian-evans-on-odesa-and-ukraine/) - Julian Evans joined me to talk about the city of Odesa, his visits to front line combat zones, and what Russia’s war against Ukraine means for Europe.
- [Jeffrey Meyers on charting parallel lives](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/12/jeffrey-meyers-on-charting-parallel-lives/) - Biographer Jeffrey Meyers joined me to talk about Plutarch’s use of mirror images, literary feuds as spectator sport, and Audrey Hepburn’s connection to Anne Frank.
- [Cam Honan on the hiking life](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/11/cam-honan-on-the-hiking-life/) - Cam Honan joined me to talk about his favourite Nordic trails, why you should ditch your tent and sleeping bag, and the joys of seeing the world at walking speed.
- [Richard Grant: A race to the bottom of crazy](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/11/richard-grant-a-race-to-the-bottom-of-crazy/) - Richard Grant joined me to talk about the lure of the desert, Arizona’s southern border, water shortages, and the world’s biggest machine gun shoot.
- [Lesley Downer on poetry in Japan’s deep north](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/10/lesley-downer-on-poetry-in-japans-deep-north/) - Lesley Downer joined me on Personal Landscapes podcast to talk about Matsuo Basho’s famous haiku, modern-day mountain ascetics and Japan’s undiscovered north.
- [Talking Malta with Intrepid Times](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/10/talking-malta-with-intrepid-times/)
- [Thomas Swick on life in Cold War Poland](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/10/thomas-swick-on-life-in-cold-war-poland/) - Thomas Swick joined me on Personal Landscapes podcast to talk about life in Cold War Warsaw, Polish films, and the ten sins of travel writing.
- [The narrow smile](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/09/the-narrow-smile/)
- [My best vacation rental find](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/08/my-best-vacation-rental-find/) - I want to tell you about a remarkable 13th century house I rented in the tiny village of Le Faget. I knew from the moment we walked inside that I could easily live there.
- [Albi cathedral and palace](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/08/albi-cathedral-and-palace/) - Albi gave its name — Albigensian — to both the heresy and the crusade that the pope launched to eradicate Catharism. It's also home to a remarkable cathedral..
- [The mighty walls of Carcassonne](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/08/the-mighty-walls-of-carcassonne/) - Carcassonne was nearly impregnable. Its concentric design of two outer walls incorporated 53 towers and barbicans to prevent attack by siege engine.
- [The long trudge to Fort Libéria](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/08/the-long-trudge-to-fort-liberia/) - There are only three ways to reach Fort Libéria: 4x4 taxi, a hiking path exposed to summer sun, or by trudging up a 734-step underground staircase...
- [Hiking the slopes of Canigou](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/08/hiking-the-slopes-of-canigou/)
- [Ruined castles in the air](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/08/ruined-castles-in-the-air/) - The hills of the Languedoc are scattered with castles, and many of them sheltered beleaguered Cathars during the pope’s brutal Albigensian Crusade.
- [Ian Fleming with biographer Nicholas Shakespeare](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/08/ian-fleming-with-biographer-nicholas-shakespeare/) - Biographer Nicholas Shakespeare joins me to talk about Ian Fleming’s troubled childhood, his wartime intelligence work, and how JFK made James Bond a bestseller.
- [Kill them all — let god sort them out](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/07/kill-them-all-let-god-sort-them-out/) - One of Europe’s most brutal episodes of religious persecution happened in the south of France. The entire region bristles with stone reminders of this bizarre crusade.
- [Shadow banned in Malta](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/07/shadow-banned-in-malta/) - A Sunny Place for Shady People isn’t available in the country I wrote about despite selling well on Amazon. Industry contacts tell me this may be deliberate.
- [Kapka Kassabova on Europe’s last nomadic pastoralists](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/07/kapka-kassabova-on-europes-last-nomadic-pastoralists/) - Kapka Kassabova joined me to talk about nomadic pastoralism as a vanishing way of life, the interdependence of humans and animals, and living as a shepherd in a vertical world.
- [She didn’t believe me](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/06/she-didnt-believe-me/)
- [I’m back — for now](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/06/im-back-for-now/) - Thank you to everyone who packed the room for my talk at the Prescott Public Library. Special thanks to those who spent hours on the highway driving from Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Syracuse NY.
- [Eric Cline: Why civilization ended in 1177 B.C.](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/06/eric-cline-why-civilization-ended-in-1177-b-c/) - Eric Cline joined me to talk about the globalized Bronze Age world, why some civilizations vanished and others thrived, and why future historians might look at 2020 the same way we look at 1177 B.C.
- [Paul Theroux on Orwell and Burma Sahib](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/05/paul-theroux-on-orwell-and-burma-sahib/) - Paul Theroux joined me to talk about George Orwell, Burma under the Raj, and how there’s a short period in everyone’s life when his character is fixed forever.
- [Mark May 25th on your calendar](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/05/mark-may-25th-on-your-calendar/) - I’m doing an author talk at the Prescott Public Library next Saturday May 25th, with readings, Q&A and book signing. Start time is 1:30pm. Hope to see you there!
- [Jonathan Raban: one of our greatest writers on place](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/05/jonathan-raban-one-of-our-greatest-writers-on-place/) - Jonathan Raban wrote about human landscapes rather than uninhabited ones, and the borderlands between what a place professes to be and what they are. Julia Raban and editor John Freeman joined me to talk about this brilliant writer.
- [James Salter: with biographer Jeffrey Meyers](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/04/james-salter-with-biographer-jeffrey-meyers/) - Biographer Jeffrey Meyers joined me to talk about James Salter’s remarkable prose style, his core themes, and why this literary giant isn’t more widely read today.
- [Talking Malta with Jeremy Bassetti](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/04/talking-malta-with-jeremy-bassetti/) - Did you miss our live launch conversation for A Sunny Place for Shady People? You can watch it here.
- [I hope you’ll join me on Tuesday](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/04/i-hope-youll-join-me-on-tuesday/) - Tuesday April 23 is the official publication day for my new book A Sunny Place for Shady People Are you coming to the launch?
- [Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman Empire](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/04/sherlock-holmes-and-the-ottoman-empire/) - Andrew Finkel joined me to talk about about the Sherlock Holmes craze, the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, and the nature of obsession.
- [Ryan Murdock in conversation with Caroline Muscat](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/04/ryan-murdock-in-conversation-with-caroline-muscat/) - Ryan Murdock, author of A Sunny Place for Shady People, speaks with Caroline Muscat about investigative journalism in Malta after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
- [A sunny place for shady people](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/04/a-sunny-place-for-shady-people/) - My new book is now available for your reading pleasure. It’s called A Sunny Place for Shady People, and it’s about six years I spent on the island of Malta.
- [The Wakhan Corridor with Bill Colegrave](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/04/the-wakhan-corridor-with-bill-colegrave/) - The Wakhan Corridor once formed a buffer between Tsarist Russia and Imperial Britain. Bill Colegrave joined me to talk about the challenges of traveling to such a remote place.
- [German pillows are a crime against sleep](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/01/german-pillows/)
- [Do Aperitifs and Digestifs Really Work?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/02/do-aperitifs-and-digestifs-really-work/)
- [Group photos with random strangers](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/03/group-photos-with-random-strangers/) - People in Uzbekistan were incredibly friendly. I’ve never been approached by so many random strangers for group photos. I've collected a few of them here.
- [Justin Marozzi: Tamerlane and Samarkand](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/03/justin-marozzi-tamerlane-and-samarkand/) - Justin Marozzi joined me to talk about Tamerlane's military genius, his architectural and cultural legacy, and how he’s remembered in Uzbekistan today.
- [Gilded days in Samarkand](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/03/gilded-days-in-samarkand/) - For me Bukhara and Khiva symbolize the Great Game. Samarkand is all about Timur and an age when this dusty desert town was the cosmopolitan centre of the world.
- [Alex Kerr on Finding Hidden Japan](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/03/alex-kerr-on-finding-hidden-japan/) - Alex Kerr joined me to talk about embodied philosophy, “instantaneous culture”, and how to look beyond the modern and connect to Japan’s deeper essence.
- [New Year’s Eve in Samarkand](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/02/new-years-eve-in-samarkand/) - The next afternoon we took the golden road to Samarkand but it wasn’t golden and it wasn’t a road. It was steel, and they were rails.
- [Bukhara’s silk road glory days](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/02/bukharas-silk-road-glory-days/) - Transoxiana's intellectual life reached a peak under the Samanids (9th-10th centuries) when Bukhara rivalled Baghdad as the Islamic world's cultural capital.
- [Tossed in the pit in Bukhara](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/02/tossed-in-the-pit-in-bukhara/)
- [Wandering abandoned desert cities](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/02/wandering-abandoned-desert-cities/) - More than 300 ruined mud-walled fortresses are scattered across the Kyzylkum Desert of Khorezm. They traded and farmed from the 7th century BC to 1230 AD, when the Mongols wiped them out.
- [Barnaby Rogerson on the making of the Middle East](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/02/barnaby-rogerson-on-the-making-of-the-middle-east/) - Barnaby Rogerson joins me to talk about the Sunni-Shia schism, their differences, and the current ethnic and linguistic rivalries plaguing the Middle East.
- [The night two million in cash went missing](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/01/the-night-two-million-in-cash-went-missing/) - I was robbed of 2,000,000 by a broken ATM in the old town of Khiva at night. It was all the money I brought for the trip. You’ll never guess what happened next.
- [When Central Asia changed the world](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/01/when-central-asia-changed-the-world/) - In the Early Middle Ages, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Central Asia was the intellectual centre of the world. Join me in Khiva for a whirlwind madrassa tour
- [The cruel khans of Khiva](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/01/the-cruel-khans-of-khiva/) - From the 17th to mid-19th century, the slave-trading Khanate of Khiva was one of the world’s most dangerous places for outsiders. Here's what it looks like today.
- [Time-lag tired in Tashkent](https://ryanmurdock.com/2024/01/time-lag-tired-in-tashkent/) - It feels awfully nice to type 2,000,000 into an ATM and have a big stack of cash come out. First impressions of Tashkent, Uzbekistan's capital and Central Asia’s largest city.
- [The Best Books I Read in 2023](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/12/the-best-books-i-read-in-2023/) - It’s the time of year when I tempt you to obliterate what remains of your savings on an out-of-control book buying bender. I’ve got some great reads to recommend.
- [Sarah Anderson: Founding The Travel Bookshop](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/12/sarah-anderson-founding-the-travel-bookshop/) - Sarah Anderson founded London's iconic Travel Bookshop — the one you saw in the film Notting Hill. We’re talking books with the woman who curated the reading list for so many journeys.
- [The future was there](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/12/the-future-was-there/) - Berlin residents must have felt one step closer to the future in the decade before the Cold War ended. That’s when a 313-metre-long spacecraft landed in Westend.
- [Guy Kennaway on life in a Jamaican village ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/guy-kennaway-on-life-in-a-jamaican-village/)
- [Good Scammer](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/11/good-scammer/) - This is the book Horatio Alger would have written if an Alger hero came from a post-colonial Caribbean island awash with foreign money — and if Alger had a sense of humour.
- [Louisa Waugh: Life on the edge of Mongolia](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/11/louisa-waugh-life-on-the-edge-of-mongolia/) - Louisa Waugh joined me to talk about her bookHearing Birds Fly, life at the edge of Mongolia, the nomadic cycle, and how aloneness teaches us about ourselves.
- [Wannsee and the bureaucracy of genocide](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/11/wannsee-and-the-bureaucracy-of-genocide/) - Nazi bureaucrats worked out the details of the “final solution to the Jewish problem” at this Wannsee villa, where I found disturbing parallels to the present.
- [Bruce Chatwin: with editor and friend Susannah Clapp](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/11/bruce-chatwin-with-editor-and-friend-susannah-clapp/) - Bruce Chatwin’s first book changed our idea of what travel writing could be. His editor and friend Susannah Clapp joins me to talk about his unforgettable writing style, and his lifelong obsession with nomads.
- [The New Leviathans](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/10/the-new-leviathans/) - The world we knew is gone, and it isn’t coming back. Why has the West become increasingly illiberal? Where are we headed next? Read my latest book review to find out.
- [Laura Trethewey: Mapping our unknown oceans](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/10/laura-trethewey-mapping-our-unknown-oceans/) - Laura Trethewey joins me on Personal Landscapes to talk about about bizarre underwater landscapes, the difficulties of sonar mapping, and why the seafloor is largely unknown.
- [Unfinished Woman](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/10/unfinished-woman/) - From the very first pages of Unfinished Woman, Robyn Davidson grapples with how memory reconstructs past experience, and who is doing the remembering.
- [We are staring into the abyss](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/10/we-are-staring-into-the-abyss/) - I never imaged I would see crowds chanting “Gas the Jews” on the streets of Sydney, or Canadian rallies in support of genocide. We are entering very dark times.
- [There is no moral equivalence for atrocity](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/10/there-is-no-moral-equivalence-for-atrocity/) - I avoid politics on my blog. My focus is travel, culture and books. But I can't justify remaining silent when barbarity is celebrated on the streets of my country.
- [Tim Cocks: Life in Africa’s biggest megacity](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/10/tim-cocks-life-in-africas-biggest-megacity/) - Tim Cocks joins me to talk about life in Lagos, ancestral spirits, the importance of community networks, and the desperate need to hustle without getting hustled yourself.
- [What I learned from writing 500 blogs](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/10/what-i-learned-from-writing-500-blogs/) - I wrote my 500th blog on this site a couple weeks ago. I thought I should take a look back at what I’ve learned in case other writers find it useful.
- [In the city of the golden fleece](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/in-the-city-of-the-golden-fleece/) - As the capital of Bronze Age Colchis, Kutaisi was believed to be the destination of Jason and his Argonauts as they sought King Aeëtes’s golden fleece.
- [Jeremy Bassetti: Pilgrims on Bolivia’s Hill of Skulls](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/jeremy-bassetti-pilgrims-on-bolivias-hill-of-skulls/) - Jeremy Bassetti joins me to talk about sacred mountains, liminal spaces, and a strange religious pilgrimage in an off-the-track corner of Bolivia.
- [Leaning balconies of Tbilisi](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/leaning-balconies-of-tbilisi/) - Tbilisi’s buildings are a blend of neoclassical, Art Nouveau, medieval and Stalinist, jumbled together in a fascinating mix of balconies, courtyards, wood and brick.
- [Museum for a monster](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/museum-for-a-monster/) - The Stalin Museum is a dusty hagiography to one of history’s most ruthless mass murderers — but to some Georgians, he's still the local boy who made it big.
- [The Pyrenees: Matthew Carr on Europe’s savage frontier](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/the-pyrenees-matthew-carr-on-europes-savage-frontier/) - The Pyrenees are one of the great European landscapes. Matthew Carr joins me to talk about troubadours, Cathar castles, and WWII escape routes from occupied Europe.
- [Raving Mad in Mtskheta](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/raving-mad-in-mtskheta/) - When a morning starts with obscure theology, you know it’s about to go off the rails. We hadn’t been driving for more than five minutes when Mirian launched into an earnest lecture on celestial theories of contact with other realms.
- [Riding the rails to Tbilisi](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/riding-the-rails-to-tbilisi/)
- [A hawk on Mount Gul](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/09/a-hawk-on-mount-gul/) - I wasn’t far below 10,000 ft, but Ushba’s terrifying sheer grey face towered above me at 15,387 ft flanked by the teeth of the higher Caucasus.
- [Simon Winchester: Outposts at the edge of the world](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/08/simon-winchester-outposts-at-the-edge-of-the-world/) - Simon Winchester joined me to speak about Tristan da Cunha, hiding under a bed in the Falklands, and bluffing his way into the world’s most notorious military base.
- [Caught in a rainstorm wine jug ambush](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/08/caught-in-a-rainstorm-wine-jug-ambush/)
- [On the cow-strewn road to Mestia](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/08/on-the-cow-strewn-road-to-mestia/) - The road from Kutaisi followed the flat coastal plains of what used to be Colchis — the land where Jason and his Argonauts sought the Golden Fleece.
- [Tom Parfitt: Walking the High Caucasus](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/08/tom-parfitt-walking-the-high-caucasus/) - Tom Parfitt walked across the northern flank of the Russian Caucasus, through republics whose names are synonymous with violence, extremism and warfare.
- [The shrine beloved of scholars](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/07/the-shrine-beloved-of-scholars/) - Yushima Tenmangu enshrines a kami linked to scholars and learning. I stopped by to pick up an omamori for some sorely needed good fortune with my upcoming book.
- [Food in Japan](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/07/food-in-japan/) - A visit to Japan is a gastronomic delight. I put together some photos from my last visit to give you a sense of the sheer culinary variety you can encounter.
- [At The Temple of the Beckoning Cat](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/07/at-the-temple-of-the-beckoning-cat/) - Gotokuji temple in Tokyo's Setagaya-ku is said to be the origin of maneki-neko, the beckoning cat figure you see next to the cash register in Asian restaurants.
- [Richard Grant: Travels With American Nomads](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/07/richard-grant-travels-with-american-nomads/) - Where did the uniquely American view of freedom come from? And how was it shaped by geography? Richard Grant joins me to talk about American nomads.
- [Anthony Sattin on how nomads shaped settled civilization](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/05/anthony-sattin-on-how-nomads-shaped-settled-civilization/) - Anthony Sattin joined me to discuss nomadic empires, cycles of history, pastoral peoples, and how steppe nomads contributed to the European Renaissance.
- [Hiking Mt. Iwate ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/05/hiking-mt-iwate/) - Join me on a winter hike up Mt. Iwate, an active stratovolcano complex in the Tohoku region of Japan, where steep snow slopes and heavy fog obscure the trail
- [The Sahara with Eamonn Gearon](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/05/the-sahara-with-eamonn-gearon/) - If you think the Sahara is a wasteland, you’re in for a surprise. Eamonn Gearon joins me to discuss desert whales, fossil water, and rock art older than history.
- [Do you remember your childhood reading?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/04/do-you-remember-your-childhood-reading/)
- [Eastern Europe with Jacob Mikanowski](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/04/eastern-europe-with-jacob-mikanowski/) - Jacob Mikanowski is the author of Goodbye Eastern Europe. We spoke about frontier societies, plagues of vampires, and the gift of seeing comedy amidst tragedy.
- [New edition with new foreword by me](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/04/new-edition-with-new-foreword-by-me/) - At the End of the World is about a series of brutal murders that occurred on a remote group of islands. I wrote the Foreword for the new edition.
- [Berlin with Barney White-Spunner](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/04/berlin-with-barney-white-spunner/) - Lieutenant General Sir Barney White-Spunner joins me to talk about the Hohenzollerns, immigration and destruction, and the distinctly irreverent Berlin character.
- [Dervla Murphy: Reflections on a lifetime of travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/12/dervla-murphy-reflections-on-a-lifetime-of-travel/) - Dervla Murphy is one of the century's most remarkable travelers. We spoke about the loss of traditional cultures and travel in the pre-internet age.
- [Joseph Roth: The collapse of the civilized world](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/03/joseph-roth-the-collapse-of-the-civilized-world/) - By the time Joseph Roth was 24 years old, the country of his birth no longer existed. In his remaining 20 years of life, he witnessed the end of the civilized world.
- [Norman Lewis: The 20th century's greatest travel writer](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/03/norman-lewis-the-20th-centurys-greatest-travel-writer/) - Norman Lewis had an instinct for being in exactly the right place to capture traditional ways of life on the brink of modernity. Julian Evans joins me to talk about Lewis’s escape reflex, and the past as a place.
- [In Dublin’s fair city](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/03/in-dublins-fair-city/) - The echo of words were in the air as we made our way to Dublin to tramp the streets of Ireland’s Big Smoke on the last three days of the year...
- [Kilkenny Castle](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/02/kilkenny-castle/) - The photos I’d seen were so imposing that I expected its rooms to go on and on. Inside, it feels more like a very large country house than a fortress.
- [Ghosts haunt the ruins of Athassel Priory](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/02/ghosts-haunt-the-ruins-of-athassel-priory/) - It's difficult to believe this ghost-haunted ruin was once Ireland's largest medieval priory, and a major urban centre with some 2,000 people living around it.
- [The Rock of Cashel](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/02/the-rock-of-cashel/) - This limestone outcrop with commanding views of the Tipperary plain is home to Ireland’s most magnificent cluster of medieval buildings.
- [The rain-lashed Lakes of Killarney](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/01/the-rain-lashed-lakes-of-killarney/) - The interlinked Lakes of Killarney, each with its own unique ecosystem, are surrounded by forests of oak and yew. A damp woodland smell hovers about the place.
- [Wren Day drinking in Dingle](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/01/wren-day-drinking-in-dingle/) - Wren Day in Dingle is a raucous affair, with several groups or ‘wrens’ competing against one another in a booze fuelled pub crawl costume extravaganza.
- [Dingle’s ancient sites](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/01/dingles-ancient-sites/) - The Dingle Peninsula, where religious ascetics shivered their way to salvation in damp stone huts whose sparseness must have accelerated their journey to the afterlife.
- [Christmas in an Iron Age ring fort](https://ryanmurdock.com/2023/01/christmas-in-an-iron-age-ring-fort/) - Staigue was likely built in the late Iron Age, somewhere between 300 and 400 AD, and — given its size and solidity — may have housed a local chieftain or king.
- [The Best Books I Read in 2022](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/the-best-books-i-read-in-2022/) - It’s the time of year when I tempt you to obliterate what remains of your savings on an out-of-control book buying bender. I’ve got some great reads to recommend.
- [A short hike in the High Atlas](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/a-short-hike-in-the-high-atlas/) - We set out on paths that led through the village of Imlil to the snow covered peaks of the High Atlas with Paul Bowles words echoing in my mind.
- [The mountain stronghold of Telouet](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/the-mountain-stronghold-of-telouet/) - Telouet was the birthplace of the Glaoui and their base of power. You can still find it in a disused mountain pass off the main road — but don’t wait too long...
- [Into a valley of lost casbahs](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/into-a-valley-of-lost-casbahs/) - We followed a hand-drawn map into a valley of lost casbahs, where small villages clung to river-eroded walls in a peaceful land of primary colours and primary needs.
- [Alone in a casbah](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/alone-in-a-casbah/) - We found lodgings in the massive Skoura oasis, where we took a suite of rooms in a mud-walled fortified 18th century casbah and read Paul Bowles by the fire.
- [Into the Drâa Valley](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/into-the-draa-valley/) - The Drâa Valley is where Morocco ends and the Sahara begins. Every caravan that passed this way paid tribute to the Lords of the Atlas, compelled by their cannon.
- [The zone of insecurity](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/the-zone-of-insecurity/) - Southern Morocco was The Zone of Insecurity, where the rule of the strong prevailed. I’ll take you inside the Marrakesh palace of the most powerful Lord of the Atlas.
- [Lost in the Marrakesh Maze](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/lost-in-the-marrakesh-maze/) - The souk was an overpowering lungful of two-stroke motorcycle exhaust, human sweat, sizzling food, and the pungency of a tannery that seemed to soak into my clothes and permeate my skin...
- [Steve Kilbey: Writing, lyrics & songs about place](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/12/steve-kilbey-writing-lyrics-songs-about-place/) - Steve Kilbey, singer and lyricist of legendary Australian rock band The Church, joins me to discuss lyric writing, songs about place, the dangers of fame, and the magic of music.
- [Gordon Peake: Insider stories from the world of foreign aid](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/11/gordon-peake-insider-stories-from-the-world-of-foreign-aid/) - The inside stories that Gordon Peake shares about the big money world of international development projects will surprise you and make you laugh. We talk Bougainville, Timor-Leste and more...
- [Watch Ryan Murdock in conversation with Lawrence Millman](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/11/watch-lawrence-millman-in-conversation-with-ryan-murdock/) - Want to know what drink pairs best with bird droppings…? Curious about how Millman scared away a mother grizzly and her cubs by flashing his genitals at them…?
- [Air travel’s collapse in competence [UPDATED]](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/10/air-travels-collapse-in-competence/)
- [Edith Durham and the Balkans](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/edith-durham-and-the-balkans/) - The story of the British traveler who became Albania's 'mountain queen'. Her books provide a first-hand look at the Balkans during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
- [Bayonne](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/bayonne/) - I spent my last Basque days in the chocolate-making town of Bayonne, where tall half-timbered buildings reflect their greens and reds in the River Nive.
- [Bygone glory in Biarritz](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/bygone-glory-in-biarritz/) - A feeling of faded glory clings to Biarritz's turreted mansions and old grand hotels, the sense of a vanished age when life was simpler and the world full of possibilities.
- [Bumming around the French Basque ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/bumming-around-the-french-basque/) - We were too early to see bundles of peppers drying on house walls, but it wouldn't have altered the ambience that much. Even the houses were painted pepper-red.
- [Byzantine travels in Thessaloniki](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/09/byzantine-travels-in-thessaloniki/) - Thessaloniki is Greece’s second-largest city. And it’s as full of life and culture as it was in its Byzantine heyday.
- [Nigel Barley: The Innocent Anthropologist (Episode #8)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/10/nigel-barley-the-innocent-anthropologist-episode-8/) - We spoke about the grim reality of fieldwork, his odd attraction for monkeys, and why fiction tells us more than anthropology about what it means to be human.
- [Where the hell has the year gone?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/12/where-the-hell-has-the-year-gone/)
- [A Dose of Holy Wisdom at Haghia Sophia](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/01/haghia-sophia/)
- [The Palace at the Centre of Ottoman Power](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/01/the-palace-at-the-centre-of-ottoman-power/)
- [Indulging My Bosphorus Obsession](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/01/indulging-my-bosphorus-obsession/)
- [David Eimer: Cultural survival in China’s borderlands](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/01/david-eimer-cultural-survival-in-chinas-borderlands/) - We spoke about China’s tumultuous border regions, and the ways that different ethnic minorities have tried to keep their culture alive beneath the Han yoke.
- [The word is finally getting out ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/02/the-word-is-finally-getting-out/)
- [Carole Angier: The strange world of W.G. Sebald ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/02/carole-angier-the-strange-world-of-w-g-sebald/) - W.G. Sebald was “a writer of almost unclassifiable originality”. I discussed his life and work with his biographer Carole Angier.
- [A refugee story from Ukraine ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/03/a-refugee-story-from-ukraine/)
- [Sophie Haydock: Egon Schiele and fin de siècle Vienna ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/03/sophie-haydock-egon-schiele-and-fin-de-siecle-vienna/) - Turn-of-the-century Vienna was a cultural crucible where the air seethed with repressed desire. No artist captured it more vividly than Egon Schiele. Sophie Haydock imagines herself into his world in her debut novel The Flames.
- [That time I lived in a palazzo ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/03/that-time-i-lived-in-a-palazzo/)
- [Does a palazzo buy happiness?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/04/does-a-palazzo-buy-happiness/)
- [Nescafe baristas](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/04/nescafe-baristas/)
- [The wars I waged](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/04/the-wars-i-waged/)
- [A phantom lodger](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/a-phantom-lodger/)
- [The inconstant gardener ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/the-inconstant-gardener/)
- [Along the amber route](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/along-the-amber-route/)
- [A legend is gone](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/a-legend-is-gone/)
- [Fending for myself in the village](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/fending-for-myself-in-the-village/)
- [Visitors arrived that summer](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/06/visitors-arrived-that-summer/)
- [Festivals and autumn storms](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/07/festivals-and-autumn-storms/)
- [It took two years to get a smile ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/07/it-took-two-years-to-get-a-smile/)
- [Rebecca Lowe: Cycling through the Middle East’s fractured mosaic](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/07/rebecca-lowe-cycling-through-the-middle-easts-fractured-mosaic/) - In 2015, Rebecca Lowe set out on a year long cycling trip from London to Tehran. We spoke about the Arab Spring, Sudan, and Iran's stark cultural divides.
- [Lazarus in the gossip panopticon](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/08/lazarus-in-the-gossip-panopticon/) - I found the speed of the local bush telegraph comical, but this gossip network had a dark side, too. Watchfulness was a form of social control.
- [Bar hopping in Bilbao](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/08/bar-hopping-in-bilbao/) - I took a short trip to Basque Country to mark the end of Berlin summer with a week of overindulgence in what’s been called the foodie capital of Europe.
- [Sampling cider in Santillana del Mar](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/sampling-cider-in-santillana-del-mar/) - Cantabria is cider country, and it didn’t take long to find a sidería where we could get a taste of this crisp, sharp and very dry regional drink.
- [A night out in Spain’s culinary capital](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/a-night-out-in-spains-culinary-capital/) - Tiny seaside San Sebastian is home to the second-highest concentration of Michelin starred restaurants in the world. It's also the pintxo capital of Spain.
- [David Thompson and the mapping of Canada](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/david-thompson-and-the-mapping-of-canada/) - David Thompson's biographer joined me to speak about his remarkable travels, his contributions as a map maker, and his role in creating the Canada we know today.
- [Crashing waves on the Côte d’Argent ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/09/crashing-waves-on-the-cote-dargent/) - The geography flattened into an unremitting expanse of pine forests sheltered by massive sand dunes, and beyond them, beaches that stretch for some 200km.
- [Tachikawa: Where My Writing Life Began](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/09/tachikawa/)
- [Taiwan Tea Plantation Exploration](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/08/taiwan-tea/)
- [My First Magazine Assignment](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/01/my-first-magazine-assignment/)
- [Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Say](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/01/freedoms_just_another_word_for/)
- [Deep Beneath the Streets of Pyongyang](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/11/deep_beneath_the_streets_of_py/)
- [Martha Gellhorn with biographer Caroline Moorehead](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/martha-gellhorn-with-biographer-caroline-moorehead/) - Martha Gellhorn is one of the 20th century’s greatest war correspondents. She wrote about what war does to ordinary people, and the despair of those who have lost everything.
- [A deluded awakening ](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/05/a-deluded-awakening/)
- [One people](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/04/one-people/)
- [Walking the Theodosian Walls](https://ryanmurdock.com/2022/01/walking-the-theodosian-walls/)
- [The Best Books I Read in 2021](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/12/the-best-books-i-read-in-2021/)
- [Christmas markets in viral times](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/12/christmas-markets-in-viral-times/)
- [Jeremy Seal: Modern Turkey and the 1960 coup (Episode #7)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/08/jeremy-seal-modern-turkey-and-the-1960-coup-episode-7/) - Jeremy Seal is England’s pre-eminent travel writer on Turkey. We spoke about the infinite courtesies of Turkish hospitality and the legacy of the 1960 coup.
- [The Power of Geography](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/08/the-power-of-geography/) - Why does Iran foment instability across the Middle East? What are Turkey's "neo-Ottoman" ambitions? Why does instability in The Sahel matter for Europe?
- [The shameful self-destruction of the West](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/08/the-shameful-self-destruction-of-the-west/)
- [Halkidiki’s picture perfect coves](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/08/halkidikis-picture-perfect-coves/) - Halkidiki's three peninsulas pierce the Aegean like a trident just below the northern city of Thessaloniki, each one lined with picture-perfect coves.
- [John Gimlette: Madagascar, and ‘walking the dead’ (EPISODE #6)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/08/john-gimlette-madagascar-and-walking-the-dead/)
- [Paying my respects to Zeus at Dion](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/07/paying-my-respects-to-zeus-at-dion/) - I stood by the remains of the altar where Alexander the Great made his sacrifice to Zeus before setting out to conquer Asia in 334 BC...
- [Hiking to the home of the gods](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/07/hiking-to-the-home-of-the-gods/)
- [Sara Wheeler: Russia, Antarctica and how we shape stories (Episode #5)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/07/sara-wheeler-russia-antarctica-and-how-we-shape-stories-episode-5/) - We spoke about her travels in Russia, living as writer-in-residence on an Antarctic research base, and the reciprocal relationship between story and memory.
- [Lawrence Millman: the Arctic, technology and saving stories (Episode #3)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/06/lawrence-millman-the-arctic-technology-and-saving-stories-episode-3/)
- [Jerry Kobalenko: Searching for ghosts on Ellesmere Island (Episode #4)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/07/jerry-kobalenko-searching-for-ghosts-on-ellesmere-island/) - The lure of Ellesmere, and searching for ghosts with one of Canada's most experienced Arctic travelers.
- [Philip II’s golden hoard](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/07/philip-iis-golden-hoard/) - Phillip II’s cremated remains were interred in a golden box, topped with an intricately woven golden diadem in the shape of a wreath...
- [Political Fictions](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/06/political-fictions/) - Political Fictions provides a snapshot of a moment in our recent past in the West, and the continuities are obvious.
- [Watching films in palaces and prisons](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/06/watching-films-in-palaces-and-prisons/)
- [Spandau Citadel](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/06/spandau-citadel/)
- [RORY MACLEAN: Berlin, Bowie and the new Cold War (Episode #2)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/06/rory-maclean-berlin-bowie-and-the-new-cold-war-episode-2/) - We talk about Berlin, making a film with David Bowie, the state of Europe, and how a glimpse of the Berlin Wall formed a lasting influence on all his books.
- [Anthropology-lite with Barnaby Rogerson of Eland books (Episode #1)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/06/anthropology-lite-with-barnaby-rogerson-of-eland-books-episode-1/) - We talk about anthropology-lite, why the post-war period was a golden age for British travel writing, and why some of the 20th century’s most exciting writers were autodidacts.
- [Time Among the Maya](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/05/time-among-the-maya/)
- [Moving to Germany? Bring medicine](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/05/bring-medicine/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes #1 — Avarice Disturbs My Immediacy](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_1_-_a/)
- [A Postcard from Tibet](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/a_postcard_from_tibet/)
- [By Freighter Down That Lazy River](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/by_freighter_down_that_lazy_ri/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 5 — Time's Sunbaked Cycle](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_5_-_t/)
- [A Postcard from The Spanish Main](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/a_postcard_from_the_spanish_ma/)
- [A Postcard from the Taklamakan Desert](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/a_postcard_from_the_taklamakan/)
- [A Postcard from the Taklamakan (2)](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/a_postcard_from_the_taklamakan_1/)
- [A Postcard from Alexandria](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/a_postcard_from_alexandria/)
- [Volumes Have Secrets](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/volumes_have_secrets/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 12—Unleashing Delerium](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_12/)
- [Holi-daze in Hell](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/holi-daze_in_hell/)
- [Something Eating Up My Days](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/something_eating_up_my_days/)
- [The Mayan World](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/the_mayan_world/)
- [Venus Set Me Free](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/venus_set_me_free/)
- [You Can't Buy All Your Dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/08/you_cant_buy_all_your_dreams/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes 14—They Only Want Your Loot](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/08/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_14/)
- [Days Between Mirages](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/01/days_between_mirages/)
- [New Magazine Feature](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/08/new_magazine_feature/)
- [Sumo Size Me](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/10/sumo_size_me/)
- [Tokyo Pose](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/10/tokyo_pose/)
- [Getting in to North Korea](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/08/getting_in_to_north_korea/)
- [First Glimpses of Pyongyang](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/09/first_glimpses_of_pyongyang/)
- [The North Korean Hotel Experience](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/09/the_north_korean_hotel_experie/)
- [A North Korean Field Trip](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/10/a_north_korean_field_trip/)
- [Faking Enlightenment in the DPRK](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/10/faking_enlightenment_in_the_dp/)
- [What Do You Give a Dictator Who's Got Everything?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/10/what_do_you_give_a_dictator_wh/)
- [Back in Metropolis, Circuses and Elephants](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/10/back_in_metropolis_circuses_an/)
- [You'll Never Guess What Kim Il-Sung and Jesus Have in Common](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/11/youll_never_guess_what_kim_il/)
- [Inside the North Korean School System](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/11/inside_the_north_korean_school/)
- [Child Stars, and the North Korea Spy Ship Incident](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/11/child_stars_and_the_north_kore/)
- [A North Korean Shopping Mall](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/11/a_north_korean_shopping_mall/)
- [Spending National Liberation Day in North Korea](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/11/spending_national_liberation_d/)
- [Propaganda Gets Me Down](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/12/propaganda_gets_me_down/)
- [Coming Down Hard in the Demilitarized Zone](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/12/coming_down_hard_in_the_demili/)
- [North Korea—The DMZ Too](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/12/north_korea_-_the_dmz_too/)
- [Cracking Up in the DPRK](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/01/cracking_up_in_the_dprk/)
- [Cruising Through the Bu](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/08/cruising_through_the_bu/)
- [Wandering The Cosmopolitan Fringes of the South Pacific](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/06/wandering-the-cosmopolitan-fringes-of-the-south-pacific/)
- [Liechtenstein? Where The Hell's That...?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/07/liechtenstein-where-the-hells-that/)
- [A Postcard From The Camargue](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/08/a-postcard-from-the-camargue/)
- [The Five Classic Cocktails Every Travel Writer Should Know](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/09/the-five-classic-cocktails-every-travel-writer-should-know/)
- [A Postcard From The Giant’s Causeway](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/09/a-postcard-from-the-giants-causeway/)
- [Valletta By Notte](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/10/valletta-by-notte/)
- [A Postcard From Belfast](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/10/a-postcard-from-belfast/)
- [Time To Harvest The Olives](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/10/time-to-harvest-the-olives/)
- [Constant In Opal](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/10/constant-in-opal/)
- [Casting Shadow Crabs Upon The Land](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/11/casting-shadow-crabs-upon-the-land/)
- [A Postcard from Central Anatolia](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/11/a-postcard-from-central-anatolia/)
- [The True King Arthur Revealed?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/11/the-true-king-arthur-revealed/)
- [A Postcard From The Harem](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/12/a-postcard-from-the-harem/)
- [Will North Korea Change?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/12/will-north-korea-change/)
- [With Crush Hat Worn Diabolically Askew](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/01/with-crush-hat-worn-diabolically-askew/)
- [The Worst Smelling Place on the Planet](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/02/the-worst-smelling-place-on-the-planet/)
- [Egad.... It’s The Hound!!!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/02/egad-its-the-hound/)
- [Ithaka Is Just A State Of Mind](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/03/ithaka-is-just-a-state-of-mind/)
- [My Mediterranean Living Top 5](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/03/my-mediterranean-living-top-5/)
- [Easter in the Med](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/04/easter-in-the-med/)
- [A Secret WWII Command Centre Beneath the Stones](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/05/a-secret-wwii-command-centre-beneath-the-stones/)
- [3 Days in Rome](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/05/3-days-in-rome/)
- [In Memory of Dalhousie Lake Finishing School](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/05/finishing-school/)
- [Reflections on 40](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/06/reflections-on-40/)
- [Riding Through the Highlands in a Chairman Mao Cap](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/03/riding_through_the_highlands_i/)
- [London in Images](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/08/london_in_images/)
- [Happy Gnu Year 2011!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/01/happy_gnu_year_2011/)
- [My Sunny St. Lawerence Childhood](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/08/st-lawerence-river/)
- [Deserted Cap Creus Coves](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/07/deserted-cap-creus-coves/)
- [Exploring One of Europe's Stranger Hidden Corners](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/07/exploring-one-of-europes-stranger-hidden-corners/)
- [My Head is Reeling With the Motion](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/10/my-head-is-reeling/)
- [Belém — Touching Portugal’s Globe Spanning Past](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/09/belem/)
- [Searching for Paradise in the Algarve](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/10/eastern-algarve/)
- [To Lampedusa By Private Plane](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/09/to-lampedusa-by-private-plane/)
- [40 Random Things I’ve Learned In My 40 Years](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/06/40-random-things-at-40/)
- [Barcelona Thieves Guild](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/08/barcelona-thieves-guild/)
- [My Friend Dashiell](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/08/my-friend-dashiell/)
- [How Not to Get an Algerian Visa](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/10/how-not-to-get-an-algerian-visa/)
- [On The Loose in Southern Africa](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/11/on-the-loose-in-southern-africa/)
- [Reader Photos — Is Yours Among Them?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/11/reader-photos-is-yours-among-them/)
- [Travels in Belgium](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/11/travels-in-belgium/)
- [Olive Pressing in Malta](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/12/olive-pressing-in-malta/)
- [Tasting Rum in Barbados](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/12/tasting-rum-in-barbados/)
- [Book Signing December 29th — Be There!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/12/book-signing/)
- [Book Signing Update and Pics](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/01/book-signing-update-and-pics/)
- [I Got a Red Star Review in Publisher's Weekly](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/01/ired-star-review-publishers-weekly/)
- [Peeling Back the Years At My Old Public Library](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/01/my-old-library/)
- [The Lantern](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/02/the-lantern/)
- [Bet You Didn't Know THAT About Camels!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/03/amazing-camel-facts/)
- [Give Me a Dune with a View!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/04/uweinat/)
- [A Riverside Room As Large As The Dead](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/04/sudan-pyramids/)
- [A Postcard from the Naqa Temple](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/04/sudan-naqa-temple/)
- [An Interview with Sahara Explorer Andras Zboray](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/04/andras-zboray/)
- [This Simple Trick Will Set Your Writing Free](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/05/set-your-writing-free/)
- [Take a Walk Through Zejtun with Me](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/05/zejtun-history-walk/)
- [Come to the Secret Corners of my Island](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/05/malta-secret-corners/)
- [Is There Any Hope for the Next Generation?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/05/passing-the-torch/)
- [A Week of Expedition Skills in the Lake District](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/07/expedition-skills/)
- [Reflections in a Broken Mirror: Impressionist Sketches of Istanbul](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/07/reflections-in-a-broken-mirror/)
- [Exploring Malta's Cottonera Lines](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/08/cottonera-lines/)
- [A Road Update from Seville](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/09/seville/)
- [Road Closed for... Airplanes?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/09/gibraltar-airport/)
- [It’s My 200th Blog Post — Enter the Contest!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/09/200th-blog/)
- [The 360 Degree Penthouse Years](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/10/the-360-degree-penthouse-years/)
- [The Mystery of Tarxien Temple](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/10/malta-temple-mystery/)
- [Casting Plaster Flowers in the Sky](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/10/granada-alhambra/)
- [A Postcard from Cape Trafalgar](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/10/cape-trafalgar/)
- [Bare Naked Beaches on the Costa de la Luz](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/11/costa-de-la-luz/)
- [How to Make Sense of Your Life’s Turning Points](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/12/survive-your-life-crisis/)
- [Gibraltar — Western Europe’s Last Flashpoint?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/12/europes-last-flashpoint/)
- [Christmas Markets in Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/12/berlin-christmas-market/)
- [And the Winners Are...](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/12/best-reads-2013/)
- [Bajan Daze](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/01/bajan-daze/)
- [Why Berlin is My Favourite City in Europe](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/01/berlin/)
- [A Dose of Blue Truth](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/01/a-dose-of-blue-truth/)
- [Gimme a Berlin Art Injection!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/02/berlin-art-injection/)
- [Three New Stories — On Newsstands Now!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/06/three-new-stories/)
- [Where's Ryan — Can You Guess?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/08/wheres-ryan/)
- [Okay, Yeah — The New Book](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/08/the-new-book/)
- [Exploring Old Haunts](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/08/exploring-old-haunts/)
- [Bringing Dreams to Physical Reality — The Magic of Print](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/08/the-magic-of-print/)
- [Put Lisbon on Your Travel Short List](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/09/visit-lisbon/)
- [Sintra: Portugal’s Magical Mountaintop Kingdom](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/09/sintra/)
- [It’s Banned Books Week — Let’s Stop and Remember](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/09/banned-books-week/)
- [Tomorrow’s Yesterday: Clocked](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/10/time/)
- [I Spent Halloween in Jail](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/11/inquisitors-palace/)
- [Why You Need to Go Further & Deeper](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/11/need-go-deeper/)
- [Sunny Days in the Roman Algarve](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/11/milreu/)
- [Amsterdam](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/12/amsterdam/)
- [The End of the World is Here](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/12/sagres-portugal/)
- [Searching for the Past — How I Spent Christmas](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/12/ras-ir-raheb/)
- [Operation Salam: High Adventure in the Eastern Sahara](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/01/operation-salam/)
- [The Story Behind the Cover](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/01/book-cover-design/)
- [Chad - Tibesti Expedition 2015](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/02/chad-tibesti-expedition/)
- [Don't Eat This at Home — Expedition Food EXPOSED!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/02/tibesti-expedition-food/)
- [My Humble Rock Art Discoveries](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/03/tibesti-art/)
- [My Dad Died 10 Years Ago Today](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/04/death-of-father/)
- [Exploring Malta’s Victoria Lines](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/04/malta-victoria-lines/)
- [Apartment Hunting in Malta — A Cautionary Tale](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/04/apartment-hunting-in-malta/)
- [Venice: The City Where Stones Float on Water](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/05/venice/)
- [Going to Church in Cologne](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/church-cologne/)
- [Have You Ever Been to Vilnius?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/vilnius/)
- [Through Prehistoric Landscapes in Kernavė](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/kernave/)
- [A Fairytale Castle Rises Out of the Lake](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/trakai/)
- [Exploring The Curonian Spit](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/curonian-spit/)
- [Inside a Soviet Launch Facility](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/cold-war-museum/)
- [King of the Castle — But Just for a Day](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/birini-castle/)
- [Art Nouveau Riga](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/art-nouveau-riga/)
- [Rundale Palace](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/06/rundale-palace/)
- [Surviving Armageddon in Ligatne Bunker](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/07/ligatne-bunker/)
- [Where Do You Find Inspiration?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/07/finding-inspiration/)
- [Medieval Towers and Mist-Shrouded Forests](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/07/tallinn-lahemaa/)
- [Going Nautical at Tallinn’s Seaplane Harbour](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/07/tallinn-seaplane-harbour/)
- [Is This The Most Haunted Place in Estonia?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/08/patarei-prison/)
- [Disoriented by Soft Helsinki Light](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/08/helsinki/)
- [Travel by Baltic Ferry](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/09/baltic-ferry/)
- [Stockholm is Paradise on a Summer Day](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/10/stockholm-summer/)
- [Is There One “Perfect Place” For Everyone?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/10/one-perfect-place/)
- [Copenhagen — The End of the Line](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/11/copenhagen/)
- [Hanging Out at Hamlet’s House](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/11/hamlets-castle/)
- [Don't Forget to Remember](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/11/remembrance-day/)
- [Where the Heck Are the Åland Islands?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/11/aland-islands/)
- [Take an Armchair Journey to the Deep South](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/12/deep-south/)
- [The Magic is Back](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/12/the-force-awakens/)
- [How to Make 2016 YOUR Big Year](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/01/how-to-make-2016-your-big-year/)
- [The Best Books I Read in 2015](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2015/)
- [I Accidentally Rented a Fruit Plantation](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/01/tavira-fruit-plantation/)
- [London Calling](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/03/london-calling/)
- [To The Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/09/to-the-lake/)
- [The ‘Forbidden City’ just outside Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/11/wunsdorf-forbidden-city/)
- [The misery of apartment hunting in Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/12/apartment-hunting-in-berlin/)
- [Palace walk with lockdown blues](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/03/palace-walk-with-lockdown-blues/)
- [The NSA listening post on Devil's Mountain](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/04/teufelsberg/)
- [The Austrian National Library, Vienna](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/03/austrian-national-library/)
- [Is This Europe's Best Long Haul Airline?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/03/turkish-airlines-review/)
- [Death on a Dinner Plate](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/04/fugu-dinner/)
- [Hiroshima, Mon Amour](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/05/hiroshima/)
- [The Shrine That Floats Over the Sea](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/05/miyajima/)
- [Landing in Hot Water with Naked Strangers](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/05/japanese-onsen/)
- [Hanami Nights in Shades of Pink](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/05/hanami/)
- [Nagasaki](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/06/nagasaki/)
- [Gunkanjima: The Bond Villain Island in Skyfall](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/06/gunkanjima/)
- [The 10 Best Reasons to Follow Your Dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/06/follow-your-dreams/)
- [Squinting at Beer Through a Cigarette Haze](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/07/prague/)
- [Auschwitz: Looking Away is Not an Option](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/07/auschwitz/)
- [Salty Cathedrals Deep Under the Ground](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/07/wieliczka-salt-mine/)
- [Where Viking Rune Stones Meet Celluloid Dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/08/gotland-and-faro/)
- [The RoadWisdom Guide to Traveling Iceland](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/08/guide-to-traveling-iceland/)
- [How to Go Deep — Doing Your Pre-Trip Homework](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/08/pre-trip-preparation/)
- [A New Anthropology of Drink](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/08/new-anthropology-drink/)
- [Inside Krakow’s Collegium Maius](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/09/collegium-maius/)
- [Take a Drink at Beckett’s Head](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/10/becketts-berlin/)
- [Art, Man and Technology](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/10/art-man-technology/)
- [Drifting With The God of the Winds](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/11/aeolian-islands/)
- [Is This The World’s Stupidest Hobby?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/11/worlds-stupidest-hobby/)
- [An Island Christmas with Traces of Rome](https://ryanmurdock.com/2016/12/ta-kaccatura/)
- [The Best Books I Read in 2016](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/01/best-books-2016/)
- [My Island Years Are at an End](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/01/leaving-malta/)
- [A New Life in a New Town](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/01/new-life-new-town/)
- [Palmyra — Syria’s Desert Treasure](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/04/palmyra/)
- [Life in Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/06/life-in-berlin/)
- [Amoral Familism and the Med](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/07/amoral-familism/)
- [Potsdam: Palaces, Gardens and 18th Century Dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/07/potsdam/)
- [With Head in the Past and Feet in the Clouds](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/08/ravenna/)
- [Beneath the Sea by Train to Hakodate](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/09/hakodate/)
- [Drifting Through a Cold War Haze](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/09/lviv/)
- [Reading to Write: How Much for a Book?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/10/research-for-writers/)
- [The Killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/10/killing-daphne-caruana-galizia/)
- [Printing Off Stacks of Words](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/11/malta-book-update/)
- [New Feature: Is This The Most Popular Destination of 2017…?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/11/new-feature-popular-destination-2017/)
- [How to Journal When You Travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/11/how-to-travel-journal/)
- [Rügen — Adrift on Germany’s Largest Island](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/11/rugen/)
- [Christmas in Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/2017/12/berlin-christmas/)
- [The Best Books I Read in 2017](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/01/best-books-2017/)
- [Happy Berlin Anniversary to Me](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/01/berlin-anniversary/)
- [Krakow: Remembering the Dead and Celebrating the Living](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/01/plaszow/)
- [Intoxicating Stories to Shake Up Your Evenings](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/02/classic-cocktails/)
- [Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/02/12-rules-life/)
- [A Quick Trip to Dresden](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/03/dresden/)
- [I Had an Art Attack in Dresden](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/03/dresden-art/)
- [6 Months — No Justice in Europe’s Pirate State](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/04/malta-mafia-state/)
- [How Potsdam Shaped the Cold War World](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/06/cold-war-potsdam/)
- [Talking Travel Writing at The British Museum](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/06/patrick-leigh-fermor/)
- [Visiting One of My Travel Inspirations](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/06/richard-burton-tomb/)
- [On A Weekend Crusade](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/07/church-weekend-crusade/)
- [Travel Lit and The Mark of the Eland](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/07/london-books/)
- [Exploring Bamberg’s Unique Beer Culture](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/07/bamberg-beer/)
- [Overshadowed by Nuremberg’s Dark Past](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/08/nuremberg/)
- [An Interview with Lawrence Millman](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/08/lawrence-millman/)
- [Just Another Berlin Sunday](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/08/berlin-sunday/)
- [Living the Golden Age of Prank Calls](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/10/prank-calls/)
- [A Shift in My Trajectory](https://ryanmurdock.com/2018/12/the-shift-malta/)
- [The Best Books I Read in 2018](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/01/best-books-2018/)
- [Adrift in Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/01/adrift-in-berlin/)
- [Getting the Drift in London](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/02/great-travel-writing/)
- [Adrift in Europe’s Capital of Cool](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/04/berlin-capital-of-cool/)
- [Summer Festivals in the Barbarian North](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/05/iwate-summer-festivals/)
- [“Futuristic” Tokyo Lodged in the Past](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/07/tokyo-2019/)
- [I Hate My Phone](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/07/i-hate-my-phone/)
- [What is Your Ideal Life?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/08/your-ideal-life/)
- [Travel Back in Time to Shibamata](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/08/shibamata/)
- [Nighttime in the Vatican Museum](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/08/vatican-museum-night/)
- [Drifting Through Heroic Time](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/09/mycenae/)
- [On the road to Epidaurus](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/09/epidaurus/)
- [Wandering Through the Crucible of Western Civilization](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/10/athens/)
- [Will Europe End With Marching Boots — or Malaise?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/11/pravda-ha-ha/)
- [Adrift in the Mid-Atlantic](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/12/azores/)
- [Wandering Prehistoric Worlds in the Azores](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/12/terra-nostra-garden/)
- [The Best Books I Read in 2019](https://ryanmurdock.com/2019/12/best-books-2019/)
- [Drifting Through The Crossroad of Empires](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/02/bulgaria/)
- [Hiking Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/02/pirin/)
- [Picnics and Laughter in a Rhodope Mountain Glade](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/02/rhodope-and-plovdiv/)
- [Travels With Myself And Another](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/02/travels-with-myself-and-another/)
- [Berlin life in the time of COVID-19](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/03/berlin-covid-19/)
- [The hamsters are loose in Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/03/hamsterkaufe/)
- [Will COVID-19 Break the European Union?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/04/will-coronavirus-break-the-eu/)
- [Loss and change in a post-pandemic world](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/04/loss-and-change-post-pandemic/)
- [The skies are strangely empty](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/04/the-skies-are-strangely-empty/)
- [What happens to travel after COVID-19?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/04/what-happens-to-travel-after-covid-19/)
- [I’m not optimistic about our current situation](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/04/im-not-optimistic-about-our-situation/)
- [A recluse’s guide to self-isolation](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/04/a-recluses-guide-to-self-isolation/)
- [Will travel writing survive COVID-19?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/04/will-travel-writing-survive-covid-19/)
- [Planet of the Humans](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/05/planet-of-the-humans/)
- [Words That Piss Me Off: The Sequel](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/05/more-words-that-piss-me-off/)
- [What do you think of the ‘deep state’?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/05/deep-state/)
- [Why worry about things you can’t control?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/05/take-direct-actions/)
- [Hands up everyone who does this](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/05/rotating-bookmarks/)
- [Do you believe in the spirit of place?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/06/spirit-of-place/)
- [Geographies of memory shape today](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/06/geographies-of-memory-shape-today/)
- [Happy Canada Day](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/07/happy-canada-day/)
- [Cut Stones and Crossroads](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/08/cut-stones-and-crossroads/)
- [Hitler’s Scientists Put Men on the Moon](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/09/peenemunde/)
- [The Heavy Load-Bearing Body Down the Street](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/10/the-heavy-load-bearing-body/)
- [The abandoned airport down the street](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/11/tempelhof/)
- [Cynical Theories are tearing us apart](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/11/cynical-theories/)
- [Scolded by Germans](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/12/scolded-by-germans/)
- [Staying sane in an info-flooded world](https://ryanmurdock.com/2020/12/info-flooded-world/)
- [The Best Books I Read in 2020](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2020/)
- [The end of hobo chic](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/03/the-end-of-hobo-chic/)
- [An afternoon with Dicke Marie](https://ryanmurdock.com/2021/02/dicke-marie/)
- [What's Your Personal Landscape?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/09/whats_your_personal_landscape/)
- [A Postcard from Mongolia](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/03/a_postcard_from_mongolia/)
- [Painkiller](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/painkiller/)
- [It Ain't Nothing But The Hound, Dawg](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/it_aint_nothing_but_the_hound/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 2 — Alone in a Crowd](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_2/)
- [Riding Theroux's Ghost Train](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/riding_therouxs_ghost_train/)
- [Two Postcards from Laos](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/two_postcards_from_laos/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes #3 — Interrupted by Gunmen](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_3_-_i/)
- [Travels in Arabia Deserta](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/travels_in_arabia_deserta/)
- [Painted Maidens Aren't Always What They Seem](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/painted_maidens_arent_always_w/)
- [A Postcard from Sarajevo](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/a_postcard_from_sarajevo/)
- [12 Movies to Inspire a Journey](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/12_movies_to_inspire_a_journey/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 4 — Dust Was My Companion](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_4_-_d/)
- [The Air-Conditioned Nightmare](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/the_air-conditioned_nightmare/)
- [A Faded Image Where The Land Lies Wild](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/a_faded_image_where_the_land_l/)
- [Island Siren Song](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/island_siren_song/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 6 — Everything But Peace](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_6_-_e/)
- [Vehicle-Dependent Expedition Guide](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/vehicle-dependent_expedition_g/)
- [The Anthropology of Drink](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/the_anthropology_of_drink/)
- [The 3 Strangest Drinks I've Encountered On The Road](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/the_3_strangest_drinks_ive_enc/)
- [A Postcard from the Shan Highlands](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/a_postcard_from_the_shan_highl/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 7—You Can Take a Faster Door](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_7_-_y/)
- [As a Friend](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/as_a_friend/)
- [Long Colonial Daze](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/long_colonial_daze/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 8—Caught Between Pity and Retribution](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_8/)
- [Untitled #23](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/untitled_23/)
- [Caught in the Slipstream Pull of the Road](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/05/caught_in_the_slipstream_pull/)
- [A Postcard—Teaching ESL in Japan](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/a_postcard_-_teaching_esl_in_j/)
- [Travels with Herodotus](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/travels_with_herodotus/)
- [The Courage to Dream Great Dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/dreaming_great_dreams/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes 10—Zack Speaks](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_10_/)
- [In Europe](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/in_europe/)
- [Advice for When Travel Gets Hot and Sticky](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/advice_for_when_travel_gets_ho/)
- [A Postcard from Where?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/a_postcard_from_where/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 11—Taking the Path of Experience](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_11_/)
- [Quiet for a Tuesday](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/quiet_for_a_tuesday/)
- [A Postcard from Armageddon](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/a_postcard_from_armageddon/)
- [Sommières Daze](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/sommieres_daze/)
- [Death on the Mass Interment Plan](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/death_on_the_mass_interment_pl/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes 13—Tearing The Veils From History](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_13/)
- [The Saddest Pleasure](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/08/the_saddest_pleasure/)
- [Images of London](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/08/images_of_london/)
- [Descent into Haiti](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/01/descent_into_haiti/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes 15—Waiting Tasted Blue](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/01/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_15/)
- [A Jungle Shift in the Trajectory](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/02/a_jungle_shift_in_the_trajecto/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes #16—And I Was Just a Stranger There](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/03/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_16_/)
- [The Tools of My Trade](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/03/the_tools_of_my_trade/)
- [Under Prehistoric Skies](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/04/under_prehistoric_skies/)
- [Road Wisdom Top 10 Travel Books](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/04/road_wisdom_top_10_travel_book/)
- [Jasper Evans](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/04/jasper_evans/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes #17—Journey's End](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/05/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_17_/)
- [A Postcard from Lastovo](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/05/a_postcard_from_lastovo/)
- [Mean and Lowly Things](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/06/mean_and_lowly_things/)
- [Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/06/ask_me_no_questions_ill_tell_y/)
- [Beneath the Sun and Stars](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/07/beneath_the_sun_and_stars/)
- [Baybee Don't Fence Me In!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/07/baybee_dont_fence_me_in/)
- [Headed West on the China Clipper...](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/08/headed_west_on_the_china_clipp/)
- [History In Your Glass](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/08/history_in_your_glass/)
- [Burmese Days](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/09/burmese_days/)
- [In Conversation with Desert Explorer Tom Sheppard](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/09/in_conversation_with_desert_ex/)
- [The Riverbones](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/10/the_riverbones/)
- [My Memory Walks The City](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/10/my_memory_walks_the_city/)
- [Hot New Interview - Check It Out!](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/11/hot_new_interview_-_check_it_o/)
- [Take a Walk Through Tokyo With Me](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/02/take_a_walk_through_tokyo_with/)
- [The Imagination Won't Stop Until It Has Swallowed Everything...](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/02/the_imagination_wont_stop_unti/)
- [Cool Interview With Your Favourite Travel Scribe](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/08/cool-interview-with-your-favourite-travel-scribe/)
- [The 10 Best Books I Read Last Year](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/01/the-10-best-books-i-read-last-year/)
- [What’s On Your Travel Playlist?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/02/whats-on-your-travel-playlist/)
- [Does Your Stuff Honour You?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/02/does-your-stuff-honour-you/)
- [Why I Hate Chamomile Tea](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/02/why-i-hate-chamomile-tea/)
- [My 10 Favourite Cities](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/04/my-10-favourite-cities/)
- [Traveling Back in Time](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/10/childhood-memories/)
- [Exploring My Old Urban Haunts](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/10/childhood-adventures/)
- [Tibesti Expedition - Exclusive Footage](https://ryanmurdock.com/2015/03/tibesti-video/)
- [How to Find Your Place in the Sun](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/11/expat-checklist/)
- [The Biggest Food Fight in the History of My High School](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/12/the-food-fight/)
- [Something to Believe In](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/03/something_to_believe_in/)
- [Are You Missing Out on the Best Travel Hacks?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/11/ftu-amsterdam/)
- [Why We Travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/05/travel/)
- [This Email Made My Day](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/10/this-email-made-my-day/)
- [How to Travel Properly](https://ryanmurdock.com/2013/12/how-to-travel-properly/)
- [Should You Use a Guide?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/02/should-you-use-a-guide/)
- [Travel Can Also Be a Way of Cutting Yourself Off](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/04/hidden-travel-dangers/)
- [My Top 5 Tips for Jet Lag](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/04/top-5-tips-for-jet-lag/)
- [What’s the Point of Travel?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2014/02/whats-the-point-of-travel/)
- [15 Fall Indulgences For Travellers](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/10/15-fall-indulgences-for-travellers/)
- [Namibia On My Mind](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/10/namibia-on-my-mind/)
- [Castaway on a Hostile Shore](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/11/castaway_on_a_hostile_shore/)
- [Pushing Through My Safe Ideas](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/11/pushing_through_my_safe_ideas/)
- [You Can't Go Back Again](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/10/you_cant_go_back_again/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 9—A Viewfinder for You](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/vagabond_dreams_outtakes_9_-_a/)
- [The Valley](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/the_valley/)
- [The Road is My Guide](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/04/the_road_is_my_guide/)
- [Why Do You Travel?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/why_do_you_travel/)
- [The Truth About Being a Travel Writer](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/the_truth_about_being_a_travel/)
- [What is Road Wisdom?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/06/what_is_road_wisdom/)
- [Numen of Regret](https://ryanmurdock.com/2009/07/numen_of_regret/)
- [Don't Be Seduced by Immediacy](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/02/dont_be_seduced_by_immediacy/)
- [How Deep Are Those Lines Between Countries?](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/02/how_deep_are_those_lines_betwe/)
- [Silver Drops on Thirsty Lands](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/02/silver_drops_on_thirsty_lands/)
- [The Chains That Bind Us](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/02/the_chains_that_bind_us/)
- [Words That Piss Me Off](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/03/words_that_piss_me_off/)
- [Contaminated Alibis](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/03/contaminated_alibis/)
- [Jostled By The Motion](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/05/jostled_by_the_motion/)
- [Memory Breeds Paper Dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/06/memory_breeds_paper_dreams/)
- [Show Your Faces If You Dare](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/08/show_your_faces_if_you_dare/)
- [Rangoon 2: Attacked in the Night](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/09/rangoon_2_attacked_in_the_nigh/)
- [Drifting Down to a New Sunrise](https://ryanmurdock.com/2010/11/drifting_down_to_a_new_sunrise/)
- [25 Things You Don’t Know About Me](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/03/25-things-you-dont-know-about-me/)
- [Time Like A Running Grave](https://ryanmurdock.com/2012/02/time-like-a-running-grave/)
- [Writing Celluloid Dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/11/writing-celluloid-dreams/)
- [Kava Nights Are Very Soft](https://ryanmurdock.com/2011/07/kava-nights-are-very-soft/)

## Pages

- [Home](https://ryanmurdock.com/)
- [Books](https://ryanmurdock.com/books/)
- [About Ryan Murdock](https://ryanmurdock.com/biography/)
- [Thank you!](https://ryanmurdock.com/thank-you/)
- [Contact](https://ryanmurdock.com/contact/)
- [Data Access Request](https://ryanmurdock.com/data-access-request/)
- [Terms of Service & Privacy Policy](https://ryanmurdock.com/terms-of-service-privacy-policy/)

## Legal Pages

- [Privacy Policy](https://ryanmurdock.com/wpautoterms/privacy-policy/)

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/uncategorized/)
- [Blog](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/blog/)
- [Travel philosophy](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/travel-philosophy/)
- [Asia](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/asia/)
- [Travel stories](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/travel-stories/)
- [Postcards from the Edge](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/postcards-from-the-edge/)
- [Central America](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/central-america/)
- [Vagabond Dreams Outtakes](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/vagabond-dreams-outtakes/)
- [Reviews](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/reviews/)
- [Imaginary Places](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/imaginary-places/)
- [Great travel writers](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/great-travel-writers/)
- [Europe](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/europe/)
- [Africa](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/africa/)
- [North Korea](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/north-korea/)
- [Update](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/update/)
- [Japan](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/japan-2/)
- [Caribbean](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/caribbean/)
- [Middle East](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/middle-east/)
- [On Travel Writing](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/on-travel-writing/)
- [North America](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/north-america/)
- [Reader Questions](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/reader-questions/)
- [Video Blogs](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/video-blogs/)
- [South Pacific](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/south-pacific/)
- [Classic Cocktails](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/classic-cocktails/)
- [Travel tips](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/travel-tips/)
- [Personal freedom](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/personal-freedom/)
- [Malta](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/malta/)
- [Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/berlin/)
- [Culture](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/culture/)
- [Politics](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/politics/)
- [Personal Landscapes podcast](https://ryanmurdock.com/category/personal-landscapes-podcast/)

## Tags

- [asia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/asia-2/)
- [Mongolia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mongolia/)
- [travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travel/)
- [antigua](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/antigua/)
- [central america](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/central-america-2/)
- [guatemala](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/guatemala/)
- [vagabond dreams](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vagabond-dreams/)
- [kilbey](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kilbey/)
- [music](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/music/)
- [review](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/review/)
- [soundscape](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/soundscape/)
- [the church](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/the-church/)
- [imaginary places](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/imaginary-places-2/)
- [surreal](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/surreal/)
- [America](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/america/)
- [greyhound](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/greyhound/)
- [on the road](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/on-the-road/)
- [road trip](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/road-trip/)
- [mountains](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mountains/)
- [Ryan Murdock](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/ryan-murdock/)
- [tangulla pass](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/tangulla-pass/)
- [tibet](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/tibet/)
- [travel philosophy](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travel-philosophy-2/)
- [Paul Theroux](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/paul-theroux/)
- [train travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/train-travel/)
- [trains](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/trains/)
- [travel writing](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travel-writing/)
- [nicaragua](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/nicaragua/)
- [river](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/river/)
- [riverboat travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/riverboat-travel/)
- [Laos](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/laos/)
- [postcard](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/postcard/)
- [road wisdom](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/road-wisdom/)
- [charles doughty](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/charles-doughty/)
- [travels in arabia deserta](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travels-in-arabia-deserta/)
- [festival](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/festival/)
- [japan](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/japan/)
- [kanamara matsuri](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kanamara-matsuri/)
- [bosnia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/bosnia/)
- [europe](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/europe-2/)
- [sarajevo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/sarajevo/)
- [traveler](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/traveler/)
- [movies](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/movies/)
- [travel movies](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travel-movies/)
- [honduras](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/honduras/)
- [travel stories](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travel-stories-2/)
- [book review](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/book-review/)
- [henry miller](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/henry-miller/)
- [the air conditioned nightmare](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/the-air-conditioned-nightmare/)
- [Henri Mouhot](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/henri-mouhot/)
- [panama](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/panama/)
- [portobelo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/portobelo/)
- [spanish main](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/spanish-main/)
- [croatia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/croatia/)
- [islands](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/islands/)
- [vagabond](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vagabond/)
- [china](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/china/)
- [taklamakan desert](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/taklamakan-desert/)
- [expedition](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/expedition/)
- [reviews](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/reviews-2/)
- [tom sheppard](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/tom-sheppard/)
- [VDEG](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vdeg/)
- [vehicle dependent expedition guide](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vehicle-dependent-expedition-guide/)
- [booze](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/booze/)
- [cocktails](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/cocktails/)
- [drink](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/drink/)
- [drinking travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/drinking-travel/)
- [local drinks](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/local-drinks/)
- [mixology](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mixology/)
- [spirits](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/spirits/)
- [airag](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/airag/)
- [rakija](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/rakija/)
- [snake wine](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/snake-wine/)
- [burma](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/burma/)
- [shan](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/shan/)
- [shan highlands](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/shan-highlands/)
- [as a friend](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/as-a-friend/)
- [forrest gander](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/forrest-gander/)
- [century club](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/century-club/)
- [colonies](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/colonies/)
- [territories](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/territories/)
- [steve kilbey](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/steve-kilbey/)
- [untitled #23](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/untitled-23/)
- [ESL](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/esl/)
- [teaching](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/teaching/)
- [why we travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/why-we-travel/)
- [Kapuscinski](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kapuscinski/)
- [Travels with Herodotus](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travels-with-herodotus/)
- [crazy horse](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/crazy-horse/)
- [Korczak](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/korczak/)
- [lakota](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/lakota/)
- [south dakota](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/south-dakota/)
- [Alexandria](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/alexandria/)
- [Egypt](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/egypt/)
- [library](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/library/)
- [20th century](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/20th-century/)
- [geert mak](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/geert-mak/)
- [in europe](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/in-europe/)
- [darien](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/darien/)
- [embera](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/embera/)
- [jungle](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/jungle/)
- [jungle travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/jungle-travel/)
- [celery](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/celery/)
- [celeryhenge](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/celeryhenge/)
- [stonehenge](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/stonehenge/)
- [algeria](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/algeria/)
- [desert](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/desert/)
- [overland](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/overland/)
- [QFAT](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/qfat/)
- [quiet for a tuesday](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/quiet-for-a-tuesday/)
- [sahara](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/sahara/)
- [ireland](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/ireland/)
- [travel writer](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travel-writer/)
- [missile silo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/missile-silo/)
- [france](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/france/)
- [lawrence durrell](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/lawrence-durrell/)
- [Cambodia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/cambodia/)
- [genocide](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/genocide/)
- [killing fields](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/killing-fields/)
- [DPRK](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/dprk/)
- [Kim Jong-Il](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kim-jong-il/)
- [Mayan](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mayan/)
- [corn island](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/corn-island/)
- [life](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/life/)
- [living](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/living/)
- [flores](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/flores/)
- [Mana](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mana/)
- [peten](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/peten/)
- [amazon](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/amazon/)
- [moritz thomsen](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/moritz-thomsen/)
- [south america](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/south-america/)
- [the saddest pleasure](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/the-saddest-pleasure/)
- [theroux](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/theroux/)
- [travel literature](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travel-literature/)
- [nile](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/nile/)
- [outpost](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/outpost/)
- [burton tomb](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/burton-tomb/)
- [london](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/london/)
- [mortlake](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mortlake/)
- [richard burton](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/richard-burton/)
- [richard francis burton](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/richard-francis-burton/)
- [images of london](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/images-of-london/)
- [kev carmody](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kev-carmody/)
- [great wall](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/great-wall/)
- [Kim Il-Sung](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kim-il-sung/)
- [Pyongyang](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pyongyang/)
- [vagabonding](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vagabonding/)
- [akihabara](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/akihabara/)
- [harajuku](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/harajuku/)
- [shinjuku](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/shinjuku/)
- [tokyo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/tokyo/)
- [Mt. Myohyang](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mt-myohyang/)
- [friendship hall](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/friendship-hall/)
- [DPRK travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/dprk-travel/)
- [North Korea travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/north-korea-travel/)
- [Pyongyang travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pyongyang-travel/)
- [USS Pueblo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/uss-pueblo/)
- [National Liberation Day](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/national-liberation-day/)
- [Mangyongdae Fun Fair](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mangyongdae-fun-fair/)
- [North Korean amusement park](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/north-korean-amusement-park/)
- [Pyongyang subway](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pyongyang-subway/)
- [pyongyang arch of triumph](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pyongyang-arch-of-triumph/)
- [revolutionary martyr's cemetery](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/revolutionary-martyrs-cemetery/)
- [38th parallel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/38th-parallel/)
- [DMZ](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/dmz/)
- [Panmunjom](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/panmunjom/)
- [Kaesong](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kaesong/)
- [Haiti](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/haiti/)
- [voodoo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/voodoo/)
- [lonliness](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/lonliness/)
- [waiting](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/waiting/)
- [deir mar moussa](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/deir-mar-moussa/)
- [desert fathers](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/desert-fathers/)
- [middle east](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/middle-east-2/)
- [syria](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/syria/)
- [charles darwin](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/charles-darwin/)
- [priorities](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/priorities/)
- [borders](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/borders/)
- [change](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/change/)
- [Jacque](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/jacque/)
- [annoying phrases](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/annoying-phrases/)
- [overused words](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/overused-words/)
- [moleskin](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/moleskin/)
- [moleskine](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/moleskine/)
- [Bluefields](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/bluefields/)
- [badlands](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/badlands/)
- [bruce chatwin](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/bruce-chatwin/)
- [cherry-garrard](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/cherry-garrard/)
- [gavin young](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/gavin-young/)
- [homer](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/homer/)
- [ralph bagnold](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/ralph-bagnold/)
- [wilfred thesiger](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/wilfred-thesiger/)
- [camel handling](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/camel-handling/)
- [camels](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/camels/)
- [Japper Evans](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/japper-evans/)
- [Jasper Evans](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/jasper-evans/)
- [belize](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/belize/)
- [caye caulker](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/caye-caulker/)
- [hungary](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/hungary/)
- [lastovo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/lastovo/)
- [Congo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/congo/)
- [herpetology](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/herpetology/)
- [Kate Jackson](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kate-jackson/)
- [Mean and Lowly Things](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mean-and-lowly-things/)
- [snakes](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/snakes/)
- [breaking rules](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/breaking-rules/)
- [memoir](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/memoir/)
- [memory](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/memory/)
- [writing](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/writing/)
- [Mediterranean](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mediterranean/)
- [gobi](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/gobi/)
- [Jasper Becker](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/jasper-becker/)
- [Travels in the Untamed Land](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/travels-in-the-untamed-land/)
- [Boeing 314](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/boeing-314/)
- [China Clipper](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/china-clipper/)
- [flying boat](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/flying-boat/)
- [Grumman Goose](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/grumman-goose/)
- [Pan Am Clipper](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pan-am-clipper/)
- [Tales of the Gold Monkey](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/tales-of-the-gold-monkey/)
- [Clipper Cocktail](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/clipper-cocktail/)
- [drinking](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/drinking/)
- [Pan American Clipper](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pan-american-clipper/)
- [lessons of travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/lessons-of-travel/)
- [Los Angeles](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/los-angeles/)
- [Malibu](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/malibu/)
- [Myanmar](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/myanmar/)
- [Rangoon](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/rangoon/)
- [Yangon](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/yangon/)
- [cheap accommodations](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/cheap-accommodations/)
- [Las Vegas](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/las-vegas/)
- [red rocks](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/red-rocks/)
- [Sin City](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/sin-city/)
- [andrew westoll](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/andrew-westoll/)
- [the riverbones](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/the-riverbones/)
- [casco viejo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/casco-viejo/)
- [panama city](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/panama-city/)
- [punta paitilla](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/punta-paitilla/)
- [San Felipe](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/san-felipe/)
- [adventure](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/adventure/)
- [Bare Essentials](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/bare-essentials/)
- [interview](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/interview/)
- [lifestyle](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/lifestyle/)
- [introversion](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/introversion/)
- [introvert](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/introvert/)
- [loneliness](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/loneliness/)
- [solitude](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/solitude/)
- [hangover](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/hangover/)
- [hangover remedies](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/hangover-remedies/)
- [new year](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/new-year/)
- [oshogatsu](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/oshogatsu/)
- [ginza](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/ginza/)
- [hama-rikyu](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/hama-rikyu/)
- [japan travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/japan-travel/)
- [shibuya](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/shibuya/)
- [books](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/books/)
- [imagination](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/imagination/)
- [reading](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/reading/)
- [Africa](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/africa/)
- [North Korea](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/north-korea/)
- [Caribbean](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/caribbean/)
- [Iceland](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/iceland/)
- [beer](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/beer/)
- [Germany](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/germany/)
- [Nuremberg](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/nuremberg/)
- [WWII](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/wwii/)
- [Rome](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/rome/)
- [Vatican](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vatican/)
- [Vatican Museum](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vatican-museum/)
- [The Roman Guy](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/the-roman-guy/)
- [azores](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/azores/)
- [atlantic](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/atlantic/)
- [portugal](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/portugal/)
- [hiking](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/hiking/)
- [bulgaria](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/bulgaria/)
- [rila monastery](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/rila-monastery/)
- [sofia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/sofia/)
- [patrick leigh fermor](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/patrick-leigh-fermor/)
- [pirin mountains](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pirin-mountains/)
- [rhodope mountains](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/rhodope-mountains/)
- [plovdiv](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/plovdiv/)
- [Berlin](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/berlin/)
- [COVID-19](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/covid-19/)
- [coronavirus](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/coronavirus/)
- [european union](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/european-union/)
- [malta](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/malta/)
- [pandemic](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pandemic/)
- [corona](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/corona/)
- [eco](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/eco/)
- [environmentalism](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/environmentalism/)
- [planet of the humans](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/planet-of-the-humans/)
- [conspiracy](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/conspiracy/)
- [personal freedom](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/personal-freedom/)
- [spirit of place](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/spirit-of-place/)
- [canada](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/canada/)
- [st lawrence river](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/st-lawrence-river/)
- [Canada Day](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/canada-day/)
- [peru](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/peru/)
- [balkans](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/balkans/)
- [kassabova](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/kassabova/)
- [cold war](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/cold-war/)
- [best books](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/best-books/)
- [culture clash](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/culture-clash/)
- [podcast](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/podcast/)
- [personal landscapes](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/personal-landscapes/)
- [lawrence millman](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/lawrence-millman/)
- [arctic](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/arctic/)
- [Spandau](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/spandau/)
- [United States](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/united-states/)
- [greece](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/greece/)
- [John Gimlette](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/john-gimlette/)
- [turkey](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/turkey/)
- [nigel barley](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/nigel-barley/)
- [Christmas](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/christmas/)
- [istanbul](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/istanbul/)
- [ottoman](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/ottoman/)
- [Sebald](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/sebald/)
- [Ukraine](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/ukraine/)
- [Vienna](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/vienna/)
- [Egon Schiele](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/egon-schiele/)
- [palazzo](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/palazzo/)
- [jamaica](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/jamaica/)
- [martha gellhorn](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/martha-gellhorn/)
- [baltic sea](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/baltic-sea/)
- [dervla murphy](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/dervla-murphy/)
- [iran](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/iran/)
- [sudan](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/sudan/)
- [Spain](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/spain/)
- [Basque](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/basque/)
- [air travel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/air-travel/)
- [Morocco](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/morocco/)
- [north africa](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/north-africa/)
- [north america](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/north-america/)
- [caucasus](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/caucasus/)
- [Georgia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/georgia/)
- [simon winchester](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/simon-winchester/)
- [Tbilisi](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/tbilisi/)
- [pyrenees](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/pyrenees/)
- [Israel](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/israel/)
- [Australia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/australia/)
- [john gray](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/john-gray/)
- [central asia](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/central-asia/)
- [uzbekistan](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/uzbekistan/)
- [a sunny place for shady people](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/a-sunny-place-for-shady-people/)
- [languedoc](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/languedoc/)
- [arizona](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/arizona/)
- [wales](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/wales/)
- [poland](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/poland/)
- [Mccarthy](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/mccarthy/)
- [Raban](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/raban/)
- [Bouvier](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/bouvier/)
- [Barley](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/barley/)
- [Wolf](https://ryanmurdock.com/tag/wolf/)