Tag

travel writing

A Postcard from the Taklamakan (2)

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Desert travel blurs all time sense. I don’t know if it’s the hypnotic motion of the camel or the endless monotony of the scenery. The mind works on two levels simultaneously. The automatic level is watching the route, choosing a path, adjusting for balance. The other level is flowing along rivers of memory, through labyrinths of thought, reliving past events and acting out future...

Long Colonial Daze

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In the lost paradise isles of the Turks and Caicos an empty curve of icing-sugar sand gives way to the salty tongue of turquoise surf. Distant white caps crash mute on the barrier reef, where dolphin and stingray cruise in endless procession. The island of Providenciales and the smaller cayes are host to upper crust resorts and the posh vacation homes of Bruce Willis, Donna Karan, and my friends...

As a Friend

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I normally stick to recommending classics of travel literature, but I’m going to break my own habit because I enjoyed this book so much. This slim first novel from renowned poet Forrest Gander punches well above its weight in ounces. It’s the perfect size for the side pocket of your backpack, and great travel reading because, like poetry, you’ll find yourself returning to it...

The 3 Strangest Drinks I’ve Encountered On The Road

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In keeping with yesterday’s entry on the Anthropology of Drink, I’d like to share with you the Top 3 strangest “local” drinks I’ve consumed on my travels. It’s a rogue list of tipples sure to turn even the most determined of stomachs — although I remain convinced that a few of them truly are an acquired taste…   1) Airag (Mongolia) – At the top...

The Anthropology of Drink

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I’m a firm believer that a nation’s drink is shaped by its landscape and climate, and that its drink in turn shapes its culture. According to my theory, the world can be neatly divided into several distinct zones of booze…   The UK and Ireland are home to warming whiskeys, dark heavy ales and stouts. Just the thing for when the perpetual damp soaks through your bones: a sip...

Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 6 — Everything But Peace

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  Vagabond Dreams Outtakes are “deleted scenes” from my book. Think of them as a “Special Features” disc of outtakes and curios. This incident took place in Guatemala… On Saturday nights musicians played in the Park. The mournful brassy wail of their trumpets was the soul of Latin America expressed as a dirge. It reverberated with an ache that struck my soul...

A Postcard from the Taklamakan Desert

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Endless dunes shimmered beneath a heat haze. We wound around them at a plodding camel’s pace, roped together in a caravan that evoked images of Silk Road trading expeditions. Sand blew up and swirled into my eyes; it crunched between my teeth and coated my lips. I pulled my broad hat down low and tied a bandanna across my mouth and nose. Beneath a long sleeved white shirt my arms were...

Island Siren Song

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The Landscape: Stony Adriatic islands scattered along the length of Croatia’s coast. Coarse green shrubs and olive trees whose thin leaves flash silver undersides to the breeze. Translucent blue: a breath would cloud that water of glass. Light has a clarity there that is like no place else, and it provokes a clarity of thought. Priorities and needs slip so easily into place. You realize the...

Vagabond Dreams Outtakes # 5 — Time’s Sunbaked Cycle

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Vagabond Dreams Outtakes are “deleted scenes” from my book. Think of them as a “Special Features” disc of outtakes and curios. This incident took place in Guatemala… Antigua in the highlands. Mayan Indian women and children strolled through the Parque Central dressed in brightly patterned traditional embroidery. Round baskets, balanced on their heads, were...

A Postcard from The Spanish Main

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The trade wind blows moist on the Caribbean side of Panama, stirring the palms of the tiny coastal fishing village of Portobelo, but it isn’t enough to put more than a ripple on the plate glass sea. It’s difficult to believe this quiet settlement was once the port of entry and exit for all of Spanish South America. Portobelo was the terminus of the Las Cruces Trail, stopping point of...

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