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...
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...
Ten years after its original release — and at least eight years since second-hand copies began fetching astronomical prices on eBay — the bible of overlanding is available once more. It’s no longer an underground secret of expedition professionals, because independent travel should be accessible to anyone. Whether you’re planning a weekend excursion close to home or a major crossing...
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...
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...