Mexico City
The Centro Historico exemplifies the fact that Mexico City was built on top of a lake and it’s sinking at a rate of three centimeters per year. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe isn’t helping; the giant cathedral dominates the Zolcalo, the city’s main square, and the thing looks heavy. This is a noisy […]
Mumbai
I met Sameer last night, a driver with an air-conditioned box cab who’s curried enough favor with the hotel’s front staff to get the better fares. I was determined to go on a club crawl and after the hotel-suggested bar turned out to be a wedding banquet, Sareem told me that The Ghetto was the […]
Malta
I got out of the flip flops area of San Giljan and toured Valletta, the current capital that was built in the 16th century, then onto Mdina, a walled city that served as the location for King’s Landing in Game Of Thrones in season one. Though a European country, it’s Elian Gonzalez close to Libya, […]
Dharavi
My tour guide, Shailesh, grew up in Dharavi, the second largest slum in the world, made famous by “Slumdog Millionaire.” He led me through impossibly small alleys lined with tiny huts, each one holding three generations, all soap-makers, leather workers, and plastic recyclers. Electrical wires jumbled along the exteriors and my guide told me they […]
Myanmar Bike Ride
If I was back in the US, I’d have gone to the emergency room immediately, but here, I was afraid to even use tap water to clean the wound. So I cleaned the deep angry gash with bottled water, put some Neosporin under a few cotton balls and wrapped it up in gauze that the […]
Essaouira
Orson Welles made Essaouira world famous when he filmed Othello in this bleached white fortress that’s stood guard for centuries against possible invaders from the Atlantic. The entire town is punctuated by weathered wooden cobalt blue doors. It’s gorgeous. Mustafa’s herd of camels is nine strong, all looked well-tended, and I rode on Lawrence of […]
Borneo
The British colonized Api Api, an exotic port on the South China Sea and named it Jesselton at the dawn of the 20th century. During WWII, the Japanese seized control for its strategic geography until the Allied Forces bombed it into rubble and what was left, the Japanese burned to destroy any evidence. Only four […]
Bogota
Buffet sushi in Bogota. Raise your hand if you think that’s a good idea. What? No one? I’m always so careful with what I eat on trips. Cheese and french fries and scrambled eggs. Oh, and pasta with cheese. You can find that stuff almost anywhere, right? But while I was reading up on my […]
Romania
Moscow
