Monthly Archives: March 2015
I’m visiting an old friend in Auckland right now. We just came back from a camping trip to the beach. The first day was great, with perfect weather, great body-surfing waves, and windless Frisbee conditions. But the second day was marred by a category 5 Cyclone passing by and chasing us away – heavy rains and strong winds weren’t what we signed up for. Still, the inclement weather made for some good… Read More
I first read about Kuelap several years ago in a Lonely Planet article about places to visit before they are overrun. This seems to be quite true. When I was there I talked to a local tour guide and he said that there were 12,000 visitors the year before, of which 4,000 were foreigners…if you divide that number by 365 days, that gives you a figure of nearly 11 visitors per day,… Read More
Nuwakot, meaning nine forts, is a small Newari village high on a ridge above Trisuli Bazaar. Prithi Narayan Shah, the first of the Gurkha kings of Nepal, built a nine-story palace after taking the town in 1762. He lived there for six years before conquering Kathmandu Valley and taking over the country. In February of 2015, this was the destination of the Shiva’s Slave’s annual Shivaratri motorcycle run. READ MORE…
The minibus rolled into Chacha in the early evening, but the town was still impressive after the run from the border. As we approached everything felt different – older, funkier, and with more character. We shouldered our backpacks and made the short hike to the main square, the Plaza de Armas. The Hotel Revash had been recommended to us in Vilcabamba and it did not disappoint. Right on the main square, in… Read More
No Water Buffaloes in the taxi, please! I saw this sticker when I was riding in a Bangkok taxi, and thought it very culturally significant. Now the “No Smoking” and “No Drinking” are perfectly logical, and the “No Durians” is a common sign, often featured in hotels as well, since durian fruit are notoriously foul smelling, with a scent similar to a rotting corpse lingering for hours and hours. The “No Pets” is also a… Read More
(1977)
THE ARDENT ENTHUSIAST 