At five in the morning, I was already filled with a nervous energy. In just a few hours I would be standing in front of a classroom of graduate students giving a lecture and then… I should be off to catch a train to Germany. That was the plan I…
Category: Travel
Borneo
Continue Reading
Where the Wild Still Breathes: A Farewell to Borneo
This is the fourth part in my series on traveling to the Bornean jungle village of Long Pasia. Start from the beginning here. Our jungle trek was fascinating, exhilarating, and liberating. My one slight tinge of regret at my time in Borneo so far was that I did not get…
Borneo
Continue Reading
A Thousand and One Uses for Jungle Plants
This is the third part in my series on traveling to the Bornean jungle village of Long Pasia. Start from the beginning here. So far, my trip to the Bornean jungle village of Long Pasia had been an exhilarating and eye-opening time. From going fishing on riverboat canoes to participating…
Borneo
Continue Reading
From Headhunting to Rice Growing
This is the second part in my series on traveling to the Bornean jungle village of Long Pasia. Start from the beginning here. My stomach growled as the warm aroma of prepared food wafted through the long house. Still, after my recent bout with cholera, I was gravely afraid to…
Borneo
Continue Reading
Into the Jungles of Borneo
I spent my birthday in 2020 on the bumpy road to the tiny jungle village of Long Pasia in Borneo. About a week after my life-threatening bout of cholera, I was journeying to the most remote location I had ever been to. Getting there itself was a trek. Borneo is…
Mexico
Continue Reading
Crossing the Southern Border without a Passport
The San Diego blue line trolley takes you straight to the Tijuana border. Once you exit the booth, luggage in hand and anticipation written on your face, you get the chance to walk across the border to a whole new country. A make-shift metal tunnel leads you on a five-minute walk…
China
Continue Reading
The Strange German Connection to China’s Shangdong Province
Qingdao is a beautiful coastal city in China with a unique colonial history. With over nine million inhabitants, it is the capital of the Shandong Province. A bee line from Qingdao across the Yellow Sea, and you reach South Korea. May Fourth Square, with its whirling red sculpture which represents the winds…
Travel
Continue Reading
Lost, Found, and Almost Scammed: Driving around Maui
I was driving in the opposite direction that I were supposed to be going. I didn’t know this at the time, blissfully ignorant of our impending doom. I was riding with a scruffy, silver-maned old man in the darkening night, listening to his ever more fanatical stories of his alternative church….
Favorites
Continue Reading
When the World Shrinks: Amazing Coincidences while Traveling
The world becomes smaller when you travel. I don’t mean that in the proverbial sense, where meeting new people from different countries and learning about their cultures exposes us to the idea that we are all much more similar than we could possibly imagine. This is certainly true, but I…
Indonesia
Continue Reading
Jakarta in the Time of Cholera
I’ve definitely encountered my share of sketchy food abroad. From clandestine dog meat in rural Guangxi to nationally famous duck blood soup in Nanjing, China can offer as many culinary feats of strength as you desire. Bar the dog meat, I have never shied away from the dingy noodle house…
