Mall Walkers Unite!
Who travels halfway across the world to go to a mall? This guy! Raise your hand if you’re guilty of this too! Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone (unless, of course, you happen to mention it in the comments, but that’s totally on you). Well, I’m here to tell you that there’s no shame. Don’t […]
Heaven on a Kayak in Parry Sound
“Who here has been in a kayak before?,” our leader asked. When only one of the fellow bloggers in my group raised their hand, our leader moved swiftly. “Tandem kayaks would probably be better,” she told the rest of us, as with two people the chances of you flipping the kayak are much smaller. I […]
“Crashing” A Sacrificial Funeral in Tana Toraja
Please note that this story contains graphic images and descriptions about the slaughter of animals, a tradition that is very important to the Torajan people. “There! Rambusolo!,” my new Indonesian friend said as he pointed to a crowd of people gathered amongst the rice paddies. We’d been riding this motorbike all day trying to find […]
Tana Toraja: A Culture Whose Views on Death Will Blow Your Mind
A roof swept up like the shape of a boat. It’s the first thing you notice when you wander into a village in Tana Toraja (pronounced Tah-nah Tow-rah-jah), a small region in the highlands of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. The exterior walls are piled high with horns of various buffalo, signifying the wealth […]
How to Drive in Iraq
You know that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer adopts a section of the highway? He decided he wants to have double wide lanes for a leisurely driving experience, except it creates complete and utter chaos on the roadway… That’s what driving in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region is like! I, for one 24 hour period, rented a […]
Road Trip Iraq: Kurdistan’s GORGEOUS Hamilton Road!
Picture this. You’ve rented a car and you’re going for a little joyride in northern Iraq. You pass the turn off for Saladin’s Fortress, which, these days, finds itself surrounded by land mines. And then you turn onto one of Iraqi Kurdistan‘s premiere sights…the Hamilton Road. Right about now you’re probably thinking…I drove all this way for a road? But […]
Moose, Ho! Ontario’s Algonquin Park by Canoe
“I’ll drive ahead and keep an eye peeled for moose,” we were told. Moose? How exciting! I mean, what could be more Canadian than that? How about the fact that we were venturing right into Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario’s Explorers’ Edge region to partake in the premiere activity that the park is known for… Canoeing! […]
Happy Typhoon Day, Hong Kong!
It began as a joke. “We should be drinking at the Four Seasons right now!” Never mind that Hong Kong was in the midst of a “Typhoon 8” Signal, with “Super Typhoon” Usagi bearing down upon the city. This was what the Hong Kong Observatory (the government’s weather forecasting arm) declared to be the biggest […]
The Endangered City of Hasankeyf
What’s Turkey’s most incredible sight that most people have never heard of? A wonderful little gem called Hasankeyf, that every visitor to Turkey’s Southeast should put on their map right now! Don’t worry, I’ll wait here while you do it…. See, I’d never heard of Hasankeyf either until I found myself looking for CouchSurfing hosts […]