Author: Dan Emodi

X Marks the Spot

7 TIPS FOR A WEEKEND LOST IN DALLAS

There’s an unreal amount of angry lightning all around. Strange, it was sunny just an hour ago. I’m stuck inside a rented Hyundai in this northeastern corner of Texas. Then, the radio broadcast stops abruptly for what must be the single most terrifying public announcement for someone stranded in commute. “Severe weather warning, 100 mph winds, inch, and a quarter hail. Risk to cars, trees, rooftops, and mobile homes. Stay inside concrete or masonry buildings, keep away from windows. Effective until 7:30pm”. Great! A Tornado warning in the middle of a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam. Welcome to Dallas. There’s more to come.

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The land of amazing sunsets, and sharks

PART TWO: TUBBATAHA BELOW WATER 

Amazing sunsets aside, nobody ventures that far off to Tubbataha Reef for what’s up there in the air. The main attractions lie beneath the waves and include a fantastic tropical marine biodiversity found in very few places around the globe.

With that in mind, we took on the role of Jane and went down to the jungle below, looking for Tarzan. 

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The land of amazing sunsets, & sharks

PART ONE: TUBBATAHA ABOVE WATER

“I think I see Purple there is that a Purple?” Asks my brother Guy as we both stare at must be of the most staggering sunsets, ever. “Neah, I think it’s Violet,” I think to myself. Gosh, the sunsets in this land contain almost all shades and colors – from deep Red Scarlet to Bright Cyan. Though the term “land” could be a bit of an overstatement as no part of this tiny sandy atoll is over 0.5 meters high. 

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Steeper than ‘Frisco, Zanier than NYC

RIDING WITH THE BONNIER MOTORCYCLE TEAM THROUGH THE BACK ALLEYS OF LA
HOLLY S***! This street is steep. I’m leaning back on my Yamaha MT07 as we take the vertical plunge down Baxter – the steepest piece of tarmac in California. Jeez! And I thought Lombard Street in San Francisco was the record holder. Yet, this is LA, and I, plus 40 other bikers, are about to discover parts of it none of us even imagined existed. Welcome to Bonnier’s 3rd annual Alley Rally. Hold on to your handlebars, the ride’s gonna be tough!

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Crazy, Pointless, Irresistible

DRIVING THE ULTIMATE JOYRIDE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

It’s a bike! No. It’s a car! No. It’s…errr, what the hell is this thing?

Had a Martian landed in the middle of Orange County, he probably would have garnered less attention. Seriously, the US capital of Botox, Silicon, and nail jobs just south of LA had seen everything, but nothing like this.
Some would call it an obscene phallic symbol on wheels. Polaris calls it Slingshot.

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Surviving a Cambodian heatwave

WOULD THE NEXT STEP BE YOUR LAST?!

A dusty dirt road. Windows all rolled down. Gotta keep on driving, or it’s a cloud of beige dust in your face, not to mention the dash, the Nikon camera, and the rucksack in the back. But sometimes you just have to stop. In this case, it was this semi-expressionist scene, as if taken by a 19thcentury Provencal painter, only this one is half-a-world away.

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Seeking true work ethics? Go to Rio!

MORO! NUM PAIS TROPICAL

When I was a kid in the 70s, my father, who frequently traveled to Brazil for business, told me of a famous local saying that went something like this:
“Brazilians will start working only when the Jesus statue on top of the Corcovado rock will clap his hands”. Looking at Rio’s bright white landmark, the answer was obvious – never!

But, as I later found out for myself, they were wrong. Here’s why:

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Swimming in disaster

IF THE WATER FEELS PLEASANT, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

It’s another hot and humid day in the Northern Philippines, and we’re all sweating profusely. No big surprise, having spent the previous two hours trekking up our way through the thick bush. But it was worth it. A beautiful Emerald lake – clear, cool and inviting, is lying straight below us. It didn’t take long for us to leave our sticky clothes behind, and take a plunge into the chilly, slightly acidic water.
But this is no ordinary lake.

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