Join my journey to the corners of this world
Like the famous Catalan artist, there’s nothing ordinary about the city of Dali. Perched on a 2,000 meter-high plateau, and surrounded by the 4,000 meter-high Cangshan mountains, the place is nothing remotely similar to any other Chinese city.
Perhaps because it is not entirely Chinese.
I’ve always been a petrol-head, fascinated by cars since the very day I remember myself. Perhaps it’s the combination of power and design. Or maybe it’s just the Vrooooom sound they make (some of them, at least).
Who knows.
Nowhere is this passion more evident than in Geneva – a town not known for passion at all. This small Swiss city has banks, few branches of the United Nations, the world largest fountain and a whole lot of boredom.
PURIM SPECIAL: A NEPALESE BATTLE OF COLORS
These are no Charlie’s Angles. They mean business. Equipped for combat, everyone for them is fair game…
…including me.
Things are much less complicated in Zanzibar. You have a wooden sailboat, a crew of three, few snorkels that saw some seen better days, a clear, turquoise ocean and a few dolphins jumping around to boost. Simple.
Being 47 – I’ve decided to start collecting all the absolutely “musts” that I had the pleasure of experiencing throughout my adult life (at my age one can never know what a new day will bring, or take)
This is the first of them.
“Use the Force Luke!”
That’s all I could think about when I took a picture of this grand vista during Christmas 2016. It was almost dusk and clouds slowly started to dot the sky. A day later these would grow into a fully-fledged desert storm, but right then the whole thing was just pure magic. It was like a scene taken directly from the original Star Wars movie.
Continue reading “Finding Tatooine”
We’ve got a full tank of gas, brand new semi-slick racing tires, a converted former WWII RAF airfield, seven different race-tuned cars, it’s cloudy and we’re wearing crash helmets.
Let’s hit it!
Continue reading “Some say it’s the best corporate day in the world”
The hell with mystery, romance & myth. Shangri-La is officially real!
Forget ancient maps, decaying centuries-old scriptures, wise Shamans in decrypted temples, and Indiana Jones-styled adventurers closing rotten deals in dark speakeasies. Ignore history and the inconvenient fact that the whole name was made up less than 80 years ago in a forgettable utopian novel called “Lost Horizons”. The book has died long ago. The fortunes of Shangri-La, however, took a whole different twist.
Continue reading “Shangri-la is officially found!”
Choose a room with a view. Choose a booking site with lots of annoying popups. Choose a hotel in the center of a corny-looking picturesque Italian town. Choose an overpriced and under-furnished room with a tiny window looking down at an obscure square you’ve never heard about. Choose a continental breakfast featuring yesterday’s leftovers, lukewarm filtered coffee, and a soft, plastic-wrapped croissants. Choose a pair of matching nights chocolates and a welcome bouquet. Choose a room with a view.
I chose not to choose a room with a view.
I chose something else.
Have you ever been disoriented?
I was.
I took this picture in Southern Peru while hiking the down the Colca Canyon. We walked down a dirt trail snaking its way through this common-looking desert ravine, thinking there wasn’t anything special about it. Nothing worth the arduous five hours drive from Arequipa. After all, what’s so unique about another dry gorge, surrounded by average looking desert hills.
Only there was nothing average about the place.
