EVERYTHING IS FOR AUCTION. FISH TOO
The hour was early. The hall was dark and stale. The patched up concrete floor was stained with grease, and the bidders looked no better. This was no Sotheby’s.
Category: Experiences
The coldest June
WHERE SUMMER MEANS…WELL, MEANS NOTHING REALLY
“Let’s get away from the kids for few days,” said my wife, “I heard Western Ireland is really beautiful”. I’ve never been there, but the brochure sure looked nice. Sunny, lush and green. I guess I should have known better. After all, I do occasionally create brochures for a living.
The closely kept secrets of Rio’s largest slum
DOWN TO ROCINHA AND BACK – ALIVE
Nobody really knows much about La Favela Rocinha (pronounced Rossinya). Only that it is vast, unmappable and dangerous. No one can calculate the volume of drug trafficking that takes place along its dark, narrow alleys. None can tell the exact daily toll of bodies consumed by gang wars, vendettas, and innocent collaterals. This is partly because nobody has a clue as to how big Rocinha is. The official count stands at 70,000 souls, but unofficial guesses hover between 150,000 to 300,000.
One thing is clear. Rocinha is the largest, most disreputable favela in Rio de Janeiro. Its notoriety reaching far beyond the borders of Rio and Brazil. Would you like a visit?
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This guy is high on Rajasthani Opium, and so is the government
STONED-DEAD IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
I’m riding my beaten-up Enfield through this small village in the middle of the vast Thar Desert, somewhere in northwest India. The main street is unpaved and littered with trash and tired-looking cows. There’s a grocery shop with rusty rails covering the front window, few improvised motorbike repair shops, a barber, a tiny branch of a local cell phone company, and an Opium joint. Yes, that’s right. A dark, dingy, open-for-all Opium den.
Continue reading “This guy is high on Rajasthani Opium, and so is the government”
He’s not heavy, He’s my Saint!
HOW MUCH CAN A HUMAN BEAR?
Quite a lot, apparently. And while all of us carry great burden – life, children, career, spouse, bills to pay – you name it, none takes a load like this. To put it bluntly, if you’d like to witness a real-life example of the difference between “figuratively” and “literally”, come to Antigua, Guatemala, around Easter. I promise an exceptional example of what REAL burden looks like.
More Dali than Dali
GATEWAY TO PSYCHEDELIC YUNNAN
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.
Who is the star of Geneva?
IS IT A GIGANTIC RED FERRARI OR A SMALL BLUE RENAULT?
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.
Holi Wars!
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.
On the spice route to Zanzibar
SAILING ON AN ARAB BOAT THROUGH THE INDIAN OCEAN
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.
Things to do before you die – Item #5
FLY ABOVE THE THOUSAND PAGODAS OF BAGAN
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.