Category: Experiences

THOUGH OFFICIAL CAN BE A TRICKY THING

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!”

SAN GIMIGNANO FROM A COMFY CHAIR

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.

Continue reading “Don’t choose a room with a view”

INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE COLCA CANYON

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.

Continue reading “How low can you go?”

DOPE DEALER? PIMP? SCHOOL “BUS” DRIVER? HOW ABOUT ALL

Initially, I thought this guy was nuts. I was entirely new to the city – fresh out of the airport – when I took this picture. A day later, I found out that in this place, five kids and a driver on one small Honda scooter is actually rather tame.

Continue reading “Meet the craziest capital city”

THE HIDDEN CHARMS OF KAMAKURA

Flying to Japan is like buying the cheapest ticket to Mars. Yep, you can quote me on that one. From Shibuya to Ginza, everything about Tokyo seems as alien to the average “Gaijin” as the Martian plains were to Mark Whitney. Don’t get me wrong; I love Tokyo and wish every distant planet was as nice as this amazing metropolis.

The thing is, it can wear you down after a while.
Want to see how “real” Japan looks like?
Continue reading “Would you like to see how “real” Japan looks like?”

HOW ABOUT EVERYTHING?

There it was, a sad procession of Mourners led by a crying widow, men carrying a heavy wooden coffin, and a band of Mariachis playing slow, somber melodies. This could have been just another Hispanic funeral. No different than Mexico, Nicaragua and perhaps also in some quarters of the United States.
But this was Guatemala.

Continue reading “What color should you wear to a funeral?”

WHEN AMAZING FLIES JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE

Have you heard about the “Birds of Paradise”?
They are as colorful as they are hard to find. And, of course, they are rare. Rare as snow in Tel Aviv.
Judging by appearance this bird should be too.

Continue reading “The most common rare bird”

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Is it a guy armed with a barrette and a freshly-baked Baguette cycling down a tree-lined path?
Could it be an idealist Sorbonne student sitting at chick Parisian Café arguing about Marx & Sartre?
Maybe a decadent fashion designer looking at his “Heroine Chic” models as they parade down the catwalk?
Or perhaps it’s President Chirac pulling a middle one at George W?
Continue reading “Close your eyes and imagine France”