Libations & Explorations

         (Pure bred yak. You can tell because his horns sweep backwards, where crossbreeds are forward facing) For me, one of the most exciting things about hiking in the Himalayas was the yaks. A keystone to Nepalese life and culture, they are noble, loyal, and beautiful creatures. Nothing, not even the piece of shit donkeys you see at the lower altitudes, are as useful and versatile as the glorious yak.   Yaks as Transport (A charming yak on a lunch break) The trail leading from Namche Bazar towards Mount Everest is known as the "Yak Highway". The beasts are loaded with everything from propane, food, building materials, and every other critical supply you could imagine.  Although they are working-animals, they are treated with quite a bit of respect, as they are so critical to life in the Himalayas.   (Yak caravan preparing to navigate down a steep hill) The villages in the Sagarmatha National Park depend on the Yak caravans.  Th...

The Harsh Terrain of Nepal “ I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.” These are the opening words of Theodore Roosevelt from a speech he gave in 1899 in Chicago.  His speech about the merits of the ‘strenuous life’ came to define Teddy Roosevelt throughout his Presidency and life.  A perfect example is, after his Presidency, he led an expedition to the Amazon in search of the source of the Rio da Duvida (River of Doubt).  Between the potential for disease, mishap, and head-hunters; he knew that the journey would be extremely difficult and could very well kill him (in fact, it almost did). But he went anyway, he pursued an interesting life ...

Travel has changed massively in the past 20 years.   Sadly, the act of going somewhere has become more about creating consumable 'content' than actual discovery.  When you go visit Santorini and take a photo, you will most likely be recreating a photo made and posted by millions of 'influencers' and other wankers. The joys of technology, I suppose! In October of this year, I went to the Mount Everest Base Camp. Before I left, when telling others of my plan, the reaction I received was…interesting. The question I kept getting was “Why on earth would you want to do that?”.  They had a point... The English climber George Mallory, before famously disappeared trying to ascend Everest in 1924, was asked by a reporter why he wished to climb it.  His answer, of course, was "Because it's there".  Perhaps a silly reason to freeze to death on a mountain, but I think for the real traveler, the non-influencer; this is the motivation for adventure.   I can say ...

  As the great Anthony Bourdain said, “The journey changes you”.  Notice he said ‘journey’ instead of ‘delicious meals’, or ‘sunsets’, or ‘beautiful experiences’. No, it’s the JOURNEY that changes you…and part of the journey is getting out of your comfort zone and doing things you don’t really want to do.   I landed at Charles de Gaul Airport at 6.30am, Saturday morning.  The flight had been a terrific First Class affair from JFK, and I was very excited to go spend the day in Paris.  I booked a hotel at the airport as I was flying out to Istanbul the next day. After dropping off my bags and changing my underwear, I fired up Google Maps to figure out my plan for the day.  I have been to Paris many times, but shockingly I have never seen the Eiffel Tower!  I always felt it was too touristy; but it was a winter day so I figured the crowds would be light. This is the moment disaster struck.  From my previous journeys I knew that getting to Paris from ...

(Absinthe in Avignon) French Drinking Culture As my good friends will tell you, I enjoy a good drink!  Other than that time in Rotterdam which all parties involved agreed to never speak of again; I rarely drink to any serious level of intoxication. Just enough to relax and enjoy myself. I also genuinely enjoy the taste of certain alcohols (and I only consume drinks I like the taste of).  You will never see me having beer (aka, cat piss). The past two weeks of living in France has shown me how shockingly puritan America is when it comes to alcohol.  Yes, the drinking age is 18 in France (21 in America), and yes you can buy hard liquor in just about any shop you can think of (NOT happening in Pennsylvania); but it goes much deeper than that. In the mornings, in France, you will see people at their local cafes having an espresso or two to start the day.  You will also see people having a glass of wine or a beer. Indeed, even the local indoor market in Avignon has a bar ...

A Politically Incorrect Review of Marseilles Over the years, I had heard that the French seaside city of Marseilles was know to be a bit ‘dodgy’.  Much of this comes from the zeitgeist, such as the film “The French Connection” which was based on a real heroin smuggling operation that ran from the 1930s through the 70s.  Unione Corse, the Corsican mafia that makes the Italian mob look like a bunch of cupcakes, ran copious amount of heroin from Southeast Asia to the United States and Canada via the port city of Marseilles.   Are these characterizations of Marseilles being a “Gotham City” of Europe valid in 2024? Well, like all stereotypes, there is an ounce (or two) of truth in them… I arrived in Marseilles via train from Avignon.  Full disclosure, Avignon is a very clean and quiet city (they have four homeless people and all of them are quite charming in their way); so that certainly influenced my opinion of Marseilles.  When I arrived, the train station was pack...

  I’m going to be ill… “OMG, look honey! They have New York hats, let’s get some so our friends back home will know we were in Fraaaaaaance…”, said the American tourist. Bloody hell, where do I even start? This utter tragedy happened at 10.32am, Central European Time, at a gift shop in Avignon, France.  I had gone in there to buy a cute bag I had seen for my groceries as I had left mine at home.  Now I wish I had just paid the few for a plastic bag at the Carrefour… To describe the perpetrators of this hate-crime against intellectual robustness, I think of the ‘Great White Shark’; massive beasts of the ocean that consume everything edible in sight.  I guarantee they both bitched about how small the plane seat was on the flight over… I know I shouldn’t let incidences like this annoy me; but, dear Lord how can you move past hearing something like this?  These people had children, so this idiocy has already been passed to the next generation.  Sacrebleu! I pro...

Avignon, France My first full day in France was a Sunday.  I had arrived in Avignon the previous evening via the SCNF “Train a Grande Vitesse” (high speed train) from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.  The journey took three hours and was on-time quite pleasant (the French state-owned railways are not known for their punctuality). What really made me fall in love with French trains, however, was that there was a carriage for First Class that served wine… (I had booked a ‘Billet de Premiere Classe’ aka a First Class Ticket). The Bar-Car Sundays are sacred to the French.  To them, it is a day for only one thing: vegetating.  Work is to be avoided at all cost. Knowing this, I expected Avignon to be completely shut down on my first day.  However, this wasn’t the case.  True, most shops, all government buildings, and businesses were closed. But, the Carrefour was open (a French grocery store chain) as were a few restaurants and cafes.  Mostly, the establi...

Two, clearly lost, tourists in the Medina It’s amazing how different a city looks at night versus during the day. When we had entered the restaurant Marrakech, the labyrinth of passageways knows as the Medina were bathed in the light of the early evening African sun. But now it was night. The shopkeepers had closed their stalls, put away their wares, and left nothing but the moonlight to lead our way.  It was as if we had left one city and gone to another over the course of diner.  Naturally, Doina, Svetlana, and I did what one does in these civilized times: fired up our cellphones.  However, other than providing a small amount of light in the dark alleyways, these devices are largely useless.  Other than getting you more lost than you were already, they let every local know that you are an ignorant tourist ripe for the picking! It’s a maze… We walked aimlessly, but always believing we knew where we were, for about 15 minutes.  We came to an intersection of four...

To the more seasoned traveler, the late Anthony Bourdain is a hero. He inspired a whole generation of us to pack our bags, get on a plane, and not eat at the hotel. When we are researching our trips to far off and exotic locations, we imagine we will be eating street food with the locals...reality tends to be a bit different. Most of us don't have a camera crew, bodyguards, and medical professionals to look after us when things go tits-up abroad.  I for one spent literally, not figuratively, 24 hours in the lavatory of my hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City after I ate some dodgy fish. Stories of overseas dining gone wrong are far from uncommon; but as Anthony himself said, "Good food and good eating are about risk. Every once in a while an oyster, for instance, will make you sick to your stomach. Does this mean you should stop eating oysters? No way".  Fortunately for Doina, Svetlana, and I; the risk didn't bite us in Morocco. For our first night in Casablanca, Doina had...

Streets of Loano (Canon P/Ilford Delta 400) We live in a world of social media, where life can be presented however one wishes.  Digital technology and AI has recently taken things to the next level; we are bombarded with entirely fictitious places and people that don't exist in the 'real' World.  So where is the authentic?  Where is the genuine?  I found it in Italy. For me, something becomes painfully inauthentic when it is a performance.  This is why I have no desire to go to Epcot in Walt Disney World (actually, anywhere in Disney World sounds like a nightmare to me). Epcot presents an interactive performance and says to you, "This is what life is like in Italy".  But, if you have never been to Italy, how would you really know?  You could look at pictures online I suppose, but that doesn't tell you what life in that place is really like. Fiat 500 in Florence (Canon F-1/Ilford HP5) I have been to Italy twice traveling through Lombardy, Tuscany, Vene...

'Vieux Quebec' (Canon P/ Kodak Tri-X 400) I have not gone out for New Years Eve for at least 8 years.  In fact, I haven't even bothered to stay awake till midnight for the last five!  Why was this?  Well, I live in Pittsburgh, and the thought of going out to celebrate the New Year with a bunch of drunken "yinzer" ASBOs is a thought too awful for me to contemplate.... New Year's Eve in 2023 was different, though.  Over the course of the year I had made two life-changing friendships: Doina, my Travel Wife and Svetlana, my Travel Girlfriend. Not only do they love to travel, but they can also put up with my rapier wit, love of adult-beverages, and shockingly small bladder.  They have chosen to find me charming. Desiring to leave the state of Pennsylvania, Doina and I had tossed around a number of locations to travel to for the holiday.  We considered New Orleans, Rio de Janeiro, Marrakech; but in the end we cast all of those warm and sunny locations aside and c...