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Journey Beyond Travel Magazine
Quarter I: January - March 2006 (V2N1) ISN#31198774378
Welcome to the Journey Beyond Travel Magazine! We’re
… going beyond the destination!
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Cover Photo: taken by Thomas, Managing Editor.
Magazine brought to you by the team of Journey Beyond Travel.
© 2005 – 2006 Journey Beyond Travel: all material is the copyrighted work of Journey Beyond
Travel and / or its respective authors. This work may not be displayed in any form, copied, edited, or
used without the written consent of Journey Beyond Travel and its author(s).
This Publication is brought to you thanks to Traveler’s Digest and Roberts Imaging .
In this issue:
Check out our photography sponsor and the first annual
First Book in Progress Award with a GREAT CASH prize!
Table of Contents
Features:
Into the Heart: The Jungle is Neutral – The Battlefields of South East Asia by Philip Sen … page 2
Beyond the Surface: The Dance by Ryan Forsythe … page 11
Beyond Culture: Tanduay and Cokes by Brenda Lee Intengan … page 13
True Traveler: Big (Sur)Prise! by Janice Arenofsky … page 20
Departments:
Photographer’s Ground: Travel Photography: Aim High by Renee Schluter-Phillips … page 5
Writer’s Ground: What a Day! by Shaun C. Kilgore … page 7
Out and About: Hepatitis on a Stick? : Street Food in China by Larry Jer … page 10
Beyond the Destination: Hitchking the World by David King … page 16
Travel Poetry: Destination / Cobra Show … / Upon the Charming by Jessica Titlebaum
Columns:
Writer’s Life: Living the Writer’s Life – in Paris; A Review by Erika Dreifus … page 9
Place & Time: Ghost Month in Hong Kong by Nicole Trilivas … page 18
Traveler’s Secret: Shopping Secret: Tchibo by Kate Baggot … page 17
World Foods: Schnitzel International by Kate Baggot … page 20
Traveler’s Wisdom: Get Lost! by Kathleen M. Wooton, M.D. … page 19
Traveler’s Digest brings you, the adventurer, the best travel adventure listings & information on the Internet.
“Begin your adventure” discovering this wonderfully diverse world. Click below to venture forth today!
Into the Heart
The Jungle is Neutral – Battlefields of South East Asia
By Philip Sen
Indochina, as the eastern grenades, small arms and
They call it the Hellfire Pass, countries of Laos, Vietnam and ammunition discovered in the
and indeed in the tropical Cambodia were then known, was neighbouring fields. Hard to
sunshine and humidity it feels just one catalyst of the conflicts imagine now, perhaps more
like the devil’s kitchen itself. that unfolded there from the bombs were dropped on Laos
But remember what happened 1950s to 1980s. than were expended over
here and, despite the sweat and Germany during WWII; most
the flies and the dusty walk to Countless lines of marble over sections of North
get here you begin to think headstones poke up from Vietnam’s celebrated supply
yourself lucky. Once, long ago, Kanchanaburi’s three major route, the Ho Chi Minh trail;
the Hellfire Pass drank the life cemeteries, tended to an some allegedly dumped by US
and the blood of men. immaculate standard by armies pilots returning from Hanoi with
of Thai gardeners. The town is bombs to spare. Even 40 years
Today it lies quiet; still and also the site of the famous later, blue-capped United
serene. The whips and tools were Bridge on the River Kwai, fixed Nations mine disposal experts
long ago laid down and the jungle for posterity in our imaginations can still be seen combing the
on either side buzzes instead with by David Lean’s 1957 cinema countryside for more unexploded
insects, a thousand miniature epic of the same name. The ordnance.
chainsaws scraping out their structure that spans the flow
cacophonous song. The rust- now, however, is not the original Hanoi itself, capital of the now
brown rockface is pitted and bombed to destruction during the re-unified Vietnam, is an almost
gouged by the picks and hand war; and the museum set up on European city but for the heat
drills used to hew the passage 60 the bank is a curious and decrepit and the oppressive whirr of
years before; the occasional drill mixture of authentic artefacts thousands of mopeds (private car
bit has snapped off and embedded and badly-wrought papier-mache ownership is still rare in this
in the stone. Aside from this, figures. reforming Communist state).
however, little now remains. The old centre is a cosmopolitan
Perhaps seven or eight feet of Despite the horrors of the past, locale of lakes and leafy
railway track, worn away by Kanchanaburi is in fact a fine boulevards, the French influence
weather and age, and a plaque place to relax and settle into the readily apparent. Embalmed and
festooned with withered flowers pace of life in rural Thailand. somewhat waxy-looking, the
and drooping Commonwealth Hotels and bungalows stand on corpse of Ho Chi Minh is
flags. But just this small section stilts above the stream of the preserved in a typically austere
of the Burma railway cost the river itself, and the balconies and Stalinist-style mausoleum.
lives of hundreds of Allied restaurants are ideal for lazy Thousands of Vietnamese troop
prisoners of war, starved, beaten afternoons and laconic nights past every day for a quick gawp
and tormented by their Japanese watching the water ebb by. at the exulted leader. Yet for
captors. One cannot help but to Returning to Bangkok by train, downed US pilots, Hanoi held
stop for a moment and simply one can still ride some of the few attractions.
contemplate. original wartime railway. Hoa Lo Prison, otherwise known
as ‘the Hanoi Hilton’ was
Hellfire Pass, near modern-day On to Laos, scene of clandestine established by the French in the
Kanchanaburi in Thailand, is a conflict during the Vietnam War. late 19th century. Now a
fitting start to a loop of Much of the evidence lingers on. museum, many of the exhibits
historical sites that takes you Instead of horsebrasses and (including the regulation Gallic
around South East Asia, pewter tankards, the shacks that guillotine) are devoted to the
following the progress of 20th- pass for public houses in Laos undoubted oppression of the
century war’s bloody toll. The often harbour macabre colonial years. A section is
Japanese occupation of French collections of clusterbombs, dedicated to the building’s life as
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 2
a POW camp and is stark proof Khe Sanh firebase is now a fallen government of the South.
of that old maxim, ‘history is coffee plantation. Stylish and opulent conference
written by the victor’. American rooms and offices and a swinging
internees here apparently Elsewhere in the DMZ can be 1960s upstairs ballroom area
enjoyed cordon bleu cuisine, found other sites such as former contrast with the underground
sports facilities, a well-stacked sections of the Ho Chi Minh command centre. This was the
library and workshop. trail, now sanitised and Asian equivalent of London’s
Propaganda posters extol the asphalted-over to become part cabinet war rooms, from where
virtues of this model of the road network. One can the war was run and lost in
environment. You suspect that also visit the tunnel complex at relative safety.
the museum is being economical Vinh Moc with its beachside
with the truth. escape routes and underground From Saigon, the route turns
hospital the size of an outdoor west to Phnom Penh, capital of
From Hanoi it is a short flight to privy. Cambodia. As the Vietnam War
another name resonating with wound up, another violent
history, Dien Bien Phu. Despite These are overshadowed by the episode began in this small and
its significance to the better-known tunnels of Cu Chi, backward country. A bumpy half
Vietnamese – the siege in 1954 hundreds of miles further hour ride from the town centre
signalled the end of the French southwest. With undisguised glee, takes you to Choeung Ek, better
empire – it is surprisingly the guides show you just how well known as the Killing Fields. It is
tourism free. Stone plaques mark hidden these catacombs were, the final resting place of 17,000
places of interest, such as the kicking away dead leaves and hapless victims of the Khmer
spot where a French artillery undergrowth to reveal entrance Rouge, bludgeoned to death to
officer shot himself in despair, holes no larger than a shoebox. save ammunition and cast into
and General de Castilles’ bunker While Vietnamese tourists deftly mass graves. These pits have
has been roughly recreated. But pop themselves through the now been excavated, and the
for the most part, the ambience openings, none of the Europeans crania of the anonymous dead
of Dien Bien Phu is in the present have a hope. Crawling that were found now goggle at
rusting relics that never quite through the 4ft-high passages you from behind a pane of glass,
made it off the field of battle: themselves is even less fun for a preserved for eternity as part of
tanks, guns and machinery of tall, perhaps overweight the monument erected to remind
war litter the paddies and even westerner, and one pales further Cambodia and its visitors of what
the gardens of private houses, as when shown the display of Viet happened here.
if subsumed into the fabric of the Cong booby traps also on
countryside. display. The thought of carrying Even more chilling is Tuol Svay
a rifle through the heat, Prey High School, also known as
Further south, situated along the humidity and insects surrounded Tuol Sleng or ‘Poison Hill’.
17th parallel is the area known by such vicious devices as the Bearing an uncanny resemblance
as the Demilitarized Zone ‘souvenir’ trap (that gripped the to the functional architecture of
(DMZ). This was the scene of limb so firmly that troops had to a London secondary modern, the
the heaviest fighting during the be evacuated with it still premises were converted into S-
1965-1973 ‘American war’ as attached) doesn’t bear thinking 21, an administration and
the Vietnamese call it, and in the about. interrogation centre for the
once wartorn city of Hue a regime’s enemies. Preserved just
tourbus industry has sprung up to All roads in Vietnam lead to as it was when Cambodia was
cater for those who wish to Saigon, where the regime finally ‘liberated’ by Vietnam in 1978,
revisit it. To the west is Khe collapsed on 30 April 1975. the decaying complex is filled
Sanh. Set at an altitude of 600m While helicopters evacuated the with bare cells containing
among a panorama of jagged last remaining Americans from nondescript iron beds,
hills, part of the airstrip remains, the embassy roof, Vietcong agricultural tools and dried blood,
desolate but for eddies of red dust tanks smashed through the gates and understated displays
kicked up by the wind. In 1967, of the Presidential Palace at the illustrating the incomprehensible
the US Marines were besieged for heart of the city. With an cruelty of torture practised in
weeks by overwhelming forces. exterior not unlike a multi- the camp. Most poignant of all
It was a diversion for the storey car park, the inside of the are the thousands of mugshots
Communists’ real plan, the Tet palace has been preserved to taken from the prison files and
Offensive. Some of the former illustrate the lifestyle of the now pinned up in rows on the
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 3
walls; the eyes of the where it ends, the bloody history Philip Sen is a freelance writer and
condemned, sometimes defiant, of this troubled region maintains photographer specialising in the
sometimes pleading, sometimes a presence there. Now the region politics, culture and natural
uncomprehending, stare through is at peace, and is swamped with landscapes of Asia. His work has
featured in international magazines
space and time and remind you tourists looking for culture,
from Wallpaper* to Jane's Defence
that yes, you are a voyeur. adventure, and that-all Weekly and British publications from
important photo-op. Perhaps it The Sunday Times Travel Magazine
It is strange how history works is best that the past is laid to to The Engineer. He was highly
in these cycles. From the rest. But it is also right to commended in the UK Periodical
genocide of the Thailand to remember. Training Council's New Journalist of
Burma Death Railway where the the Year Awards 2001. See his
route begins, through the And, one can only hope that homepage at:
warzones of Laos and Vietnam, eventually the lessons of history http://www.philip-sen.com
to the Killing Fields of Cambodia will be learnt.
Destination
By Jessica Titlebaum
we borrow sunscreen from a man in a red shirt
it says Canada on it
Are you American or Canadian? I hear a
British man ask
as he puts the sunscreen back in his carry-on
on the canoe back to the shore
red rusty paddle boat canoe we see women paddle boats full of rice
sitting on a wooden plank makes my bottom collected in the paddies
hurt they wear long sleeves and circle straw hats
for 2 hours — going to the mountain and with points at the top
coming back
we pass by a check point
with a German couple and our 19-year-old guide who has been
and the man with a longer ponytail than my paddling for two hours
own gives the patrol office a piece of paper
puts his maroon colored button down shirt the gate is lifted for us.
around my shoulders
to protect my skin from the beating sun
Jessica is amazed at the many coffee shops, around
the world, that she has sat in and sipped coffee at.
we climb man made steps made of rocks
She spent some time in SE Asia and Europe,
through a jungle of green trees and backpacking and teaching English. She has found a
mountainous ravines to a cold cave decorated home in Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Mihn City,
with rows of Buddhas Vietnam and Florence, Italy. Jessica earned her
Bachelor’s of English at the University of Maryland
walking back down with bottles of water and and then moved on to receive her TESOL Certificate
red cheeks from TEFL International in Ban Phe, Thailand. She
Mary slips on a rock and falls to the ground frequently calls Vietnam on her cell phone and
shaky, she gets back up believes that nothing is too fabulous to be true.
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 4
Photographer’s Ground
Brought to you in association with:
Travel Photography Special: Aim High, Part I
By Renee Schluter-Phillips
camera- don’t press them. or some exclusive rights to your
Asking politely usually warms a photos. If you want to give up
subject. I recently took what I those kinds of rights, the end
Selling great photos along with found to be an interesting photo result should be a lot more
your work is a great income of an elderly Oriental man money.
booster. The ability to take playing the Chinese violin on
publishable pictures makes you the corner of Spadina and But in most situations you are
that much more marketable in Dundas streets in Toronto, free to sell your photos again
an editor’s eye. There is also an Ontario. The man was collecting and again. To be clear, you can
axiom which states, “great tips from kind passers by in the state on your captions “Photos
pictures can sell just good prose,” open case of his violin. It was a sold on a one time rights basis.”
so honing our photography skills curious looking homemade It is best to use common sense
and learning the rules of the instrument that lent an authentic here as well, though. No editor
trade go hand in hand for the atmosphere to this cornerstone wants to thumb through the
serious travel writer. Knowing a of Toronto’s vibrant Chinatown. newspaper or a competitor’s
few tricks of the profession is The image was perfect with the magazine and come across the
essential. Two common tell all street signs behind him. It photo he just bought from you
questions new could only be Tortonto’s and is planning on including in
writers/photographers face Chinatown. Locals bustled by next month’s edition of his own
concern photo releases and with their morning shopping in publication. Use common sense
photo rights. tow. The early sun was behind us if you want to earn an editor’s
shining square on his age old respect. And, of course, you do
The rules regarding photo face. want to earn an editor’s respect.
releases and whether or not you
need to obtain them are actually I asked him if he minded me In many cases, you can purchase
quite simple. You need a taking his photograph. He photos or often get them for
person’s written permission if didn’t. It was a friendly exchange free. Photographer’s Market is a
you think you have a possible between the two of us. He spoke good resource to access the
cover shot- a picture that will with broken English. I know availability of photos in the area
appear on the cover of a nada Chinese. Before I had ever you are covering. If your topic
magazine. You will also need approached him, I had taken concerns businesses,
permission if the photo is going some change out of my purse to organizations, or any other
to be used for advertising enable easy access to it after I group that might benefit from
purposes. This includes had captured the shot. I probably the extra publicity contact them
photographs that will be included would have tipped him whether and don’t forget tourism bureaus.
in company or in-house he had agreed to the shot or not- Often, there is no need to kill
publications. A trusted guide like my own little way of supporting yourself in an effort to get the
Writer’s Market or the arts- but the important right angle for that shot of the
Photographer’s Market will lesson here is to show common Golden Gate Bridge. The
indicate which magazines require courtesy and make good use of expected shot of this bridge, for
photo releases, as well as provide your common sense. Don’t take example, has already been
a sample release for you to copy from someone without giving photographed, multiple times,
and use. back and be friendly. and probably better by someone
with better equipment and access
In addition, use common sense Photos are usually sold on a one to a helicopter.
and basic courtesy. If someone time rights basis. You hope and
clearly shies away from the dream of some editor buying all
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 5
If you didn’t take the shot be do that, but instead agreed to
sure to give photo credit, you come along with me if I could So make yourself aware of your
can indicate this on your caption devise a plan to get a press pass rights and obligations, educate
sheets. I remember when I first for her too. We got her in the yourself on both photography
started out freelancing for The press stands- a coveted 20 feet and writing; aim high, and
Marion Times-Standard, from Clinton himself. It worked remember to photograph the
President Clinton was coming to out great for me. I could focus journey.
town, and I didn’t have the type on capturing the essence of the
of camera to cover such an crowd and diligently scribbling Renee Schluter-Phillips is a freelance
event effectively. I probably down every conceivably writer with a background in
could have borrowed a camera important quote. I was busy environmental science and
from the office, but I was new. I making eye contact, literally, journalism. She currently lives in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina with
was a whole lot more timid then with the President, while she
her new husband, Rod, a Ph.D.
and I just didn’t know. What I took all the shots in exchange Research Scientist, and her four
did was ask a friend who had for nothing more than our wonderfully smart and creative
gotten this incredible camera for friendship, the once in a lifetime children: Robert 15, Catherine
Christmas if I could borrow her experience of it all, and photo Margaret 12, Jackson 9, and Helen
camera. She didn’t want me to credit. Louise who is now 5 .
Journey Beyond Travel thanks Roberts Imaging. Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, Roberts has been offering
quality photo equipment to professionals and hobbyists alike in the U.S. and abroad. We use them for all our
photographic needs, so why not check them out online! They have great service, affordable prices, and fast
shipping! Are you getting ready to travel and need that extra lens? Contact Robert’s first!
Simply click Roberts Imaging to visit their online store today!
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 6
Writer’s Ground
What a Day!
By Shaun C. Kilgore
When I first started writing--I such joy. Page by page, chapter The notion of creating my own
mean, really writing--there was a by chapter, I was reaffirming comic books, the very marriage
keen sense of exhilaration that that I, indeed, might actually be of my skills as an artist and still
filled my heart at the prospect a writer. This is not to say that I untapped talent as a writer, led
of stepping across the line. I'm didn't struggle. There was always me to seek schooling. It was the
sure you would agree that every something that I just could not wrong road, though I hardly
writer has that point in time convey or some aspect of the thought so at the time. I was
when they finally take the craft still completely unknown convinced that the synthesis of
plunge, setting them apart from to me. The mechanics of my words and images was what I was
the countless others who only storytelling were rough and often looking for, when in reality, I
talked about writing but never tenuous, but I relished even my was more concerned with the
did. For more years than I care most awkward attempts. They story than I was with conjuring it
to admit, I walked among those were my validation. up in the narrow confines of
talking masses. I rationalized my limited panels in a twenty-five
place in it just like they did, Those fitful surges of creative page spread. No, I had wider
providing my own comments juices were so inspiring and vistas in mind, but not enough
along the way. "Yeah, oh boy, sparked a fire that has continued confidence to proceed further.
I'm going to do it, I'm going to to burn. Every time I sit here
write something spectacular. and type I am stopped by my My awakening was still a few
Yeah, I'm going to be a writer, own thoughts. It is such a years off. So, I sat in silence. No
you'll see." But, obviously, for a beautiful thing to create, whether mode of expression ever came
long time, nothing happened. I by words being strung into close to what I knew was building
talked--we all talked right? sentences or by a brush and some up inside of me. But, with time,
paint; all proceeds from that that growth of creative energy
Then a day came when I really same deep recess of the soul, the finally surged to the surface and
meant those words and they very center of the artistic spirit. exploded one summer afternoon
became something else. They after I had gotten home from
began to flow with life. I came As a child, this was cultivated in work. The awakening had
home from my regular job and more visual forms of expression. arrived.
instead of staring at the The writer that would later
computer screen longingly, I immerge found a way into my I could tell you that I made my
walked over, sat down, and began creative moments through way carefully down this road, but
tapping on the keys like a something as seemingly trivial as I would not be telling the truth. I
concert pianist during a solo sequential art. (Yes, I mean plunged headlong through the
performance – a breakthrough. comic books.) Here these two thickets of prose and pacing, not
That is what it was. I stopped powerful forms of expression really taking the time to plan
merely talking and actually acted were combined into a brilliant my venture. I was filled to
on that impulse I had spent so and exciting format which I bursting with the images of the
much time suppressing and readily devoured at a monstrous fantastic, visions of chivalrous
appeasing with hollow promises rate. The conveyance of story legends, and great magical
in the past. through pictures and words cast a powers at work in fictional
heady spell over my young mind worlds of my own devising. I
Do you remember that moment? and even when I had that writer's could well imagine a field of
Wasn't it wonderful? Wasn't it awakening some years later, it super heroics within which I
intoxicating to see your thoughts came in the form of comic could play out the best parts of
and visions spread out before book-like visions dancing in my my comic book experiences, but
you? Let me tell you, it was for head, beckoning me along a cut through the limitations that
me. Writing those initial crooked little path that story- this form imposed on the
manuscript pages filled me with telling often becomes. storyline.
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 7
The more I raked my ignorance continues to swell with every
I paid for this reckless launch. and assumptions against them step of my journey down the
Time after time, I struggled the clearer my insight into the writer’s path. The artist in me
terribly with my own limitations nuts and bolts of the craft continues to supply the
as a burgeoning young writer and became. I grew. Now, after a necessary fuel of both real and
every rewrite was testimony to number of years, I find that, imagined places and people, and
my shaky creative choices. But thankfully, I am still being I rejoice in this. I could have
this is not to say that the efforts sharpened. I still struggle with regrets for my wrong choices,
were in vain. No, on the some of the same elementary but I would rather choose to
contrary, they were the issues that marked my first learn from these and push on
whetstones that sharpened the efforts, but to a lesser degree. through the tangled forest of
blade of my writer's sensibilities. The pains I have gone through writing. What a day it is!
were well worth the effort
expended. My satisfaction
Special Announcement: WRITER’S CONTEST!
Journey Beyond Travel
- First Book in Progress Award -
As listed in Writer’s Market, Journey Beyond Travel is proud to bring our readers and writers our first
annual First Book in Progress Award.
What: Worldwide contest for writers currently writing a nonfiction manuscript. It can be literary,
creative, narrative, or a compilation of short stories regarding adventure / travel. We acquire the
right to print the winning material in Journey Beyond Travel's e-zine and newsletter. Manuscripts
will be judged by a panel with substantial writing, critiquing, editing, and publishing experience. Entries
may be submitted through the website.
How: First, break out that old manuscript about adventure/travel. Or, if you’ve been dying to tell
your story – that perfect book idea – now is your time to start typing! Send us a one-paragragh
query, a one-page synopsis and the first thirty, double-spaced pages of your manuscript. Each page
should be numbered and in pristine editorial condition. All materials should be sent via e-mail as
Microsoft Word documents. Materials sent hardcopy may not reach us.
First Prize: US$ 1000.00 & Journey Beyond Travel Book of the Year Seal upon publication.
Contest Begins: April 2006
Deadline: December 31, 2006; Winner announced in March 2007.
Entrance Fee: ONLY US$ 25.00; via Paypal
Eligibility: Open to any writer who has never published a book before. Those who have had books
self-published, published by a vanity press, or whose work has appeared in print or online journals
may enter.
See the Journey Beyond Travel website once contest begins for further details!
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 8
Writer’ s Life
Living the Writer’s Life – in Paris:
A Writer’s Paris: A Guided Journey for the Creative Soul
By Eric Maisel
A Review By Erika Dreifus
you mine the city and the experience of being
If you’ve ever dreamed of absconding to the there for your writing.
City of Lights (and its cafés) to write your novel
or book of poems, Eric Maisel’s new book may He tells you about his own favorite writing spots,
help you make that dream come true. “It is easy for instance (the Place des Vosges is one of
to find a Parisian studio for a month,” Maisel them). He anticipates and counters many of
says. Contrary to popular thought, it is not your fears, blocks, and other obstacles—
impossible “to live cheaply and well. I am not including my own unfortunate favorite: “I have
asking that you throw over your life in order to no idea for a novel.”
experience Paris. This is not a book about expat
living. I am only asking that you use Paris not as Along the way, conversationally, he imparts
a tourist destination, but as a place to write, and quite a bit of French history and culture (I found
that you make Paris one of the stopping places his section on “Disrespecting Albert Camus”
on your creative journey.” particularly intriguing). Part travel book, part
writer’s manual, A Writer’s Paris indeed provides
Maisel, a San Francisco-based creativity coach a guided journey, and a very good read.
and coach trainer, and himself the author of
more than two dozen works of fiction and Erika Dreifus is a freelance writer and Francophile based
nonfiction, is all about that creative journey. He in Massachusetts. Her own Parisian sojourns include a
does include practical tips on finding a place to semester during college and several months conducting
stay and sifting through the many web sites and dissertation research as a graduate student. Be sure to
guidebooks that will both simplify and enrich visit her website: http://www.practicing-writer.com
your life in Paris, but his main focus is helping
Book Described Above: Writer’s Digest Books, November 2005; $18.99; 1-58297-359-8
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 9
Out and About
Hepatitis on a Stick? : Street Food in China
By Larry Jer
Eat anything that flies except airplanes; eat anything with legs except the table.
- Chinese adage (But Larry wishes he’d said it first!)
exotic name, then served up of tiny field trips for my
with smothering sauces and an palate.
inflated tab.
Actually, street food is easier
I am no different than many of to order than in traditional
you, born and raised in North restaurants. You can see
America. True to Canadian exactly what you’re getting,
tradition, all foodstuffs deemed watch them prepare it and
inedible or unsightly are without ever having to call it
disposed of, garburated, by name, you can always just
vaporized; atomic-sized say “zai lai yige.” Translation:
remnants chased into oblivion “Kiss me, you fool.” No,
Eating street cuisine in China by antibacterial sprays so even
its essence no longer existed to
really, this useful phrase means
“one more, please.” If not,
did not come easily to me.
Without ever having set foot offend. simply move on to the next
in the Middle Kingdom, I goodie wagon.
agreed to teach English for a What happened? I was eating
year in Shenyang, northeast of reasonably well in China. Why
Beijing. rock the rickshaw? Well, each
day as I rode past countless
Shenyang is heavy into street vendors, tantalizing
industry and is known more for bouquets wafted from their
its sooty sky than as a haven carts and kiosks, promising
of epicurean delight-- the air fresh pastries, grilled seafood,
itself so chunked with barbecued lamb-- the siren
particulate matter, it might scents chasing me back to my
actually qualify as a sidedish or flat where I would sit and They say you never forget
at the very least, a condiment. contemplate my roomy your first. Mine was five
dungarees. silkworm kebabs for a yuan
I lost twenty-five pounds over (15 cents), not at all deterred
ten months that year, a change It was as good an appetizer as by the fact that a few British
so dramatic I certainly could one could get as I always expats named the pungent
have marketed the diet, arrived at my school’s cafeteria tidbits, “hepatitis on a stick.”
perhaps under the pen name, with great anticipation and not As I stood astride my flashy red
Dr. Fill. For I was never a little drool. I tossed down girl's bike enjoying my treats,
hungry yet I was soon punching meals with much elan because, my senses must certainly have
new holes on the negative side sadly, I couldn’t afford to shed been heightened. How else
of my belt. any more body weight, my could I notice that the kebabs
body mass dropping like it had were in fact, skewered on old
Logic follows, with a billion- no emergency chute. Not only bicycle spokes? Enterprising.
plus mouths in the land, each for necessity and weight Chinese have found a new way
twig and root, every niblet and concerns, I explored the city’s to recycle a cycle.
giblet, would be taste-tested at food subculture as another
some point. If the morsel had aspect of life in China, dozens These days, in a perfectly
potential, it was afforded an scrubbed suburb of Vancouver,
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 10
it’s been a year and an eternity only thing keeping your fingers While waiting patiently for his
since rolling through the streets from frostbite is the freshly nomad gene to kick in, Larry
of Shenyang. Can I honestly roasted yam you hold? How spends much of his day within
say I miss the foul air, can I not miss it? arm's length of reclining furniture.
He travels extensively in his mind
chopsticks that have never
and to a much lesser degree by
seen soapy water, huddling commercial airlines.
close to the makeshift oven
because it’s minus 20 and the
Beyond the Surface
The Dance
By Ryan Forsythe
other floating markets where Reaching into the bags, the
hundreds of small boats women would pull out a handful
converge as their owners barter of colorful bead bracelets, smile
and trade. This is the opium earnestly and shout, with their
market, a pack of short, stocky grinning black and yellow teeth
women that float to wherever buzzing up and down like
in town white people with bumblebees: "Brace-let? Two-
overstuffed backpacks can be tousand! Two-tousand!..."
found.
Almost in unison, the twenty
Up near Laos’ border with I discovered them the moment
I arrived. Or, rather, they
bus riders spoke out. "No. No,
thanks. Not interested. No, I
China, lies Muang Sing, a tiny
discovered me. The only way don't want!" Only after
town with one dusty main drag,
to Muang Sing is from Luang repeated denials of their
a few guesthouses and
Nam Tha. It's less than 40 bracelets, did the women
restaurants scattered to either
miles, but takes more than 2 casually lift up the jewelry to
side. With its French-
hours in a crowded bumpy bus. reveal something hidden in
influenced wooden buildings and
And who should welcome you their palm, small tablespoon
banisters, and a lone pig or the
to town, after your trip? The size bags of fine dark-chocolate
occasional pack of chickens
women of the Akha hilltribe, colored powder.
walking free, there’s a sense of
who come into town from
a swinging-door ol’ west
outlying villages in the hopes "Op-yum?"
frontier town. I didn’t see any
of making a few dollars.
horses gallop by, but three
They never actually spoke the
elephants strolled past as I
Stepping foot off the bus, I was word, perhaps out of fear for
downed my beer.
immediately surrounded by five some police or military
or six of them, some carrying authority we never saw, or
The town has two markets.
kids, but each with a proud maybe to quicken our heartbeat
The main market near the bus
helmet of pink cloth held fast at the secret danger of their
stop is a great spot for people
with headband bracelets of tin forbidden fruit. It was always
watching and picking up cheap
disks, coins, beads, and shells. just mouthed. Either that or
wares: scarves and handbags
Each woman had at least two they’d make a puffing or
made by local hilltribes; name
or three handbags somewhere sucking or blowing sound. Not
brand knock-offs, such as
on their person—in their so with the marijuana—that
Nikei: "Just For You;” fruits I
hands, over shoulders, some was always a whisper: "Ganja?"
never knew existed; and, of
even hanging down their backs
course, stacks of raw meat
with the handles slung around They’d open up the bags to
attracting crowds of flies.
their foreheads like sweatbands. reveal more bracelets, some
bamboo containers, and big
Then there’s the floating
bags of grass alongside the
market. It’s not quite like
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 11
small bags of opium powder. then, the Akha organize. They rubbing each of Julia’s fingers,
And they'd point. Want some gather in a circle of 9 or 12, I while a third woman dug her
of this? think to plot strategy: fingers into Julia’s back. Don’t
“Mouthing ‘ganja’ isn’t like what’s in the bag? Try
With a dozen or so of them working…we may have to start some Lao lovin’ instead.
waiting for our bus of twenty whispering.” Or maybe it's to
passengers, each of us was able discuss who's managed to I ran into a lot of people who
to tango with a good half of escape their grasp: “Keep ran fast from Muang Sing, just
them before the driver dropped working that guy from Ohio, because of the ladies. The
our packs from the bus's ladies; he’s not leaving without Danish family couldn’t stand
rooftop rack. I was one of the a purchase.” Of course, it could the constant offering of drugs.
first to get my backpack and as be the opposite: “The smiling The Frenchman called it a zoo.
I walked down the street, the Australian woman has brought Others felt the women were
symphony of solicitation six bracelets already—keep at just too darn pushy.
played behind me: cries of her, girls, keep at her!” Understandable, all. But
"Brace-let!" swirling with compared with visits to Ho Chi
screams of "No, leave me And then they break huddle—3 Minh City and New Delhi and
alone." Sucking sounds and wandering that way, 4 toward Arusha, Tanzania, I found the
bags rustling mixed together the bus stop, 2 off to run women were harmless. Always
with shouts of "I said I don't interference, maybe 2 more smiling, they’d go away after a
want any!" And the whispers hanging back to gauge the few minutes. Or if you walked
of "Ganja?" interspersed with assault and plan their next away, there’d be no problem.
queries of "Hmmm, how much attack. The safari touts in Tanzania
did you say?" and the small kids in Saigon can
My second day brought always keep up with you—no
I stayed at the Muang Sing breakfast with Aussies Neil and matter how fast you walk or
Guest House. Beds were comfy Julia at the Tailu Guest House run. But these ladies didn’t
enough, but I never did find a and Restaurant, but it also have it in them. Cradling a kid
light switch in my room. Not brought something new to the or two, sporting 3 or 4 sacks of
much need, I guess, when the repertoire of the Akha women. drugs (and bracelets)—they just
whole town together goes dark They surrounded our table—no don’t have the gas to keep up
at the same time each night. escaping, at least not until we if you keep on walking.
Sure, we had light when needed, finish our omelets. First came
as it kicked on around 6:24pm the bracelet offers. No, no, Of course, no reason to run if
and off around 8:57pm. It was no—not interested. Next, the you're there to talk business:
a good thing I didn’t want to be silent soliciting of drugs. Not opium, ganja, or bracelets. Or
fast asleep during those hours, today, no thank you. Third even a massage.
though I suppose the mosquito time's the charm, the ladies
would have kept out a bit of thought, and tossed their new Ryan Forsythe was born in
the bright fluorescent light. ammo. Cleveland, and once climbed a hill
in a Malaysian rainforest with the
For under $3/night, I couldn’t
then-Miss India, but can now be
complain much. "Massage?" found in California, with his wife
Kaci, son Rory, and school bus,
My room 209 overlooked the Before Julia could respond, Lola. For two years, he wrote
main street, so I was able to there was a hilltribe woman "Traveling Light" for the Oberlin
safely observe the ladies in all rubbing each shoulder, pulling News-Tribune, a light-hearted
their splendor. Every now and her hands this way and that, column focusing on budget travel.
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 12
Cobra Show Thailand (The Floating Market)
By Jessica Titlebaum
coconut 10 baht, they say I feel like I am on a ride at Disney World,
sun beating down on my shoulders I say to Mary next to me
glare in my sunglasses fake bags like Louis’ are sold alongside spices
on paddle boats in the canal like galangale and chili pepper
Thais eating fried noodle soup out of blue
dishes I see a Buddha image I would like for my living
with chopsticks, floating along room wall
a traffic jam but it would be too hard to carry home
sun still shining off the gold rim of my glasses the woman in front of me in a yellow tank top
a French man in white pants buys a mango buys a Mango for 40 baht
and peels it for his girlfriend its sticky and sweet and when offered to me
slides from my fingers and stains my jeans.
a local holds an umbrella over her head
an Israeli couple passes in the boat next to us
and in this heat she still wears a hair wig
Beyond Culture
Tanduay and Cokes
By Brenda Lee Intengan
“But I have a tan now! I’ve
On my eighth night in Moal been here for two weeks! You “Your mother is from Sogod?”
Boal, I found myself in the are crazy.”
Chili Bar, playing pool and “Yes. When we were children,
drinking San Miguels with a “Where are you from?” my brothers and my sister and I
friend I had met on the dive would come here during our
boat that afternoon, a law “I was born in Chicago. But summer vacation. For us,
student from Boston who my parents are both Cebuano. summer vacation is during June,
studied in Hong Kong for the Not only are they both July and August- not April to
semester. He was vacationing filipino, but they are both from June like here. So we would be
in the Philippines for a quick Cebu. My father is from in town for the fiesta in Sogod
break, before heading to Sierra Balamban, my mother is from in July. I would meet all of our
Leone to do legal defense for Sogod.” I had had this cousins and we would all sleep
war criminals on behalf of the conversation with almost every on the floor in my
U.N. A young filipino with filipino stranger that I had met grandfather’s house.”
short hair and high cheekbones since I flew into Cebu. “So I
in a white tank top sauntered really, truly, I am a filipina.” “My mother is from Sogod
over and introduced himself. too! She is from the
I waited for this information to mountains just outside Sogod!
“I heard you are a filipina. register as I leaned over to aim What is your last name?”
When I look at you, I can’t my cue.
believe it,” he declared “My last name is Intengan.
cheekily. “But you don’t speak Bisaya?” My mother’s last name is
Comendador.” I loved saying
“Oh really. Do I not look like “My parents never taught me. her name, it sounds so Spanish
a filipina?” They wanted us to master the and authoritative.
English language. I’m learning “Comendador. I will tell my
“No, you look Japanese.” Cebuano now though, gamay mother. Maybe tomorrow you
lang.” can meet her? We will have a
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 13
barbecue in the afternoon. You lechon on special occasions. A Noir or a Sancerre instead of
should come and meet my lot of my closest girlfriends Tanduay and Cokes.
mother. I will tell her all about happen to be filipinas- maybe
you tonight. Where are you we just understand each other’s “Huh?”
staying? How long will you be lives better. We get together
here?” all the time and eat.” “Yeah. Don’t ask. It's girl
“Hey man, I think it’s a little stuff. Anyhow, I know I did
too soon to meet your mother. “You like filipino food?” not grow up here, but my
I am diving in the afternoon, I parents are very filipino. I was
have no time for partying. We “Of course I do! It is raised the same way you were.”
are probably related anyways.” comforting to me. Last month
I was in Germany and I met a “What do you mean?”
“Probably. So what’s it like in filipina who cooked calderata
Chicago? Did you ever meet for us, and it was so nice to eat "Did you ever have to kneel in
Michael Jordan?” filipino food in a foreign the corner and face the wall
country. I felt more when you were bad?"
“No, but this girl I know, a comfortable, immediately. My
filipina, claims to have dated girlfriends and I do all the same His eyes grew large, and he
Scottie Pippen. Chicago is things that I do with the girls stood up and pointed at me.
very cold. I practically did not that I’ve met here on "You are a maldita! You are
see the sun for fourteen Panagsama Beach. We eat- the maldita of the family!!!
months! I’m exaggerating, but pancit, palabok, adobo, Yes, yes, I had to do that! I
last year the weather never got everything.” even had to hold a glass of
warmer than 85 degrees- I water in each hand!"
mean 25 degrees. In the “What else?”
wintertime it gets very cold. He stretched out his arms like
You have to wear a sweater, a “We talk... about most of the he was being crucified, palms up
big coat, gloves, a hat, a scarf, same things I talk about with and eyes rolled to the ceiling.
long pants, socks and boots just the girls I know from here.”
to go outside to get a "Whatever. I had to kneel on
newspaper. The snow can be as “Like what?” a pilke of uncooked rice!", I
high as your knee. Girls pay 20 trumped.
dollars to lie in tanning beds, I blushed. “Umm... we talk
with long strong lights lining about boys and astrology.” "Did your father chase you
the inside, and they close around and spank you with his
themselves in it just like a Last night at the Lipay Lipay belt?", he asked.
coffin to burn their skin bar on the beach, I attended a
because there is no sun. That’s one year anniversary party, at "Oh man, that happened all the
why I am so pale. It’s not which I sat with four filipinas time."
good for a filipina to be in the for dinner. After the initial
cold.” questions about where I had "See, I knew you were the
come from, a girl named Sally maldita of your family."
His eyes grew large with casually asked me what my
wonder, and the law student set zodiac sign was. I was in The word maldita used to make
another beer in front of me and familiar territory. The next me wince. My mother would
lit me cigarette. I nodded my hour was a flooded with say it in fury, in a long, slow
thanks. astrological analysis, which we accusatory tone with her jaw
applied to the various love jutted out. "Maal-diii-taaa." It
“Are there other filipinos in interests in our lives and our always came at the moment
Chicago?” own personal self- that I got caught doing
investigations. Oddly enough, something bad. I thought that
“ There are a lot of filipinos had I been in Chicago that it sounded like a curse, and
there. I grew up with many evening, I probably would have hearing the word had always
filipino friends who were born found myself doing the exact made me flinch.
there just like me. We eat same thing with my close
filipino food, we have parties girlfriends, except we would The week before, however, I
on the weekend and order a big have been drinking a Pinot chanced upon a little boutique
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 14
that had the word Maldita lifted off my shoulders. Before wits about me. I do a better job
written across its entrance in I left the shop, I bought two at that than any of my male
the mall. It sold clothes for tank tops that had Maldita relatives can. When we go out,
young women, and featured an sassily emblazoned across the I have to babysit them."
ad with a girl proudly sporting back.
the word across her t-shirt. I He backed away and looked at
walked in. "If I wasn't the maldita of the me from across the pool table.
family, do you think that I We were evenly matched.
"What does Maldita mean?" I could be staying here alone?
asked the girl at the counter. My mother would die if she "Can I buy you a drink?" I
knew I was hours away from asked. I went and got another
"A bad girl." my family in Cebu City, scuba round of San Miguels without
diving everyday, and staying waiting for his reply.
"My mom used to call me that out until the early morning
all the time. Both of my playing pool, singing videoke "Salud. To being Cebuanos and
parents are from Cebu. So, its and drinking beer with cute malditos."
bad, like an evil girl?" boys from all over the world!
She wouldn't even let me sleep Brenda Lee Intengan was born and
"Its not bad like that. More over at anyone's house until raised in Chicago, and spent the
like... a rebellious girl." the day I left for college! And summers of her youth on Mactan
when we came to Cebu when I Island in the Philippines. The
island is famous for the legendary
"Not like a curse then?" was a kid, she wouldn't let us go
battle in which the local chieftan
anywhere without a driver or a Lapu Lapu defeated Ferdinand
"No, like you just do whatever nanny." He considered this. Magellan in hand to hand combat
you want. Like you have when he led a Spanish invasion in
attitude, or you are free." "You should have a brother, or 1521. She resides in Chicago,
a cousin with you." where she skateboards, dances to
I could practically feel the house music, practices the filipino
gears turning in my head as "But I know that I can defend martial art of Eskrima, and writes
many, many gaps of myself. Being a maldita, I have about the chaos and irony of her
misunderstanding filled, and for found myself in many daily life and existence.
some strange reason the weight situations where I have to look
of many years of guilt were out for myself and keep my
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 15
Beyond the Destination
Hitchhiking the World
By David King
technique of approaching wanna’ make sure you don’t
“You’re enormous,” begins a people at gas stations when need anything.”
message of admiration on traveling over land and
Ludovic Hubler’s Web site. It’s soliciting rides on boats to By the same token, he has
just one of over 300 such cross water. Other modes of found hitchhiking in the U.S.
postings from people around transportation have included to be more difficult than in
the world who have written to plane, snowmobile, donkey, other countries. He attributes
express praise and support for and dromedary. this to what he sees as “a
Hubler and his journey. culture of fear and
Before reaching the United individualism more important
While the 28-year-old States last October, Hubler than Latin America or Africa.”
Frenchman from the city of touched 27 countries across Once, for example, he found
Strasbourg may not be Europe, Africa, and South himself waiting next to a road
enormous himself, many America. (He decided to travel under a strong rain for a long
consider his trip to be. On west, because westward winds time, watching as hundreds of
January 1, 2003, Hubler set off make sailing easier in that cars passed by. Another time, a
from France to hitchhike direction.) He has a budget of police officer in Florida, where
around the world, a journey he about ten dollars a day, hitchhiking is illegal, offered
expects to complete by 2008. carrying most of his belongings him the choice of paying for a
between two backpacks and taxi or going to jail— both of
Yes, around the world. washing his clothes every eight which Hubler narrowly escaped
or nine days. To fund his trip, when a driver who overheard
Speaking at a gathering of he has obtained money from the conversation offered to
French enthusiasts in Chicago, sponsors and written articles drive him. (When that same
Hubler recounts his often-told for local newspapers in France, driver let him off, Hubler found
story. When he was eight or in addition to using his personal himself approached by the
nine years old, he would look at savings. He has no phone but police again. Only this time,
maps and think to himself that does carry international the officers were sympathetic
he’d some day travel the world. medical insurance. and helped him to find another
When he reached his late teens, vehicle.) On still another
his parents let him hitchhike; The reactions in the U.S. to occasion, one driver did not
he began in Strasbourg and then Hubler as a Frenchman have pick up Hubler because the man
branched out in his region, to been diverse. “Some people wasn’t going in his direction—
other parts of France, and love my country,” he remarks, but did invite Hubler to
eventually to other countries in “and some others hate it.” One Thanksgiving dinner.
Europe. He would seek out man refused to pick him up
drivers at gas stations, a tactic because Hubler was French; five Over the course of his journey,
that allowed him to choose minutes later, another told him he has ridden with people who
someone with whom he felt he wished that the U.S. and were drunk, who drove 150
comfortable. France had a better miles per hour, or— on one
relationship— and was all too occasion— who had a gun in
Hubler began his trek around happy to let the Frenchman the dash (Hubler was fine with
the world with one restriction: ride. All in all, Hubler generally that, so long as the driver
he wouldn’t spend any money has been well-received in this didn’t use it on him). In
to travel from place to place. country, he says, especially by Columbia, he passed through
(He would, however, pay to families. “ They really want the so-called “red zone,” a
travel within a city once you to feel at home,” he dangerous area inhabited by
there.) Over the past nearly observes of many families. guerillas. Throughout it all,
three years, he has lived a “ They want you to get the Hubler, who is about 6 feet 2
nomadic life, mostly using the Coke in the fridge any time and
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 16
inches tall, says he’s never Hubler estimates that 80 He recognizes an inherent
been threatened. million people have heard of danger in hitchhiking but
his trip. He has been nonetheless sees it as an
He believes it’s important to interviewed numerous times by effective way to get to know
share his experiences with the media, including an people across social and
others, and to that end, he appearance on Programa do Jô, cultural backgrounds. As for
speaks at schools, universities, the most widely-viewed this trip, one of his greatest
Alliance Françaises, and other Portuguese-language talk show. satisfactions has been seeing
places and occasionally posts One of the most important with his own eyes that “the
writings to his Web site, audiences to him, however, has vast majority of people in the
www.ludovichubler.com. Recent been a group of some 30 cancer world are honest and nice.”
entries have included musings patients at a Strasbourg
on the Quebecois’ hospital to whom he acts as a Hubler, who received a Master
protectiveness of the French mentor. He writes to the of Science in Management
language, the insularity of the patients, aged 15 to 18, about from the Strasbourg Business
Amish community, and the the places he visits, and they, School three years ago, is
diversity of New York City. He in turn, use his writings— and considering working some day
also sends out an E-mail webcam appearances— to study for the United Nations or to
newsletter— which friends subjects such as geography, strengthen ties between the
translate for him into English history, and math. European Union and Latin
and Spanish— to people on his America. But all that is for
mailing list every six to eight “ The more you travel, the later. At last check, Ludovic
weeks. “If I would meet my more you switch […] from a Hubler was in New Zealand. He
parents today,” he says half- ‘local thinker to a ‘global had some 25 countries left to
jokingly, “I wouldn’t have that thinker,’ and you start go.
much to tell them.” considering all the world around
you,” says Hubler, who speaks David King is a freelance writer in
confidently and has a big smile. Chicago. He can be reached at:
dkgrenoble@yahoo.fr
Travele r’ s Se cret
Shopping Secret: Tchibo
By Kate Baggot
women’s winter underwear, and his and her
Tchibo is the shopping adventure to discover pyjama sets. Another week featured horseback
on your visit to Germany. A chain of “coffee” riding gear for young girls and children’s
stores found across the country, several different raincoats, rubber boots and hats.
blends of freshly ground coffee can be purchased
every business day. But coffee, as a German radio The only problem is that, on the streets of
comedy recently put it, is quickly becoming an Germany, everyone recognises every Tchibo
after thought. “Boss, this lady wants to buy purchase. Style and distinction come through
some coffee. We don’t sell coffee here, do we?” combining the goods with more individual pieces
asked the comic salesgirl. of clothing and accessories. Luckily, no one is
likely to recognise your purchases at home.
“Every week is a new world,” goes the Tchibo
slogan, and every Tuesday shopoholics across And, if you have to find a gift for that
Germany crowd window displays to see what quintessential difficult person to buy for, there’s
wonders that world has to offer for the next always coffee.
seven days. Recent offerings included cell phone
packages placed beside the most comfortable
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 17
Place & Time
Ghost Month in Hong Kong
By Nicole Trilivas
mooncake if she gets me to
A typhoon cloaked Hong Lantau Island safely. Between I pounce up the stairs – very
Kong in a dense fog. The air, the typhoon and the ghosts un-monk like – but the
saturated and weighty, hugged I’m beginning to feel ganged up Nepalese chanting, like incense
my clothes like a scared child. on. smoke spiraling upward from
It was, after all, ghost month the monastery below, fuels me.
(August), and I had to tread Lantau is covered in a thicket I begin to see the Buddha’s
carefully as spirits could be of green. The abundance of silhouette above the steep,
freely roaming the eerie forest on Lantau resulted in the never-ending stairs in front of
landscape. island being called the “lungs of me.
Hong Kong.” Heavy, opaque
Hong Kong seemed hushed with mist lounged ominously The great bronze Tian Tan
superstition. The smell of throughout its precipitous Buddha sits 85 feet high above
incense hung thick in the air, peaks like a bad crowd. If these Po Lin. Hand-raised, and ear
and even restaurants put out are Hong Kong’s lungs it looks lobes sagging; he’s both
extra place settings in the like she’s a smoker. formidable and subdued.
middle of their tables for any Although initially disheartened
lurking spirits. Always the The mysterious ambience is by the austere weather, the
considerate traveler, I also tried provoking. I resolve to put my overcast backdrop makes the
to be accommodating- it’s American tourist-mentality on scene ethereal, and I slip with
considered dangerous to travel pause. I cannot be troubled to ease back into tourist mode
during ghost month and the last get the perfect picture, and I rapidly firing my camera, and
thing I needed was a vaporous cannot waste time looking plunging back into my
ghost chasing away my luck. down at a guidebook with all guidebook.
this haunting beauty
The tradition through osmosis surrounding me. The restless spirits scatter and
was seeping into me, I thought, the fog parts as I descend
as my ferry undulated in the I am a religious wanderer. This towards the Nepalese chanting.
spooky, gray waters of the is my pilgrimage. I am the The Tian Tan Buddha’s behind
South China Sea. I recalled Tin penitent monk looking for the me, watching my back.
Hau, the Taoist goddess of the Tian Tan Buddha. I climb the
sea I had read about in the steps in Po Lin Monastery. Nicole Trilivas is a 2005 graduate
Hotel’s tourist attractions The heavens are unforgiving, of Boston University's College of
book. Hong Kong, reliant on and shower me. Good thing Communications. She is currently
trade and encased by salty I’ve decided to stop being a working in advertising in New York
water, is scattered with temples tourist because something like City, as well as pursuing a career in
and shrines devoted to Tin rain would have really gotten freelance writing. Nicole can be
Hau- protector of seafarers. I me down, but as an unruffled reached at: ntrilivas@gmail.com
think of her now, and silently monk enveloped in spirituality,
promise her half of my I am unfazed!
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 18
Traveler’s Wisdom
Get Lost!
By Kathleen M. Wooton, M.D.
experience as you enlist the Montezuma in your travels.
Someone has just told you to help of the natives to help find Brushing up on your Spanish
get lost. This is as an insult to your way home. And the wouldn’t hurt either, just in
the world at large. It’s a not so beauty is, it takes so very little case you succeed in angering
polite request for you to make effort to do it well. If you Montezuma and you need to
an immediate change in venue, believe variety is the spice of quickly find the loo.
a statement that one person’s life, embracing the lost lifestyle
view of the world is a lot better will spice up your life To wholeheartedly get lost,
without you in it, a fervent considerably. you need to think globally. To
wish for your instant totally and royally lose
teleportation to anywhere You can start on your road to yourself in a place where you
other than where you are now. adventure by taking a shortcut don’t speak the language is the
It is, in essence, the ultimate to the grocery store - a.k.a. ultimate journey into the Lost
“beam him up, Scotty” getting lost close to home. Realms. Prior to doing this,
moment. With any luck, soon you’ll see you must be sure you’ve
new neighborhoods, meet new memorized “please direct me
I just don’t see it that way. people, and find cool places to to the American Embassy” in
Getting lost is so much more shop. It’s a mini-vacation several different languages (or,
than that, and can be a heck of that is doubly delightful for its if you’re concerned about anti-
a lot of fun. To me, “Get sheer spontaneity. American sentiment, ask for
Lost” is an invitation to Unfortunately, you’ll have to the Canadian Embassy and
explore a brave new world, a enjoy it while you can, for you make sure you can sing the first
fascinating way to travel the may not pass that way again. two verses of “Oh, Canada” by
globe and meet new people. Getting lost as recreation is an heart), or you may find
It’s a challenge, a dare, an art form, but getting lost in the yourself in the middle of a
alternative to the safe and the same place twice takes years of messy international incident.
mundane. It’s a spontaneous practice. Remember, there is no clever
journey into the unknown, and "My wrong turn landed me in a
it is as simple as making one A step up on the lost-o-meter foreign jail and all I got was
wrong turn. I do it all the time. is the family vacation. Buy a this lousy T-shirt" top which
map, rent an RV, pack up your you can sport after such an
Get lost and see the world - family and gather your ordeal.
that’s been my experience thus passports, it’s time to follow
far. I highly recommend it - I the open road. It’s loads of The next time someone tells
think the world be a much fun, and you may even get to you to get lost, be sure to
happier place if people got lost see Canada or Mexico without thank him or her and do just
more often. The joys of even trying (hence, the that. Get lost. See the world.
discovery and meeting new passports). Be sure to take You never know where you’ll
people more than compensate along a plentiful supply of touch down.
for the temporary bottled water and Pepto-
embarrassment you’ll Bismol, just in case you anger
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 19
World Foods
Schnitzel International
By Kate Baggot
We all know Weiner Schnitzel sautéed in butter from around the world. Care for some Schnitzel
Griechischerart? It comes dressed in a Greek-
or deep-fried, Jaeger Schnitzel in its deep brown
style combination of tomato sauce, tomatoes,
huntsman’s gravy, or maybe even
black olives and feta. Or, if you feel like
PilzenSchnitzel covered in mushroom sauce. But
something from home, try the Bonanza
do you know Schnitzel Mafioso or Hawiian
Schnitzel covered in chilli and grated American
Schnitzel? As the world grows smaller the
cheese. Is it surprising that our local, Schnitzel
number of ways Germans enjoy their schnitzel is
Express, does a sideline in pizza?
increasing. Our local take-out and delivery place
offers dozens of options inspired by cuisines
True Traveler
Big (Sur)Prise!
By Janice Arenofsky
I hate surprises — especially According to Mr. Park Ranger, scrambled our feet. We trudged
we had a choice of two trails. up earth-packed, dusty inclines,
ones caused by careless
One led through dense tripped over hidden roots and
communication.
underbrush and oaks to a large staggered downhill, sliding to
eucalyptus grove that sheltered shaky and slippery stops. Up,
Take Big Sur in California.
hordes of migrating monarch down, up, down. If this was a
From the time the forest
butterflies. The other route nature walk, I was Martha
ranger at Andrew Molera
bypassed the winged beauties, Stewart!
State Park instructed me to
blazing a scenic path to the
"have a good day," I sensed I
beach. In an effort to interact with
was on shaky ground--no, it
the environment as well as
wasn't an earthquake. It felt
We chose Door Number One. keep up our morale, we chatted
more like a highway traffic sign
about the hotel naturalist’s
warning, "Danger Ahead.
For the record, I have nothing orientation spiel on Big Sur and
Faulty Language."
whatsoever against exercise or, its natural beauty and pristine
for that matter, rocks, dirt and surroundings. Lately, though, a
I could tell the Keeper of the
creepy-crawlies. But people terrorist had invaded its shores,
Conifers was verbally
employing phrases like “nature our guide told us. The
challenged from the way he
walk,” when what they really California beetle was destroying
ticked off (from memory) the
mean is a three-mile HIKE hundreds of Big Sur's trees,
park rules: Don't litter; don't
with all the trimmings, causing a disease our local bio-
bring domestic animals; don't
including poison ivy, pesky expert called “Sudden Oak
touch the vegetation; don't
wildlife and pulled muscles, Death.”
squeeze the Charmin. The list
need to carry pocket
went on and on. This was
dictionaries—at all times. "What a ridiculous name," I
followed by an educational
said to my husband as we
overview of the flora and fauna
We suffered scrubby shrubs that trudged through yet another
we could expect to see during
scratched our ankles, low, rain-starved copse. "All I can
our "nature walk."
overhanging branches that picture is a giant ICU forest
swatted our heads and narrow, with dying trees hooked up to
rock-protruding passages that
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 20
dozens of moss-covered “hundreds” the concierge coronary for 50 feathery bugs?
oxygen tanks." promised. A case of mistaken “I hope they really, really,
hyperbole?! Had our resident really want to see those
My husband snickered. "Maybe travel host miscommunicated? butterflies,” I said to a
that's the real reason why Were we being led down the companion.
Medicare is tanking." garden path of overstatement
"Yup," I joked back. "They and exaggeration? When we finally stumbled into
turned over every leaf looking We still held out hope, the parking lot and crawled
for that name. Even “Beetle- however, for Vista Point at the into our roasty-toasty rental
Mania” would have been end of the trail. Our travel car, I could barely breathe,
better.” agent had touted the natural much less speak. “When does
beauty of precipitous cliffs and the fun begin?” I mouthed.
By now, we were yuking it up clear, shining ocean water, but
big time--and sweating one glance told us she “After tomorrow’s 'leisurely
profusely. Had it not been for misspoke. We gawked as a stroll' to the waterfalls,” my
our overpowering desire to see truckload of teens with ghetto companion hissed back. “At
the much heralded butterflies, blasters noisily waded across a least that’s what the brochure
we might have pulled up a few crystal clear inlet connecting us says.”
rocks, rested our derrières and to a strip of sandy beach. The
swapped one-liners. kids' high-pitched hollering Leisurely stroll? Uh oh!
inspired us to head back to base
“We’re getting closer to the camp, ASAP. Can you say rock climbing?
butterflies,” my companion
said excitedly. “Are you ready On the way, we noticed other Janice Arenofsky is a Scottsdale,
for the Monarchs of Molera?” nature worshippers. I briefly Arizona-based freelance writer who
considered warning one has written essays, features and
Snapping our heads to and fro, morbidly obese couple of the profiles for many national venues,
including Newsweek,
we risked whiplash, watching exhaustion that awaited them.
Womenswallst.com, VFW
the colorful creatures slip in But how do you tell Southern Magazine, and Modern Maturity.
and out of the leafy branches. California’s poster pair for
Minutes later, we had counted conspicuous consumption
50 butterflies—not the (literally) that they’re risking a
Upon The Charming
By Jessica Titlebaum
was a jewelry boutique on Le Thanh Ton since they knew nothing of Visa and Mastercard
in District 2 of Ho Chi Mihn I hesitantly placed the ring back on the display
that I stumbled upon while looking for an ATM promising myself that I would return after
one evening at the end of July getting cash
beautiful gems set in silver and gold
fashionable and chic I saw my reflection in the similar to Venice, Saigon has little alley ways
window twists and turns in the road to get a foreigner
lost beyond recognition
I found a blue ring surrounded by carved flowers and it seemed that Uncle Ho Chi Mihn himself
an accessory almost as identifying as the Carrie didn’t want me to return to 56 Le Thanh Ton
Bradshaw necklace for I searched but never found my way back
she misplaces in Paris at the end of the season
light sparkled and shined off the diagonal surface in a taxi and days later, on my way to the
and I could almost see the crystal waters of my airport
trip we passed the small boutique I had been in before
on the palm of my hand when I slipped it on I stopped the driver and ran to buy my ring
a priceless purchase that only cost $6
and no time on the meter.
www.journeybeyondtravel.com Jan/Feb Journey Beyond Travel Magazine © 2006 21
