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TRAVEL - blogs, stories, photo essays, video & art
Archives
TRAVEL - blogs, stories, photo essays, video & art
Al Qasr has a desert oasis fairytale feel to it. Built in the 12th century in an Islamic style on the ruins of a Roman settlement, it sits amid the Dakhla Oasis in Western Egypt.
At the rebel FMLN mountain base of Perquin, a ex-guerrilla tells me his experience of the Salvadoran Civil War.
History spliced with satire - contemporary silliness - makes this take on Timbuktu, different.
"Last week, a guest was kidnapped," said the guy at hotel reception... Impressions of traveling around Lebanon in January 2024 during the Gaza War.
The Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove is an ancient forest dedicated to Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility.
The driver sucked his cigarette, eyes wide, head darting around, hoping that we wouldn't be stopped... Traveling conflicted Nagorno-Karabakh in 2011.
Traveling Niger to the old trading town of Zinder on the southern edge of the Sahara / Sahel as I turn 25.
Exploring the ancient megaliths of Bada Valley at Lore Lindu, whose origins remain a mystery. Yet, their styling is similar to ancient relics in Laos and Colombia.
Rostov Veliky is a fairytale beauty of domed churches and castle towers near a lake about 200 kilometers from Moscow.
Vietnam in 1994 having an entire beach (Sa Huynh) to ourselves to drink beer all day and watch the waves...
Back in June 1994, the temples of Angkor were deserted and quiet as the Cambodian civil war continued...
It stole the lives of about 8 million indigenous Indian and African slaves at "The Mountain That Eats Men" in the Spanish colonial town of Potosi in modern Bolivia.
They often wore no clothes - staying naked, but smothered in seal oil to survive in the cold southern tip of South America.
Don't follow your David Attenborough urges on Komodo Island... or else. Also, travel advice to Komodo Island in 2023.
Journeying 38 hours by ferry thru "The Land of Fire" to "the world's southern-most city" of Puerto Williams.
Imagining the world from a window in China, amid the Pandemic Blues of late 2022. Ai art by MRP & Midjourney.
Memories of backpacking around Syria, talking my way into Syria by getting a visa on the border, exploring ancient sights while hitchhiking the desert, and visiting a restricted military zone on the Israeli border, and more.
Journeys of life: Adventures into the world of surreal Ai art - inspired by my global travels.
Making a prayer at the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Careful what you wish for...
Surreal account of Cambodia in 1994, visiting the killing fields and S-21 prison when the Khmer Rouge insurgency was raging and Pol Pot was still alive.
The bleak, high-altitude deserts of Tibetan Sichuan get surreal around Haizishan with a landscape of boulders and small lakes against distant mountains.
New social comment graphic art for 2022.
Sometimes we just find plain-weird places to camp - such is the flow of van life in China.
Watching the crazy antics of whales, sea elephants and penguins in Patagonia at Valdes Peninsula, Argentina.
On an isolated road in southern Armenia - close to the Iranian border, I attempted to hitchhike from Meghri to Kapan.
Across a blistering Saharan summer, I traveled across the Adrar Plateau of northern Mauritania.
In the mountains of Vietnam, I stay with a Hmong family living an ancient lifestyle (barely touched by the modern world in 1994), which included the accepted use of opium.
Taking the Korea DMZ tour in Panmunjom on the tensest border in the world, facing North Korea.
Djenne is famous for its surreal mud mosque that dominates this ancient trading town, once an important stop on the Trans-Saharan route and today's Monday Market is also a must-see.
While the world saw it on TV, I was there in Cox's Bazar amid a deadly cyclone that devastated coastal Bangladesh in 1991, killing 138,000 people.
Traveling Syria in 1989, encountering classic Islamic hospitality on a bungled hiking trip to the desert ruins of Halabiye on the Euphrates River.
The 'Final Cut' of the Valli car advertisement filmed in the Litang region of Tibetan Sichuan by a Shanghai film agency.
A letter home from my time in Ainaro in the mountains of East Timor, living with a local family and working for the United Nations in 2000.
Whirlwind love craziness amid the ancient Sun + Moon Pyramids of Teotihuacan in Mexico.
Amid the northern mountains of Ethiopia the historic capital of castles at Gondar was once known as the "African Camelot".
On the edge of the Sahara in Algeria, five ancient fortified villages in the M'zab Valley preserve a unique Islamic culture lasting more than 1000 years.
Encountering a traffic accident in Laos gets me thinking about death and near accidents in West Africa.
An offer of a new car for 3 months to do a paid road trip - to Tibet - happens, and then it involves a film crew! What next?
Our van life across China leads us to be invited to an all-expenses-paid trip to the Valli car launch event in the mountains of Morganshan.
Road-tested travel gear list with reasons why+ what to take on a 4 season backpacking trip traveling Africa, Asia, Latin America; based on my 30 years of backpacking.
Traveling across Eritrea in 1995 it seemed like a land of peace and hope. People were enthusiastic about the new beginning after their war of liberation.
Traveling the capital of Ashgabat, with all the security and surreal architecture, I understand why Turkmenistan is dubbed - “The North Korea of Central Asia”
Road-tested money safety travel tips for carrying cash + credit cards, using ATMs, the blackmarket, and feeling safer while traveling Africa, Asia, Latin America.
Kang village climbs the mountain in a stack of earth walls, balconies and roofs and this settlement, in northeast Iran, has been inhabited for over 3000 years.
Travel advice + inspiration for horse trekking in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to the high altitude Ala Kul Lake.
Fake police travel scam in Nairobi, Kenya. But were they fake police or corrupt cops? Read this crazy story and decide for yourself.
Visiting the Mother Russia statue at Stalingrad war memorial, site of one of the longest and most brutal battles in modern history, which saw Nazi Germany defeated.
Van camping amid the peace and tranquility of the Pu-erh tea plantations in Xishuangbanna in China's southern Yunnan province.
Hiking in northern Laos to stay in an Akha Hill-Tribe village near the Chinese border.
Dominating the plain of Saqqara is King Djoser's step pyramid. It's a place you can ponder the ancient past in silence and get away from excessive tourism.
Exploring the desert mountains of Gansu and meeting Yugur nomads while van camping a few days at a waterhole used by their flocks of sheep. In this wilderness, I celebrated my 54th birthday.
Black & White photography featuring people in their environment. Going for a retro printed paper look, evoking texture, fades, softened images.
An overnight stay at a high mountain pass on the Tibetan Plateau reveals a stark, monochromatic landscape the next morning.
An ancient city lured us – but the isolation seized us. Exploring Ganjia as winter approaches. From an ancient fortress and snow mountains to a living goddess temple and a sacred Tibetan cave.
Looking at the women of Minab Market reveals the ancient trading routes that once connected southern Iran with the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, and beyond.
Lazy beach days are always good. Some pictures and advice for enjoying 4K Beach on Koh Rong Island - away from the party scene.
In 400-year-old Yongtai Ancient city - a ruined frontier fort on the Silk Road - remains a village of soldier-descendants, herding goats and sheep amid the arid surrounds of this turtle shaped fortress.
Some days on the road travel takes a nauseous turn. My rant about dumb tourists and mass tourism in Cusco, Peru in 2002.
To escape slave-grabbing raids by the neighboring Benin kingdom in the 17th century, the people of Tamberma Valley built these fortified houses.
Staying at the cave house village of Lijiashan during winter 2011 and a revisit there in summer 2020.
A series of montage photo-art that I began while traveling in Ethiopia during 2013, but never finished.
The arduous journeys of traveling or rather, paid hitchhiking by truck across Northern Kenya from Ethiopia - Moyale to Marsabit in Kenya. My second time!
This collection represents my early artwork, created in India in 2004 and in Cambodia during 2005-06.
The freedom, the beauty and the irony of van-traveling the mountains of Yunnan in China as the world stays locked-down with the coronavirus. But there's still a few issues ...
Traveling to the open-pit diamond mines of northern Sierra Leone, once land of civil war, brutal warlords, and "Blood Diamonds".
Following the gorgeous Swahili Coast of Kenya, visiting beaches and islands, ancient Islamic ruins and Portuguese forts. Plus encounters with naughty monkeys.
First impressions of traveling in Tehran - Iran, in 1990. Racing across the city in a taxi amid chaotic streets that seemed asking for accidents every minute.
Part #2 of story heading into outer Indonesia to Papua in search of my GF -Erica's, long lost father that she hadn't seen for 30 years.
Back in 1989 ... I simply walked into the entrance of Petra, Jordan, paid my fee, and wandered in with a sleeping bag under arm.
Hathor is a goddess of many things within the ancient Egyptian story. To visit this amazingly preserved temple at Dendara, alone, is wondrous.
I'm no diver and not much of a swimmer - but if you're like me, have courage and follow this advice for sately snorkeling the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt.
Visiting the ancient stone towers of Mestia - lost amid mid-winter snow, drinking with locals, surrounded by the high peaks of the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia.
Crossing the deserts of Baluchistan in western Pakistan is a wild adventure, encountering nomadic tribesmen amid desolate spaces.
A volcanic eruption left haunting ruins of human occupation at Whalers' Bay on Deception Island in Antarctica.
Traveling the Silk Road trade route thru China's Gansu province on a long train journey from Lanzhou to Jiayuguan Fort + the Thousand Buddha Caves.
The colorful, Maya San Francisco de Asis Festival in Guatemala is held over a period of days in early October.
SUBSCRIBE TO READ: Get my crazed travel account wrapped within the history + culture of Yemen.
One of the best places to explore "The Grand Canyon of Guinea" is from the village of Doucki, with guide, Hassan Bah.
Ulisa Bay on Lakoma Island in Lake Malawi is a great rest stop - especially if you're traveling the long Cairo to Cape Town overland trip.
Travels in Eritrea - 1995. Wandering around the barren surrounds of Matara, meeting astonished and friendly locals and checking out ancient Axumite ruins.
Meet Daouda Diabate - a Baye Fall singer/songwriter from Senegal, who lives in an old military bunker on Goree Island offshore of Dakar.
Standing on a crag the ancient tower houses of Al Hajjarah and the surrounding Haraz mountains evoke an Arabian Nights mystique.
Traveling to a small town in Saddam's Iraq seemed a quiet and friendly experience - until a children's parade marched down the main street and trouble found me.
The Museum of World Culture – in Gothenburg, Sweden – purchased 4 images from me and they're part of an exhibition called DESTINATION X.
Last night I dreamed a disturbing dream. And that nightmare seemed real the next morning - walking the streets of Kontum in Vietnam.
Within the Kaluts region, you could be forgiven for wondering if you've stumbled into a lost city - as miles of eroded sand towers & blocks stick out of the desert.
Living on high mountain slopes, the Chachapoyas were known as the cloud people of Peru. And at the center of their world, the mighty ruins of Kuelap.
From van-camping over a lake and mountain panorama in Yunnan, to being sent to a quarantine area during the initial Coronavirus outbreak in China.
Traveling to the amazing wind-sculpted formations for an overnight stay in the White Desert of Egypt is best done from Bawiti (Bahariya oasis), rather than in Cairo.
Sometimes travel is not always that great. Musings at the end of a trip, broke and confused, amid the woes of an awful hostel dorm.
Monumental stone ruins are rare in southern Africa. Yet in the highlands of Zimbabwe, these awe-inspiring ruins rival the Inca sites of Peru.
If you're looking for a ragged, end-of-the-earth place - go to Berbera. This old Red Sea port has dusty streets, crumbling architecture & wrecked ships.
To help people decide whether they're a comfortable drone, a freak in the system or a burden to society, I've made a cheeky check-list So now, you can learn if you're a Freedom Junkie.
Visiting the Kurdish village of Palangan, its houses stacked on top of each each other while stepping up the mountainside.
Visit the Hutou battle museum and explore the tunnels where the Japanese defenders of Hutou Fortress fought the Soviets for 11 days after the end of World War Two.
Surreal artwork based on my experience of being caught amid a riot in East Jerusalem during the first Palestinian Intifada in 1989.
Luxor can be painful beyond the ancient beauty - scammers, hawkers, gigolos and inflated prices. But it doesn't have to ruin your trip - try these tips!
Jaw-dropping views on the North Korea border - visiting Changbai Mountain & stunning Heaven Lake.
Touring San Pedro Prison in La Paz is to enter a brutal, surreal circus - where inmates run the system and drugs and violence are rife, yet prisoners' families also live inside the walls!
Van-camping in China, near Jian at Wandu Mountain City ruins, amid the valley of nobles tombs at the ancient capital of the Korean Goguryeo Kingdom.
I'm drugged, abducted, robbed and dumped unconscious in the Siberian countryside. WTF! My crazy story and advice about how to avoid this dangerous travel scam.
Traveling by boat from Likoma Island on Lake Malawi to the Cobue border crossing and east across Mozambique by truck, van and train to Nampula.
Van-camping in China on Peach Island in the middle of the Yalu River opposite the misted mountains and border towers of North Korea.
Acknowledged as the "worlds oldest observatory", Zorats Karer is a 7500-year-old stone circle often-called the Armenian Stonehenge.
The temples at Angkor are the most famous in the world, but how many people have heard of nearby Koh Ker? Check them out and enjoy the ruins without the crowds.
Our first 48 hours of van-life in China. The hazardous highways of Hebei lead to blissful van-camping at Golden Beach.
The ancient town of Shaxi in Yunnan was a market for trading Chinese tea and Tibetan war horses on the Southern Silk Road between India and China.
How to stay sane during long term travel. Answers to traveling long term around the world - for years, even decades. I've been doing it for 30+ years.
Old Sanaa is an Arabian Nights vision - straight from the tales of the 1001 Nights. And it's one the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world.
The self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland is safe to travel. And while there's not much in the way of tourist sights, Hargeisa is the gateway to Somaliland.
I was walking the streets of Taizz in Yemen, when suddenly this folk musician stops and offers to play a tune for me as crowds gather around.
Black + White Photography: Traveling across North Korea on the deserted highway from Pyongyang to the DMZ border with South Korea, on a bleak and foggy winter's day.
Impressions of crazy love amid a surreal past - MesoAmerican ruins of the Maya and others.
Visit markets, see tribes, hike the weird-humped Taka Mountains and explore the ruined Khatmiyah Mosque.
Antarctic landscapes & wildlife from a voyage over the New Year of 2003, sailing to the peninsula and islands of Antarctica.
On my birthday, I go to the village of Santiago Atitlan to pay homage to Maximon - a Maya god that smokes + drinks.
Sudan travel advice for taking the ship from Aswan in Egypt, across Lake Nasser to Wadi Halfa, then traveling to sights on route to Dongola. In Summer. HOT.
Our world offers some some much natural and historic beauty - come check out these wonderful panoramic vistas!
It was a stinky bus trip in Patagonia that got the passengers gagging with laughter on the bus with the smell from hell.
Australian United Nations Peace-Keeping Force of armored personnel carriers (APCs) assemble and then set off on a reconnaissance mission to the volatile Indonesian border nearby.
Discovered in 2005 and yet 5000 years old, Las Geel is one of the world's greatest prehistoric art sites.
Xinye is a time trip - reaching back 100s of years, this ancient Chinese village remains intact from the Ming and Qing eras.
Taking the ferry 2 days across Ethiopia's Lake Tana, from Gorgora to Bahir Dir is a great backpacking side-trip.
Video of traveling Sierra Leone in a bus crawling amid a crowded, early-morning market spilling onto the roads of Freetown.
The tiniest village in Bulgaria is Melnik - seemingly lost amid the eroded hills, yet it's famous wine was once the toast of Europe, for over 600 years.
In Cambodia, eating pork fried rice proves hazardous - rushing me to an urgent dental visit. But then the disaster really begins as I get more than I hoped for!
Video of boys surfing barefoot down ancient irrigation channels amid the mountain villages in Yemen.
Travel advice & pics for backpackers hiking Mount Sinai in Egypt. Consider climbing during the day, allowing 3 hours - with plenty of rest and photo ops.
The hike thru rainforest to the volcanic crater lake of Laguna Chicabal takes about 2 hours. But don't expect to swim as it's the sacred center of the Mam Maya cosmos.
Victoria Falls - the largest waterfall in the world - is impressive, even in the dry season. In fact, the views are better as the falls aren't obscured by mist.
As I returned to Bangkok’s Khao San Road tourist district, I asked myself: Was this a freak day or is “the land of smiles” turning sour?
Visiting a fishing village of the Muslim Cham people on the Mekong River, amid the high fishing season in Cambodia.
Photographic portraits of females encountered on the road - young & old.
From the window of the bus, I watch 3 guys put a squealing pig into the cargo hold below, somewhere in central Laos. Is this cruel or?
A gigantic, stone face is half-buried at the ancient Pipil site of El Baul. Today, it's lost amid sugarcane plantations.
Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Cobre is Cuba’s most-sacred site, a place of miracles attributed to the "Black Virgin".
At last, we arrive in "Little Tibet". Surrounding blue sky. Massive brown mountains. Snow jagged peaks. Tails of bright prayer flags.
Video of traditional Mongolian folk music - with throat singing - recorded in a tent in Karakorum, Mongolia, once the capital of Genghis Khan's empire.
In quiet Koh Kong on coastal Cambodia, there's this homeless - probably crazy - guy sitting on the pavement alone, and so I buy him a meal.
Backpacking 101: 17 killer travel tips for trust, transport, packing, security, drinking water, etc, road-tested in Africa, Asia, Latin America.
VIDEO: Two girls enjoying a street shower during a monsoonal storm in Gabu in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.
Transylvania is a cultural and scenic cinema. But thanks to Bram Stoker's Dracula, western imaginations - mine included - fly into vampire overdrive.
Traveling the Srinagar-Leh Highway. Travel photo-story and advice for the journey into the Himalayas. Built by the military, this is the only road linking isolated Ladakh with Jammu and Kashmir states.
Get expert hitchhiking advice about what to do, how and why from a guy who's hitchhiked the Sahara Desert and from England to India, etc.
Art Exhibition: 'Journeys across the planet - travels inside my head' by Michael Robert Powell.
Future Tourism: When the world gets commercial and cartoon beyond belief.
In 1994, I hitchhiked to the remote rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, where in Medieval times they were called “The Jerusalem of Ethiopia”.
Early Travel Impressionism digital art made while living in India and Cambodia in 2004-2005.
The shrinking of the Aral Sea is dramatic at 'the port' of Moynaq in Uzbekistan, with its cemetery of rusting ships - now stranded 170 km from the actual shore!
Glowing psychedelic skulls grin at me. Today is the Day of the Dead. What the Maya call Hanal Pixan also known as The Day of the Dead in Mexico.
Women with lip plates and killer warriors - yeah these Mursi tribe traditions still exist in Ethiopia. But today, the Mursi also pose for tourist dollars.
Adventures of trekking with a mule to the ruins of the last Inca Kingdom of Vilcabamba in the Espiritu Pampa of Peru.
Exploring Anlong Veng - the ex-Khmer Rouge stronghold - on the trail to Pol Pot's mountain jungle hideaway, and visiting his pitiful grave.
The Marsh Arabs of Iraq are a unique Middle Eastern culture that have thrived in the marshlands of southern Iraq for millennia. I visited them in 1989.
Watch the exciting Friday ceremony of the Sufis gathered at the Hamid El-Nil Mosque in Omdurman, in Sudan.
I hitchhiked amid the Maramures Region of Romania to the idyllic peasant village of Botiza. Homestays are available and the tranquil countryside is great for walks. .
Sudan's pyramids are older than Egypt's and there are more of them! But the pyramids at Meroe are much smaller. Still, you'll probably be alone & in awe.
Are you worried about traveling India? Don't be. Check-out this seasoned India travel advice on handling touts, beggars, hotels, transportation, etc.
The night hike up Kawah Ijen to Indonesia's famous blue-flame volcano, complete with green crater lake and workers extracting sulphur amid toxic smoke.
Traveling to Sirigu Village known for geometric designs and folk art painted on the houses by the artistic women of northern Ghana.
New Year 2017 started for me in North Korea in Pyongyang. I went to North Korea by train from China, and traveled with a Chinese tour group.
Hiking Albania's Accursed Mountains? Check-out my experience of hiking from Valbone to Theth - awesome - in this travel advice blog + video.
Want a laugh? Check out my best travel blog domain names. [ CAUTION R-18 humor ].
Impressions from the first weeks of working at Seoul English Village in South Korea, teaching kids and partying with the other teachers.
From drinking beer with a young homeless alcoholic to helpful locals - some people encounters and other moments traveling Bulgaria.
Video of a Mexican Mayan shaman performing a traditional ritual with words, drums and incense to cleanse, bless, and protect me. In Spanish, he wishes good health, luck with family, and my travels.
Morocco: Below my guesthouse in the street, this - seemingly crazy - old woman erupts at workers on a building site. But what's provoked her?