Archive for June, 2013
Culture
Last* Wednesday Wanderings: The Closing of the Border
I would have posted this last Wednesday, but I just so happened to be ankle-deep in yak shit with some nomadic, yurt-dwelling family, near the border of the vowel-impaired nation of Kyrgyzstan… But better late than never....
Adventure
Kidnapped in Alipur
I find it ironic, and embarrassingly hypocritical, that not even a week after I ranted about how you should never get into cars with strangers, I turned around and did exactly that. It was noon, and the heat of June shimmered a...
Adventures in Backpackistan!
I’m Not Dead Yet!!! (But My Macbook Broke, and I’m Dead Inside…)
Huzzah, I’m not dead yet!! And you thought I’d been captured by Al-Queda and frozen in carbonite. Fortunately, I still haven’t managed to euthanize myself, and I’m now safe in poo-smeared China, eating pigeons in the desert and...
Adventures in Backpackistan!
A Postcard from Pakistan
Greetings from a rooftop somewhere in Pakistan, I’m still alive! Albeit, sweating profusely. And I probably have dysentery or something. Oh, and also I was detained and interrogated for sixteen hours by ‘secret police.’ So, um,...
Bizarre
Wednesday Wanderings: The Baali Theyyam
I know it’s Monday and not Wednesday, but today’s story isn’t finished yet, and NO ONE’S PERFECT GET OFF MY LAWN. For this Wednesday Monday Wandering, here’s a video of the Baali Theyyam in Kuruva,...
Culture
The Joshi Festival
Laughing in the face of Travel Warnings and a threat from the Taliban, I head north into Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to visit the indigenous Black Kalash Tribe and to see their annual Jos...
Adventure
Steve McDonald’s Guide to Not Dying in Scary Countries
In my life, I’ve had the fortune of visiting forty-four countries, and if I were forced to write down my favorites, you might mistake it for a list of Government Travel Warnings. I was in Japan when the tsunami turned Sendai in...
Adventure
Walnuts & Machine Guns: A Taliban Tale
A man with a machine gun has been following me for the last five days. His name is Zia, and he is very, very shy, especially for a man with a machine gun. He first started shadowing me in the town of Chitral, near the end of my...
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The Mystery of the Immaculate Herpes
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Chinglish 101: Five Secrets to Understanding Demon Bird Moth-Balls
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Travel Tip #3: Saving Money on Food Costs & The Tupperware Gamble
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Sichuan Lava Cuisine & The Top 4 Most Common Myths About Spicy Food
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Going South on China: A Panda Hunt
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Guest Blogger Emily Chappell: Woman On The Road
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THE JJIMJILBANG DIARIES (Parts 1 &2): Six Days Naked in a Hot Tub Full of Old, Dirty Korean Men FOR SURVIVAL
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Weekly Postcard: Sichuan, China
