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China
A Dream Deferred: The End of Backpackology?
When I finally penned my response to Men’s Journal (at three in the morning) (over one week late), I was sitting amongst cockroaches on my hotel room floor, stripped down to my underwear, high as a rocket ship on mysterious Chi... -
Adventure
Detained in Bahawalpur
Nearly two months have passed since my ill-fated journey to Bahawalpur, since my sixteen-hour CIA interrogation in a dirty, Pakistani hotel room, since they threatened to shut down my website if I publicized the story. I’m hopi... -
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!
Laughing Yoga in Calcutta
The placid water of Rabindra Sarova Lake shined like gold in the light of dawn, and standing beneath a rustling fig tree on its bank, Mr. P.N. Chettiney screamed at the top of his lungs. “GOOD MORNING, CALCUTTAAAAA!” In a neat ... -
Adventure
The Heart of the Slums
The scruffy, young beggar banged on my window. “Sir, money! Money!” I tried to ignore him but it was futile; we were stuck in Mumbai’s gridlock traffic, and he wasn’t going anywhere. “Sir!” I had no small bills. I considered ap...
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China
A Dream Deferred: The End of Backpackology?
When I finally penned my response to Men’s Journal (at three in the morning) (over one week late), I was sitting amongst cockroaches on my hotel room floor, stripped down to my underwear, high as a rocket ship on mysterious Chi... -
Adventure
Detained in Bahawalpur
Nearly two months have passed since my ill-fated journey to Bahawalpur, since my sixteen-hour CIA interrogation in a dirty, Pakistani hotel room, since they threatened to shut down my website if I publicized the story. I’m hopi... -
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!
Laughing Yoga in Calcutta
The placid water of Rabindra Sarova Lake shined like gold in the light of dawn, and standing beneath a rustling fig tree on its bank, Mr. P.N. Chettiney screamed at the top of his lungs. “GOOD MORNING, CALCUTTAAAAA!” In a neat ... -
Adventure
The Heart of the Slums
The scruffy, young beggar banged on my window. “Sir, money! Money!” I tried to ignore him but it was futile; we were stuck in Mumbai’s gridlock traffic, and he wasn’t going anywhere. “Sir!” I had no small bills. I considered ap...
Latest Posts
Adventures in Backpackistan!
A Message from the Mountains
Greetings from the edge of the civilized world, It’s been one week since I’ve last seen a computer, or even a shower for that matter. I’m currently in a sooty, log cabin in a small village in the Hindu Kush mountains of norther...
Adventures in Backpackistan!
Guest Blogger Brittanie Sterner: The Surrounded Lady Traveler
This week, I have the pleasure of sharing with you a special guest blogger, a fantastically talented writer and good friend of mine, Ms. Brittanie Sterner. In 2010, I traveled with Brittanie in India for a while, before setting...
Culture
The Great Trunk Road
Blazing north from the southern horn of India, I follow the old ‘Great Trunk Road’ through the ex-Mughal heartlands of Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and the Panjab, cutting straight towards the border of Pakistan… By...
Adventures in Backpackistan!
Laughing Yoga in Calcutta
The placid water of Rabindra Sarova Lake shined like gold in the light of dawn, and standing beneath a rustling fig tree on its bank, Mr. P.N. Chettiney screamed at the top of his lungs. “GOOD MORNING, CALCUTTAAAAA!” In a neat ...
Backpackology 101
Life on the Lonely Road
I like to pretend that I’m inhumanly self-assured and independent. But the truth is, I’ve never really been either of those things. If you know me personally, you know I’m not the solitary, pensive type. I’m a loud and abrasive...
Culture
The South of India
Meandering further down the Indian coast, I loop around the southern tip of India, through Kerala and Tamil Nadu, before turning back up north, taking up the long and reckless road to Pakistan… Fleeing from the hippy swar...
Adventure
A Hyderabad Idea, Part Two: Paradise on My Plate
This is the second half of the two-part story, “A Hyderabad Idea.” To read the first half of the story, click here. ***************** Black columns of smoke curled over the old city of Hyderabad, mingling in heat wi...
Culture
24 Hours in Mysore
Drifting ever closer to the tip of India, I make a 24-hour pitstop in historical Mysore, the old capitol city of the Mysore kingdom, famous for its magnificent maharaja palace, the kinetic Devaraja Bazaar, and its top-shelf pro...
Adventures in Backpackistan!
A Hyderabad Idea, Part One: A 500 Mile Foodie Pilgrimage By Train
At five in the morning I sprinted through the Madurai Train Station, hop-scotching over sleeping bodies in tattered clothes and weaving between mustachioed luggage porters balancing suitcases on their heads. The loud speaker cr...
Culture
The Temples of Hampi
Arriving from Rangoon, the two month track through India to Pakistan starts in Mumbai, before cutting south through Karnataka, to the ancient Vijanayagar capitol of Hampi… Aside from walking through the chaos of Crawford ...
Adventure
Gods Amongst Men
Late one night several years ago, while drunkenly sprawled out on my couch, flicking through a slog of 2AM infomercials and overly-lit diabetes PSAs, I caught a documentary about holy men in southern India, men who would become...
Burma
Photo Travelogue: Burmese Daze (Burma)
He was watching me. I noticed his shifting eyes at about 4AM, as I sat alone in my grimy hotel room, sweatily typing a story in my boxers, beneath a ceiling fan that rattled in the sultry, pre-monsoon heat. He was in my shoe, p...
Backpackology 101
Weekend Destination: Top 10 Free Vacations (5/5)
This article is part five of the five part series, “The Top 10 Free Vacations.” You can find destinations #10 & #9 in Part One, destinations #8 & #7 in Part Two, destinations #6 & #5 in Part Three, and destinations ...
Adventure
The Shaman’s Seeds of Wisdom
A chorus of tribal drums thundered in the twilight of Hampi, reverberating off the granite boulders that crumbled down from the cliff face above. Sam Monahan sat cross-legged on a worn mattress away from the drum circle, near a...
Adventure
The Heart of the Slums
The scruffy, young beggar banged on my window. “Sir, money! Money!” I tried to ignore him but it was futile; we were stuck in Mumbai’s gridlock traffic, and he wasn’t going anywhere. “Sir!” I had no small bills. I considered ap...
Backpackology 101
Weekend Destination: Top 10 Free Vacations (4/5)
This article is part four of the five part series, “The Top 10 Free Vacations.” You can find destinations #10 & #9 in Part One, destinations #8 & #7 in Part Two, and destinations #6 & #5 in Part Three. 4. WWOOFing i...
Adventures in Backpackistan!
Steve McDonald: Bollywood Extra(ordinaire)
Considering the Europeans’ rich history in Asia—as the evil purveyors of cholera, missionaries, and opium—it should be no surprise that Western actors are often hired to play the feringee villain, or ‘white villain,’ in Indian ...
Adventures in Backpackistan!
Holi Moly! Do or Dye!
Suresh Mehta screamed as his tiny feet pounded over hot sand, sprinting across the beach to the protection of his older sister. I thundered after him with my fist raised, eyes twinkling with vengeance, my entire body splattered...
Backpackology 101
Weekend Destination: Top 10 Free Vacations (3/5)
This article is part three of the five part series, “The Top 10 Free Vacations.” You can find destinations #10 & #9 in Part One, and destinations #8 & #7 in Part Two. 6. Kibbutzim in Israel Who said labor ca...
Backpackology 101
The Backpacker’s Manifesto
There were a dozen sagging rear-ends in my face as I plodded up the long, narrow staircase of Shwezendaw Pagoda, trapped behind a Swiss tour group who were ascending at glacial speed. I turned around to a sweeping panorama of B...
