25th September 2012 Today we visited a huge and endless expanse pretty much devoid of any interest, and we also visited the Badlands of South Dakota. Wall Drug is, according to some, the second most famous site in South Dakota (after the presidential noggins). Poor ol’ South Dakota. Wall Drug is a rambling shop that » » »
Posts Tagged ‘culture’
1 October 2012
Yee-haw
22nd September 2012 Can I get a yee-haw? We left the Yellowstone area for another long drive today, right across Wyoming to the small town of Buffalo. This is the real Wild West, home of wagon trains and cattle round-ups, shoot-outs and indian war parties. And we did flash past a group of gen-u-ine cowboys » » »
23 September 2012
Story of me
12th September 2012 There’s one behaviour Americans sometimes display that always leaves me bemused, and I’m fairly certain I’ve never found it elsewhere. I’ll call it “The Story of Me”. You meet an American, say hello, and without any prompting or further ado they tell you all about themselves, their family history, where they live » » »
23 June 2011
Incan Peru
In Cusco, Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu we found the legacy of the Incas. Both in the ruins and remains of their splendid architecture and in the Quechua people who are their descendants. And if you’re wondering about the inclusion of any photos of colonial buildings – well of course the Spanish recycled Inca stones » » »
22 June 2011
Senor de Choquekillka
The Senor de Choquekillka festival is celebrated every June in the Cusco province of Peru, and we were lucky enough to drop into Ollantaytambo for a couple of days in the middle of it. There seem to be about six different traditional masked dances, but each troupe tries their damnest to include new and funny » » »
16 June 2011
Ollantaytambo
13th June 2011 I was awoken by the sound of the Dance of the Drunken Men, being played by a brass band as they passed by our hotel. It made me smile (despite the hour). It was just as the hotel owner had said: this festival goes on all day and all night for an » » »
16 June 2011
MAP
At the same time as the Greeks were scratching satyrs on the sides of their elegant but uninteresting pots, in the Andean region of South America there were ancient cultures producing ceramics that owed a lot more to aesthetics and artistic expression than to religious or ritual symbolism. Up to three thousand years old, and » » »
5 June 2011
Chiloe, farewell
4th June 2011 Apparently it rains all the time on Chiloe, but until today we would never have guessed. Even then, the rain held off until after lunch. We took a roundabout route back to the ferry at Cachao so we could visit the church at Tenaun and stop at a recommended place for lunch » » »
20 May 2011
A town like Alice
17th May 2011 Alice Springs is kinda depressing. For starters, it’s an entirely unattractive town with a town planner’s grid of streets and nothing at all to centre them on. A river runs through it, but as with most rivers up here it is simply a very long sand pit. The town centre is cluttered » » »
8 March 2011
Bali nutshell
We can’t write an Indonesian nutshell, but having spent four weeks in Bali and visited the north, west, east, south and central parts of the island we can probably do a pretty good nutshell here. Bali really is a holiday paradise, with accommodation and food both available for all budgets and of a good quality. » » »
26 February 2011
Images of Bali
We leave Bali exhausted from difficult driving, exhilarated by lovely countryside, full of good spicy food and delighted by the coral reefs. Within the four weeks we have actually explored pretty much every corner of the island, though of course not in great depth. So this is a round-up of stray images from all over. » » »
16 February 2011
Bali beauties
9th February 2011 I think there are three beauties in Bali. The first is the sea and the shore, at least in places like Amed where the rampant spread of resorts hasn’t made the scene fit only for sun-worship. Our last stop with Tim and Vanessa will be Permuteran, and I have all fingers and » » »
9 February 2011
Blech
8th February 2011 One day of rest turned into two days of rest. The first was very needed, as our long driving day had left everyone quite tired, not only me. We wandered Ubud, we indulged in a very oily Balinese massage which was pleasant as an experience but doesn’t leave the same lingering feeling » » »
8 February 2011
Return to Bali
5th February 2011 Guest post written by Tim Johnson Fifteen years ago I was here in Bali, deep into a long round-the-world break, still in my twenties. It felt like a major highlight of that trip – especially the music and dance – and so I was wondering how honest my long-stewed memories would prove, » » »
Tags: culture, reflecting
2 February 2011
Oleh oleh
30th January 2011 Duck eggs and donuts. Today we ambled our way back from the far east Amed coast to Denpasar and grandma. There is a tradition on Bali called “oleh oleh” which means that when you visit someone (or return home) you bring small gifts with you, and your hosts also give you gifts » » »