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Lunch with Yulia
February 26th, 2011 
World Traveller 
Lunch with our landlady was a nice experience. She lives outside the city of Moscow. Its about a 30 minute drive. You have to drive to a place called “Luxury Village”. This was not my first time visiting “luxury village”. I had the unusual experience before Christmas of teaching an Oligarch’s son near where our landlady lives in Luxury Village.
Yulia (Julia) lives in one of the many gated private villages that seem to be common here in and around Moscow. We have gated communities in Britain, but they are few and far between. I would not mind living in one, if I could afford it, they are safer and cleaner than regular housing estates.
Red Caviar courtesy of Author
Yulia, made an excellent lunch of crab salad, red caviar eggs, salmon, meat burgers and mashed potato. This was all washed down with large amounts of red…
Mind the Flash
February 18th, 2011 World Traveller 
Japanese people have mastered the camera pose. Crafted it into a fine art and bequeathed it unto their young in such a fashion that one might even begin to think it genetic, a biological imperative perhaps, an evolutionary tweak that has emerged along with the technology it is bonded to. Because in the mere instant one has to pose correctly for a photograph, the Japanese are already there, two fingers held aloft in a peace sign yelling, “cheezu!” Meanwhile, I’m blinking like a deer in headlights, stunned by the blast of camera flash.
One photographic incident in particular got me thinking. I was at Fuji Q Highland, an Amusement Park that resides at the base of; you’ve guessed it, Mt. Fuji. Inside are three particularly amazing rides: Eejyanaika (translated to, ‘isn’t it good?’ Ok, not everything translates in a cool way), FujiYama and the mind bogglingly fast Dodonpa.
Instinctively,
…
Jaisalmer Fort
February 2nd, 2011 World Traveller 
Standing sentinel over the desert, Jaisalmer Fort with its ninety-nine bastions is a giant sandcastle rising out of the surrounding sandstone sea like an Atlantis rising from the ocean…
This massive fort was built in the 1500s on the backs of the camel trains that paid protection money to gain safe passage across this stretch of barren Thar desert en-route to Afghanistan. This part of India was then, and in many ways still is, the Wild West where, in addition to running protection rackets, the Rajput rulers filled their coffers by rustling cattle. It’s a pity someone doesn’t rustle these strays off the city’s streets today…
Madidi National Park
January 17th, 2011 World Traveller 
I enjoyed the pampas days, I loved the selva (jungle) days. So varied, so few tourists and lots of walking. It sounds silly but it was more authentic wildlife viewing for me, less seemingly manufactured for the hoards.
We set off on the morning of the 9th up the Rio Beni that eventually split with the Rio Tuichi – this was the one we headed up for a couple of hours. A strong, powerful river with caiman, piranha, turtles and the like but very hard to see simply because of its size. The landscape either side of the river was super – very idyllic. All was going well until we got out at the Madidi National Park office to pay our entrance fees (there were 5 of us in the group but 4 of them left after one night so I had 24 hours to myself with the guide)…
Flying in to Paradise
January 13th, 2011 World Traveller 
Now this was all rather exciting. I was flying across the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life and heading for…. well the middle of nowhere. Fifteen small paradise islands in the South Pacific make up the Cook Islands, home for approximately 20,000 people mostly of Maori ethnicity. This is where the Maori people left Polynesia in their canoes to colonise New Zealand, a couple of thousand miles away.
I flew directly to Rarotonga, the most developed island in the Cook’s, from Auckland, seeing from the air how tiny this island is and so so remote. Rarotonga was originally formed from volcanic activity and is pretty hilly and uninhabited on the lush interior. Most people live around the beautiful coastline, surrounded by reefs and lagoons. The peaky mountains really make for a stunning backdrop.
I was going to have a most wonderful time…
Book Review on Country Driving
January 13th, 2011 World Traveller 
This book caught my attention because it was on a list of the best non-fiction books of 2010 by the Christian Science Monitor. I found it to be a fascinating read and worthy of being on the best books list.
The author Peter Hessler was a journalist for the New Yorker magazine based in Beijing. In the period from 2001 to 2007, he frequently drove around China and wrote about the changes in the local culture. An American who spoke Mandarin, he was able to interact with the locals in ways a tourist cannot.
The Review
The book is actually three short books in one. The first book describes his journeys by car along the Great Wall. It is an amusing and interesting commentary on the emerging car culture in China, as well as providing some historical context for the Great Wall.
The second book describes Hessler’s extended…
Eat Smart in France – Book Review
January 9th, 2011 World Traveller 
How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure By Ronnie Hess
Ronnie Hess is an author, journalist, English teacher, and chef. She has lived and worked in France, studying gastronomy with a passion for the art itself.
The Introduction:
This entry to the Eat Smart series of guides tackles French cuisine in a most interesting manner. It is not simply
about the cooking, but rather it covers the historical and regional aspects of how the foods came to be what they are today, immersing the reader in the culture of the country. It brought back memories of the aromas around an open air market in Paris so many years ago…..the bread, the cheese, the garlic…..
The Review:
This book is absolutely delicious, cover to cover. I feared I would actually eat the pages; that’s how descriptive the author made the food of…
What is the real value of five dollars?
January 1st, 2011 World Traveller 
Everyone knows that five dollars in your pocket in New York has a vastly differing real value compared to if you were in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The value of a dollar varies impressively throughout world economies, and has a powerful effect on entire continents.
The value of a currency is a powerful representation of the inequality and disparities in purchasing power across the world. It not only highlights the abstract notion of money itself through its huge variability in value but also underlines the struggle for developing countries with weak currencies to receive imports essential for development and growth.
One of the most illuminating sectors to look at in terms of economic disparities, is technology. A mobile phone or laptop has the same essential utility, be it to a hot shot banker in the US or to a local business in Latin America in terms of how it can…
The Road of Life with Lainie and Miro
December 20th, 2010 World Traveller 
The Road of Life: Interviews with Lainie & Miro
Delves into their expectations of each other, their commitment to activism, creative endeavors and snowballs – the white frozen rain kind. Again, there are Miro’s remaining “Bonus Questions”. He even comments to something about his Mother’s quirky remarks… Enjoy the read!
Miro: Thus far your travels have been to relatively warm countries. Are you looking forward to seeing cold and snow? (More than that found in the mountains of California, that is.)
Yeah. Can’t wait to hit my mom with a snowball!
Lainie: Same question – cold and snow?
I’m not so much a cold weather kind of person, but Miro wants to hit me with a snowball, so…. gotta do it!
Miro: All parents can be a little difficult at times – have there been occasions when you really had to motivate your mom to do something you…
Book Review: On the Other Guy’s Dime
December 12th, 2010 World Traveller 
I have always liked the idea of a working holiday. Especially if it’s a paid (working) holiday and I’m not the one “flitting (most if any) of the bill”. Okay, maybe not so keen on the working part, but it comes with the territory. If you want to visit other countries – such as the United Kingdom, Israel, Bhutan, Turkey and Kenya – then the working holiday idea just may be your ticket to exotic locations. Professor Michael Schneider has done just that for several years and has authored his most recent book, sharing his secrets, upsides and pitfalls. Yup, there have been those too.
About the Author:
Michael Schneider, Ph.D. spent 33 years in the teaching profession. (He retired in 2007.) He has taught at both the University of Minnesota and Malcalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has also taught in several locations around the world…
