Notes Traveler http://flyworldwide.tk/ Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:57:09 GMT uCoz Web-Service Taking Sunday Off

When Mark and I first started sailing and cruising, every day was alike. We actually got annoyed on weekends, because beaches we walked on, bays we anchored in and places we visited were more crowded than other days. We avoided weekends and hoped for the work week to start again, to get some peace. Since we created our own business two years ago and since I got serious about making some money writing, we established the "normal week” again, hoping to take it easy on Saturday and Sunday. Or, at least, take it easier, since there’s always a lot to do, organize and fix on a boat.

Simpson Bay Lagoon, here...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/taking_sunday_off/2011-03-16-68 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-68 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:57:09 GMT Southern Jordan

On my drive from Wadi Feynan to Wadi Musa my Bedouin driver kindly stopped for me every time I motioned at my camera.  I personally think he enjoyed getting the occasional smoke breaks while I snapped away in awe.  This photo just goes to show you how stunning and surprising this country is.  The mountains are spectacular and it all feels untouched.

This drive with my non English speaking Bedouin guide was one of my highlights – especially when he stopped in the desert at a store and motioned that he had to go inside.  He came out with 2 cans of Fanta and two chocolate prepackaged cakes, sat back down in the truck and gave me one of each.  I was stunned – such a nice gesture; but then again, in Jordan these nice gestures don’t surprise me any longer.

]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/southern_jordan/2011-03-16-67 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-67 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:54:36 GMT How Travel Helps us Keep Life in Perspective

No discussion about returning from a prolonged period abroad is complete without thorough time devoted to reverse culture shock. And within the larger folds of a discussion about reentry, the conversation inevitably turns to perspective. Specifically, that people don’t seem to have any. Of course this isn’t a fair statement, but coming off of long-term travel to the developing world often leaves you in a fastidious state of mind. However, there is something to be said about travel also crystallizing your perceptions, honing suspiciously naïve sentiments into firm sets of belief. Even within the context of culture shock, it can help keep life in perspective. And if you concentrate enough, it can help mold you into the person you strive to be.

During my time in Burma, I spent a week...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/how_travel_helps_us_keep_life_in_perspective/2011-03-16-66 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-66 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:54:03 GMT Unplugged Travel Smoke billowed throughout the tent and left the area a-glow in orange. The flames lapped up from beneath the metal spherical disk. She pounded the dough into a flat pizza like form and simultaneously stoked the fire with more wood with her free hand. The spherical metal ‘griddle’ was just the right temperature…thwak! The flattened dough landed on the griddle and immediately went from dough to solid form, bubbling from the intense heat. Kids covered in dust stared at me until I gave them a glance and then they turned and ran the other way or tried to hide behind anything to escape my eyes. It felt as if I was in an undiscovered land or had moved backwards through time; and in a way – I was.

I was lucky enough to get invited into the Bedouin woman’s tent to watch this process. The woman who’s face I could not photograph...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/unplugged_travel/2011-03-16-65 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-65 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:53:13 GMT Hotel with a character

"Yella! You are in charge!” yelled Mo as he headed towards the door. "If anyone stops in, tell them that we have 2 rooms available and have them wait here until I get back.” I looked up from my laptop, my eyes met his, and realized he was talking to ME. Cheryl the bubbly employee from the Philippines was putting on her coat and they were getting ready to leave the hotel. "Whoa…wait a minute…you are leaving?!” I said somewhat panicked.

Mosleh was the owner of the Cleopetra Hotel in Wadi Musa and it slowly dawned on me he was indeed walking out and leaving responsibility for the hotel with myself and the two other people in the common area; we were ‘in charge’. He said he had to drive Cheryl home and that he’d be back shortly. The other 2 people in the common area were just as dumbfounded as me. Mo and Cheryl disappeared through the door and the ...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/hotel_with_a_character/2011-03-16-64 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-64 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:52:27 GMT Disasters in Learning: Thai Language Edition Short interlude from my Laos posts. I’ve always advocated learning as much of the local language as possible, and at a minimum words beyond the usual "hello” and "thank you” and "where’s the bathroom”. Even if it’s how to say "no problem”, it tends to go a long way in a strange and chaotic new place. But part to what makes learning Thai so story-worthy is how inherently difficult it is to learn the language’s many tones. There are 5 of them, and to a Western ear they are subtle enough that parsing through the auditory fog to truly grasp how they are meant to sound is difficult. For example, "mai” can mean 5 different words, depending on emphasis.

I recently learned how awkward these tones can be when I was informed that my polite attempts to say "excuse me / I’m sorry” while walking or apologize if I knocked into them was a huge fail. Instead of saying sorry, I was, in fact, asking permission to fart. Yes for the last few weeks I was as...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/disasters_in_learning_thai_language_edition/2011-03-16-63 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-63 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:51:52 GMT Entering another world: Petra Petra was the main topic in John William Burgon’s Poem Petra. Referring to it as the inaccessible city which he had heard described but had never seen. The Poem was awarded the Newdigate Prize in 1845 :

" It seems no work of Man’s creative hand,
by labour wrought as wavering fancy planned;
But from the rock as if by magic grown,
eternal, silent, beautiful, alone!
Not virgin-white like that old Doric shrine,
where erst Athena held her rites divine;
Not saintly-grey, like many a minster fane,
that crowns the hill and consecrates the plain;
But rose-red as if the blush of dawn,
that first beheld them were not yet withdrawn;
The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,
which Man deemed old two thousand years ago,
match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,
a rose-red city half as old as time. ”

I went into Petra blind, no r...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/entering_another_world_petra/2011-03-16-62 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-62 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:51:04 GMT Saltines of Salt As I walked through Hamam street, I could feel everyone’s eyes on me. Maybe it was the blond hair, maybe it was the big camera strapped around my neck, or maybe it was the fact that I was solo; I’m not exactly sure. However even though the tourist sites of Salt were well marked with signs (a complete oddity so far in my Jordan travels), I felt like I was the only tourist to come through Salt in the last 2 weeks. The brave people would ask "Would you like to have tea with me?”, and the rest of the people would continue to stare.

This was my introduction to the Saltines, the people who inhabited the town of Salt.

Nestled in the hills outside of Amman is the charming town of Salt. An ancient town, Salt was once the most important settlement in the area between the Jordan Valley and the eastern desert. Because of its history as an important trading link between the eastern desert and the west, it was a significant place for the region’s many rulers. Today, it’s...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/saltines_of_salt/2011-03-16-61 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-61 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:50:02 GMT Some of my Favourite Foods from Laos The more I travel in Asia, the more I realize how much of my days are planned around food. As I recently wrote to someone asking about my routine in Chiang Mai, "in between my delicious street food meals, I write.” This wasn’t always the case. At home I rarely did anything of the sort – my days were spent at my desk and I while I wrote a post about cheap eats in New York City (Asia-focused, shockingly), I rarely cooked. But my love of food percolated under the surface, primarily focused on spices and how they can so effectively transform one item of produce or food into a staggering amount of dishes. So it’s no surprise that during my recent trip to Laos, food figured prominently.

]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/some_of_my_favourite_foods_from_laos/2011-03-16-60 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-60 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:49:23 GMT St. Martin: Home away from Home? Barbuda was our last real stop before arriving in St. Martin, on February 3rd. As always we enjoyed our pretty and peaceful environment in Low Bay. There seemed to be more sailboats than last January, but we didn’t feel crowded. Once in a while, we took a break from work, for a walk on the 11 mile beach, sinking into the soft sand up till our ankles. Darwin loved it here, we missed his joyful presence, and this time around, the weather was just wonderful, even a bit chilly to swim.

One afternoon, I convinced Mark to join me in the dinghy towards one of the reefs. He remained in the rubber boat, bopping around, enjoying the sunshine, while I braved the cool water and snorkeled around for a bit, seeing multiple colorful fish on the damaged reefs and two stingrays. On the way back to Irie, we passed over large patches of ...]]> http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/st_martin_home_away_from_home/2011-03-16-59 windog http://flyworldwide.tk/blog/2011-03-16-59 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:48:48 GMT