December 16th, 2007
Current Location:
El Calafate, Argentine Patagonia
It's 10:40 pm and the long Patagonian twilight is finally fading into night.
I'm typing in a hostel here in El Calafate, gateway to the glaciers of Patagonia.
Argentina has captivated me.
Guidebook work (I'm on assignment for Fodor's) is turning out to have its own set of perks and frustrations.
As for this site, apologies for the long span since updates. I'm in the midst of redesigning Rucksack Wanderer to make it easier to update and navigate, but it's a long process on a 128 bit connection that blows out when it gets windy - and it's windy all the time in Patagonia.
I'm updating my blog regularly, with photos and quick hits from the road. Check it out here:
Happy Holidays to all, in every corner of the world.
November 4th, 2007
Current Location:
Craftsbury Common, Vermont
This past weekend has been extremely interesting.
I was a "random participant" in a deliberative polling conference held at the University of Vermont designed to involve residents of the State of Vermont in the issue of Energy.
Although participants were told that their selection was random - and technically, it might have been - I am beginning to suspect that very little about this poll or conference was actually random.
I think the conference was very cleverly engineered to have the maximum effect of stimulating civic engagement on the issue of Energy Policy in Vermont.
This is a good thing. We need to talk about Energy in Vermont.
I don't have the whole story - yet. I'll get it. Even though I feel like a lab rat, I'm going to run on the wheel until I figure a few things out:
1)
Just how socially engineered was this "deliberative poll"?
2)
Were there any hidden agendas? If so, why were they hidden?
3)
Why did the state and the energy utilities spend around $500,000 on this unique weekend event?
I'm in the library now reading the academic papers of the Stanford and University of Texas research teams who designed this event, and I'm going to stay up all night following this trail.
There is a VERY big story here.
(For anyone wondering why if I ever made it to Halifax on my bike? No - I got tired in New Brunsick and went home.
Patagonia Count-Down: 3 Weeks
September 23rd, 2007
Current Location:
Les Bergeronnes, Quebec
Finally! My feature story on Luang Prabang is on the front page of the San Francisco travel section.
Here's the link:
This morning I awoke to a perfect sunrise and the exhalations of whales.
On top of the world.
September 14th, 2007
Current Location:
Trois Rivieres, Quebec
Back to back 100 km days, riding up the north shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway from Montreal to Quebec City, beating my body back into shape, eating peanut butter sandwiches and drinking water and loving every minute.
I've got a new story up - one of my best, I think. Here's the link:
Backcountry Fly-fishing in Yellowstone National Park
Off to find a camp spot, sure hope it don't rain...
September 4th, 2007
Current Location:
Amtrak Vermonter Train, Somewhere in Massachusetts
Every Tuesday my travel writing round-up "Tales From the Road" is published at BraveNewTraveler.
Each round-up contains links to 5 travel stories that I think are particularly good reads. These stories are all available for free, online. I'm currently working on the 13th edition of Tales From the Road, and there's still plenty of material to choose from.
In the "Stories" setion of this website I've added a direct link to the Tales From the Road archive.
.......
I've also been publishing interviews with travel writers and editors at BraveNewTraveler. These interviews include discussions with David Miller, Editor of MatadorTravel.com, Rolf Potts, Emperor of Vagabonds and most recently Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler for the New York Times.
.......
My newest feature article, about Japanese festivals, is out in the current edition of Get Lost magazine, alongside Ryan Libre's stunning photography. Click here to see a preview of the article.
Another feature on backcountry fly-fishing will be out shortly in the inaugural issue of Traverse, the online magazine of MatadorTravel.
.......
I spent most of August with family in our beach cottage at the mouth of the Connecticut River, fishing for bluefish and striped bass. I'm now on my way back to Vermont from a friend's wedding in Washington D.C and will leave soon for a long bike ride through Quebec to the Canadian Maritime provinces. From November 25th until May 1st I'll be in Argentina.
Check this space and my blog for updates!
August 10th, 2007
Current Location:
Brooklyn, New York
My month in the Rocky Mountains has come to an end and I'm back on the East Coast for a few months. I've been staying with my dear old friend Brendan Wenzel in Park Slope.
Brendan's apartment is full of giant hunks of styrofoam that he's carving into alligator puppets that will be used in a French TV commerical. The other occupant of the apartment is an albino hedgehog named Jeff. Last night, as I frantically typed up an article about Japanese festivals and Brendan took a break from puppet-carving to research his trip to New Zealand, it occured to me that we're both doing pretty much exactly what we dreamt of as six year olds.
That must count for something.
From Brooklyn I'll head up to Cape Ann, north of Boston to fish for stripers with Ari Kessler and George Evans, then spend some time with family in Fenwick at the mouth of the Connecticut River.
In September and October I'll ride my trusty little Brompton bike up into Quebec and then in November it's off to Patagonia! That's right - the Endless Summer continues with 5 months in Argentina.
T-t-t-Tango!
I'm really enjoying writing a weekly round-up of great travel stories for Bravenewtraveler.com.
Here's the link:
Also, in case you missed it, here's a link to my interview with Rolf Potts, Emperor of Vagabonds:
Finally, I had the opportunity to meet some travel writers in Manhattan last night, including David Farley, who is writing a book about his search for the foreskin of Jesus Christ. David's website is:
July 20th, 2007
Current Location:
Boulder, Colorado
This month's statistics:
Nights spent inside : 3
Shaves: 1
Trout caught: Over 100
I came to the Rocky Mountains a few weeks ago and one adventure just kept spilling into another.
Wilderness backpacking in the Indian Peaks led to fly-fishing in Montana, which led to a 4 day solo trip up the Lamar River in Yellowstone, where I fished alongside herds of buffalo and caught countless wild cutthroat trout.
From the Lamar trailhead I went straight to another trailhead, in the Wind River range of Wyoming. The goal of this trip was to catch Golden Trout in remote alpine lakes near the Continental Divide. Instead we caught a bunch of splakes, lake trout / brook trout hybrids.
I'm still recovering from the Wind River hiking, but tomorrow I leave for what may be the wildest adventure yet, a rodeo festival called Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The rodeo is known as "The Daddy of 'Em All."
I'll be writing up the experience for Get Lost! magazine, which means... press passes! That's right, ringside rodeo seats, and maybe a backstage pass to the Bon Jovi show. Yee-haw!
In case you missed it, check out my interview with David Miller, the first edition in a series of interviews exploring the future of travel writing. David is the editor of MatadorTravel.com. Here's the link:
July 11th, 2007
Current Location:
Livingston, Montana
Just a few minutes before this coffee shop closes, then I'm off to Yellowstone National Park for a few days of backcountry fly-fishing. Be sure to check out my column "Tales From the Road" every week at BraveNewTraveler.com!
Blogs from Colorado, Wyoming and Montana are up at MatadorTravel.com.
June 30th, 2007
Current Location:
Montauk, New York
NEW ARTICLE:
"From the Ground Up: Planting Seeds in Northern Thailand"
A long-time-in-the-works article about Pun Pun farm, You Sabai cooking school and the Panya Project is now up at MatadorTravel.com. The article gives the lowdown on the communities where I lived for a month and built an adobe house with Ryan Libre and Josh Kearns outside of Chiang Mai.
It's perfect beach weather on the North Fork of Long Island, meeting up with college friends and welcoming Ari Kessler back from his Peace Corp service in Zambia.
June 28th, 2007
Current Location:
Boston, Massachusetts
On the road again!
Vermont in the summer-time is a tough place to leave, but it feels great to set out nomad style again, light-footed with only the essentials in my pack.
I'll be in Boston for a couple more days, then I fly from New York to Denver, Colorado. When people ask me where I'm going in Colorado I answer: "Above treeline."
I do hope to spend the bulk of my time high in the Rockies, but I'm also excited to hang out with Williams friends Jon Langer and Nick Brandfon in Boulder and meet David Miller, the editor of MatadorTravel.com.
Exciting news on the travel writing front:
I'm writing a weekly column for the excellent online travel magazine Bravenewtraveler.com. Basically, each week I surf the web for great travel writing and publish summaries and links to 5 or 6 of my favorite stories. Tough job, huh :)
Please follow this link to check out the first two editions of Tales From the Road.
On this website, I've added some new links to great places in Thailand and Get Lost! magazine. Check out all of my favorite links by clicking here.
June 21st, 2007
Current Location:
Craftsbury Common, Vermont
NEW STORY:
"Mango Village and the House of OZ" is my latest story from the Cambodian Coast Expedition. It describes a journey by long-tail boat to Koh Rong, the island I wrote about in a feature article for Get Lost Magazine and in a Secret Guide on Matador. Both articles are beautifully illustrated with photographs by Ryan Libre, who is now back in Hokkaido, ranging in Daistetsuzan National Park.
June 13th, 2007
Current Location:
Hanover, New Hampshire
No updates for over a month and now two back to back?
I'm getting geared up again.
Scruffy and smiling in the Dartmouth College Library, at the tail end of the frustration induced bike ride to the White Mountains that I blogged about below. Climbed five mountains, ate lots of peanut-butter and hung out with my cousin Emily, who is off to Amman, Jordan in the fall.
It seems website woes continue .
I need to become a techie. But the sun is out.
And, sadly, the Powerbook is showing signs of wear. I can appreciate Ryan's trouble in Cambodia, crouched over his ancient Toshiba in a shakily wired bamboo hut, powercord taped shut and sparks flying.
Anyway, apologies for any cumbersome design.
Somehow, inexplicably, I've been getting some inspiring comments from folks about the site, and I feel just about ready to take the quotation marks off my writing "career."
Only a teaser is available online. Look under the "In This Issue" tab at getlostmag.com. If you live in Australia, grab a print copy!
Anyone have a truly inspiring and entertaining adventure travel story along with High Res photos? Submit to Get Lost! Or run your idea by me first if you prefer.
My story on Luang Prabang - the one that's been delayed by back sprains, rebel attacks, an attempted coup and possibly also by, ahem, excessive indulgence and florid writing while in Laos will be out soon.
I've posted an addition to my "Rucksack Wanderer's Guide to Cambodia" over at MatadorTravel.com. It's a Secret Destination Guide to Kratie, a jungle town on the Mekong in Northeast Cambodia near one of the last remaining River Dolphin habitats, a pool at the base of some rapids near town.
Next week - Ari Kessler is getting back from Zambia. Then Colorado. And an exciting announcement - I may have scored the best job in the world. (Too bad it only pays $20 a week).
Thanks to all the wonderful people who read my stuff and help me on the road.
June 5th, 2007
Current Location:
Craftsbury Common, Vermont
Thunderstorms whip rain against the windowpane as I type in my Vermont living room. The weather matches my mood.
The best article I've ever written is called "The Flaming City, The Golden City." It's about Luang Prabang, the ancient royal capital of Laos.
So why no link? Well, because it's not published yet. I've spent months working with John Flinn, the excellent travel editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, and finally finished the last set of edits today. I was just about to send it when Mr. Flinn e-mailed me.
Seems there has been some fighting in Laos, and with the U.S. Embassy issuing travel warnings, the Chronicle wants to hold off on publishing for another month or two.
Gah.
Two other articles on Cambodia - "Cambodia's Undiscovered Islands" and "Mango Village Brother Island" remain unpublished, although the former piece will be out soon when Get Lost magazine hits newstands.
So what am I doing?
Tomorrow, bright and early, I'm jumping on my bike and riding to New Hampshire. I'll climb up into the Presidential Range and think about things for a while. Then I'll climb down, ride my bike home and start writing again.
May 5th, 2007
Current Location:
Craftsbury Common, Vermont
My new article "Way to the North Sea: Teuri Island" is up at MatadorTravel.com. Matador is running a travel writing contest with a $500 cash prize and the field is wide open - click here for more information. Even if you don't win the contest, Matador is still a great place to publish articles and guides - the editors are great guys and, unlike most websites, they pay for quality work.
Here is an excerpt from "Way to the North Sea" -
"Sea urchin roe, uni in Japanese, is a pure, concentrated shot of Ocean, all the vitality of the sea distilled and compressed into a single, soft mouthful of fertility – fertile because it’s the urchin gonads that you eat – and in July the creatures are ripe to bursting with golden sacs of roe..."
"Somehow the whole spirit of the island is wrapped up in that taste, redolent of sex and ocean. Eating well is all about eating with the seasons, eating food with meaning, representative of place. The sea urchin festival is about communion, with the sea, and with the island and with the culture that hangs on there, storm-battered and raw, a refuge of harshness and vitality off the North coast of a Northern frontier."
Read the whole article by clicking here!
April 27th, 2007
Current Location:
Craftsbury Common, Vermont
Home in Vermont with a big mug of mint tea and a fire cracking in the fireplace - most of the winter snow has melted, but with cold rain on the windowpane it feels right to keep a fire going, regardless of the calendar.
I'm making time-consuming changes to this website that should make it work in Internet Explorer - fingers crossed - please let me know if you run into anything ugly, distracting or broken while browsing and I'll do my level best to fix the problem. If you still use Internet Explorer, get with the program and switch to Firefox, a better browser available for free.
Accountability, my essay on American responsibility for the Cambodian tragedy, has been translated into Italian and published at Permalink.it. With the Russian version of my Bhutan Guide, that makes two languages on the translation list. Yee haw.
I've written articles on Cambodia, Hokkaido and Laos that I'm excited to share, but they aren't yet published, so stay tuned for links!
In the meantime, I'd like to mention some sites that I've enjoyed browsing recently and will update on the link page.
Andy Brouwer writes the best Cambodia blog on the net:
My favorite Laos blog is the thoughtful, balanced and witty laobumpkin, which has links to travel information:
I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Steve Van Beek in Bangkok last month. Mr. Van Beek is a fellow of the Explorer's Club and has written several books about river expeditions in Southeast Asia. He and his wife lead tours that have been featured in National Geographic Adventure magazine, which you can learn more about at his website:
Here's a direct link to one of Steve's upcoming tours - Into the Heart of Tribal Laos.
April 6th 2007
Current Location:
Vientiane, Laos
The end is near. Of my trip that is. Maybe the world too. After traveling through Cambodia and Laos, I'm not quite sure what to think of this tragic planet anymore. One thing that I am sure of is that even in the midst of the apocalypse, people will retain the capability to perform acts of tremendous beauty. The only thing to fear, said Roosevelt, is fear itself.
The forests are burning in the Land of a Million Elephants. It's been a long time since I've seen blue sky and my eyes are red from all the smoke.
Ryan and I have exciting news from the Cambodia project - "Cambodia's Undiscovered Islands" will be featured next month in an Australian adventure travel magazine called "Get Lost."
Unfortunately, we don't have a manuscript ready for printing in Bangkok. Publishing a book remains the goal, but if we do finance the printing ourselves, it will have to wait until next winter, when we both plan to be back in Thailand.
I go to Japan soon, and then to Vermont. And then to the Rocky Mountains. And beyond that the Himalayas call.
March 22nd 2007
Current Location:
Chiang Mai, Thailand
NEW! "A Cambodian Homecoming" is featured this month at The Common Language Project.
I've spent the better part of this last month building an adobe house with Ryan on his plot of land here in the North of Thailand. The land is on a hillside outside a small village two hours north of Chiang Mai, backed by a National Park.
The neighbors are an eclectic and inspiring bunch. On one side is Pun Pun Farm, an adobe building center and seed saving bank. On the other side is a community called the Panya Project, a Permaculture community founded by a guy from Seattle and home to a revolving group of individuals from around the world. Last but not least is the You Sabai cooking school, a cluster of abode huts high up on the hill where a young Thai couple host a weekly course in homestyle, vegetarian Thai cooking.
I'll be writing an article about these communities soon, but since I 've been doing more brush clearing, mud stomping and brick hauling than writing recently, there are a lot of stories I need to catch up on - not to mention banging away at the book!
I don't feel too bad about neglecting my writing though, because the work of the past few months is starting to bear fruit. As mentioned above, our Multimedia Feature is up at the Common Language Project and a feature is in the wings for an Australian adventure travel magazine called Get Lost.
I'm also writing on a regular basis for Matador Travel, a startup website that brings together passionate travelers. Check it out if you haven't already - www.matadortravel.com.
My Thai visa is up in a couple of days, so I'm headed off to Laos. A new passport stamp is always cause for celebration...
On a down note, I've found that although this site looks great in the Safari, Firefox and Mozilla browsers, it doesn't always line up right in Internet Explorer. Bummer. I'll set May 1st as my deadline for getting that fixed up.
February 18th 2007
Current Location:
Siem Reap, Cambodia
is the most recent addition to the Lost Coast project.
Only one week left on my Cambodia visa - will I actually leave this time? Probably. The plan is to head north to Anlong Veng, where Pol Pot lived out his last years under the protection of the Thai military, then head up over the Dangrek Mountains and into Thailand's rural Issan district.
February 11th 2007
Current Location:
Read one of my favorite Hokkaido stories, "Porn and Curry"
Ryan came back to Sihanoukville from Thailand and we got a lot of work done over the past week. Feature articles and photo essays will appear soon at Matador Travel and the Common Language Project.
A thief snuck into our room a few nights ago. Ryan chased him down the hall and off a balcony but - adrenaline? yabba? - he kept going and got away.
I've been spoiled traveling with a photographer like Ryan. It was 5 days before I realized that the thief had taken my camera. let us meditate on the principle of non-attachment.
I'll be heading on to Siem Reap in the next few days, then riding my new bike up into Northeast Thailand when my Cambodian visa expires.
February 3rd 2007
NEW! "Bat Country"
NEW! "Accountability"
I've got a bike! It's an orange Peugot, that, according to its registration tags, belongs to a certain Ms. Takahashi of Yokohama, Japan.
$40 in the bike shop by the market in Koh Kong.
The flat roads and green rice paddies of the Mekong Delta call...
January 29th 2007
Well, the website is up and running, though I sometimes feel like a chimpanzee trying to fix a bicycle as I trudge through the arcane arena of Dreamweaver commands.
I've just finished a draft of a new chapter, BAT COUNTRY, which takes place on Koh Rong island, one of the biggest and least developed islands in Southeast Asia.
Sihanoukville is home for the time being. If anyone wants to track me down, I'm easy to find. Just look for the skinny guy absorbed in his laptop sitting in the garden with a pot of tea at either Geckozy Guesthouse or the Starfish Cafe.
Ryan is back in Thailand, where he owns land near Chiang Mai. It was truly a privilege to travel and work with him this past month. I am absolutely convinced that Ryan will be an elite professional photographer in the very near future. If you still haven't looked at his photos, click here now!
Stories keep jumping out of the bushes and ambushing me, which is one of the reasons I'm hiding in peaceful gardens.
On the new road to Koh Kong, we met a man who fled the Khmer Rouge 33 years ago, settled in Providence RI and was returning to his village for the first time.
Mr. Seng was kind enough to let Ryan and I tag along. Being with him was a truly emotional experience that, through observation, helped me feel a bit of closure with the Lost Coast project.
As an expedition that is - I still have to write the book!
Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and criticize, especially Frank Oatman, Scott Lothes, Ryan Libre and, of course, my parents.
Feel free to drop me a line!
hokkaidotim@gmail.com
January 13th 2007
What’s new?
Well, everything for starters.
This website was made in Sihanoukville, Cambodia in January 2007 with lots of help from Ryan Libre. Over the next month I’ll be transferring content from my old blog to this shiny new page when I come out of the jungle to use the Internet.
The first phase of the Cambodia Expedition will wrap up in late January, but I’m tentatively planning to stay here until the end of February, joining an exploratory kayak tour of pristine mangrove islands with the fledging Koh Kapi Ramsar Site Survey Group, which is basically me and a middle-aged guy from New Zealand named Paul. I’ll also be writing and revising the book that will flower from this journey.
I have a plane ticket home to America in April.
Next year is shaping up to involve India.
A bout with amoebic dysentery after running out of clean water up river in the Cardamom mountains has left me feeling thin and nervous like an anorexic school girl, but I couldn't be more happy.
Livin' the dream.
