By Stephen Bugno

Traveling through Eastern Turkey, you’ll lose the tourists, see incredible sights and landscapes, and rub shoulders with marginalized Kurdish population. If you’re tired of the crowds at Ephesus, Olympos, and Sultanahmet, hop on a long-distance bus to the opposite end of the country.

Ishak Pasha Palace above Dogubayazit

After traveling through Armenia for two weeks, a friend and I had to return to Georgia before re-entering Turkey. The Armenians and Turks are still sorting through their differences and the border crossing remains closed.

A month earlier, while transferring buses in Istanbul on the way to Georgia, we had briefly seen the infrastructure development enough to realize that western Turkey and eastern Turkey are different beasts. The shabby, rural roads here couldn’t compare to the sleek new highways zipping in and around Turkey’s largest city. Local folks in the east are much more traditional and conservative; the cities are dirtier and more chaotic, the street kids more aggressive.

After harassing my Russian passport-carrying friend for 20 minutes, the Georgian officials finally let us through to the Turkish side of the border, realizing they weren’t going to get a bribe from a 22-year-old student. We were fortunate not to have had other, more severe, conflicts with authorities based on this prejudice prior to now. The Russians aren’t very well liked in Georgia.

The remoteness of this border crossing makes me wonder if we’re the first non-Georgian/non-Turks to use this route. Just then, across the barrier, driving in the opposite direction, an all-wheel drive Subaru plastered with sponsorship stickers and Saskatchewan license plates passes through as our heads turn in astonishment.

The Turks welcome us with a passport stamp and immediately we’re on the side of a two-lane country road waiting for any passing car. There is no bus service, no cars are coming and there is no town here; just a border post. So we walk a couple miles down the road to a little café and drink a cold soda before a guy pulls over and offers us a ride few miles into Posof, the nearest town. There we pitch our tent in a field on the edge of town and decide the next day’s plans.

Ani

The ruined medieval Armenian capital of Ani

The next morning a bus takes us to Kars, which we use as a base to visit Ani. Although today they lie across the river in Turkey, these are the ruins of the medieval capital of Armenia. It is hard to believe that this complex of crumbling structures, in the midst of hay fields, once rivaled noble Constantinople and Baghdad. We wander around the remains trying to piece together in our minds the grandeur it once held.

The fact that it’s situated in Turkey today infuriates the Armenians. Spend any amount of time in little, modern Armenia and any person will quickly preach about how enormous a territory they once held, “…from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea” using both hands to show.

In fact, many of the cities in eastern Turkey (Kars, Bitlis, just to name a couple) had a sizeable Armenian population until the genocide of 1915, which is the cause of much of the animosity between the Armenians and Turks to the present day. As further evidence, Armenian churches are scattered throughout eastern Turkey.

Dogubeyazit

This beautiful and remote landscape of eastern Turkey is peppered with politics. Our bus passes a few military bases as we wind our way from Kars, south to Dogubeyazit. The population here includes more Kurds and due to its borders with Armenia, Iraq, and Syria, the bureaucrats back in Ankara feel they can’t be too cautious. It’s strange to see bases in the downtown areas of cities, as they are set up here in eastern Turkey.

Nearing Dogubeyazit it’s impossible to ignore the imposing beauty of Mt. Ararat from the dolmush window and the biblical history associated with the mountain. Many travelers come here enroute to the Iranian border crossing at Gurbulak or to climb Mt. Ararat. We came merely to see Ararat from the opposite side and to visit Ishak Pasha Saray.

Ishak Pasha Saray is the half-ruined, 17th century palace set on a high plateau overlooking Dogubeyazit. Building began in 1785 to control Silk Road traffic. Originally with 366 rooms, at one point even the Russians occupied it and the original doors are now in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It employs architectural styles from almost every period of Turkish history.

Walking the 6 km-long road up to the Ishak Pasha Saray, a car pulls over close to us and stops. “Do you want a ride up to the campsite? Camping is one dollar per person,” a man tells us from inside the car. He’s got a long mustache over his mouth and speaks decent English. We knew we couldn’t beat that price, so we get in.

The man is Parashut: a bit of a legend in these parts. At his campground/guesthouse just above the palace halfway up the mountain he sits down with us, slices a melon, and pours raki shots while telling us about his drive overland to Central Asia and Siberia and about his work. It turns out he’s being so hospitable with us because my friend is Russian and he feels so indebted to the generous Russians he met in Siberia. He also tells us about the documentary he made and the book he wrote about Noah’s Ark, all while pursuing his real passion: mountaineering. He has reached the summit of Mt. Ararat 165 times

Nemrut Dagi

A view inside the crator of the extinct volcano Nemrut Dagi

From Dogubeyazit we skirt along the shore of the massive Lake Van to Tatvan on the eastern shore. Almost by accident we hook up with Mehmet, a long-winded Kurd who trucks visitors up to Nemrut Dagi. Although it has the same name as the popular mountain with the head statues, it is a different place. This Nemrut Dagi is an extinct volcano rising to 3050 meters. After bargaining Mehmet down to a reasonable price, I’m in the front seat of his dusty van, riding out of Tatvan, on to an unpaved road, and over the crest and into the crater. He points to his small Kurdish village in the near distance and invites us for “free camping” at his homestead for the following night.

The crater, 7km in diameter, contains a cold lake and a smaller warm lake. The water of the cold lake is so crystal clear that I see my feet as I’m treading water. We swim in the warm lake as well, lie in the sun for a few hours and pitch our tent in a field of high grass.

In the morning, Mehmet drives the group back into Tatvan and we choose to hike our way out of the crater, first climbing up the steep rim, and then gradually down the grassy slope into his village.  We find his home and met his extended family, who constantly filters in and out of the house. Just after dark, we’re sitting on carpets at the table eating supper. Soon Mehmet arrives home and shows us the little extension he is building to someday have a guesthouse. His grandchildren take us around to see all their animals. The next morning we’re back on the road early, hitching a ride with Mehmet back into Tatvan.

Diyarbakir

men outside the city walls in Diyarbakir

We arrive in Diyarbakir, on one of Turkey’s, clean, efficient, and timely privatized buses. We have come to walk on the city’s massive walls of black basalt; to peer inside to the maze of cobbled streets, beautiful mosques, imposing hans, stately mansions, and intriguing churches. Outside the walls we see the Tigris River’s flow. The streets here are busy in this city of two million and we try our hardest to lose the street kids that aggressively follow us through the narrow twists and turns of the old city streets.

As usual we head to an inexpensive cafeteria-style eatery for some good food and follow that up with some tea. Despite the fame of Turkish coffee, nearly every Turk drinks tea from a tulip-shaped glass sweetened with plenty of sugar.

Passing in and out of the old city we find each of the four main gateways of the six-kilometer city wall and glance up at the 72 defensive towers. The new city is busy too, with plenty of foot and car traffic in and around the multi-storied apartment buildings. This is a predominantly Kurdish city and a place of discontent that Ankara keeps a close eye on.

After a couple days in Diyarbakir, we continue our journey east to the pilgrimage city of Urfa and then join the masses of tourists on the sunny Turquoise coast a week later.

Stephen Bugno spent four weeks exploring Turkey as part of an overland trip from Istanbul to Cairo. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Transitions Abroad. He blogs at Bohemian Traveler.

By Joy Suthigoseeya

San Francisco is a city where residents have historically lived by their own set of rules and is brimming with an unflinching independent spirit. Where else can you find zombie flash mobs, public pillow fights, an enthusiastic bike and skate culture, a great music and arts scene, more hipsters and gays than you can shake a stick at, and limitless options for amazing food on any budget. Oh yeah, did I mention hippies? Lots and lots o’ smelly hippies.*

San Francisco is famous for the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, its hills, the summer of love, the zodiac killer, the Beatniks, and that brilliant car chase scene in that movie “Bullitt” starring Steve McQueen. 

But it should be famous for its endless taquerias and its mucho quirkiness. San Francisco is like that weird girl you were afraid to make friends with but was always secretly attracted to and would probably make your girlfriend if you didn’t go to the same school. But as it were, you’ve gots a rep to protect.

All the tourists rush to Fisherman’s wharf and Pier 39. And they take a cable car to get there.

But you shouldn’t leave without seeing…Any self respecting “tourist” would NOT skip the Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square, North Beach, China Town, Baker Beach, Golden Gate Park or the museums and gardens–notably the Japanese Tea Gardens, or Laughing Sally, who currently lives amongst the relics that make up the oldest penny arcade in the city.

Its original location was by the Cliff House close to the Sutro baths ruins, but in recent years has moved to Pier 45. If you are an early riser you’ll probably enjoy the farmer’s market at the Ferry building where you can get an eclectic sampling of California cuisine at its finest. Finally, if you’re gay you’d be a fool to miss out on SF’s vibrant gay nightlife in the Castro. See moms? There’s something for everyone!

For those with inclinations towards the offbeat, no trip is complete without a stroll down Upper Haight towards hippie hill in Golden Gate Park where you will run into all manners of colorful (smelly) peoples and shops. Don’t worry though, even though the area has been historically sketch it is nowhere near the sketchiness of the Tenderloin, where crack addicts and street hoes adorn many a-corner. Upper Haight just plays host to your standard run of the mill runaways who are in reality harmless, albeit moochy suburban kids.

The Upper Haight could aptly be described as a retail district. There are specialty clothing boutiques, vintage clothing stores, great shoe stores, plenty of smoke shops, tattoo shops, resale shops, and quite a few restaurants and cafes. Not to mention it’s where you’ll find the Haight-Ashbury corner: the epi-center of the 60’s free love revolution. Pick up your Grateful Dead tie dyes here and put the fear of god in your grandmamma with all the free-wheeling liberal ideas you picked up during your visit to SF. If you are into music, make sure you find your way to the end of the Haight Street for Amoeba music, the quintessential music nerd’s wet dream. Sometimes they even have free shows, so be sure to check the local music listings for bands that might be playing there.

If you crave the nitty gritty and want to see where all the “cool” kids live, go to the Mission. The mission is known for its divey bars, street art (notably Clarion Alley, a side street full of murals from the Valencia end to the Mission end), cheap tasty morsels and shopping in specialty boutiques, indie shops, and thrift stores. Two key stores on Valencia and 19th are the Pirate Store, founded by Dave Eggers, which serves as a front for a children’s writing workshop and Paxton’s Gate, a taxidermy shop and art gallery right next door.

Museums anyone…Check out SFMOMA for modern art, the De Young for contemporary art, and the newly renovated California Academy of Sciences. For a cheaper visit to the academy, try going to Nightlife on Thursdays when they feature prominent SF DJs playing for partygoers from 6-10pm. The music changes weekly so check their calendar for more details.

Best park… Definitely Golden Gate Park, with Dolores Park in a close second for people watching and Alamo Square Park in 3rd for city views. Unfortunately they are currently remodeling Dolores Park and it will be closed until Sept 2011. So stop by Alamo Square Park for a snapshot of the Painted Ladies, made famous in the opening credits of “Full House”. The fourth runner up is Buena Vista Park which has great views of the city as well and can be a lovely, but semi-strenuous jaunt to the top. If you are taking your aging mother, it may be a little too much for her to climb, so keep to the lower paths.

Most visitors don’t know that there are bison in Golden Gate Park and hidden slides called the Castro slides in duh, where else, the Castro! They also don’t know that during the summer there are lots of activities such as free street festivals, free music every weekend at Stern Grove or GG park, or that they show free movies in Dolores park once a month.

Best bar in town…A grungy neighborhood staple, Zeitgeist in the Mission is perfect if you want to enjoy a beer garden atmosphere while chumming it up with the locals. The beers are reasonable, they have pitchers and decent bloody marys and you can get some of the best damn cheeseburgers and potatoes in town for only six bucks. The downside is that they only have two bathroom stalls and three portapotties serving peak crowds of 200+ on a busy night. I’ve witnessed those fill up fast with all the beer-a-flowing, so if you’re a girl, beware because that can spell trouble if you’ve broken the seal.

Beer Bar – Toronado in the Lower Haight, which by the way, is a neighborhood worth visiting if just for a few of the art galleries and cafes within its three block radius.

Cocktail Bar – Want tasty drinks? 15 Romolo in North Beach is a great bar that serves some of the best drinks I’ve had. If you are looking for swank, try Bourbon and Branch. Modeled on the concept of the speakeasy, this is your bartender’s bar, the one where they go to when they aren’t serving you. The drinks are expensive, but what do you expect from one of the best bars in America. You need a password to get in, which you can retrieve through their website. They even have a secret library room that requires a password as well.

Wine Bar – I’ve only been to a handful of wine bars in the city since I didn’t really get into wine until recently. Be forewarned that if you are wine snob you best skip my recommendations and do a yelp for the closest wine bar in the neighborhood you are staying in. Bar 821 is the only real wine bar I’ve frequented out of a few in the city and would say I like it for the ambiance and not so much for its wine. Not to say they don’t have an adequate wine selection, I’m just not comfortable recommending the wines having never looked at their menu. They do serve well made Soju drinks, but ambiance is really the key winner for me at this bar.

Dive Bar – Delerium for rockin’ out. It’s close enough to other bars in the neighborhood if you get tired of hanging in one place for too long. Head over to Casanova for a change scenery or bounce between Kilowatt and Gestalt. But stay away from this area on the weekends. It seems all the bridge and tunnel folk like to hang out in the mission then, so you won’t get as an authentic experience if you come during the week. Other great divey bars that are worth mentioning are the Beauty Bar, The Attic, The Knock Out, Uptown, and the Phone Booth. If you’re lucky you might run into the tamale lady at one of these joints and when you do you HAVE to order a tamale. I don’t care what it is. Just get one. If you do miss her, don’t worry, you’ll get a second chance at the late night drunken food game. When you walk out that door let your nose direct you immediately towards the exquisite smell of bacon and grilled onions. Listen for that sizzling sound and feast your senses upon the bacon wrapped hot dog cart that will soon become the saving grace of your night. Try it with mayo, grilled onions, and jalapeños. It may very well give you a tonguegasm or a stomachache if you are lame.

Clubs – There is a club scene for everyone in SF. Keep in mind that the best way to chase down a good party is to know your promoters. Obviously in this case, it is hard if you are a visitor so the next best thing is go to the nearest music shop, look for flyers according to names you recognize and see who is throwing that party. More than likely they will be throwing other parties you might like and if you end up going to one you will find flyers for other parties probably within the same musical vein. If you are just looking for any old club to dance in, head to Soma (11th and Folsom) where quite a few late night clubs are concentrated.

Note on SF nightlife: all bars stop serving alcohol at 2am so most people start their evening relatively early compared to cities like NY or Chicago, which very often don’t start until after midnight. Once the bars/clubs close there are almost always after-parties that serve alcohol in secret locations or not-so secret locations around the city. But you have to know who to ask or where to look.

And the best coffee/coffee shop… Nestled between buildings on a hidden side street in Hayes Valley you’ll find Blue Bottle Café, which serves up some of the best coffee in the city. But if you’re looking for a place to sit, you won’t find it here as it’s only a coffee stand. For excellent coffee and ambiance visit Ritual Coffee Roasters in the Mission. Bring a laptop and don your Urban Outfitters best and you’ll blend right in with the Mission hipsters that keeps this place hoppin.

Best place to see live music… Bottom of the hill, The Independent, Café Du Nord, The Great American Music Hall, Bimbo’s, Slim’s and for bigger acts The Fillmore, and the Warfield. For local bands the Makeout Room and Thee Parkside or Bottom of the Hill are a safe bet. The best way to find out who’s playing where and when is to pick up a free SFweekly at one of the numerous red newspaper boxes. You can also pick a SF Bay Guardian which has a more political bent rather than entertainment. If you are fan of the interweb go to sfstation.com or going.com to find out what is happening on any given night. laughingsquid.com is good for burning man and anarchist type activities and if you are way into art, fecalface.com is a the guide to the bay area arts scene.
Best place for cheap grub… Rosamunde in Lower Haight for the best sausages in the city. Five bucks gets you their homemade specialty sausage (think wild boar, duck and fig, or the old standby beer sausage) with any two toppings. Head next door to Toronado to wash down your sausage with a beer from a selection of the over 100 microbrews on site. If you’re hankering for Mexican, go down to Mission and take your pick from one of any of the great taquerias that line 16th and Mission. For cheap Vietnamese, Tu Lan in the Tenderloin is a rite of passage. Their claim to fame is that it was Julia Childs favorite place. Yes that’s right, Julia Childs loved this little hole-in-the-wall and as proof they’ve got a fairly close facsimile of her face on the menu.

And for sit-down meal at a good value… Little Star Pizza in Nopa and the Mission has great pizza and has been a favorite among locals for the last half decade. For authentic Chicago style pizza you can’t beat Paxti’s in Hayes Valley. After lunch take a stroll down the block for some great boutiques and designy type shops including Huf shoe store and Timbuk 2 bags or get a delectable cupcake at Miette and enjoy it in newly built Octavia Park.

For vegans/vegetarians or hippies, Café Gratitude is one of the best raw/vegan restaurants in the city. If you’re less concerned about health and more about taste, Golden Era Chinese also serves up a vegetarian-only menu. As a meateater, I’ve never been much for vegan or vegetarian fare, but this place is amazing, especially with their meat substitute dishes! A word of advice though, if you are prone to being easily brainwashed and like to join cults you might do well to avoiding this place since it’s been said that the people that run the place are a cult.

And a meal to spend some money…San Francisco is known as foodie town so it’s extremely difficult to narrow it down to just one restaurant. If I were to mention one, I would recommend Delphina, where you can get amazing pizza in the pizzeria or Italian cuisine in the restaurant section. This is place is the buzz of trendy locals, so more often than not you’ll find the dining room bustling on any given night. Forget about ordering “authentic” Italian in North Beach. Locals know that North Beach is for tourists. For other cuisines go to Dosa for Indian, Sushi Bistro for sushi, Nopa for new American, Bar Crudo for raw seafood, and for the ultimate foodie experience, French Laundry in Yountville for French (reservations recommended).

Best specialty dish of your city is…The white clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl or Cioppino which is an Italian seafood stew. If you want to really get a sense of SF cuisine go for the taquerias, any of the food carts, or Asian cuisine in the Inner Richmond.

I know it’s a cliché…but you can’t leave without hanging out in Dolores park for a day to soak up some sun and people watch, buy some pot truffles or beer and then head to bi-rite creamery on the corner for a delicious scoop. They make homemade ice-cream and I promise you it will be the one ice cream experience you’ll be telling your great-great-grandkids about.

And if you’ve got kids… Regrettably I don’t have many friends with kids, being the consummate single I am, but if I were to suggest some places to take them I would say Golden Gate park is a great place to start. There are plenty of things to see and do in the park that are lowcost to free. Not free is the California Academy of Sciences, but it has great hands-on exhibits with 3D shows and a giant indoor atrium filled with butterflies as well as the Exploratorium by the Palace Fine arts.

Pier 39 has great entertainment options such as a Carousel, Magawan’s mirror maze, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the wax museum, street performers, and your choice of bay cruises. Up until this winter we had a population of sea lions that live at the pier but they’ve since disappeared and no one knows if they are coming back. I’d say don’t bother with the zoo, you’d be better off going to the botanical gardens or Ghiardelli Square for the ice cream sundaes and free chocolate samples.

Best nearby attraction or city for a day trip… Marin headlands on the other side of the bridge. Mount Tamalpais for a beautiful drive through redwoods and gorgeous views of the bay area. Muir woods for easy hiking and up close and personal encounters with California Redwood trees.

Berkeley and Oakland have a culture onto themselves, so if you want to get a feel for what it’s like over there, it’s an easy 20 minute Bart ride over. You don’t need a car and it’s fairly easy to get around. If you are into wine, of course no visit would be complete without a trip to Napa or Sonoma.

How to sound like a local…Don’t ever call San Francisco: Frisco or San Fran. Locals refer to San Francisco as “SF” or “The City”.

Hella – Use hella in place of “really” or “very” when describing something.

This city guide is taking a hella long time to write.

NorCal – a way to refer to northern California.

SoCal – a way to refer to southern California

Additional Links

San Francisco Festival & Events – list of festivals and events throughout the year

Yelp.com – business reviews site that is popular with bay area residents

SFstation – city guide to entertainment and the arts

Fun & Cheap SF – listings for free or cheap events in and around the city

Fecalface.com – comprehensive bay area arts guide

Laughingsquid.com – coverage of lesser known alternative events in the bay area.

Craigslist.org – free classified ad listings for the bay area and beyond.

*I was actually kidding about the hippies. They have all retreated into the woodlands of NorCal and Oregon after being chased out by yuppies and replaced by hipsters.

Joy Suthigoseeya is a freelance graphic designer living in San Francisco. She attributes her love for travel to her parents who towed her and her sisters around on dozens of family roadtrips across the US as kids. She just recently completed a 6 month around-the-world trip in 2008. When she’s not traveling she can be found blogging at designchick.tumblr.com or creating artwork for her online portfolio at designchick.net.

I met Noel Lau back in 2005 in Leon, Spain while walking the Camino de Santiago. Since then I’ve traveled through the Middle East with him and joined him in Spain to teach English. In 2008 he left for South America. He’s currently in Colombia.

Noel Lau at Wadi Rum, Jordan

GN: So, you’ve been on the road more or less, away from you native Borneo for more than 5 years, is that right?

NL: I have been away for almost 6 years. I left home because I was feeling trapped and bored by my old life; I was working as the Training Manager of The Westin Hotel, (a 5 star international hotel) a good, well-paid job with lots of opportunity to advance and make a career for myself. I had a secured a comfortable life. But I wasn’t happy. Life felt like a routine and I was having an identical life as anybody else: education, career, car, house, retirement, etc. I wanted something more. I was longing for freedom and just wanted to get away. Ever since I was young, I had always wanted to travel so that was a chance to fulfill my dream.

I haven’t returned to Malaysia because I don’t really feel that it’s my home anymore. I went back for two weeks about three years ago to renew my passport and visit my family, but I felt like a stranger in my own home. This could be what you call “reverse culture shock”, but for me it is much deeper than that.

GN: I’ve dubbed you “International Nomad”. Does that fit you?

NL: I’m not sure whether I am worthy of that title. I didn’t set out to be a nomad or traveler. When I left my home, I thought I was just going to go to London to work. Then step by step, things happened and after all these years, I’m still on the road. I guess “nomad” is the best way to describe what I am doing. I have had a few temporary homes, where I based myself to work and save money, but the idea of having a permanent home and a career, is quite claustrophobic for me right now.

GN: So you just work and save up and then travel, then repeat? Where are some of the places you’ve done this?

NL: Yes, that’s right. When I come to a place that I like or when I am low on money, I stay and work there. And when I have saved enough I go on traveling again. I have lived in London, Madrid, Mendoza (Argentina) and now Medellin (Colombia). There are also other places where I stayed from a week to a month like Puerto Natales (Chile), Castro (Chiloe Island, Chile) and Cartagena (Colombia) where I worked for my keep, mainly because either I was too tired to move on right away or I like the place enough to stay that long.

GN: Where is the longest you’ve stayed any one place?

NL: I lived and worked in Madrid, Spain for 3 years. I stayed that long because I wanted to learn Spanish and I made some really good and close friends that made it difficult for me to leave. I really like Spain and have a great memory of my 3 years there.

GN: But you’re from Malaysia. Your father is ethnically Chinese and your mother native Bornean? You were raised Christian. Your passport says you’re Malaysian? How do you identify yourself?

NL: When you put it this way, it sounds weird but yes, those are correct. Though I still speak Chinese fluently and love Malaysian food and still can recite all the prayers of the church by heart, I don’t really identify myself with any of them anymore. When I left Malaysia, one of my aims was to find myself. Since I wasn’t happy with the kind of life that everybody wants and seeks, then there must be something fundamentally wrong with me. So I decided to embark on a journey of self discovery. Who am I? What do I want? All the social conditionings that I went through growing up in one particular society: are they changeable? And if so, are there limits to experiencing life? Through these years of being by myself and being in contact with so many different cultures and exposing myself to different ways of life and schools of thought, I have shed my old identity and embraced a new one. So now I don’t really fit into any box or stereotype. And I rather enjoy this freedom in identity.

GN: You mentioned you didn’t feel at home in Malaysia? Where do you feel most at home? Why?

NL: Of all the places I have been to, I think I feel most at home in Spain. I really like the culture and friendly people, the open-minded society and the country is diverse and beautiful. I had also grown to like the tapas culture, where you have a drink and eat some tapas while chatting with friends in the evening. That seems to me the best way to end a day, any kind of day.

GN: How many languages do you speak?

NL: I speak about 6 languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, Malay, Cantonese and Taiwanese. I am also learning Portuguese. But at any given moment, I can only manage 3 fluently. For example, my Malay is really rusty after not speaking it in 6 years.

GN: Your favorite place or country? The least favorite? How about people…the most friendly or most hospitable? Were you ever turned off by a particular country or its people? Did they not treat you well?

NL: It’s really hard to name a favorite; I like different places or countries for different reasons. I really like Spain as a country to live and explore. I had a memorable and wonderful experience backpacking through the Middle-East. I also like the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of small countries like Belgium, The Netherlands and Austria. Also the beaches of Brazil and the otherworldly beauty of the Patagonia in South America are to die for. I don’t really have a least favorite place but I generally don’t like overly touristy places, or going to places in high season. The friendliest people I have encountered are the Brazilians and Colombians; some have really gone out of their way to help me. When I crossed from Bolivia to Brazil, I was a bit lost at the port because the immigration office wasn’t there. I went up to the police and asked for directions, and instead of pointing me the way he drove me all the way there. And here in Colombia, if you stop someone in the street for directions, they will spend the time needed to point you to in the right direction. No one is in too much of a rush to not help others.

GN: You are a budget traveler I know. What countries has your dollar (or Euro) gone the furthest?

NL: So far I think it was in Syria and Bolivia. I can’t remember what my budget in Syria was because that was more than 2 years ago. In Bolivia, I lived on 10 Euro a day, everything included, food, accommodation, transportation, etc

GN: Any travel tips…ways to experience a foreign culture better, see things differently, or save money?

NL: I think the first thing you have to do is to leave your guidebook in the hostel. Guidebooks are good for research and practical information, but once you are on the road, you should let your instinct guide you and try to get acquainted with locals. There are so many people traveling right now, that backpacking isn’t what it used to be. So, you meet other travelers in the hostel, restaurants, bars, etc. Everyone goes to the same place that the guidebooks dictate, so you don’t really get to experience the local culture, you see but a small portion of a country, merely there to take pictures. And you will have the same experience as other travelers that visit the same place. So, what’s so special about that? I try to speak to the locals, in buses, on the street, etc. I eat where the locals eat, and stay in hostels that aren’t in the guidebook; they are usually much cheaper. It can be risky, but that’s what travelling is about, getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing life.

GN: Why does a life on the road appeal to you? Do you ever think you’ll settle in one spot? Will traveling always be a part of your life?

NL: I think what appeals to me about of a life on the road is the freedom. The kind of freedom I could never experience in any other way of life. I have no obligation to anyone except myself and most importantly I do not have to live up to anybody’s expectations. On top of that I get to see incredible sights and meet interesting people and characters along the way. I cannot say that I will go on like a nomad or travel for the rest of my life. I will do it as long as there is meaning in it and it brings me happiness and contentment more than any other way of life. But when the moment arrives that it doesn’t do it for me anymore, I need to have to courage to let go and change. That said, traveling will always be a part of my life because not only is it an enriching experience when you go out of your comfort zone and confront all kinds of experience, it’s also a lesson in humility and self discovery.

GN: You are in the midst of a South American trip. Tell us a little bit about what you’ve done/seen so far.

NL: Yes, I have been here over 15 months now. I started in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, and spent about two months heading south through the coast of Brazil. Been to some small villages with beautiful and wild beaches, Rio de Janeiro, Ouro Preto, Curitiba and my favorite place in Brazil, Florianopolis. Then I went to the see the Iguazu falls and crossed into Argentina en-route to Uruguay. There I spent about 2 weeks seeing Montevideo, Punta del Diablo and Colonia de Sacramento. Took a boat across the Rio Plata to Argentina, where I spent sometime in Buenos Aires, Rosario, Puerto Madryn to see whales and penguins. I then headed to the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia to spend Christmas and New Year. I was trying to get a free ride working in the ships that go to Antarctica, but unfortunately there wasn’t any available. Then I went hiking and camping in the most beautiful national park I have ever seen, Torres del Paine, Chile. The beauty is so pristine as if untouched by humans. I then hitchhiked up the Carretera Austral, one of the world’s most isolated highways, exploring the mythical island of Chiloe, Puerto Pontt, Pucón, Valpariso and Santiago. After about two months in Chile, I went back to Argentina and spent three months working in a hostel in Mendoza. Then I met up with a friend and went to Bolivia, laboring through Bolivian highways and harsh travelling conditions for two months. But it was an incredible period when I visited Sucre, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Samaipata, Cochabamba, La Paz, Titicaca Lake, The Uyuni salt flat, Trinidad and Rurrenabaque. After which, I went back to Brazil to take 2 boat rides through the Amazon to get to Colombia. I then spent about 2 months in Cartagena working on the street, selling origamis and writing names in Chinese. Now I am in Medellin, Columbia.

GN: You are currently in Medellin, Colombia. What are you doing? What is so great about Colombia? And what everybody wants to know…is it safe for travelers?

NL: I am working as an English teacher in a language centre. I hope to stay for a while and to explore this country. Colombia is a really beautiful country: both the landscape as well as the people. The Colombians are the friendliest people I have met; they’re warm hearted and will go out of their way to help you. Yes, it is safe, as long as you don’t wander into the jungle or unmarked territory. The cities and towns are safe, of course there are areas to avoid, just like any other cities. Even travelling by bus at night is safe. So, the general rule is to stick to tourist route or talk to a friendly local who is always willing to give you any information you need.

GN: What after Colombia? You’ve never been to the U.S., any desire to go there?

NL: I have no idea what or where after Colombia, as I don’t really plan my life more than 1 month in advance. I do want to go to the U.S. because I have some good friends there. But unfortunately, with my current status, no permanent job nor home address, the U.S. immigration would never give me the visa to enter. So, I guess, I will have to put that on the back burner.

Noel Lau blogs at http://wander2nowhere.com

Read the article: Volunteer in a Himalayan Village

By Gilbert Carlson

photo credit: Alessandro Trezzi

Paris is the mass tourism capital of the world. Every year 40 million visitors crowd its sidewalks and cafés. Most travelers have either been there or intend to go. Many are put off by the high prices of food and accommodation. If you are one of those, I suggest you read on. I have lived my entire sedentary life in Paris and have developed a skill for traveling cheaply around the rest of Europe. Now let me take you on a tour of my hometown with the advice that I would like to hear about yours.

High Season and Higher Season:

As a budget-minded traveler, you might look to travel in low season. This will not work for Paris. We have high season and stupidly high and crowded season. Prices often go up and never down, so go when the weather is nicest, anytime from May to September.

A Knife, Can opener and Corkscrew:

A few simple tools will save you Euros. First: bring a knife. You will need to cut your own baguette and cheese. Pack a cork screw to enjoy the wine and a can opener for your meals. A sleeping bag and a tent are a serious plus if you’re on a really tight budget.

Getting rid of Misconceptions:

If you think that Paris is the place to go for a romantic experience in French culture complete with berets and Boeuf Bourguignon, jump on a slow train to the provinces. Paris is a major European capital, not a larger-than-average French town. If there is one thing that Parisians and French can agree upon it’s that they are not the same.

With that out of the way let’s take a look at what Paris has to offer and how to sample it on the cheap.

Sightseeing:

Most of what makes Paris beautiful is right there in front of you: the buildings, the neighborhoods, the parks, the riverside walkways. Get a Velib bicycle rental pass (1€/day 5€/wk) and cycle around the city. There are bike lanes for safe riding. Stay off the sidewalks and stop at red lights or you’ll be dealt a hefty fine.

For an aerial view of the city you do not need to pay to ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The Printemps department store has a roof-top terrace and so does the Institut du monde Arabe. Both are free and more centrally located than the Eiffel Tower. If you insist on paying for a long walk up an historical monument I recommend you climb the towers of Notre Dame. It’s cheaper, the view is amazing, and you get to walk up eight hundred year old stone steps into the heart of the towers. If you want to picnic on the roof of Paris you can escape the masses that crowd the steps of Montmartre by moving over to Parc de Belleville. The observation point here offers the best view in town.

Museums:

Look out for ‘happy hours’ in museums. Some venues have deals for visitors that wish to come “from six to eight, on the third Wednesday of each month, on permanent collections” for example. Read the fine print and you might get lucky. The city-run Carnavalet Museum is free and retraces the history of Paris. All national museums are free on the first Sunday of each month; expect them to be swamped with tourists.

Taking a break:

Paris is full of great parks to sit in and picnic. Put 4€ into a fold-up city map, locate the closest park and head there with your own food and wine. Drinking in public is accepted and widely practiced. Every park is also a wireless hotspot so you can update your Facebook status to “wine and cheese time in Buttes Chaumont”. Every weekend night in the summer, the banks of the Seine host one of the world’s largest impromptu picnics. Join Parisians for free live music, dances, fire shows, and drum circles.

Shopping for food and wine:

One of the best places to get produce, charcuterie, and cheese in Paris is from the open-air markets. There are dozens of them, in all the arrondissements and most are biweekly. Here is the list of open-air markets from the city’s official website. Stay out of the ritzy neighborhoods for the best deals. If you’re not a morning person look for Franprix supermarkets and browse their selection of cheese. It won’t be straight from the farm but you can find a decent Camembert, Fourme d’Ambert or Bleu de Bresse for little more than 2€ each.

Get your vin rouge from small, independent wine shops. Most of them have a budget option that is only slightly more than what you would spend in a supermarket, but the caviste will stand by what he sells, and only sell what he drinks.

Accommodation:

The hostel scene in Paris is more about good partying than finding good value. Sharing a room with your travel mate at a hotel in an out-of-the-way neighborhood may cost you little more than sharing it with a dozen party animals who stumble in drunk and let their phones ring all night. If you are a group of three or more look for “Formule 1” hotels that are all automated. You can pile in as many friends as you wish and split the costs.

Sleeping outside is tolerated and a good choice if you have no valuables. The police will not arrest you for dozing off on a public bench and if you find a quiet place in the Bois de Vincennes you may be able to set up your tent and share the woods with the 200 or so homeless people that live in it year round.

Neighborhoods:

Paris is a very safe city and as a tourist you will be safer in quieter neighborhoods than at the foot of the Eiffel tower, even if the neighborhood looks a bit rougher than what you would be comfortable with at home. Don’t be afraid to wander through any area of the city.

For a real Parisian experience, walk through the former town of Belleville, which is now divided between the Belleville and Menilmontant areas. The bars here are made for drinking, not being seen in, the bakeries cater to the locals, not busloads of tourists, and the parks attract a nice mix of homeless people, seniors, children just out of school, and workers on lunch break.

To experience the ethnic diversity of Paris, get off the metro at La Chapelle (line 2 or 4). To the north you will find the Algerian quarter and to the south you will get lost in the Indian sector where 5€ will buy you a large plate of curry.

Gilbert Carlson moved to Paris as an infant and usually resides there when he is not traveling. His wanderings have taken him around Europe and the Middle East. He likes to share his experiences in alternative low budget traveling by contributing to Gomadnomad.com

By Stephen Bugno

a fellow pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago

Not a morning passes when I don’t hear the oop oop oop of the hoopoe. Some days I walk through vineyards, other days through centuries-old olive groves.

Usually the camino follows dirt roads, but at times I suffer the unforgiving impact of the pavement. Occasionally my way narrows into single-track, and I savor those moments. Wildflowers saturate the Andalusían spring. The waves of orange, yellow, and red make me smile when the pain in my feet demands otherwise.

When I arrive in Extremadura, free-range pig farms and cork forests compose the land. Later comes the monotony of the plains and the burn of the mountain climbs. I always pass cow pastures, and sometimes a toro stands alone on the opposite side: the road cutting the farm in two.

I can’t fully appreciate Spain’s history until I cross Merida’s 60-arch Roman bridge and slip underneath its triple-tiered aqueduct. Since I am an American, these are the features that imprint my memory and are too often taken for granted by Europeans who have grown up with them. In Salamanca, I ponder the generations of academics who have toiled inside the high walls of the university’s oldest buildings.

In Galicia, I pass through stone-built villages: Laza, Cea, and Laxe, so old they are inseparable from the landscape. The villages here are situated closer together than those in the regions I’ve come from. The green rolling hills are cut into lots by waist-high rock walls. The aging faces and lack of cars expose the sharp contrast between the outdated countryside and the vibrancy of modern Madrid.

view from along the Camino

I walk to experience life at walking pace. I catch what those traveling by car and tour bus miss. Moving at this speed I feel Spain in my tired joints, I hear Spain in the ringing of church bells, I taste Spain in each of the changing regional delicacies as I make my way north from Sevilla on the Via de la Plata.

Instead of pulling over to a scenic view point for five minutes, the view follows me for five miles. I see Spain unfold in front of me—the landscape picture book of back roads, front roads, agriculture, mountains, meseta, and lavender-lined footpaths. Time passes along the way: 38 mornings of café con leche and 38 evenings of tintos y tapas.

When I walk I become part of the environment. When the wind blows and the sky pours I become cold and wet. The warm Iberian sun dries me back to warmth and the thick oak groves shade my rest breaks when it becomes too dominant.

I am happy to say buenos dias to the townspeople in each community I pass through. I appreciate their brief hospitality and the fleeting moments we cross paths. They smile: surprised that I’m so young and walking alone.

I have always been told that the journey is more important than the destination. So, nearing the end, I try to downplay the significance of my arrival at the cathedral in Santiago. But I can’t convince myself that tomorrow will not be extraordinary.

Santiago de Compostela is a special place, and after walking almost six weeks to get there, the magnitude of my arrival will only be amplified by the journey that got me here.

Stephen Bugno walked the 1000 km from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela on the Via de la Plata in the spring of 2008. His writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, and the Matador Network.

 By Stephen Bugno

European or Not, Here we Come

The Norwegian Opera House

A wealthy, sterile, modern, and homogeneous society. These were some of the misconceptions I had about Oslo before spending three days there.

Yes, Norway has one of the highest GDPs per capita in the world, but never did I see any ostentatious displays of wealth in the capital. And it’s much more ethnically diverse than I had imagined; our first day we spent wandering through a Pakistani festival munching on samosas while listening to live Pakistani music. Although Oslo was uncluttered and litter-free, it wasn’t overly sterile or modern.

Oslo doesn’t at all look or feel European. I was expecting a city similar to Copenhagen or Stockholm, two urban areas of cobbled streets and old architecture that are quintessentially European. But Oslo, with mostly 20th century buildings, pine-covered mountains surrounding the city, and industry in the harbor, I felt like I could have been in Russia or Canada.

Norway is geographically in Europe, but it’s not part of the European Union, which means it’s not in the Euro-zone either. Rather you spend Norwegian kroner, a very strong currency; one I wish I could earn at home and travel with abroad.

As everyone will tell you, Norway is an outrageously expensive country. Every travel article about Norway will undoubtedly talk about the cost. This is the reason I only stayed for three days. To put things into perspective, the advertised special at the convenience store for a coffee-to-go and a muffin was 25 kroner, a bargain US $5. The price of a beer in a normal bar is about $10 per pint. A ticket for the metro: $5. Even shopping at the supermarket was expensive, although economical compared to eating out.

Oslo is a very livable city. Nearly all residents have a high quality of life. I never saw any traffic problems as I zipped along on the tram to my friend’s house just 15 minutes out of the center. He lived in a nice neighborhood with a big backyard. It’s also quite uncongested: a capital city with under a million people!

What to See and Do in Oslo

I wouldn’t call Oslo a tourist city. Most people go to Norway to see its outstanding natural beauty; probably peering through little round windows to view the fiords, or visiting the smaller cities Bergen and Trondheim. But there are a few good museums and nice parks to check out in Oslo.

the ski jump at Hollmenkollen

I did enjoy my time in Oslo and would return. But I’m not big on touristy things. One of the great advantages of Oslo is its proximity to wilderness. I just rode the metro to the last stop, Frognerseteren station (at the end of T-bane line #1), and exited literally in to the middle of the forest and hiked for a couple hours picking berries. There are hundreds of signposted trails in the regions north of the city with great views of Oslo and Oslofjord. Alternatively, try Sognsvannet, located at the end T-bane #3 for an easy walk around the lake or a trail connecting to Frognerseteren. A lot of other people had their mountain bikes on the train. And in the winter the paths double as Nordic ski trails…wait let me rephrase that: the trails are primarily used for skiing and double as hiking and mountain bike trails during the short summer season.

Before the last stop on metro line #1, we exited at Hollmenkollen to check out the site of the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics. The centerpiece is a huge ski jump and its terrifyingly steep landing platform. The Ski Museum is also located on the premises. The site offers fantastic views of the city and the islands of Oslofjord.

The exceptional site of Oslo is the Vigelandsparken, or Vigeland Sculpture Park, a part of the larger, Frogner Park which contains an extraordinary series of statues by Gustav Vigeland, who lived from 1869 to 1943. The open-air park contains more than 200 nude sculptures in bronze, granite, and cast iron. The climax is the 20 meter high obelisk which depicts humanity playing, fighting, teaching, loving, eating, sleeping, and climbing over each other to get to the top.

For me, the Kon-Tiki Museum was definitely a highlight. It features the Kon-Tiki, the balsa-wood raft on which Thor Hyerdahl made his famous sea voyage across the Pacific Ocean in 1947. Hyerdahl was a Norwegian who spent his life researching and proving the feasibility of pre-historic contact between the cultures of different continents. Also check out the Viking Ship museum nearby.

Nasjonalgalleriet, the National Gallery is Norway’s biggest and best art gallery holding a collection of Norwegian art from mostly the 19th century to 1950 by the likes of Johan Christian Dahl, Thomas Fearnley, Gerhard Munthe, and Theodor Kittelsen. Most familiar to foreign visitors is the museum’s Munch collection, including the famous The Scream. Entry is free.

My last stop was the The Norwegian Opera House, Operaen. Built in 2008, it is an imposing structure: stylish and confident. The 500 million Euro budget outraged Oslo’s citizens and they demanded that it be used for ballet and a variety of musical genres in addition to opera. But you can’t appreciate its brilliance until you walk all over it. The slanted roof allows visitors the opportunity to walk all the way up to the top level and look out across the city and harbor.

When I return to Norway, which I hope will be sooner, rather than later, I will either bring my own tent and hitchhike the length of the country, or have an unlimited expense account.

Stephen Bugno’s writing has appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, and the Matador Network.

By Stephen Bugno

Photo credit: Jay Bergesen

With a multitude of guidebook publishers, choosing the best guidebook for your next trip can be challenging. Which guidebook should you take? Well, it all depends on your personality, how you travel, your budget, and where you’re traveling.

Entering your favorite bookstore or even a quick search on amazon.com reveals more travel guidebooks than you thought existed: Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Foder’s, Frommer’s, Rick Steves’, Let’s Go, Blue Guides, Bradt, the list goes on. Sometimes it’s as simple as letting the most frequently updated version of the particular country win. But it can get more complicated than that. Here I’ll sum up the best guidebooks:

Lonely Planet

The biggest travel guidebook publisher, Lonely Planet has a quarter of the market sales and has been bought out by BBC. Around since 1973, they are tried and true, offering an enormous title selection, from Bolivia to East Timor. But bigger isn’t always better. Tony Wheeler’s once budget-only series has now turned into a guide-for-all. One of the few complaints I hear is that because of the enormous popularity of these books, its users often wind up at the all the same places by night’s end. Ideal user: independent, worldwide traveler.

Rough Guides

The biggest competition to Lonely Planet, Rough Guides came onto the travel scene in 1982. Also a guide for all budgets (but definitely puts an emphasis on the lower-budget end) RG has fewer titles than LP and has less of an emphasis on the logistics of travel, but overall more background information and are a great companion to traveling in all parts of the globe. The RG city titles, from Chicago to Cape Town, are especially good. Ideal user: budget, independent worldwide traveler or adventurous expat.

Moon

A U.S. series, as opposed to the Australian L.P. and the British R.G., Moon are packed in the same way detailed practical travel information and substantial background research. Moon’s authors are more than travel experts—they are politically and culturally minded, informative, adventurous, and inspiring. They write their entire book, as opposed to many authors being contracted to write certain sections. Moon covers North and South America especially well; however, they are expanding into Europe and Asia. Ideal user: an independent traveler or foreigner living abroad in North, Central or South America.

Rick Steves’

America’s European travel guru offers guides to nearly all of Europe, with new titles stretching eastward every year (now including Istanbul). He will be the first to admit his books are not sufficient if you want to explore all parts of France. He recommends carrying an additional guidebook for that. What he does though, is gives you fantastic recommendations for all budgets for the particular destinations he finds most interesting. His books are impeccably accurate, updated every year, focusing on mom and pop establishments with more local color. His overall philosophy is that spending less money will keep you closer to the culture you traveled so far to experience. Ideal user: family or couple traveling to Europe with limited time and a keen interest in the culture.

Let’s Go

Originally tailored towards student backpackers spending the summer on a European whirlwind, Let’s Go has expanded. Although primarily low-budget focused, they do offer some mid-range choices and give good nightlife recommendations. Titles have expanded beyond Europe and now include a few destinations in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Ideal user: young traveler going to Europe ready to party.

Bradt

Bradt guidebooks are fine if you’ve got a substantial budget, a Land Rover, and a local guide. But they lack a lot of the practical information for traveling around by public transportation and finding cheap accommodation. They are reliable guides overall and cover many off-the-beaten track destinations. Bradt guides may be your only choice for many African countries. Ideal user: A well-funded, middle-aged adventurer or aid worker going to a developing country.

Blue Guide

First published in 1918, these are more a cultural guide than a travel guide. They are great reference books that focus on art, history, and architecture; and include great diagrams, maps, and plans. Most titles cover European regions, cities and countries but include some worldwide titles. Ideal user: history buffs looking for detailed background information on art and architecture; not necessarily even a traveler.

The Others

Frommer’s and Fodor’s

Once the king of Budget travel, Arthur Frommer sold his name. Now Frommer’s caters to the middle to upper class traveler. Nevertheless, they are reliable guidebooks updated frequently with practical information and advice similar to Fodor’s.

DK Eyewitness and Insight Discovery

These books might be good for the coffee table. They have nice diagrams, are fun and interesting to look at, but are heavy in weight and lack lots of important transportation and accommodation information that you will need while traveling. Best to leave them at home.

Whatever you do, don’t take an out-of-date guidebook (Or you may choose to deliberately not take a guidebook). Make the $20 investment for a $3000 trip.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and living abroad for the better part of ten years. He authored the Nomad’s Guide to Uzbekistan and his bookshelf is stocked with mostly Moon and Rough Guides. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.

The never ending debate between the separation of tourist and traveler continues.

photo credit: David Blaikie

Most travelers pride themselves on not being tourists. They are adamant about avoiding package holidays or group tours. They are proud of their free-spiritedness: not booking hotels in advance. They insist on spending less money and keeping that money in the local economy. They leave home not only to see other places but to meet the local people of the place they are visiting. And they certainly would never walk around the city with their camera hanging around their neck.

When I’m standing at the on-ramp of the highway looking to hitch a ride to Bordeaux, eating fondue on the mountainside overlooking Lake Geneva in Switzerland with my Swiss friends, or surfing in the Algarve with German hippies, I am a traveler.

But sometimes, I can’t help it. In my moments of weakness, I become a tourist. Be it for an afternoon touring the Prado in Madrid or a full day walking around Manhattan staring upward.

But enough from me. Here the world’s most prominent voices on travel duke it out.

Pico Iyer:

“Though it’s fashionable nowadays to draw a distinction between the ‘tourist’ and the ‘traveler,’ perhaps the real distinction lies between those who leave their assumptions at home, and those who don’t: Among those who don’t, a tourist is just someone who complains, ‘Nothing here is the way it is at home,’ while a traveler is one who grumbles, ‘Everything here is the same as it is in Cairo—or Cuzco or Kathmandu.’ It’s all very much the same.”

Paul Theroux:

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.”

Rolf Potts, from Vegabonding:

“In reality, travel is not a social contest, and vagabonding has never represented a caste on the tourist/traveler hierarchy. Depending upon circumstance, a sincere vagabonder could variously be called a traveler or a tourist, a pilgrim or a satyr, and victor or a victim, an individual seeker or a demographic trend. Indeed, the main conceit in trying to discern travelers from tourists is that you end up with a flimsy facade of presumed insiders and outsiders. By the vacuous standards of fashion, insiders and outsiders are necessary — but in the realm of travel (where, by definition, you are always a guest in foreign places) such a distinction is ridiculous.”

Daniel J. Boorstin:

“The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes “sight-seeing.”"

G.K. Chesterton:

“The traveler sees what he sees.  The tourist sees what he has come to see.”

Russell Baker:

“The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist.”

Gary Langer, from Transitions Abroad magazine, Vol. 1, #1 (1977):

“Tourists are those who bring their homes with them wherever they go, and apply them to whatever they see… Travelers leave home at home, bringing only themselves and a desire to see and hear and feel and take in and grow and learn.”

Posted by Stephen Bugno for the Traveler’s Desk

Voice your opinion in the comments below:

By Stephen Bugno

Fishing boats in Varkala, India

Although they’re situated on four different continents, these five beach towns are hard to beat for the low-budget independent traveler.

What makes a great beach? I’m thinking small towns or villages, low-budget guesthouses or bungalows on or near the beach, good local food, relaxed vibes, and great sand and water in a striking natural setting.

These are places you could end up staying a week without realizing it. And your conscious will be clean because your dollars are going into the local economy and you can have a good time without excessive hedonism.

Tarabin, Sinai, Egypt

Just north of Nuweiba on the Sinai Peninsula is a strip of cafes and guesthouses called Tarabin. I stayed at Soft Beach because it was recommended to me. This place is hard to beat: little bungalows close to the sand for $3 per night, calm water for wading into the Red Sea, and a hut where meals are served any time of day.  These are not Arabs running the hospitality businesses in Tarabin, but rather the Bedouin. They have relaxed views in general, will serve beer, and traditionally cater mostly towards the influx of young Israelis on holiday. But it’s not crowded. Since the 2004 bombings here, many of the small businesses on this crescent-shaped beach have been squeezed as dry as the craggy, arid mountains that loom behind.

A nearby alternative:  Although it’s chock-a-block full of backpackers, Dahab is still hard to beat for outstanding diving, snorkeling, budget accommodation, eating establishments, and basic traveler needs. Check it out just to compare, as long as you’re in the mood to rub shoulders with your fellow foreign travelers.

Soft Beach in Tarabin, Egypt

Varkala, India

This is a beautiful cliff-top village in Kerala, on the southwest coast of India. Papanasam Beach is actually the place you want, three miles from the Varkala train station. It’s also a Hindu place of pilgrimage as well, so you can witness devotees paying homage to the site where they’ve been coming since the 12th century. The guesthouses, small hotels, and cafes spread thinly along a trail at the top of the precipice overlooking the crashing Indian Ocean. Restaurants display the days catch for passers-by and will cook the fish up anyway you like. The further north you walk, the beach is less congested with tourists and more local fishermen hang out. Their thatched boats sit up on the beach.

A nearby alternative: At Kovalam, an hour and a half to the south, there are a few top-notch beaches; but the area has been criticized recently for being overcrowded and over-developed.

Castara, Tobago

Castara is a chilled-out fishing village with a few guesthouses and cafes. The beach is set under a jungle-clad mountain. The cool thing about Castara is that it’s a real fishing village which would subsist without tourism. The snorkeling is fine, the beach is even finer, and there are no touts to bother you. Once a week, a local bar has a live steel-pan band, dinner, dancing, and all you can drink rum punch.

A nearby alternative: A few miles north is Englishman’s bay, a sweet day-use beach with no permanent facilities. Check out Charlottesville, even further north, for a bigger town, more beaches and guesthouses.

Sagres, Portugal

Sagres is a nondescript small town on the far southwest corner of Portugal. However, it’s got four outstanding beaches practically surrounding the town. I bumped into a few German surfers living out of their Volkswagon van for the week and plenty of other Europeans that moved to the area for the outstanding weather, beautiful cliffs, and economy that makes Portugal the cheapest destination in western Europe. Check out the sheltered, south-facing Praia de Mareta for bathing, Praia do Martinhal for windsurfing, the wild Praia do Tonel for surfing, and Praia de Belixe for a stunning setting under cliffs.

An alternative: About an hour and a half to the east, Tavira is a river-side town, a ten-minute ferry ride away from the Ilha de Tavira—an island with a 14km stretch of dune-backed beaches without a hotel in sight.

Ko Samet, Thailand

Ko Samet is a small, quiet island with beautiful white sand beaches. Not renowned for its parties (as with other Thai beach resorts), it is an extremely relaxed place to chill out for a while. Most of Ko Samet is part of Khao Laem Ya and Mu Ko Samet National Park. One of its advantages is being situated within easy reach of Bangkok. I didn’t have the means to reach the beaches of southern Thailand, but this is a great alternative to those. Spend your days eating pineapple or papaya in the sun and wading into the shallow blue-green water for a dip to cool off.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.

By Stephen Bugno

They told me the gunfire only rings out at night. But this morning, after sunrise, I woke up to loud clashes across town in the Al Ein refugee camp and the upheaval continued until 11am. Then we checked the internet for the story: Ma’an News reported that one Israeli soldier and an 18-year-old Palestinian youth were killed.  The Israelis blocked the entrances to the camp, so the Palestinian died before an ambulance could get inside.

Children in Nablus

The day before, on the bus ride from Ramallah, I was befriended by the man in the seat behind me. He pointed out all the Israeli settlements along the way.

“That’s my land,” he shouts. Mahmood is fuming, but somehow contains his anger.

The settlements are secure, self-contained towns, built of similar looking houses, usually located on the crest of the hills. Unlike Palestinian villages, settlements have priority access over water and electricity. The settlers also have their own newly-paved highways.

For an hour and a half we crawl over the decaying old roads in our aged, beat-up bus. We navigate around terraced, olive tree covered hills, passing Palestinian villages as well. They are older, employ more natural looking building materials and blend in with the rocky dry landscape of the Holy Land.

We get held up at each checkpoint. A single file line of cars, share taxis, and buses wait. These checkpoints and settlements are what infuriate the Palestinians most. But no one gets upset today, even as we sit sweating, the hot afternoon sun beating on us through the windows.

Finally we arrive at Hawara checkpoint, the last one before Nablus. One by one we walk through metal gates and show our passports, guns pointed directly at us. We are shuffled like cattle in a slaughterhouse. This is a twice daily routine here and can add up to two or three hours to an already long commute to work.

A Palestinian village in the West Bank

Nablus is located in the northern part of the West Bank and is contained inside of a zone called Area A. Here Palestinians have the privilege of administering and policing themselves. But because the checkpoints restrict access, it is basically an open-air prison.

Once in Nablus, I meet Hakim in a share taxi. A circus clown by trade, he had been performing in Jerusalem for the past few years. He tells me he’s now blacklisted and no longer allowed to leave Area A. His distant cousin has just been identified as a rebel by Israeli intelligence.

Nablus is a center of Palestinian resistance in the Occupied Territories and given the frequency of incursions by the Israeli Defense Force it is regarded by some as a dangerous place to live. But in reality it is most dangerous for insurgents or militia men or those unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire in the refugee camps. A nighttime curfew helps to minimize casualties.

The nights in Nablus are quiet at first: a clear contrast from the typical bustle of Arab cities I witnessed in Egypt and Syria. No one here is out past midnight. I peer out from the third story window of our house. Nablus is built in a valley and stretches up onto both hills. From here I have a good vantage point to witness the stillness of night and the glow of the city under yellow street lamps.

Some nights there are incursions. When the gunfire starts, the dogs start barking, and the cocks start crowing.

Tonight I wake and rise from bed to watch the fireworks across the city: flashes startle my not-yet-adjusted eyes and tank blasts thunder my consciousness. After 15 minutes I can’t watch anymore and return to bed and lie awake.

My roommate, already here one week, has slept through the whole thing.

Stephen Bugno made his way from Istanbul to Cairo during a six-month overland trip in 2007, stopping for a month to volunteer in the West Bank. Since surviving these nights in Nablus, he has been living the life of a nomad: teaching abroad, traveling, and writing. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Transitions Abroad.

By Jett Thomason

One of the oddest relics of the breakup of the Soviet Union is the Transdniester Moldovan Republic, known locally as Pridnistrovia. As part of the ethnic gerrymandering in the Soviet Union, Moscow added a Russian and Ukrainian populated slice of land on the eastern bank of the Dniester River to the original Moldovan Soviet Republic. This was part of a larger policy of diluting ethnic concentrations in all of the republics to weaken any indigenous nationalism. The majority of the factories and profitable industries were located in this section of Moldova (populated by more loyal Slavic citizens).

Lenin statue in Transnistria

Once the Soviet Union broke apart, the Moldovans began to vigorously exert their control of government to insist on the official use of the Romanian language in all aspects of official and commercial dealings. The Slavic region of Prinistrovia declared independence and fought a small war in 1992. The 14th Russian army supplied their ethnic kinsmen with weapons and a ceasefire has held since then, though both sides wage a cold war of sorts with various economic sanctions that have halted almost all commerce between the two sides.

The result has been an extremely unusual arrangement. Prinistrovia has issued its own rubles, maintains an army, issues passports and is essentially an independent country. A continuing Russian military presence has kept the peace between the two sides. As with most political problems, it is the local people who suffer. Most of them have juggled Russian, Prinistrovian, Ukrainian, and Moldovan passports in order to travel abroad. Considering the extremely small size of the country, traveling abroad usually involves a trip of less than an hour. Meanwhile, ethnic Slavs from Prinistrovia have to deal with unofficial hostility in Moldova and Moldovans deal with the same in Prinistrovia.

The US Embassy doesn’t maintain any presence and is far from enthusiastic about Americans traveling there. Moldovans in Chisinau assured me that in addition to the armed men I would find on the street, the local police would shake me down for bribes on every corner and I’d be lucky to make it without landing in the local KGB interrogation room. Naturally I had to go see for myself.

Arriving at the international border the immigration officers made about a dozen phone calls to authorize my entry. They gave me a bit of a drilling as to the purpose of my journey but were friendly enough and finally gave me a registration document to keep with my passport during my stay.

Despite my cautious welcome, I spent a great weekend in this country that doesn’t officially exist. Once the locals got over the shock of seeing an American everyone was very welcoming and hospitable. A very warm and friendly family whose daughter had been an exchange student in Iowa was kind enough to host me over the weekend.

Prinistrovia has preserved many of the communist organs of government. A large statue of Lenin stands in front of the Supreme Soviet building, the Communist Party publishes a daily Pravda and the streets all have their original soviet names unchanged. These communist trappings lie right alongside the president’s sons’ local business monopoly named “Sheriff”. Sheriff owns the local casinos, all the local sporting teams and betting parlors, the supermarkets, and has a controlling share in every viable enterprise. Underlying the outward polish and modern facades to these enterprises is the unspoken reality that the members of government and their relatives have profited tremendously from the “independence” status quo and that the full force of the state is brought to bear against any competitors.

I had a chance to meet some of the most talented English-speaking high school seniors from the capital, Tiraspol. They all wanted to study in Ukraine or Russia. The state university had previously been just a teacher’s college. Even though additional faculties had been added on post-independence, it was not at the same standard as a university in Odessa or Moscow. A few of the student’s parents had fought in the short conflict and not a single one of them wanted to study in Moldova or identified with the Romanian culture just across the river.

I made my way back to Moldova. It only took fifteen minutes to get through the checkpoints on the return. Moldovan officials maintain that visitors to Prinistrovia are still within Moldova so the customs are much less onerous. It’s an odd arrangement and neither side seems willing to budge. As a result, the people of Prinistrovia will most likely continue to deal with the burden of finding their homes on the wrong side of international, cultural and historical boundaries.

After teaching English in Uzbekistan from 2002- 2004, Jett Thomason set off to visit the rest of the republics of the former Soviet Union. Since then, he’s worked in Afghanistan and Iraq and traveled extensively throughout Asia and Europe. He is currently pursuing a masters degree in public policy from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

By Stephen Bugno

First, what exactly do you mean by the “the backpacker’s scene”?

We’ve all been there. The crowded hostels of Europe. The well-beaten path along the Turkish coast. Khao San Road or Jalan Jaksa’s traveler’s ghettos. You’re getting tired of spending so much money to be so far away from home only to fritter away much of your time drinking and talking your next travel move with other western backpackers.

A sheep hearder in rural Kazakhstan

Getting beyond the backpacker’s scene is getting off the well-trodden path. It’s taking the path lesser traveled. It’s losing sleep, taking chances, having more encounters. It’s moving out of your comfort zone.

So how do I get beyond the backpacker’s scene?

Choose your destination wisely.

Don’t go to the Greek Isles during the summer. Go to Kyrgyzstan instead. You want to lose the tourists and even other travelers as well? You want fewer backpackers? Don’t linger in Bangkok. You want to actually have to use your phrase book? Go to Mongolia or the Republic of Georgia or Syria. If you do end up going to Florence in the high season, you’re going to have to get creative in order to circumvent the hordes of retired American tourists and generate a unique travel experience for yourself.

Ditch your guidebook.

I know it sounds like a drastic measure to take, but guidebooks do a good job of keeping all of us tucked snugly in at friendly Mohammed’s hotel in Amman. It points us in the direction of that delectable, authentic, and inexpensive café downtown that all the German’s are eating at. Remember how you met that couple from New Zealand in Damascus and ran into them again in Cairo a month later?

Bring a tent and sleeping bag.

Camping in Nagorno Karabakh

When you carry a tent, you have a place to sleep wherever you are at the end of the day. Especially in a place like Norway, which has a law that allows you to camp freely in the wilderness. Even when this law doesn’t exist, many times you can get away with setting up your tent just out of sight. Traveling with a sleeping bag allows you the opportunity to crash at a bus or train station or even in a city park if need be. Often times when locals see your desperation, they’re more likely to invite you home.

Don’t plan so much.

Not having a strict plan allows for improvisation in your trip. Allow spontaneous decisions to come to life. Go home with people you just met. Stay an extra day at your new friend’s apartment. The most memorable part of your travels are usually those unplanned.

Get online.

Cycling around Copenhagen with a Dane

Sometimes planning is good. Sign up and use a web site that connects travelers with locals. Try Couch Surfing or Hospitality Club to keep you to stay away from hotels and hostels and into the homes of locals. Then you’ll be walking in residential neighborhoods you wouldn’t normally be in and riding bus routes that tourists don’t usually ride. Your hosts know the best places to get coffee, pizza, or kimchi. And these nice people will most likely introduce you to their friends. You all of a sudden know 12 people in Cork and you just arrived.

Get on the bus.

Carry a good map. Ride to the outskirts of the city. Get off the bus. Walk. Throw away your map. Don’t worry about getting lost. Someone will help you find your way back.

Don’t always take reliable or quick transportation.

Cancel your domestic flights. See the countryside the way it’s meant to be seen. Don’t take the inter-city express bus. Get on the pueblo bus. You might lose some sleep, but you’ll be riding next to Guillermo the farmer and his newly hatched chicks while stopping in every village between Porto and Madrid.

Stick up your thumb.

Don’t listen to those naysayers who tell you it’s dangerous. Sure it can be, but so can taking the bus or flying. People like company in their cars. Stand on the on-ramp, put your pack in front of you, and take off your sunglasses. Stay positive. Before you know it, you’ll be in Bordeaux and will have met several French people that you may or may not have understood a single word with.

Get out to the countryside and small towns.

Show up in a town that has nothing of touristic interest. You will actually meet a local. The conversation with babushka might start by her asking why in God’s name you have come here. Don’t do a whirlwind tour of the European capitals. Sure, visit Moscow, but ramble through a string of Russian towns that you will never remember the names of.

Stay a while.

If this technically moves out of the realm of traveling and into vagabonding, so be it. Linger to absorb the local culture. Organize a few weeks exchange in Switzerland using Help Exchange. Volunteer on an organic farm in New Zealand with WWOOF. Teach English in Madrid or rural China. Take a cooking course in Thailand or study meditation or yoga in India. Do a long-distance walk or pilgrimage. Do a cycle tour of Nova Scotia.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag and blog at Bohemian Traveler.

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by Stephen Bugno

“When you’ve found heaven on earth, why go anywhere else?” We were standing outside of a small guest house, just steps from the beach, in the village of Castara. It was 10pm and with no reservation we were deciding how many nights to book for. “This is our sixth time here in the last four years,” continued Catherine, a middle-aged English vacationer, promoting this village on the northern coast of Tobago as if she was raised here.

Castara's beach

Respectful of her opinion, I needed to decide for myself if this was the perfect beach. We booked for three nights.

In the morning we saw just what kind of place Castara is—a village where everyone knows each others name and tourists aren’t obnoxious. Castara has no resorts, big hotels, or fancy restaurants. What it does have are small, reasonably-priced guesthouses and locals that rent out extra rooms. It has relaxed cafés on the beach. It’s the kind of place where you can help fishermen haul the seine, or fishing net filled with the day’s catch.

Castara has it all

Relax, play, eat, and practice steel drums. A supremely laid-back place, you can sit on the beach in Castara without getting harassed by touts. The only person to interrupt your sleep in the sun is the man with the portable steel-pan drums who offers a lesson for about $4. My travel companion was playing Amazing Grace within five minutes.

The snorkeling is outstanding. While my newly acquainted South African friend saw rays, I spotted lots of colorful fish, an eel, and stunning brain coral. Don’t have snorkeling equipment? Don’t worry; you can rent some from King David Tours for about $6 per 24-hour period.

For dinner, Margarite’s in the center of the village serves up flavorful Tobagonian fare at honest prices (mains $10-12). Besides the chicken, pork and goat offered, there is always the catch of the day. We had the dolphin-fish with ginger vegetables and the local favorite, macaroni pie. Wash it all down with a ginger beer.

For some, the biggest attraction to Castara is its gorgeous palm-fringed beach. The blue-green waters of the bay and jungle-clad hillside above town make the setting incredible. You can’t go wrong spending a whole day lying on the beach or swimming in the warm water.

A unique feature of Castara’s beach is the Boboshanty. Here Rudi and his wife offer relaxing herbal steam baths and massages (from $40-50) right from their wooden shed on the beach.

A real village

What may surprise you is that Castara is a real village. Its economy is centered on fishing and agriculture and only recently has tourism played a larger role. The tourists seem to be temporary members of Castaran life, rather than hedonistic holidaymakers. Attracting a mix of ages from the UK and the rest of Europe as well as Australia and the U.S., they’ll be lined up next to locals at the fisherman’s co-op to purchase the day’s catch.

Whenever a catch comes in, folks gather around the co-op. It’s located on the edge of the beach where the only road in town dead-ends at the sand. As its real estate suggests, it’s the most significant place in Castara. We looked on as the bare-chested fisherman scaled and cut up the huge kingfish, oblivious to the blood splashing everywhere.

Where are you liming tonight?

This popular local phrase addresses one of the more important aspects of daily life: socializing. To lime is to stand in the street or at a bar simply talking with your friends.

Once a week, a local bar has a live steel-pan band, dinner, and all you can drink rum punch for $25 a head. After the band, some locals informally break out the African drums. And by the time you have finished your Tobagonian shark or Creole shrimp, and many rum punches, everyone is dancing to the current Soca hits. Needless to say, it’s the place to lime on Wednesdays.

It seems unlikely that Castara will develop into a resort area anytime soon and lose its attractive small-town local-life flavor.

We spent the rest of our trip circling the island, enjoying just about everyplace we went. But there is something special about Castara. Its beautiful setting, local hospitality, and decidedly laid-back feel make it the best place to relax for an independent, low-budget week in the Caribbean.

Tobago is one of the most overlooked and best value destinations in the Caribbean. It is cheaper than other Caribbean Islands and is not geared toward package tourism, making it ideal for independent travelers. With a trip to Tobago you are almost guaranteed a travel experience that will have you chatting with dreadlocked fisherman, dancing in the street with a cold beer, and putting your tourist dollars into the local economy.

by Stephen Bugno

Despite the Algarve’s reputation as an over-developed holiday destination for Northern Europeans, there are a few gems—unspoiled, laid-back, small towns with adequate, reasonably-priced accommodation and fantastic beaches.

Tavira

Although technically a river town situated on both sides of the Rio Gilao, Tavira is a ten-minute ferry ride away from the Ilha de Tavira—an island with a 14km stretch of dune-backed beaches without a hotel in sight. The town itself is very attractive with a few sites of its own, and plenty of accommodation and restaurants, bars, and cafes. Located about 20km from the Spanish border, it’s a fine spot to use as a base while exploring the coast of the eastern Algarve: place such as Cacela Velha, Manta Rota, Altura, and Praia Verde.

Sagres

On the far southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, Sagres is surrounded by four superb beaches. Although not necessarily an overly charming town, it is pleasant enough and has the necessities to keep the family, surfer, or backpacker content. The sheltered, south-facing Praia de Mareta is great place for bathing, Praia do Martinhal for windsurfing, the wild Praia do Tonel for surfing, and Praia de Belixe for an absolutely stunning setting under cliffs. A couple outfits in town offer surfing lessons as well.

Carrapateira

North from Sagres, along the untamed Atlantic, sits the small town of Carrapateira. Located on the hillside about a kilometer inland, it has adequate budget guesthouses and plenty of private rooms for rent. From here you have access to two fine beaches with incredible surf baked by beautiful sand dunes. In town there’s a surf school which many come here especially to do.

Odeceixe

Four kilometers upstream from a beautiful beach where the Odeceixe River empties into the sea, the town with the same name is built upon the hill. A haven for campervanners, backpackers, surfers, and families alike, the Praia de Odeceixe is a wide, sandy beach with excellent, mild-temperature-water swimming. The gorgeous, cultivated, river-valley setting only complements the calm atmosphere of this community. Zambujeira do Mar Although located in Alentejo, Zambujeira do Mar has much in common with the surf spots of the Algarve. Set atop a cliff, the attractive whitewashed village looks down to a strikingly picturesque beach surrounded on both sides by protected coastline. Zambujeira is a quiet place to relax for days on end, enjoying seafood or drinks at outdoor cafes and restaurants. Every summer it hosts the huge “Festival do Sudoeste” music festival, which attracts big names in the music world and an alternative, laid-back crowd.

Vila Nova de Milfontes

Understandably, Vila Nova de Milfontes is a popular place, though it remains unspoiled. The beaches here are the main draw at this typical Alentejo resort, located about 30km north of Zambujeira. Sandy spots face the open ocean as well as those strung out along the calm, warmer, estuary waters attracting families and independent travelers throughout the summer months. Vila Nova de Milfontes is a great place to sample the outstanding cuisine that Alentejo has to offer, enjoying the small-town atmosphere while al fresco dining.

Stephen Bugno has been traveling and teaching English abroad for the better part of ten years. His articles and essays have appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, and Transitions Abroad magazine. He edits the Gomad Nomad Travel Mag.