Western Wall, Jerusalem Here Jews are praying at the Western Wall, also called Wailing Wall, in the old city of Jerusalem. The retaining wall and sole remnant of Herod’s Second Temple has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, perhaps as far back as the 4th century. The Western Wall Plaza, the large …
Photo of the Week: Mongolian Roads Mongolian Roads. About 15 miles outside of Ulaanbaatar, we made a sharp left turn off the main two-lane highway and started off-roading it in our Russian van south to the Gobi Desert. For another six days we wouldn’t see another paved road. Part of the attraction of driving to …
In Honor of International Worker’s Day, here is one of the ubiquitous public mosaics that once adorned buildings and public spaces across the whole of the Soviet Union, many still remaining to this day. Although there has been a trend over the past decade or so to remove some of these monuments and other artistic …
Visit Tokyo on a Tight Budget By Katherine Whatley To a foreigner, Tokyo conjures up images of kimono, sky scrapers, Godzilla and crazy fashions. A city with a great vibe, it’s somewhere that any self respecting tourist should visit once. But let’s face it, Tokyo is expensive. It’s easier to spend more and more money …
Mumbai Victoria Terminus One of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen, the Mumbai Victoria Terminus train station stands as a glorious testament to 19th century architecture in this city of nearly 14 million people. It has been renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. The famous landmark, built in the Gothic style, was designed by Frederick William …
Tash Rabat Caravansarai, Kyrgyzstan We took the road south out of At-Bashi immediately passing a huge animal bazaar. Our Kyrgyz driver carefully weaved his way through the cows and horses being led across the main road. We continued, overtaking huge 18-weelers full of Soviet scrap metal, lined up miles before the Torugart Pass border, the …
Photo of the Week: Tash Rabat Caravansarai, Kyrgyzstan Read More »
My alarm clock goes off at five. It’s been about four hours since I fell asleep. I’ve woken up to go to the early-morning festivities for a neighborhood circumcision ceremony which is locally and collectively referred to as one of several Uzbek “weddings”. I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small provincial town in Uzbekistan for more than a year now. The people of my town are exceedingly friendly and known to be the most festive in the country. If there’s a wedding to go to, it will be a neighbor of mine pouring the vodka and cracking jokes for the table.
In this world there are mountain people and there are beach people. This one is for the mountain people and for the mountain people who don’t know they’re mountain people. There aren’t a lot of chances to live in an honest-to-God Himalayan village these days. Here’s one: Village Environment Community Gangkharka (VEC), a small NGO with a long name.
Ramadan is entering its final week and the holy day of Eid is beginning. The people here in Kandahar are much more observant of the traditions of Islam than anywhere else I’ve been. The fast is a true one, no drinking of water, eating of food, or smoking is allowed during the daylight hours. People go to work, but every thing tends to trickle off into just a drizzle of activity by late afternoon. However, like any generalization the individual experience is much more different.
I had been trying to see the interesting sites that get neglected when you actually live in a historical place. My most recent touristy visit was to a minaret in the nearby town of Shiforkan…
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