Essays, Stories, and Notes from the Road
The Audi A4 screamed down the Autobahn at more than 120 miles per hour, punching a tunnel through the early morning mist that coated the Bavarian countryside. With each minute we were a couple miles closer to four days of hiking in the Austrian Alps. Curiously, of the three Germans and one American writer in […]
Clear Skies and Hefeweizen Haze: Hiking in the Austrian Alps Read More »
Introducing: Kyrgyzstan’s Alpinad Festival Out of my tent and onto the trail at 05:00, the mountains of Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Archa National Park look somehow less imposing before the sun rises fully to illuminate the top of ‘Young Communists’ Peak nearly 6500ft above. Despite my pre-dawn enthusiasm, I’m quickly put in my place as one after another
Introducing: Kyrgyzstan's Alpinad Festival Read More »
The basement of Belgrade’s G Hostel was dingy, cold, and walled by cement and rough plaster. The beer pong table was lit up with lasers and black lights. We passed it and found a room the size of a solitary confinement cell, maybe six feet by 10, where on ratty futons sprawled two sunken-eyed boys
Editor’s Note: The follow story about Patpong contains language and sexual content that some readers might find offensive. Although we typically don’t publish these types of stories at GoMad Nomad, I thought it was important to show the “other” side of travel and a peek into the realm of sex tourism. If you don’t want
Finding the Bang in Bangkok: A Night in Patpong Read More »
It’s a curious thing, gold. It seems to drive people mad. I mean, stark-raving, cowered down on all fours digging through dirt to get at it, mad. A single cry of “there’s gold in them there hills” is enough to attract a circus of the desperate, exploited and downright greedy. Countless numbers have succumbed to
Black Gold – A Brazilian Story (from Ouro Preto) Read More »
We hadn’t slept longer than an hour when the disinterested, pale-shirted, tired-eyed Chinese airport security guard padded over and shook us awake. I knew immediately that our plan had failed. When you travel like this, very rarely do things go as expected. Flustered by interrupted sleep at 1:30 a.m. and a lack of any Chinese
Kyoto, Japan – The Romance and Reality Kyoto, Japan. Mere mention of the name here in Tokyo brings out the capital’s overworked, underpaid and constantly knackered work force into a beaming soliloquy about tradition and romance. Spared of World War II bombs and home to some two thousand temples and shrines, this is a city
Kyoto, Japan – The Romance and Reality Read More »
By Luke Maguire Armstrong My little brother and I met Leroy in New Orleans on a corner just off Bourbon Street. By that time our busking duo had swelled to include Cass, A Brit touring the USA to “prove that not all Americans were stupid,” three local street musicians, and a bearded man in a checkered
Happily Homeless In New Orleans Read More »
The Soviet fossils in Ashgabat are strewn over the surface of daily life here. One in particular is the bukhanka. This is the Russian word for “loaf”, as in “loaf of bread”. However, the word is used as a standard sort of measure of the state-subsidized and state-produced bread that fills a lot of
Letters from Ashgabat: Feeding Turkmenistan's Capital Read More »
Turkmenistan visas are not for the faint of heart. With the exception of a few intrepid overlanders who take advantage of an oddly liberal three-day transit visa, getting into the country is not easy. Either one comes in a very expensive tourist visa package or one comes sponsored by an international business or organization. As
Letters from Ashgabat–Landing in Turkmenistan's Capital Read More »
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