Month: June 2011

Taiwan

The Lantern Festival and So Much More   It was a warm and balmy February 28, sunny and 80 degrees when I arrived at Taipei’s International Airport, and I had just escaped the blizzard of the century back in New York.  I was here in Taiwan for the country’s annual … Read more

Short Stay in Kyoto

I considered Kyoto a one-day trip, planned to visit for two, and in the end stayed for three. The truth is though you could easily spend a week in this city three hundred miles southwest of Tokyo.  Kyoto is a fishbowl city, nestled in mountains on its West, North and … Read more

Sanya, China

Aloha Chinese inscriptions on ancient rock formations in the scenic Tianya Haijao or the “remotest corner of the  Earth” twenty kilometers from Sanya encapsulate the traditional belief that the world is in China and the country’s southernmost shore, the Hainan province, is in fact the end of the world. In … Read more

Dakar, Senegal

  A Vibrant Gateway to Africa Patience is a virtue in Dakar, Senegal’s seaside capital and a gateway to the rest of West Africa. But it is most always worth the wait. Dakar’s vibrant music scene (one of Senegal’s major exports) can be taken in on any night of the … Read more

Cairo, Egypt

  “Jesus, Sharif!” I yell from the backseat to my driver, pointing frantically to the pedestrian stepping blindly into the street.   “Relax, Mr. David,” Sharif stoically responds, to the mass of confusion that is unfolding in our path, “everything is under control.” I have my doubts as the jet-black Mercedes … Read more

Marrakech, Morocco

Morocco’s Mixed Bag   When American expat writer Paul Bowles wrote that travelers to Morocco “expect mystery and they find it,” he must have been thinking of Marrakech and the High Atlas Mountains that stand sentinel over it.  Morocco is only seven miles across the Straight of Gibraltar from Europe … Read more