| Around the Globe on GoNOMAD |
As usual, our stories this month come from all around the world, to give you travel suggestions that you can use for your next trip, no matter where you live and how far you want to travel.
Ayurvedic massage. Photo by Margie
Goldsmith. |
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Max Hartshorne hikes one of Australia's most scenic trails from Apollo Bay to the Twelve Apostles and skis three of Utah's lesser-known ski resorts, Margie Goldsmith writes about a blissful week of Ayurvedic treatments in Sri Lanka, and Shelley Seale tells the inspiring story of Ponheary Ly, who survived Cambodia's killing fields and now runs a foundation to help children around Siem Reap.
Pilar Quintana and Conor McShannon write about their idyllic botanical garden on Colombia's Pacific Coast, Esha Samajpati finds a real dinosaur bone in Montana, Tristan Cano writes about the splendor of Malaga, Spain, and Roman Skaskiw takes us to Ukraine's first ski resort in the Carpathian Mountains.
Dennis Lid writes about the return of the Baja Boys to Mexico's Baja Peninsula after 38 years, Lauren Manuel takes a scenic train ride on Cape Town's communter railroad and Simon Glassock writes about cross-country skiing in the Rondane Mountains of Norway.
Gary Singh meets five mayors in Baja California, Mexico, which is a lot safer than you've probably heard, Shelley Rotner writes about Seattle, one of America's greenest cities, and Nicole Sobel reviews ten handy travel gadgets..
All and all, it's just another month of top-notch travel writing on GoNOMAD! |
Stories published in March 2011, on GoNOMAD:
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Australia's Great Ocean Walk: Victoria's Magnificent Trail
I flew to Australia in February to take a walk -- a very long walk. My hike was on a trail that could easily be called the finest stretch of track in the southern hemisphere. It's called the Great Ocean Walk, and it winds its way along the very bottom edge of the state of Victoria, 91 kilometers in all. The trail looks out on the Southern Ocean, somewhere far beyond Tazzy (Tasmania) lies the lonely, frozen continent of Antarctica... |
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How Ponheary Ly Emerged from Cambodia's Killing Fields
At the age of 14, Ponheary Ly died and came back to life. At least, that’s how she describes it. The year was 1977, and the Khmer Rouge was on its deadly rampage in Cambodia. After seeing her father killed, along with 13 other family members, Ly was on the run and in hiding when some soldiers accused her of stealing food. They marched her deep into the woods and forced her to dig her own grave...
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Ayurvedic Treatment in Sri Lanka: A Week of Bliss
I am at the Ayurveda Paragon a wellness hotel on the southern end of Sri Lanka where I’ve come to recuperate from an exhausting three-week business trip in Vietnam. I plan to eat healthy food, hang out on the beach, and try the Ayurvedic cure. Ayurveda, which has been practiced in India for 5,000 years (and in Sri Lanka for 2,500 years), is said to cure all ailments including Parkinson’s, arthritis, migraines, back pain, asthma, allergies, and diabetes... |
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La Manigua Botanic Garden: The Beauty and Mystery of Colombia’s Pacific Coast
Manigua’ is one of the Spanish words for jungle. It doesn’t refer to just any jungle, though. Somehow it evokes a dark, mysterious and unconquered one. The kind of jungle you’d expect to find in the Romantic novels, in a Joseph Conrad saga where men struggle for survival in the harsh wilderness. When we arrived in La Manigua we thought the name was appropriate. Colombia’s Pacific Coast is one of the most dramatic places on earth... |
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Montana’s Northern Tier: Dinosaurs, Diners and Drag Racing
Derived from the Spanish word for mountain, Montana is a state spanning a considerable portion of northwest America, yet only a third of the state is mountainous. While western Montana has established itself as a recreation hot spot, eastern Montana embodies the free spirit of the thirsty, windswept northern Great Plains. The big Montana sky, saloons with swinging doors, powwows, rodeos, square dances and cook-outs summed up my initial expectations... |
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Malaga, Spain: Roman Ruins, Moorish Castles, and Tapas Bars
Built on the site of a former Moorish stronghold, with a Cathedral (formerly the city’s main Mosque) at its heart, Malaga has all the hallmarks of a classical Andalucian city. Its city center has long outgrown the lines of the old Moorish city, though its walls remain largely in place and stretch down towards Malaga’s impressive coastline. The narrow passages of its old town are surrounded by a series of lively pedestrianized boulevards and shopping precincts... |
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Norway: Cross-Country Skiing in the Rondane Mountains
I first went to Sjusjøen in Norway to learn classic loipe (track) skiing, with a view to eventually going on off-track hut-to-hut tours, and I was immediately smitten by both the sport and the country. The basic technique of traditional cross-country skiing is so close to walking that if you can be trusted to put one foot in front of the other, even the most confirmed snow novice will be tramping happily along whispering trails in a relatively short space of time... |
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Snow Basin, Powder Mountain & Sundance: Three of Utah's Hidden Gems
Rich Koski is a perfect example of the kinds of people we met in Northern Utah. He wanted to move to a ski-friendly state from his native Michigan, and he took a road trip, contemplating a move to places he'd skied over the years. He began with Colorado, where he'd spent many years on nearly all of the resorts. Then he considered Utah, and Wyoming, and then a friend invited him to Snow Basin, located about 30 minutes north of Ogden, Utah... |
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Bukovel Resort: Skiing the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine
What interested me most about my recent visit to Bukovel, Ukraine's only major ski resort, was the rapid, uneven development of the resort and the region. Bukovel is located 240 km from L'viv, where I lived during my 2010-2011 Fulbright Scholarship. Before dawn on Saturday, we went to the statue of [Ukranian scholar and statesman] Mykhailo Hrushevski, where a private bus picked up all the skiers. Many L'viv residents make day trips, leaving at 4am and returning at 10 in the evening... |
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Biking the Baja Peninsula: "The Baja Boys" Return 38 Years Later
Back in 1971 it was a lot easier – the trip, that is. Tom Cullen was a good deal younger then, and it was the first time that he made a motorcycle trip down the Baja Peninsula with a friend named Gailerd Smith. Tom was 38 years old; Gailerd was 40. The two were hard-working businessmen looking for an escape. Their motive for going on the odyssey to Baja by motorcycle was simply to unwind, and the dirt-bike trip provided a means of stress relief... |
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Cape Town's Metrorail: False Bay to Simon's Town
The peninsula of Cape Town happens to be spectacular from any angle you may look at it. Hopping in your car and road tripping is one thing, taking a tour bus to all the most popular places is another, but actually using the public transport system of the train to see the bits of coast you can't reach with your car makes for a beautiful ride. One route that runs all the way from the inner city, along the coast is a lovely ride, especially if you’re doing it for fun and outside of peak hours... |
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Sustainable Seattle: Green Space and Local Produce
I flew into Seattle at the end of December, the month statistically known to have about twenty days of rain or snow. From the air on a cloudless day, the sun was illuminating the silver bays and inlets-giving shape to the land and islands beyond. Clearly visible were the Olympic Mountains to the west and the Cascades to the east. Adding to the drama, was Mt. Rainier, towering high above. The presence of nature was dramatic... |
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Baja California, Mexico: Nothing to Worry About
I probably didn’t need five mayors to tell me that Baja California presented no threat to American tourists, since it was obviously a safe place to haunt, but that’s exactly what transpired during a rainy weekend south of the border. Since scribes of a more sensationalistic ilk have recast drug cartel violence as if it regularly explodes on street corners everywhere, many tourists have simply stopped visiting Baja. As a result, the five mayors felt compelled to make their cases... |
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Lanzarote, Canary Islands: A Volcanic Dream
When Mario, my Spanish husband, asked which of the Canary islands I´d like to visit for a five-day getaway with our toddler, I didn´t hesitate. I´d only known Lanzarote, the most easterly of Spain´s seven major Canary islands, from its cameo appearance in Pedro Almodovar´s Los Abrazos Rotos, and its molten beauty lingered in my mind for days. Lanzarote, home of the 'mountains of fire' seemed the perfect antidote to the café-fueled crowds of Madrid, our home city... |
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Still More Handy Travel Gadgets From GoNOMAD.com
Traveling with gadgets that make traveling easier is always a plus when going across the country, or across the world. Travelers are often looking for gadgets to secure their belongings, entertain them on the trip, or help make their stay easier and less complicated when they actually arrive. I’ve compiled a few useful gadgets for travelers on the go that you can use while on your journey, or after you arrive... |
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