| GoNOMAD February 2003 Newsletter |
Here's
what you can find on GoNOMAD.com today…
New Stories added this month:
destinations
My friend and host Haemee asked me "Is there anything particular you would like to see on your trip to Seoul?". Knowing my interest in history and art, I suspect she was expecting me to mention the Changdeokgung Palace, the National Museum or one of the many beautiful Temples and shrines as desired sights on my Seoul itinerary. I tentatively sent my reply by email, "Haemee, what I would really like to visit is the DMZ". Having heard years ago that visits to "The DMZ", the Demilitization Zone between North and South Korea was a possible excursion for visitors to Seoul, this trip to visit my old friend and her new husband seemed like an opportune time to fulfill this unusual travel ambition. Continue story
Delightful Ascoli--"Like Tuscany 30 years ago"
The moonlight reflects off the travertine marble pavement,smooth as a skating rink, onto the Piazza del Popalo (people's plaza). The low lights of the ancient buildings and arcades that encircle the plaza are dimmed by the glow from above the Apennine Mountains. My table at the Café Meletti (used by Fredrico Fellini in several films) provides a backdrop unfound on 18 previous trips to Italy. The words of my hostess Antonella Valentini, the director of Academia Italia, also reflect through my mind. "Ascoli Piceno has no Uffizi, leaning tower, statue of David. No worldwide destination craved by busses carrying camera-clicking tourists. What we do have is a wonderful mixture of history, culture and traditions". As I sit here on my late night arrival, what Ascoli does offer is evident; a passage back in time. Before I head to my lodgings, I toast Chris Cote from Language Studies Abroad for sharing another gem to explore. Continue story
We cross the Mekong and step back thirty years. The modern two lane highway with giant billboards selling fast food and instant beauty stops at the Thai end of the Friendship bridge to be replaced on the Lao side with a pot-holed, ill-defined, dusty road lined with concrete warehouses and dingy, crowded, wooden markets. Instead of brand-new pick-ups and SUV's there are ancient jeeps, belching buses and swarming motorcycles. The girls and women shopping in the markets are wearing blouses and the pa-sin, a traditional long wrap worn like a skirt, rather than jeans and t-shirts. And everything slows down….
Alternatives
A
Guide to Study Abroad: Careful
planning and research can yield
opportunities that you'll never forget.
If you are interested in taking your college experience to another level, why not consider studying abroad? The benefits of studying abroad are immeasurable, and will allow doors of opportunities to fly open considering your academic, cultural, professional and social itineraries. Experience overseas makes you more independent, provides personal growth and gives you an appreciation of cultural differences –all while enhancing your resume. Prospective employers, along with graduate schools and scholarship committees, realize how valuable international experience is. continue story
features
LORD OF THE RINGS tourism hits New Zealand
The star of the LORD OF THE RINGS film trilogy is not a hobbit, wizard,or
reluctant king. It's not Kiwi director Peter Jackson or his special effects
team. No, the star -- with no acting required -- is New Zealand. New Zealand
tourist officials jokingly billed their nation as "Best Supporting
Country" shortly after THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS won an Oscar for
cinematography. The small Pacific nation provided about 150 locations
for the films, including the provincial Hobbit-inhabited Shire, foreboding
mountains of Mordor, and elven strongholds of Rivendell and Lothlorien.
The entire country seemed to get into the act, with a Wellington cricket
crowd of 30,000 bellowing like orcs for the soundtrack, and hundreds of
Kiwi extras cheerfully donning prosthetic ears and hair to participate
as orcs and urak-hai of Middle-earth. Continue
story
A
Korean Bathhouse
Experience: You've Never Been This Clean!
Ulsan, Korea--I'd been to a bathhouse twice before. I just wash, shave
my legs, (as my apt is too cold) and I settle into one of the two hot
tubs to enjoy the heat and the experience. The Korean women spend vast
amounts of time meticulously scrubbing every part of their bodies. I've
seen women get massages from the "agimas" (older ladies who
work there). My body had been sore lately because of my Hapkido classes
so today I decided I would check out the massage thing. I lay naked on
the padded table surrounded by steam and naked bathing Korean women. I
could hear the steady babble of Korean with the occasional child's scream
when he or she got some soap in their eyes. The agima came and gave me
a face scrub; she then applied some grape scented oil to my face followed
by beaten egg whites.
Continue
story
Lodgings
To
the Manor Born: Lording
it in Portugal's Grand Manor Houses
For many people the thought of Portugal only conjures up images of beaches,
golf, port wine and endless sardines. But the country has far more to
offer, especially its undiscovered northern Minho region which is dotted
with towns and carpeted by vineyards, and where a visit to the Peneda-Gerês
National Park can reveal glimpses of ancient lifestyles which have changed
little for centuries. Minho was once one of the favorite places
for wealthy Portuguese to build their manor houses, and these grand estates
still dominate large areas of the landscape. Many have recently been restored
to their former glory and opened as high quality accommodation where visitors
can luxuriate in the rural highlife as guests of aristocratic families
who have owned these estates and their grand houses for generations if
not centuries. Continue
story
travel desk
You can ask
us travel questions and we'll find you the answers you need
Market-New
Travel Books We Recommend
Cuba
Diaries: An American Housewife in Cuba. Read
an excerpt from this wonderful book about life and hardships in today's
Cuba
The National Park Service Camping Guide--available
only through the U.S. Park Service, this new book provides detailed information
on 440 campgrounds and 25,000 camping sites found in all 118 National
Park Service areas that offer camping. Not available in stores or on Amazon.
Order by calling the National Park Society at 800-578-1883 or mail check
or money order to 5335 Whip Trail, Colorado Springs, CO 80917. $12.95
plus $3.00 shipping. 256 pages.
If
you would like to suggest a new travel book to excerpt on GoNOMAD, email
us.
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