Following the Ancient Silk Road to Hindu Kush

In a recent article frequent GoNOMAD contributor David Rich explores the Tajikistan Pamirs, a chain of the world’s highest mountains, ending at the Hindu Kush, spatially near to Osama Bin Ladin's cave hide out, but far from Rich's worries.
Enjoy the excerpt below:


My quarry was the Hindu Kush, the mighty mountain range famous for killing Hindus throughout the centuries, forming the glacial border spine between Pakistan and Afghanistan, clearly visible across the diminutive twelve mile (20 kilometer) width of Afghanistan from my vantage point in Tajikistan.

For three incredible days I explored ancient Silk Road Forts, Buddhist ruins and a hot spa full of naked Tajik men (truly the most dangerous moment of my mission), in all intervals viewing with awe the incredible killers of Hindus, the mighty peaks in close-by Pakistan and Afghanistan: peaks unnamed on my top-secret map, ranging from 7019 to 7340 and finally 7485 meters, which is many feet, the last totaling 24,557.

Truly this road constitutes the world’s most scenic 300 miles, rivaling and perhaps eclipsing my former nominee: the 300 miles from Gilgit, Pakistan (begin a few miles south at the base of Nanga Parbat, the world’s 9th highest peak) near six of the world’s 14 highest peaks (all those over 8000 meters), through Karimibad and Soss, over the Chinese border through Tashkurgan past Muztagata and Kongur Shan (both over 7500 meters) to Kashgar.

Costa Rica However You Please

Ethan Todras-Whitehill has a nice overview of Costa Rica's myriad travel opportunities on NYTimes.com. He calls the counry a "Rorschach test for travelers."

I think this is a solid analogy because--with so many drastically different ways to enjoy the "Rich Coast" nation--depending upon whether you elect "adventure" or "respite" as the theme for your trip, your choice will reflect what you hope to get out of the experience.

The article covers the three big draws of Costa Rica travel sector. These categories, as he refers to them, are "Eco-Tourism," "Adventure-Tourism," and "Luxury Tourism." Enjoy the sample:

Planning a trip for myself and my father last November, I set myself a challenge. How many Costa Ricas could we sample in just eight days? I settled on three: the rich primordial forest, the adventurer's playground and the beachfront paradise. After subtracting travel time within the country, we would have a day and a half to two and a half days at our chosen location for each one, time enough for a taste, at least, of the country's riches.
...
Twenty-seven percent of Costa Rica's land area is devoted to national parks and reserves, one of the highest percentages for any country. Monteverde, which is the primary place marketed to eco-tourists, is between two reserves — Monteverde and Santa Elena — deep in the Costa Rican highlands. It is well developed, with hotels, several restaurants, shops and art galleries. It even has an asphalt road connecting the two reserves and villages between, which is curious since the four-hour drive through farms and orchards to get to the area from San José is rocky and rutted — a result, locals say, of an earlier desire to keep down the number of visitors (now, most would prefer that the government pave the road). It is an oasis of infrastructure amid the rural and the wild.
(Photo courtesy of Michael Nagle for The New York Times)

Women-only Adventure in the Amazon rainforest

In a recent article for GoNOMAD.com, the future of women-only travel is discussed in an interview with Yolanta Barnes, founder of the women's travel company Sights and Soul. She points out that women are increasingly looking for adventure when they travel, rather than a day shopping or at the spa. In February Sights and Soul led a trip to the Amazon for the first time.
Enjoy an excerpt from the story below:

"When I told people I was going to the Amazon, their jaws dropped," says Joswick. "I think this is because we tend to think of it as a dangerous, difficult and uncomfortable place: heat, bugs, snakes, wild animals, piranhas, you name it.

"But going the way we did, on a comfortable boat, with excellent guides, I never felt I was in danger. The heat was bearable, and I never even saw a mosquito!"

In the past most Sights and Soul tour destinations have been in Europe, with a focus on cultural landmarks.

For the Amazon tour, Barnes had to switch gears: "We replaced cathedrals, art, gourmet restaurants and spas with the stillness of the Rio Negro, the floating meadows of the Amazon, the monkeys, cayman and sloths.

"Instead of a boutique hotel or a villa, we were staying on a motor yacht."

Andy Isaacson, "Finding The Rails" that Cross America

The New York Times has an amazing piece in their travel section about a transcontinental train ride taken (and written about) by Andy Isaacson. It's really worth a read.

Isaacson shares some stories and observations from a jaunt across America by rail. Spanning from New York to California, his expedition brings him in contact with remarkable people and out-of-the-way places. He describes a sort of Amtrak-camaraderie which can't be found traveling by plane:

With every uptick in gas prices, Americans in general are thinking less about driving. With each degree of global warming, trains become even more sensible. And with each new surcharge and each new item of clothing one is required to remove to board an airplane — and with every small-town commercial airport and cabin amenity that vanishes forever — the rails beckon. Last year, Amtrak set all-time ridership records.

…

Train routes are about connecting — and appreciating — the points in between, the country’s negative spaces, those places that urban dwellers might deride as “middle of nowhere."

…

Abraham Lincoln’s idealism about the first transcontinental railroad’s forging national unity may have been bound up in political pragmatism and economic ambition, but a core sentiment remains true: as a train crosses borders, the boundaries between its riders dissolve. Those crosshatched lines on the map stitching the country together are also a metaphor. I witnessed community and saw everybody cherishing it.

(Photo by Andy Isaacson)

Oudtshoorn, South Africa, inside and out

A new feature article on GoNOMAD.com by Carly Blatt shows a few unique ways travelers can appreciate South Africa's natural beauty. The author recounts her experiences spelunking and quad biking--a few of the adventure activities that the region around Oudtshoorn is building a reputation for.

Different tours and adventures can be selected to suit your needs or desires depending upon what degree of physical intensity you're comfortable with. Here's a taste of some serious caving:

We emerged from the tunnel into rooms that we could stand up in, chock full of very dirty stalactites and stalagmites. The cave felt raw, not touristy like the other caves I'd been to. It felt like we'd discovered a place that few people had seen.

We climbed up a few rocks and soon faced two more crawl spaces, each longer than 35 feet. One was full of wet sand and was easy to slither on. Another had more rocks, followed by mud and freezing clear cave water.

David Grann confronts the allure of the jungle

A new article on GoNOMAD.com offers an excerpt from The Lost City of Z... a tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon. The book's author, David Grann, describes his experiences investigating the mysterious stories of disappearing explorers. 

Along the way, he is drawn a bit deeper into the story than he anticipated. Finding himeself in the heart of the Amazon, with neither guide nor water, Grann worries he has become another victim of the pull of the unknown:

The ancient city, with its network of roads and bridges and temples, was believed to be hidden in the Amazon, the largest jungle in the world.

In an age of airplanes and satellites, the area remains one of the last blank spaces on the map. For hundreds of years, it has haunted geographers, archaeologists, empire builders, treasure hunters, and philosophers.

...

I pulled the map from my back pocket. It was wet and crumpled, the lines I had traced to highlight my route now faded. I stared at my markings, hoping that they might lead me out of the Amazon, rather than deeper into it.

Thousands died looking for it. In more recent times, many scientists have concluded that no complex civilization could have emerged in so hostile an environment, where the soil is agriculturally poor, mosquitoes carry lethal diseases, and predators lurk in the forest canopy

Also, visit the New Yorker to read an interview with David Grann about his Book.

Peering Over the Fence

In a past article for GoNOMAD.com, Lucy Corne describes her visit to the DMZ, or Demilitarized Zone, that creates the boarder between North and South Korea. Aside from a single train pass made through the zone in May 2007, as described in the exerpt below, Corne sees little progress towards improved relations between the two countries, which seem at times to be more like one divided nation.

Close by is the now famous Dorasan Station, once labelled ‘the last station in the South’ but now thought of as ‘the first station before the North’. Opened in 2002, it’s a bright, modern building that receives a mere handful of passengers, largely military personnel, each year.

In May 2007 the station saw its first ever international train pass by as 100 South Koreans made a cursory visit into the North and back to much political fanfare.

South Koreans remain divided on the train issue. While some are hopeful that the day-long opening of the line might signal the start of a unification process, many are critical and sceptical.

Critical because South Korea paid something in the region of $80 million to the North for the privilege of sending a train 20km over the border.

Sceptical because, despite the pomp and circumstance, there is no sign that the event was anything other than a chance to test the rails and a large scale publicity stunt.