The Last Long Day Day fourteen of trekking in Nepal. We’ve just arrived in Gokyo where an enormous frozen lake dominates the landscape. My husband Tom, our long-time friend Marcus, and I hope to complete the Three Passes Trek, circumnavigating the valley where Mount Everest reigns supreme. We’re in the company of a wonderful … Continued
Prepare yourself for a long fly through time, across the cities and the countries, so you could go in one beautiful day, which will give you a nice Ukrainian city Lviv. Overcoming all the distance using magic intervention, you become the hero of my story. After all, that is you in this city who gives … Continued
I met Mariana in the Spanish class, which were I attended last year in summer at the University of Mumbai. She was from Portugal. We both enrolled late for the course and often had to work together after the lectures to cope up with the class. It was shear serendipity. We hit it off quite … Continued
A lifetime ago I fell in love with whitewater kayaking. I discovered the sport during college. I met a man who claimed to share my passion. For a year we kayaked the St. Francis in Missouri when the water levels allowed, the Arkansas River in Colorado, then the Chattooga in Georgia and the Ocoee of … Continued
Windows were rolled down to breathe in the healing mountain air, as we commented to each other, as we always did, on how fresh and alive the mountain seemed. After the 10-hour drive, sitting in a line of cars waiting to go through the Mont-Blanc tunnel seemed easier this time. The twins waited patiently for … Continued
All week the sun has been as fierce as it gets in the Yorkshire Dales. It forms rising ripples in the air that act as a distorting mirror to the landscape. The lower flanks of the far hills, Wild Boar and Baugh Fell, appear to have moveable bases, as if set in jelly. Tractors … Continued
Looking around the table, listening to the stories of Borneo, gorillas in Rwanda and other exotic spots, I felt a bit out of place. This was ironic. While I grew up in California, I work in International Development which had taken me to Peshwar, Jalalabad, Bogota, Banda Aceh, Tegucigalpa….just to name a few distant outposts. … Continued
The countryside flashes past my window, in a haze of rain-soaked forest. Occasionally the dense woods give way to meadows full of cows and low wooden buildings. Beyond that, there are only shifting storm-clouds. I know that we should be in the Alps by now, but they aren’t visible. I zip up my wool sweater … Continued
Wild Magic By Christina Tang-Bernas The gray clouds pressed down in the steely sky above the Welsh coastline, damp winds wrapping around our throats and threatening imminent rain. Arthur’s Stone balanced before me, complete with a deep slit sliced into it. Per our guide’s instructions, I rubbed my hands together and pressed them to … Continued
In Taiwan, there is a literal tree house. Branches of a banyan tree curve around the building and hold up the entire structure. If you walk inside the tree house and look up, there is no roof. Instead, a lush dark green canopy of leaves grows overhead. But it’s not the emerald leaves that … Continued