‘Going home’ to Thailand

(“Where they Went,” published July 19, 2009, Boston Globe.)

Amanda Johnson with parents Jo Lynne and David at Ta Prohm in Cambodia

WHO: David and Jo Lynne Johnson, 59, of Stratham, N.H., and their daughter, Amanda, 26, of New York.  To see traveler Amanda’s photos from the trip, go here.)

WHERE: Cambodia and Thailand.

WHEN: December to March.

WHY: “We fell in love with Asia, and Thailand specifically, and we wanted to go back to teach,” said Jo Lynne. This was the couple’s third trip in four years, which included two archeological tours with Earthwatch Institute and two teaching programs through Volunthai.

FAMILY OUTING: The first three weeks in Asia were spent with their daughter, who had just received her master’s degree in teaching English as a second language. “We offered to show her some of our favorite places,” David said.

HAPPY NEW YEAR: They started in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to visit the famed 12th-century temple complex of Angkor Wat. “We planned to be there for sunrise on New Year’s Day,” Jo Lynne said, “but there was no sun. Still, it was beautiful.” During a previous trip, the couple had befriended a tour guide, who took them around again. The Johnsons are helping his children attend English classes.

The family hitches a ride at Mae Taeng Elephant Camp in Thailand

PACHYDREAMS: “The one thing Mandy wanted to see were the elephants,” David said. Her wish was fulfilled at Mae Taeng Elephant Camp in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, where visitors can view elephants bathing, feed them, and ride them through the jungle.

Amanda shows students their photo on her digital camera at Beungkumku School in NonJaDee, Thailand.

A HOST OF IDEAS: “Before Mandy left, we took her to meet the family,” David said, referring to the Volunthai host family they stayed with a year earlier in the small northeastern village of NonJaDee. “When we came before, we were the first white people the villagers had seen. Our purpose is to expose them to pronunciation. They never hear English spoken by native speakers. We taught school with Mandy for a few days. She went home with her head reeling with ideas.”

NEXT ASSIGNMENT: After their daughter left, the Johnsons went on to a larger school in Pakdee Chumphon, where they taught for a month through Volunthai. Not only is learning pronunciation challenging for the students, Jo Lynne said, the culture does not encourage independent thinking, so students are often reluctant to speak. “They’re so afraid of making a mistake. They’re not used to being individually responsible.”

The Johnsons with teacher Khru Tiu

TRULY CONNECTED: Their last three weeks were spent teaching back in NonJaDee. “It was like going home,” Jo Lynne said. The couple they’ve become close to, their host family through Volunthai last year, also are teachers. Communication is halting but doable, she said. “We keep the dictionary at the dinner table.” When the Johnsons are back in New Hampshire, they keep in touch through e-mail. “The people are just the nicest, warmest, most wonderful people. They’re really what drew us back to Thailand,” David said. Though another trip isn’t scheduled, “they know we want to come back, and we will.”

The roads traveled are two-way streets

I wrote the essay below for a special travel section in the April issue of Ode Magazine.  It’s on their website as well.  If you don’t know Ode, I suggest you check it out. It’s at a magazine stand near you. (Borders, Whole Foods, Barnes & Noble, etc. Or better yet, buy a subscription and keep Ode alive.  Its tagline is: For Intelligent Optimists. Hey, that’s me! And I’m guessing you, too.

Farmer on Lombok Island, Indonesia, plows his fields the traditional way

The Eiffel Tower. Big Ben. The Taj Mahal. Only 20 years ago, these were the notches on the traveler’s money belt, which, incidentally, was stuffed with travelers’ cheques. Today we’ve been there, done that. Affordable airfare and Western wealth (yes, we’re still comparatively wealthy even now, in the midst of the credit crunch) have brought travelers to every corner of the globe. We hop on transcontinental flights armed with our debit cards, functional in cash-dispensing machines from Dubai to Denali.

But simply seeing the sights is no longer enough. We want to stray from those beaten paths, dig deeper, get a read on how the locals live, work and play. This can include eating at a restaurant favored by residents instead of Westerners, participating in an outdoor adventure or visiting sites not found in most guidebooks. In industry jargon, it’s called “experiential travel”-travel we live through instead of look at-and it’s never been more popular. It’s popular because it’s typically cheaper than traditional travel; money is tight but we still want to go on vacation, some of us to faraway places. And it’s popular because we want to tread more lightly during our trips, in terms of our impact on the environment and on the people we visit. We want to give something back.

The desire to experience a different culture through activities and people goes deeper than adding another notch to the money belt, though that plays a role, too. It’s as basic as life. It’s our fellow human beings who transcend us. At the end of the day, we recall the burka-clad woman on the train reciting prayers as much as we do the centuries-old treasures in the museum.

Diane's much-coveted gift from locals in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada

When I think back to one of my life’s highlights-seeing the northern lights in the Northwest Territories, Canada, during 2002-I also relive the hospitality of the citizens of tiny Fort Smith, who cooked for me, took me dog sledding and gave me a polar-bear-shaped license plate that hangs in my house today. The most lasting impression of my 11-week backpacking trip to Europe in 1982 is my still-enduring friendship with Federico, who lives in Vicenza, Italy. In my home state of North Carolina, as I travel to research a farm-travel guidebook, the farmers stand out as much as their bounties or the sweeping rural landscapes.

Diane and Federico Lauro in Vicenza, Italy, in 1986. And, yes, they're still in touch.

My reaction is hardly unique. While I’ve done a fair amount of traveling of my own, I’ve also interviewed hundreds of people over the past eight years for a column I write for The Boston Globe called “Where They Went,”  about other people’s trips. Without fail, these travelers will recount adventures, sights, tastes, but almost always add: “The people were the best part. They were so nice, so warm, so welcoming.” Those people’s stories are the ones they recount to me again and again, especially if they were allowed a look inside a community or a family.

These days, even the most mainstream tour operators include experiential travel on an otherwise-standard tour. For example, in the 2009 Grand Circle Travel land and cruise tour “China and the Yangtze River,” participants will not only visit the Great Wall, Beijing and Hong Kong; they’ll tour a kindergarten or senior center and have a home-hosted lunch. “You’ll see local customs enacted first-hand as your gracious hosts prepare and serve a typical Chinese meal,” the itinerary reads. For the traveler wanting a less-staged version of hospitality and sightseeing, many cities have forms of community-based or locally led tourism, which originates with citizens instead of national or international tour operators.

One of our local guides prepares an Indonesian meal during a hiking trek up Mount Rinjani (12,224 ft.) on Lombok.

Digging deeper also requires that we set aside our demands for a money-back-guaranteed quality and “safe” experience. That can be instructive in itself. I recall a community-based “ecotourism” hiking trek my husband and I chose on the island of Lombok in Indonesia. The guides lit our campfires with the help of splashes of gasoline from the jugs they carried and they littered along the way. I later reported these issues to the organizer, who lived in the capital of Mataram, miles and worlds away. He was extremely apologetic, as he’d been trying to get the villagers to understand tourism basics. On the other hand, I saw the real way of life there. It was worth the trade-off. And I was much happier to donate money to people in the village than to an international travel outfitter.

Schoolchildren in a tiny village on Lombok are excited to see two cycling tourists

After hearing me speak about the virtues of getting off the tour bus, one African safari tour operator told me proudly how at the end of his luxury lodge-hopping trip in Tanzania, he takes his clients into the city of Arusha to visit poor neighborhoods and give trinkets to the local children. “Everyone came away deeply moved,” he said. “The crazy thing was, after seeing all that big game, what I heard from them was it was the most memorable part of the trip.” I suggested he consider moving the outing to the beginning of the tour, so it would be on their minds as they met Tanzanian workers along the way. “Oh no, that would be too much for them,” he said.

Perhaps our challenge as citizens of the world is to decide how much is enough-and then go soak it in. Even if the recession has wiped out a quarter or more of our wealth, we’re still rich by global standards. Experiencing how other people live, whether in Appalachia or Addis Ababa, will make us even richer. And likely them, too.

India: love, hate, and avoidance

The Taj Mahal in Agra, India was built by Shah Jahan as memorial to wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

“Have you been to India?” asked an acquaintance who was soon to visit her husband, who’s teaching in southern India for a few months. I told her that I hadn’t. I also confessed that I have mixed feelings about traveling there, or to any country that is chaotic and has unsafe tap water.

It’s not that I don’t travel outside my comfort zone. I do. Such as to Morocco, Ecuador, Argentina, Indonesia. OK, yes, those places are pretty tame. See what I mean? I absolutely celebrate the rich diversity in all countries. But the older I get, the lower my “ick” threshold falls. My overly sanitized American standards interfere with my sense of adventure. I say this with shame, not pride. Of course the easy way to get around this is to stay in luxury hotels, eat in westernized restaurants, and stay off the ground and away from the common folk. But what fun would that be? What reality would that offer? I’m either going to travel sort of like a local, or stay home. So I remain torn.

Wanderlust and Lipstick: for Women Traveling to India by Beth Whitman

Someone who doesn’t shy away from India is Seattle writer Beth Whitman, whose book “Wanderlust and Lipstick” addresses women traveling solo. Beth recently published “Wanderlust and Lipstick: for Women Traveling to India,” a country she’s visited several times since 1989. Beth has seen many changes there over the years and says travel is now easier and more reliable. But still challenging. The challenges are what make it memorable, of course. Beth reports that the number of travelers to India rose from 3.5 million in 2004 to 5 million in 2007 (wow!), and that the government has launched a campaign to train hospitality industry folks about such things as hygiene, manners, integrity and safety. Of course if things get too hygienic, polite, and safe, there go the bragging rights. You can buy the book at Beth’s website, www.wanderlustandlipstick.com.

One of my favorite travel stories offers a different take on the country. In “Trying Really Hard to Like India,” writer Seth Stevenson starts his award-winning 2004 story in Slate.com with this: “It’s OK to hate a place. … Because my girlfriend wants to come back – I’m back. I’m giving this dreadful place a second chance. And this time I vow I will try really hard to like India.” And here’s the ending: “As they say in really lame travel writing: India is a land of contradictions. A lot of things to like and a lot of things (perhaps two to three times as many things) to hate. It’s the spinach of travel destinations-you may not always (or ever) enjoy it, but it’s probably good for you. In the final reckoning, am I glad that I came here? Oh, absolutely. It’s been humbling. It’s been edifying. It’s been, on several occasions, quite wondrous. It’s even been fun, when it hasn’t been miserable. That said, am I ready to leave? Sweet mercy, yes.”

Wessel wins with lekker Indonesian dish

My spouse, Wessel, has many wonderful qualities, but I would not count his culinary skills among them. Well, not until two weeks ago. Wessel is now the proud champion of the 2008 “best dish” or “het beste garecht” at the annual Rijsttafel (pronounced riced-tahfel) event sponsored by our regional Dutch club. The group, which covers central North Carolina, is called De Wieken, which means “wings of the windmill.”

Wessel’s dish? Hot eggs, or “hete eieren.” (Recipe below.) You go, hon!

Wessel holding dish with hot sambal eggs shortly after preparation

He won 50 bucks (too bad they weren’t Euros) and an apron with a recipe on it in Dutch. Good thing he has his own apron now, because as you can see in the photo here, he had to borrow mine (which my mom made me eons ago) when he made his award-winning dish.

First, some background on rijsttafel, which means “rice table.” It’s an Indonesian spread, featuring rice with many different sauces and side dishes. Indonesian restaurants with rijsttafel dishes are very popular in Amsterdam. The Dutch connection is that from the early 1600s until 1945, Indonesia was a Dutch colony. Some Indonesians still speak Dutch, and when we were there in 2005, we spotted Dutch names all over the place, and even a Dutch cemetery in Jakarta (on the grounds of Museum Wayang).

Guests at the yearly rijsttafel event organized by Dutch club De Wieken

The last De Wieken Rijsttafel we attended was two years ago, when, due to lack of planning, we lamely brought something from Whole Foods. This year Wessel took full ownership, studying Indonesian recipes online. Still, I was not hopeful. This is someone who has mixed pineapple and raisins into pasta, and once made me a meal of potatoes, cauliflower and onions. Maybe all-white worked for the Beatles, but not for me.

His choice was inspired by a friend from college at the University of Wageningen, Michel Flipphi, who used to make hot eggs for the study group he and Wessel were in. Basically it’s hard-boiled eggs that sit in a hot sauce with onions for several hours to soak up the flavors.

Me being the alpha cook and general know-it-all, I was convinced he’d never find the main ingredient, the hot sauce sambal oelek, a chile paste. Well, danged if it wasn’t at our local Kroger supermarket. He added another extra-hot sauce made from cayenne peppers on top of that, so then I was sure it would be way too hot. But in fact, it was perfect. He’d never used a wok, but mastered it immediately. He hard-boils eggs differently from me, but they were perfect.

This empty dish convincingly shows why the jury made its decision

As De Wieken was announcing the winner of the “lekkerste” (tastiest) meal, judged by Dutchies with Indonesian pasts, I thought, I hope Wessel isn’t getting his hopes up because he doesn’t have a chance, what with all the amazing and elaborate dishes here. When they called out “hete eieren” I expressed such surprise and excitement that everyone thought I had cooked it. “It was Wessel!” I sputtered. “He never cooks!”

Wessel with prize for best Indonesian dish (Click to ENLARGE)

When he took his place on stage, I was bursting with pride, especially after having eaten two large platefuls of food from the Rijsttafel, not counting dessert. Here is the recipe, which Wessel found online at www.kookjij.nl (hete eieren). He has generously translated it to English. If you try it, let us know how it turned out.

Hete Eieren/Hot Eggs

Ingredients
- one large yellow onion
- wok oil
- 6 tablespoons (100 ml) ketchup
- 2-6 tablespoons (30-100 ml) hot sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30 g) sambal oelek
- 4 tablespoons (60 g) coconut flakes
- 1/2-1 tablespoon (7-15 ml) soy sauce
- 8-12 hard-boiled eggs
- salt to taste

Utensils
- wok or frying pan
- wooden spoon

Preparation
- Cut hard-boiled eggs in half
- Finely chop/dice the onion
- Heat the oil in wok or frying pan
- Sautee onions till they begin to brown
- Add add ketchup, hot sauce, soy sauce, and coconut flakes
- Add sambal to preferable level of spiciness
- Pour 3/4 of sauce in dish and put hard-boiled eggs in sauce
- Pour remaining sauce over eggs
- Incubate eggs+sauce for at least 30-60 minutes before serving

Tips from Wessel
- Add a bit of sugar if the taste is too sharp
- Add milk to turn down the heat if needed

Eet Smakelijk!!

Burma from beneath the sea

“Where they Went” by Diane Daniel
(Published Aug. 17, 2008, in the Boston Globe)

When Tom and Shelley contacted me, it was the first I’d heard of the Mergui Archipelago and the Moken people, though I’ve since read up on both, including a piece on “60 Minutes” after the tsunami. I was fascinated during every minute of our interview. A very exciting journey!!

Tom Schultz and Shelley Reeves in Mergui Archipelago, Burma (Click to ENLARGE)

WHO: Tom Schultz and Shelley Reeves of Carlisle, Mass., both 52.

WHERE: Mergui Archipelago, Burma.

WHEN: 10 days in March.

WHY: “We’re snorkeling all the great reefs of the world and we didn’t know this one existed,” said Reeves about Mergui (pronounced mer-gooey), a 200-island barrier reef system in the Andaman Sea near the Thai coast. The couple learned of it from the World Wildlife Fund Travel Program, which just started trips there. “When we heard it was so remote and unspoiled and that this was an opportunity to see corals thousands of years old, we jumped on it.”

Shelley at Tower Rock in Mergui Archipelago (Click to ENLARGE)

REEFS AND ISLANDS: The group of 12 Americans spent 11 nights on a live-aboard scuba boat with several guides, including a coral specialist and a naturalist. A Burmese government official joined them “to make sure you don’t go places they don’t want you to go,” Schultz said. The boat’s crew, used to accompanying dive trips, “had never stepped foot on these islands,” he said. They snorkeled several times a day and visited nine islands by motorized Zodiac.

COLOSSAL CORAL: “It was the most amazing snorkeling we’d done because of the undisturbed corals, some of which were 2,000 or 3,000 years old and as big as a house,” Schultz said. Reeves’s favorite fish were the cuttlefish. “Usually they’re small, but these were the size of a serving platter and all shades of purple and green. And we saw some of the hugest moray eels we’d ever seen, in all colors of polka dots and stripes.”

Tom Schultz in Mergui Archipelago

LAND LOVERS: “We weren’t expecting the stuff aboveground to be so awesome,” Schultz said. The biggest island they visited was Lampi where they saw “about 35 species of birds, monkeys, and signs of wild pigs, civets, and, of all things, elephants. It’s a protected marine park, but we saw Burmese fishing boats. They left when they saw us.” On another island they saw Burmese military officials “protecting their interests” in an area replete with swiftlets. “They take the nests and sell them to the Chinese for bird’s nest soup.”

Shelley with Moken (‘sea gypsy’) children on Lampi Island in Mergui Archipelago

RARE SIGHTING: “We had several encounters with the Moken, a nomadic people who live on small boats and a totally fascinating culture to get to meet,” Schultz said. “We were reluctant to introduce ourselves and approached cautiously, but they were welcoming,” Reeves said. “Their dugout boats had a little cover and a charcoal grill. In one we saw, with a family of six, they were drying sea cucumber and grilling eel. We traded pencils and little things for a piece of eel.”

ON THE ROCKS: On their last day, the group spent a few hours at the only resort on the archipelago, the Myanmar Andaman Resort. “Here’s this guy mixing mojitos,” Reeves said. “It looked so strange.”

Bicycling in Burma: mingalaba!

“Where they Went” by Diane Daniel
(Published July 6, 2008, in the Boston Globe)

Wow! This was a mighty impressive and fascinating bicycle trip. I wish I had been there!

Curt Allen (left), Gary Kelly, Trond Skramstad, and Michael Romanow in ancient city of Bagan, Burma (Click to ENLARGE)

WHO: Michael Romanow, 53, and Gary Kelly, 53, both of Westwood, Mass.; Trond Skramstad, 47, of Newton, Mass.; and Curt Allen, 51, of Marlow, N.H.

WHERE: Burma (also called Myanmar).

WHEN: Two weeks in February.

WHY: “I wanted to see Burma before it opened up to the world,” Romanow said. “I did a bike ride to Vietnam with VeloAsia 12 years ago and knew they went to Burma. So I started e-mailing friends about going.”

WELCOME WAGON: “I was ambivalent, wondering if it made sense to support a regime that has a horrible reputation,” Kelly said, referring to the country’s military dictatorship. “But I was so glad I went. We all were. We had a great time and it didn’t feel oppressive in the way I thought it would be. The Burmese were so thrilled to see us there. Everywhere we rode, everybody would come out and yell `mingalaba,’ which means hello, and slap high-fives.”

Trond (left), Curt, Michael, Gary, and Lizzie (Myanmar guide) at the the entrance to the Temples of Kakku, Burma

TOUR FOR FOUR: Although the men were on an existing tour, they were the only travelers, and had two assistants and a Burmese guide, Melvin. “Melvin really loved his country and knew a huge amount about the central part, where we were, and was a great resource about Buddhism. He rode with us a few times, but mostly he drove,” Kelly said. The foursome brought their own hybrid bikes, and shared the mostly paved but rough roadways with ox carts, tractors, pedestrians carrying goods on yokes on their shoulders, mopeds, and buses.

Back Row (l to r) Gary, Curt, Michael, and Trond with a family at a small shop along the road from Mt. Popa to Bagan, Burma

CULTURAL HARMONY: At Inle Lake they saw floating gardens and fishing villages on stilts. “There was silk weaving, silver making, and rolling cheroots, like cigarettes,” Romanow said. “The work was all labor intensive.” They took a balloon ride over Bagan, dotted with thousands of pagodas. “Bagan was probably the biggest tourist area, with mostly Australians and Europeans,” Kelly said. In and near Mandalay, they watched locals promenade the almost mile-long teak U Bein Bridge and saw hundreds of red-robed monks line up for lunch at the famed Mahagandayon monastery. “The Buddhist presence was just amazing,” Romanow said.

NICELY SPICY: Accommodations ranged from resorts to “a couple funky old places that looked like they should have been in the Alps,” Romanow said. They usually had a Western breakfast, “but for lunch and dinner Melvin would take us to local restaurants. Rice was always the staple and then we’d have all these side dishes, vegetables and meat, with several different condiments. It was really spicy and really good.”

SINCE THE CYCLONE: The news of the cyclone in May brought the men an “overwhelming sadness,” Romanow said. They were able to contact Melvin and donate aid money through a friend of his in Thailand. “His home wasn’t affected, but he was trying to help other families.”

A rolling tour through Vietnam

Where they Went” by Diane Daniel
(Published April 27, 2008, in the Boston Globe)

From Di’s eyes: This sounds like a first-rate tour, giving cyclists a look at authentic Vietnam. Sign me up! I like Barbara’s vow to leave the country every year, too, as long as Canada counts.

WHO: Barbara Levitov, 60, of Needham, Mass.

WHERE: Vietnam.

WHEN: Two weeks in December.

WHY: “I’ve promised myself for 20 years that I’ll leave the country every year,” Levitov said. “In the last two years I’ve really enjoyed bicycling. What appealed to me about Vietnam was I’d never been in that part of the world, it was more recently opened to tourism, and few companies offer biking trips there.”

MANY GREETINGS: Levitov joined a trip offered by REI Adventures. “We were all Americans, 12 others, and in our 20s to 60.” The group met in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. For the next two weeks they cycled and rode with two Vietnamese cycling guides and two drivers. “Because of the distance, we traveled in a bus from place to place. They’d drop us off and tell us where we were going and then the bus would be at a certain point, and you’d have snacks and water,” Levitov said. “We were always waving to people. Schoolchildren especially would run from their schoolyards yelling and giggling and saying ‘ah-lo, ah-lo.’ They also loved having their picture taken and they laughed so hard when we showed them their pictures.”

VILLAGE WARES: One of Levitov’s favorite stops was Hoi An, one of Asia’s important trading ports in the 16th and 17th centuries. “It was an optional ride, and there were a smaller number of us. We went through all these villages, closer up to the people. In one of them our guide saw these gentlemen and stopped, and we were invited inside where they had a wheel for throwing terra-cotta pottery, like little whistles and vases. And what was the ‘motor’ but another guy standing on the pedal with his foot.”

CRACKER CLASS: “In the same village we saw rice crackers drying outside and the guide stopped and asked if we could see some baking,” she said. “There was one woman in a tiny dirt room in a little cooking area baking one cracker at a time, like pita bread. They dry them on these big wood grids. We also passed a lot of people who had piles of tubers from the earth. Very little children and women were chopping them up to dry them out on tarps.”

NATURE PRESERVED: The most scenic ride was through the Pu Luong Nature Reserve. “That was the day of true mountain biking,” Levitov said. “The road was packed clay and gravel and we were surrounded by limestone hills and rice paddies.” They usually stayed in hotels, but that night the group stayed in a family’s home in a village outside the reserve. “The house was on stilts, like they all were. We all stayed in one room on the floor on mats, in these silk bags and with blankets of traditional patterns.”

Bhutan or bust

Perhaps I travel more than the average person does, but I don’t travel half as much as people think I do, especially overseas. And there are many countries I’ve yet to visit. Bhutan, for instance. (More on that later.) Instead, I live vicariously through my Where they Went subjects, whose trips I write about every week in the Boston Globe.

One such journey was in April, when three friends from the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) spent two weeks in Peru. Marianne Page did all the planning as part of her preparation to become an AMC leader. She’s now officially co-leading a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana this summer, which has already filled up But her Oct. 8-26 trip to Bhutan still has openings. (If any of you have done AMC trips, I’d love to hear about them.)

Of course I want to join the group, but it’s not on this year’s agenda.  Bhutan is a pricey place on purpose, to keep tourism at bay. Although now it’s becoming known as a luxury destination, and don’t even get me started about that.  Anyway, the $4,600 to $5,000 fee for 2.5 weeks of travel is the usual AMC-type bargain. It includes lodging, meals, museums fees, trekking fee and transportation in Bhutan. For airfare, add another $2,200. 

Here’s an excerpt from the AMC listing linked above: An eight-day trek “travels through two high passes of 16,000 feet through remote wilderness with abundant wildlife. The remaining time in this ‘Shangri La’ will be spent visiting monasteries, dzongs, textile museums, the local market place, Thimpu festival and the famous ‘Tiger’s Nest.’ This is the most famous monastery, perched precariously on a steep cliff almost 3,000 feet above the Paro valley.”

If you sign up and you live in New England, let me know and maybe I’ll highlight your trip in Where they Went. And then my readers and I will get to travel to Bhutan with you, at least in our minds.

Photos by Henry David Shapiro (©2003); photos reprinted with photographer’s permission.

Have ticket, will travel the world

“Where they Went” by Diane Daniel
(Published March 2, 2008, in the Boston Globe) 

From Di’s eyes: A round-the-world trip is just the thing to kick off a law career and is much more interesting and educational than the typical week in the Caribbean. Here’s to great jobs and a wonderful life for these two young adventurers!

WHO: Andrew Hass, 26, of Acton, Mass. and Lauren Hager, 25, of Sacramento, Calif.

WHERE: Around the world.

WHEN: Nine weeks from August to October.

WHY: The friends, fellow law students at the University of Miami, decided to reward themselves for finishing school and the bar exam by taking a trip. “Most students do, but not like this,” said Hass, who attended Boston University for undergraduate studies.

WITH A MAP AND A WISH LIST: “We basically sat down with a map and alternated places we wanted to go,” Hass said of their planning. They booked what’s called a Blue Ticket through the Student Travel Agency. “If you keep going in the same direction you can get great fares,” said Hass, who paid about $4,500 for all his flights. They visited 11 countries, starting in Peru and then going to Argentina, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Israel, Russia, Mauritius, India, China, and Japan, spending four days to a week in each. Their luggage was lost – and found – twice.

PLOTTING IT OUT: “We got our tickets first, and once we knew where we’d be, we scheduled budget hotels and hostels,” Hass said. In harder-to-navigate countries, such as India and China, they set up personal tours and drivers. By the end of the trip, they’d seen many of the world’s great sites, including the pyramids at Giza, the Taj Mahal, and the Great Wall of China, as well as glaciers, deserts, oceans, and mountains. “Our top three places as far as activities and overall fun were Peru, South Africa, and Japan.”

ANDES FANS: “Machu Picchu is an experience in and of itself,” Hass said. “It’s in the middle of nowhere, up this winding road. It’s so magnificent and breathtaking.” Their favorite view of the ancient ruins was from Putukusi Mountain. ”It was a three-hour hike to the top and you had to go up hundreds of feet of wooden ladders, straight up, without a rope or a net. It was quite a rush.”

GREAT FRIGHT: From their favorite hostel, the Ashanti Lodge in Cape Town, the adventure seekers booked a cage dive among great white sharks. “It was quite an experience,” Hass said of being surrounded by sharks. “They throw chum in the water and the sharks dive at it with their jaws open. It was scary and awe-inspiring.”

SECOND WIND: By the time they reached Japan, after fleeing a typhoon in China, they were ready to get home, but the country invigorated them. “We spent a night in Tokyo, then took the trail to Kyoto. Our hostel was typical Asian budget. You sleep on the floor, and low on amenities, but not in a bad way. It really catches the local flavor.” They spent a somber day touring Hiroshima. “Even 60 years after it happened, it really hits you.” On a lighter note, they were thrilled to attend a major league baseball game. And Hass traveled all the way to Japan to discover he actually liked sushi.

SUSPENSEFUL JOURNEY: Because they left the country a few days after taking the bar exam, they didn’t know their outcomes. “Lauren found out she passed when we were in China,” said Hass, who was in suspense until he returned home – to good news.

In N. Korea, politics and pride on parade

“Where they Went” by Diane Daniel
(Published Feb. 24, 2008, in the Boston Globe)

From Di’s eyes: This trip fascinated me, what with all the propaganda, especially at the Mass Games.  I had no idea tours were offered there until Jim and Jon contacted me. Coincidentally, the New York Times ran a short piece on a couple tours behind North Korea’s iron curtain the same day this came out, and on Monday, this piece about the New York Philharmonic orchestra playing in Pyongyang. I guess the Communist country is all the rage now. 

WHO: Jim Augusto, 41, and Jon Cramer, 38, of Melrose, Mass.

WHERE: North Korea.

WHEN: Three days in October.

WHY: “We’ve been intrigued by the whole mystery around it for years,” Augusto said. “Several years ago I’d tried to find a tour company, but Americans weren’t allowed in.” The couple traveled with British-owned Koryo Tours.

WHY NOT: “Most people thought we were really crazy to go,” Cramer said. “People would jokingly say, ‘They’re never going to let you back out.’ Some people said, ‘How can you go support a country that treats people horribly?’ But I think it’s still important to go. By maintaining no contact, there’s no incentive for them to change.”

BEIJING BRIEFING: Augusto and Cramer visited North Korea in the middle of two weeks in China. “People said North Korea is like China was 30 or 40 years ago,” Cramer said. They met their 28 fellow US tourists in Beijing, where they were told the basic rules: no laptops or cellphones allowed, no taking photos without permission, and no going anywhere without a North Korean attendant.

SPIN CITY: They flew to Pyongyang on a late ’60s Russian jet, and “the propaganda started in the airspace,” Cramer said. “They said something like, ‘You’re now entering the Great Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,’ and all this stuff about ‘our dear leader Kim Jong Il, our great leader, Kim Il Sung.’ ” They were greeted by a huge portrait of deceased leader Kim Il Sung on the runway, and later saw images of both men (father and son) in homes, public buildings, and on citizens’ lapel pins.

STAYING PUT: The US contingent was divided into two groups of 15 and each had two North Korean guides. “We’d all come together for meals and at the hotel,” Augusto said. They stayed at Yanggakdo Hotel. “It’s a huge hotel with a revolving restaurant on top, on a little island,” Augusto said. “It’s only for Western visitors. You’re not allowed to go onto grounds without a guide.”

GAME FACE: North Korea’s annual “Mass Games” fascinated the Americans, both for its dazzling display of acrobatics and its propaganda. The stadium performance, which runs three to four months a year, involves about 100,000 performers, including thousands of children in the stands flipping color-coordinated cards with political messages. “It was like an Olympic opening ceremony on steroids,” Cramer said. “It was 80 minutes long and I think my jaw was down for a good portion of it.” “It was all about national pride and reunification,” Augusto said. “There’s a whole section where tens of thousands of little kids, 8 to 10, are doing all these synchronized acrobatics. It’s amazing to see, but terrifying to think that they are forced to practice half the year.”

RED-COLORED GLASSES: The groups were taken to several communist monuments, including a huge statue of Kim Il Sung as well as his mausoleum. “We also got a tour of the USS Pueblo, on display as an example of US imperialism,” Augusto said. “We visited the DMZ, but you couldn’t see a single soldier on the South Korean side.”

ICE-BREAKING BABY: They were allowed one ride on the metro, which doubles as a nuclear fallout shelter. “Inside are lavish propaganda art mosaics,” Cramer said. “The metro is where we got closest to citizens. One couple in our group, who live in Shanghai, brought their 6-month-old baby. The North Korean women’s faces would light up. They were going crazy over the American baby.”