I look up. A volley of cans are hurling in a high arc through the smoke filled air. I immediately calculate their trajectories and realize they’re heading right for me. With zero time, I leap to safety. The first one lands just a few feet from where I was standing. White gas suffocates the air. […]
The Great South American Adventure
In just three days The Great South American Adventure shall commence! I will depart New York for the nation state of El Salvador! I know nothing about El Salvador. I don’t know where I’m going to stay. I don’t know what I am going to do. All I know is I am going to be […]
How Turkish Hospitality Saved My Life
I had always head references to Turkish hospitality in books and in movies. But I had always just thought it was a tourism slogan that caught on. However it wasn’t until I visited Turkey as a 16 year old runaway did I realize the truth of this expression. While it’s true that most people just […]
Indiana Jones and The Easter of Lalibela
The year, 2012, the date, a night before Easter, the place, the 13 ancient churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia. After suffering through a night of used condoms and thumb sized cockroaches in the truck stop whore town of Waldeya Ethiopia, young Indiana Jones decided he was in need of some adventure. He threw his custom made […]
The Perils of Hitchhiking Ethiopia
The road was the most desolate road I had ever attempted to hitchhike. Aside from a few huts, which sparsely dotted the hillsides, there was nothing but untamed fields, dried out riverbeds and the dirt road ahead. I was in the Wild West of East Africa, better known as the Ethiopian Highlands. After two hours […]
Sneaking Into Angkor Wat
At breakfast we came across a Dutch fellow who recounted some recent anecdotes of how he tripped acid while being interrogated by Nepalese police and how he spent 2500 euro after a drunken night at a Katmandu Casino. Later, I asked him advice about Angkor Wat and he very adamantly suggested we sneak in to […]
Premonition Turned Reality: The Bus Crash
We have all had those moments when we seem to know what will come. Those moments when that little voice or feeling warns you not to drink the water because it has already seen the diarrhea that will result. The problem with such premonitions is that we hardly trust them enough. And when a strong […]
Looking Down the Barrel of Anti-Semitism in Egypt
A few weeks ago when I was back in Cairo, I had an intense encounter that nearly ended my life. More so than being a terrifying experience, it forced me to make a difficult decision. That being, whether to stay true to my beliefs and risk death in the face of a home made gun […]
A Bike Ride Through Egypt
After spending a month in Dahab hostel in downtown Cairo, I was beginning to get bored. I had already hurled stones at the police and experienced the full power of tear gas but I needed something more. I needed a challenge. All of a sudden, I recalled a German girl who I met on the […]
The Revolution Continues: Cairo November 20, 2011
“Thump, thump”… The sound of tear gas canisters being fired. “O shit, I’ve gotten too close!” I look up. A single can is hurling in a high arc through the smoke filled air. I quickly calculate it’s trajectory and realize it is heading right for me. With no time to think, I leap to safety. […]
The Adventure Begins
Tonight, is the night, of nights (name that quote). The night before the night to be more exact, but in my gut, it feels like it’s already here. As I sit on my porch, with the cool fall air caressing my skin, I am overcome with a familiar feeling but one that I have not […]
