Hunting Pirates in Somalia

March 16th, 2011 | By Lee | 17 Comments »

When you think of quiet, easy, relaxed, beautiful beach destinations for a holiday; what’s the first place that comes to your mind? That’s right! Somalia! With long stretches of untouched beaches that curve all the way around the horn of Africa and overlook pristinely clear pirate ridden water in the Gulf of Aden, who wouldn’t want to visit this unspoiled paradise? You can have your own soldier for only $15 a day that will follow you around with a sub machine gun; eat raw camel meat right off the dilapidated streets; and haggle your way to a great deal on some designer sandals in the dusty markets…I am kidding of course, well sort of, but Somalia, amidst all its confusion, designation as a failed state and lack of government actually has something to offer the adventurous and seasoned traveler. But first you must understand what you’re getting yourself into and the dangers that exist.
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Interesting Times in Addis Ababa

March 12th, 2011 | By Lee | 6 Comments »

My fourth time in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the last 4 years was easily the best and certainly the most interesting. Addis Ababa is the fourth largest city in Africa and is also one of the nicest. It has nice and welcoming people; it is relatively clean, orderly and has much less traffic than some other giant African cities. Addis is also home to many of Africa’s biggest meetings between African heads of state, African organizations and International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) and the United Nations. All of these meetings generally take place at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis, which is where we based ourselves for our two nights in the city.
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The Sudan

March 10th, 2011 | By Lee | 7 Comments »

After a long journey, including a 12 hour layover at the Istanbul airport where we were stuck because of snow; my Uncle David and I arrived for a few days in Khartoum, Sudan. It is my 11th different trip to Africa. Jet lag was unusually pretty bad. Plus, I was really unlucky and somehow got really bad food poisoning from something I ate in Istanbul. Not the best way to start out an African trip. However, we trudged ahead anyway and saw what this ancient capital had to offer.
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Wine and Steak in Argentina

January 25th, 2011 | By Lee | 8 Comments »

If you’ve ever read my “Why Travel” page, you may recognize the line “Travel helps you appreciate wine and the beauty of vineyards”. That is so true and going to vineyards and wine country’s around the world are one of the most fun things to do in travel. Mendoza and the surrounding region of Maipu is the center of the famous Argentinean wine trade and the home to malbec wine. It is a gorgeous setting and fun time as you rent bicycles and peddle your way from vineyard to vineyard. Of course it gets perpetually more difficult as you go further along in the day! There are some fifteen vineyards in Maipu, which is about 40 minutes by bus from the center of Mendoza, but in order to really appreciate and take the setting in, you should only choose a few good ones. I went to three and had a blast some new friends from some interesting places.
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The Atacama Desert

January 20th, 2011 | By Lee | 7 Comments »

The Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world. It is gorgeous, photogenic and just a really cool place to be. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be able to live up to the awesome experience I had in Bolivia and was worried that much of the scenery would be similar. Of the tours I looked at, many actually went up into Bolivia and many saw Lagunas, salt flats and other things I just saw. However, there were plenty of other choices to see the dryness and beauty of the desert. I based myself out of San Pedro de Atacama and explored the small tourist town. I also did a comprehensive Valley of the Moon tour for a great sunset in the desert.
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Bolivia’s Southern Altiplano

January 17th, 2011 | By Lee | 10 Comments »

The Southern Altiplano of Bolivia is unquestionably one of the coolest places in the world to visit. The landscapes are otherworldly and will leave your jaw on the floor of your 4×4. You can’t imagine you are on planet Earth let alone in Bolivia. The Salar de Uyuni is what brought me back to Bolivia seven years after the first time I was there. It had always eaten at me that I didn’t get to visit it the last time because I was rushed to get to Machu Picchu. However, what I discovered on my epic three day circuit tour of Southwestern Bolivia is that there is so much more to this wonderful little Andean country. The world’s largest and truly awesome salt flats are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to attractions in Southern Bolivia and I cannot recommend a trip more than this. It is one of the world’s great places to visit and a mesmerizing sight to behold.
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The World’s Most Dangerous Road

January 13th, 2011 | By Lee | 7 Comments »

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) coined the mountainous road from La Cumbre to Coroico in Bolivia as the World’s Most Dangerous Road. This was because of the extraordinary amount of deaths that occurred on this road which is no more than 3 meters wide at most points, has no guard rails and generally has 600 meter sheer cliffs as a drop-off at any given point. Although a beautiful road dotted with waterfalls, with several hundred deaths a year, mainly from trucks carrying hundreds of workers at a clip, it was time for a loan from the bank to build a safer paved road. That just created one of the most awesome tourist opportunities for adventure seekers to essentially bomb down 3600 meters from 4700 meters at the top to 1100 meters at the bottom at high speed and at high danger. The world’s most dangerous road is simply awesome!
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Langkawi, Penang and Singapore

November 25th, 2010 | By Lee | 7 Comments »

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

After five weeks through some of the most dangerous and least visited places on Earth I found myself back on the Malaysian Peninsula as my last stop. Malaysia is one of my favorite countries in Asia, except of course for their stupid tourism slogan, “Malaysia, Truly Asia”. I have been to much of the country but was lacking the two main islands of Malaysia, Langkawi and Penang. I must say that it was the perfect way to end a five week trip with some quality time on the beach at one of my new favorite islands to visit. Langkawi is spectacular in many ways but first and foremost, it is just plain gorgeous.
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Good Morning Vietnam!

November 19th, 2010 | By Lee | 11 Comments »

Kiss me goodbye and write me while I’m gone…
Goodbye my sweetheart, Hello Vietnam.
-Johnny Wright, “Hello Vietnam”

If you’ve seen Stanley Kubrick’s epic Vietnam War movie “Full Metal Jacket” then you’ve heard that song in the opening scene when the soldiers are all getting their heads shaved. I couldn’t get it out of my head the past five days. While much has changed, obviously, since the end to the Vietnam War almost 40 years: it is still unfathomable to imagine that just a few short decades ago; more than 50,000 Americans lost their lives in this beautiful and peaceful country during a war that we never should have been involved with in the first place…sound familiar? Be that as it may, Vietnam is a fast developing country where tourists flock in droves and have for years. The air is heavy, polluted from millions of motorbikes racing the city streets. The people are friendly, the prices are dirt cheap and the natural beauty is apparent. There is a real buzz and vibe to Vietnam from Hanoi to Saigon. It makes you want to wake up and scream “Good Morning Vietnam”, just like Robin Williams in the classic movie of the same name. I’m not going to lie; I think I did it at least twice!
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Taipei 101

November 15th, 2010 | By Lee | 11 Comments »

Taiwan has been the easiest or most commonly visited place that I hadn’t been for a long time now. That fact always annoyed me so it was only a matter of time before I visited the island. Many people visit as a stopover en route to somewhere else but it had never worked out for me in all the times I’ve been to Asia. This time I made it work and went there directly from Hainan Island on Hainan Airways. I spent a full day in Taipei and then headed to Okinawa. Then I went back to Taipei for another 2.5 days, so I got a pretty good feel for the very cosmopolitan and new city of Taipei. So here is the Taipei 101…
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