Tag Archives: people

How do a people preserve the important values inherent in their culture – more than just a traditional headdress and a signature food – without sacrificing the good things that participating in the modern world can offer? I often ask myself this when travelling – especially in poorer areas of the world where the people […]

View full post »

It can be so easy – especially for people who have never travelled outside their own corner of the world – to take one’s way of life for granted: to feel entitled to a certain level of safety, opportunity and comfort. But, imagine not being able to step outside your door because there is no solid ground beyond your simple […]

View full post »

They say you are a long time dead and buried – Well, unless you are buried in Switzerland, where your plot is reclaimed after 25 years to recycle available land. Or, unless you are in a traditional Chinese cemetery, where your bones should be taken out and washed annually… In India, honouring the dead can take many varied […]

View full post »

Cool sands underfoot. Starry, wide-open skies overhead. Firelight and music and drums. There is magic in the desert air. “Midnight at the oasis Send your camel to bed Shadows paintin’ our faces Traces of romance in our heads…” – Midnight at the Oasis by David Nichtern for Maria Muldaur It was nighttime in the middle of the Thar Desert. The Great Indian Thar […]

View full post »

Some time ago – last April, to be exact – I wrote about the breathtakingly awesome experience of meeting Sumatran orangutans in their wild jungle habitat (Ursula’s Weekly Wanders: Meet the Locals). Truly, it was a memorable encounter – one not easily matched. It was hard to leave the Gunung Leuser National Park, but our itinerary called for us to […]

View full post »