The route for the 2014 Tour de France was unveiled in Paris yesterday, giving fans an opportunity to catch a glimpse at what we can expect next summer when the race returns for its 101st edition. As expected, Tour organizers have put some challenging elements into the various stages as they work hard to keep things very interesting for the riders and spectators alike.

Next year's TdF will begin a bit later than we're use to, getting underway on July 5 from Yorkshire in the U.K. After two stages across the Channel, the riders will head to Northern France where they'll have no less than nine sections, totally 15.4 km on cobblestones. Fans of the sport know that the cobbles are extremely dangerous and not especially popular with the Peloton. More than one rider has had their Tour dreams smashed on those rough roads in the early going, where most of the contenders just hope to survive.

With the rise of some exceptional climbers over the past few years the route planners are making sure they keep the riders challenged. There will be five mountain top finishes in the Alps and the Pyrenees, giving this year's champ Chris Froome and past champion Alberto Contador – both of whom were on hand for the course reveal – a chance to show off their climbing legs. The toughest of those days may be a slog up the Hautacam. The entire stage is just 145 km (90 miles) in length, but 40 km (24 miles) of that will be spent climbing.

Also a bit surprising is that there is only one individual time trail on the schedule. That leg is 54 km (33 miles) in length and will take place on the second to last day. As usual, the final day will belong to the sprinters on the streets of Paris and along the Champs Elysees.

I know that the race is still nine months off, but it's hard not to get excited when you hear about what's in store. I'm already looking forward to July!

The sad news is filtering out to the Internet that the first death of the Spring climbing season has occurred on Everest. The Adventurist is reporting that the climber was a Sherpa climbing on the South Col route. Details are still a bit sketchy, but it seems as though he was either caught in an avalanche, or crushed by falling ice. Read more of the coverage, including updates, here.

Alan Arnette has also posted on the tragedy on his Everest 2007 page. Alan has heard from Paul Adler's Team that the death occurred on the Lhotse Face. The Sherpa was working with the Thamserku team, a local company based right in Kathmandu. Alan remarks on how the Sherpas are like family for the guides who often employ the same men every year, and build long standing relationships with them.

My condlences to the climbers and families. I'll post more as it becomes known.

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Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, originally dates to the fourteenth century. It is named after the Butler family, a highly influential and powerful Norman dynasty who became Earls of Ormond. The progenitor of the family in Ireland was Theobald Walter who came to Ireland in the aftermath of the Norman Invasion in the late twelfth-century. He was rewarded for his service by being granted vast lands in the South-East of Ireland, particularly centred around Counties Tipperary, Kilkenny and parts of Waterford. He was also given the title Chief Butler of Ireland, who had the honour of personally serving the King on state occasions, and with this came the right to levy his own tax on all wine imports into Ireland – as the Normans were known to like a tipple this ensured that Theobald Walter and his successors became very wealthy indeed!

In 1315 Edmund FitzWalter (6th Chief Butler) was granted the Lordship and Manor of Carrick by King Edward II, and his son James made the advantageous marriage to Eleanor de Bohun, a granddaughter of the King. By the middle of the fourteenth century, the Butlers were Earls of Ormond and had cemented their position as one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties in Ireland.

The castle at Carrick-on-Suir is thought to have an early origin, but the remains visible today largely date to later than the fourteenth century. In the grounds you can see the ruins of a medieval bawn (a fortified walled enclosure), with two tall fourteenth or fifteenth century towers. One of the towers is in ruins, while the other tower (thought to be the earliest of the two) is still well-preserved. If you look closely at the ruined tower you can still see features like the ornate fireplace that probably dates to the fifteenth or early sixteenth century [a noisy family of ravens have made one of these towers their home, and their calls certainly add atmosphere to the site]. Other buildings in the area exist only at foundation level, though it is possible to see the remains of the large bricked up Water Gate in the exterior wall. In the medieval period, the River Suir flowed at the base of the castle walls, and the River Gate allowed goods and people to be transported easily up and down the River to the other major centres nearby at Cahir, Clonmel and Waterford.

The Tudor Period was a turbulent time in Irish history. An uprising by the Butler’s long time rivals, The Fitzgeralds, had just been defeated, and King Henry VIII had become the first English Monarch to declare himself ‘King of Ireland’. He began a process of plantations and conquest that was continued after his death, during the reigns of Mary and then Elizabeth. During this chaotic period, Thomas Butler, Earl of Ossory and 10th Earl of Ormond succeeded to his lands and titles in 1546 when he was just fifteen years old. Thomas had grown up at the English Court, and was seen as a faithful friend to the Crown. He was a personal friend to the young Elizabeth (and some suggest perhaps their friendship was more romantic than platonic) and he shared a tutor with the future King Edward VI. Following King Henry VIII’s death, Thomas Butler was present at the Coronation of the young King Edward and he was proclaimed as a Knight of the Order of Bath, a very high honour. Following Edward’s death at a young age, he remained at court during Mary’s reign and rose to high favour and prominence when Elizabeth became Queen. She named him Lord Treasurer of Ireland, a position that brought great wealth and prestige. 

He returned to Ireland, where he was thought of favourably, though he was considered to be ‘wholly English’ by the locals. He fought a number of bloody campaigns against the rebellious O’Moore’s of County Laois. However, despite occasionally earning the displeasure of the English Court due to ongoing feuding with the Fitzgeralds, Thomas [or Black Tom as he became known] maintained the good favour of the Crown. He was awarded a number of titles; President of Munster, Lord High Marshal of Ireland and Commander in Chief of Her Majesty’s Forces in Ireland.

It is said that he had the handsome Manor House of Ormond Castle constructed in preparation for a planned visit by Queen Elizabeth the Ist. However she never journeyed to Ireland to see this splendid building. This building is Ireland’s finest surviving example of an Elizabethan Manor House, and many of its architectural styles reflect the English influence. Originally, its handsome stone walls would have been covered with a plaster render and whitewashed in the fashion of the time. The building faces outwards onto what would have been a large park with a grand carriageway.
Today you can enjoy a guided tour around this building (though unfortunately no interior photographs are permitted). You can enter a number of the rooms, most impressively the Long Gallery, and you’ll encounter features like musket-loops, showing a formidable defensive, as well as fashionable, design. There are a number of pieces of period furniture, though none are original to the building. They do give a good sense of the style and furniture of the period. Perhaps most impressive of all is the rare plaster stucco friezes that depict the coat of arms of the Butler Family as well as griffins, falcons and portrait busts of Elizabeth Ist. You can also see impressive grand fireplaces in this stately room that once would have been filled with portraits and tapestries, leaving visitors to Ormond Castle in no doubt about the wealth and taste of the Earl of Ormond.

Facing towards the now blocked up arch of the Water Gate

Gradually the Butler family began to focus their attention and money on their other residences at Kilkenny Castle and Dunmore House. By the end of the seventeenth century, Ormond Castle was leased to tenants like Sir Ralph Freeman and his wife, and a group of French merchant families. A number of changes and alterations are believed to have been carried out at this time. In the eighteenth century, a solicitor named Mr Wogan who was a tenant at the castle levelled many of the ancillary buildings and began to modernise the Manor House. Gradually, Ormond Castle began to fall into disrepair. It was taken into OPW care in the 1940s, and a long programme of restoration was initiated.

The Castle is open free of charge to visitors daily from; 6th March - 2nd September. Access to the interior is by guided tour only, and I strongly recommend you take the fascinating tour to see the impressive long gallery, and to get a sense of life in Tudor period Ireland. For more information please see http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/OrmondCastle/. The site is one of the key stops along The Butler Trail, a great new initiative. Please see here for more information: http://www.discoverireland.ie/thebutlertrail

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog, if you’d like to support us please consider downloading one of our acclaimed series of audioguides to Ireland’s heritage sites, they are packed with original music and sound effects and a really fun and immersive way of exploring Ireland’s past. They are available from www.abartaheritage.ie

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All photographs © Neil Jackman /abartaheritage.ie

Last time I was in Taipei, my colleagues were so nice as to bring a takeout bowl of this place's noodles back to the office for me because I was stuck on a conference call. And I liked it so much that I suggested that maybe we go to the real shop today to try it out (1 Yenchi Street, Alley 7, Lane 137, 2721-4771). I'm really glad that we did: this place was awesome!

The bowl of noodles was just as good and spicy as I had remembered it, but what was even more impressive was all of the other various things that we got, including a deliciously savory clear version of the broth, as well as the fact that one can get a vermicelli option in the bowls too (gotta remember to get that next time!). There was also a dude in front making some kind of flat bread on a griddle...when it came out to us, it looked like a tortilla or naan, but it was dusted with a bit of seasoning, and it got filled with a mu shu pork-like stuffing. Those fat dumplings were fantastic too.

This place has skyrocketed to become my favorite beef noodle place in Taipei now. Yes, it was much better than the Sheraton's, even if the latter's beef was more tender. Interestingly, this place is very old school, having been around since 1957, and I believe that it is halal too given that it is a Chinese Muslim restaurant. Yum. I'm definitely coming back.

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The wealthy and flamboyantly eccentric Earl Bishop of Derry, Fredrick Augustus Hervey (1730–1803), chose the beautifully dramatic headland of Downhill in County Derry to build his grand country house. He spent a fortune on the finest architects and designers, and had the grounds beautifully landscaped with follies and iconic features.

He filled the house with artwork by European masters like Rubens, Raphael, Murrillo and Tintoretto, and it became one of the key venues for high society in the 18th century. One of the estate’s most iconic features, the famous Mussenden Temple, perches on the edge of the cliff above the sea. It was named after Mrs Frideswide Mussenden, the Earl Bishop’s cousin and close friend, who died shortly before its completion.

The temple was designed by Michael Shanahan, a master mason from Co Cork. The Latin inscription around the dome is from Lucretius, it translates to:

Tis pleasant to watch from the land the great struggling of others when the winds whip up the waves on a mighty sea.

The temple was the Bishop’s library, and though he himself was a Protestant earl bishop, Hervey allowed the room below the library to be used for Catholic mass. Unfortunately a devastating fire swept through the mansion in 1851 and destroyed most of the contents. It was rebuilt and lived in until the 1940s, but it never regained the majestic opulence of Hervey’s tenure. Today it is a beautiful place to explore, where you will encounter famous features like the Mussenden Temple, the Lion’s Gate and the mansion itself.

You’ll find Downhill on the scenic A2 Coastal Road, just north-west of Coleraine at 55.162320, -6.813288. It is on the railway line between Derry and Coleraine, described by Michael Palin as “one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world” – it certainly looks like a nice commute to me!

I really hope you enjoy our blog. If you'd like to discover more stories about Irish history, archaeology and culture and if you'd like to support us you can download audioguides from my website www.abartaheritage.ie, where we have 25 guides that tell the story of Irish heritage and the majority are absolutely free to download. 

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Do you have any suggestions for great sites to visit? I’d love to hear them, please do leave a comment below or you can contact me at info@abartaaudioguides.com

Photo © Toby Morris -All Rights Reserved
Toby Morris is a photographer based in Los Angeles and New York. Having attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Texas at Austin, he worked for various newspapers in Chicago, New York, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

I liked his environmental portraits of animal charmers in India. These are mostly of snake (cobra) handlers, as well as monkeys. Snake charming probably originated in India, especially that Hinduism holds snakes to be sacred. Indians also considered snake charmers to be holy men and traditional healers.

In India, the Kalbelia and Sapera are nomadic tribes nomadic that specialize in snake charming, and are clustered in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan.

As for monkeys, one of the most popular Hindu gods is Hanuman, who is said to be an incarnation of Shiva, and revered for his bravery, strength, loyalty, devotion, and dedication to justice. The monkey handlers are called "madaris", and are frequently seen at festivals and on the Indian roads.

I am repulsed by the exploitation of animals, but I also realize that snake charming and having monkeys perform silly tricks are activities that support many families in countries like India.

via Extrajection's Twitter page.

Photo © Amy Johansson-All Rights Reserved
Amy Johansson is a Swedish photographer, who's currently about to move from her Bangladesh base to attend an international photojournalism course at the Danish School of Media and Journalism . After completing a degree in fashion design, Amy worked as a designer for several years, until moving to Dhaka as a product developer.

Upon her taking up photography, she rapidly won awards and has been represented in numerous galleries and exhibitions, such as the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait exhibition at the London National Portrait Gallery in 2009.

Amy attended the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop last year in Manali (India) where she won the emerging photojournalist award, and also attended it in Istanbul two weeks ago.

She recently co-produced an audio slideshow titled Lethal Leather on that industry in Bangladesh, its medieval conditions and its lethal toxic consequences on its workers. It's a joint project between her and journalist Gabrielle Jönsson.

Photo © Rina Castelnuovo-All Rights Reserved
The New York Times' Lens blog features the work of Rina Castelnuovo in Palestine & Israel. Essentially a "smooch" job by the writer, but there's no denying that she deserves every word of it.

After all, she's the photographer who captured the infamous photograph of the thuggish Israeli settler tossing wine at a Palestinian woman on Shuhada Street in Hebron.

Amongst Ms Castelnuovo's photographs on the Lens blog, I chose the one above as my favorite. The photograph is of a group of Haredi Jews (or Haredim) during a festival in the Mea Shearim district of Jerusalem. The Haredim are Ultra-Orthodox Jews who consider their belief system and rituals to extend in an unbroken chain back to Moses.

I'm intrigued by some of the hats worn by these Haredim. The fur hats worn by some are called spodik while the flat ones are called shtreimel, however I can't figure those worn by the fellows on the left of the photograph which resemble white fezzes complete with black tassels.

The fez of course, is the well-known red hat with tassel of the Ottoman Empire, which was popular in its dominions such as Egypt, the Maghreb and some Greek islands. The fez was banned by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as being regressive.

Apparently Michelle Obama and family were here when they were in Beijing last week, and I can see why. Sure, part of it was because of the namesake duck and the fact that it was a nice place to bring tourists. But the food was honestly good too, with me liking nearly everything that they brought out tonight, including a deliciously fatty and tender spicy beef as well as the broth that they made from the duck bones.

Fortunately, they didn't offer any Pop Rocks to go with the duck. That's not to say that there weren't elements of tackiness here though, as witnessed by not only the odd projector screen showing advertisements for the restaurant, but also the cotton candy and dry ice that accompanied our dessert. Perhaps more amusing was the gigantic menu here...they were like the size of Moses' stone tablets!

More Everest News this morning. The summits don't seem to be coming as fast and furiously as they have been the past two days, but Day 3 of the Summit Push has seen more climbers reach the top, including Nives Meroi who along with her husband Romano Benet reached the summit at 10 A.M. local time. This is Nives' ninth 8000m peak, giving her the same number of summits as Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, and marking them both as the premiere female high altitude mountaineers.

There is some sad news to report from Everest today as well, as Oh Hee-Joon and Lee Hyun-Jo, two very experienced Korean climbers have fallen to their deaths on the South West Face while making their summit bids. Oh Hee-joon in particular has summited eight of the 8000m peaks and had also visited both Poles. He had also topped out on Everest in the past, so his credentials are impressive to say the least. It's always hard having to report on these kinds of incidences, but they are also a part of the danger that we all face when we head out into the mountains. Still, our thoughts are with their friends and familes, as they are with everyone who has lost someone on Everest this season.

In other news, Alan Arnette is reporting that David Tait has canceled his return traverse to the North side. David notes that fatigue and timing both played into his descision to not go for the second traverse. Great work none the less David, and a great example of good judgement. There will be other summits to climb.

Once again, be sure to read Alan's Everest 2007 Page, along with The Adventurist, and ExWeb for all the breaking Everest news throughout the day.

MountEverest.net is reporting the sad news that Spanish climbers Ricardo Valencia and Santiago Sagaste were killed in an avalanche yesterday at C2 on Dhaulagiri.

The two climbers were waiting out a storm in an attempt to make their summit bid when the avalanche swempt through camp. Teammate Javi Serrano and Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner were also at C2 at the time, but were unharmed by the snows that buried Ricardo and Valencia's tent.

Gerlinde has since returned to BC where she radioed her team to let them know that she was alive and well, but at this time it's hard to say if she will attempt to once again go up the mountain. Her climb has been plagued with difficulties having already retreated once before in order to get her sick climbing partner back to BC.

This is sad news indeed, and I want to once again express my condolences for the friends and family of these climbers. Our thoughts and prayers are with you in these difficult times.

Oh man, that hit the spot! After a rather heavy amount of drinking tonight, I needed food. So I stumbled back out onto the streets to try to find something, preferably soupy. There wasn't much that was open at this hour, and I nearly gave in to just getting a bowl of instant noodles at a convenience store. Fortunately, I stumbled across this outlet of Busan Ahjimae just before doing so; it was open 24 hours.

I had no idea what to order, and the lady couldn't speak English either, so it was interesting that she just brought this out without me even specifying my request (either that, or it was the *only* thing that she was serving!). I never quite got around to asking her what I ordered, but I believe that it was kalbitang (or was it seolleongtang?), and it totally hit the spot with that savory yet thin broth.

Yummmm...I love it when I randomly come across gems like this. And it's good that I found it, as I suspect that I'm going to be coming here again on my next business trip up here, especially given the local team's penchant for wanting to keep shoving soju down my throat. I just hope that I can find it again next time.

Time to try out yet another variety of mangoes from India, this one being called badami. I liked it...these fragrant things were light yellow in color and tasted a bit like Thai honey mangoes. But it also had a bit of a mild caramel-like aftertaste, which put a smile on my face. I still liked those Burmese mangoes better, but I'll happily buy these again.

Photo © Veronique de Vigurie-All Rights Reserved
One of my favorite photojournalists, Veronique de Vigurie, was featured on The Daily Beast blog in an article/interview titled The Bravest Photographer.

Veronique de Viguerie is based in Paris and, at the age of only 32, has already won prestigious awards including Canon’s coveted Female Photojournalist of the Year Award in 2006. Her photographs regularly appear in Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Marie-Claire, and The Guardian.

She's known for her empathy with her subjects, and that trait got her in hot water in 2008 when she photographed a group of Taliban fighters who had killed 10 French soldiers. Paris-Match published her photographs, and her critics accused her being used to spread Taliban propaganda.

I recall writing about this, and suggesting that if anyone was to be accused of anything, it should have been the Paris-Match editors.

The article quotes Régis Le Sommier, deputy editor in chief of Paris Match, that he believes de Viguerie is "one of the most daring and promising photographers of her generation."

More of de Viguerie's images are on Getty Images Reportage website.

Update: 4.25.2010: See my follow-up post So Whose Judgment Lapse Is it?
Update 4.22.2010: Jon Sawyer of the Pulitzer Center responds, and within the response is this:

"Yet we also believe, and Vernaschi agrees, that it was wrong to ask that the body be exhumed. It showed disrespect for the dead, and forced a grieving family to suffer anew. It also had the effect of focusing attention on the actions of one journalist, as opposed to a horrific crime that needs to be exposed.

We regret any damage that may have been caused. We intend to continue this project, documenting the phenomenon of child sacrifice, but in so doing we we will redouble our efforts to authenticate every claim and to insure the privacy rights of individual victims."

Here's my original post 0f 4.21.2010:

Here's another story that is guaranteed to make your stomachs churn. It involves Marco Vernaschi an Italian photographer/photojournalist who worked on a project documenting the phenomenon of child witches, human sacrifice and organ trafficking in Africa, and the Pultizer Center For Crisis Reporting.

I have linked to various photographs, but be aware that these are highly disturbing.

It appears that the Pulitzer Center funded Vernaschi to do a story on child sacrifice in Uganda, and it published some of his hard-hitting photographs in an article titled Uganda: Babirye, The Girl from Katugwe, in which the photographer convinces a Ugandan mother to allow the exhumation of her mutilated daughter's body in order to photograph it as "visual evidence". The photograph of the corpse is then shown on both Vernaschi's website and on the Pulitzer Center's. Payment (described as "a contribution for a lawyer") was made by the photographer to the mother.

Another photograph on Vernaschi's website shows an abused boy with a catheter protruding from where his penis has been cut off. His face is clearly shown.

Vernaschi's website explains that

"Child sacrifice in Uganda is a phenomenon that has embedded itself within traditional customs but that bears no genuine relationship to local culture. The appeal to "cultural beliefs" is actually an excuse used by witchdoctors to justify their crimes, and by the Ugandan government to avoid taking action. The government tries to minimize the magnitude of the problem because politicians fear losing votes and this is a a country where witchdoctors wield surprising influence at the polls."

I'm all for documentary coverage to expose and stop this barbaric practice...there's no argument there. However, for a photojournalist to ask (and then pay) for the exhumation of a body beggars belief. Had the child died in a ritualistic murder in Italy, could Vernaschi been able to ask its family to exhume the body for a few pictures? Had he been able to photograph an Italian baby boy with a catheter sticking out of his groin? Why can't these photojournalists and publishers understand that they cannot continue to show pictures of mutilated children??

It's immoral. It's as simple and as complex as that.

As I wrote in an older post: To Vernaschi and to the Pulitzer Center's Board of Directors, Advisory Council and Staff: what if Babirye and the baby boy were your children, your niece and nephew or even just a relative...or an acquaintance? Would you still have photographed and published the photographs...or is it because they're "just" Africans?

Vernaschi is an award winning photographer....and well-experienced dealing with gruesome topics. Surely he could have photographed the story differently? Or is it about winning awards and applause from the rest of the lemmings?

Update: For a more detailed and comprehensive opinion, along with some responses from the Pulitzer Center, check A Developing Story.

Tne newest Wired has a story claiming that as of January 1, 2007 (tomorrow) all new American passports will have a radio frequency chip embedded in them. If it weren't bad enough that government officials can easily monitor your movements, how about hackers and other "bad actors?" Wired claims it will make it all the easier for hackers to get their hands on your personal stats.

Getting paranoid about strangers slurping up your identity? Here’s what you 
can do about it. But be careful-- tampering with a passport is 
punishable by 25 years in prison. Not to mention the "special" 
customs search, with rubber gloves. Bon voyage!

1) RFID-tagged passports have a distinctive logo on the front cover; 
the chip is embedded in the back.

2) Sorry, "accidentally" leaving your passport in the jeans you just 
put in the washer won't work. You're more likely to ruin the passport 
itself than the chip.

3) Forget about nuking it in the microwave-- the chip could burst 
into flames, leaving telltale scorch marks. Besides, have you ever 
smelled burnt passport?

4) The best approach? Hammer time. Hitting the chip with a blunt, 
hard object should disable it. A nonworking RFID doesn’t invalidate 
the passport, so you can still use it.

Or does that idea of an electronic chip in your passport make you feel more secure and safer? Many people actually like Big Brother and some people think they are better fit for robotic slavery than for the vicissitudes of freedom.


UPDATE: AND IT ISN'T JUST AMERICAN TRAVELERS THAT UNCLE SAM IS GATHERING INFO ABOUT. BRITS TRAVELING TO THE U.S.-- GET READY!

Happy New Year! Today's Telegraph has an unwelcome announcement for British air passengers U.S.-bound. "Britons flying to America could have their credit card and email accounts inspected by the United States authorities following a deal struck by Brussels and Washington. By using a credit card to book a flight, passengers face having other transactions on the card inspected by the American authorities. Providing an email address to an airline could also lead to scrutiny of other messages sent or received on that account."

There are 4 millions Brits per year who fly to the U.S. and this newest Bush Regime initiative covers not just them but all Europeans. Not only has Bush demanded that all this info be available in regard to his phony war against terrorism but his regime is also asserting the right to the same information when dealing with other ill-defined "serious crimes."

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
During my Oaxaca Mini Photo-Expedition™ a few weeks ago, we drove to Ocotlán de Morelos which is located 30-40 kilometers from Oaxaca, and photographed at its weekly market. I found it much more photogenic than those in Oaxaca proper such as the Abastos and Benito Juarez markets; perhaps more authentic is a better description.

Notwithstanding, the Zapotecs are not fond of being photographed, and I had to be somewhat circumspect when photographing in such an environment. One of the photographs that almost works is the one of the Ocotlán matron above. The wall colors are great, the blue basket matches her frock, and her expression is phenomenal...but her posture is not quite as I would have liked it.

As I slowly moved to the right to adjust my framing after this photograph was made, she saw me and ran inside the store.

Ah well...perhaps another time I'll be luckier.

I wasn't exactly intending to get a second dinner tonight (87 East Coast Road, 6440-6956). But when I noticed that these guys were just a few doors down from Full of Crab, I remembered that this location of Sin Hoi Sai had something that the Tiong Bahru location didn't have: some kind of Indonesian chicken that was supposed to be awesome, at least according to the same guy who referred me to such gems as Bismillah and Bar-B-Q Tonight.

Now, I don't know if my expectations were thus too inappropriately warped, but I was let down when this thing came out. The chicken was tough and dry, and it was done up in a mildly sweet sauce rather than some kind of volcano-spicy like thing that I had somehow built up in my head. Granted, some of that chili padi on the side helped address that, but I was hoping that it was part of the dish itself. Well, at least it went down well with the beer.

Most of the e-mails I get about this blog ask me how safe it is to travel to Morocco or Mexico or India or Mali... even Buenos Aires. It's safe, it's safe... almost every place is safe-- if you take the same kinds of common sense precautions you would take as a matter of course everywhere you go outside of the gated community.

Today NY Times writer Nicholas Kristof did a column on evading bandits in foreign countries. I've encountered my share of them too-- machine gun toting militia in Afghanistan in 1969, dacoits in Kerala in 1970, hippie-hating Texas Rangers near Waco in 1967, small time hoodlums, more annoying than dangerous, in Tangier, Fez and Marrakech almost every time I've been to Morocco, a crooked landlady in Buenos Aires in 2006... Luckily I missed the domestic terrorism incident outside a church in Wichita, Kansas today (inspired by Republican Party propagandist Bill O'Reilly on his Fox TV terrorism show).

Kristof has 15 tips "for traveling to even the roughest of countries-- and back:"

1. Carry a “decoy wallet,” so that if you are robbed by bandits with large guns, you have something to hand over. I keep $40 in my decoy wallet, along with an old library card and frequent-flier card. (But don’t begrudge the wallet: when my travel buddy was pickpocketed in Peru, we tried to jump the pickpocket, who turned out to be backed by an entire gang ... )

2. Carry cash and your passport where no robber will find it. Assuming that few bandits read this column, I’ll disclose that I carry mine in a pouch that loops onto my belt and tucks under my trousers.

3. Carry a tiny ski lock with a six-foot retractable wire. Use it to lock your backpack to a hotel bed when you’re out, or to the rack of a train car.

4. At night, set a chair against your hotel door so that it will tip over and crash if someone slips in at 4 a.m. And lift the sheet to look for bloodstains on the mattress-- meaning bed bugs.

5. When it gets dark, always carry a headlamp in your pocket. I learned that from a friend whose hotel in Damascus lost power. He lacked a light but was able to feel his way up the stairs in the dark, find his room and walk in. A couple of final gropes, and he discovered it wasn’t his room after all. Unfortunately, it was occupied.

6. If you’re a woman held up in an isolated area, stick out your stomach, pat it and signal that you’re pregnant. You might also invest in a cheap wedding band, for imaginary husbands deflect unwanted suitors.

7. Be wary of accepting drinks from anyone. Robbers sometimes use a date rape drug to knock out their victims-- in bars, in trains, in homes. If presented with pre-poured drinks, switch them with your host, cheerfully explaining: “This is an American good luck ritual!”

8. Buy a secondhand local cell phone for $20, outfit it with a local SIM card and keep it in your pocket.

9. When you arrive in a new city, don’t take an airport taxi unless you know it is safe. If you do take a cab, choose a scrawny driver and lock ALL the doors-- thieves may pull open the doors at a red light and run off with a bag.

10. Don’t wear a nice watch, for that suggests a fat wallet and also makes a target. I learned that lesson on my first trip to the Philippines: a robber with a machete had just encountered a Japanese businessman with a Rolex-- who now, alas, has only one hand.

11. Look out for fake cops or crooked ones. If a policeman tries to arrest you, demand to see some ID and use your cell phone to contact a friend.

12. If you are held up by bandits with large guns, shake hands respectfully with each of your persecutors. It’s very important to be polite to people who might kill you. Surprisingly often, child soldiers and other bandits will reciprocate your fake friendliness and settle for some cash rather than everything you possess. I’ve even had thugs warmly exchange addresses with me, after robbing me.

13. Remember that the scariest people aren’t warlords, but drivers. In buses I sometimes use my pack as an airbag; after one crash I was the only passenger not hospitalized.

14. If terrorists finger you, break out singing “O Canada”!

15. Finally, don’t be so cautious that you miss the magic of escaping your comfort zone and mingling with local people and staying in their homes. The risks are minimal compared with the wonders of spending time in a small village. So take a gap year, or volunteer in a village or a slum. And even if everything goes wrong and you are robbed and catch malaria, shrug it off-- those are precisely the kinds of authentic interactions with local cultures that, in retrospect, enrich a journey and life itself.

I'm not vouching for any of that, although in my preparations for a rapidly approaching trip to Bali and Thailand, I did dust off my "decoy wallet." Most of my preparations for Bali, though, are even more mundane. The best time to visit: dry season is between April and September, although last time I was there, it was November and December and it may have been more muggy than it is in June and July but I recall it being pretty uniformly gorgeous every day. I know I swam every day too.

I would have rented the same house I rented last time but it isn't available this year. So I asked a friend of mine who lives there to find me something similar-- away from the tourist hellholes on the south coast, up near Ubud closer to the center of the island. He came up with the Villa Di Abing. I made sure the cook can work with vegans and raw foodists-- the house actually has a dehydrator and a VitaMix!-- and then I booked my ticket, bought some sun block and we're ready for our trip. (The villa has a security guard.)

This was dinner on SQ tonight. It was fine (I liked the rice in particular), but in retrospect, I should have gotten the vegetarian option instead. I only got the meat version because it was done by Sanjeev Kapoor.