More news from MountEverest.net today concerning the ongoing climbs on Everest and elsewhere in the Himalaya. It's mid-May now, so obviously things are about to get intense on Everest, while others are finishing up climbs on various other peaks.

On Everest things are really heating up with teams moving up the mountain on both sides. On the North side in particular, it seems that they are poised for a major push in the next few days, while on the South they are still a bit tenative as fixed ropes on the upper slopes are still being put down and there is fear of traffic jams later in the week.

Rumor has it that David Tait may be making his summit bid tomorrow, and of course finishing up the first leg of his double traverse. The 16th seems like a big day on the North side with the Scottish Scouts, the Philippines Team, and Nices Meroi all aiming to give it a go. The ladies on the Phillippines Team will end at BC in Nepal on their traverse as well.

Mountain Madness seems to be leading the way on the South side, as they are making the push to summit on the 16th as well. Since they are one of the first teams up, that also means they are laying down the last of the fixed ropes too. The feeling amongst the other teams seems to be wait and see, as a number of them watch the weather and the movements of their companions.

Else where in the Himalaya other teams are preparing to top out on their own particular summits. News from Annapurna is that the Spanish team there is saddened and subdued following the loss of their friends on Dhaulagiri. But word is that they will attempt the "German Route" on the North side none the less.

Snow on Manaslu kept a team from reaching the summit there. They've returned to Base Camp and are awaiting another opportunity. And finally, word is that Amical Alpin’s Cho Oyu team topped out on Friday, May 4th.

Congrats to all the recent summitteers and good luck to all the teams going up this week. Climb high, climb safe!

Man, this Vietnamese-Cajun thing is really spreading in Singapore, especially if the Tung Lok folks launched their own place too (200 Turf Club Road #01-20/21, 6466-3303). At least, it had many of the hallmark features of being Vietnamese-Cajun: not just with the plastic bags, but also the limes and salt/pepper mixture that they greeted you with. Strangely though, they only provided enough limes, salt, and pepper for one person, despite the fact that we were a party of seven. I suppose that limes *are* more expensive here.

Still, I knew that we were doomed once they poured these out onto the table; immediately I got a whiff of tomatoes in the sauce. Tomatoes? Really?? One dip of my finger into the sauce confirmed it. This wasn't Vietnamese-Cajun nor even proper Cajun (despite the "Louisiana Seafood" tagline plastered all over their marketing materials). This tomato sauce, while spicy, was basically an arrabbiata. No wonder why The Sunday Times said that they wanted to bring the sauce home to pour on pasta!

To be fair, it wasn't that bad as long as I thought of it as arrabbiata shellfish mix rather than Cajun. But I was so taken aback by it that the only thing I really cared for today was the fish and chips instead, and that was largely fueled by the fact that they used a delicious cod in there (yes, the seafood otherwise here was pretty fresh). But if I want Vietnamese-Cajun in Singapore again, I'll head to Full of Crab or Crab in Da Bag; hopefully the former has since toned up its mixture to be much spicier than when I last had it.

When I flew into Buenos Aires from the U.S., the plane didn't fly over the city and I never got to see a bird's eye view. I walk a lot. Porteños I talk to are amazed that I walk as far as I do-- like from San Telmo to the outer reaches of Palermo. Buses, taxis and the subway are cheap and efficient but I love to walk and always find it a good way to get to know something of a city. My guess is that a walk from Bio, my favorite veggie restaurant, way out on Humboldt in Palermo to San Telmo is at least 4 or 5 miles. Flying over Buenos Aires after my trip to Corrientes and Misiones provinces I was stunned by the staggering giganticness of the city. It just goes on and one and on. There are 36 million people in Argentina, with lots of wide open spaces. 11 and a half million of them live in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.

In Manhattan all my friends think I'm crazy because I love walking from the 50's down to, say, Little Italy. I get to see a lot of Manhattan. But not all of it-- and none of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens or Staten Island. Buenos Aires is much bigger; much, much bigger. And remember what I said about how Buenos Aires is such a vertical city with everyone living in apartment buildings? That would be in the city center areas. There's plenty of horizonal living in Greater B.A.

Argentina is also a very large country. It's not like any of the European countries, where you can drive anywhere in a day. Not by a long shot. The nonstop flight from Buenos Aires to Tierra del Fuego is around 4 hours, about the same as Los Angeles to Atlanta. And from Jujuy in the northwest down to Tierra del Fuego... my guess is that it's further than from Maine to San Diego. Unless you have a lot of time and love long distance driving-- and I've met quite a few travelers who do and who are revelling in their Argentine vacations-- you have to fly. The problem with flying around Argentina is that it's expensive, for many people prohibitively expensive.

Every Porteño I tell I'm going to Tierra del Fuego lights up and tells me how wonderful it is. When I ask them if they've ever been, they all say no. I still haven't met a single Argentine who's ever been there. As one of my friends mentioned "It costs less to go to Miami or London. So..."

For foreigners there is a way around this. In Latin America there are a lot of things stacked against tourists, even to the point of hotels-- not to mention national parks and things like that-- which charge more to foreigners than to natives. In a few cases, they even charge more to certain foreigners (i.e.- like those who live above the equator) than to others. But there is one little, or not so little, instance where the situation works in reverse. You know what a Eurail Pass is, right? Aerolinas Argentinas, the national airline, offers something like that-- a mindblowingly low rate for internal travel. The catch: you have to fly into the country on that airline. And that isn't always convenient or even cost-effective (especially since Aerolinas Argentinas isn't hooked up with any of the big airline networks that share mileage plans).

I stumbled upon a way around that little catch. Uruguay is right across the La Plata and if you're in Buenos Aires why not visit Uruguay anyway-- Colonia, Montevideo and Punta del Este? I took a pleasant one hour ferry trip over to Colonia and then a bus to Montevideo. There are also ferries direct to Montevideo. After seeing a bit of Uruguay I took the quick, cheap flight back to Buenos Aires. And that meant I flew into Argentina from a foreign country, making me eligible to fly anywhere inside the country for next to nothing.

My next travel tip will be how to trick the nasty Brazilians into letting you into their over-priced country.


UPDATE: AND THE COUNTRY AND CITY AREN'T THE ONLY THINGS THAT ARE BIG AROUND HERE!

To answer an e-mail from a friend, it isn't just Buenos Aires, the metro area, and Argentina, the nation, that are big. The portions in restaurants also seem to be very large. Aside from the all-you-can eat buffets, even the chic restaurants serve hefty courses. Food is plentiful and the folks down here like to eat and they like to party. Like I mentioned earlier though, you don't see the kind of obesity in the people that you see all over America or, more and more, in Europe.

It's another busy day on Everest with plenty of more climbers reaching the top, this time from both the North and the South sides. We knew things would come fast and furious once the weather window opened, but I'd say it's been even crazier than I expected. As usual, you can find great coverage at MountEverest.net, which is being updated regularly. Don't forget to drop by Alan Arnette's Everest 2007 Page as he has a very nice commentary already posted this morning about the grit and determination of these climbers. Alan makes a good point that it's been popular to bag on Everest climbers this past year or so, but most of these climbers are doing it the right way, and are genuinely dedicated to high altitude mountaineering. And for even more Everest news, because I know you can't get enough, drop by The Adventursist though out the day, as I'm sure Jason will be following all the breaking news as it occurs as well.

A few stories to touch on. The Pinay Girls have topped out from the North side and are now traversing down the South and into Tibet. The The Super Sherpas also completed their summit attempt today from the South side. This is probably the least surprising of all the summits, as these guys were a lock it seems. Word is that Nives Meroi will be making a no O2 summit attempt tonight as she goes for another 8000m peak to add to her resume. Also, it seems that Ming Kipa Sherpa has summitted on the North side at the ripe old age of 15!!

The other big news is that there seems to be some trouble brewing on the North side. There may be a rescue attempt underway. There are not a lot of detail at the moment, and we don't want to speculate too much, but according to the Cracking Day Everst Blog the climbers witnessed some kind of incident with a Japanese girl at around 8300m, but were reluctant to say much more. MountEverest.net is also reporting that there seemed to be some activity on the mountain that would lead you to believe a rescue was underway. Lets keep our fingers crossed on this one folks!

Congrats to all the climbers who reached the "Top of the World" today. Awesome accomplishment all around. Now get back down safe, as you're not done yet. And for everyone still on their way up, I hope the weather holds out for you, and be careful. Climb safe! We all want you back down in one piece so you can tell us your stories!

I'll post more updates as they come in throughout the day.

Update: MountEverest.net has an update on the Japanese climber that I posted on earlier. It seems that he collapsed on their descent from the summit, after successfully reaching the top on the North side. The Sherpas attempted to adminsiter CPR, but were unsuccessful in reviving him. The climbers name has not been revealed as of yet, but news has also hit the Japanese media.

Amidst all the celebrations for the successful summit, lets keep this man's friends and family in our thoughts.

I just got a letter from an old friend, Dave, who is visiting Morocco with 2 other mutual friends, Jo and Cindy. It's the first time in Morocco for each of them. He wrote to me from the Riyad El Cadi, the fantastic townhouse in Marrakesh where Roland and I stayed last December. Dave said it was ok to turn his letter into a blog.

I'm writing this to you under the lemon trees in the central courtyard of the riyad el cadi.  As I type, the electrifying moan of the afternoon call to prayer is starting to swell across the medina. We arrived last night after a flight from Amsterdam. I am staying in your room, the Piscine, and Josephine and Cindy are in the Maison Bleu.

Thanks so much for recommending this place. It's absolutely lovely. And they light up when we mention "Howie".

Here's a little excerpt from of my diary. The longer entry spent a lot of time describing our arrival on the edge of the Jamaa El Fna and the walk to the Riyad -- a scene you know well enough, so I'll spare you that bit and cut to early this morning...

As I have for the last week, I slept like an old dog. Me, who's used to three or four hours at a time, sleeping for six and seven. Very odd. What's surprising here is that you're in the middle of this incredibly dense neighborhood that stretches out at least a couple of miles in every direction from you and at night it's just dead silent. I had a crazy dream about being caught up in some very intense religous mystery (along the lines of the Da Vinci Code I think -- although i haven't read it) chasing people through all these little corridors and stairways, being warned to stop asking questions by some people and pulled into dark doorways by others who would confide some mysterious bit of secret information. I woke up quite disoriented to the sound of the morning call to prayer at 5, followed by a really amazing concert of bird calls of every description. Needless to say, it took me a while to feel like i was really awake and really here.

At breakfast this morning a fellow named Hassan from the hotel spent about a half an hour with us talking about what we wanted to see and do, and then marking routes and destinations on the impossibly complicated map of the old city -- the Medina.  A bit later we set out on our way, deciding to go visit an antique-dealing friend of Hassan's who he said was not more than 3 minutes walk up the alley. Within a minute and a half we were totally lost. I can't really describe the scene, and I know that sooner or later you just get used to it and start to get your bearings, but at first it's just sort of mind-blowing,  Turn a corner and you're in the middle of a little vegetable market where a man is selling red onions, a woman has two little piles of apricots, a moped is honking its way through the busy crowd, an old old man is leading a donkey pulling a cart full of animal hides and then another man more or less pulls you into his doorway to show you his blanket factory. Before you know it, he's led you down a dark, dark corridor and into a ramshackle room where ten or twelve men are working on looms, weaving these incredibly vibrant colored yarns into blankets and rugs. And the guy is offering you tea and talking about America and saying "you are welcome here" and about how he'll make a special price for you. It's at once stunningly beautiful, squalid, intimidating, annoying, funny and seemingly so damned authentic that the modern cynic in you can't possibly believe that it could possibly be authentic at all. I think this is the thing that, in my first day here, has suprised me the most. You travel around a bit and you start to believe that every place is more or less the same.  London is not that different from Los Angeles... Amsterdam... Chicago...  even China which in a lot of ways really blew my mind.  What's surprising is how much alike they all seem to be. You begin to expect to be able to feel more or less at home anywhere. Then there's this place which makes you realize that the world is still a lot bigger than you are. Today, wandering through the maze of markets, it made me feel quite naive. And that, in turn, made me feel vulnerable, and for a second, a little uneasy. And then again, everyone is remarkably friendly and funny. A man in a shop asked me if Josephine and Cindy were my two wives. I laughed and he laughed and he told me I must be a Berber and that he'd give me 12,000 dirhams for the pair of them and we both laughed some more.  I guess the Berber are the butt of a lot of jokes here.  A few minutes later, in another stall, Josephine was considering buying some old tins.  She pulled me in to talk to the seller who was asking 400 dirhams and he asked me to tell him my price.  When I said she would pay 200 for them, he looked and me and said I must be Berber. I said, "Berber? Why? Because I'm cheap?" To which he replied, "Cheap!  Yes." And laughed.

Yesterday I had to abandon the girls and retreat to the Riyad after I couldn't absorb any more shopping.  A couple of hours later they returned with a tale of Josephine nearly getting into it with a passive agressive t-shirt seller who, after apparently some time spent chatting, offering tea and showing the goods, felt that her price was insulting.  He said something along the lines of "Are you a little crazy in the head?" and at some point put the shirts in a bag and threw them at her telling her, "Fine! Just take them American. Just take them for nothing."  I sort of wish I'd seen it and then again I'm really glad I wasn't there.

Today I think we're headed to some gardens and a supermarket.

Oh, and we had a wonderful dinner at El Fassia last night.

Anyway, thanks again Howie.  We feel a little like you're here with us.

UPDATE: 36 HOURS IN MARRAKESH-- TOO EXPRESS

Today's NY Times is right about one thing: Marrakesh is cool. Their vision of why... kind of superficial. Hey, but superficial people have a right to discover cool places too (and destroy them for everyone else).

I didn't even find out about this until today, but apparently one of the things that this restaurant is known for is this Spice Mum chili sauce, a sour mixture of raw chili and garlic that packs quite a punch. And like Ay Chung Oyster Noodle in Taipei, you can buy a refrigerated jar to take home.

To my surprise, I rather enjoyed some of the food that we got today, including some kind of mushroom and scallop dish, as well as some deep fried taro root thing (perfect for dipping in that hot sauce above). Hmm...maybe I should come to these guys more often.

Bronze Age Ireland saw the construction of new types of stone monuments in the landscape, the large court-tombs and passage tombs of the Neolithic gave way to the smaller wedge tombs, cist-burials, stone circles, rows, alignments and solitary standing stones. Here in the peaceful Faughan Valley just outside of Derry you can see a whole prehistoric Bronze Age landscape with numerous monuments scattered throughout the region.

The first of these that we visited were these prominent standing stones at Clagan. There are three standing stones visible here though only one still stands vertical, originally they probably formed a small stone row. They seem to be put to good use by the bullocks who were enjoying a good scratch on them when we arrived. There are beautiful views down the Faughan Valley from the hill on where the stones stand, and this site is well worth a look if you’re in the area. To find the standing stones, take the B74 Glenshane Road from Claudy, then take the second left onto the Clagan Road and you’ll see the stones in a field around 400m south-east of Clagan Bridge. Park safely on the road but as there are livestock in the fields surrounding the stones, please be sure to close all gates behind you.

We weren't the only ones interested in the standing stones at Clagan, these local archaeology enthusiasts beat us to it

At Ballygroll you can find a quite remarkable collection of prehistoric monuments, all clustered together on a sandy ridge at Slievegore Hill. Much of the site is covered by bog, but excavations in the late 1970s revealed part of a large prehistoric complex. The identified remains include a court tomb, two wedge tombs, a circular stone cairn, a barrow, two stone circles, cist burials and prehistoric field walls.

Part of the remains of the Neolithic Court-tomb

The earliest monument discovered at Ballygroll is a Neolithic court tomb (this type of monument generally dates from around 4000–2500 BC). The capstone of the tomb appears to have faint cup marks as decoration. The wedge tombs are from the end of the Neolithic period or Early Bronze Age (around 2500–2000 BC) and the stone circles probably date to the Early Bronze Age (2500–1500 BC). Archaeologists dated the barrow to the Late Bronze Age, all of this shows that this region on the hills around the fertile Faughan Valley was an important and thriving place in prehistoric Ireland for over three millennia. Ballygroll was likely to be just the tip of the iceberg, the whole flanks of the Loughermore Mountain was recorded to have large numbers of prehistoric monuments during the mapping in the 1830s, but apart from Ballygroll much has been lost due to agricultural land reclamation over the years.

The bog that surrounds the features and the plantlife that partially obscures them are in themselves interesting and worth a visit, with mosses, lichens, flowers and insects giving you an accessible and fun introduction to Irish bogs. Sometimes the plantlife can make finding the monuments something of a challenge, and it’s probably best visited on a dry day after a frost rather than in the height of summer when the grasses are at their highest.

We got to Ballygroll by driving on a minor road north from Ervey Crossroads to Highmoor. The site was signposted. There was no parking at Ballygroll but we parked on the laneway leading down to the site. You’ll find a large interpretation panel with a map of the features, it’s worth taking a quick snap of this on your camera to allow you to reference back and keep your bearings on this expansive site.

At sites such as Ballygroll you'll often find quartz which appears to have held significance in the Neolithic and Bronze Age

Even a quick glance at a copy of the Ordnance Survey Discoverer Map 7 will show the wealth of prehistoric sites in this small region. These are just some of the incredible sites you can see in this beautiful part of rural County Derry. While you are in the area be sure to pay a visit to Ashbrook House, a beautiful estate that has been home to the same family since the 1590s. For more information about the lovely Faughan Valley and to find accommodation please visit http://www.discoverfaughanvalley.com/

I hope you enjoy our blog posts. If you would like to see daily updates with pictures and information on Irish heritage sites, archaeology and history please consider following us on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.


If you would like to support us please download an audioguide from www.abartaaudioguides.com. There are currently fourteen guides available with four free of charge and the rest costing just €1.99. They are full of original music and sound effects and are a fun and immersive way of hearing the story of some of Ireland’s most iconic heritage sites and places. They are as enjoyable at the site as they are from the comfort of your favourite armchair at home, why not try our guide to Viking and Medieval Dublin to hear the story of the birth of a city? Or try our FREE guide to the wonderful heritage town of Kells in County Meath.

The capstone of a Bronze Age cist burial at Ballygroll

A few days ago, I posted an opinion piece (or POV) on a renowned photographer about to engage in a project which I deemed unrelated to his travel documentary specialty.

As a consequence, I was criticized by a half dozen people in the blogosphere who, perhaps having misread the gist of my opinion, disparaged my photography, my prior career, my being Egyptian-born (as if that made me unfit to speak my mind), etc. Bah.

I was reminded of Jean-Jacques Rousseau who said: "Gratitude is a duty which ought to be paid, but which none have a right to expect" when I noticed some of the disparaging remarks on that blog were made by the very same people whose photographic work was frequently lauded, applauded and supported on my blog. Double Bah.

I don't know for sure why these people resorted to abusive ad hominem, but one of my guesses (and I have a few) is that they sought to get back at me for not being a lemming, for being an iconoclast of sorts, for not sharing their "gods", golden calves and icons, or to force me into a mold of their choosing. People simply don't like people who are not like them and don't act like they do...it's small-minded tribalism.

So move on boys and girls...I don't need you to tell me what to think and say, nor do I kneel to your golden calves. Get it?

Just so we're clear: A few expressed their disagreement with my view, but did not resort to insults. To those, I say thank you for your point of view...and let's agree to disagree.

Here's a 6 minutes trailer from a multimedia documentary "Forgotten on the Roof of the World" by photographer Matthieu Paley and anthropologist Ted Callahan that tells the story of a little-known tribe of Kirghiz nomads in one of earth’s most remote regions - Afghanistan’s High Pamirs mountains.

The full documentary will be screened by Matthieu at the Royal Geographical Society (Hong Kong) on Tuesday 22nd of June.

Matthieu Paley is an Asia-based (currently based in Hong Kong) photographer specializing in editorial and documentary photography. His work appeared in Geo, National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Outside, Discovery and various others.

It looks like December is shaping up to be quite a month for unique expeditions and adventures. Take for example the recently announced Peak 2 Peak 2013 expedition which is set to get underway on December 1. This impressive undertaking will send Kiwi Grant Rawlinson and Aussie Alan Silva on a human-powered odyssey across New Zealand that will have them climbing, paddling and cycling their way across both the North and South Islands.

The journey will begin with the two men first attempting to climb Mt. Ruapeahu (2797 meters/9177 ft), the tallest peak on the North Island. After that, they'll paddle 240 km (150 miles) down the Whanganui River before proceeding 60 km (37 miles) across the Cook Strait. Arriving on the South Island, they'll next get on their bikes for a 900 km (560 miles) ride to the foot of Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain on the island at 3754 meters (12,316 ft). They'll wrap up their journey with a climb to the summit, thus complete their Peak to Peak aspirations.

Grant and Alan will make this journey completely unsupported and on a small budget. They were both drawn to this unique challenge because of its grassroots nature and the fact that it could inspire others to undertake their own adventures that don't require a large time commitment or cost a lot of money.

Both of these men are experienced mountaineers, each with a successful summit of Everest under their belts. Alan climbed the world's tallest peak from the South Side back in 1998 while regular readers of this blog followed Grant's successful climb from the North Side back in 2012. That experience will come in handy as they push themselves to the limit on this particular expedition as well.

To follow along with the team's progress, visit Grant's website at axeoneverest.com. They'll get underway in just a couple of week. Good luck guys!

That doesn't exactly look very appealing above, but I didn't have time for lunch today, and yet the local team insisted that I tried this shop's beef noodle, saying that it was one of the better ones. They were nice enough to order some to go and bring it back to the office for me.

I could see now see why they liked it so much, as there was a good amount of heat coating those noodles, even if some of the pieces of beef could have been more tender. I actually finished this thing to the last drop even though it was cold by the time I got to it. It'd be interesting to try this piping hot at the actual restaurant next time.

For anyone who is intersted, I've posted a web gallery of my safari pictures from my recent adventure abroad. Some of the images are amazing, and I'm very proud of them, and others are good, but not as great as I would like. Still, I thought that I'd share. You can find them by clicking here!

For those waiting for posts on the trip, never fear. I haven't forgotten, I'm just still getting my feet back under me, and working on digging out. With any luck, I'll post my thoughts on the first day of the Kili climb over the weekend, and we'll get started from there. My hope is to offer some personal insight into the climb and the safari as well, and talk about the experience, and some lessons I learned along the way. So, stay tuned, and for now I hope you enjoy the safari pics!

When I was first told about this place, I didn't figure it to be on a high priority of places to go to, especially when I had just come back from Boston last week anyway. Still, it was nearby tonight, and I figured that I'd go check it out. I wasn't getting my hopes up, especially given the industrial area that it was located in (824 Cowan Road, 650-443-1543).

So it was to my surprise to find upon arrival that it was at least two or three times larger than I thought it would be. It was brightly lit, and pretty much full of customers despite being near closing time on a Tuesday night too. I guess that I was expecting something more like that James Hook trailer in Boston, focusing more on selling shellfish rather than serving it.

They had big tanks of lobsters brought in from the east coast, but I focused on the local dungeness crab instead. And yes, I liked my crab melt above, especially on that sourdough bread. Next time I should remember to just get a half sandwich with a soup, and then going to the market side of the venue to grab some bivalves on the half shell.

I've probably thought about this more than most. Starting back when I was 13-- and attempting to hitchhike down to Miami Beach to visit my grandparents for Easter (they called it Pessach)-- I've been taking to the road alone. A few years after that, I hitched from New York to California to stow away on a boat so I could go live on Tonga. (I never made it past L.A.'s San Pedro harbor.) And then a few years later I drove to India by myself, spending around 2 years traveling through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

First off, you're never really alone that much. I mean when you're hitching, there's a driver and he's picking you up because he wants to talk to someone. And when I was driving through Europe and Asia I always had a crew of people to help me pay for gas and all. And, best of all, traveling alone more or less forces you to meet people, one of the greatest joys of travel.

More recently I've done a lot of more conventional traveling with friends like Roland or Craig. In 2005 I rented a villa on Bali and invited 3 of my friends, Rebecca, Brad and Craig to join me. And last month Roland and I went to Spain and Morocco. Roland is a great travel buddy and travel is probably the bondingest thing between us. We've been all over the world together: London, Paris, Rome, of course, as well as more off the beaten tracks kind of destinations like Calcutta, Kandy, Chiang Mai, Abu Simbel, Cappadocia, Corleone (on Sicily), the Mekong Delta... and, all over Morocco, not just Tangier and Marrakech, but to places like Sidi Ifni, Tiznit, Taroudant, Zagora and on into the Sahara (by camel). The traveling alone thing came up when I saw him off after almost 3 weeks at the Essaouira bus station. He was headed for Casablanca, London and his job back in L.A. and I had a few days on my own.

The first time I was in Morocco was 1969 and I went with my girlfriend Martha. We had been in college together and each of us was very much a full-fledged individual. Each could say or do whatever we wanted without the other feeling that he or she was being defined. Suddenly when we were on the road I was not an individual but one half of an entity called "Howie + Martha." Oh, did I not like that! I had graduated and she had another year left. I drove her up to England; we went to the Isle of Wight Festival, heard Dylan sing "I Threw It All Away" (which I was very conscious-- in a fatalistic and melancholy way-- I was doing) and then she flew home and I drove to India, no longer a fraction of anything.

Back to Roland. I'm sure I'll never find a better travel companion. He loves adventure, is practically fearless, likes poking around off any beaten path, eats foods not many red-blooded Americans would ever consider (sober)... all that kind of stuff. After his bus took off in Essaouira-- a city I've loved since I was there at the same time as Jimi Hendrix in '69-- I started walking back to my hotel and thought, "well, now I'm alone. Is that good?" It sure was!

Even when you travel with the greatest traveling companion (like Roland), you always have to make all these little compromises. He hates the sun, for example. I love the sun. But if a mediocre restaurant is closer (less sun) and an awesome restaurant is further, meaning walking in the sun, he always wants to eat in the mediocre one. Laugh... but that happened in Essaouira. We both love Chez Sam's, certainly long the best restaurant in town, way at the end of the docks, as picturesque as you'll get and delicious food. But just a little bit closer is a restaurant that is not mediocre in fact but excruciating-- Le Coquillage. It exists only to service the one-day bus trippers who come to poke around Essaouira from Marrakech or, worse, Agadir. The service is abysmal and the food is... well, like food anywhere if no one is worried about repeat customers. But it meant less walking in the sun. (The third seafood restaurant on the beach, the Chalet de la Plage, also a fave of both of us, was already closed but that one is almost as good as Chez Sam-- and highly recommended, although not for lunch when the bus tours are around.) Anyway, pardon the tangent. The point was that sometimes you just don't feel like compromising all the time, or even taking someone else into consideration. And since Roland dislikes people almost as much as he dislikes the sun... and yours truly LOVES meeting people on the road...

So, anyway, he's gone and the first thing I do is go right to the hotel I always used to stay at, Hotel des Iles. (We had decided to stay someplace else this time and I found what looked like a charming place on the internet, a "riad" called Lalla Mira, which claims to be a kind of health-food hotel. It tuned out to be a pretty gross tenement kind of joint and I moved out the next morning, to the sterile luxurious Sofitel Thalassa Mogador, the kind of character-deficient place I usually avoid. But, after a night at the Lalla Mira I wanted something clean and comfy and a little upscale and Mohammed behind the desk made me a GREAT deal-- really great-- whereas the even fancier hotel in town, the Heure Bleue Palais, was inordinately expensive and unwilling to offer a discount.) The reason I walked over to the Hotel des Iles was because Roland and I hadn't been able to find an old friend of mine who had a shop. The problem was that there had been only one street with shops in that part of town 10 years ago and now there were a dozen. Street after street had been turned into pretty identical shopping streets. Roland usually remembers how to find things but he had noreal interest in helping me find my friend anyway. But once he was gone, I just decided to retrace my steps-- from 10 years previous-- starting at the door of the Hotel des Iles. I turned off my brain and let my feet take me there. It worked. He has two kids now and lots of ideas as usual-- from an olive and argun oil museum to a line of handmade Berber handbags for women. Fun to see him again and catch up a little. And once I found his shop I was able to orient myself and find all the places I always liked most in Essaouira. More about that anon.

Photo © Asim Rafiqui -All Rights Reserved
A few weeks ago, I had just returned from my Tribes of South Rajasthan & Kutch Photo~Expedition™, and felt that I hadn't done enough in terms of street photography in the Kutch area of Gujarat.

I, rather ludicrously, expected to photograph non-stop in its small villages that had seen few (if any) foreign tourists and when that didn't happen, I had to content myself with a some frames here and there. Back in New York City, and still cursing my bad luck, I chanced on a post by Asim Rafiqui, in which he describes his street photography in Lucknow as follows:

"And in the rare moments when something close to a photograph does appear I keep ruining it with poor timing, inappropriate angles or by being club footed and lumbering towards it so slowly that the moment is gone. Yesterday I had waited nearly 3 hours for a frame, arousing suspicions among the many shopkeepers who had patiently tolerated me and my cameras on the corner of their street, and then missed it when it seemed to come together!"

Three hours for a frame! And Asim is one of the better photographers I have come across. So I swallowed my curses, and realized that this is what it takes...this is reality...and street photography and paparazzi-style travel photography are miles apart.

Because of such gems, I am a frequent follower of Asim Rafiqui's The Idea of India project. An extraordinarily erudite, both intellectually and visually, blog in which he examines traditions of social and religious sharing which still exist in India, reports on shared sacred sites like major Sufi dargahs where Hindus and Muslims co-pray and on religious festivals which evolved past their sectarian sources and welcome participants of all beliefs and faiths. A veritable cornucopia for those of us who are eager for deeper understanding of the roots of current events.

The latest blog entry is titled The Kerala Journeys. This is what street photography is all about.

When I arrived in India for the first time, in 1969, I immediately gave up my dependence on drugs. I've been-- excuse the expression-- "clean" ever since. The trip to India, through India and back to Europe from India took a little over 2 years. I saw a lot and I missed a lot. I've been back to India 3 times since, most recently just over a week ago. My trip was actually to Thailand and Myanmar and I was just stopping in New Delhi for about 10 days before and after. I had no business, no appointments, no agenda, no pressure. So I went out of my way to really spend some quality time at the best sites in Delhi, sites I had seen in the past but never really immersed myself in.

I spent a whole day at Lal Qila (the Red Fort), for example, a place I probably gave an hour to previously. And I'd go spend another day there without a second thought. I also spent some time at Old Delhi's other stunning-- equally stunning-- tourist attraction: Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque. The Moghul Emporer Shah Jahan started it in 1650 and the red sandstone and marble house of worship-- not far from his palace-- look six years to complete. It's truly awe-inspiring and I guess that was the point. We sure don't build 'em like that any more!

I had heard about a Sufi poet and saint, Hazrat Sarmad being buried in a tomb at the Jama Masjid. He was actually a Jewish Armenian from Persia who converted to Islam-- perhaps to Christianity for a spell before that-- and became a peerless Sufi mystic of great renown in his day (1590-1661). Somewhere along the way he fell head over heels in love (ishq) with a young Hindu boy, Abhai Chand-- so head over heels, in fact, that he renounced all worldly possessions-- including his clothes-- and became a naked fakir. This (nudity) wasn't that weird in India but the Moghuls weren't into it and Sarmad was pals with Dara Shikoh, the heir to Shah Jahan's throne. That didn't work out and when Aurangzeb staged a coup and took over the joint it was hard times for Dara Shikoh's friends. He had Sarmad beheaded for blasphemy (although historians have always sensed some politics in the mix).

I decided to go visit and pay my respects. I didn't have my camera so the picture above is of me in front of an entirely different tomb, Humayun's, which is in New Delhi, not even Old Delhi, although it's just as old. I stopped there on my way to another tomb the Hazrat Nizamuddin Darga, which is very much a lively scene in an living medieval community and in front of which-- and the reason I went-- qawwali singers do their thing in the evenings. I love that music and the video below in front of the darga should give you an idea of what it's like. Anyway, back to Samad; I never did get to take any photos and it was very difficult to find, since everyone claims to know where everything is, even if they don't. And even when I found it... well, how do you know he's really in there anyway? And if he is, is his head?




UPDATE: NY TIMES DOES DELHI IN 36 HOURS

Don't try it... but there are some useful tips... about art galleries and sitar shopping. They agree with me that Swagath, though not in the center of town, is worth the trip for a delicious south Indian (especially otherwise unavailable Mangalorean) seafood meal.

OK that was a lot better than the first time I ate at these guys. Maybe it was just because my expectations were much lower this time, but I gobbled this thing up in seconds, wishing in fact that they had a larger portion. I'd actually come back to this place now.

We came down here for dinner tonight, in part simply because it was nearby, but also since I was kinda curious to see what this "Test Kitchen" offshoot of Legal Sea Foods was like (225 Northern Avenue, 617-330-7430). See, in contrast to the more traditional approach that Legal is known for, this place seemed to have been created to give them the liberty to interpret seafood a bit differently, like that Angry Lobster above. In the same spirit as the Angry Whopper from Burger King, this lobster was done up with red chili pepper flakes. It wasn't really that spicy, but I still ate it all, including the tasty rice underneath.

For some reason, I felt like indulging a bit for lunch today. Lolla came to mind, but I only made it halfway there, coming instead to this place (60 Tras Street #01-01, 6438-2608), a place that I'd been eyeing for a while now but kept getting deterred by its sky high prices. Still, I figured that I'd invoke my favorite tactic when it came to fine dining places that were too expensive to eat at: eating off of the lunch menu instead, which would be both cheaper and faster than a full-on dinner service.

Well, that's all relative of course. This bara chirashi was the cheapest item on the lunch menu, and it was still a whopping S$50 (US$39). But everything was of course of very high quality, including not just the delicate cuts of tamago that he tossed in here, but even the little amuse-bouches that preceded it. Now, this was definitely too expensive to eat regularly. But this little counter shop admittedly was rather fun, reminding me a bit of places like Sasa or Mizutani. Hopefully someone else can pay next time!

I haven't posted one of these in awhile, but ThePoles.com has an arctic update for us today with all kinds of news about teams reaching the North Pole.

First we have word that Jennifer Murray and Colin Bodill of the Polar First Team reached the North Pole on Friday evening. The two helicopter pilots are attempting to set a World's Record by flying around the globe via the North and South Poles.

Those taking a more traditional route to the Pole include Adrian Hayes who at last report was at 89.27.9 degrees N, 63 W, which means he should arrive very shortly. Rosie Sancer has had a supply drop, and she continues on her solo expedition to the northern most point on Earth, while Alain and Dixie are making slow, but sure progress as well, despite some nasty weather. You'll recall that they're the team who are traveling from Sibera to Greenland by skis, via the North Pole.

Meanwhile, famed polar explorer Borge Ousland and his Last Degree Team lived up to their name, reacing the Pole yesterday. Congratulations guys! Nice work!