Thursday I went out to Quizambougou to watch Bassekou Kouyate finish recording his second album, a follow-up to his amazing debut, Segu Blue. Like the first one, the new songs were being recorded at the famed Studio Bogolan across the way from Mali K7, Ali Farka Toure's foundation. (Ali Farka's son, in fact, played his father's guitar on Bassekou's new album.)

Bassekou isn't well known in the U.S. yet-- he's never been to our side of the Atlantic-- but he's a real star in Africa and Europe, wildly popular in Mali and recognized as the best ngoni player in the world. The ngoni is kind of a cross between a banjo and a guitar and what Bassekou does with it is pure magic. The music I heard in the studio seemlessly combined the two goals Bassekou set out to accomplish with his new album: respect for Mali's rich musical tradition in which he is steeped, and an opportunity to explore the directions his own muse is drawing him. His first album Segu Blue is pretty amazing too.

I did my best to persuade him to come play in the U.S. and made a fun suggestion to help him gain some recognition there. If he follows my advice you'll recognize it instantly when you hear the album.

I had an opportunity to meet two musical legends at the studio-- BBC presenter/musicologist/producer Lucy Duran, who is probably best known in the U.S. as the producer of President Obama's favorite album, Kulanjan by Taj Mahal and Malian kora master Toumani Diabate. (I might add that the ngoni player on that album was, of course, Bassekou.) Anyway, Lucy is the most credible producer of West Africa music anywhere, speaking the local languages and having worked on Toumani's own records as well as with Kasse Mady Diabate and with Yasmin Levy. The sound engineer she and Bassekou were working with was Jerry Boys, one of the world's best-- a guy who recorded everyone (literally) from the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd, and REM to Ry Cooder, Buena Vista Social Club and Ali Farka Toure! (I recall him working with Everything But the Girl when I worked at Sire.)

Anyway, the studio was packed with TV, radio and print jounalists, as well as photographers from the record label and the media. It's like everyone in Mali who loves music-- and in Mali that means everyone-- is eagerly awaiting the new Bassekou record. The happy citizens of Bamako didn't have to wait for the release to hear some of the new material. Friday night Basselou was onstage at the French Cultural Center doing a full-fledged concert. You think I went?

It was only about a mile from my hotel so I walked over early. Bassekou had told me his sons have an ngoni band and asked me to show up in time to hear them. I'm glad I did; you can see their influences and they were pretty good.

Bassekou with his band at CCF in Dakar

But it was Bassekou's nine piece extravaganza that well could have been the best live performance I had ever seen in my whole life-- and I've been seeing concerts since the early 60's and haven't missed too many artists. The first time I was in Africa was in 1969 and I was hanging out with Jimi Hendrix in Essaouira (in Morocco). The first time I had seen Jimi play was years before that at the Cafe Au Go Go when he was the guitar player in the Night Hawks, backing up John Hammond, Jr. I don't say this lightly: Bassekou Kouyate is the Jimi Hendrix of the ngoni.

I don't know how to describe the concert without losing the essense of what the music did for everyone involved-- both on and off the stage. Let me tell you, though, as magnificent as the recorded versions of his songs are, the live show is what makes it so amazing. The concert defined hot. When those syncopated rythms get going, there is no resisting their power. Mali is the birthplace of the blues-- and the blues is still very much alive and vibrant here-- and it is the ancestral home of rock'n'roll in every imaginable way. Bassekou has that coursing through his blood and he knows exactly how to convey it to the audience.

And the dancing was as good as the music! Absolutely breathtaking! Truthfully, I can't remember the last time music compelled me to jump out of my seat and dance in the aisle. Last night it did. If Bassekou and his band wind up on Leno or Oprah, they'll open America up to its own musical roots-- and I'll bet Bassekou will become a real superstar in the U.S.

Another Japanese pasta place has opened up in town, this time at the AXA Tower (8 Shenton Way #01-21, 6222-2983). I liked Youmenya Goemon better, but at least this guy used some semi-curly noodles that was a nice break from the usual spaghetti.

Nepal's Mustang Valley is a sacred, hidden place that remains restricted to travelers even today. There is some limited access, with the right permits and guides, but it is far from the well-tread paths of the Khumbu Valley or the Annapurna Circuit. The video below takes us into Mustang, giving us a spectacular glimpse of what it is like there. The valley is a spiritual and cultural place with the dramatic backdrop of the Himalayan Mountains along the horizon. It looks like an amazing destination and I'd love to see it for myself one day.

MUSTANG TREK from Yannick Calonge on Vimeo.

Yeah, that thing was pretty nasty, especially with all of that tough meat. And while this was only my second time on EVA Air, my flights have so far been delayed 100% of the time. But I still like those wider seats in Elite Class. Here's to hoping that they bump out that return flight a bit later so that one doesn't have to wake up at such an awfully early hour to get to the airport.

It seems fitting that this is my 1000th post to The Adventure Blog, as announce that the blog is going to be on a two week hiatus following this post. Tomorrow, March 31st, I'll be heading off to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and then take in a Safari. This has been one of my dream trips for some time, and I'm greatly looking forward to the break, and the adventure.

I fully intend to take a lot of pictures, and blog the whole experience when I get back, but in the mean time, I'll have very limited Internet access so you'll just have to wait until my return on April 14th to resume my regular blog schedule. I promise to share the fun when I get home though. :)

I'm doing both the climb and the safari with Duma Explorer and I can highly recommend them so far. Through every step of the process they have been very helpful and patient, answering all kinds of questions, and responding to my needs when called upon. I expect that same level of service will continue when I arrive in Tanzania, as they have been a joy to work with so far. If you're planning a trip to Africa soon, you'll definitely want to give them a look.

Wish me luck on my climb. I hope to report back with a successful summit. This will be the highest altitude that I've ever been, and while we talk about 8000m peaks around here quite regularly, this will be a nice challenge and personal goal for me. I'll be back soon. Everyone be safe!

Update evening of 4.25.2010: Both Marco Vernaschi and the Pulitzer Center For Crisis Reporting responded to the critics.

I was pleased to read this final paragraph of the response (my emphasis):

We do not suggest that the decisions involved in this reporting project are anything but difficult, as we hope was apparent in our statement accepting responsibility for what we believe was a mistaken decision to exhume the body of Babirye and to publish the image on our site. It is our hope that these issues can be discussed without malice, distortions and groundless attacks on the personal motivations of others.-- Jon Sawyer, Pulitzer Center Executive Director

My morning's post follows:

Along with many others, I wrote a post a few days ago on a story being discussed in photojournalism circles and blogs, involving 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. The story as it evolved during the past week hinged on the veracity of Vernaschi as to the circumstances behind the exhumation of a Ugandan girl, and the Pultizer Center's publication of the photograph(s) and its subsequent apologies for doing so.

I am listing the links to these blogs/websites all through this post.

Asim Rafiqui in his always insightful (and frequently provocative) blog The Spinning Head asks:

"Why did Marco Vernaschi do it?"

An important and pertinent question, but mine is different. I don't really care why Vernaschi did it. Perhaps he rationalized that exhuming a child's corpse and photographing it was the right thing to do...that it would bring this issue to the West's "consciousness" (as if we really would and could do something about it)...that it would win him more photojournalism awards...that it would make him the best photojournalist in the world...that it would justify his grant from the Pulitzer Center...that it would put bread on his table or pay his mortgage or pay his children's school fees...whatever. I believe he was wrong, and that's the end of it.

I ask the same question but of The Pulitzer Center For Crisis Reporting's Executive Director and his staff . It was The Pulitzer Center which published Vernaschi's photographs and his essays. So here's the real nub of the matter: why did they do it and why didn't they check the details' veracity before publishing? Had they done what in banking circles is called "due diligence", they may have realized what the incomparable Benjamin Chesterton of A Developing Story did. Had they investigated the story a little more seriously, they may have realized what the courageous Anne Holmes of The Vigilante Journalist did.

As I expressed in my POV: And The Outrage Continues involving the publication of a photo essay on a young girl in Kurdistan being circumcised, photographers and photojournalists operate under intense competition and pressure to submit cutting-edge work, and frequently lose sight of what is right. Exhuming the body of a young girl for a photograph is beyond the pale, but the decision for its publication wasn't Vernaschi's...it's the Pulitzer Center's. I'm not at all exonerating the photographer for what he did, but I'm more critical of those who agreed to publish these photographs.


Let's get real. If most publishers (especially those of Pulitzer's repute) refused to publish photographic tripe of dubious ethical provenance, photographers would toe the line....but because sensationalism has pervaded our media, they cut corners and lose sight of what is right..especially when it involves poverty-stricken Africans or Arabs, who have no or little legal recourse to protect their privacy rights.

Let's all remember how aghast we were when photographer Adnan Hajj was accused to have digitally manipulated photographs (ie cloning thicker plumes of smoke from IDF missiles already raining on Beirut), and we kept tut-tutting about it until Reuters fired Hajj and a photo editor, and subsequently issued new policy guidelines for its photographers. Adding some smoke plumes or exhuming a body for a photograph...which is worse?

Yes, the Pulitzer Center apologized, and promised to "redouble (its) efforts to authenticate every claim and to insure the privacy rights of individual victims."

Is that enough? I don't believe so.

Other links:

To stage or not to stage? by Jørn Stjerneklar.

Conscientious by Jörg M. Colberg.

Photo © Marc Garanger -All Rights Reserved
Algeria's War of Independence from France officially lasted almost a decade, but its genesis goes back to the early 40s. It was one the bloodiest struggles against a brutal colonial power with over a million Algerians killed, with thousands interned in concentration camps. To this day, the French have not accepted responsibility for these crimes.

Growing up in my native Egypt and full of nationalistic fervor against colonialism, I remember quite well the admiration we had for the Algerian resistance...the names of Ben Bella, Boumedienne, Djamila Bouhired still easily roll off my tongue.

So it was with much interest that I saw recent coverage from photo websites and newsmedia on Marc Garanger, who was stationed against his will in Algeria, and managed to avoid combat by becoming a photographer in the French army. His job was to produce images for new mandatory ID cards, and villagers were forced to sit for him.

Less than a year later, Garanger's photographs of shamed and angry Algerian women would become a symbol of French oppression over its Northern African colony.

I left a comment of the New York Lens Blog which featured Garanger's work:

"the French colonialism/occupation of Algeria was one of the most brutal in history, and the Algerians' independence war cost over a million of their lives. in my view, the expressions of these women are principally of defiance, hatred of their oppressors, and rebellion. the women were combatants as well, as has been mentioned in the article. perhaps there's an inkling of truth in that they were ashamed to show their faces, but what i sense from these expressions is that they're telling the French "you'll soon be gone"...and they were right."

Garanger received today a Lifetime Achievement Award at the New York Photo Festival for Les Femmes Algeriennes.

For further photographs, go to Algeria.com which has a number of large images of these Algerian women; some ashamed, some scared but many defiant.

The Adventure Race World Championship officially gets underway on Saturday in in the Lochaber region of Scotland, a remote area along the countries West Coast. The race will run through June 2nd, as co-ed teams of four will run, bike, paddle, and climb their way through forests and valleys, over ridges and down rivers for the right to proclaim themselves World Champs.

You can get a full list of teams here. You'll see it's full of the usual suspects, with tops teams from all over the World showing up to compete. There are a few interesting storylines that will be fun to watch. For instance, Team Nike's shadow has fallen across the AR landscape for a number of years, but with Ian Adamson retiring, and Richard Ussher forming his own new team, it'll be interesting to see if Nike can maintain it's dominance. Team Captain Mike Kloser is tough to beat though, and he'll have his team ready to go. Speaking of Ussher, he's put together a great team to compete as well, with AR legend Nathan Fa'avae returning to action. That was a short retirement Nathan! Richard himself is seen as one of the strongest young racers to come along in years, and his Balance Vector team will be one to watch.

Of course, there will be others to reckon with as well. Team Merrell/Wigwam, captained by Robyn Benincasa are always a threat. As are Salomon/Crested Butte, Team Feed the Machine, and wilsa hellyhansen.

With Primal Quest on the shelf for the year, and The Raid changing formats, this will be THE big race of the year. I can't wait to see how it plays out, as the future of several teams will be on display over the coming week. I'll bring updates once the race gets underway and we can get word on what's happening on the course.

In the mean time gear heads can check out the equipment list here and learn more about the region of Scotland here.

I'm not sure how the heck one is supposed to pronounce the name of a restaurant that starts with an ampersand and then follows it in caps (and yes, I'm wondering about &MADE at Pacific Plaza too). Somehow it didn't even occur to me to just ask them when we were there...or maybe just call their reception and see how they answer the phone. Anyway, we finally came over after trying out that delicious tagliolini at the Savour festival a couple of weeks ago (20 Cross Street #01-19, 6221-3937).

I was looking forward to it. After all, it was supposed to be some kind of Venetian pub serving small plates called cicchetti, complete with homemade pasta and salumi done on site. And this was all coming from the guy behind Il Lido and Latteria Mozzarella Bar, the latter of which I'm rather fond of. The good thing was that we ended up with a number of very enjoyable things, including the capocollo cured pork neck, which was surprisingly fun to eat, as well as of course the aforementioned tagliolini, all washed down by a few delicious cocktails from the bar.

Still, some of it was a bit hit-and-miss. I wasn't as big of a fan of the asparagus nor the soppressata, neither of which had anything wrong with them, but just weren't that interesting in the grand scheme of things. We also hit a wall when we got their gigantic paccheri, which ended up being more meat than pasta. Nonetheless, I'll come back here to try out some of the other stuff; somehow we completely missed the sea urchin carbonara that this guy is apparently well known for.

Recently our friends at EpicTV caught up with Ueli Steck and had a chance to sit down with him to talk about his amazing solo summit of Annapurna. Last week part 1 of the video interview was released and today we get part 2. This time out we get to hear Ueli, who is for my money the best alpinist in the world today, talk about how easy it is to solo big mountains. I imagine this is the same way that Michael Jordan thought it was easy to score points in a basketball game. It just comes so naturally to them that they don't even consider that us mere mortals have a hard time comprehending how they can accomplish the things they do.

Photo © David Lazar -All Rights Reserved
Here's an introduction to David Lazar, a photographer and musician hailing all the way from Brisbane, Australia. With a long roster of awards under his belt, David was the Overall Winner in the 2009 Intrepid Photography Competition, won the Best Wildlife 2008 category and the Best Culture and Portrait 2007 category in the Peregrine Photography of the World Competition. He also won the Best Landscape 2007 category in the Intrepid Adventure Photo Competition, and was published in JPGMag, Intrepid Travel Magazines, Digital Camera, and Digital Photo of the UK.

He recently traveled to Burma, and returned with lovely images of this wonderful country and of its people. These images are grouped under a gallery he titled "Myanmar, Say A Little Prayer". Also explore David's other galleries of the Middle East and India.

David tells us that he was drawn to the designs of the Thanaka paste on the women and children’s faces. This is the traditional Burmese paste made the bark of trees and applied to the skin each day to keep it moisturized and protected from the sun. Thanaka has been used by Burmese women for over 2000 years.

Ten years ago Roland and I arrived in Egypt just as everyone was leaving. The airport was packed with tourists and they were all headed out. Sixty or so tourists had been slaughtered at the temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor by some Islamic extremists from al-Gamaa al-Islamiya. Not only did we have the temple of Hatshepsut to ourselves, and not only did we have the Luxor region to ourselves, we pretty much had all of touristic Egypt to ourselves. We also had an entire luxury ship cruising the Nile to ourselves... well it was Roland and I plus 2 elderly Brits on their way home to England after a lifetime of foreign service on the Arabian Peninsula. Four of us. It was the best. Not for the 60 dead tourists who were chased through the ruins and chopped up with scimitars... but for us, the following weeks.

Anyway, when the military regime in Myanmar started responding to peaceful protests from monks in Yangon by wholesale slaughter Roland suggested that this might be a perfect opportunity to visit. I mean not that week but after the troubles died down. We were planning on spending most of December in Thailand anyway.

The only really great hotel in Yangon is The Strand, an old colonial Victorian palace in the heart of the city. It's a small, opulent hotel with only 32 suites, all with lavish, up-to-date amenities. And prices to match. But they're not fools either and when I pointed out that foreign tourists would probably be passing on Myanmar this season, I was able to get a drastically reduced rate. (According to today's NY Times "up to 90 percent of bookings by tourists have been canceled," since the unrest. And Reuters is reporting that "the military junta's ruthless and bloody crackdown have hit tourism hard, with some hotels slashing prices by 80 percent to try to attract visitors," which are still largely empty.)

I got a little nervous yesterday when I saw that Bush had slapped more sanctions on the military dictatorship there, but this morning I saw that the regime (theirs) has lifted the curfew and the ban on public gatherings. The regime (ours) is still grousing about this and that but it doesn't look like they will do anything to ruin our trip-- or do as much damage to the already damaged country as they have to Pakistan with their misguided, DC-centric, foolish policies.

That isn't to say that the whole enterprise-- for Roland and I-- isn't a little hairy. Every other day one of us asks the other if we're making a mistake going.

An ominous calm has settled here, less than a month after the military junta crushed an uprising for democracy led by the nation’s revered monks. People have quietly returned to the squalor and inflation that brought them to the streets in protest. There are even suggestions of peace: young couples embracing under trees around scenic Kandawgyi Lake; music from a restaurant drifting across the placid water.

But beneath the surface, anger, uncertainty, hopelessness-- and above all, fear of the junta-- prevail.

...After the government shut down Internet access and denied visas for outside journalists, keeping much of the world at bay, terror continued to rage through Yangon, the main city, for days, according to witnesses and dissidents here. Soldiers raided homes and monasteries to arrest demonstrators, witnesses said, using pictures taken by government informers during the protests.

Even back when the Times Travel Section did a big feature on Myanmar in 2006, tourists were grappling with the morality of traveling to the country. On the one hand, "As Southeast Asia modernizes rapidly-- Starbucks appears to be colonizing Thailand-- Myanmar, as Burma is now called, remains the last country in the region preserved in amber... Western influences are almost nowhere to be found." On the other hand, the reasons aren't because the people are charmed by the quaintness of yesteryear.

There's a reason for this sensation of being stuck in time, of course. Decades of rule by one of the world's harshest military regimes have left the country isolated and its economy a shambles, discouraging tourist arrivals, putting modern amenities out of many people's reach, and keeping the Burmese wedded to traditional life. (In 2005, Myanmar received some 660,000 foreign visitors, according to the government, compared with the more than 11 million in Thailand in 2004, as reported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.) "There's only one destination where we won't market holidays, and that's Burma," said Justin Francis of Responsible Travel, a British travel agent promoting socially responsible trips. "We'll market trips anywhere else where we think it'll benefit local people-- even Zimbabwe."

...Like Responsible Travel, and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy opposition leader, many Myanmar-oriented human rights groups support a boycott of tourism, which they see as endorsing the government. The groups draw up "dirty" lists of travel agencies that send tourists there, blast publishers of Myanmar guidebooks, and try to shame celebrities who visit, like Mick Jagger. "It's naïve to say you can help as a tourist," said Tricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern, a British group advocating responsible tourism, who believes that most of the tourist infrastructure remains closely linked to the regime.

For other travelers, convinced their tourism dollars will help average Burmese, the appeal of the last truly Asian place in Southeast Asia is exactly the reason to come. "When I was in Burma, I've never met anyone who said that I shouldn't be there," said Andrew Gray, founder of Voices for Burma, another advocacy group. Mr. Gray argues that educated tourists can spend money on local businesses without government links and help average people in one of Asia's poorest nations.

The call for a boycott has sparked fierce debate on Web sites and in hotels across the Asian backpacker trail. "I don't know of any debate that's as vocal as this one," said Brice Gosnell, a regional publisher at Lonely Planet. That's not necessarily bad. The debate educates potential visitors, and many independent travelers I've encountered have waded through political tomes before choosing to go.

I came across the Outdoor Weblog some months back and added it to my list of regular websites. At the time there were several good articles posted and it seemed to offer an alternative source of news and info on the activities that we all enjoy. However, as time passed, I noticed that it was updated very infrequently, and sometimes weeks would go by with out an update at all. I very nearly dropped it from list of favorites altogether, as in activity is a quick way off my browser.

Fortunately, the site has a new editor in the form of Terah Shelton who brings an impressive resume to the job. Terah is a freelance travel writer who has traveled extensively, a self confessed "outdoor enthusiast", and a professor who teaches a class on how to travel on a budget.

She can now add "highly paid blogger" to her resume as well. She's only been on the job a few days, but already it's clear that she intends to make some changes around the site. For one thing, there are now daily updates with some good articles, such as this one about a woman solo hiking the Appalachian Trail. It's good to see the Outdoor Weblog alive and well and offering fresh content again. Welcome aboard Terah!

At Clonca in the far north of the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal you can find a small 17th Century church. The church itself is rather plain, but it stands on the foundations of an earlier church that was part of an early-medieval monastic site founded by Saint Buodan. You can still see traces of this earlier monastery in the large lintel that has been reused in the church, and the remarkable two high crosses. 

Only one of the high crosses still stands today, it is around 4m tall and probably dates to around the 11–12th century. However around three-quarters of the cross head appears to have been replaced. Like most high crosses this example at Clonca displays biblical scenes like a depiction of the two apostles Peter and Paul, above them you can see strange looking beasts (maybe lions?), on the other side of the cross you can see the
miracle of the loaves and fishes but much of the cross is taken up with intricate geometric patterns. The second cross is a little more difficult to find as it has long since collapsed, to find it walk through the field from the standing cross, walking near the fence back towards the road, keeping the hedge  boundary of the field with the church in it on your right hand side. You’ll soon find the large fragments of the high cross lying on the ground. It looks to have been a large ringed cross, decorated with curving shapes.




 

Back inside the church, you can see the rather ornately decorated fifteenth or sixteenth century graveslab. It has a large cross in the centre and to the right you can see a depiction of a sword and a hurley stick and sliotar. The slab is inscribed with ‘Fergus Mak Allan Do Rini in Clach Sa Magnus Mec Orristin Ia Fo Trl Seo‘  (Fergus MacAllan made this stone; Magnus Mac Orristin under this). 

Clonca Church is certainly worth a visit, just for an excuse to drive around the beautiful Inishowen Peninsula! It is relatively straight forward to find, from Carndonagh take the R244 east for roughly 5km heading for Gorey. When you’re in Gorey take a left turn at the crossroads, drive through the next set of crossroads and you’ll see a sign pointing in a field just after the crossroads. There is space to pull the car in just before the site, and there is a solid path leading to the church from the road.

I hope you enjoy our blog posts. One of our posts has made the longlist for the prestigious Best Blog Post award in the Blog Awards Ireland. If you could take a second to visit http://www.blogawardsireland.com/category/best-blog-post-2/ and vote for Time Travel Ireland - Rindoon Deserted Medieval Town, County Roscommon I’d be really grateful! There's no registration or anything necessary, it is simply two clicks and you're done. 


If you would like to see daily updates with pictures and information on Irish heritage sites, archaeology and history please consider following Abarta Audioguides on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. You can now also follow us on Instagram, just search for Abarta Audioguides.

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, so 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 or the Rock of Dunamase in County Laois. Follow the links for a free preview or to access your guide.  

So we finally made it down to another outlet of Platypus on the expectation that they offered handmade pasta at reasonable prices (200 Victoria Street #03-29/29A, 6333-4434). And they generally delivered on that promise, with that plate above featuring nicely textured noodles, all at only S$15.50 (US$12.40), which is a bargain price considering how unnecessarily expensive pasta can be in Singapore.

Too bad that they totally over-sauced the pastas here though; I struggled to try to find something on the menu that was as minimalist as possible, and even then, they could have done the dish with only half of the sauce that they gave me. I'd come back here again for the quality of the noodles, but hopefully they can take a request from me to minimize the sauce next time.

With all the options in gear these days, it's easy to see how someone can get confused with the different choices, terminology, and technology that goes into any good outdoor product. TrailSpace.com, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite sites, has posted this great article, entitled Soft Shells 101, to help take the mystery out of buying a soft shell.

They start off by defining what falls into the "soft shell" category, and then proceed to discuss when and how they are used, what options to look for, and how to select the proper soft shell for your own adventures. They even have some good examples of different types of soft shells, and links to reviews on them, just to add a little more information.

Over the years, I've found that the proper gear is important, and the proper clothing is essential. When the weather is nice and you just need something cool and comfortable, you don't really think about your options much. However, when the weather turns bad, you really want to make sure you've invested wisely in your gear. It's good to shop for bargains, but not at the expense of quality. When it comes to staying warm and dry, you definitely don't want to scrimp. Articles like this one help to take some of the guess work out of buying and help us all to make good choices.

While teams move up Everest towards the summit, you can get a peak at what life has been like for them the past few days and weeks as they waited for their turn. Check out The Rest of Everest for just such an inside look. This week's epsidode is Episode 44: Predicting The Future.

In this week's episode you'll actually see the teams, still in Base Camp, reading the latest weather reports and waiting for that coveted weather window to open up. You can see the concentraion and worry on the faces of team leaders as they discuss strategy on when it would be safe to let their climbers go up. Watching this footage, you can get a sense that these same kinds of discussions were taking place not very many days ago on the mountain itself, as all the teams that have reached the top in the last day or two, or are still moving up now, waited for their window to open.

This is another episode that takes place in ABC and you can tell that the time spent there is starting to wear on the teams. They've gone through all the work to acclimatize, the camps up the mountain are established, and now they are ready to go, but the weather just hasn't cooperated yet. Soon though, that window will open, and it will be time to climb.

It's also interesting to hear Jon mention that the footage that we're watching today was shot on May 16th in 2003, and is being released today, May 16th 2007. It really is a great look into what is happen right now on Everest. Great work as always Jon, and thanks for the plug at the beginning of the episode. Always appreciated!

With temperatures dropping – and even colder weather on the way – a good hiking boot designed to handle rain and snow is a must for any gear closet. After all, we have excellent gear to keep our other body parts warm, and we definitely don't want to neglect our feet either.

Arriving just in time for winter, Keen has just started shipping their new Revel II hiking boots, which have some innovative new features to help keep our feet warm on cold weather hikes. They also manage to maintain Keen's typical high level of durability and comfort while also managing to look good in the process.

Keen has designed the Revel II to have a more traditional look when compared to some of the other footwear in their line-up. These boots have a more understated appearance that makes them feel right at home on the trail, and the high ankle support is a welcome addition to what may be the most sturdy dedicated hiking boots in the Keen catalog.
One of the features of this boot that helps them to stand out from the crowd and makes them a good choice for winter hiking is what Keen calls their Heat Trapolator Insulation System. This patent pending design includes three layers of insulation for the foot that helps keep warmth inside the shoe. This extends under the foot as well, helping to keep the bottoms of our feet toast warm. This approach makes a lot of sense considering that when hiking on snow and ice, much of the cold temperatures emanate from the ground itself.

Keeping our feet comfortable doesn't end with simply staying warm however. The Revel II boots are also waterproof to keep excess moisture out, while a breathable, wicking liner helps to pull moisture away from the foot too. The result is a boot that keeps your feet dry in all but the worst of conditions. When paired with a good pair of socks, most hikers will be ready to face the elements with a smile on their face.

As mentioned, these boots are very comfortable, which is a Keen trademark for sure. I did find that the break-in period for these shoes was a bit longer than some of the other Keen boots that I've worn, but once they did loosen up, they felt as good on my feet as I had expected. For a full-size, rugged boot, they are also lighter in weight than they would appear at first glance, although it doesn't seem that Keen has had to sacrifice any durability in achieving this svelte design.

The Revel II's aggressive outsole does a good job of holding their grip on both dry and wet surfaces, although once again there was a short break-in period before this happened. Out of the box, the bottom of the shoes felt smooth and slick but after wearing them for a bit, they seemed to improve. I'm not sure if my pair of boots shipped from the factory with a slick coating on the bottom, but traction certainly improved after putting a bit of mileage on them.

If you're in the market for a pair of hiking boots that are suitable for cool, or even cold weather hikes, than Keen's new offering may be exactly what you're looking for. They are comfortable, durable and perform well on snow and ice. They also happen to have traditional good looks and sturdy construction that should make them last for years to come. Available for $160, these aren't the least expensive shoes available from Keen, but they just might be the most capable hiking boots the company currently makes.

Here's a feature by photographer Ryan Pyle on Chinese Turkestan, which touches on the Uyghur people and their efforts to preserve their cultural and religious practices in China.

Chinese Turkestan is now known as Xinjiang, and is an autonomous region of mainland China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, has abundant oil reserves and is China's largest natural gas-producing region.

Its major ethnic groups include Uyghur, Han, Kazakh, Hui, Kyrgyz and Mongol.It also has a documented history of at least 2,500 years, and a succession of different peoples and empires vying for control over the territory.

Ryan Pyle obtained a degree in International Politics from the University of Toronto, moved to China permanently in 2002 and began taking freelance assignments in 2003. He became a regular contributor to The New York Times covering China, where he documented issues such as rural health care, illegal land seizures, bird flu and environmental degradation. He also has published magazine work, such as the Sunday Times Magazine, Der Spiegel, Fortune, TIME, Outside, Forbes and Newsweek.

Normally, the Muslim call to prayer is melodious but the one chosen for this piece's soundtrack is not, so perhaps you may want to turn the audio off.

I can't remember where I read about this place, but I think some famous chef said how it was his favorite hot pot place in Taipei, as it was apparently devoid of tourists and was difficult to get a reservation at. Somehow, our local office managed to secure a table for us at one of its outlets tonight, so we went right after we finished a big meeting of ours this afternoon.

I'm not sure what the big deal was. Actually, I'll just go out and say it straight: I didn't like it. Everything was so darned sweet, from the soup base to the condiments to even the tofu and fish cakes inside. It kinda reminded me of the food from last night, especially since they couldn't make it spicy no matter how much extra red oil they added. OK, I suppose that it was a lot more elegant than other spots around town, but puzzlingly, this place was owned by the guys behind Ding Wang, and the taste there is completely different.

Well, there was one interesting thing here, and that was those "ice cream tofu" things sliding into the broth above. It took me a while to figure out what the heck "ice cream tofu" was; it turned out not to have any ice cream in it at all, but rather was named as such in reference to the smooth texture. But it was...again, sweet. I'm not coming back, especially since it made all of my clothes smell like B.O. afterwards. Ugh.