Sudder Street, Kolkata, India
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Horns blow as the yellow and black three-wheeled rickshaw races through the streets in the early hours of this sunny Kolkata morning. Your eyes can’t help but widen despite the early 6am arrival time as the streets are alive and buzzing like a hive in full bloom. People of all ages and classes walk the streets filling their baskets with fruits, vegatables and whatever live meats lay in front of them at the daily morning market.
With one final sharp turn we have landed in a world within a world...
August 17th, 2009 | jcampos | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: City Review, culture, Destination Overview
Botanical Gardens of Dhaka, Bangladesh
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Set in a tranquil bamboo forest, the Botanical Gardens of Dhaka are a place of serenity within the chaos of city life. For only five taka (70 Taka is one American dollar), people of all ages and backgrounds can stroll the motorcycle- patrolled grounds and discover some of nature’s hidden treasures. Whether it be an after school adventure with friends, a place for young lovers to relax under the shade of bamboo trees, or a wedding celebration, the gardens are often dusted with visitors enjoying...
August 9th, 2009 | jcampos | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Destination Overview, nature
Cycle Rickshaws of Dhaka 101
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The cycle rickshaw, introduced to Bangladesh in the year 1919, provides a daily form of transportation for roughly ten percent and employs twenty-fiver percent of the nations population. The simple yet elaborately decorated vehicles are constructed from spare bicycle parts, rugs, bamboo sticks as well as plastic sheets (for rain protection during the monsoon season). There is no offical count avaliable for the exact number of cycle rickshaws operating in Bangladesh, but the estimates lie in...
August 1st, 2009 | jcampos | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: culture, Customs & Rituals, Destination Overview, transportation
Dhaka, Bangladesh
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Dhaka, a city oozing with life, lights, traffic and 12 million people waiting for anything to happen. The capital city of Bangladesh, where roughly 30% of the population are living below the poverty line, all seems a little too much at first glance. Once you let yourself delve beneath its sweaty surface, you’ll come to see why people’s smiles stretch from ear to ear. Curious eyes almost always settle on a strange face, one that just doesn’t seem to fit the dark hair, eyes and skin complexion...
July 31st, 2009 | jcampos | Read More | Comments: 1Filed under: City Review, culture, Customs & Rituals, Destination Overview
Destination: Turkey
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Yes, that’s right we have bid Latin America adieu and managed to speed halfway around the world to the dividing point between Asia and Europe: Turkey. At once familiar and exotic, for many westerners Turkey seems contradictory (for Melanie, whose exposure to Islam was of a more conservative variety, the liberal attitudes were constantly a surprise)—it is at once west and East…and happily coexisting. Most of the time.
Meeting place of the Eastern and Western worlds, Turkey has always been a...
January 4th, 2009 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Destination Overview, turkey
Galapagos 101
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Despite the many charms of Ecuador (and there are many, including some spectacular mountains and volcanoes, beautifully restored Spanish colonial cities, Inca ruins, laid-back chill out backpacker towns, UNESCO World Heritage Quito and the Amazon jungle…to name but a few), for many people Ecuador means only one thing: the incredible Galapagos islands.
Lying 1000 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador, the small volcanic island group became famous after Darwin spent time here and was so impressed...
November 28th, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: adventure, Destination Overview, Ecuador, Galapgos, nature
Destination: Ecuador
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Compact and diverse, Ecuador is like a tasting menu for South America. There are Andean mountains, complete with glacial volcanoes. At Otavalo, site of the largest market in South America, Ecuador’s numerous indigenous groups come to barter for both crafts and staples. There are Amazonian jungles and charming colonial cities, like cobblestoned Cuenca. Best of all, all these flavours are packed together, so you can be in the jungle in the morning and at the foot of a glacier by the evening. Ecuador...
October 22nd, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Destination Overview, Ecuador
Destination: Chile
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Chile. Land of mountains, wine, and salsa…ok, seeing as I don’t have too much time in Chile, I had to cut to the chase.
Long and thin, developed, civilized and natural, Chile has a rep for being a little aloof from the rest of Latin America. One thing I hadn’t expected (at least on the scale we found) was how bloody expensive Chile was. Especially after the reverse sticker shock of Argentina, as nice as Chile was, it made me want to run for my budget. Come over from Bolivia and Peru and you...
October 11th, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Chile, Destination Overview
Touring the Wineries of Mendoza – Luigi Bosca
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If you’ve never heard the name Luigi Bosca, don’t worry, it’s only a matter of time before you do. Having already reached superstar status in Argentina, Luigi Bosca’s signature Malbec Reserva is frighteningly good, and already so popular domestically that some wine stores have sold out. This is the kind of wine that will garner approving nods from (typically picky) Argentineans when you order it in a restaurant.
If you can’t find it and are looking for something similar (or want something...
August 19th, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: argentina, culture, Destination Overview, drinking, Luigi Bosca, Mendoza, wine tour
Mendoza, Argentina
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There was a time when the pretty western Argentinean city of Mendoza was an oenophile’s insider secret, a wine region with over a hundred of years of history that had finally come into its own. The area had found its superstar grape, the otherwise humble malbec that adapted perfectly to the terroir, and in true Argentinean style, the locals kept all the best stuff for themselves. Only those in the know came, and of course the locals weren’t sharing.
Although those days may be over, the wine...
August 1st, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: argentina, Destination Overview, Mendoza, winery
Destination: Argentina
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It has become cliché to say that Argentina is as much European as it is Latin; yet to arrive in Buenos Aires and discover this is actually true still surprises. And thanks to the country’s recent economic woes, Argentina offers travellers European quality at distinctly South American prices. But Argentina is so much more than this. With the Patagonian Andes as its glacial backbone, it is a land of extreme wilderness, while its vast pampas are still home to roaming gauchos—the original South...
May 22nd, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: argentina, Destination Overview
Destination: Uruguay
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Beaches, beaches, beaches…and beef. With 500km of beach on three sides and an interior packed with cattle farms, sometimes it seems these are Uruguay’s only offerings. Sandwiched between Brazil and Argentina, tiny, progressive Uruguay has acted as more than just a physical buffer between the two South American behemoths. Dominated by sophisticated Montevideo, home to half the population, Uruguay represents a symbolic compromise: the best of both countries, with the sum larger than the parts....
May 12th, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Destination Overview, uruguay
Destination: Brazil
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Sex, dancing and partying: it seems the Brazilians have made a science of all that is fun in life. The world champions of hedonism were no doubt aided by a lush land and steamy climate, but still there is something different about Brazilians. For one, they are the most diverse country in Latin America, not to mention the continent’s only former Portuguese colony. One of the largest countries in the world, Brazil certainly has plenty to see—the Amazon and Iguaçu falls come to mind—but more...
April 6th, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Brazil, Destination Overview
Destination: Belize
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One of Central America’s anomalies, Belize feels like a piece of the Caribbean grafted to the mainland.
The only English speaking country in Central America, Belize’s food, music and culture have much more in common with its island neighbours than its Latin ones. That having been said, it has inherited an interesting mix of influences from its former British colonial overseers, its Latin neighbours and its varied native elements. Not overly cheap and short on ‘wow’ elements, some...
February 26th, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Belize, Destination Overview
Stop One: Costa Rica
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An eco-tourist’s dream, Costa Rica has become synonymous with all an unspoiled tropical paradise can be. Rarely does reality measure up to hype, but Costa Rica certainly comes close.
The country’s quiet history as a backwater free of colonial excesses has today become a boon, and Costa Rica has cashed in on its purity. And not without merit: blessed with beaches and biodiversity to spare, this is a verdant land of misty volcanoes, roaring rivers and screeching jungles teeming with exotic fauna....
January 18th, 2008 | Brendan | Read More | Comments: 0Filed under: Costa Rica, Destination Overview
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