My Stomach Tells Me to Run Away from Bear Paw Mountain The Abbot of Bear Paw Mountain is an older man, maybe 70, with black peppered gray hair stubble on his head. He’s laughing and exchanging small talk with four workers excavating a plot of land near the main temple when we approach. He seems…
I leave Bangkok with nothing more than the name of a town and the hope that I will get there to the mountain where a temple and monastery sit uniquely in Thailand’s interior. I only know about the monastery in the mountains because a shifty British expat using a fake name, sitting outside a 7…
On my second night in Thailand, second night of Songkran, I meet up with legendary travel writer Joe Cummings. He’s the original author of Lonely Planet Thailand, and one of the most notable living nomads breathing today. Having left my ATM card and running low on cash at the bar, I follow advice Bruce Northam…
There is nothing easy about the plane from New York to my connection in Oslo. I don’t mind long plane rides, actually find the limbo of transportation liberating. When else can you read a novel cover-to-cover or spend five uninterrupted hours learning phrases in the language of your destination? But this time, I feel the…
This is painful to write. Both figuratively and physically. According to my itinerary, I fly to Asia in a week. This untrodden part of the world has been a dream of mine for–well, like forever., and this year was the year I planned to fulfil it. But some recent health problems have thrown a wrench…
It’s never easy to leave the place you’ve chosen to call home. But if there’s a sign to look for from the universe that serves as confirmation that it’s time to go, then I’d say a neat pile of shit logs and a puddle of piss on your bedspread on your penultimate night in Antigua,…
I’m planning a trip to Asia this fall. It’s one part of the world my shoes have yet to tread. One thing that I have noticed since adopting a location independent lifestyle is that my trip planning has gone the way of the buffalo. Since I am basically always in a new place to explore,…
