PULAU TIGA, Malaysia - Producers of the hit TV series Survivor worked hard to make the location of their game show seem more remote than it really is. The island of Pulau Tiga is actually part of a state park that’s equipped with a new, 41-cabin resort and diving center, nine miles from the mainland … [Read More...]

Virginia City Nevada Was Once the Richest Place in the World
It was a disappointingly ordinary looking bedroom, considering its rich history. Some of the most famous men in the world had slept there. I was in Virginia City, Nevada at the Mackay Mansion, built in 1860 by George Hearst, father of newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. In the 1870s it was … [Read More...]

Cave Art, Architecture And Ghosts Near The Grand Canyon
We bounced along a deeply-rutted dirt road from the Indian cave with its 3,000 year old petroglyphs and pictographs. We … [Read More...]

Malaysia’s Batu Caves – Rapture in a Hindu Temple
Some of the best advice I’ve ever been given about how to benefit from visiting sacred places came from Dr. Jean Shinoda … [Read More...]

Sacred Canyons of Arizona
The Four Corners area of the USA (where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet) is rich with ancient … [Read More...]

Green Luxury in a Belize Rainforest
Was an enormous lion howling outside my thatched cottage? It sounded more like a T-Rex. I might have been worried if I … [Read More...]

Secret Sacred Sites
Can You Keep A Secret? It’s risky to write about little-known sacred places. I worry about bringing them to the … [Read More...]

Why I Believe in Fairies
Maybe it’s Shakespeare’s fault, or perhaps the brothers Grimm are to blame, but fairies – like witches – have an image … [Read More...]

Earth’s Three Most Powerful Places
When people find out I’m a travel writer who focuses on pilgrimages to places of power, they frequently ask me, “What … [Read More...]

Whale Boat Sails From Downtown Vancouver to Victoria
I gasped in amazement as three killer whales surfaced alongside our boat. Holding out my digital camera, I clicked the … [Read More...]

The Holiest Rock on Earth
It is the holiest rock on Earth, and I touched it. Its surroundings have changed over the past 3.000 years, but the rock … [Read More...]

Haunted Hopi Pottery in Arizona
It’s an awesome feeling to spot a piece of broken pottery among the weeds, pick it up and realize it was made nearly … [Read More...]

Ancient Stone Sculptures in Mamallapuram, India
The stone seemed alive with elephants, snakes, gods, goddesses, cats, mice and hundreds more fascinating creatures from … [Read More...]

Blessed by a Sacred Elephant
The Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple in Madurai is one of the largest in South India I had to stretch my neck to look up … [Read More...]