It is the holiest rock on Earth, and I touched it. Its surroundings have changed over the past 3.000 years, but the rock has been there since the beginning of time, and it is one of the focal points of many Holy Land tours. One Jewish tradition is that the rock is the place where the world was … [Read More...]
Barkerville Celebrates its Chinese Heritage
The glow from hundreds of candle-lit paper lanterns provided the only light as we paraded up the dirt street into Canada's oldest Chinatown. I was marching in the ninth annual Mid-Autumn Festival in the historic town of Barkerville, British Columbia. One of the most important holidays of the … [Read More...]
Kenya: The Witch Doctor Is In
The witch doctor sat with human skulls at his feet. My guide said they were the bones of his father and grandfather who … [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...]
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...]
Hunting Tigers in India
The man with the sickle was passing sheaves of long grass to the thatcher on the roof, but the dozen tourists on the … [Read More...]
Memories of Route 66 still live in St. Louis
It happened more than 60 years ago, when Bobby and Cynthia Troup were driving to California. Bobby was a composer and … [Read More...]
Tampa Bay Wildlife Safari
The giraffe's enormous tongue gently plucked a green leaf from my outstretched hand. "Prehensile," our guide … [Read More...]
Stone Circle Magic in Ireland
Stone circles are enchanted places. Across the British Isles are numerous groups of ancient standing stones associated … [Read More...]
Durian: the World’s Most Repulsive Fruit Moves Upscale
KUALA LUMPUR - “No Durians Allowed” has long been the rule in hotels, taxis, tour buses and airplanes throughout … [Read More...]
Aboriginal Magic in the Land of the Quinkans
The oldest rock paintings on Earth are in the Cape York peninsula of Australia's tropical north Queensland. They were … [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...]
Transformed by a Maya Medicine Woman in Belize
The Maya medicine woman smeared a handful of green, aromatic mud onto my forehead, binding it with a strip of cloth, as … [Read More...]
Walking With Ghosts In Vancouver’s Haunted Gastown
I'd walked past the place hundreds of times without knowing that so many people had been killed there. A block south of … [Read More...]