Archive | Travel

  • Beijing, off the hook

    BEIJING, China - We were standing outside of the crowded Mexican restaurant in the college district when he approached us, making a direct beeline for the only blonde in our group while ignoring the rest of us.

  • Column: Couch surfing my way through Europe

    I sat in a McDonalds across the street from the Brussels Stock Exchange. There I could take advantage of free wireless Internet while waiting for Pieter, a 21-year-old Belgian I’d only seen in photographs and talked to through brief online messages.

  • Do the Damascus Limbo

    DAMASCUS, Syria - Damascus Airport’s main terminal has no ATM or cash machine. Its sole restaurant and Duty Free shops do not accept credit cards.

  • City fears in Tanzania

    DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania - Car after car speeds along Bibi Titi Mohammed Road, throwing up clouds of dust that fly in my face. There is no traffic light within walking distance on this main road, and the only way to cross is to jaywalk.

  • Sustainability’s dirty work

    MUMBAI, India - Mumbai is simultaneously one of the greenest and least green cities in the world. Monsoon season means lushness—dangerously swaying palm trees dot the cracked sidewalks and overgrown plants crowd out village streets in Bandra, my neighborhood outside of the center of the city.

  • Bombay dreams

    MUMBAI, India - Every time I visit India, there are three things that never cease to shock me: the diversity, the disparity, and the opportunity. There are so many different Indias – the rich, the poor—the super rich, the super poor—the Hindu, the Muslim, the Christian India.

  • Old news in Paris?

    PARIS, France - Last week, a mostly white-haired crowd of academics and expatriates piled into the American Library in Paris to hear the retired Columbia University historian Robert O.

  • Paris: First impressions and generalizations

    PARIS, France - What’s so special about Paris? “Mais c’est Paris,” many would say, as if it’s self-explanatory. This is one of the reasons I came to Paris feeling rather skeptical–so many people adored it so much, and I didn’t see why.

  • The Chinese Worker, On the Rise

    BEIJING, China - For the past few weeks, news of labor unrest has been making waves in the Chinese business world. Worker action in the country, including suicides and strikes, has spurred concerns about China’s vital role in the global supply chain as a low-cost manufacturer.