Matador Network's Blog, page 2211

20 Vietnamese dishes and drinks

As phở gains popularity all over the globe, a spotlight has been shined on Vietnamese cuisine. Some dishes are easily accessible to unfamiliar palates; others seem intimidating in comparison. Vietnamese cuisine is extremely diverse, ranging from fragrant soups and stews to colorful sponge cakes. The array of drinks is equally heterogeneous — from fermented rice to sweet iced coffee, all sorts of flavors are showcased.

Here are 20 Vietnamese dishes and drinks you need to try, whether you’re in Vietnam or at a Vietnamese restaurant in Nebraska. Just make it happen.

Eat

Bún bò Huế

Photo: Rick Chung

A beef rice-vermicelli soup originating in Huế, bún bò Huế typically contains sliced beef shank, oxtails, and pig knuckles. The soup is customarily served with chili sauce and fresh vegetables and herbs (including lime, cilantro, green onion, banana blossoms, and more).

Phở gà

Photo: butforthesky.com

Popular as a street food in Vietnam, phở gà is an aromatic rice-noodle soup flavored with chicken and herbs. Depending on the region in Vietnam, the style of noodles, types of herbs, and taste of the broth can vary.

Bánh mì

Photo: erinpluskev

While bánh mì typically refers to the baguette, the term is frequently applied to the whole sandwich too. The most common type is bánh mì pâté chả thịt, which contains pâté, vegetables (like cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots, and pickled daikon), a type of meat, and several condiments. In Vietnam, you might find an egg included as well.

Bánh cam

Photo: sstrieu

Found in southern Vietnamese cuisine, bánh cam are fried balls of glutinous rice flour filled with mung-bean paste and rolled in sesame seeds. Bánh rán is a similar food, scented with jasmine-flower essence.

Canh chua

Photo: Irene Khin

Canh chua finds its home in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region. A sour soup seasoned with tamarind and complemented with pineapple, tomato, bean sprouts, and fish (typically from the Mekong), the dish is garnished with herbs and paired with white rice or rice noodles.

Bánh xèo

Photo: Mor

Bánh xèo’s literal translation is “sizzling cake,” which fits the dish rather perfectly due to the sound the batter makes when dropped into hot oil. It’s a savory rice pancake stuffed with pork, shrimp, scallions, and bean sprouts.

Bánh cuốn

Photo: Premshree Pillai

Typical of northern Vietnam, bánh cuốn are steamed rice rolls filled with pork, mushroom, and finely minced shallots. The dish is usually eaten for breakfast. A similar dish also exists in Thai cuisine.

Cháo

(via)

Seen in a number of countries, cháo is Vietnam’s version of rice porridge or congee. Served plain or with pickled vegetables and fermented tofu, the dish is quite popular with Vietnam’s Buddhist monks.

Bánh bèo

Photo: Thy Khue Ly

Bánh bèo is a specialty of Huế, which was the capital of the Nguyễn Dynasty between 1802 and 1945. The dish is a savory steamed rice pancake accompanied by toppings like fried shallots, dried shrimp, mung-bean paste, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and more.

Cơm tấm

Photo: Dawn Loh

Cơm tấm is made with broken rice and topped with grilled and shredded pork and pork skin. Pickled and fresh vegetables, fried eggs, and prawn-paste cakes may appear alongside.

Bánh canh

Photo: Alpha

Bánh canh is a thick tapioca noodle that makes an appearance in a variety of soups featuring different ingredients.

Bánh căn

Photo: Alpha

A Vietnamese ‘bread’ cooked in small clay pans, bánh căn (not to be confused with bánh canh) are small pancakes made with quail eggs. The dish is popular in many of the southern parts of Vietnam.

Bánh bò

Photo: elPadawan

Bánh bò is a dessert sponge cake made from rice flour. Cakes may be colored green (through the use of pandan leaves) or purple (through the use of magenta-plant extract).

Hủ tiếu bò kho

Photo: Jonathan Lin

A spicy Vietnamese beef and vegetable stew, hủ tiếu bò kho is made with braised or stewed beef, fish sauce, sugar, and water (or a substitute such as coconut juice). The dish is often eaten with rice, bread, or noodles.

Chạo tôm

Photo: Graham Holliday

Also originating in Huế, chạo tôm is made of ground shrimp skewed on sugarcane sticks. The dish is often served during special events such as weddings or holidays.

Drink

Bia hơi

Photo: Magalie L'Abbé

Considered by some the cheapest beer in the world, bia hơi is an unpasteurized beer sold throughout Vietnam. It’s brewed daily and is roughly 3% alcohol by volume. A glass will cost you something between 13 and 25 cents.

Cà phê sữa đá

Photo: MBK (Marjie)

Cà phê sữa đá, or Vietnamese iced coffee with milk, is a dark-roast coffee brewed through a drip filter, mixed with sweetened condensed milk, and poured over ice.

Rượu gạo

Photo: Gavin White

A type of distilled rice wine produced in Vietnam, rượu gạo is made from cooked rice that’s been fermented and subsequently distilled.

Trà sen

Photo: chinhnc77

This green tea infused with lotus flowers is consumed during Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year. The production of high-quality lotus tea is labor intensive, requiring upwards of a thousand flowers per kilogram of tea.

Nước mía

Photo: Vivian D Nguyen

Nước mía, sugarcane juice, is a popular beverage in Vietnam. The sweet, green juice can be extracted from the stalk by a motorized or hand-cranked machine.

Bird's-eye view of Black Rock City

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THE SHEER SIZE OF BLACK ROCK CITY intimidates me to the point that I’m not sure I’d really make it out alive after Burning Man. It amazes me how structured the entire landscape is however. Each person’s tent, RV, or sleeping bag has a “spot” within the C-shaped grid, and despite the chaos that ensues elsewhere, people pretty much stick to that system.

Kim Planert chronicled the experience of wingsuiting over Burning Man last year, in what offers a bird’s-eye view of the desert compound during the day. This footage shows just how massive Black Rock City is, as well as how all of the elements interact together to form what is ultimately America’s biggest party of the year.

On next-gen travel search engines

Screengrab: GeniusFlight.com

I’m a budgeter. I make a budget and I like to stick to it. I’m also open-minded, so when I’m planning travel I’m not always dead set on a particular destination.

When I heard about GeniusFlight, a site where you can search for flights based on your budget, I wanted to learn more about the project. Besides, I’ve always been curious about how flight comparison sites work. I ended up interviewing the founder, Gennie Freen, to find out more.

* * *

AJ: What is the main concept behind GeniusFlight?



GF: The main concept of GeniusFlight is the ability to search by price rather than destination. This comes at a crucial point for the travel industry, as recent studies show that most Internet users will check flight comparison sites in order to achieve the best deal.

What makes GeniusFlight stand out from other travel search engines? How did you feel about competing with them?



The sheer fact that you can search by price. You only have to enter your minimum and maximum budget, your preferred dates, your departure point, and GeniusFlight will show you tons of possibilities in no time. This inspires people to try new destinations by discovering that for the same price as a flight to Paris (from Amsterdam, for example), they could set off on an adventure to Marrakech as well.

The travel market is highly competitive and for us it is a challenge to compete with all the big brands in the travel-scene and become a big brand ourselves. Therefore we thought it’s critical to have a USP [unique selling point] that sets us apart from the others.

You launched your company at the end of May this year. What types of challenges have you faced so far? What is it like being the “new kid on the block?”



Challenges are something that we willingly set for ourselves, constantly trying to improve our services and include new ones. We are shortly going to add CarHire to the Genius network and it will be based on the same simple concept: searching by price. It’s cool being the “new kid on the block” and at the same time very exciting as there’s so much room to grow.

What sorts of measures have you taken in order to meet these challenges?



Mainly, working with exceptional partners such as Skyscanner and Booking.com and with qualified people and shareholders that can act fast if necessary.

What experience did you have prior to launching GeniusFlight? Was it relevant? Has launching GeniusFlight been easier or more difficult than you expected?



I’ve been very active in the couponing business for the past 17 years; in the Netherlands, we are working for big brands like Coca-Cola. This experience was very relevant because it made us realise that lots of consumers are triggered by price. We’ve also understood that products and services have to be simple. If they are not simple enough, then you lose the consumer even faster than you’ve reached him.

What sort of planning and research did you do before establishing GeniusFlight?



To tell you the truth, I did it on my own gut feeling. Some years ago, I experienced that it was very difficult or next to impossible to search for travel options based on budget, on exact dates; with most sites and apps that I was using, I was always having to fill in a destination or didn’t get what I wanted…I only wanted to go away for couple of days for €150 — and the destination was less important for me.

I spoke to about 100 people about my idea — friends, colleagues, family — and everyone was excited. Then I decided to develop it myself.

Looking back, do you think you did enough in the preparation stages before launching GeniusFlight?



When we decided to launch, we knew it was just the beginning, so of course we could have done things in different ways and have extra insights after launching. But other bigger companies continuously improve their products as well, and so do we!

What kind of support have you had in launching your company?



We’ve had tremendous support from qualified people such as developers, marketing people, and shareholders.

What can we expect from GeniusFlight in the coming months?



We are shortly going to be launching a CarHire service, which will be joining the Genius network of flights and hotels, also price based. We’re also preparing to launch an app for smartphones and we’re working to update the mobile version of the website. Finally, the desktop version is being enhanced, as we’re adding lots of new visuals. So we have plenty of things to do in the coming months.

What advice would you give someone who wants to open their own travel search engine?



If you start a travel search engine, don’t develop a “normal,” typical one, there are enough of those. Rather search for a niche that the competitors haven’t yet found.

Things people do on the Jersey Shore

Photo: Patrick

1. Rent mansions

My family’s first vacation house at Long Beach Island was a two-bedroom wooden bungalow with no air conditioning and a carpet that smelled like sand and feet. We’ve since upgraded to these insanely ginormous beachside mansions that sleep up to 15 people at a time. They’re absolutely beautiful, and probably the biggest house I’ll ever see in my entire life.

Standard features include spiral staircases leading up to sun decks, wrap-around porches, perfectly manicured lawns complete with hyacinth bushes, and kitschy beach decor like seashells in the bathrooms and “Life’s a Beach” welcome signs.

2. Spend all day at the beach

We get up at 8am, take our camping chairs out to the sand, sit in a circle, and pound vodka iced teas and Miller Lite until 4pm. The kids are totally content with making drip castles, and the adults all get a kick out of lying to the teenage patrollers about having the correct number of beach tags.

It doesn’t matter if there’s a hurricane, a hailstorm, or if it’s overcast and 65 degrees the entire week — we need to justify the insane cost of our beach house rental by sitting on the beach all day, dammit!

3. Eat ice cream every day

I never eat ice cream back home, but when I visit Stone Harbor, all 27 of my cousins and I make the trek to Springer’s Homemade Ice Cream to indulge in the “Springer’s Challenge” — eating a different flavor of ice cream every day.

It’s pretty obscene when you think about it, not to mention how terrible something like that is for your health. But it’s the kind of thing that’s like, “Well, I’m not going to eat ice cream for the rest of the year, so why the hell not.”

4. Ride weird modes of transportation

Not all of us have luxurious bike lanes back home, or even bikeable terrain, so we make the most of our active time by renting beach cruisers and just cycling up and down the islands all day long. Some people at the Jersey Shore go all out and rent tandems, or these crazy contraptions that seat eight people and are pedaled by four — sort of like a surrey with the fringe on top, but way more ridiculous.

5. Buy ironic t-shirts on the boardwalk

It’s not uncommon to see teenagers on the boardwalk brandishing neon-colored, silk-screened t-shirts printed with stuff like, “#1 Slut” and “OBAMAphone.”

MTV’s Jersey Shore made the boardwalk t-shirt print shop an iconic symbol of New Jersey trashiness, and ever since “T-Shirt Time!” became a thing to say before you headed out to work, people have been buying, “I pooped today!” “Sausage and peppers FTW,” and “Skinny Bitch” streetwear that they’d absolutely never be caught dead in off the boardwalk.

6. Walk around barefoot

It doesn’t matter that the blazing sun has made the blacktop streets unbearably hot, there’s no reason to wear shoes when the beach is two blocks away. Or when you’re BBQing in the backyard. Or when you’re shopping for seashells with googly eyes at the local craft fair. Or when you’re at church.

7. Pretend to enjoy gambling

At least once during our vacation, we end up in Atlantic City. We’ll breeze past the obese smokers and withering elderly folks squandering away their pensions, and slap a $100 buy-in on a craps table at Caesars Palace or lose $500 at a Texas Hold ‘em station at the Trump Taj Mahal.

We all come home at 5am, feeling exhausted and dejected. As my uncle so aptly put it, “Just give me $20 for you to sit in a chair and do nothing, and it’ll be the same experience as playing the penny slots.”

8. Play cornhole

I feel like Bag-O (beanbag toss) is the croquet of the 21st century — it’s mostly played by a bunch of rich, white people wearing capris pants and button-down linen shirts, or frat guys at “game bars.” No one really knows how to play, so the rules change depending on whoever you’re playing against, and no one has thought of a way to make it into a drinking game yet.

9. Go to that “one” bar

Unless you’re in Seaside Heights or Wildwood, most of the smaller Jersey beach towns cater to sober types. Or at least, sober on the surface. It’s not really cool to hit up the one bar in town, since we have just as wild a time drinking at our beach mansions, with our hot tubs and soft patches of grass that feel extra nice when we face-plant into them.

11 of the most beautiful deserts

While the planet’s most impressive mountains, forests, lakes, and tourist attractions are showcased on every corner of the world wide web, one of Earth’s most inspiring natural art forms is to a great extent neglected — the desert.

A desert is an arid, barren land with little vegetation. Essentially uninhabited in comparison to most other biomes (due to the hostile environment), deserts make up roughly one-third of the planet’s land area. While the desert archetype may come to mind as sandy and sweltering, some of Earth’s deserts extend to the planet’s frozen poles.

Though deserts are no less inhospitable today than in the past, our modern methods of transportation allow us a close-up look at these regions that were previously considered extremely difficult — or impossible — to reach.

1. Namib Desert

The Namib, which at an age of 43 million years is widely accounted the world’s oldest desert, is located on the coast of southern Africa. A diverse set of animals live here, many of which exist nowhere else on the planet. The Namib Desert overlays coastal Namibia, extending into Angola and South Africa.

Photo: Scott Sporleder

Photo: Scott Sporleder

Photo: Scott Sporleder

2. Black Rock Desert

Found in Nevada, the Black Rock Desert is most famous for being the site of Burning Man, an annual weeklong event that sees the construction of Black Rock City, where Burners reside during the festival before all traces of it are removed till the following year. Much of the desert is composed of lava beds and alkali flats.

Photo: Sarah Bartell

Photo: Beau Rogers

Photo: Trey Ratcliff

3. Atacama Desert

The Atacama is deemed the driest non-polar desert in the world. A plateau spanning Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile, it measures 600 miles in length and circumscribes an area over 40,000 square miles.

Photo: European Southern Observatory

Photo: Mariano Mantel

Photo: Kimbo

4. Sahara Desert

The Sahara, which carpets a large part of Northern Africa, is the third-largest desert in the world. Winds and sporadic rainfall have shaped the Sahara into a landscape of dunes, valleys, flats, and sand seas. Oases infringe on the parched expanse, nourished by water from the desert’s underground aquifers.

Photo: Chris Zielecki

Photo: Joanna Skrzypczak

Photo: hdeb89

5. Gobi Desert

The Gobi spans parts of China and Mongolia, once encompassing some of the notable cities along the Silk Road. The Gobi is also ‘home’ to the Mongolian death worm, a cryptid described as a red worm two to five feet in length that locals claim can spew acid to kill its prey.

Photo: ilker ender

Photo: John Payne

Photo: Daniel Gorecki

6. Negev Desert

A desert in southern Israel, the Negev hosts several Bedouin cities as well as kibbutzim. The desert constitutes over 55% of Israel’s land area. Throughout the ages, this region has been settled by nomads, the Byzantine Empire, Romans, and many others. Life in the Negev is said to date back almost 7,000 years.

Photo: Killy Ridols

Photo: Mirella Matthiesen

Photo: israeltourism

7. Mojave Desert

The Mojave contains Death Valley, which sits at an elevation of 282 feet below sea level, making it the lowest point in North America. Joshua trees delineate the boundaries of the region. Las Vegas, Nevada, is the Mojave’s largest city.

Photo: Christian Ronnel

Photo: Matsography

Photo: Eric Bryan

8. Antarctic Desert

With an annual precipitation of approximately eight inches, Antarctica is classified as a desert, perhaps the least hospitable. The continent has no permanent residents. Those who do live in Antarctica are housed in the research stations that ring the continent.

Photo: Christopher Michel

Photo: Christopher Michel

Photo: Christopher Michel

9. Sonoran Desert

The Sonoran Desert sprawls across swaths of Arizona, California, and Mexico (including Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur). The saguaro cactus and the organ pipe cactus, both of which have federal preserves named after them, are native to this rocky desert.

Photo: RickyNJ

Photo: Steve Berardi

Photo: Tony Fischer

10. Thar Desert

The Thar Desert, covering 77,000 square miles, forms a geomorphic border between India and Pakistan. The desert’s formation and age are a matter of debate. Its varied habitats support a wealth of animal taxa, including 23 species of lizards and 25 species of snakes.

Photo: Alexandre Duret-Lutz

Photo: Andrew Miller

Photo: Arati Kumar-Rao

11. Rubʿ al Khali

The Rubʿ al Khali, the centerpiece of the Arabian Desert, is also known as the Empty Quarter. Characterized by red-orange sand dunes due to the feldspar within the sand, it’s the largest sand desert on the planet. Temperatures reach as high as 133 degrees Fahrenheit.

Photo: lintmachine

Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Photo: Mario R

23 signs you're addicted to travel

Photo: Konstantin Lazorkin

1. Every single story you ever tell starts with “When I was in…”

2. You think of home as more of a pit stop than a long-term destination.

3. You enthusiastically read guidebooks like most people get into novels.

4. You have no fewer than five different types of currency in your wallet.

5. Your backpack or suitcase is never fully unpacked.

6. You take toilet paper everywhere you go out of habit.

7. You pass on the extra stamps in your passport, like those you can get at Machu Picchu, because you know you’re going to need every square inch of space for actual border crossings.

8. Being jet-lagged feels completely normal.

9. You annoy people by speaking in airport codes instead of actual city names.

10. You find yourself asking “Where you from?” instead of “How are you?”

11. You feel a good world map is the ultimate wall decor.

12. You have frequent-flier status on multiple airlines.

13. When you think of prices, you put things in terms of how long that money could last you on the road. “Those jeans cost what I could live off of for a week in Peru!” “Just one of his mortgage payments could set me up nicely in Southeast Asia for half a year!!”

14. When people ask what you do and you say “travel,” you forget they probably meant what you do for a living.

15. You think of potable tap water and free bathrooms that come with toilet paper as complete luxuries.

16. You can pick up your backpack or suitcase and know instantly whether you’ve met the airline weight limit or not. And you know all the airlines’ weight limits by heart.

17. You work only to fund your next trip. When that goal has been reached, you instantly quit your job and take off.

18. Your absurdly long bucket list consists only of places to go.

19. You can pack your bags for a three-month trip and be out the door in five minutes flat, if necessary.

20. You have way more friends in different countries than you do where you grew up.

21. You are planning your next trip (or two) before you’ve even finished the one you’re on.

22. Your personal version of torturous hell is the thought of being forced to stay in the same place the rest of your life.

23. Waking up at home feels really strange and disorienting.

On indigenous land rights, Australia

Image via Evergreen Escapes International

I’m sitting at a wooden picnic table at the Arts and Cultural Centre at Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park, Australia. The round-faced, curly-haired, mid-40s woman sitting across from me smiles and says, “A culture revealed. You should join the talk. I give that talk. Let me introduce myself. I am Joan Growden.”

I return her introduction and learn she runs the center. “I am from the Brinkin-speaking tribe,” she says. “We actually own this land.” She drifts off, her eyes staring into the distance.

As we talk, she’ll often pause for a minute or so, seemingly gone to a far-off place. Sometimes her voice is so low it’s as if she’s talking to herself. “Yeah, we own this land,” she whispers. I lean across the table to hear her better. She misunderstands.

“I am sorry for pidgin English,” she says, with a shy, almost noiseless laugh. “My mother, you know, could speak eight different languages.”

At first, I’m surprised to hear that. From what I’ve read about the Aboriginal people, I’ve been led to believe they didn’t have any formal education until quite recently. Her mother would’ve been far too old after WWII to have been enrolled in a public school.

I can’t imagine a government dispossessing me of my land, and then paying me a fee to clean it.

Sensing my confusion, Joan says, “We are 23 clans in the Litchfield area. We may have the same belief system, but we speak different languages. And my mother could speak a few of them.”

Our conversation is interrupted by a visitor who comes rushing over, asking after a ranger. He mistakes Joan’s uniform. “But I am no ranger,” she tells me. “I just run this arts centre. I opened it only two weeks ago. Before that, I had a contract with the park. I would clean the toilets and clear the rubbish.”

The matter-of-fact manner in which she says it unsettles me more than the gravity of her statement. I can’t imagine a government dispossessing me of my land, and then paying me a fee to clean it. I find the very thought absurd.

Throughout our week-long trip around the national parks in the Top End of Australia, we met a lot of rangers. All of them said the park belonged to the local Aboriginal tribe of the area, but we didn’t see any of the so-called “owners.” Most of the tour operators marketed themselves as indigenous-owned-and-run businesses. None of the people who worked there seemed indigenous.

When we brought up our observation, one of the rangers simply said, “We are the caretakers. We take care of business for the tribes. They are not inclined to mix with tourists.” Joan is the first person I’ve come across who seems to want to take care of business by herself — and does.

She started out with the cleaning contracts. When everything came through for her arts centre, she gradually let go of those to focus more on the new project. She made sure the contracts went to people of the Brinkin tribe.

“Long before Litchfield was a national park, it was home to my people. We lived in touch with our elements. In the wet season, we would live in the table tops. When the water receded, we would climb down to the wetlands, hunting kangaroos, fish, and goannas. Then in the dry season, we would head out to the beaches, going back to table tops only once the rains started.

“You see –” she draws an imaginary circle in the air, “we would walkabout, one complete circle. But now who can walkabout? Pastoral companies have put up fences. People do not want us crossing their lands. Their lands! When we have a native claim to them.”

“Where are your people now?” I ask.

“They are all scattered,” she says, then pauses. “You know the war changed everything for us.”

“We didn’t have schools and teachers. So we would paint everything. That way, the next generation always knew how it was done.”

I’ve read about the bombing of Darwin during WWII. Almost all the articles focus on the heavy casualties suffered by the Allied forces. For the first time, I hear a different perspective on the impact of the bombs.

“After the bombs fell, government officials rounded up everybody [Aborigine] and sent us off to the missions. My mother did not come back.”

“But you are back,” I say.

“Yes, but I am only one person. You know why I started an arts centre instead of a tour company?”

I shrug and say, “No.”

“It is because of painting. You see, my people would paint. We painted about everything, and we painted everywhere we went. We would paint about hunting. We would paint about fishing.”

“I saw the paintings in Ubirr,” I say.

“That’s good. That’s good,” Joan nods and says. “We didn’t have schools and teachers. So we would paint everything. That way, the next generation always knew how it was done. You see paintings of fish mataranka? You see in the paintings the fishes are always upside down. That’s to teach us that best time to catch one is when they stick nose in the mud. You just pull it right out!

“Painting connects us to our land and to our people,” she continues. “My people may be scattered about today, but I know they will come back home. We will paint. It is our spiritual affiliation to our land. The government may not recognize us as owners of our own land, but we will paint in our land. I can see all of us sitting around this table, painting and weaving our baskets.”

She drifts into another pause, a long one. She then looks at me and smiles.

“I think I will have to get one more table.”

Timelapse of Australia's Gold Coast

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MATADOR IS INCREDIBLY LUCKY to have worked with Tourism Queensland, sending some of our top Ambassadors to explore the various areas of this diverse piece of Australia. The Gold Coast is one of those places, home to rain forests, beaches, and some of the best surf in all of the continent. If this timelapse video by Joe Capra doesn’t inspire you to book a trip there, I’m not sure what will.

15 reasons to visit Michigan's UP

I am the quintessential city girl. Trains, 24-hour bodegas, street traffic, high-rise buildings — that’s MY thing.

So any visit to Michigan would understandably get me excited thinking about Detroit, the birthplace of the auto industry and home to Motown. But that’s not where I was headed on this trip; my destination was the western section of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a remote finger of land surrounded by enormous Lake Superior. It would be a new experience for me, but then again the most important lesson in traveling is to leave your inhibitions at the door — and that’s just what I did.

The western Upper Peninsula (the “UP”) is a mix of dense forest, lakes and rivers small and large, and quaint towns. For an area that has more trees than people (Copper Harbor’s population, for example, is 90), there’s no shortage of activities or sights. From exploring underground mines, dining on fresh-caught fish and other local specialties, to hiking through the Porcupine Mountains, I now understand why “Yoopers” (full-time residents of the UP) speak of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with an incredible amount of love and pride.

Andrea was a guest of Pure Michigan on this trip. All photos by author.

1

Vintage vibes in downtown Houghton

Downtown Houghton was built upon the enormous success of the copper-mining boom over 200 years ago. At one point, this small town had more millionaires than any other in the US. Today, with most of the original architecture still in place, you can enjoy an eclectic mix of restaurants, bars, shops, and local attractions. The vintage cars and signage add to the character of this town.

2

Food

I now understand what the term “food porn” means. According to the Yoopers, “you will never leave Michigan hungry.” Food is celebrated here—this place truly follows the farm-to-table lifestyle, offering diverse selections from the entire food chain. Fresh-caught fish guarantees a selection of the best eats: lake trout (grilled or smoked), honey-glazed salmon, whitefish, smelt, and anchovies. Add one of the local brews to dinner and you're experiencing what makes the UP so special.

3

The ultimate religious experience – Jampot

Where can you go to taste homemade jellies, cakes, cookies, bread, candies, and one-pound muffins made by Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic monks from the Society of St. John? Jampot is a pastry and dessert utopia. This popular little bakery fills up quickly with lines sweeping down the street. I fell in love with the rum-and-bourbon cakes, which are aged at least six months, and left with a bag full of jalapeño caramels and crabapple jelly.

Intermission




2
Meet the 12 host cities of World Cup 2014, Brazil
by Karin-Marijke Vis



17
11 ways to absolutely crush Cape Town in 5 days [pics]
by Ross Borden



2
6 things you’ll miss as a first-time traveler to Budapest
by Jennifer Walker












4

Pasties

You can’t leave the UP without eating a pasty. These meat pies are generously sized and packed with seasoned-meat and veggies. Cornish miners who immigrated to Michigan during the copper rush of the 1800s brought with them their national dish, and the Finnish later followed with their own version. This was a quick handheld meal for miners who couldn't leave the mines to eat. Pasties are a staple in the UP, and today you can try an array of flavors, from broccoli and cheese, pepperoni pizza (similar to a calzone), to my personal favorite, Thanksgiving in your hand—turkey, cranberries, and stuffing.

5

Brickside Brewery

Thanks to a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011, Brickside Brewery is the first microbrewery in Copper Harbor, Michigan. This tiny bar, in a town with a population of only 90 people, delivers fresh and flavorful beers that are a mix of handcrafted, bottled, and specialty brews. Try the sample glasses for $1 or get a whole pint for only $3.50.

6

The Porkies

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park ("The Porkies") has an expansive 60,000 acres of woods, hiking trails, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and beaches. Choose from hunting, fishing, camping, wildlife watching, or trekking the 90+ miles of trails. The natural beauty of this place is as stunning as the pride displayed by the community when talking about it to visitors.

7

Sea kayaking with the Keweenaw Adventure Company

It took a group of 15 people and a lot of prayers to get me to attempt sea kayaking, but am I ever glad I tried it! The Keweenaw Adventure Company conducts tours for beginner-to-advanced kayakers. The Porter Island Paddle is a recommended 2.5-hour tour of the Copper Harbor section of Lake Superior.

8

Lake of the Clouds

It's easy to see why Lake of the Clouds is considered a “must see” for first-time visitors to the Porkies. Located 300ft below a scenic overlook that's easily accessible by a 100-yard hike, I was blown away by the view of green trees spilling into sparkling blue water. Every season is worth the trip to the Porkies, especially in fall when the colors change from deep greens to autumnal reds, yellows, and oranges.

9

Manabezho Falls

Walking through Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Park, you will encounter some pretty spectacular waterfalls, the largest of which is Manabezho Falls on the Presque Isle River. Named after the Ojibwa’s spirit god, Manabezho Falls is easily accessible by trail.

Intermission




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10

Laurium Manor Inn

“Live like a copper baron, if only for one night,” proclaims the Laurium Manor Inn, a beautiful bed & breakfast located in the historic district of Laurium. Originally built for Thomas H. Hoatson, owner of the Arizona and Calumet Mining Company, in 1908, the inn is an impressive 13,000 sq. ft. building with 45 rooms all specially decorated with beautiful artwork and antiques personally selected by owners Dave and Julie Sprenger. Both enjoy giving history lessons on the inn while plying you with delicious food and drink. If you're lucky, you may be able to try some of Julie’s lavender-infused cookies she creates with her sister Cally under their label Sister Sister Foods.

11

The Mineral Museum of Michigan

The Mineral Museum of Michigan is like stepping into Tiffany’s on Fifth Avenue in New York. Housing an extensive collection of over 20,000 minerals and crystals, including Michigan’s pure copper (a six-foot sheet of White Pine Mine Copper that greets you as soon as you walk into the museum), this is also a great place to shop for gems, rocks, fossils, and mineral-infused jewelry.

12

Old Victoria

Fans of ghost towns, antique furnishings, and history will enjoy a trip to Old Victoria, an abandoned mining settlement with log cabins dating back over 100 years. Learn about the daily life of a miner and his family through an informative guide-led tour. The coolest thing about this tour is that you're actually able to touch the artifacts.

13

Sunset over the Portage Lake Lift Bridge

This bridge, the heaviest aerial lift bridge in the world, stands on the border between Hancock and Houghton, MI. It’s a multi-leveled construction that accommodates both vehicles and pedestrians and is the only entrance to the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula other than by boat or plane.

14

Quincy mine

Learn about the copper rush of the 1800s and why copper mining was an integral part of economic growth in the US by going on a mining tour at the Quincy Mine National Historic Landmark District. Visitors can experience the historic artifacts in the museum and ride a cog-rail tram to the actual mine. The ride takes you down a hill that offers a spectacular view of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge. After the tram ride, you'll be escorted underground to the actual mine, where a guide will show the equipment used to dig for copper as well as give you a history of the Michigan mining industry.

15

Great Sand Bay

While driving along Lake Superior’s coastline in Keweenaw County, visit one of the largest areas of sand beach on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Great Sand Bay. Enjoy the seclusion of the beach, which is popular for sunbathing, swimming, and windsurfing. As a huge collector of minerals, I enjoyed the abundance of agate sprinkled along the shore. Even if you're just passing through, Great Sand Bay is worth a 10-minute stop to dip your feet in.

De-horning rhino in South Africa

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SOUTH AFRICA’S KRUGER NATIONAL PARK is one of the most popular game reserves in the world, and with the size of a small province, protecting all of the creatures and terrain within it is close to impossible. The country is home to the majority of Africa’s rhinos, and many of those reside in and around Kruger National Park.

Needless to say, the combination of these factors makes the Kruger ground zero for rhino poaching — more than 600 rhinos have been maimed and destroyed already in 2014.

Fighting rhino poaching has become a war for the people protecting these animals, and a game of high risk with very high reward for those engaging in the poaching, stealing, and dealing of the horns, which can be sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market.

With no real way of protecting rhinos from poachers in the wild, in real time, de-horning has come to represent the best, if not the most ideal, solution. The painless procedure is executed in a few well-timed steps:

A search helicopter locates an animal, and vets on board tranquilize it with darts shot from the aircraft.
The ground crew then rushes in to secure the darted rhino; an anchor rope is tied between a leg and a nearby tree to prevent self-inflicted injuries. The animal is blindfolded to keep it calm.
The majority of the horn is chainsawed off around 8cm from its base, removing the incentive for poachers to hunt, maim, and kill the animal.
A few short tests are done, from the checking of ear notches (to identify the animal) to the drawing of blood for DNA samples. The animal is then released.
After being microchipped, the horn is locked away in an unknown location.

On my outing near Hoedspruit with Tim Parker, head ranger of the community-driven organization Rhino Revolution, I experienced firsthand just how strong rhino are. One mother crashed into our Land Cruiser to protect her calf, and I saw a darted rhino fight the drugs in its system and jump up halfway through the procedure to stand its ground, sending us running.

What I came away with was an understanding that, while de-horning is tragic to witness, it might just save or prolong the species’ existence. The very thin line between these powerful animals and their fragile survival makes you realize just how serious the rhino war is.

Photo: Author