Matador Network's Blog, page 2229

Afghanistan: Searching for peace

Afghanistan from Mikai Danger Karl on Vimeo.

PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS SURPRISED when I tell them one of my dream trips is to visit Afghanistan. Despite the political conflict, and radically different social practices, I feel there is so much more to this country than people are exposed to. There isn’t anything in this video by Mikai Karl that reminds me of war, religion, terrorism, and the other negative views projected by mass media sources.

I can’t ignore that those things exist, but I can be open to exploring a culture that is entirely different from my own. I completely admire the work of Matador Ambassador Shannon Galpin, who travels there regularly, and documents the sides of Afghanistan that exist amongst the turmoil — women, girls, and everyone else living day to day just as I do, uninvolved in the controversies we see on television and online.

The yoga lesson in Alleppey, India

Photo: Jean Henrique Wichinoski

WHEN I NOTICED a sign at our hotel offering yoga lessons, I told my friend Sholeh, “Let’s sign up.” I had been practicing at home and was determined to take yoga in India, where it all began.

We changed into our sweats and went to meet our instructor, a young man in his early 20s, lanky and big-eyed. He led us to a room that looked like a dining hall, but the tables and chairs had been pushed against the walls. He instructed us to lie down on the concrete floor. The air conditioner hummed from a wall unit in the corner, circulating cold air with a hint of cardamom, lemon polish, and mop water.

We were his only students.

“Do we get mats?” I asked.

“This is real yoga. No mats.”

Determined to do “real yoga,” I followed his instructions.

“The floor’s a little cold,” Sholeh said.

“You will become warm,” our teacher told us. He went over to turn off the air conditioner and opened the window. The brackish, humid air pushed into the dining hall yoga studio.

Our instructor then came back over and kneeled down on the floor between us and yanked on my leg. “I must pull your leg this way,” he told me, “to stretch it.”

“What about the asanas?” I asked. “Don’t we do the poses ourselves?”

“Don’t you want to do Indian yoga?” He left me and edged over to Sholeh. He sat down cross-legged next to her, rubbing her arm.

“It just seems strange,” I said. “It’s not like home. Not even a little bit.”

“Have you done yoga in India before?” he asked.

I admitted that I had not.

“Well, this is real yoga.” He progressed from massaging Sholeh’s arm to tugging on it, as if trying to dislodge the arm from its socket, so he could bring it home with him. “Ouch,” Sholeh said, so he went back to a slow caress.

“My teacher at home studied in India,” I tried. “And we don’t do it this way. What about sun salutations?”

“But this is India. 25,000-year tradition. Do you argue with that? Things are very different in India.” He reluctantly left Sholeh’s arm and instructed her to lay in shavasana until he could return to her. He then came over to me and wrenched my leg with vigor.

“That’s too hard,” I said.

“You have children?” He continued his stretching work.

“No. Ouch. Why?”

“And your friend?” He pointed to Sholeh.

“I have two children,” she said, still in corpse pose.

“Well, the reason you are inflexible,” our teacher told me as he jerked at my leg, “is that you have too much thigh fat.”

“Thigh fat?”

“Yes. You have thigh fat and that’s why you don’t stretch. And no children!” He shook his head with disdain. “Your friend, she has an excuse — two children. But you…?” He wagged his finger at me. “You have no reason and more thigh fat than your friend with the two children. You have no excuse whatsoever.” He yanked on my leg, nearly succeeding in popping it from the cradle of my hip.

Here’s where I should have asked him not to pull so hard, said that it hurt and he needed to stop. But for some reason, though I am not usually shy, when I am at the mercy of anyone performing a service on me, from dentistry to bikini waxing, I can’t seem to stand up for myself, even at home. The last time my hairdresser said, “I’m going to do something fun!” I ended up with purple highlights. Though my college students said they thought my new hair-do was “rad,” the lavender highlights didn’t exactly suit middle-aged me. But it’s even worse when I’m traveling, because I’m unfamiliar with cultural cues and expectations — I suppose what it comes down to is not wanting to look like what I am: another clueless tourist.

Our yoga instructor finally left me and my thigh fat and walked back over to Sholeh, who looked like she might have gone to sleep. He called to me, “You can do your sun salutations now if you want.”

So I got busy with my sun salutations, thinking about how I knew this wasn’t right, knew that just because this was India, that didn’t make it real yoga. Then I thought about how during yoga, I should notice my thoughts and let them go rather than engage in internal arguments. I tried to concentrate on my breathing, wondering what would come next, wondering if my ideas about yoga had been wrong all along? Maybe after years of practicing yoga at home, I still didn’t know what yoga was?

I tried, without success, to still my mind. Maybe this was real yoga. After all, I never realized I liked Chinese food until I actually went to China. What did I really know?

A week earlier in Khajuraho, we had stayed at a Holiday Inn with a billboard in front that read, The Place to Stay Where You Can Be Yourself. They meant that hotel guests would enjoy the modern conveniences that Americans and Europeans are used to, that we could feel like we did at home. But that wasn’t the experience I was looking for, or at least that’s what I told myself. But maybe this yoga lesson proved that I really did want everything, or at least something in India, to be just like home.

After ten sun salutations, I practiced my ujjayi pranayama breathing in downward facing dog. I stared at my thigh fat, mad at myself for not lying to the instructor about having children.

Our yoga instructor continued to pull at Sholeh’s arm while she rested in corpse pose. She opened her eyes and said, “I think I’ve had enough Indian yoga for now.”

As we left, he called to us: “I can come to your room for private lessons. For yoga. Or for massage. And I’ll give you a very good discount.”

We tipped him and waved goodbye.

“That was strange,” I told Sholeh as we walked back to our room. “I mean, have you ever done yoga like that?”

“I’ve told you before,” she said. “To enjoy India, you must let go of your expectations.”

I nodded. The lesson had nothing to do with yoga. Or maybe, just maybe, it did.

20 facts you didn't know about Tokyo

TOKYO IS AN INTERESTING PLACE. A giant, interesting place. If you’ve ever been, you’ve noticed how vastly each of Tokyo’s wards differs from the next. From Shibuya’s neon lights to Taito’s traditional temples to Sumida’s Ryogoku Kokugikan (Tokyo’s most important sumo arena), there is no shortage of excitement to be found in the city. And if none of that does it for you, well, there are 20 other wards in Tokyo that might. There’s no way you’ll be able to cover them all during your two-week vacation. On the plus side, Tokyo always gives you a reason to come back.

If you think you know everything you’ve ever needed to know about the city, think again. Here are 20 things that might surprise you about the colorful city known as Tokyo.

1

At over 5,000 square miles, the Greater Tokyo Area is the second largest metropolitan area on the planet in terms of urban landmass. In terms of population, it comes in at #1.

Photo: Alessandro Baffa

2

Founded as Edo once upon a time (in the 12th century), Tokyo’s literal translation means “East(ern) capital.”

Photo: Les Taylor

3

Tokyo was originally set to host the Summer Olympic Games in 1940, but the privilege ended up being awarded to Helsinki before the games were cancelled due to World War II.

Photo: James Justin

Intermission




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25 things you need to know about Georgia
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20 things you didn’t know about Oakland
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4

Tokyo Disneyland was Disney’s first park outside the US. The resort employs over 20,000 people.

Photo: Tom Bricker

5

As the annual Cherry Blossom Festival nears, television and radio reports include information on the "cherry blossom front" (sakura zensen), or the advance of the cherry blossoms across the different regions of Japan.

Photo: mirei24

6

The Eiffel Tower was the inspiration for the Tokyo Tower. The tower is repainted every five years, a process that takes 12 months each time.

Photo: konishiroku_

7

Oshiya, or “pushers,” are employed in some of Tokyo’s railway stations. These station attendants literally push people onto crowded trains during rush hour.

Photo: Iwillbehomesoon

8

The longest concert ever held at the Tokyo Dome was Guns N’ Roses. On December 18 of 2009, they played for three hours and 37 minutes.

Photo: Kevin Poh

9

Tokyo’s Imperial Palace is generally closed to the public (the Imperial Household Agency and the East Gardens are accessible), except on the Emperor’s birthday and New Year.

Photo: Marufish

Intermission




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by Bryce Emley



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10 things you’ll miss when you leave Japan
by Sarah Katin



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18 countries, 18 standards of beauty [pics]
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10

Hara Takashi, the 19th Prime Minister of Japan, was assassinated by a right-wing railway switchman. His killer only spent 13 years in prison before being released.

Photo: Loïc Lagarde

11

While used-panty vending machines are not actually on every corner, as pop culture might have you believe, vending machines selling peculiar items can be found around Tokyo, including canned bread, cigarettes, and fresh eggs.

Photo: Kevin Dooley

12

With an average of 3.64 million people passing through daily, Shinjuku Station is the world’s busiest rail station, according to the Guinness World Records. The streets of this district see their fair share of traffic as well.

Photo: Luke Zeme

13

Capsule hotels (hotels that contain rooms roughly the size of a large refrigerator) can be found around Tokyo. Most rooms include televisions, wifi, and an electronic console. The accommodations are primarily used by men.

Photo: brandon king

14

Five million pounds of seafood, worth roughly 28 million USD, are sold daily at Tsukiji Fish Market (a complex that covers 57 acres).

Photo: Osamu Kaneko

15

Despite its popularity as a worldwide landmark and part of Tokyo’s backdrop, Mount Fuji is actually visible fewer than 180 days per year due to clouds and Tokyo’s air dust concentration.

Photo: Les Taylor

Intermission




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by LiAnne Yu



49
Burakku: Black culture in Japan
by Ricardo Arthur



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16 things people get wrong about DC
by Matt Hershberger












16

Traditional Tokyo-style ramen includes thin, curly noodles in a soy-flavored chicken broth. The typical toppings are chopped scallion, sliced pork, menma, egg, nori, spinach, and kamaboko.

Photo: Yamashita Yosei

17

Some people believe in the “Curse of Roppongi Hills,” after a series of unfortunate events at this Tokyo development, said to include at least one death and the prosecution of several executives that worked in the building.

Photo: Les Taylor

18

In 1962, Tokyo became the first city in history to record a population greater than
10 million, making it the largest city in the world at the time.

Photo: Paul

19

Yakitori, grilled chicken, can be found all over Tokyo. The skewered meat comes in over 10 different versions, ranging from momo (chicken thigh) to shiro (chicken small intestines).

Photo: Jonathan Lin

20

Tokyo contains over 100 universities and colleges, giving it the world’s highest concentration of higher learning institutions. One-third of Japan’s university students attend school in Tokyo.

Photo: Agustin Rafael Reyes

Why you shouldn't skip Athens

Photo: alexcoitus

DURING MY THREE MONTHS in Greece, I returned to Athens time and time again. I am not a big city girl, but there’s something about Europe’s oldest city that hooked me like a fish. It’s real. It’s gritty. It’s honest. It’s no Eiffel Tower beaming its romanticisms across a Paris landscape, muting poverty and pollution. In Athens, what you see is what you get.

Most of the time, every traveler I met was spending a brief night or two in Athens before moving on to the islands. I love the Greek Islands, but comparing Athens to the islands is like comparing apples to oranges, or cats to penguins. It just doesn’t make sense.

I spent many evenings at AthenStyle, a wonderful hostel with a rooftop bar overlooking the Acropolis. I befriended the two workers there, Anna and Steve, and stuck to them like glue. For Easter we had a lamb roast and a party, and I confessed my unwavering fascination with the birthplace of democracy.

“I’m going to miss this place too,” Steve said. “I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a bum shitting in the alley on my way to work.”

Realness.

There are at least a dozen different ways to view the Acropolis.

On my first day in Athens, I hired a private guide through Athens Insiders. Essentially I was paying someone to be my friend. They ended up showing me a few spots I would never have discovered.

It actually took me a few tries to visit the Acropolis. On the first day, my guide took me to Pnyx Hill, where the democratic assembly took place, and where I had an uninterrupted view of the Parthenon. A similar view is available at Philopappos Hill. The road between these viewpoints is paved in stone and ancient pottery, and you’re not likely to find big crowds.

Just the same, it’s worth it to battle the crowds at the Acropolis and to see the Parthenon up close. It’s the most important structure from the ancient world, after all.

The locals take their free spaces seriously.

Being the birthplace of democracy and all, Athenians are not afraid to fight for their rights. One of those ongoing battles is for green space within the city. One of the best spots is Navarinou Park, a former car park turned into a neighborhood garden where locals come to socialize and relax. Sometimes it’s used for political and cultural protests, but they’re always peaceful. You’ll see all odds and sods of characters in this park.

The same goes for Nosotros, a free social space in Exarcheia where the youth come to discuss politics or to participate in seminars on literature, theater, painting, music, dance, and more. You can take free Greek lessons here, and during the summer there’s a cinema on the rooftop terrace. When I was here, a rock show was setting up. Admission? Free.

You need to embrace Exarcheia and all its weirdness.

The Exarcheia district is my absolute favorite in Athens. We didn’t get off to a good start, though. My friend Matt and I were exploring one evening when a bus pulled up and dozens of police started filing off, looking like they were prepped for warfare. I texted my Athenian friend, Theo, in a panic.

WHAT IS HAPPENING DOWN HERE?! Police everywhere.

Police? They’re always there. Relax.

It’s just one of those places that come across as intimidating at first glance: a graffiti-ridden neighborhood chock full of punk-ish looking students, cafes, and street buskers. Matt and I eventually settled down at a hookah bar and smoked shisha well into the evening. Our server was a Syrian immigrant who made fun of us for how we prepared the shisha. The table next to us was filled with Greeks sipping frappes, while a few loners scattered here and there read books in the waning light. Sometimes the younger folks gather in Exarcheia Square and drink and swap stories.

If you want a quieter spot, go to Floral Café on the square. It’s equal parts bar and study space, with some fine, cheap food.

There are incredible pockets of beauty everywhere.

It took me a long time to work up the nerve to hike Mount Lycabettus, the 745ft mountain in the middle of the city. But it gives up some special panoramic views of Athens, and is home to the teeny-tiny St. George chapel. You can hike from Aristippou Street in trendy Kolonaki, or be lazy and take the funicular to the top instead.

There’s also the Anafiotika neighborhood, which is about as close to the Greek Islands as you can get, with traditional whitewashed homes and blue doors, stone staircases winding between alleyways, cats sunning themselves on rooftops, and colorful clotheslines strung between windows. It’s a quick walk from the Acropolis.

You can eat everything and not feel guilty about it.

An unusual side effect of Greece’s recent economic troubles is that many people are finding themselves turning to traditional careers in farming and food production. Lucky us! Eating out in Athens is best done with friends. Share some mezethes, small plates of traditional food, and pour some tsipouro (pomance brandy). It’s about to get real.

Kafenio on Loukianou 26 was my favorite little Athenian restaurant, with its wood-burning stones and chilled-out atmosphere. Try the meatballs, or the fried feta drizzled with honey and sesame seeds. Or maybe fried calamari, and fava with bread.

Even more budget friendly is Yperokeanio on Perikleous 46, a tiny café in an alleyway that turns into a local food hotspot in the evenings. The food here is so fresh the daily menu is handwritten on a notepad. Grab some marinated gavros, small fried fish you can pop into your mouth like French fries. My all-time favorite is Bouyiourdi: feta, various other cheeses, tomatoes, peppers, olive oil, and herbs all baked in tinfoil. Just lay off the raki. Trust me on this one.

33 captivating photos of Thailand

I LOST MY TRAVELER’S VIRGINITY IN THAILAND. It wasn’t the first place I’d ever been to outside of the United States — I had lived in Europe previously — but it was the first country where I really felt like I was traveling.

You know the feeling, when you get off the plane and something strikes you; it might be the smell of a new spice cooking in a street vendor’s cart, or the sight of signs written in a language far beyond your comprehension. Whatever the trigger, you know without doubt that you’re somewhere new.

For weeks, I took in all that Thailand had to offer, ranging from Chiang Mai in the north, with its temples and animal sanctuaries, to the Andaman coast in the south and the islands that rise dramatically just offshore. The country is rich in every sense possible — I’ve tried to capture that here, and I hope you enjoy my images from my first trip to Thailand as much as I did shooting them.

This post is proudly produced in partnership with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and STA Travel, working together to tell stories of the peoples, places, and cultures that make Thailand special.

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Wat Dokeung

Wat Dokeung in Chiang Mai was my first introduction to a temple in Thailand: golden Buddhas, intricate sculptures, beautiful rugs, and artwork on every surface possible. There wasn’t a single place for one’s eye to rest, but it didn’t matter—I was in love with the architecture and every aspect of the place.

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Wat Dokeung

A few more angles of Wat Dokeung.

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Pigeon vendor

As we left the temple I ran into this woman. I couldn’t help but check out the product she was selling...pigeon in a bamboo cage, anyone? I had to pass, but as far as I could tell she was pretty happy to be selling them.

Intermission




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by Will Wissman



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4

Chiang Mai night market

Chiang Mai has a night market where you can get just about anything you want, but the food is where it’s at. We meandered in and out of food stalls for hours, stopping only briefly enough to try the next local delicacy.

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Chiang Mai night market

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Tuk-tuk nights

Anyone who has traveled in Southeast Asia has a tuk-tuk story or two. Weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way down a one-way, jamming six people into a space barely big enough to fit one—anything is possible in the back of a tuk-tuk.

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Asian elephant

Though quite smaller than its African cousin, the Asian elephant is an extremely beautiful creature. And the area around Chiang Mai is one of the best places to see them.

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Public transportation

After we had a chance to check out the elephants, we ran across this farmer and got a ride back into town on his cart.

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Palong

The Palong tribe, who live close to the border of Burma, are well known for their colorful traditional dress.

Intermission




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by Alex Scola



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10

Karen

The women of the Karen Long Neck tribe wear brass rings around their necks. Although it looks like their necks are being lengthened, the weight of the rings is actually compressing their collarbones down, giving the appearance of longer necks.

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Monks in prayer

The soft hum of mantras being recited by Buddhist monks is a very special sound.

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Doi Suthep

Sunrise at Doi Suthep is something not to be missed. If you find yourself in Chiang Mai, make sure to make your way up to this beautiful temple in the wee hours of the morning. Sit patiently, and as the sun rises you’ll watch all of the golden statues come to life.

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13

Wat Sri Suphan

Attention to detail is everywhere in Thailand. I took a tour around Wat Sri Suphan, also known as the Silver Temple. As I came around the back, I saw a worker etching details into an exterior wall. As I took a step closer, the true detail of his work was revealed to me—the number of hours that must have gone into this project was unreal.

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Monks' robes

Robes are hung out to dry, creating one of the world's most colorful scenes of dirty laundry.

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Wat Kutao

I wasn’t ever able to figure out why, but Wat Kutao in Chiang Mai had a stuffed crocodile in the center of the main hall. Buddhas and stuffed crocs make for compelling compositions.

Intermission




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by Chris Burkard



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1
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by Steph Goralnick









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16

Young monks

Young monks make their way across the grounds of Wat Kutao, Chiang Mai. No matter how many times you see them, the sheer beauty of the saffron robes of monks can take your breath away. A combination of the color and fluidity of the fabric creates this sense of peacefulness that's hard to ignore.

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The beautiful sculptures of Wat Chet Yot, Chiang Mai

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Wat Chet Yot

While at Wat Chet Yot, we met this young monk, who was quite inquisitive. I watched him approach my friend and me, and I thought we were going to have an issue with language barriers. But before long he was asking me about the United States and seemed to know more about pop culture than I did.

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The Grand Palace complex, Bangkok

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Grand Palace

While touring the Grand Palace, I stepped out of a hallway and, as I looked to the left, saw these two monks making their way down a corridor of columns topped with gold.

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Grand Palace

"Ornate" is an understatement—the Grand Palace does not disappoint when it comes to flash.

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Grand Palace

A few more angles of the grandeur of the Grand Palace.

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Grand Palace painter

As I made my way around the Grand Palace, I came across this man restoring one of several beautiful paintings. He was up on a scaffolding about 10 feet in the air and had incredible concentration. I watched him work for something like 30 minutes. He'd sometimes be painting these small soldiers the size of my thumb, but I never saw him look up—pure attention to detail.

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Phuket sunset

While eating pad thai from a street vendor, my friends and I sat on a curb watching the sunset in Phuket. It had been raining the whole day, but the clouds had started to part about an hour before. Not long after, the sun dipped below them and proceeded to light up the sky like a painting—to this day one of the most insane sunsets I’ve ever seen.

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Phuket

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Vegetarian Festival, Phuket

The Vegetarian Festival in Phuket is not for the faint of heart. I stood behind a small metal blockade, in awe for the entire evening. For hours, participant after participant would stand up, work themselves into an almost hypnotic state, and then sprint across burning coals. As they ran by, they would kick up balls of fire with each footfall, and almost simultaneously I would feel a burst of pain in my own feet.

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On the way to Phi Phi Leh

As we made our way out to Phi Phi Leh to watch the sunset, our boat driver abruptly cut the engine and ran to the side of the boat. We weren’t sure what was happening, but then he made the gesture of a fish swimming with his hand and whipped out a hand line wrapped around a water bottle. Rudimentary gear by Western standards, but it got the job done and I was amazed at the ingenuity of the apparatus.

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Phi Phi Leh

Phi Phi Leh floats in the Andaman Sea. We approached it late in the evening just as the sun hit the side of the limestone cliffs.

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Poi dancers

Poi dancers can be found throughout Southeast Asia. Often, they live up to their reputations, being young Western backpackers rocking dreadlocks and bracelets up to their elbows. But when you’re sipping on a cocktail around midnight, pretty buzzed with house music blasting…you don’t really care who the hell is twirling those balls of fire, because it’s pretty damn cool.

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Phi Phi Don

The longtail boats of Phi Phi Don await, more than likely to wisk tourists off to its sister island Phi Phi Leh. It’s not always necessary to be planning your next escape, though, because as you can see, the turquoise water of Don was just fine by me.

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Vitamin D

My buddy Reedo met me in Thailand after spending close to a year living in London. He’s an Aussie and was in desperate need of some Vitamin D. After a few weeks in the north of the country, we were stoked to be soaking up the sun while on our way out to Phi Phi Leh.

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Longtail boats

The longtail boats often have elaborate decorations, including ribbons hanging from the bow of the boat.

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The Beach, Maya Bay

Made famous by the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Maya Bay is your quintessential tropical paradise. A hidden cove tucked into an island in the middle of the ocean—what a place. I spent my last few days hanging around here, and luckily enough my friend Sarah from Denmark accompanied me for this final stint of a trip of a lifetime.

20 signs you're a true yachtie

Photo: Abby Gallagher

YACHTIE: pronounced [yot-tee]

A person whose occupation it is to maintain and navigate a luxury yacht
A yachtsman whose duty is to keep the overindulgences, idiotic ideas, and beloved secrets onboard the world’s richest play toys
The only person with the skills and patience to perform 5-star service on the high seas

1. Roses delivered by helicopter to the boss’s mistress doesn’t shock you at all.
2. Your family and friends still think you work on a cruise ship.

When you try to explain what you do to those around you, it’s always the same response. “It’s like a cruise ship, right?” Um, no. By this point, though, it’s simpler to just shrug it off and accept the loss of veracity.

3. You see fingerprints everywhere.

The owners of these yachts seem to have panic attacks when they see their multi-million-dollar babies contaminated, and now you are meticulously trained to spot smudges, footprints, dust, or any kind of imperfection from across the room or on deck. Nowadays, even on dry land all you see is dusty corners you’re desperate to take a Q-Tip to.

4. You have an “owner.”

You work, live, and play aboard the same vessel that your boss does, and the extremely wealthy man or woman you work for is casually called “your owner” in conversation. To some people outside the industry, this may sound like slave labor. Yachties who work for tyrants won’t disagree.

5. You refer to the ‘day head’ or ‘galley’ in a home.

When you tell a friend to step into the port side aft door of your car, you know you’ve been in yachting for too long.

6. Tea time is the happiest time of the day.

You work long brutal hours, your back hurts, and your mind is spun out from polishing stainless steel or silver all day. But at precisely 10am and 3pm, you put your sponges, microfibers, and shammies down and enjoy a delicious 15 minutes in the crew mess. This is the closest you’ll get to bliss all day.

7. You speak the language of jandals, flip-flops, pluggers, sandals, and thongs.

You work, live, and play with an international crew of South Africans, Australians, Brits, Kiwis, and Americans, and soon enough you start speaking their language. You start calling each other “mate” or “buddy,” and no one is offended when someone says, “Put on some thongs” or, “I’m going out on the piss.”

8. You’re maxed out on South Africans (Saffers).

Right now, the industry is dominated by hordes of Saffers. They’re lurking under every marina dock, local bar, and crew mess. You love your South African friends, but there are only so many times you can handle your BBQs being renamed braiis, so many conversations you can end with “lekker bru,” and so many occasions you can hear about the best methods of making biltong.

9. Climbing onto a boat intoxicated becomes a cherished skill.

The few nights you have off, you and your crew decide to hit up the town. Your greatest learned skill kicks in when you have to jump onto the withdrawn foot-wide walkway with a single rope rail to guide you safely onto the vessel. This brings me to my next point…

10. Your alcohol tolerance is godly.

Your work-hard, play-hard mentality lives up to the expectations of your pirating ancestors, allowing you to consume incredibly large amounts of alcohol. If there’s a pub in a 20-mile radius, you can find it. It isn’t uncommon to hear about blowing $5,000 in one weekend after a nice charter tip, nor is the statistic of 100 liters of vodka being consumed in five days startling.

11. You buy expensive things you never use.

Your wallet has been hidden away for months, and when you step onto land again, it’s time to splurge. You probably have a storage unit halfway across the world filled with fine things inherited from refit periods: surfboards and paddle boards you could put the finances but not the time into, and probably all of your clothes that you never wear considering you live in polos and khakis.

12. An inflatable water slide off the back of your boat is the bane of your existence.

You know you’ve been a yachtie for too long when this innocent, childish symbol becomes a back-bending, loathsome chore that takes your whole deck crew four hours to set up for a rich kid to play on for about five minutes before getting bored.

13. You’re unbelievably spoiled.

If you find yourself on shore and you don’t have a fully stocked cupboard of your preferred toiletries, you go crazy.

14. You have a ‘Captains are King’ mentality.

You’ve developed a very submissive mindset, which is critical to working on a boat. It’s like a luxury navy vessel — people standing tall ready to salute their captain when he’s getting his coffee in the crew mess in the morning. Find yourself on land, and this bloke will be just another face in the crowd.

15. You’re used to having an engineer around to fix everything.

The glory of working with a crew of professionals is that there’s always an engineer around to fix broken toilets, realign drawers, change your light bulbs, and reset breakers. There are chefs to make your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and restock all your favorite snack foods. There are even “stews” to clean your living area, launder and iron your sheets and clothing. Good luck on land doing all that on your own again.

16. You don’t remember the last time you were alone.

For all of you non-yachties, think about the people you work with every day. They might be the most annoying, agitating, or boring people on the planet. Then, imagine living in a small section of a boat with them, unable to escape their quirks. Now envision being in the middle of the ocean with no one else to hang out with. “You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends,” does not apply here. You’re stuck with this crew.

17. “The Bahamas…again?”

Poor yachtie. You have to go the Bahamas for the fifth time this season. You’ll have to

be anchored out in some turquoise bay that’s home to a family of dolphins, and take the guests on a sunset cruise…AGAIN. When you can’t even tell how lucky you are, you know you’re a true yachtie.

18. Celebrities are no longer exciting to see.

Most people get little butterflies in their stomach when they see a celebrity, but you couldn’t care less. In fact, they’re a nuisance. They leave skid marks in the toilet, squirt toothpaste onto the sink, and dredge sand onto the decks like everybody else.

19. Your seasons are skewed.

What is winter? It doesn’t matter to you any longer. In the summer, you flock to the Mediterranean and in the winter to the Caribbean. Yachties just go where the weather’s most beautiful and where people want to sail. Snow? What snow.

20. You try to leave yachting after every season.

After working immoral hours, dealing with the fussiest people in the world, cleaning toilets, scrubbing decks, and handling crew dramas like you’re on a confined episode of Survivor, you have boasted several times that you’ll be leaving the industry for good, but never do.

You’ve been a yachtie for too long mate.

Australia's real-life Moby Dick

A famous white whale appeared off the coast of Australia last month, and notably did not terrorize any monomaniacal sea captains before biting off their legs and sinking their ships. Because yes, world, there is more than one famous white whale.

Migaloo, unlike Herman Melville’s famous Moby-Dick, is not a dick, and is generally thought of as a relatively friendly cetacean. Migaloo is Aboriginal Australian for “white fella,” and is one of the world’s only known albino humpback whales.

Photo: Kofahu

He’s been showing up off the coast of eastern Australia for over 20 years now, and is believed to be around 25 years old.

Photo: Imgur

The whale has created no small amount of public interest, on account of not being particularly camera shy, and as a result has a Twitter account that follows him as well as a Soundcloud recording of his song.

There are three other known white humpback whales, but Migaloo is probably the most social. There are at least two off the coast of Australia, one named Bahloo and one calf called Migaloo, Jr. There’s also a white humpback near Norway known as Willow.

Rob from Byron Bay Whale Watching had some lucky tourist onboard today as #Migaloo1 cruised Nth past the Cape at 8kph pic.twitter.com/VJAnMo3pA1

— Migaloo the Whale (@Migaloo1) June 23, 2014

The other three whales have tiny black spots on them, however, which makes Migaloo the only known all-white humpback whale. There are probably more white humpbacks in the ocean, but they are very rare.

#Migaloo sighted at the Bernard Islands on Saturday, August 17 enjoying tropical Nth Queensland. pic.twitter.com/1cJ3aA7Xaz

— Migaloo the Whale (@Migaloo1) August 20, 2013

24 hours at an arms exhibition

Photos: Richard Stupart

The Land Cougar 12 is a vehicle-based launcher for gas and stun grenades. And it happens to capture a central irony at the heart of EUROSATORY — one of the world’s largest arms and defence expos, held once every two years in Paris.

On the one hand, nearly every second vehicle, rifle, bomb, or missile is wrapped so deeply in euphemism it becomes difficult to keep in mind these are largely things whose purpose is the more efficient killing of people. On the other hand, phrases like “high-performing kinetic solution” (something that shoots) or “terrain dominance” (it cannot be easily shot at, bombed, or otherwise fucked-with) are strongly worded attempts to make you understand the raw power of the thingamabob you’re looking at / up towards / holding in your hands.

Freud would have a lot to say about people with big cameras, clad in as much faux militaria as they could buy, playing with assault rifles.

These two approaches together result in thousands of square meters of the Parc des Expositions de Villepinte being drowned in enticing suggestions that any given device can solve the ever-loving shit out of various problems, kinetic or otherwise, without actually having to describe said problems. Their nature is suggested obliquely — through, say, the use of a mock-favela / African-village setting for demonstrating Land Cougar’s ability to lob tear gas onto angry demonstrators.

Corra! O puma terra está chegando!

There’s an undeniable thrill from watching what’s in effect incredible engineering at work, as Land Cougar finishes up chasing demonstrators, and the outdoor display (accessible twice daily via shuttle from outside the expo floor) moves on to showcasing self-driving armoured cars and all-terrain vehicles with gyro-stabilised gun turrets that can detect and aim at sources of incoming fire in seconds. I’d add an “except that it’s hella depressing to think of the lives these vehicles will end,” but the language of the space essentially means that concern is elegantly excluded from your conceptual universe. There are no Palestinians, or poor families with legitimate political grievances, in the favelas. Anything that breathes, can bleed, and is prepared to use violence doesn’t exist in the world of kinetic solutions.

This tendency to elide questions of “is it ethically acceptable to be making these devices” appears to have its root in an elegant division of labour in the arms trade between sophisticated technical questions of what it’s actually possible to create, and the moral / political questions of whether such devices have a place in any society with a real commitment to accommodating political differences. EUROSATORY is strictly a response to the former. Morally sadder organisations, such as the world’s governments, are then left to decide the latter. Building a satellite that can watch half the earth in real time, to a three-meter resolution, is a technical question. Using it to kill people, a political one. If your government has enough money, isn’t on a blacklist, and is allowed to launch satellites, it’s a decision you get to make.

So, as might be expected, the expo attracts protestors. As might not be expected, they aren’t more than a dozen or so. One of them puts it down to it being in Paris and the French not really knowing about it much. Though 55,770 visitors, 1,504 exhibitors, and 707 journalists like me will pass in front of them in a five-day period — so it’s certainly well known in specific circles. The protestors make all the usual noises about guns being expensive and killing people. One of them has a card that says there are enough bullets created every year to kill everyone in the world twice. The delegates make all the usual downward-glance attempts to avoid looking at them. By day three, the police appear to make the protest go away.

If arms exhibitions are conflicted spaces, it’s probably got a lot to do with the fact that we’re conflicted people.

For the most part, the journalists — us — are not all that concerned with the protestors. There are a lot of technical defence writers, who’ve come to hold and talk shop about some specific weapon, or some novel way of communicating securely. Some have various regional orientations: “Who in Asia is buying this?” “Is Brazil thinking of buying Land Cougars to dominate the favelas kinetically?” Others appear to simply be fans of guns. Freud would have a lot to say about people with big cameras, clad in as much faux militaria as they could buy, playing with assault rifles. For the most part, he would probably be quite correct. No solution is too kinetic — they’re all just differing degrees of awesome. Can I have a lanyard from your stand please?

We’re here as regional-focus journalists. Our region being Africa. Which you would think would have a lot to do with most of the stands here. Except that, for the most part, the weapons being sold at EUROSATORY aren’t the weapons being used to kill all the people in all the wars on the continent. South Sudan drops barrel bombs out of Antonovs, and fighters in Mali and the rest of the Sahel got much of their gear for free when Libya imploded. Even Boko Haram appears to be armed mostly with the weapons that the Nigerian government couldn’t secure. The truth of the matter is that the divide between maker-of-weapons and giver-of-weapons to poor, nasty governments is still largely in place at the high end of the weapons supermarket. The advanced Israeli drone that can loiter above a non-specific (cough…Palestinian) territory for hours waiting for a challenge to kinetically solve will not be sold to governments in sub-Saharan Africa anytime soon. And nearly all of the long-range missiles and truly advanced assault rifles are just too expensive to buy for troops who’re perfectly happy annihilating villages with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns that are decades old.

Which isn’t to say there aren’t companies selling those things in spades. Pakistan has a stand featuring a gold MP5, and cheap-as-chips knockoffs of assault rifles for the budget-weapons shopper, while the Chinese company Norinco — whose portfolio includes copious ammunition and the RPG7 — runs a towering, two-story stand further on the exhibition floor. If you’ve ever watched a Hollywood movie with ‘African’ soldiers in it, the RPG7 is that rocket-on-a-stick thing that’s always carried by some guy at the back. Kinetic solutions for African problems.

But those companies don’t really have much to say to journalists. “Why, yes, we sell our small arms to shitty governments every day because we can make a fortune off it, and they can’t afford to buy or run the truly terrifying weapons,” is not good PR.

The companies that like to talk to us at length are the humanitarian ones. Which, to once again highlight the conflicted space that an arms exposition is, are also out in force (if you’ll excuse the pun). Minewolf has a remote-controlled mine and IED-disposal vehicle that can double as a plough or small caterpillar-style thing — literally turning minefields into nicely-ploughed land. Water Gen’s arrived with a machine that can make water from air. Which I hadn’t thought possible until I drank it. Quick inflatable hospital tents, mobile kitchens, and ambulances. Reconnaissance drones that are being used by the UN to combat rebel groups in the DRC, possibly helping to slowly turn the tide of the deadliest war in the world since WWII.

Protestors arrive prepared to hate on expos like EUROSATORY, salespeople come to cut deals with groups of soldiers and government officials generally, and military fanboys come to play with all the cool toys of war. It’s easy to point to any of them and label their understanding deficient. Not all weapons are ipso facto evil. It’s not really an acceptable distinction to divorce the manufacture and sale of weapons from the politics of their use. And it’s easy to find all the engineering and design wild fun when you disconnect barrel design and calibre from screaming and dying.

EUROSATORY doesn’t do much to resolve these contradictions, and in some cases probably euphemistically supports them. But they’re there, all muddled up in the people and the stands and the weapons under that flat expo lighting. The guy working the stand with a 50cal machine gun who didn’t want to be filmed because his friends might see him there has more in common with the protestor outside who struggled to square a principled stand against weapons sales with the practical reality of what’s required to save lives. If arms exhibitions are conflicted spaces, it’s probably got a lot to do with the fact that we’re conflicted people.

Archived videos of an Irish town

I VOLUNTEERED AT the Castleisland Daycare Center in 2005, where I spent my days playing bingo, doing arts ‘n crafts, and dancing the Cotton Eye Joe for a group of the village’s elderly citizens. It just further proved how awesome Irish people are, even old Irish people.

The Island Videos project, which was started by a small group of Castleisland citizens when they converted some old VHS tapes into DVDs, offers so much insight into what life was like in a small, West Irish town in the early 1980s. Aside from maybe some fashion choices, and an upgrade in video quality, I’d like to think that not much has really changed.

I think in the age of YouTube, Instagram video, Vine and other mediums of instant-access video material, it’s cool to look back on archival footage and think about how far we’ve come. It’s a way to preserve local heritage, and explore identity. These videos might not go viral, or become the basis for a major motion picture, but they are invaluable for the people and culture that exists within Castleisland.

Click here to check out the rest of the archive. Feature photo by

11 things not to miss in Honduras

Photo: The Accidental Photographer

1. Cayos Cochinos

With Roatan’s installation of a cruise ship terminal several years back, the island isn’t the haven it once was for divers and beachgoers seeking seclusion. That experience now belongs to the Cayos Cochinos, two tiny islands (and 13 small cays), which sit a stone’s throw from Roatan.

Cayo Grande, the larger of the islands, has no roads; a hiking trail connects the residences and beaches. The only accommodations you’ll find are the Turtle Bay Eco Resort and the local Garifuna villages, and it’s this lack of development that makes for some of the best diving in the world.

2. Lago de Yojoa’s fisheries

Lago de Yojoa (Lake Yojoa) sits along the highway that connects the two largest cities in Honduras, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The lake, home to many fishing communities, is a welcome rest stop on the journey. Visitors often stop at one of the 50+ lakeside restaurants, many of which are owned by local fishermen.

Fresh pescado frito (whole fried fish) is served alongside pickled onions, pickled red cabbage, and tajaditas, or deep-fried sliced plantains. Travelers in the know make sure to enjoy their lunch at one of the restaurants with hammocks available, in the event a nap is needed post-meal.

3. A sip of gifiti

The Garífuna people, descendants of the Carib, West African, Central African, and Arawak peoples, mainly reside along the Caribbean coastal areas of Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. One of their best-kept secrets is gifiti, a traditional Garífuna tincture of rum and a closely guarded assortment of herbs, spices, and roots. The medicinal concoction is said to have strong healing powers, including “enhancing sexual drive” and “calming the nervous system.”

4. Cueva del Rio Talgua

Also known as “Cave of Glowing Skulls,” Talgua Cave is located in the Olancho Valley. While residents have visited the cave for decades, the ossuary chamber was only discovered in 1994 when human skeletal remains were found 2,000 feet into the cave. The cave earned its “glowing skulls” name due to the manner in which the light reflects off the bones. The site has yet to attract mass tourism, due much in part to its location.

5. Sunjam at Water Cay

Starting in 1997 as a 50-person beach party, Sunjam is now a near-2,000-person, 24-hour event chock full of drinking, drugs, loud music, and debauchery reminiscent of the early days of Koh Pha Ngan’s Full Moon Party. Taking place every August, it’s an ideal retreat for travelers looking to get (very) loose between diving and sightseeing.

6. Lancetilla Botanical Garden

Less than 5km south of Tela (another of Honduras’ best-kept secrets), you’ll find the Lancetilla Botanical Garden and Research Center. After enjoying fresh-caught fish beachside in Tela, make your way to the gardens.

Spanning an area over 1,681 hectares, the gardens have played an important part in Honduras’ economy — many of the crops that Honduras currently exports, including the African palm and rambutan, were introduced to the country through the Lancetilla gardens. Puma, deer, howler monkeys, and several other rare mammals can be found in the biological reserve.

7. Amapala

Located on Isla del Tigre, Amapala is a small municipality that sits on a bay shared by Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. Complete with black-sand beaches composed of volcanic rock, the area is only accessible by boat. Amapala, known to many as one of the most beautiful places in the country, has yet to become a major tourist attraction due to its lack of modern infrastructure. Visitors navigate the island by moto taxi or pickup truck.

8. The plato típico

Literally translated as “typical plate,” the plato típico is an impressive, traditional Honduran meal comprising a laundry list’s worth of ingredients: carne asada, spicy chorizo, roasted platanos (sweet plantains), olanchano cheese, tortillas, refried beans, and chismol, a fresh salsa consisting of tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, lime juice, salt, pepper, and lots of cilantro. If you’ve already had your fair share of platos típicos, give the baleadas (tortillas filled with quesillo and refried beans, among a million variations), pupusas, or sopa de caracol a try.

9. Honduras’ first microbrewery

Located on the northwest side of Lago de Yojoa is the D&D Brewery, Lodge, and Restaurant. The rotating taps provide a refreshing break from the Salva Vida, Barena, Imperial, and Port Royal beers you’ll be drinking at nearly every other establishment in the country. If you plan on having one (or 10) too many, D&D also has accommodations available for those who prefer to wake up, treat their hangover with some hair of the dog, and go for a swim.

10. La Tigra National Park

In close proximity to Tegucigalpa, La Tigra National Park is the most popular spot on this list, but there are still many travelers who miss Honduras’ national park on their first visit. The arduous hike to several waterfalls transports visitors from Tegucigalpa’s urban feel to a tropical forest ecosystem within minutes.

A diverse number of amphibians, birds, reptiles, and mammals can be found within the park, not to mention the bromeliads, moss, fungi, and giant trees (including the ceiba, the species of tree revered by the ancient Maya). If you plan on roaming around for a long while, hire a guide. Or get lost. Your pick.

11. Dancing punta with the Garífunas

Many visitors to Honduras end up spending sizable periods of time on the Caribbean coasts, but few stay long enough to experience all the customs of the Garífuna people. One of the most memorable is dancing punta, known as “banguity” to the Garífunas. Typically performed at celebrations, the traditional style of music and dance involves musicians playing various percussion instruments and dancers swaying their hips in circular motions. If you manage to join in, it’s an experience you won’t forget.