Perceptive Travel Back Issues - 2008

November/December 2008

"The Backpackers' Pilgrimage: Ko Phangan" - Joel Carillet
A former Perceptive Travel photo contest winner and noted narrative writer stays alert enough during Thailand's Full Moon Party to document the carnage.

"Journey Through the Land of the Maya" - Michael Shapiro
With an excerpt from a new coffee table book on Guatemala, Shapiro provides insight into local festivals and the Maya descendants through words and pictures.

"Hijacking the Shangri-la Brand" - Michael Buckley
Tourist destinations now brand themselves like sodas or chocolate bars. What happens when the legend of Shangri-la is co-opted to pump up a Chinese province?

"Subdued by Street Vendors" - Darrin DuFord
Riding buses and wandering the town square in developing countries leads to an array of street food and unique local drinks. Darrin DuFord opens wide and tastes it all while touring Nicaragua.

"Officially a Woman in Mexico" - Stephanie Elizondo Griest
The author of Mexican Enough visits a blow-out fiesta for a girl who becomes a woman at 15, no matter how much the transformation might cost.

Plus World Music Reviews
Acoustic Arabia, Spanish singer Buika, a woman named Dingding, and a second release from Bombay Dub Orchestra.

Travel Book Reviews
Napoleon's Privates, Next Stop Magic Kingdom, Marco Polo Didn't Go There, and Ultimate Adventures.


September/October 2008

"A Passage Back to India" - Anne Cushman
The author of Enlightenment for Idiots returns to the India she saw as a backpacker and finds both herself and the country in different shape than before.

"The Days Before Travel Was Tamed" - Tony Perrottet
While there are still a few vestiges of decadence around the world, the current travel options have nothing on 18th-century Paris and Weimer-era Berlin, where "anything goes" was more than a marketing slogan.

"Bloodvein: Redemption on the River in Manitoba" - Amy Rosen
If life is a bowl of cherries, why am I getting bitten by a poisonous Spider while taking a pee in the woods? Amy Rosen goes roughing it, paddling downriver to go sweat at the Bloodvein Indian Reserve.

"Missing in Patagonia" - Camille Cusumano
When the subject of a brief encounter goes missing in Torres del Paine National Park, the author of Tango, an Argentine Love Story wonders if she could have changed the ending.

"Thoughts of Theroux, Back on the Train" - Michael Shapiro
The author who interviewed Paul Theroux in A Sense of Place talks with a Cambodian bookseller who also met the man and appears as a character in the new Ghost Train to the Eastern Star

"Where is the Where? Hiking to the Horizon in Iceland" - Lea Aschkenas
Memories of downplaying the effort ahead come back to haunt a hiker as she confronts wildly optimistic hiking times to get through tough trails in the Iceland countryside.

World Music Reviews -
Songs from a lonely drifter, a great collection of West African hip-hop, collections from the Congo and Romania, and a fresh take on Latin music from Buena Vibra Sound System.

Travel Book Reviews -
Dear American Airlines, Under the Protection of the Cow Demon, and Red, White, and Drunk All Over: A Wine–soaked Journey from Grape to Glass.


July/August 2008

"Sun-bathing with Ghosts in Cassadaga" - Rory MacLean
The author of Next Exit Magic Kingdom spends the night in a central Florida town filled with those who speak with the dead and see the future.

"Death's Prediction and Disaster, By Way of Dharmsala" - Dave Lowe
After hearing he'll die from the wrath of the sea, Dave Lowe wanders lost through spiritual India and then challenges death to a duel in the great tsunami of 2004.

"Western Canada Through the Eyes of a Child" - Tim Leffel
What gets a kid excited when we travel? Our editor takes a family jaunt through British Columbia and Alberta to see how adult and child highlights compare.

"Boomerang Hieroglyphics on the Nile" - Bruce Northam
When a language can be read in any direction, the way the animals face is our guide. But in an ancient land we're still figuring out, the answers are sometimes as obscured as a pyramid passage.

"Dial-a-Bird" - David Lee Drotar
Birdwatchers used to arrive on the scene with binoculars and a well-thumbed field guide. Now they aid their obsession with a pack full of tech toys and electronic bird calls.

Plus World Music Reviews -
Vietnam via the suave boulevards of Paris; a credible sampler of Sahara blues; traditional Korean music from a master; and world music pop from a singer of Nigerian descent.

Travel Book Reviews -
The Palace of the Snow Queen: Winter Travels in Lapland, Slow Journey South: Walking to Africa: a year in footsteps, and Traveler's Tool Kit: Mexico and Central America.


May/June 2008

"Sedona: Is the Whole Town Built on a Hoax?" - Laurie Gough
Kiss the Sunset Pig author Laurie Gough goes puts feet on "energy field" soil around Sedona, Arizona to separate divine from delusional.

"How the Last White Rhino in Zambia Wins at Strip Passport" - Edward Readicker-Henderson
A whirlwind journey through Africa takes on a new meaning when future rounds of strip passport are at stake.

"Don't Eat Low-lying Berries, and Other Lessons Learned in the Wales Country Side" - Amy Rosen
The incomprehensible Welsh language may be tough and the beer may be flat and warm, but when food is foraged from right down the road the meals are always memorable.

"Members of the Tribe" - Rob Sangster
While journeying to the remote Indian town of Leh during December's cold, a road-weary vagabond experiences the natural bonds joining the tribe of travelers.

"Olympic Fire and Brimstone" - Michael Buckley
The torch is on the strangest journey of discord in the history of the modern Olympics. A Tibet guidebook writer looks at China's torch relay and how it has put the spotlight on Tibet and human rights in the world's most populated country.

Plus World Music Reviews -
In this issue: Toumast, Jef Stott, an African Party collection, Chicha Libre, and Babylon Circus.

Travel Book Reviews -
Long After Midnight at the Niño Bien, Quest for Kaitiakitanga, The Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children, and The Three-Martini Family Vacation.


March/April 2008

"A Capital Built for Kings and SUVs" - Robert Reid
A Lonely Planet writer updating the Burma guide visits the country's bizarre in-progress new capital, Naypyidaw: a city of sprawling zones and long walks.

"Agamemnon's Fan Club" - Tony Perrottet
The author of The Naked Olympics checks into the Greek hamlet of Mycenae, where his creaky bed is a tourist attraction and a determined hotel owner pushes him to seek "the Secret Cistern."

"People Power, Steeple Power: An Offbeat Way to Connect in the Caribbean" - Janet Groene
The author of two Caribbean guidebooks and Living Aboard finds that the best way to look inside an island culture is to venture into the churches.

"Both sides of the water – two faces of Kyrgyzstan's Lake Issyk-Kul" - Laurence Mitchell
The author of the Bradt Travel Guide to Kyrgyzstan finds two very different sides of a lake that once served Soviet spies, vacationing party officers, and inland submarines.

"Karsting Away in Vietnam" - Michael Buckley
Moon Handbooks writer Michael Buckley tours through the strange limestone karst landscapes in the water and on land in northern Vietnam.

Plus World Music Reviews -
This month Graham Reid reviews The Mande Variations by Toumani Diabate, Afriki by Habib Koite and Bamada, Asturiana by Kim Kashkashian and Robert Levin, and Songs of Love and Devotion from India and Pakistan by Razia Aziz.

Travel Book Reviews -
Gillian Kendall reviews Honorable Bandit: A walk across Corsica, Blue List: The best in travel 2008, and Go Your Own Way: Women travel the world solo.


Jan/Feb 2008

"Bragging Rights" - Marie Javins
The author of Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik returns from an Antarctica cruise wondering if some places are better left to the luxury crowd or left alone completely.

"Do More With Less: Survival, Then Surviving Scotch" - Bruce Northam
The author Globetrotter Dogma enrolls in a desert survival school in Utah and finds that the mind is the strongest muscle in the body (even when the mind gets muddied by single malt Scotch).

"Travel with Children —Go Figure" - Fawzia Rasheed
Is traveling with kids something to fear, fret over, and throw your old independent spirit out the window for, or does it just require a little tweaking? The author of Travel with Babies and Young Children thinks she might have the answers.

"Journey Through the Ice" - David Lee Drotar
By reindeer sleigh, dogsled, snowmobile, snowshoes, and icebreaker ship, David Lee Drotar makes his way across the white landscape of Arctic Finland.

"Apocalypse Soon: On the Lemanak River of Sarawak" - Graham Reid
Reid ventures up the Lemanak River in Malaysian Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, to see how the old headhunters are handling jungle clearing, longboats full of tourists, and the arrival of a Hilton.

Plus World Music Reviews -
Our editor checks out Djin Djin by Angelique Kidjo, Afro Disco Beat by Tony Allen, and Putumayo Presents: Tango Around the World.

Travel Book Reviews -
Tim Leffel reviews Marco Polo, The Geography of Bliss, Bad Karma, and The Viva List Latin America.




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