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To walk or tramp about; to gad, wander. < Old French - trapasser (to trespass).

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Welcome to the blog! Here you’ll find my latest reflections, along with some treasures buried along the way. If you’d like to be notified when I post something new here, just enter your email address below:

 

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Cinnamon: Drug of Choice for the Pharaohs and for a White Monkey

Mandela* Moment of Truth: Rite of Passage to Calling and Glory

Feb 14, 2020
The treeless hills of South Africa’s Eastern Cape roll down to the Indian Ocean where they form the Wild Coast: the sea, the wind and spray pounding a rocky shore.  Here and there lie pocket beaches where rivers tumble down to meet the surf. That beauty has attracted seaside resorts and casinos for the well-heeled, […]

Mandela* Moment of Truth: Rite of Passage to Calling and Glory

February 14, 2020 2 Comments

The treeless hills of South Africa’s Eastern Cape roll down to the Indian Ocean where they form the Wild Coast: the sea, the wind and spray pounding a rocky shore.  Here and there lie pocket beaches where rivers tumble down to meet the surf. That beauty has attracted seaside resorts and casinos for the well-heeled, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother of All Roadtrips XI: Herati Hookahs and Heady History

Feb 4, 2020
In a class by itself as historical crossroads go, within Herat’s crumbling walls and precincts hangs a brocade of culture with few equals in the world.  Where else might you find cheek by jowl a citadel of Alexander the Macedonian, records of Nestorian evangelists, tombs of Timur’s martial descendants, traces of Persian poets and philosophers, […]

Mother of All Roadtrips XI: Herati Hookahs and Heady History

February 4, 2020 3 Comments

In a class by itself as historical crossroads go, within Herat’s crumbling walls and precincts hangs a brocade of culture with few equals in the world.  Where else might you find cheek by jowl a citadel of Alexander the Macedonian, records of Nestorian evangelists, tombs of Timur’s martial descendants, traces of Persian poets and philosophers, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother Of All Roadtrips – X: Majesty of Tower and Tunnel

Jan 17, 2020
National Highway 1 from Kabul to Kandahar, will bring you under the walls of the storied, but now humbled, city of Ghazni.  Its ramparts once sheltered brilliant Persian poets the likes of Hakim Sanai, the ‘eyes of Sufi poetry’ and inspiration to Rumi.  The memory of that elegance now in tatters, the city suffers one […]

Mother Of All Roadtrips – X: Majesty of Tower and Tunnel

January 17, 2020 5 Comments

National Highway 1 from Kabul to Kandahar, will bring you under the walls of the storied, but now humbled, city of Ghazni.  Its ramparts once sheltered brilliant Persian poets the likes of Hakim Sanai, the ‘eyes of Sufi poetry’ and inspiration to Rumi.  The memory of that elegance now in tatters, the city suffers one […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother of All Roadtrips (IX) – Mirage on the Road to Kabul

Jan 4, 2020
There is a traveler’s proverb in southern Africa, “Tsela e kgopo, ga e latse nageng.’  (The crooked road will not leave you sleeping in the wild.) It applies on the road to Kabul just as readily as elsewhere. True to the proverb’s implied wisdom, the tarmac – but, gated – highway at Surobi (see previous […]

Mother of All Roadtrips (IX) – Mirage on the Road to Kabul

January 4, 2020 6 Comments

There is a traveler’s proverb in southern Africa, “Tsela e kgopo, ga e latse nageng.’  (The crooked road will not leave you sleeping in the wild.) It applies on the road to Kabul just as readily as elsewhere. True to the proverb’s implied wisdom, the tarmac – but, gated – highway at Surobi (see previous […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother of All Roadtrips (VIII) – Khyber: Rite of Passage and Prayer

Dec 14, 2019
High in the Maluti mountains of southern Africa, there is a pass for ponies and trekkers called ‘Molimo O Nthuse’ (God help me!), the prayer of mountain travelers everywhere.  Thin air, vagaries of sleet and snow, rude slopes, snake-like footpaths, solitude; all can conspire with lethal effect. Prayer is sometimes the traveler’s only recourse. Such […]

Mother of All Roadtrips (VIII) – Khyber: Rite of Passage and Prayer

December 14, 2019 Leave a Comment

High in the Maluti mountains of southern Africa, there is a pass for ponies and trekkers called ‘Molimo O Nthuse’ (God help me!), the prayer of mountain travelers everywhere.  Thin air, vagaries of sleet and snow, rude slopes, snake-like footpaths, solitude; all can conspire with lethal effect. Prayer is sometimes the traveler’s only recourse. Such […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother Of All Roadtrips – VII: Qissa Khwani, Old Quarter Peshawar

Dec 1, 2019
If you should think the city of Peshawar is just another edge-of-the-mountain town, dust-blown, tattered and gusty with bluster and intrigue, consider this: the very heart of the old quarter is called ‘Qissa Khwani’, the Storytellers’ Bazaar.  Not the bazaar of carpets or of silks, not of walnuts, spices or dried fruit, not of camels, […]

Mother Of All Roadtrips – VII: Qissa Khwani, Old Quarter Peshawar

December 1, 2019 8 Comments

If you should think the city of Peshawar is just another edge-of-the-mountain town, dust-blown, tattered and gusty with bluster and intrigue, consider this: the very heart of the old quarter is called ‘Qissa Khwani’, the Storytellers’ Bazaar.  Not the bazaar of carpets or of silks, not of walnuts, spices or dried fruit, not of camels, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother Of All Roadtrips (MOAR) – VI: Grand Trunk Road

Nov 16, 2019
On the cusp of summer monsoon, but still swirled in dust and heat, our caravan assembled in the town of Raiwind outside Lahore.  Behold! a three-passenger, improvised roof-rack atop the little red VW station wagon, a small trailer with hitch, an assortment of personal and camping gear, four school-leavers, two adults, their young daughter and […]

Mother Of All Roadtrips (MOAR) – VI: Grand Trunk Road

November 16, 2019 15 Comments

On the cusp of summer monsoon, but still swirled in dust and heat, our caravan assembled in the town of Raiwind outside Lahore.  Behold! a three-passenger, improvised roof-rack atop the little red VW station wagon, a small trailer with hitch, an assortment of personal and camping gear, four school-leavers, two adults, their young daughter and […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother Of All Roadtrips (MOAR) – V: Darshan in the Indus Valley

Nov 2, 2019
Northeast of the power-stepping guards at the Wagah crossing (see previous post, MOAR IV) there is a telling scene about what borders born of duress can inflict on a populace.  Punjab is the cradle of Sikh faith, home to the great majority of its faithful who now live in India. On a clear day, from […]

Mother Of All Roadtrips (MOAR) – V: Darshan in the Indus Valley

November 2, 2019 5 Comments

Northeast of the power-stepping guards at the Wagah crossing (see previous post, MOAR IV) there is a telling scene about what borders born of duress can inflict on a populace.  Punjab is the cradle of Sikh faith, home to the great majority of its faithful who now live in India. On a clear day, from […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

MOAR IV: Someone’s Walking – Er, Strutting – on My Grave

Oct 18, 2019
It’s ticklish business navigating a cemetery.  There’s that saying, “Someone’s walking on my grave,” prompted by some chill running up the spine.  Travel thoughtfully, not least the great river valleys of the world, and you find stories of near cosmic scale lying at your feet, stories that send a shiver through the soul. A traverse […]

MOAR IV: Someone’s Walking – Er, Strutting – on My Grave

October 18, 2019 1 Comment

It’s ticklish business navigating a cemetery.  There’s that saying, “Someone’s walking on my grave,” prompted by some chill running up the spine.  Travel thoughtfully, not least the great river valleys of the world, and you find stories of near cosmic scale lying at your feet, stories that send a shiver through the soul. A traverse […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mother Of All Roadtrips – MOAR (III): A Long and Winding Descent

Oct 1, 2019
The Woodstock School campus, midst wooded foothills, has commanding views of some of India’s most sacred geography.  (When Pearl Buck visited she referred breathlessly to the school setting as ‘vertical real estate.’) To the south and east winds the course of the Ganga (Ganges) whose sprawling valley is the axis of Indian civilization.  To the […]

Mother Of All Roadtrips – MOAR (III): A Long and Winding Descent

October 1, 2019 4 Comments

The Woodstock School campus, midst wooded foothills, has commanding views of some of India’s most sacred geography.  (When Pearl Buck visited she referred breathlessly to the school setting as ‘vertical real estate.’) To the south and east winds the course of the Ganga (Ganges) whose sprawling valley is the axis of Indian civilization.  To the […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

The Mother Of All Road Trips (II): A Schoolboy Fantasy

Sep 16, 2019
Almost all epic travels begin in innocence.  The prospective miseries, perils and vagaries of a journey are dwarfed by promise: of discovery, breathless tales, companionship, of besting challenges.  So it was that four school-leavers from an Indian boarding school began dreaming of a Eurasian crossing in the winter of 1965. Our imaginations were aflame with […]

The Mother Of All Road Trips (II): A Schoolboy Fantasy

September 16, 2019 2 Comments

Almost all epic travels begin in innocence.  The prospective miseries, perils and vagaries of a journey are dwarfed by promise: of discovery, breathless tales, companionship, of besting challenges.  So it was that four school-leavers from an Indian boarding school began dreaming of a Eurasian crossing in the winter of 1965. Our imaginations were aflame with […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

The Mother of All Road Trips: Beyond Route 66 (I)

Sep 1, 2019
Got a fantasy road trip squirreled away in the imagination?  Tiptoeing the spine of the Rockies? Tracing the shores of the Great Lakes?  Driving US Route 1 the length of the Eastern Seaboard?  The fantasy jaunt of the American soul would have to be a ramble down U.S. Route 66 – in a tail-finned convertible […]

The Mother of All Road Trips: Beyond Route 66 (I)

September 1, 2019 10 Comments

Got a fantasy road trip squirreled away in the imagination?  Tiptoeing the spine of the Rockies? Tracing the shores of the Great Lakes?  Driving US Route 1 the length of the Eastern Seaboard?  The fantasy jaunt of the American soul would have to be a ramble down U.S. Route 66 – in a tail-finned convertible […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Kashmir: Troubled Jewel of Central Asia

Aug 19, 2019
Few places on earth can rival the exquisite beauty of Kashmir’s Dal Lake, mirror to the Himalayas of central Asia.  Along its shores in morning mist, you might hear the sound of a single, unhurried oar. A shikara (watercraft) slips into view passing wordlessly on its way and then vanishes leaving only a rippling trace.  […]

Kashmir: Troubled Jewel of Central Asia

August 19, 2019 6 Comments

Few places on earth can rival the exquisite beauty of Kashmir’s Dal Lake, mirror to the Himalayas of central Asia.  Along its shores in morning mist, you might hear the sound of a single, unhurried oar. A shikara (watercraft) slips into view passing wordlessly on its way and then vanishes leaving only a rippling trace.  […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Traipser Rule of Thumb: One Soul Salutes Another

Jul 31, 2019
You cannot embark on any daily traipse for more than a few steps before engaging in a universal social ritual: the act of greeting.  Customary though it be, this practice, full of possibility, possesses enormous significance whether in encounter with neighbor, stranger or even stray dog.  Echoing the Hippocratic oath, the rule of thumb for […]

Traipser Rule of Thumb: One Soul Salutes Another

July 31, 2019 7 Comments

You cannot embark on any daily traipse for more than a few steps before engaging in a universal social ritual: the act of greeting.  Customary though it be, this practice, full of possibility, possesses enormous significance whether in encounter with neighbor, stranger or even stray dog.  Echoing the Hippocratic oath, the rule of thumb for […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Helsingborg Hostel: Baltic Straits, Wedding Straits

Jul 12, 2019
In the city of Helsingborg, a ferry ride across from Helsingor (or, ‘Elsinore’, if you’re drafting a tragedy called ‘Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’), there was once a youth hostel on the northern edge of town midst wooded grounds.  It sat on a rise looking down on the city, on the straits to the Baltic Sea, […]

Helsingborg Hostel: Baltic Straits, Wedding Straits

July 12, 2019 2 Comments

In the city of Helsingborg, a ferry ride across from Helsingor (or, ‘Elsinore’, if you’re drafting a tragedy called ‘Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’), there was once a youth hostel on the northern edge of town midst wooded grounds.  It sat on a rise looking down on the city, on the straits to the Baltic Sea, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

A City Called ‘Fair Winds’: What the Streets Are Saying

Jul 1, 2019
If, having been whisked to a secret southern metropolis and you were there set free on the streets, you’d be forgiven for believing you’d found yourself in Brussels, Vienna or Berlin.  In truth you would be in the Paris of Latin America, Buenos Aires, whose name translates as ‘Fair Winds’.  Famous for bumpy politics, for […]

A City Called ‘Fair Winds’: What the Streets Are Saying

July 1, 2019 Leave a Comment

If, having been whisked to a secret southern metropolis and you were there set free on the streets, you’d be forgiven for believing you’d found yourself in Brussels, Vienna or Berlin.  In truth you would be in the Paris of Latin America, Buenos Aires, whose name translates as ‘Fair Winds’.  Famous for bumpy politics, for […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Weirdness in the Death Zone: A Tale of the Odd-Number Sardine

Jun 14, 2019
They’re up there still.  Hundreds of tents pitched in the rubble field at base camp on Everest.  Climbers – some, at best bricoleurs – and their Sherpa guides wait for that window of clear days before the monsoon that offers some chance of summiting the mother of all mountains, Chomolungma, 29,035’ of rock, icefall, crevasses, […]

Weirdness in the Death Zone: A Tale of the Odd-Number Sardine

June 14, 2019 2 Comments

They’re up there still.  Hundreds of tents pitched in the rubble field at base camp on Everest.  Climbers – some, at best bricoleurs – and their Sherpa guides wait for that window of clear days before the monsoon that offers some chance of summiting the mother of all mountains, Chomolungma, 29,035’ of rock, icefall, crevasses, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Saturday in Brussels: Waffles, Tintin, Godot … and Waffles

Jun 1, 2019
The city of Brussels takes itself pretty seriously.  It devotes itself to the tricky business of holding together a quarrelsome bilingual country, to projects like the 28-member European Union and to the colossus known as NATO.  The city bristles with all-work, no-play diplomats, soldiers, journalists and lobbyists. Whatever sunshine might be left under such dour […]

Saturday in Brussels: Waffles, Tintin, Godot … and Waffles

June 1, 2019 14 Comments

The city of Brussels takes itself pretty seriously.  It devotes itself to the tricky business of holding together a quarrelsome bilingual country, to projects like the 28-member European Union and to the colossus known as NATO.  The city bristles with all-work, no-play diplomats, soldiers, journalists and lobbyists. Whatever sunshine might be left under such dour […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Desert Tales: When Hunter Becomes Prey*

May 15, 2019
In the 1950s sub-Sahara Africa, still in colonial thrall, was a kind of wild west while the rest of the world restored what had been shattered by world war.  The grasslands of Africa, thronged with wild life, remained in many places open range. In what was then a sleepy Chobe River village called Kasane (see […]

Desert Tales: When Hunter Becomes Prey*

May 15, 2019 5 Comments

In the 1950s sub-Sahara Africa, still in colonial thrall, was a kind of wild west while the rest of the world restored what had been shattered by world war.  The grasslands of Africa, thronged with wild life, remained in many places open range. In what was then a sleepy Chobe River village called Kasane (see […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Desert Tales: Of Rustlers and Saving Refreshment

May 2, 2019
A close friend of mine once served as a policeman in Kalahari ranching country.  As happens where cattle roam arid grazing land, rustlers find opportunity to lead away valuable critters on the hoof when no one is watching.  My friend was assigned to investigate just such a case. With a contingent of fellow officers he […]

Desert Tales: Of Rustlers and Saving Refreshment

May 2, 2019 10 Comments

A close friend of mine once served as a policeman in Kalahari ranching country.  As happens where cattle roam arid grazing land, rustlers find opportunity to lead away valuable critters on the hoof when no one is watching.  My friend was assigned to investigate just such a case. With a contingent of fellow officers he […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Going Deep and Wild: Ramble With a Kalahari San Traveler

Apr 13, 2019
I stood hitchhiking across from the Kalahari Arms Hotel at a crossroads in Botswana’s ranching country.  Hang around the Arms long enough and old timers will tell with glee about the goat known to wander in at drowsy midday hours to devour the bar kitty leaving only coins as a tip.  Kalahari survival has its […]

Going Deep and Wild: Ramble With a Kalahari San Traveler

April 13, 2019 5 Comments

I stood hitchhiking across from the Kalahari Arms Hotel at a crossroads in Botswana’s ranching country.  Hang around the Arms long enough and old timers will tell with glee about the goat known to wander in at drowsy midday hours to devour the bar kitty leaving only coins as a tip.  Kalahari survival has its […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Going Deep: Singing Crawdads and Lithophones

Mar 30, 2019
Delia Owens, wildlife conservationist and briefly a neighbor in the Kalahari, has now written a crime novel set in coastal Carolina.  ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, the title taken from her mother’s term for the back-of-the-back-of-beyond where the wilds harbor impossible beauty and secrets, is a nod towards the music – the exquisite music – inherent […]

Going Deep: Singing Crawdads and Lithophones

March 30, 2019 6 Comments

Delia Owens, wildlife conservationist and briefly a neighbor in the Kalahari, has now written a crime novel set in coastal Carolina.  ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’, the title taken from her mother’s term for the back-of-the-back-of-beyond where the wilds harbor impossible beauty and secrets, is a nod towards the music – the exquisite music – inherent […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

A House Called ‘Deliverance’

Mar 16, 2019
Our family traipse – not unlike Viking forbears who once sailed the Volga and traded wares on the Silk Road –  began long ago in a Minnesota winter, with ports of call like Shanghai, Hong Kong, Penang, Rangoon and Chittagong, mostly aboard plucky freighters.  In time, we came to live on the verge of the […]

A House Called ‘Deliverance’

March 16, 2019 20 Comments

Our family traipse – not unlike Viking forbears who once sailed the Volga and traded wares on the Silk Road –  began long ago in a Minnesota winter, with ports of call like Shanghai, Hong Kong, Penang, Rangoon and Chittagong, mostly aboard plucky freighters.  In time, we came to live on the verge of the […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

The Bones: Buried – and Empowered – at the Crossroads

Feb 28, 2019
Scattered across southern Africa, at highway intersections, as at village crossroads, an unnoticed dynamic is in play.  In the dead of night, a traditional healer has crept on to the scene and buried there, in secret, the tools of a diviner’s trade: small bits of bone, shells, sundry coins, buttons and stones.  In a region […]

The Bones: Buried – and Empowered – at the Crossroads

February 28, 2019 2 Comments

Scattered across southern Africa, at highway intersections, as at village crossroads, an unnoticed dynamic is in play.  In the dead of night, a traditional healer has crept on to the scene and buried there, in secret, the tools of a diviner’s trade: small bits of bone, shells, sundry coins, buttons and stones.  In a region […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Molepolole: Dark Beauty Below the Roofing Sheets

Feb 17, 2019
From earliest times, water sources and wells have been the scene of rare encounter, of betrothal and alliance, of secrets, struggles and dreams, yes, and of slaking thirst for mortal and beast, nowhere more earnestly than in the arid interiors of the planet’s landmasses.  When desert winds drive storms of dust and sand, when the […]

Molepolole: Dark Beauty Below the Roofing Sheets

February 17, 2019 8 Comments

From earliest times, water sources and wells have been the scene of rare encounter, of betrothal and alliance, of secrets, struggles and dreams, yes, and of slaking thirst for mortal and beast, nowhere more earnestly than in the arid interiors of the planet’s landmasses.  When desert winds drive storms of dust and sand, when the […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Mahatma and the Mariners: Tales of the Malabar Coast

Jan 31, 2019
Plant yourself in the sand of the Kerala seashore, the Arabian Sea creaming at your feet, a warm westerly caressing your face.  This is the Malabar coast. Spice garden of the East, fantasy of mariners drawn by the fragrance – and fortunes – of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and clove. They came by turn from ancient […]

Mahatma and the Mariners: Tales of the Malabar Coast

January 31, 2019 1 Comment

Plant yourself in the sand of the Kerala seashore, the Arabian Sea creaming at your feet, a warm westerly caressing your face.  This is the Malabar coast. Spice garden of the East, fantasy of mariners drawn by the fragrance – and fortunes – of cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and clove. They came by turn from ancient […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Sixth-Day Fellowship: Of Labor, Mischief and Mirth

Jan 15, 2019
The story board of sacred writ recounts that in their beginnings, humankind and the animals were created on the same day, the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-31).  This arrangement surely suggests some commonality, perhaps even fellowship, while serving also as a check on our hubris. That whatever the glories of angel-flight inspiration and achievement, we can […]

Sixth-Day Fellowship: Of Labor, Mischief and Mirth

January 15, 2019 4 Comments

The story board of sacred writ recounts that in their beginnings, humankind and the animals were created on the same day, the sixth day (Genesis 1:24-31).  This arrangement surely suggests some commonality, perhaps even fellowship, while serving also as a check on our hubris. That whatever the glories of angel-flight inspiration and achievement, we can […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Christmas Carol From A Kingston ‘Long-Drop’

Jan 5, 2019
Beyond the Jamaica cruise stops of Negril, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, there is an island world of richest stories, stories of suffering and dark struggle but told with lyric heart.  Who hasn’t danced to the reggae music of Bob Marley and the Wailers or been schooled by their torchy ballads of yearning for freedom […]

Christmas Carol From A Kingston ‘Long-Drop’

January 5, 2019 4 Comments

Beyond the Jamaica cruise stops of Negril, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, there is an island world of richest stories, stories of suffering and dark struggle but told with lyric heart.  Who hasn’t danced to the reggae music of Bob Marley and the Wailers or been schooled by their torchy ballads of yearning for freedom […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Pitseng: Jetlag in a Kalahari Hamlet

Dec 16, 2018
Consider the French word, dépaysé.  It aptly describes travelers who after long east-west travels clamber off holiday jets in the likes of Hawaii, the Costa del Sol, Capetown or Baku.  The French term means literally ‘un-countried’. Otherwise, in English, it can mean ‘dazed’ or ‘bewildered’. For moderns accustomed to the reach of transcontinental jets, it […]

Pitseng: Jetlag in a Kalahari Hamlet

December 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

Consider the French word, dépaysé.  It aptly describes travelers who after long east-west travels clamber off holiday jets in the likes of Hawaii, the Costa del Sol, Capetown or Baku.  The French term means literally ‘un-countried’. Otherwise, in English, it can mean ‘dazed’ or ‘bewildered’. For moderns accustomed to the reach of transcontinental jets, it […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Fireside Vision at the Back-of-Beyond

Dec 3, 2018
The Trans-Kalahari highway leads west northwest out of Lobatse one of Botswana’s earliest western-style towns. (It contained at independence in 1966 the only stretch of tarred road in a country larger than France.)  Once past Kanye, the land lies wide and open toward the ‘big dry’, the Kalahari, deepest overlay of sand on the planet. […]

Fireside Vision at the Back-of-Beyond

December 3, 2018 14 Comments

The Trans-Kalahari highway leads west northwest out of Lobatse one of Botswana’s earliest western-style towns. (It contained at independence in 1966 the only stretch of tarred road in a country larger than France.)  Once past Kanye, the land lies wide and open toward the ‘big dry’, the Kalahari, deepest overlay of sand on the planet. […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Side Street in Phnom Penh (II): Of Nightmares and ‘Speakeasy’

Nov 16, 2018
Faithful rule-of-thumb in travels: the richest stories lie in the side streets, the smoky recesses of courtyards and tea stalls.  My Sunday meander down an alley in Phnom Penh ran true to form. Having heard the account of a young Khmer musician’s love of a grandfather (see previous post), I waited in a church anteroom […]

Side Street in Phnom Penh (II): Of Nightmares and ‘Speakeasy’

November 16, 2018 Leave a Comment

Faithful rule-of-thumb in travels: the richest stories lie in the side streets, the smoky recesses of courtyards and tea stalls.  My Sunday meander down an alley in Phnom Penh ran true to form. Having heard the account of a young Khmer musician’s love of a grandfather (see previous post), I waited in a church anteroom […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Side Street in Phnom Penh: Music From a Grandfather’s War Wounds

Nov 2, 2018
On a side street in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, you’ll find a homely little Anglican church.  If you saunter by of a Sunday, as I did not long ago, you might notice that several people linger on the premises after morning services.  It was enough, at my visit, to draw me in, on the chance […]

Side Street in Phnom Penh: Music From a Grandfather’s War Wounds

November 2, 2018 4 Comments

On a side street in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, you’ll find a homely little Anglican church.  If you saunter by of a Sunday, as I did not long ago, you might notice that several people linger on the premises after morning services.  It was enough, at my visit, to draw me in, on the chance […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

What Terror From the Deep Can Leave Behind (II) Night Bus to Mandalay – and to a Tsunami Story

Oct 17, 2018
There is hardly any place name, with the possible exception of ‘Shangri-La’, that is quite so evocative as ‘Mandalay’. Nearly all of its associations for the West are Kipling-esque ‘images of oriental kingdoms and tropical splendor’*. Dozens of book titles, songs and hotel names have ridden the crest of those images to fame and riches. […]

What Terror From the Deep Can Leave Behind (II) Night Bus to Mandalay – and to a Tsunami Story

October 17, 2018 2 Comments

There is hardly any place name, with the possible exception of ‘Shangri-La’, that is quite so evocative as ‘Mandalay’. Nearly all of its associations for the West are Kipling-esque ‘images of oriental kingdoms and tropical splendor’*. Dozens of book titles, songs and hotel names have ridden the crest of those images to fame and riches. […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Tsunami: What Terror From the Deep Can Leave Behind. (I)

Oct 1, 2018
In these last hours, video has captured a tsunami rolling ashore in the town of Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Ten-foot waves can be seen in the background sweeping structures, palm trees and debris before them. The death toll, sure to rise, stands at 830. The images recalled what the world observed in horror on December 26, […]

Tsunami: What Terror From the Deep Can Leave Behind. (I)

October 1, 2018 3 Comments

In these last hours, video has captured a tsunami rolling ashore in the town of Palu, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Ten-foot waves can be seen in the background sweeping structures, palm trees and debris before them. The death toll, sure to rise, stands at 830. The images recalled what the world observed in horror on December 26, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Temples to Tea, Shrines for the Traveler

Sep 19, 2018
Camelia sinensis: the wind beneath the traveler’s wings.  ‘Cha’, ‘sah’, ‘chay’. Known to the West as ‘tea’.  Across Asia and now the planet, this infusion of legend and mystery is on offer, be it in the exquisite tea houses of Kyoto and Dushanbe or in the humblest roadside shelters.  Whatever its shrine, tea commands a […]

Temples to Tea, Shrines for the Traveler

September 19, 2018 3 Comments

Camelia sinensis: the wind beneath the traveler’s wings.  ‘Cha’, ‘sah’, ‘chay’. Known to the West as ‘tea’.  Across Asia and now the planet, this infusion of legend and mystery is on offer, be it in the exquisite tea houses of Kyoto and Dushanbe or in the humblest roadside shelters.  Whatever its shrine, tea commands a […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Hole-In-The-Day: Manoomin, Treaty Rights and Deferred Harvest

Sep 1, 2018
Come November 22nd this year, discriminating families at Thanksgiving tables will sit up – unawares – to turkey stuffed with the makings of an epic and delectable tale.  It is the tale of ‘manoomin’, the sacred wild rice that grows across northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the prairie provinces of Canada. Stand on the cat-tail fringes […]

Hole-In-The-Day: Manoomin, Treaty Rights and Deferred Harvest

September 1, 2018 3 Comments

Come November 22nd this year, discriminating families at Thanksgiving tables will sit up – unawares – to turkey stuffed with the makings of an epic and delectable tale.  It is the tale of ‘manoomin’, the sacred wild rice that grows across northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the prairie provinces of Canada. Stand on the cat-tail fringes […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Makgadikgadi: Soul Depths On A Salt Flat

Aug 14, 2018
If the Okavango Delta resembles a primordial Eden, then the neighboring Makgadikgadi Pans may be a picture of a climate-changed future, at least for the drought-prone swatches of the earth.  Larger than the entire state of Connecticut, a baked crust of white clay stretches virtually without a single landmark, one of the largest salt flats […]

Makgadikgadi: Soul Depths On A Salt Flat

August 14, 2018 2 Comments

If the Okavango Delta resembles a primordial Eden, then the neighboring Makgadikgadi Pans may be a picture of a climate-changed future, at least for the drought-prone swatches of the earth.  Larger than the entire state of Connecticut, a baked crust of white clay stretches virtually without a single landmark, one of the largest salt flats […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Safari To Dislocation – And Time Immemorial

Jul 31, 2018
Safari (meaning ‘visit’ or ‘trip’ in Ki-swahili) has been a staple of Western travelers since Victorian times when outsiders with prodigious ‘kit’ came on tour to the bush country of Africa’s wild interior. Teddy Roosevelt figures high on the list of notables who tried their luck on the savannah. The tally of trophies taken in […]

Safari To Dislocation – And Time Immemorial

July 31, 2018 7 Comments

Safari (meaning ‘visit’ or ‘trip’ in Ki-swahili) has been a staple of Western travelers since Victorian times when outsiders with prodigious ‘kit’ came on tour to the bush country of Africa’s wild interior. Teddy Roosevelt figures high on the list of notables who tried their luck on the savannah. The tally of trophies taken in […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Manhandled By Africa’s Beauty: The Smoke That Thunders*

Jul 14, 2018
Beauty in these wild places of Africa comes in two guises. There’s the filigree of a camelthorn tree against the dawn. Or in the rainforest the old-growth trees holding up in reverence a canopy that suffuses the underlay in green light. The only sounds: the rapping of rain from a shower striking the giant leaves […]

Manhandled By Africa’s Beauty: The Smoke That Thunders*

July 14, 2018 3 Comments

Beauty in these wild places of Africa comes in two guises. There’s the filigree of a camelthorn tree against the dawn. Or in the rainforest the old-growth trees holding up in reverence a canopy that suffuses the underlay in green light. The only sounds: the rapping of rain from a shower striking the giant leaves […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Royalty of the Thirstland: Is It End Game For The Baobabs?

Jun 30, 2018
It’s the baobabs that will follow you home. Mysterious, massive, silent, on gnarled pillars they dominate the Kalahari thorn scrub, and the imagination. Ancient beyond telling, they are the grand elders of Africa’s arid hinterland, sentinels of the passing millennia. Now they’re dying. And no one knows why. news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/oldest-tress-africa-baobabs-dead-climate-science/ The San say that the creator […]

Royalty of the Thirstland: Is It End Game For The Baobabs?

June 30, 2018 3 Comments

It’s the baobabs that will follow you home. Mysterious, massive, silent, on gnarled pillars they dominate the Kalahari thorn scrub, and the imagination. Ancient beyond telling, they are the grand elders of Africa’s arid hinterland, sentinels of the passing millennia. Now they’re dying. And no one knows why. news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/oldest-tress-africa-baobabs-dead-climate-science/ The San say that the creator […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Lamps in the Night

Jun 15, 2018
In the winter of 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India malfunctioned in the morning darkness.  Poor maintenance and disabled safety systems took a savage toll as a cloud of toxic gas blanketed a sleeping city.  More than 2,000 nearby slum-dwellers never woke up in their shacks. And a further 510,000 who survived, […]

Lamps in the Night

June 15, 2018 1 Comment

In the winter of 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India malfunctioned in the morning darkness.  Poor maintenance and disabled safety systems took a savage toll as a cloud of toxic gas blanketed a sleeping city.  More than 2,000 nearby slum-dwellers never woke up in their shacks. And a further 510,000 who survived, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Lohit River Poetry

Jun 1, 2018
Master bard, T. S. Eliot, once confessed that his poetic sensibilities he owed to life on the banks of great rivers.  His cadence, images and rhythms were borrowed, it seems, from the Mississippi and his adopted Thames. A meander up the dramatic mountain course of northeast India’s Lohit River begs for powerful poetry, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohit_River […]

Lohit River Poetry

June 1, 2018 Leave a Comment

Master bard, T. S. Eliot, once confessed that his poetic sensibilities he owed to life on the banks of great rivers.  His cadence, images and rhythms were borrowed, it seems, from the Mississippi and his adopted Thames. A meander up the dramatic mountain course of northeast India’s Lohit River begs for powerful poetry, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohit_River […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Christmas Counterpoint on the Far Side of the World

May 15, 2018
Vexing religious issues, sometimes triggering savage cruelty, now figure weekly in world headlines. Indonesia (home to Bali’s refined culture and world-class beaches, the astonishing Borobudur temple complex, Java’s version of Angkor Wat, and a thousand natural wonders) has suffered its share of turmoil.  One winter, my wife, Mary Kay and I flew to visit our […]

Christmas Counterpoint on the Far Side of the World

May 15, 2018 2 Comments

Vexing religious issues, sometimes triggering savage cruelty, now figure weekly in world headlines. Indonesia (home to Bali’s refined culture and world-class beaches, the astonishing Borobudur temple complex, Java’s version of Angkor Wat, and a thousand natural wonders) has suffered its share of turmoil.  One winter, my wife, Mary Kay and I flew to visit our […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Doorway By the Sea

May 1, 2018
Beyond a sea of springtime desert flowers on a bluff overlooking South Africa’s Saldanha Bay, there stands an inn.  Its entryway is a colossal wooden door whose carving and rough iron bolts whisper tales of Tuareg caravans plodding the Sahara. You cannot help but wonder what travelers once found shelter from marauder or harmattan (West […]

Doorway By the Sea

May 1, 2018 Leave a Comment

Beyond a sea of springtime desert flowers on a bluff overlooking South Africa’s Saldanha Bay, there stands an inn.  Its entryway is a colossal wooden door whose carving and rough iron bolts whisper tales of Tuareg caravans plodding the Sahara. You cannot help but wonder what travelers once found shelter from marauder or harmattan (West […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Once Upon a Train (part 2)  

Apr 15, 2018
            Intrigued by Daniels’ narrative, and by what if any after-story might await discovery, I set out to learn more.  On a winter afternoon, 38 years after the events in the story, I boarded the afternoon train in Kandy bound for Gampola and Nawalapitiya.  As I sat awaiting departure on a jewel-like day, I could imagine the figures […]

Once Upon a Train (part 2)  

April 15, 2018 3 Comments

            Intrigued by Daniels’ narrative, and by what if any after-story might await discovery, I set out to learn more.  On a winter afternoon, 38 years after the events in the story, I boarded the afternoon train in Kandy bound for Gampola and Nawalapitiya.  As I sat awaiting departure on a jewel-like day, I could imagine the figures […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Once Upon a Train (1)

Mar 31, 2018
Some years ago over afternoon tea on our back porch, Mary Kay and I heard from a guest the outlines of a story set on one of the earth’s storybook islands: Sri Lanka. Its former Dutch and English masters called it ‘Ceylon’, a name that has become synonymous with delicate tea, temples with Buddhist relics […]

Once Upon a Train (1)

March 31, 2018 6 Comments

Some years ago over afternoon tea on our back porch, Mary Kay and I heard from a guest the outlines of a story set on one of the earth’s storybook islands: Sri Lanka. Its former Dutch and English masters called it ‘Ceylon’, a name that has become synonymous with delicate tea, temples with Buddhist relics […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

The Dalai Lama’s Pistol

Mar 13, 2018
It must surely be one of the oddest bits of historical flotsam cast up by India’s exotic, but restive northeast. The artifact in question – seldom seen by outsiders – now holds pride of place on a wall in the Shillong* headquarters of India’s paramilitary unit, the Assam Rifles. There in a regimental ballroom, surrounded […]

The Dalai Lama’s Pistol

March 13, 2018 4 Comments

It must surely be one of the oddest bits of historical flotsam cast up by India’s exotic, but restive northeast. The artifact in question – seldom seen by outsiders – now holds pride of place on a wall in the Shillong* headquarters of India’s paramilitary unit, the Assam Rifles. There in a regimental ballroom, surrounded […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Sundown on the Chobe

Feb 28, 2018
Few scenes in southern Africa are as life-brimming as Botswana’s Chobe river.  To leave the sere thorn scrub of the Kalahari and stumble upon such a plain – an alpine-like pasture with a sheet of water slipping eastward toward the sea – that is rare refreshment in a thirstland.  Life of every form, from the […]

Sundown on the Chobe

February 28, 2018 7 Comments

Few scenes in southern Africa are as life-brimming as Botswana’s Chobe river.  To leave the sere thorn scrub of the Kalahari and stumble upon such a plain – an alpine-like pasture with a sheet of water slipping eastward toward the sea – that is rare refreshment in a thirstland.  Life of every form, from the […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

#2 – River Lullaby: A Boatman’s Night Cry

Feb 15, 2018
            If you should have the good fortune in winter to visit the northeast Indian town of Bishwanath Ghat on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, you would find it much as it has been for generations: groves of bamboo, a hilltop dak bungalow (government rest house) where my best chum, Lokhi, lived, a Hindu temple, […]

#2 – River Lullaby: A Boatman’s Night Cry

February 15, 2018 4 Comments

            If you should have the good fortune in winter to visit the northeast Indian town of Bishwanath Ghat on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, you would find it much as it has been for generations: groves of bamboo, a hilltop dak bungalow (government rest house) where my best chum, Lokhi, lived, a Hindu temple, […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

Sacred Cover, Sacred Gasket – #1

Jan 21, 2018
  The coffee table picture book of the upper White Nile is all drama.  Across this confluence of Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Congo stretches the savannah and its stupefying wild creatures, bejeweled lakes, the summits of cranky volcanoes, a gash of the Rift Valley, the course of the Nile, longest river on earth, and […]

Sacred Cover, Sacred Gasket – #1

January 21, 2018 16 Comments

  The coffee table picture book of the upper White Nile is all drama.  Across this confluence of Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda and Congo stretches the savannah and its stupefying wild creatures, bejeweled lakes, the summits of cranky volcanoes, a gash of the Rift Valley, the course of the Nile, longest river on earth, and […]

Written by Jonathan Larson

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