The Beirut corniche
Fishermen, joggers, families, and a man with a coffee cart doing better business than any cafe. At sunset the whole city seemed to be walking in the same direction.
Author not specified in the imported source
Beirut, Lebanon · Asia
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Souk directions
We asked for a shop and were escorted personally for ten minutes through covered alleys by a man who then refused to be thanked and disappeared.
Author not specified in the imported source
Aleppo, Syria · Asia
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Sunrise over Cappadocia
A hundred and fifty balloons launched in twenty minutes. From the ground it was chaos. From above it was completely still and you could hear other baskets' burners.
Author not specified in the imported source
Cappadocia, Turkey · Asia
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The ferry that crosses continents
Twenty minutes, a glass of tea, seagulls following the boat for bread, and you have changed continents on a commuter ticket.
Author not specified in the imported source
Istanbul, Turkey · Asia
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Turkish breakfast arithmetic
We ordered breakfast for two and eleven small plates arrived. Then bread. Then eggs. We did not eat again until nine that night.
Author not specified in the imported source
Turkey · Asia
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Hammam scrub
The attendant showed me the grey rolls coming off my arm with visible pride, as though we had achieved something together, which I suppose we had.
Author not specified in the imported source
Istanbul, Turkey · Asia
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Kangaroos at the tee
The golf course had a local rule about kangaroos on the fairway. There were fourteen of them and none of them moved for anyone.
Author not specified in the imported source
Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
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Driving the Nullarbor
Ninety miles straight, no curve at all. We passed four road trains and one cyclist who waved with an energy that suggested he had not seen anyone for a while.
Author not specified in the imported source
Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
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Cassowary crossing
The signs say dangerous. Then one walks out of the rainforest two metres in front of the car and you understand the signs completely.
Author not specified in the imported source
Queensland, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
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Sydney to Bondi at six
The coastal walk at six in the morning was full of runners, swimmers and one man doing tai chi on a rock. Nobody had a phone out.
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Sydney, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
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Uluru at the wrong hour
Everybody goes at sunset. We went at eleven in the morning in 38 degrees, saw four people, and the rock was a colour nobody photographs.
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Uluru, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
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The great ocean detour
We drove the whole road in one day, which is a mistake. Someone at a bakery in Apollo Bay told us to take three, and she was right.
Author not specified in the imported source
Victoria, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
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Tasmanian silence
We stood at Cape Grim in wind that had crossed the Southern Ocean untouched. It smelled like nothing at all, which is apparently the point.
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Tasmania, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
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Milford in the rain
Everyone hopes for sun. Locals told us to hope for rain, because that is when a thousand temporary waterfalls appear on the cliffs. They were right within an hour.
Author not specified in the imported source
Milford Sound, New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
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The Tongariro crossing
Nineteen kilometres, four weather systems and a lake the colour of antifreeze. Somebody in shorts passed us going the other way at a run.
Author not specified in the imported source
New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
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Hitching in the South Island
We waited eleven minutes and got picked up by a shearer who talked about sheep for two hours and dropped us forty kilometres past his own turnoff.
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New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
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Glowworm ceiling
The boat went silent and the guide pulled us along a rope in the dark. The ceiling looked like a star map and was in fact several thousand hungry larvae.
Author not specified in the imported source
Waitomo, New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
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Hangi under the ground
Food cooked in a pit with hot stones for four hours. The steam when they opened it was worth the entire wait and the whole meal tasted faintly of earth.
Author not specified in the imported source
Rotorua, New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
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Fiji time
The boat was due at ten. It came at half past twelve. Everyone we asked said Fiji time with a smile and we eventually stopped asking.
Author not specified in the imported source
Fiji · Oceania & the Pacific
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Kava circle
You clap once, take the cup, drink it in one, clap three times. Your tongue goes numb and the conversation slows down and improves.
Author not specified in the imported source
Fiji · Oceania & the Pacific
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Land diving at Pentecost
The tower is built from vines and branches with no nails. The divers aim to touch the ground with their shoulders. The mothers watch from a distance and do not look away.
Author not specified in the imported source
Vanuatu · Oceania & the Pacific
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Sailing between atolls
Two days out of sight of land and then a line of palms appears that is only three metres above the water. You understand navigation differently after that.
Author not specified in the imported source
Tuamotus, French Polynesia · Oceania & the Pacific
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The bus that circled the island
There are two buses: clockwise and anticlockwise. You cannot get lost, and if you miss yours the other one arrives eventually going the long way.
Author not specified in the imported source
Rarotonga, Cook Islands · Oceania & the Pacific
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Diving with the mantas
They arrive silently and are far larger than anything in the briefing prepared you for. Our guide held up nine fingers, meaning nine metres of wingspan, and then just watched.
Author not specified in the imported source
Palau · Oceania & the Pacific
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