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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<title>Luxagraf | Travel Writing from Around the World -- Page 3</title>
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<h1 class="hide">Writing Archive </h1>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2007/03/goodbye-mother-and-cove" title="Goodbye to the Mother and the Cove"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/lacloud.jpg" alt="Goodbye to the Mother and the Cove" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2007/03/goodbye-mother-and-cove" class="u-url" title="Goodbye to the Mother and the Cove">Goodbye to the Mother and the Cove</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2007-03-01T11:15:10">March <span>1, 2007</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Los Angeles</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">California</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="34.040907225218874"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-118.47207783003557"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
It's strange how you can plan something, go through all the motions of making it happen without ever really understanding what you're doing. I've been doing this for the better part of three years now. I realized recently that I have no real idea how I came to be here.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2007/02/everything-all-time" title="Everything All The Time"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/end.jpg" alt="Everything All The Time" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2007/02/everything-all-time" class="u-url" title="Everything All The Time">Everything All The Time</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2007-02-03T11:14:13">February <span>3, 2007</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Los Angeles</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">California</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="33.97530686407635"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-118.42890499373785"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
I don't know if I'm just overly paranoid but when I call up memories in the dark hours of the Beaujolais-soaked pre-dawn, I see a collection of mildly amusing, occasionally painful series of embarrassments, misunderstandings and general wrong-place, wrong-time sort of moments. Which isn't to imply that my life is a British sitcom, just that I'm not in a hurry to re-live any of it.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2007/01/sun-came-no-conclusions" title="The Sun Came Up With No Conclusions"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/illuminatus.jpg" alt="The Sun Came Up With No Conclusions" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2007/01/sun-came-no-conclusions" class="u-url" title="The Sun Came Up With No Conclusions">The Sun Came Up With No Conclusions</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2007-01-11T18:11:30">January <span>11, 2007</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Los Angeles</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">California</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="33.97517340607632"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-118.42887280722941"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
"And so it is that we, as men, do not exist until we do; and then it is that we play with our world of existent things, and order and disorder them, and so it shall be that non-existence shall take us back from existence and that nameless spirituality shall return to Void, like a tired child home from a very wild circus." -- Robert Anton Wilson and Kerry Thornley. Good luck and Godspeed Mr. Wilson.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/12/give-it-or-turnit-loose" title="Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/jamesbrown.jpg" alt="Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/12/give-it-or-turnit-loose" class="u-url" title="Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose">Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-12-25T19:10:49">December <span>25, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Los Angeles</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">California</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="33.97519564909091"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-118.42893718024602"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Traveling soul. Soul is not something out there or in you, it's the place where you meet the out there; something very similar to what I think James Brown meant — a mixture of the secular and the spiritual, the profane and the sublime.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/06/homeward" title="Homeward"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/trappedmoth.jpg" alt="Homeward" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/06/homeward" class="u-url" title="Homeward">Homeward</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-06-09T11:05:34">June <span>9, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-locality locality" itemprop="geo" itemscope itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Geo">Los Angeles</span>, <a class="p-region region" href="/writing/united-states/" title="travel writing from the United States">California</a>, <span class="p-country-name">U.S.</span>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="33.975160060264834"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-118.42903373977045"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
New York, New York. John F Kennedy airport 1 am date unknown, sleepy looking customs guard stamps a passport without hardly looking at, without even checking to see where I had been. A light drizzle is falling outside and the subways extension to the terminal never looked so good. What is it like to be home? I don't know, I'll tell you when I get there.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/06/cadenza" title="Cadenza"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/parisglow.jpg" alt="Cadenza" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/06/cadenza" class="u-url" title="Cadenza">Cadenza</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-06-06T11:01:26">June <span>6, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Paris</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/france/" title="travel writing from France">France</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="48.86345844378468"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="2.3610842224649087"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Paris - Outside it's raining. Beads of water form on the window in front of me. The glow of the unseen sun is fading behind midnight blue clouds and darkening sky. An old man in a butcher apron selling oysters under an awning smokes a cigarette and watches the mothers and children walking home with bags of groceries.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/i-dont-sleep-i-dream" title="I Don't Sleep I Dream"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/freudsoffice.jpg" alt="I Don't Sleep I Dream" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/i-dont-sleep-i-dream" class="u-url" title="I Don't Sleep I Dream">I Don’t Sleep I Dream</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-28T15:00:32">May <span>28, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Vienna</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/austria/" title="travel writing from Austria">Austria</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="48.209967769727996"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="16.370648143396814"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
How can Freud's former residence in Vienna lack a couch? The closest thing is up against the wall, behind a small writing desk in what was then the waiting room — a small divan where one might stare at the patternless ceiling until the patterns emerge as it were. “Tell me about it,” he began.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/unreflected" title="Unreflected"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/selfportraitconvex.jpg" alt="Unreflected" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/unreflected" class="u-url" title="Unreflected">Unreflected</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-27T23:55:46">May <span>27, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Vienna</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/austria/" title="travel writing from Austria">Austria</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="48.209967769727996"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="16.370648143396814"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The Kunsthistorisches Museum contains probably the best collection of art outside of France — Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Raphael, Velazquez, Bruegel and a certain Italian for whom I have a festering personal obsession, which shall be addressed shortly — and what's remarkable about this magnificent assemblage is that the vast majority of it was once the Hapsburg's private collection.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/four-minutes-thirty-three-seconds" title="Four Minutes Thirty-Three Seconds"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/wallofnames.jpg" alt="Four Minutes Thirty-Three Seconds" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/four-minutes-thirty-three-seconds" class="u-url" title="Four Minutes Thirty-Three Seconds">Four Minutes Thirty-Three Seconds</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-26T14:50:24">May <span>26, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Prague</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/czech-republic/" title="travel writing from Czech Republic">Czech Republic</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="50.089846390847725"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="14.418117998023494"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Just north of Prague's old town square and east of the River Vltava is Josefov, the old Jewish quarter of Prague. The Pinkas Synagogue in Josefov is an unassuming pale, sand-colored building with a slightly sunken entrance. Inside is a small alter and little else. The floor is bare; there are no places for worshipers to sit. The synagogue is little more than walls. And on the walls inscribed in extremely small print are the names of the 77,297 Jewish citizens of Bohemia and Moravia who died in the Holocaust.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/inside-and-out" title="Inside and Out"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/krumlovcastleatnight.jpg" alt="Inside and Out" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/inside-and-out" class="u-url" title="Inside and Out">Inside and Out</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-25T17:45:12">May <span>25, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Cesky Krumlov</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/czech-republic/" title="travel writing from Czech Republic">Czech Republic</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="48.81053057801549"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="14.317352769766009"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Chasing Egon Schiele: The attention to detail that makes the difference between a building and work of art was everywhere in Cesky Krumlov, from the delicate pink and red complements of a fine dovetailed corner, to the white plaster and oak beams of the Egon Schiele museum, which, despite geometric differences, looked not unlike the Globe Theatre in London.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/king-carrot-flowers-part-two" title="The King of Carrot Flowers Part Two"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/sloveniachurch.jpg" alt="The King of Carrot Flowers Part Two" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/king-carrot-flowers-part-two" class="u-url" title="The King of Carrot Flowers Part Two">The King of Carrot Flowers Part Two</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-22T20:44:33">May <span>22, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Bled</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/slovenia/" title="travel writing from Slovenia">Slovenia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="46.365209982615575"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="14.109942911091283"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
There is a roughly 200km loop of road that leads northwest out of Bled, through a pass in the Julian Alps and then down the other side, twisting and winding back toward Bled by way of craggy canyons, small hamlets and crystalline rivers. We set out sometime after breakfast.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/ghost" title="Ghost"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/trogirnight.jpg" alt="Ghost" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/ghost" class="u-url" title="Ghost">Ghost</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-19T19:37:07">May <span>19, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Ljubljana</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/slovenia/" title="travel writing from Slovenia">Slovenia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="46.05085985632457"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="14.50674891269926"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Like Dubrovnik, Trogir is a walled city of roughly Venetian vintage, but Trogir's wall has largely crumbled away or been removed. Still, it has the gorgeous narrow cobblestone streets, arched doorways and towering forts that give all Dalmatian towns their Rapunzel-like fairly tale quality.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/feel-good-lost" title="Feel Good Lost"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/dubrovnik.jpg" alt="Feel Good Lost" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/feel-good-lost" class="u-url" title="Feel Good Lost">Feel Good Lost</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-18T00:38:37">May <span>18, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Dubrovnik</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/croatia/" title="travel writing from Croatia">Croatia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="42.64133838429178"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="18.10905217872305"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Dubrovnik, Croatia was heavily shelled during the Bosnian conflict and roughly 65 percent of its buildings were hit, built for the most part you'd never know it. Most of the buildings date from about 1468, though some were destroyed in the great earthquake of 1667, still, by and large, the city looks as it did in the fifteenth century.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/blue-milk" title="Blue Milk"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/plitvice.jpg" alt="Blue Milk" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/blue-milk" class="u-url" title="Blue Milk">Blue Milk</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-16T00:32:27">May <span>16, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Dubrovnik</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/croatia/" title="travel writing from Croatia">Croatia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="42.64133838429178"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="18.10905217872305"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
It's hard to understand, standing on the banks of such crystalline, cerulean lakes, whose dazzling colors come from the mineral rich silt runoff of glaciers, that the largest European conflict since world war two began here, at Like Plitvice Croatia. But indeed this is where the first shots were fired on Easter Sunday in 1991 and the first casualty was a park policeman.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/refracted-light-and-grace" title="Refracted Light and Grace"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/castlehillbuda.jpg" alt="Refracted Light and Grace" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/refracted-light-and-grace" class="u-url" title="Refracted Light and Grace">Refracted Light and Grace</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-11T00:26:59">May <span>11, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Budapest</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/hungary/" title="travel writing from Hungary">Hungary</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="47.483800862289485"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="19.062137601106286"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Evening, after dinner, outside on the balcony, smoking cigarettes and contemplating the nightscape of Buda's Castle Hill rising up out of its own golden reflection in the shimmering Danube waters. The drone of car horns in the distance and the electric tram squealing as it pulls out of the station below on the river a boat slowly churns upstream...
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/london-calling" title="London Calling"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/londonthames.jpg" alt="London Calling" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/london-calling" class="u-url" title="London Calling">London Calling</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-10T00:16:42">May <span>10, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">London</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/united-kingdom/" title="travel writing from United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="51.55119204682159"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="-0.1495599746495864"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
London: The British don't want me -- no money, no proof I'm leaving and no real reason for coming, good lord, I must be a vagabond, up to no good, surely. Eventually the customs agent relents and lets me in, a favor I repay by nearly burning down one of London's bigger parks. Seriously.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/05/closing-time" title="Closing Time"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/thailandtrain.jpg" alt="Closing Time" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/05/closing-time" class="u-url" title="Closing Time">Closing Time</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-05-01T00:14:23">May <span>1, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Koh Kradan</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/thailand/" title="travel writing from Thailand">Thailand</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="7.0586452366957175"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="98.53981016694692"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Headed back to Europe: I started to write a bit of reminiscence, trying to remember the highlights of my time in Asia before I return to the west, but about halfway through I kept thinking of a popular Buddhist saying — be here now. Most of these dispatches are written in past tense, but this time I want to simply be here now. This moment, on this train. This is the last time I'll post something from Southeast Asia.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/04/beginning-end" title="Beginning of the End"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/kokradan.jpg" alt="Beginning of the End" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/04/beginning-end" class="u-url" title="Beginning of the End">Beginning of the End</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-04-22T00:11:20">April <span>22, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Koh Kradan</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/thailand/" title="travel writing from Thailand">Thailand</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="7.4090692758064645"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="99.207916245987"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
I wasn't expecting much from Ko Kradan, but in the end I discovered a slice of Thailand the way it's often describe by wistful hippies who first came here twenty years ago. Tong and Ngu and the rest of the Thais working at Paradise Lost were the nicest people I met in Thailand and Wally was by far the most laid back farang I've come across. I ended up staying on Ko Kradan for the remainder of my time in the south.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/04/going-down-south" title="Going Down South"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/kophiphi.jpg" alt="Going Down South" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/04/going-down-south" class="u-url" title="Going Down South">Going Down South</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-04-11T00:10:50">April <span>11, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Koh Phi Phi</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/thailand/" title="travel writing from Thailand">Thailand</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="7.735826857017756"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="98.77876280363327"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The Phi Phi Island Resort, where some friends were staying, is nestled on the leeward shore of Koh Phi Phi Island and posts a private beach, beautiful reef, fancy swimming pools and rooms with real sheets. Unheard of. I sauntered in a day early, acted like I owned the place, rented snorkel gear, charged it to a random room number and spent the afternoon on the reef. If only I could have put it on the Underhill's credit card.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/03/book-right" title="The Book of Right On"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/goodbyes.jpg" alt="The Book of Right On" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/03/book-right" class="u-url" title="The Book of Right On">The Book of Right On</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-03-31T00:01:02">March <span>31, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Sinoukville</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/cambodia/" title="travel writing from Cambodia">Cambodia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="10.626275865572227"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="103.49945066918632"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
The next day we continued on to Sinoukville which is Cambodia's attempt at a seaside resort. Combining the essential elements of Goa and Thailand, Sinoukville is a pleasant, if somewhat hippy-oriented, travelers haven. We rented Honda Dreams and cruised down the coast to deserted white sand beaches, thatched huts serving noodles and rice, where we watched sunsets and dodged rain storms.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/03/midnight-perfect-world" title="Midnight in a Perfect World"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/deathisland.jpg" alt="Midnight in a Perfect World" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/03/midnight-perfect-world" class="u-url" title="Midnight in a Perfect World">Midnight in a Perfect World</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-03-26T23:58:12">March <span>26, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Death Island</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/cambodia/" title="travel writing from Cambodia">Cambodia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="10.438267017137903"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="104.32325361706974"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Death Island, as Rob nicknamed it, was just what I needed. The first day we sat down for lunch and ordered crab; a boy in his underwear proceeded to run out of the kitchen, swam out in the ocean and began unloading crabs from a trap into a bucket. It doesn't get much fresher than that. Throw in a nice beach, some cheap bungalows and you're away.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even first">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/03/angkor-wat" title="Angkor Wat"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/angkorwat.jpg" alt="Angkor Wat" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/03/angkor-wat" class="u-url" title="Angkor Wat">Angkor Wat</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-03-21T23:55:50">March <span>21, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Angkor Wat</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/cambodia/" title="travel writing from Cambodia">Cambodia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="13.497808126788645"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="103.89289854510803"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Roughly half a million people a year visit Angkor Wat. The first evening we decided to see just how tourist-filled Angkor was by heading to the most popular sunset temple, Phnom Bakheng, to watch the sunset. And there were a lot of tourists. Thousands of them. And that was just at one temple. Thus was hatched the plan: see Angkor in the heat of the day. Yes it will be hot. Hot hot hot. Fucking hot. But hopefully empty.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry odd second">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/03/wait-til-it-blows" title="...Wait 'til it Blows"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/landmines.jpg" alt="...Wait 'til it Blows" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/03/wait-til-it-blows" class="u-url" title="...Wait 'til it Blows">…Wait ‘til it Blows</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-03-18T23:52:55">March <span>18, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Seam Reap</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/cambodia/" title="travel writing from Cambodia">Cambodia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="13.361228724078332"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="103.86148451313011"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
One the things I may have failed to mention thus far in my Cambodia reportage is that this was/is one of the most heavily mined areas in the world. You might think that removing landmines involves sophisticated technology of the sort you see in BBC documentaries on Bosnia, but here in Cambodia landmine removal is most often handled by the technological marvel of southeast Asia — the bamboo stick.
</span>
</p>
</article>
<article class="h-entry hentry even third">
<div class="post--image">
<a href="/2006/03/beginning-see-light" title="Beginning to See the Light"><img src="https://images.luxagraf.net/post-images/2008/floatingvillage.jpg" alt="Beginning to See the Light" class="u-photo post-image" /></a>
</div>
<h1 class="p-name entry-title post--title"><a href="/2006/03/beginning-see-light" class="u-url" title="Beginning to See the Light">Beginning to See the Light</a></h1>
<p class="p-author author hide">Scott Gilbertson</p>
<time class="dt-published published dt-updated post--date" datetime="2006-03-16T20:45:20">March <span>16, 2006</span></time>
<p>
<span class="p-location h-adr adr post--location">
<span class="p-region">Floating Village</span>, <a class="p-country-name country-name" href="/writing/cambodia/" title="travel writing from Cambodia">Cambodia</a>
<data itemprop="latitude" class="p-latitude" value="12.821174848475923"></data>
<data itemprop="longitude" class="p-longitude" value="104.04052732926735"></data>
</span> –
<span class="p-summary hyphenate">
Surprisingly, a floating village is not that different than a village on the land. There are the same stores, the computer repair shop, the grocers, the petrol station, the temple, the dance hall and all the other things that makeup a town. I could even say with some authority that the town is laid out in streets, watery pathways that form nearly perfect lines.
</span>
</p>
</article>
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© 2003-2014
<span class="h-card"><a class="p-name u-url" href="https://luxagraf.net/">Scott Gilbertson</a><data class="p-nickname" value="luxagraf"></data><data class="p-locality" value="Athens"></data><data class="p-region" value="Georgia"></data><data class="p-country-name" value="United States"></data></span>, except photos, which are licensed under the Creative Commons (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/" title="read the Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 deed">details</a>).
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