Today we’re doing something a little different and will be looking at an odd historic figure who pioneered the whole “Americans visiting Afghanistan for fun or profit” thing. Josiah Harlan was born a Quaker and eventually became an Afghani warlord…
A Candle-lit Walk in Kawatana: Katashima Taketoro Matsuri
Wandering around a candle-lit ruin in a memorial to the dead was the perfect way to spend the evening before Halloween, though it’s not as spooky or somber as it sounds. The second annual Katashima Taketoro Matsuri (Katashima Bamboo Lantern…
The Ghost of a Castle: Hara Castle Ruins
It’s less a castle ruin and more the ghost of a castle ruin. On the Shimabara peninsula there is a series of rises by the sea. The land rises like green walls and forms terraces, layered as they gain height…
Ruins with a Famous Name: Burg Frankenstein
The landscape of Germany has inspired many authors and painters. Its medieval ruins, sentinels of an earlier age that have long lost their original purpose and shape but stubbornly still stand, seem to lurk from hills and forests, intriguing passing…
It’s More Fun in the Philippines! (Part II)
The Road to Vigan Sagada was our last major stop in the mountains but on our way to the northwestern coast we stopped at the Battle of Bessang Pass Memorial, which commemorates a late World War II battle between a…
It’s More Fun in the Philippines! (Part I)
My personal paradise is the Philippines. Not the beaches and beer Philippines, though. You can keep that. It’s the Philippines that’s covered in pines, isn’t shy about its headhunting past and sees nothing wrong with blasting “Gangnam Style” whilst lasering…
Postcard Tour of Bruges
Visiting Bruges is like walking through a series of postcards. An old city of medieval buildings, soaring brick towers, cobblestone and scenic canals that surround and cut through it, it’s hard not to take a shot that couldn’t be stamped…
Two Days on the Nakasendo (Video)
This photo video contains images from a walking trip through the best preserved and most beautiful section of the old Nakasendo, or Central Mountain Road, that passes through the Kiso Valley. Dave and I started in Nagiso-machi (former Midono-juku),…
TankFest Presents Fury
Today’s update is a little different as I am working on a new, larger story still that will eventually see the light of day. Last year I visited the Tank Museum in Bovington, UK, the greatest tank museum on Earth,…
Last Warship Standing: USCGC Taney
When I first laid eyes on the old cutter berthed at Pier Five in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, I didn’t think much of her. Part of a maritime collection that boasts a sloop that fought in the U.S. Civil War and…