Posted Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 4:16 PM by Lonely Planet
Unlike the tourism scene in, say, Turkey or Greece, it's probably safe to assume the majority of Thailand's visitors do not arrive with any intention of inspecting ancient ruins. But for those travellers who chose to eschew the southern islands and instead explore the massive swath of country north of Bangkok, the ancient city of Sukhothai (pronounced SOOK-oh-tie) is an absolute must-see site. Even UNESCO agrees; the cultural organization gave the collection of ruined monuments its highest honour in 1991 by naming it a World Heritage site.
But let's be honest. Even the keenest of history buffs can find themselves suffering from a serious case of ruin burnout. The key is to switch up the cultural sightseeing with something a little less serious. And in Sukhothai, that something is a bizarre little temple known as Wat Thewet.
Known locally as 'the dream monastery', Wat Thewet was once a temple just like any other in central Thailand. And then one night, the temple's abbot had a dream - some call it a vision - about the life of Buddha, and a strange depiction of hell. No one quite knows why, but the abbot became convinced his vision should be brought to life on the grounds of Wat Thewet. The idea was to create a Buddhist learning garden, and today, the area surrounding the temple is packed with dozens of some of the strangest statues you're likely to see anywhere in Thailand.
The scenes representing hell are without a doubt the most disturbing, especially the plaster models of humans who have unfortunately sprouted animal heads. According to the abbot's dream, anyone who abused an animal in life would find himself (or herself) sporting that same animal's head in death. You'll also see men and women covering their genitals with huge, oversized hands; these models are meant to represent the eternal fate of anyone who steals in life.
Unfortunately, most Sukhothai-area locals aren't as amused by the temple's art brut as are the tourists who come here. It's said the abbot financed his dream with money earned during his daily alms - in other words, with money specifically donated to the upkeep of the temple and its monks. The abbot died some time ago; his son currently lives at the monastery, where he maintains his father's dream.
Dan Eldridge is in Thailand researching the Thailand chapter of Southeast Asia on a shoestring. Anyone been to Wat Thewet? Is there anything else like it in Thailand?
Labels: Asia and Pacific
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Posted Monday, May 28, 2007, 4:58 PM by Lonely Planet
Española in New Mexico is a decent little place - surely no one's idea of purgatory. On the main road through town, a flashing neon sign alternates from grinning white angel to a sizzling red smirking devil.
The Saints and Sinners liquor store has been idling on this stretch of the Taos highway since 1963, its flaking pitchfork-mounted beacon luring customers of both persuasions. Inside, locals help themselves to drinks and linger at a lone wooden table by the door. In a little taste of heaven, all bar tabs are paid on the honour system.
Back on the border with Mexico, Marilyn Monroe may be dead, but she's taking up a heck of a lot of space in Douglas, Arizona. At the Grand Cafe, the iconic blonde still pouts and poses, posthumously snapping up the entire wall surface in the Mexican restaurant's dining room. A previous owner began collecting the images, but her successors and various employees have continued to add to the collection, which now clocks in at more than 200 sultry photos. Glossy movie stills and French-language movie posters jostle for attention above diners and then spill down through the back hallway. The best detail? The men's restroom is for 'Gentlemen'.
Beth Kohn is cruising through the Southwest States researching the USA guidebook. Next stop Roswell... Now's your chance to ask her if she spotted any flying saucers.
Labels: The Americas
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Posted Sunday, May 27, 2007, 4:38 PM by Lonely Planet
It's midnight on Ko Chang's Sai Khao beach, and I'm close to starving. I haven't eaten anything since morning because as usual my day has whizzed by in a flurry of guidebook-writer hustle and hum: I've inspected the island's ricketiest bungalows at lightening speed. I've chased after pickup-truck taxis in the boiling midday heat.
Yet none of this concerns me now, because the low rumblings of my stomach are silencing even my deepest thoughts. But late-night Ko Chang, as it happens, isn't exactly a foodie's paradise. My options at this hour seem to be limited to a bag of banana chips or a Cadbury chocolate bar from the roadside 7-11.
Instead, I settle on a dinner of Beer Chang and bottled water.
And then seemingly out of nowhere, I stumble upon a guy selling hot dogs and hamburgers-real, American-style hamburgers - from the back of a pickup truck. This is something I have never seen before in Thailand. The truck's bed is also its kitchen, which consists of a propane tank, a hot plate and a plastic cooler. In the middle of it all sits the smiling Thai proprietor. He tells me the majority of his fast food is purchased well after midnight, when tourists emerge en masse from the island's beach bars.
And yet the hamburger truck really shouldn't have surprised me. Because like nearly every other developing nation on earth, Thailand is home to a massive population of especially creative small business wizards. Here's a brief list of the many unique entrepreneurs I've discovered during my two months in Thailand:
The Breezy Barber: This 63-year-old barber had been cutting hair for more than 20 years when his landlord refused to renew his shop's lease. Instead of retiring, the barber modified the back of his pickup truck into a mobile salon.
D.I.Y. Cinemas: Especially popular in the northern town of Pai, these unique businesses duplicate the experience of watching a movie at home. After choosing a DVD, customers retire to a 'private room' outfitted with a couch and a TV set.
Volkswagen Microbus Pubs: Visit any backpacker ghetto in Thailand, and you're bound to come across one of these - a VW bus that's been chopped up and reconfigured into a beer-and-cocktail bar. During my latest visit, I even discovered a few that eschewed the alcohol and instead sold fruit smoothies and fair-trade coffee.
- Dan Eldridge
Labels: Asia and Pacific
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Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007, 5:33 PM by Lonely Planet
They're small, they're sassy and they're not going anywhere.
The Shady Dell, an Arizona trailer park in the historic copper mining town of Bisbee, is the most fun you can have stranded on cement blocks. A collection of almost a dozen restored trailers and kookily converted vehicles from the 1940s and '50s, guests overnight here in fabulous retro style.
Where most recreational vehicles swagger and sway down the gusty open road, these trailers charm with their cocktails-on-the-lawn indolence. There's a 1947 turquoise transit bus reimagined as a swingin' palm-fringed Tiki Bus. Decked out in cacti prints and flaming sunset reds, a homemade 10-footer stays cute and cosy on the inside and very Flash Gordon to the world outside. The gleaming gold 1957 Airfloat exudes Rat Pack-era Las Vegas. At dusk, an iconic 1949 Airstream glistens against the sensuous Mule Mountains.
Each trailer - and one landlocked Chris Craft yacht - comes decorated with vintage furnishings and stocked with popular period magazines. For the full-on cultural flashback, you can watch old movies on black and white TVs or listen to classic 45s as they spin, scratch and wobble on the phonograph.
Proof positive that RVs don't need gasoline to get your motor running.
Beth Kohn is currently on a road-trip through the Southwest States researching the USA guidebook. Over the next five weeks, Beth will be unearthing the quirk and bringing you the best in kitsch Americana. Got any hot tips for Beth?
Labels: The Americas
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Posted Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 11:14 PM by Lonely Planet
If your idea of the perfect meal includes, say, an authentic southern Indian dosai, a steaming bowl of Chinese noodles and a savoury curry, then by all accounts you should find yourself on the next flight to Kuala Lumpur.
However if petty issues like 'time' or 'money' are standing in the way, the next best thing is a visit to Rasa Malaysia. Although the author of this blog is (perhaps unwillingly) based in the US, her recipes, write-ups and images offer an authentic and delicious view of the amazing culinary diversity of her homeland. In particular, the write ups of her hometown of Penang (considered by many to be the culinary capital of Malaysia) just might make you reschedule dinner. For the next month. Take a look and try not to book that ticket.
- Austin Bush
Labels: Culinary culture
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Posted Monday, May 21, 2007, 3:58 PM by Lonely Planet
If Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí had crawled feverishly through the Arizona desert, he might have hallucinated the Mystery Castle. Equal parts Mexican hacienda, Native American cliff dwelling and psychedelic sand castle, this bizarre art house dodges traditional labels.
Told that he would promptly die of tuberculosis, Boyce Luther Gulley fled his family in 1930 and relocated to the sandy cacti-stubbled hills outside Phoenix, Arizona. He hurled himself into a mammoth construction project, erecting a fantasy home limited only by his imagination and scarce water supplies.
Recycling materials dumped at the city limits, he fashioned telegraph poles into hulking ceiling beams and oxen yokes into chandeliers. Over the next fifteen years, he pieced together eighteen stone and adobe rooms, including a wedding chapel with a mosaic serpent floor and a basement bar sliced from a wooden wagon. A truly organic builder, he mixed the piazza cement with available local ingredients, including goat's milk.
When Gulley passed away, his estranged wife and daughter arrived and discovered a trap door, now guarded by a toothy metal alligator. When they finally unsealed the vault, they found two $500 bills and a cache of gold nuggets. His daughter has lived there ever since. Thanks, Dad!
Mystery Castle: 602-268-1581; 800 E Mineral Rd, Phoenix, Arizona
- Beth Kohn is currently on a road-trip through the Southwest States researching the USA guidebook. Over the next five weeks, Beth will be unearthing the quirk and bringing you the best in kitsch Americana. Have you been to Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada? What should Beth look out for?
Labels: The Americas
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Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2007, 6:26 PM by Lonely Planet
It's a sad fact that water bottles clog up water-ways. It can really get in the way of what would otherwise be a great travel snap. The question is, do we give this a second thought when we're buying bottle after bottle in destinations we've been told the tap water is unsafe to drink? Do we conveniently forget all about it when we develop our pictures and find we successfully kept all the rubbish out of frame? Do we have an option?
Sabrina Walasek is one traveller who advocates the use of water purifiers as a means of travelling responsibly:
"I was a middle-school science teacher for five years and focused a great deal on service learning, partnering with the community and building awareness around environmental issues.
In the past 8 years, my husband and I have travelled for a year at a time... twice! The first time we had an around-the-world ticket. The second time, we just got a one-way ticket to Japan. We went overland as much as possible (boat from Osaka to Shanghai, train to Mongolia, train through Russia and eastern Europe, boat from Croatia to Sicily then another boat from Sicily to Tunisia, etc.)
I have spent a lot of time in developing areas. I've seen the impact of tourism on villages and even big cities. I've seen heaps of plastic bottles in rural areas. It kills me.
I travel with a water purifier. I've found the MSR MiniWorks ceramic filter the best. It can be cleaned and handles a year's worth of water for 2 people without replacing filters. It screws onto your sports bottle. You simply fill up a sink with water, put the hose into the sink and siphon the water into your bottles.
Yes - it can be a pain and yes they are fragile. They will also seem expensive when you are saving for your trip, but it pays for itself on the open road. In china, bottled water is more expensive than beer.
The most surprising thing is that I have never encountered another traveller using one. Only a few people have approached me to ask what it was - most don't seem to have a problem with buying 3 bottles of water or more per day."
So, environmentally aware traveller... are you experienced in the ways of water purification? Any tips you can share?
And if you've got no idea what we're talking about check out some different water purifiers here and more here.
Labels: Sustainable and responsible tourism, Travelsnitch
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Posted Thursday, May 10, 2007, 5:01 PM by Lonely Planet
Amazing that a little bit of cardboard and a pssssssssht of spray-paint can turn a grimy city wall into something worth looking at. Melbourne is so proud of its (not-so) secret stencil society that it now celebrates its passion for the not-quite-legal street art with an annual festival. The 3rd Melbourne Stencil Festival runs from 11-20 May and will showcase the work of over 60 Australian and international artists. Guests at this year's festival include Rica P and Celso, members of the Brazilian Sprays Poeticos Collective, who combine poetry and street art. And just to prove that stencillers can still break all their own rules, this year's festival will also present 'Drawing Fancy', a collection of hand-drawn illustrations by Australian and international artists.
If you're not in Melbourne catch the festival as it travels to regional Victoria, Newcastle, Sydney and Brisbane.
Stencil Festival 07
11-20 May J-Studios Artist Community, 100 Barkly St, North Fitzroy, VIC
4-20 June Eastbank Centre, 70 Welsford Street, Shepparton, VIC
6-16 July Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 40 Lydiard Street, Ballarat, VIC
21 July-19 August Gippsland Art Gallery, 68 Foster Street, Sale, VIC
4-14 October Newcastle Arts Space, 246 Parry St, Newcastle West, NSW
16-27 October Pine Street Creative Arts Center, Chippendale, NSW.
1-4 November Jugglers Art Space 103 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, QLD
Labels: Asia and Pacific, Festivals and events
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Posted Sunday, May 06, 2007, 10:15 PM by Lonely Planet
Nightfall makes way for madness as snake charmers, and chefs vie for attention in the sensory onslaught that is Marrakesh.
Though the Bluelist competition winners are all safely back home, you can relive their experience you read about here, through a video shot by Baxter Jackson on Lonelyplanet.tv.
Did somebody say sheep's head? Watch what all the fuss was about.
Labels: Africa, Bluelist Winners 2007
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