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Canadian adventurer Graydon Hazenberg follows the trail of China's most revered traveller along the Silk Road. The corpse lay on his back in the ditch, a blackened arm extended skyward from his ragged sleeve. He looked like the tramps I had seen...
- Type: Article
- Author: Graydon Hazenberg
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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In the most remote region of Mongolia, semi-nomadic herdsmen train golden eagles to help them hunt. Filmmaker Tony Girardin travels 1600 kilometres over the desert to meet one. We were exchanging glares as Kubikhan, a Kazakh eagle hunter, sharpened one...
- Type: Article
- Author: Tony Girardin
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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Tibetans fear that their culture will get derailed as the new train from China begins service to their region. When the first commercial train arrived in Lhasa in July 2006, it set a number of records. It set a record for the highest railway on earth,...
- Type: Article
- Author: Michael Buckley
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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Nestled in the Himalayan Region of Pacific-Asia, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is governed as a territory of China. China boasts Tibet’s modernization and burgeoning economy since its rule; but critics accuse China of committing human rights...
- Type: Article
- Author: Verge Staff
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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"Survivorman" Les Stroud has endured some of the harshest physical environments on earth. He speaks with Verge about the headspace you need to survive. Long before daybreak, the ground is crawling with insects—sand flies, ticks, chiggers, ants. The air...
- Type: Article
- Author: Jeff Minthorn
- Category: Why we travel
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Marc-André Roy explores the value of voodoo in Benin. I’m far from superstitious, but couldn’t pass up a visit to the local voodoo psychic. I had been living in Benin, the supposed birthplace of voodoo. Two alleys over, I was told, lived a big,...
- Type: Article
- Author: Marc-André Roy
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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Volunteer teacher Cheryl Dunkerton finds that Mongolian students juggle more than just exams in order to make it through school. Bundled in coats, my university English students huddle like little pigeons on wooden benches. But wait – do I have a new...
- Type: Article
- Author: Cheryl Dunkerton
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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Julia Steinecke finds it easy to meet NGOs and community organizations, like Big Brother Mouse. I'm not surprised to hear that foreign aid pays for sixty percent of public expenditures in Laos. Every time I get on a bus, I end up sitting beside an...
- Type: Article
- Author: Julia Steinecke
- Category: Why we travel
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Here's how your visit to Laos can have a positive impact. The Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge that spans the Mekong river just south of Vientiane is more than an infrastructure link; it's one of the main entry points for thousands of sweaty backpackers...
- Type: Article
- Author: Julia Steinecke and Troy Nahumko
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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For centuries, Laos and its neighbours were swept over by shifting dynasties, from Mon and Khmer Kingdoms to the Angkor and Siamese Empires. From the 14th century, the Lan Xang Kingdom centred on present-day Luang Prabang and spread to parts of...
- Type: Article
- Author: Verge Staff
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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Photographer Kees Sprengers captures a moment in time for North West Lao cultures in transition. The children went wild, pushing each other aside to see my little camera screen. The adults surveyed me with great interest: my skin, my hair, my clothes....
- Type: Article
- Author: Kees Sprengers
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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From the streets of Sydney to the outback, Susan Griffith discovers that it's easier than ever to pay your way, mate! As I was chatting with the young Canadian woman working at the Glebe Village Backpackers in Sydney, the hostel phone rang. I had been...
- Type: Article
- Author: Susan Griffith
- Category: Work Abroad
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Local ingenuity brings homegrown electricity to Kenyan communities. When Nyaga Ndiga was a young boy growing up on the slopes of Mount Kenya, he was fascinated with electricity. Whenever he could get hold of metal wires or batteries, he hid them under...
- Type: Article
- Author: Andrea Gourgy
- Category: Why we travel
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A team from Niagara tackles water scarcity in rural Guatemala. In Guatemala’s remote mountain villages, every man over the age of seven wears a sword, and every woman over the age of five, a plastic jug on her head. The sword, of course, is a machete;...
- Type: Article
- Author: Larry Frolick
- Category: Why we travel
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A gap year gig turns into a quest to show travellers a hidden side of urban India. They're beggars and criminals. They live wasted lives of misery and pain. They should get jobs and do something to better themselves. They are not the same as you or me....
- Type: Article
- Author: Brent Lewin
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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Mike Webster offers the following considerations for travelling as or with a diabetic. Blood sugar should be monitored frequently. If you are travelling with someone who is diabetic, learn how to use their glucose tester. Plan meals with as much...
- Type: Article
- Author: Mike Webster
- Category: Travel Health
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Veteran English teacher Troy Nahumko launches a four-part series of TEFL Reality Talks with a few tips to help you dodge the fiasco factor. Flying into Tripoli International Airport, even the most experienced traveller gets a thrill seeing the endless...
- Type: Article
- Author: Troy Nahumko
- Category: Work Abroad
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A chance meeting with an Indonesian farmer teaches Shane Barter that everyone has a story. The November day dawned crisp and cool in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. I was returning from my morning walk outside the hillside village of Saree, where I...
- Type: Article
- Author: Shane Barter
- Category: Beyond the Guidebook
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It's one thing to put the roof back on a house—what about rebuilding young lives in a Caribbean economy torn apart by hurricanes? When Walt Nathaniel graduated with an Honours degree in Business Administration, many of his fellow grads pursued...
- Type: Article
- Author: Julia Steinecke
- Category: Why we travel
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Snapping shots of people is easy; slowing down and turning it into a genuine encounter is a whole different story. Photographer Trevor Lush explains how. I like to meet new people. I like to talk with them. I like to find out what they do for a living...
- Type: Article
- Author: Trevor Lush
- Category: PhotoPro
