EcoTravel
Arab Spring of organic cuisine
This past Spring, I was great fortune of visiting Beirut, Lebanon. I was on a 2-week USAID-funded volunteer assignment, to evaluate the emerging organic food and farming sector, and to develop a communications strategy to help take them to the next level. I met with the country’s pioneers of organic agriculture, dined with forward-thinking restauranteurs … Continue reading
Green in Dubai’s Desert
A weekend in Dubai – Part 2 — the Al Maha Desert Resort, the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve and an antelope’s quiet disdain. Excerpt below, and click here for the full article. +++ The towering skyscrapers of Dubai disappear behind me in a haze. The air smells and tastes of sand, even as the taxi whisks past a … Continue reading
Electrifying Eco-Resort
As some of you may have already gathered, my journey here in Asia has increasingly focused on what is called ‘mysticism’ by some, and quantum physics by others. Chi, prana, kundalini, chakras, universal energy, zero-point energy, etc. The words (and the traditions from which they derive) are less important to me than the underlying phenomena … Continue reading
I see dead people, Bali-style
My short story, “Bali Magic”, is one of five finalists in the Bali-High.com community blog contest. Bali Magic “Michael!!” she screamed as I parked my bike at the warung restaurant. What the hell?? I had never been to this village before or even to this part of Bali. I was staying at an eco-luxury resort down … Continue reading
One week in Indonesia
A taste of my past week here in Indonesia: Research: Digging in deeper into my research about profound manifestations of ‘energy’ (chi, kundalini, prana, mystical – the names matter much less than the phenomena themselves and related implications), developing a database of people around the world with X-Men type abilities, and exploring similarities and dissimilarities from … Continue reading
Psychedelic media relations
Reading the following press release *almost* makes me want to get back into the PR biz myself … Props to Widness & Wiggins for promoting Ayuhuasca journeys in Peru. The Ayahuasca (Banisteropsis caapi), or ‘rope of the spirits’ in Quechua, is the master plant of the Amazonian rainforest that is combined with Chacruna (Psicotria viridis) into a … Continue reading
Dubai’s green dust storm
On a recent flight to the Middle East (including a 2-week volunteer gig in Lebanon developing the organic food and agriculture sector), I squeezed in a quick, 3-day layover in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The trip started with grabbing a drink with my friend Ivan (whose parents own the wonderful Chileno Valley Bed … Continue reading
Pasadena moments
Back in January, and shortly before flying to Indonesia, I hopped in the car for a final road-trip to Los Angeles. Normally, I’d couch surf, but this time decided to combo the trip with writing a review of the Pasadena’s palatial Langham Huntington hotel. I last time I was in Pasadena was for the Tournament of Roses … Continue reading
Blessed are the cheese makers
Velveeta, Rondele and Laughing Cow. That’s what ‘cheese’ meant to me in the 1970s. Somewhat ironic, given that I grew up on a dairy farm that since has become emblematic of the sustainable, local and organic food movements. Once, I was embarrassed to admit to my city friends that I grew up shoveling shit. Today, farmers … Continue reading
Goa flashbacks
My latest travel article, Escape to Green Goa, was just published and, and it’s a bit shocking that it was already a full year ago that I first stepped foot on her sandy shores. It was in Goa that I taught myself to ride a motorcycle, despite the hoards of drunken Russians hell-bent on proving … Continue reading
