Across Thailand, thousands of small craft villages dot the landscape. Each one specializes in the manufacture of a particular handicraft. Especially in northern Thailand, the choices seem endless. In tiny Ban Ton Pao in northern Thailand, everyone in the villages is involved in the production of handmade paper from Mulberry bark. In nearby Baan Tawai, … Read more
Not only is Borneo one of the few places in the world to see orangutans in the wild, it’s also fantastic for seeing endangered Sun Bears, proboscis monkeys, pygmy elephants, and monitor lizards, among other wild species. I saw them all and more in the Malaysian State of Sabah, on the island of Borneo, and … Read more
Perhaps the best way to see French Polynesia is to take a cruise on the Aranui 5, a combination cruise ship and freighter. The ship visits three of the island groups in the French territory and delivers freight to all six of the inhabited islands in the Marquesas Archipelago. In this video, I interview Tino, … Read more
In mid-April each year, Thailand celebrates the Songkran Festival, Thai New Year. While festivities occur all over the country, the most lavish celebrations occur in the northern city of Chiang Mai. Held over a four or five day period, Songkran begins with a monk blessing and alms-giving ceremony, followed by the presentation of Songkran queens … Read more
Comte cheese may not be a household word in the United States, but every Frenchman and woman is intimately familiar with this semi-hard cheese from the Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Comté holds the coveted PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status in the European Union, which means that only farms, dairies, and aging cellars located … Read more
