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On the Great Silk Road I had never heard of Uzbekistan before the Peace Corps assigned me there. It didn't matter, really. I felt so guilty for being alive that I just wanted to work somewhere, anywhere.
By Kristen Hoggatt |
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Study Abroad Pakistan's reputation as a cauldron of extremist violence masks the staying power of the nation's aristocracy. Consider Aitchison College...
By John Lancaster |
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Whistling at the Northern Lights Idling away one's youth in Iceland may seem eccentric, but the ache of nostalgia is universal.
By Jason Wilson |
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Yellow Journalism I went to the Mustard Museum for the Midwestern ennui. I stayed for the mustard.
By EJ Levy
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A Nice French Red 'Some people are made for power, others for opposition. You musn't confuse the two.' A lesson in French communism.
By Amy Serafin |
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Licorice Whipped Now that it's legal, absinthe is supposedly 'out.' But was a taste for licorice ever really 'in'?
By Jason Wilson |
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Dining with the Stars I am well aware there's a recession, but have you tasted the $650 lunch at L'Ambroisie?
By Jordan Mackay |
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Miss Venezuela Observations from the beauty pageant that produces more international winners than any other country's. Among them, angry mobs, bedazzled jeans, and free breast implants.
By Emily Maloney |
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The Baked Goods An American pastry chef in a French kitchen?! Sacrebleu!
By Amy Serafin |
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The Wrath of Khan I was a waitress in Austin with a pot-growing boyfriend who wanted to get married. I needed a change, and Mongolia sounded like it'd be about as big a change as I could make. I was right.
By LeeAnn Marhevsky |
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Chinese Take-Out From the Olympics to urban explosion to the rowdiness of its people, a tour of China is like a trip to 19th-century America.
By Paula Marantz Cohen |
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The Port Dick Cheney Likes Find out you like the same port as Dick Cheney and Fidel Castro, and you'll realize taste is a very slippery slope.
By Jason Wilson |
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Baby Talk Our justice minister is a Muslim, unmarried, and pregnant woman of North African descent. So why isn't she a symbol of diversity?
By Amy Serafin |
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Dismissed The French tradition of Saturday classes ends this month, and I can drink on Fridays again.
By Amy Serafin |
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Romancing the Archivist I wanted to prove that West African borders were illusions, but first I had to get into Mali's records.
By Peter Chilson |
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Pus in Boots My parents were the doctors. But after I cut my foot in the Andaman Sea, traveled down dirty streets, and waded through a polluted river, it was time for me to operate.
By Graeme Wood |
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The Lifestyle Beat There's life. And then there's lifestyle journalism.
By Jason Wilson |
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Plimped Out I went to Mozambique to write a guidebook, and ended up casting myself as George Plimpton in Ali, starring Will Smith. Would the world's greatest amateur have done any differently?
By Graeme Wood |
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Exhibit A Crime and punishment may be a gray area, but it's painted black and white in D.C.
By Emily Maloney
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On Watching Plain People There are 20,000 Amish living in Pennsylvania. Theirs is a quiet life of German hymns, pickled foods, and buggies. And four million tourists, too.
By Emily Maloney |
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Gray Areas Somalia had no government, and passport stamps didn't matter there. It was as if I was traveling in time to when borders were just suggestions.
By Graeme Wood |
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Haitian Dreams I traveled to Haiti with the best of intentions. I found myself at a cock fight, a dodgy casino, and, for many hours, a bar that overlooked a trash-strewn beach.
By Jason Wilson |
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Tour of Duty I tried getting into Iraq the easy way first, by applying for a tourist visa. I eventually found a work-around: Iran.
By Graeme Wood |
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The Serenader In Mexico, a street musician must deal with drunks, little sleep, and the cold. All for $12 a night.
By Steve Wilson |
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Mengele in Paraguay Like many Nazis, Mengele fled to South America after the war. In Paraguay, ghosts of Germany remain.
By Graeme Wood
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The Museum of Contraception and Abortion Vienna's Museum of Contraception and Abortion, which Austrian schoolkids visit on field trips.
By Patti McCracken
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Santa™ What sort of insanity inspires a winter trip to the Arctic Circle to meet Saint Nick? The easy answer: Christmas mania. But that's not the whole story.
By Jason Wilson |
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Boomtown on the Barents Norway is the Saudi Arabia of the North, exploiting
the world's last oil and gas reserves. But as the Arctic melts and the
Russians encroach, our correspondent can see the future from a cold,
remote place.
By Sara Blask |
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The Border I was in Cote d'Ivoire to interview a rebel commander of the civil
war-torn country's upper half. I was staying in Mali to the north. But
I learned that in Africa, such distinctions aren't always clear.
By Peter Chilson |
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A Game Journey Horse meat, moonshine, and musk. The French are dismissive of American cuisine, but getting to the primal roots of their food isn't so pretty. Our correspondent joins a wild boar hunt.
By Jason Wilson |
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Greetings From Abkhazia Abkhazia was the seaside playground of Stalin and Gorbachev. Today it's empty beaches, crumbled buildings, and diseased monkeys.
By Graeme Wood
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A Year in Japan In Japan, detail and nuance are expected and appreciated. A series of
illustrations featuring white-gloved taxi drivers, plastic-wrapped
fruit, sumo wrestlers, and pink cell phones.
By Kate T. Williamson |
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The Answer Was No Victor wanted to flee Cuba, but the only place he'd been was the
battlefields of Angola. “Do you think you’ll make it to Spain soon?” I
asked. He looked at me wearily.
By Alden Jones |
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Likeness of Beings Madame Tussauds brings its wax celebrities to a new branch in Washington. Our correspondent visited J. Edgar Hoover, Abraham Lincoln, and Marion Barry to find out why we still love wax museums.
By Jesse Smith
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Death of an Adventure Traveler On assignment in Thailand for an American travel magazine, I discovered that whitewater rafting and helicopter drops are nothing next to Mr. Benny's jewel smuggling and CIA translation work. I returned to find him...
By Rolf Potts |
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Crisis Is Magic In Colombia, I've toured a cocaine factory, flirted with anti-guerrilla
soldiers, eaten bad meat, and joined Ronald McDonald in saying "no" to kidnapping.
After a month here, I realize that sometimes things aren't as bad as they
seem.
By Emily Maloney |
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A Lonely Heart in Bhutan The second worst travel experience I ever had was on a misbegotten trip to a marvelous place that I had returned to for all the wrong reasons.
By Susan Orlean |
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Creating a Truth About half of the United States does not believe in evolution. Our correspondent visits a new, $27 million creationism museum in Kentucky, built just for them.
By Jesse Smith
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This Is Not a Cruise Is responsible travel possible on Semester at Sea? Well, reports our correspondent from the lido deck, yes and no.
By Alden Jones |
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How To Live Forever Our correspondent journeys to an isolated region of Sardinia, barges in on very old people, and asks: How can I, too, live to be 100?
By Jason Wilson |
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Le Musée du Fumeur A visit to a smoking museum in Paris, just as the French kick the habit.
By Rolf Potts
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