Oh, Africa.

Developmental Success

In the realm of international development, Botswana is one of the world’s great success stories. Botswana is a small, landlocked country, and after independence from England in 1966 it was one of the poorest countries in Africa. In the 40+ years following its independence, Botswana has made remarkable improvements. It’s now one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Seretse Khama, Botswana’s first president, has a lot to do with the positive turnaround. In the 70s, he instituted strong measures against corruption and helped turn the country into an export-based economy, built around diamonds, beef and copper. Unlike other newly independent countries in Africa, Botswana was governed well, under market-friendly policies like low, stable taxes, liberalized trade and non-racialism. All of the money generated from increased economic activity was reinvested into countrywide infrastructure, health and education costs. Currently, the country’s standard of living is compared with that of Turkey and Mexico. It’s an amazing case study in successful developmental practices.

photo credit to kirakar

That being said, Botswana still has a long way to go. Income equality is incredibly high. It’s a middle-class country but maintains a large, poor population. Approximately one out of every six Batswana has HIV, giving the country the second highest infection rate in the world, behind Swaziland.  There are still many improvements to be made.

Idle Travel

I enjoyed my short-lived experience in Botswana. Rather than bounce around town, looking for any and all tourist opportunities available (the Kalahari Desert occupies 70% of the country!), I decided to keep my travels within Gaborone. Lazy and idle, a special kind of travel, slow, the kind that lends itself to reading, long and engaging conversations, cups of coffee, thinking, appreciating, catching up. I’m reminded of a quote from celebrated writer, Alduos Huxley.

Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.

He’s absolutely right, you know.

Just a few years ago, Zimbabwe was in shambles. Unofficial figures put annual inflation at 516 quintillion per cent and prices were doubling every 1.3 days. A Z$100 trillion banknote was printed just before the country abandoned their own currency for the U.S. Dollar and South African Rand.

photo from drewgstephens

I had a wild nine days in and around Harare, the country’s capital. Below are some of my more memorable experiences.

Vampire Hunting

It was 12:15am, and I had almost given up. Etson, a taxi driver I had employed earlier in the day, was supposed to call me. We had planned to get drinks when work calmed down, around ten. Past midnight found me curled up, reading Blindness, my eyes heavy and weary, perfectly poised for a night of deep sleep. The phone rang.

ALAN! This is Etson. Yes, Etson. I am ready. I am coming to pick you up. Ten minutes. Ten minutes. Oh, great. You can say that again!

We drive to Tipperary’s, a nightclub just outside the city center. Etson informs me that due to a special event, entry was $3, each ticket good for two beers at the bar. We navigated the crowd and walked through an outdoor patio. Inside, the bar was pulsating. African music, hard and hypnotic in one room, a billiards area in the center, jam-packed with scantily-clad prostitutes, the clinking of beer bottles and shuffling of feet around the pool table.

Etson and I found another room, in the back with a bar, and sat down, attracting a small crowd. Sporadic drunken approaches by a journalist for The Herald (a local paper) interrupted our conversation. Etson received a call from the hotel to return and pick up a client. My guess is that the hotel didn’t know he was drinking with me at the bar.

On the short drive home, Etson turns the other way, onto Chinamano Road.

Now it’s vampire time. Let’s go look for vampires.

The road was dark, quiet, full of shadows, tree branches slenderly draped toward the dirt, a thin layer of dust in the air. It took me a few seconds to figure it out. When I did, I asked Etson how much a “vampire” might cost. “$15 for short-term, $60 long-term. Oh! That one is waving, look!” I politely waved back, of course, asking Etson to drive away, back to the hotel. He was slow to the pedal. I glanced back and saw three girls, running toward the car, left behind in a late-night heap of dust.

City Touring

Rather than a trip to Victoria Falls, which would certainly have exhausted what little recreational money I had allotted for this survey, I opted for a Harare city tour. Below are a few pictures.

Kopje, a large granite hill just south of central Harare. There is a monument there that was built in 1936. It’s a great place to scout out downtown Harare.

The Chiremba Balancing Rocks, a field of precariously balanced rocks, some with art from the Zimbabwe bushmen of the early 20th century.

Luv dat chicken! Of all my options, this is where I decided to stop for food. This billboard reeled me right in.

At the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences, images were not allowed, so I snapped this one from outside. Inside, I saw stuffed vervet and samango monkeys, a black rhinoceros skeleton, a Vulcanodon dinosaur foot and a replication of an indigenous Shona village. The museum itself was dilapidated, dark and grimy, but from what I was told it was the only museum in the city. There was an interesting exhibit on the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee, which began sending athletes to the Olympics in 1980, thirteen who were represented in the 2008 Beijing Games.

The Botanic Garden, at sixty eight hectares, has over nine hundred species of shrubs and wild trees from all over the country.

Chicken Farming

Today, farming and land ownership are two huge issues in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, disturbed by the imbalance of land ownership–in the 20th century, whites made up less than 1% of Zimbabwe’s population but held about 70% of the most arable land–initiated a land reform program that, in the eyes of many turned the country upside down. Beginning in 2000, Mugabe “redistributed” farmland, kicking some 4ooo-odd white farmers off their land. The country used to thrive agriculturally, exporting crops like tobacco and maize, but now with suboptimal management and a lack of proper knowledge, Zimbabwe imports more and more. It’s a sad story.

I heard this history firsthand, from a guy named Mark, a family member of a college friend. Mark and his wife, local Zimbabweans, were kind enough to let me into their home, feed me, introduce me to their friends and children and enlighten me on what life in Zimbabwe has been like for farmers over the last several years. We also snuck in a little golf.

Back in the mid-90s, Mark was kicked off of his farm in rural Zimbabwe. The chief of police, a friend of Mark’s, showed up to the farm one day and asked him to leave. Since they were friends, the police chief gave Mark’s family time to pack their things. There weren’t any guns involved, but many other farmers were not as fortunate.

I visited Mark’s new farm, where he raises chickens, 15,000 at a time, five times a year. He also grows passion fruit and has entertained the idea of raising crocodiles from Mozambique. He purposefully keeps the farm disheveled, in an effort to thwart any government employee in the market for redistribution.

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I could go on and on. Zimbabwe was a wild experience, definitely a place that I’ll be keeping tabs on. Who knows what will happen with new leadership–Mugabe is going on 90. I saw so much potential during my visit. With agriculture, with tourism, with all kinds of business. Given the right direction, Zimbabwe could turn itself around. It’s such a beautiful country.

Welcome to a series of profiles on alternative lifestyles. If you think that you (or someone you know) would make for an interesting interview, drop me a line.

Meet Dr. Benedict G. Davies. He recently started Iconic Guides, a website that provides downloadable audio tours of world historic sites. While I tend to steer clear of endorsements for specific blogs or businesses, I’m a huge fan of Dr. Davies’ background and philosophy behind this particular idea.

I asked Dr. Davies to share his story—specifically what led him to start his own business, what choices he’s made so far and how he sees himself progressing. Dr. Davies provides us with a great case study in entrepreneurship. Read below to see how he followed his passions and “thirst for knowledge” to create Iconic Guides.

What is your background? What lead you to Iconic Guides?

I originally studied Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, receiving my PhD in 1996 with a study of the royal workmen who excavated and decorated the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Since then I pursued a career in investment management, where I specialized in smaller UK companies. Unfortunately, due to the financial meltdown in 2008 I was made redundant from my job in London. It was at that point, with markets collapsing all around us, that I decided to take some time out to travel to the Middle East and Far East.

I came up with the idea for Iconic Guides whilst I was traveling around Japan last year. The country is home to so many fantastic Buddhist and Shinto temple/shrine sites and mountain-top retreats. However, there is very little information available once you arrive at these sites (especially the most isolated ones). I actually got a bit fed up carrying an 800-odd page Fodor’s guide book around with me every day. As a historian, I have a great thirst for knowledge and really felt that I was not getting enough out of my visits to these fascinating temples. I thought how brilliant it would be to have an audio guide playing whilst one explored the different parts of the temple – explaining the historical background/context of the site, the purpose of each room/building as well as some information on the religious iconography that abounds in Japanese temples. This would mean that one could listen to the audio commentaries without having to continually have recourse to a traditional guide book each time you wanted to look something up. What a perfect solution! Another advantage to the audio guide is that it remains yours to keep – you can listen to it before, during and after a visit to these places – something you can’t do if you’re part of a traditional tour group. Users might also like to use the commentaries to enlighten family slide shows when they return from their travels.

The aim of Iconic Guides is to provide independent travelers with insightful, accurate and up to date commentaries to these destinations. It’s also a cheaper and more flexible alternative to joining a traditional tour group or, more importantly, hiring a local guide. I think that’s an important point to make about Iconic Guides in an era of great economic austerity. People will always travel to exotic destinations, but they may now be looking to do so in a more cost-efficient manner. I’ve met so many fellow travelers who have had bad experiences with local (and expensive) tour guides. I too have had my share of poor local guides, especially ones that I hired whilst at Xi’an and the Summer Palace in Beijing. Iconic Guides give one complete freedom to explore the ancient monuments, without the constraints of being part of a larger tour party.

How did you map out the business model?

Upon returning to the UK last summer I was still a bit skeptical about the concept of audio guides. I therefore set out initially to write guide books to the ancient monuments of both Japan and Egypt. Egypt was an obvious choice, given my academic background as well as the fact that I had just visited the country prior to arriving in Japan at the end of 2008. As I researched the material and spoke to other academics, friends and family, it was becoming apparent that the idea of audio guides to sites from the ancient world could indeed prove to be popular. I kept writing the guides to sites in Japan and Egypt, knowing that I could tailor them at a later date into a style more suitable to the spoken word of an audio guide.

Several months into the project I decided to abandon the written guides and solely concentrate on the audio version. By this point I had already covered the major sites of Kyoto and Nara in Japan and was making serious inroads into the Egyptian series. By now, the ambition was to try and build a unique website offering guides to sites from all the major ancient civilizations. However, I knew that this would not be possible, given time and financial constraints. In an ideal world, I would have continued to produce series after series of guides before launching the products onto the market. I decided that once I had completed the major Egyptian sites and made a start on ancient Greece, then I would be in a strong position to go live, having sufficient critical mass to try to attract a serious following.

Who designed your website?

I came up with the concept for the site as well as the graphical elements. Given the type of business, I wanted to go with an art-deco, 1930’s theme – representing the ‘Golden Age of Travel’. I just love those exotic looking travel posters advertising far flung places, which at that time must have seemed totally intoxicating to the public. I wanted to find a web designer who could also do the graphic design of the site for me. I didn’t want to take the project to a large agency so set about finding someone local to Liverpool who could take on the project for me. I was lucky to find Robb Owen, a freelancer who runs Kumori Media in Liverpool. It was an ideal choice and he offered me a very competitive rate.

How did you partner up with a professional voiceover artist?

Initially an academic colleague and I produced a couple of test guides. However, as we were recording from home, the quality came nowhere near to that of a professional and it soon dawned on me that if the business was to be taken seriously, then I would need to find a ‘trained’ and experienced voice for the narration. I came across Della Phillips after I advertised for a professional voice-over artist on the Internet. I received over 60 auditions from VOAs around the world, which made the decision particularly difficult given the quality of many of the frontrunners. I really liked Della’s audition and think she has a great tone to her voice for this style of work. It’s also not a voice that you can tire of easily – which is key with an audio guide. The last thing one wants is to lose the attention of the user as they chart their way around the ancient sites. I also wanted to use a single VOA so as to retain continuity throughout all the series of guides.

Della has shown superb professionalism throughout the entire process. She really believed in the business from the outset and consequently was kind enough to do the work on a substantially discounted basis.

What have been your biggest hurdles so far? Have you seen any short-term success?

Given my love of history, researching and writing, I was never going to be phased by the prospect of producing the scripts for the actual audio guides. I certainly feel confident enough that I can transpose these skills into other historical disciplines, without sacrificing quality along the way. One of the first hurdles that I encountered was ‘how was I going to produce the site maps and plans?’ I wanted them to have a professional look, seeing that they were a fundamental element to the product. Yet, I had absolutely no knowledge of any drawing programs. I did some research and eventually invested in a CAD program called Vectorworks. I then set about reading as many manuals, online forums posts and blogs on the subject so as to immerse myself in the technicalities of the program. After many months of study, trial and error, I am now able to produce professional looking plans both in 2D and 3D.

I’ve found that establishing the best keywords for the site in order to maximize Search Engine Optimization has been a considerable challenge and something that I am still refining even now. This is not an area in which I have any experience, but one that is essential to the future success of the site.

The website is in its infancy, being little more than a month old now. Until I am able to get more publicity for the product I am not expecting to make serious inroads into sales. However, the major hurdle is getting the concept of the audio tours more firmly embedded into the public conscience. I think right now, most people who may be considering traveling to these kinds of destinations just don’t appreciate that this type of product is out there in the marketplace. In these terms, there is a long road ahead. Ultimately, if we can educate the target market effectively enough, then I believe that IG has a good chance of a successful future.

What differentiates Iconic Guides from the oodles of other travel guides out there?

There certainly aren’t oodles of other audio guides out there that cover ancient destinations. Yes, there are some sites that specialize in one particular area or other, or the city guides (such as Athens) that cross-over into my material. However, there is no other site quite like mine currently that offers such a range of guides purely aimed at travelers who are going to be visiting archaeological sites and ancient monuments. Furthermore, I have yet to see anything in the audio arena on Egypt. The beauty of my product is that I have a strong academic background, having studied Egyptian and Greek history at a high level. I’ve also written many academic books and articles, which gives me an edge in terms of the preparation and presentation of the material. The guides are not only hugely informative, but they are intensely researched, using the most up-to-date source academic source material.

I’m not intending to compete with traditional guide books. My guides can be used as an accompaniment to a guide book. I really want to capture the imagination of travelers who are seriously interested in visiting these places. I want these guides to enliven and enrich their visits to the ancient world. I also think that my guides could be extremely beneficial to people who are more comfortable travelling as part of a tour party. They could listen to them either before or after they’ve been on their tour of a particular site.

Any plans for the future?

The main areas of focus going forward will be to complete the major sites of Greece (e.g., Epidaurus, Delphi, Olympia, Pylos, Corinth – all of which are currently in preparation) and to move next to ancient Rome and Turkey (e.g. Ephesus, Troy and Miletos). Personally I am working on a series of Aztec and Maya sites in Mesoamerica (Teotihuacan, Palenque, Chichen Itza and the Templo Mayor in Mexico City, to name but a few). I have begun to enlist the support of academics from other fields in writing future guides. The aim is for them to provide a written script. I will then produce that as audio in additional to drawing the required plans and maps. The guide will then be marketed on IG and any net revenues split equally between the business and the contributor. It’s certainly the best way to built the scale of the site, especially seeing that I am spending more time and energy on promotion. As I mentioned earlier, the ambition to turn IG into an ancient world audio guide library par excellence, a first port of call for all travelers when they begin to plan for a new adventure.

As I said earlier, my main target audience is really the informed and independent traveler. However, I would love to be able to do a licensing deal with one of the major Nile cruise tour operators for example. I do believe that the detailed information contained in my guides could prove to be an extremely useful adjunct to their own local tour guides on the ground.

Many people ask me whether I have developed an Apple App for the guides. I would love to move down this road, but my priorities now are to promote the product/website in order to generate a reasonable income, which can then be used for future initiatives such as an ‘App’ or a GPS-enabled audio guide.

Check out Iconic Guides. What do you think? Is this something you might use?

My first stop is Lusaka, Zambia. It’s a tame city, ever-sunny, sleepy in the evenings, amicable, the kind of place I’d be interested to shack up—did I phrase that right?—for a couple of years, the kind of place one could enjoy a nice, lazy meal. You could get some serious reading done here.

Greetings from the road, folks. I spent the first four nights of this survey in Lusaka, Zambia. It’s a calm city, easy to get around and an overall solid start to my African excursion.

In my last post, I had mentioned a new writing gig with Flightster. The quote above is from my most recent article over there, “From Zambia, With Love.”

Billboards

Zambia, like many other African countries, has oodles of billboards. Some of them are funny, like the one below. FYI: Zambezi Airlines has been on the EU blacklist since December 2009.

Mobile Phones

Walking off the plane, down onto the tarmac and through the long tunnel before immigration, I’m bombarded with advertisements. Zain and MTN, the two largest telecommunications operators in Zambia, hug the walls with their large, bright ads.

Throughout my stay in Lusaka, driving around and walking through its centralized shopping complexes, I see Zain and MTN, head-to-head, vying for consumers’ attention. It’s a familiar sight in the developing world, where telecommunications is a budding industry, highly opportunistic for bigwig investors.

Serbo-Croatian Lunch

My final afternoon finds me relaxed, lounging at a road-side café, book in hand, waiting on an ice cold Coke. Upon sitting down, I soon realized that I had snagged the last open table, as two gentlemen come up to me and ask if they can join.

We start chatting, and I learn that one of them is from Croatia, the other Serbia, and that the two of them had both traveled independently to Zambia nearly two decades ago. “Only Africa can bring our two countries together like this,” one of them told me.

We discussed dual-identities, various engineering and non-profit initiatives in Zambia and what kinds of changes they had both seen in the country over the last several years. It was a fantastic conversation, healthy, engaging, just the kind of experience I needed as a proper send-off. As I mentioned in my Australia write-up, these are the kind of random, chance encounters I live for on the road.

Cheers to the many more to come.

Greetings from Lusaka, Zambia. After mysteriously disappearing for 24 hours, my luggage has finally arrived, putting me in high spirits. It’s always nice to put on a fresh pair of undies. Sigh.

I’ll be in Lusaka until Friday. I then head to Harare, Zimbabwe for the next leg of my survey. More on that later.

Postcards

When I was younger, my grandfather would send the family postcards from his travels. I’d like to think that these notes-from-afar helped inspire my jet-setting proclivities, so, to honor his memory (and to engage future vagabonds) I’d like to carry on the tradition.

Want a postcard? Comment below with a fun fact about world travel, and I’ll send you an email asking for your address. I’m not sure what kind of response this will generate, but let’s limit this first exercise to 15 responses.

Flightster

I want to introduce you to Flightster, a new travel site that I’m writing for. They plan to launch a flight booking engine this fall, but in the meantime have asked me and three other writers to populate the site with content. So far I’ve enjoyed everyone’s posts and am happy to be part of such a fun and eclectic crowd.

Also, if you’re interested, Flightster is hiring a new writer to join the team. Want to apply? Check out Srinivas Rao’s post, “How to Become the Next Paid Writer For the Flightster Blog” for details.

Spanking New Look

In other news, I’ve been working out the kinks for a new look and approach here. I’ve enjoyed writing haphazardly about travel, business and lifestyle design, but it’s time to refocus my online presence. Here’s a sneak peak:

That’s it for now. Short and sweet, with more to report on Lusaka in the near future. For now, it’s back to war with the common cold. Nose..must..stop..running.

[photo credit to tpmorrow]

Australia! Land of kangaroos and aborigines and didgeridoos. A shell-shaped opera house. Pristine beaches, fish and chips, box jellyfish, breathtaking harbors and boomerangs. Oh, and we can’t forget the Outback! Australia’s own heart of darkness, a ghastly blank, wild, expansive and arid interior. The kind of rugged terrain only a well-rigged 4×4 should tackle. I hear there’s a large rock out there.

Australia is one of those countries that would take years to properly explore. As an American, exposed in my youth to the likes of Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee, I had my own idea of what Australia would be like. It wasn’t until I picked up Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country that I realized how ridiculous/remarkable/under-appreciated a country Australia was. Did you know that:

• the aborgines have the oldest continuously maintained culture on Earth? They inhabited Australia at least 40,000 years before the first Europeans arrived.
• of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian?
• five of its creatures (the box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick and stonefish) are the most lethal of their kind in the world?
• no other nation lost more men in WWI as a proportion of population?
• Australia boasts the longest straight stretch of railroad track in the world, 297 miles without a hint of deviation?

I was exhilarated to visit such a fascinating country.

Perth

My first stop was Perth, capital of the Western Australia state and one of the world’s biggest exporters of minerals. Gold, nickel, alumina, iron ore, mineral sands, coal, diamonds–you name it. Also, due to its severely southwest geography, Perth is one of the most remote major cities in the world, over one thousand miles from Adelaide, the nearest notable city.

Perth is a city of suburbs. Fremantle and Cottesloe, Subiaco and Northbridge. This photograph was taken in the CBD (central business district). An entire outer-wall of potted herbs? Very cool.

While I didn’t have much free time in Perth, I snuck away one afternoon to Cottesloe, a western suburb famed for its pristine beaches, laid back atmosphere and fish and chips. On a Tuesday afternoon, there wasn’t much to see, but from what I’ve heard, Sundays are quite lively. I spent an hour or so on the beach, reading, listening to music, feasting on fish and chips like there was no tomorrow, eventually walking south to Fremantle.

Sydney

Sydney is, in a word, breathtaking. Certainly one of the world’s most impressive cities. With one third of its residents having been born in another country, Sydney is diverse in the finest sense of the word. All kinds of cuisine and people, neighborhoods and architecture. Oh, and both Darling Harbor and Circular Quay offer two of the coolest vantage points I’ve ever seen. Bill Bryson says it best:

Life cannot offer many places finer to stand at eight-thirty on a summery weekday morning than Circular Quay in Sydney. To begin with, it presents one of the world’s great views. To the right, almost painfully brilliant in the sunshine, stands the famous Opera House with its jaunty, severly angular roof. To the left, the stupendous and noble Harbour Bridge. Across the water, shiny and beckoning, is Luna Park, a Coney Island-style amusement park with a maniacally grinning head for an entrance (It’s been closed for many years, but some heroic soul keeps it spruce and gleaming.) Before you the spangly water is crowded with the harbor’s stout and old-fashioned ferries, looking for all the world as if they have been plucked from the pages of a 1940s children’s book with a title like Thomas the Tugboat, disgorging steams of tanned and lightly dressed office workers to fill the glass and concrete towers that loom behind.

Just working out the principles necessary to build the opera house roof took five years.

I spent an afternoon walking through the Royal Botanic Gardens, just east of Circular Quay. The Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco), native to the Canary Islands, was one of the more interesting trees I saw. This particular one is over 100 years old and actually fell over in May 2008, hence the protective barrier.

This shot was also taken in the Royal Botanic Garden, looking back at Sydney proper.

The aquarium, one of the largest in the world, attracts around 55% of the tourists that visit Sydney each year. While I wasn’t particularly impressed–it’s old, cramped, dim and there’s not enough emphasis on Australia’s dangerous sea life–I enjoyed the one crocodile they had on display.

A Conversation About Super Geeks

My last night in Sydney, I met up with Steve and Scott, both relatively new to Sydney (one from the U.K., the other from Melbourne). We grabbed food and drinks, listened to live music and chatted about business, academia, blogging, travel and music. It wasn’t until Scott brought up Intellectual Ventures, a conglomeration of super geeks that try to solve the world’s problems, that I realized how much fun I was having. Sure, call me a geek, but to be halfway around the world, chatting with complete strangers, quasi-inebriated with both alcohol and atmosphere–something hit me. This is what travel is about. Exploring. Meeting people. Engaging with the world around us. Growing.

Already looking forward to my next trip in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

I flew from Wellington, New Zealand through Brisbane, Australia on a once-a-day Air Niugini flight to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea’s capital, where I spent the next five days researching the cost-of-living, going in and out of supermarkets, car dealerships, pharmacies and the like.

At Jackson International Airport, the air was hot and sticky, much different than the cool and damp climate I’d grown accustomed to in New Zealand over the previous three weeks. I picked up a small booklet titled, “Welcome to Papua New Guinea,” flipping through various advertisements until I came to this:

Ours is a fledgling tourism industry within a young nation struggling with the dynamics of maintaining a truly free and democratic society around one thousand tribes in a rapidly evolving global society.

A lot of information packed into once sentence. With that, I became even more determined to learn as much as I could during my stay.

Pidgin English

When multiple groups that do not share a common language are brought together, a pidgin language typically develops as a means of communication. Due to Papua New Guinea’s incredible language diversity, a form of pidgin English, called Tok Pisin, has become one of the more dominant languages in Port Moresby. Below are a few examples. Try saying them out loud.

What is your name? Wanem nem bilong yu?
How are you? Yu orait?
How much is that? Em hamas?
That is/was bad. Em no gut.
Can you come with me? Inap yu kam wantaim mi?

And some personal favorites, which were displayed on my hotel door knob:

Please clean my room. Yu ken stretin rum nau.
Do not disturb. Yu no ken kam insait.

Betel Nut Economy

At first, I had no idea what was going on. Walking around, I noticed deep-crimson splotches on the sidewalks and streets, the teeth and gums of roadside locals stained the same color. Dark red and thick. I had read about cannibalism in Papua New Guinea, but seriously? That couldn’t be right. Not everyone could be feasting upon human flesh so openly. I was nervous.

(photo credit: Joe Cross)

I soon learned that it wasn’t meat causing the redness. In a trip to Ethiopia, I had read about and eventually sampled qat, a tropical evergreen plant whose leaves are chewed as a euphoric stimulant. It kept me up until 4am, wide-eyed, temples buzzing. Papua New Guinea has a similar–and equally as addictive– commodity called the Betel (or Areca) nut. Driving around Port Moresby, it’s hard to miss the myriad of Betel nut stalls. They’re everywhere.

John, a Budget driver who I had employed to help with my research, urged me not to try it. I heeded his advice. Wikipedia states:

According to Medline Plus, “Long-term use has been associated with oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), pre-cancerous oral lesions and squamous cell carcinoma. Acute effects of betel chewing include asthma exacerbation, hypertension, and tachycardia. There may be a higher risk of cancers of the liver, mouth, esophagus, stomach, prostate, cervix, and lung with regular betel use. Other effects can include a possible effect on blood sugar levels, possibly increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

While the price fluctuates with supply, one Betel nut typically ranges between 0.5 and 1 kina (about $0.25-$0.50). Some vendors can make as much as 200-400 kina/day, and I was told that it’s popular for university students to sell them during their school breaks to cover tuition and book fees.

In an economy where a third of the population lives on less than $1.25 per day, I ask myself, why do so many people spend their money on the Betel nut? I guess I should have tried one to find out.

Port Moresby Golf Club

With my work complete and a half-day left, I wanted to wrap up the trip with something adventurous and recreational. Due to a cholera outbreak, it was recommended that I stay away from snorkeling and any other water-related activities, and while it probably wouldn’t have been an issue, I didn’t want to take any chances with a few weeks of travel remaining.

So I decided to sneak in a round of golf. I visited the Port Moresby Golf Club, paying $50 for 18-holes, clubs, balls and the company of John, a personal caddy. After the first hole, I asked John to play with me, not knowing how amazing a golfer he would be. He crushed me.

It was beautiful out there. The course has been played by Nick Faldo and Greg Norman, two professional golfers, as well as numerous foreign dignitaries. Crocodiles hide out in the bushes on water holes, yet despite the numerous warning signs, I noticed a few locals bathing and fishing in the water.

I spent most of my afternoon chasing balls into the woods, dodging fire ants and struggling to maintain my short game. For those of you that speak golf, I shot a 109 and had two pars. Not one of my best rounds, but boy I had fun.

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While Port Moresby is routinely ranked as one of the worst capital cities in the world to live in (due to high levels of rape, robbery and murder), I have to say, I had a fairly decent time there. As a foreign traveler, there’s not much to do, but most people I spoke with were incredibly friendly and interested in chatting. Certainly one of the tamer, more amicable countries I’ve visited.

Welcome to a series of profiles on alternative lifestyles. If you think that you (or someone you know) would make for an interesting interview, drop me a line.

A couple of weeks ago, I get an email from a guy named Mark. It reads:

Hey my name is Mark Lawrence. Friday was my last day of work. I have left the corporate world. I plan to bike across Africa.

How’s that for an introduction?

Meet Mark Lawrence. Currently living in Chicago, Mark recently left his job as a banker and is currently training to cycle across Africa. Besides salsa dancing and “urban exploration,” as he puts it, Mark’s likes also include couchsurfing and languages–he speaks Spanish and is currently learning French.

When I asked Mark to provide a little background behind his decision, he wrote:

I went to school. I graduated. I got a job at a bank. I was doing everything “right”. And then it hit me; I asked myself: What do I really want to do? How do I want my life to turn out? Is what I’m doing now going to get me there? I saw many people at work that weren’t happy. They had been working there for so many years. They got their few weeks off a year and that was it. I started contemplating a million other ways of making a living besides sitting in a cubicle. This included learning French, teaching English in Asia (or elsewhere), but my mind kept wandering back to a solo bike ride across Africa.

Well there you have it. I’ll let him tell you the rest.

So, you left your job, and now you’re going to be cycling across Africa. Why?

The African continent has always fascinated me every since I was a kid. From a real young age, my grandfather would show me maps and pictures from around the world. He’d show me a figurine or something and then point out in the atlas where it was from. The photos and stories were relentlessly interesting. I wanted to go on a journey through Africa so I can see and experience it for myself. Taking a two week vacation can be tiring and expensive. Now that I don’t have to be at work, I can take as long as I want to soak in the African continent. This bike trip is not a race. It’s about doing Africa at my own pace.

Let’s talk logistics. What’s your route? How are you going to handle visas? How long will this take?

I plan to start in Cape Town and end in Cairo. No scratch that, Ill end in Alexandria. Whatever happens in between, nothing is set in stone. I’d like to spend some time in Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Malawi. Then I’d like to head through Tanzania (with a jaunt to Zanzibar), head through Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia up through Sudan and end in Egypt. I will head from the bottom of Africa to the top. This will definitely not be a straight line across the continent, but a zigzag across places as they unfold. I don’t want this to be a trip with a set itinerary where I have to be at certain points at certain times. With all the unknowns, and with such a long time frame, this would also be unrealistic. I am excited to see where the road will take me.

As for visas, countries like South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana don’t require a visa if you are staying in the respective country for less than 90 days. For other countries, most visas can be obtained at the embassy in the bordering country and will be issued within 24 to 48 hours. I don’t expect everything to go 100% smoothly, but since I have no timeline or flight home I have to catch I don’t have to worry about time delays. A visa delay might even be a good thing as it would allow me to stay meet people and have experiences I otherwise wouldn’t have had. I approximate that this trip will take about a year, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I could fall in love with a certain city or country and stay much longer. I might cycle much faster than I could have previously thought. I won’t know until I’m on the road.

How do you prepare for a trip like this, both mentally and physically?

I don’t think there is a way. I will be fueled by my excitement and passion for the experience and the journey. I have spent countless hours researching a million different topics related to this trip. I have read Riaan Manser’s Around Africa On My Bicycle. I follow cycling blogs like my former roommate who is biking from Berlin to Beijing or The Big Africa Cycle. I plan to do some practice cycling in Europe before I head to Africa, and I have some rudimentary biking “experience” down in the US. However, nothing will prepare me more than just getting on the ground and doing it.

How are you financing the trip?

I am financing the trip through savings that I have amassed over the past two years. I read and was influenced by the book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Rolf Potts dispels the idea that long term travel is expensive and for the rich or retired only. He advocates how long term travel can be achieved by anyone with an adventurous spirit and is actually much cheaper than you would think.

When I first started saving as much money as I could, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was saving for, but I knew that it would provide a cushion of freedom that would allow me to explore opportunities without having to be tied down to a 9 to 5 job. I had a number of ideas for what I wanted to do and finally decided on a bike trip through Africa. Every dollar I saved excited me as I knew that it I was closer to being able to “buy my freedom.” I would not have to stay in job I didn’t like just so I could pay the bills. I had successfully “bought my freedom” and decided to use it to bike across Africa. I’ve never been happier or felt more free!

Any other ridiculously awesome plans for your future?

Before Africa, I plan to do some practice cycling in Europe. The only plan I have is to visit certain friends in France. Besides that, I’d like to jaunt off and explore Europe without any particular plan, course, rhyme, or reason. I’m going to let coincidences and random events dictate where Ill head. When the time feels right, Ill head to Cape Town. I’m looking forward to taking in the world.

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You can follow the Mark Lawrence’s adventures around Africa at Lifestyle Ignition. If you have any additional questions or comments, feel free to comment below and I’ll do my best to make sure he sees them!

It has been exactly 6 months (and 6 days) since I outlined my goals for 2010. Let’s review my progress:

—FITNESS
1 mile in under 5:30.
*I’m down to 5:44! Should be able to complete this pretty soon.

Run a half-marathon.

200 squats without stopping.

25 pull-ups without stopping.
*At 17 right now, which is really pushing it.

Be able to fall into a push up from standing position, like Christian Bale in Batman Returns.
*Done!

Cycle 100 miles in one day.
*I’ve done three 35+ mile rides. Hoping to complete this goal before July 25th, when I leave on my next trip.

Be able to hold an L-position for 30 seconds.
*How people actually do this is beyond me. Seriously. I’m still trying to hold it for one second. Yep, one second.

Hold breath for at least 3 minutes.
*I’m at 2:20. This could be a funny YouTube video…

—BLOGOSPHERE
the9to5alternative.com

• Redesign and rethink my vision as a blogger. Is this a travel site? A lifestyle design or business site? This needs to be cleared up.
• Write at least 15 guest posts for other bloggers.
• Get at least 500 subscribers.
• Post consistently, at least once a week on Tuesdays. Sundays will be reserved for PMBA and case-study updates.
• Develop a cost-of-traveling blog widget, an idea that I’ve been sitting on for several months.

*I’ve given up on the last two goals; posting consistently, I’ve realized, is more stressful than it should be at this point, and the cost-of-traveling blog widget is a side project I’m going to put on hold, as my plate is already full enough. Regarding my vision, I know where I’m headed, and I’ve synced up with a designer that’s going to help get me there. I’ve written a few guest posts (and have several more to write), and my current subscriber count hovers around 400.

A quick note: The goal of this blog is not to reach as many people as possible. I simply use these metrics to track my progress and stay motivated. That being said–the more people that read, the more people I can interact with and bounce ideas off of, the more fulfilling and purposeful this whole experience is going to be. I’m still trying to find my online spirit. You all have been a huge help.

nepalprints.com

• Redesign and find a cheaper host.
• Sell at least 5 prints.

*Part of my blog redesign will be merging my images from nepalprints.com, which has been temporarily taken down, to the new site. Don’t worry–pictures are on the way! Not sure how many I’ll be selling though…

thecurryproject.com
I set this site up to record my experiences at different Indian restaurants around the world. It could go in a variety of directions.

• Write at least 20 reviews
• Get at least 50 subscribers

*Right now there are 16 reviews and 10 subscribers. Big shout-out to Earl (from Wandering Earl) for stepping up and writing some killer reviews of Indian restaurants in places like Mexico, the U.K. and Australia. I’m way behind with my reviews, considering I ate in six different restaurants throughout New Zealand and Australia this past trip. Stay tuned for more curry.

—LIFESTYLE
Read at least 15 more books on the Personal MBA reading list.
*I’ve read 5, but I haven’t published a new book summary in a while. More Personal MBA reviews are on the way.

Put together a long-term goals/bucket list.
*Done! Check out the list here.

Buy a keyboard.
*My new roommate, who I will be living with in September, has one! Crossing this off the list.

Hike the Presidential Traverse in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
*Doing this in a week and a half, with Nate Damm from the way that you wander and a few other friends.

Score at least a 700 on a practice GMAT and then take the real thing.
*I decided that business school is not for me. I have a multitude of reasons, and it took me several months to come to that conclusion, but I’m happy with my decision.

Make at least $500 in supplemental income.
*So far I’ve made $332.01 from a combination of niche marketing and freelance writing assignments.

Reread I Will Teach You To Be Rich and restructure and optimize my finances.
*Done!

Track all my expenses. To the penny.
*Still on track.

Finish the 21-day No-Complaint Experiment
*I’m going to try this in Africa, during my next survey in a few weeks.

Score at least $15,000 on Jeopardy! using the Coryat method. So far my highest score is $9,600.
*Done! I try and watch Jeopardy at least a few times each week, and lucky for me, twice I have scored above $15,000. Typical Jeopardy contestants score upwards of $25,000, so just to clear things up, I’m no genius.

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What goals are you working on in 2010?

And quite embarrassed. I’ve spent a regrettably long time away from the blogosphere. Seven weeks and some change, if you hadn’t noticed. While friends of mine were busy dodging bullets in Thailand, creating new businesses, even losing their jobs—and finding time to share their experiences—I’ve somehow managed to put my Internet life on hold. As my father says, intermittent hiatuses from technology are healthy, yet I feel like I’ve been missing out on some amazing stories and discussions in the travel and lifestyle design community, a group of folks I’ve worked so hard to become a part of over these last few years.

Thanks for sticking with me.

So, without further ado, let me jump right back in and tell you about my most recent trip to New Zealand. It’s a doozy of a post, so feel free to skip around.

Auckland: Sky Tower, Auckland Domain and Livability

As winter approaches the Southern Hemisphere, hundreds of yachts dominate Auckland’s Westhaven Marina. Auckland, nicknamed the “City of Sails,” has more yachts per capita than any other city in the world, more than 135,000 if you can believe it. An even more revealing statistic: one in three Auckland households owns a boat. But I wasn’t interested in the water. Flying in from Sydney, quick-eyed and anxious to stretch my legs, I thrust my head against the cabin window. Where are the mountains?

I imagine many first-time travelers to New Zealand (that route through Auckland) are thinking the same thing. Little did I know that the New Zealand stereotyped in the U.S.—you know, Lord of the Rings, epic mountainous landscapes, etc.—that’s all on NZ’s southern island. Auckland, and the two other cities I visited for work, are in the north.

Lack of mountains aside, Auckland has a lot to offer. According to Mercer’s Quality of Living Survey and The Economist, Auckland is one of the most livable cities in the world. With my work done and a day of sunshine to be enjoyed, I put on Vibram FiveFingers and hit the town.

I walked up Victoria Street, through Albert Park to the University of Auckland campus. Just past the campus lies the Auckland Domain, New Zealand’s oldest park. I chose my path, opting for the Centennial Walkway (over the Lovers Walk), meandering my way through wildly named forest ferns like sickle spleenwort and perching pittosporum, both of which would be great additives to any Harry Potter potion.

Because it was ANZAC Day, a national day of remembrance for Australian and New Zealand troops that fought in WWI, the War Memorial Museum inside the park was bustling with people. Three floors of New Zealand history, a nice gift shop and café, definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area.

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking through Parnell, a chic and homey suburb of Auckland proper, populated with antique jewelry shops, art galleries, paper/wool stores, a chocolate boutique and a handful of restaurants. Needing a drink, I sat down at Village Café, a Russian-owned eatery tucked under the shade of a large tree. My table is next to three people, and as I opened the menu noticed that they had already downed two bottles of wine. It was three in the afternoon. Moments later, a few sips into my cappuccino and they ordered shots of vodka, first one round, then another. They were tanked. I left them to their inebriation, giggling as I heard one of the women laugh, “they need a dessert vodka!”

I spent the evening at the Auckland Sky Tower, a 328 metres (1,076 ft) observation and telecommunications tower that houses a casino complex and several high-end restaurants. Nothing particularly “New Zealand” about it, but some great people watching. Especially at the Black Jack table. Many an Australian pissing money away that night. Many an Alan doing the same.

Auckland is increasingly cosmopolitan and, from what I gather, has a growing urban socialite scene. If you’re planning a trip to New Zealand, there’s a chance your flight will route through Auckland. Instead of immediately jetting down to the south island, it might be worth staying a few days to scope out nearby wineries and take a few walks through the park.

New Plymouth: Brownie Points, Taranaki and the Coastal Walkway

My next stop was New Plymouth, a sleepy coastal town on a piece of land that juts westward, toward Australia. Directly toward Melbourne, actually. I landed just after sunset, the city shrouded in a dull and rainy grey. I hopped into a taxi.

The driver, Rosie, was a riot. The way she phrased things, her accent, her approach to answering my questions. She either represented a different NZ vernacular or was a little nuts. Maybe a little of both. At one point, she said, “brownie points again, put them in the frying pan,” and I lost it, literally started cracking up right there in the front seat. What the heck was she talking about?

The conversation shifted to New Plymouth, also called Taranaki. Nearby, just south of the city, is Mt. Taranaki, one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world. Because of its striking resemblance to Mt. Fuji, Mt. Taranaki provided the scenic backdrop for many of the scenes in The Last Samurai. While it’s a relatively easy mountain to climb in the summer, taking 6-8 hours to get up and down, it’s proximity to the coast causes rapid changes in weather. Both days I tried to climb it, I was strongly advised to stay at sea level. When I learned that 60+ people have died trying to summit, I was glad I heeded the park rangers’ advice.

With only a couple of main streets running through the center of town, New Plymouth lacks the vibrancy of larger cities like Auckland. On Devon Street, the main drag, you’ll find small cafés, restaurants and art galleries featuring the work of local artist Lee Russel. A few streets north and you’ll find the ocean. I spent a lot of my free time there, running the Coastal Walkway, a 7km sea-edge promenade, stretching almost the entire length of New Plymouth. It’s a fantastic path, and I only wish the weather was a little more pleasant during my hour-long escapades. Nothing beats running next to an open ocean. Well, maybe running in the mountains, but the Coastal Walkway was quite spectacular.

Also, for all you golf nuts out there—there are twenty golf courses within an hour’s drive of New Plymouth. Not bad for a small town. I briefly considered trying to play every golf course in New Zealand, possibly writing a book about it, but realized it would take way too long. New Zealand has oodles of golf courses.

Rosie, at the end of my five days, gave me a lift back to the airport. Questioning me about my experiences, I’ll never forget her closing remark. “For such a little place, Taranaki sure has a few wows.” I couldn’t agree more.

Wellington: Botanic Gardens, Te Papa and Beer

Wellington! What a city.

It reminded me a lot of Seattle. Cozy cosmopolitanism, hilly, totally walkable, with a friendly and funky atmosphere. One highlight was visiting Te Papa, the national museum with the only colossal squid on public display in the world. I spent an hour or two in the museum, learning about the origins of New Zealand, its wildlife and incredibly diverse ecosystem.

I also spent an afternoon running through the Botanic Gardens, a small and steep expanse of land just northwest of the city center. It’s the kind of picturesque verdant landscape I expected from New Zealand, and after spending so much time surveying prices in the heart of dense urbanism, I’m always looking for various forms of nature as an outlet. This particular botanic garden served as a pleasant oasis in that regard.

At night, I would walk up and down Cuba Street, sampling New Zealand’s various microbrewery selections. For such a small country, New Zealand has a ton of beer. I went out one night with Kenny, a geological surveyor based in Wellington, eager to show me a good time. We must have drank 6-7 different varieties at 4-5 bars. I, er, don’t remember much, other than Macs Gold, Monteith’s New Zealand Lager and Speight’s Gold Medal Ale were particular favorites. Hat tip to Kenny. Good on ya brother.

Christchurch: Networking Awesomely, Lamb Pizza and Air New Zealand

Speaking of showing me a good time, I had spoken with Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle about trying to meet up at some point during my time in New Zealand. For those of you who don’t know Colin, he runs a boutique design and branding company from his laptop, traveling to a new location every four months as determined by his blog audience. Buenos Aires was his first stop, and I caught him at the tail-end of his time in Christchurch. When he’s finished romping around the U.S. this summer on an epic road trip, he’ll continue his jet-setting in Bangkok.

I flew down to Christchurch, my only stop in the south island, bussed into the city center and met up with Colin in front of an impressive Anglican cathedral. He toured me around town, past places like the Bangalore Polo Club and through Hagley Park.

A couple of months ago, Colin had included me in his Networking Awesomely eBook. Nathan Seaward, a Christchurch native, was also featured, so I was stoked to hear that he and a few others would be joining Colin and I for pizza and drinks at The Bicycle Thief.  Nathan, interestingly enough, is the youngest pilot ever to fly for Air New Zealand, and considering how much I enjoy that particular airline, I enjoyed hearing about Nathan’s various experiences. Between the drinks, the exceptionally delectable lamb pizza and company, it was a great night. Big thanks to Colin, Nathan and everyone else I met for showing me a good time. You all are welcome in Boston anytime.

That goes for any of you readers out there.