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Addis Ababa, the vibrant capital of Ethiopia, is the heart of a nation home to over 126 million people. This high-altitude city is at approximately 2,355 meters (7,726 feet) above sea level — one of the highest capital cities in the world. From its bustling markets and historic cathedrals to its role as the diplomatic hub of Africa, Addis Ababa offers a compelling glimpse into Ethiopia’s rich cultural mosaic and its growing global influence. I arrived there in May, and the we

In April 2025, three longtime friends—me included—set out to walk the 280 km Camino Portuguese from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. This was a follow-up to my solo Camino Frances trek in 2024, a journey of 850 km across northern Spain. This time, with over thirty years of friendship between us, camaraderie was at the heart of our adventure. The trip began with the usual chaos that budget airlines can inspire. RyanAir demanded a series of app-based steps just

About an hour drive from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, it a UNESCO world heritage site, Gobustan which is also written with a Q. There is a prehistoric cultural site as well as a geothermal phenomenon that attracts tourists here and I was on my way to see the Mud Volcanoes. I was told that there is a government managed site that one can drive to and see these. I also heard that the real ones are in the wilderness and need a 4x4 vehicle as the roads to it are non-existent.

Dharamsala is a beautiful city on the foothills of the himalayas in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is the place that has hosted the Dalai Lama for the past several decades. There are several beautiful hikes that start from Dharamsala and I decided to do a short day hike with a guide. The route to the start of the hike is a dense forest and the road is uneven. The tall old-growth trees are mesmerizing and remind me of California forests. After about an hour of driving on re

Amritsar, a city very close to India's border with Pakistan has the most holy temple for the Sikh religion named Harmandir Sahib , popularly called the Golden Temple. On a clear day, I landed, checked in, and headed straight to Sikhism’s holiest shrine — the stunning Golden Temple, wrapped in the calm embrace of the Amrit Sarovar. Inside its sacred walls, the Akal Takht is housed, the highest seat of Sikh spiritual authority. From every angle, the Golden Temple was a visual e

Oman is a beautiful desert dominated country on the Arabian sea and Gulf of Oman. A country with about 5 million population, 40% of it is composed of foreign guest workers. As I got out of the airport, I was happy to see cleanliness everywhere and everything was very well organized. I had booked a rental car, but when I reached the counter, I had no confirmation number on it, somehow it had gotten lost. Dreading to be taken advantage of, I was pleasantly surprised to hear th

Driving to the city of Muscat from their international airport, you cannot miss the ornate mosque on the way. It is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque . Built by 2001, this mosque is huge and can host twenty thousand worshippers. The large grounds around it look like an oasis. On a sunny day, I decided to visit the mosque. It is customary to wear full pants, shorts are not allowed. There is an entry ticket, but it was not being charged on the day I visited. From the entry door, t

Kochi or Cochin as it used to be called before the name was re-changed to its original form, is a city in south India in the state of Kerala. It is a historic trading port and traded with the Romans, Persians, Arabs, and Chinese. Taken over by the Portuguese, then Dutch in the 16th century, it was later ruled by the British. In my recent visit, I enjoyed a boat trip in the Kochi backwaters. Right at the start, I was greeted by cormorants, lounging on a chinese fishing net st

The second highest mountain in Africa is Mount Kenya, rising over 5 kilometers. In terms of beauty, it is the first, according to Kenyans. It has three peaks, Batian (5,199 meters (17,057 feet)), Nelion (5,188 m (17,021 ft)) and Point Lenana (4,985 m (16,355 ft)). Batian and Nelion are technical climbs needing crampons, ice-axe, harnesses, cables, hooks etc. The Lenana peak can be climbed with a hike. I planned on a 4-day trip which would allow me to climb up the Sirimon ga

Towards the southeast of Kenya, very close to its border with Tanzania is the Amboseli National Park. Kenya’s Tsavo East, Tsavo West, and Maasai Mara are other fantastic game parks. What sets Amboseli apart is the huge variety of birdlife in it besides the wildlife. I was driving from Maasai Mara to Amboseli non-stop starting at 6:30am and passing Nairobi at about 10:30am. I was blessed with great weather and was nearing the turnoff to the unpaved road to Amboseli. I saw a gr

One of the big attractions of Kenya is the Maasai Mara National Reserve. I wanted to visit it and heard that people can do a game drive as a self-drive, and that seemed very intriguing. In the past, I had gone to Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Lake Manyara in Tanzania, where I always had a tour operator take me on such drives. I was told that a 4x4 was required to go on this game drive. In Nairobi, I was able to negotiate a 7,000 Kenyan shilling a day Nissan XTrail rent

Roughly about a 120km from Nairobi downtown is the Nakuru county which has the Eburru forest. I decided to do this hike and the tour operator asked to meet at 5:30AM in Nairobi. We left punctually and picked up more people on the way until there were about 20 people on the mini bus. Driving through beautiful, wooded areas that were visible after an hour or so out of Nariobi, we saw views of a couple of rift valleys. The road to our destination was well paved for the first 100

Very close to Palm Springs desert is a hike named Herman's Trail, which is relatively easy. It is about 11km/7miles long with a 1,200 feet/350 meter climb. A very interesting feature of this hike is the Oasis in the middle of the desert. The hike starts very close to the city of Thousand Palms and the little San Bernandino Mountains are visible as we approach the hike. They have a very peculiar shape that shows a lot of folds or creases. In the middle of mountains and desert

In October 2019, I decided to hike with two of my friends the "cactus to clouds" hike in Palm Springs, California, which my friend called the most difficult hike he knew of. I was not convinced. I had climbed many mountains and felt a little cocky. In order to climb this mountain, which is called Mount San Jacinto, we flew from San Francisco to LA, rented a car, drove to Palm Springs starting at about 10 p.m. and reaching about midnight. We started the hike behind the library

I made some Romanian friends on my Camino de Santiago Walk and we agreed to meet up in Romania for a hike. When that opportunity arose, I was in the capital of Moldova, Chişinau. These friends told me to take a bus to a border town named Iaşi. It was a four-hour international bus ride that went through open farmlands. Almost three hours into the ride, the police stopped the bus and asked me for my passport. The other passengers were Moldovan. After a quick check, they allowed

Years ago, on a visit to Thessaloniki, Greece, I had rented a car and wanted to go to FYROM -t he former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but was told that the car would be pelted by the locals, and I decided to heed the advice, and deferred my trip. Turns out, I could never finish that goal because FYROM ceased to exist, and in 2020, it was named as North Macedonia. On my trip to Kosovo, I planned to go that neighboring country and visit their capital, Skopje . It was a two-h

I had a day in Switzerland before the next flight from Zurich and also had a rail pass which allowed travel anywhere in the country. The Michelin chef Richard and his wife Yvonne Stöckli at Alpenblick Wilderswil, where I had stayed the prior night, were very friendly and they suggested going to Lugano by train and then to Zurich. They said the train route was very beautiful and went through a small town in Italy. I walked to the station which was not too far away and began th

Switzerland is a beautiful country which makes you marvel at its scenic nature at every turn. In the Swiss Alps is Jungfraujoch , a saddle connecting two major 4,000-meter-high mountains. To reach the " Top of Europ e", I went to a city named Interlaken . The colorful Swiss trains are cute, and I reached Interlaken by train from Zurich. Swiss Rails sells rail passes for different days' duration and the 5 days pass I purchased allowed unlimited travel throughout the country.

I have been aware of Oktoberfest since the early 1990s and quickly agreed to go to experience it when a friend proposed a trip. We decided to go to Munich for enjoying it for a couple of days. Late September in Munich is a time for booming business time. V isitors from all over Germany as well as the world participate in this beer festival, probably the biggest in the world. It is hard to find hotel rooms close to Theresienweise - the area that hosts the festival. To seem l

Thinking about Japan, my mind always goes to the World War II bombing, and I visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I went again in the most recent trip and walked around the Peace Memorial Park. On the towards the ground zero monument, I saw the 'A-bomb Victim' sculpture. It had a brief description of the bombing. The statue reminds us of the victims of the atomic bomb and the roof tiles melted by the heat rays. The ground just below the explosion reached 4,000 degrees centigrade a