Most travel blog writers are content to visit a place and ruminate on what they see, describing the sights of a
particular location with a certain tourists’ distance. Not so Josh Berman, who’s blog the
Tranquiilo Traveler documents his experiences in Southeast Asia. Berman is
not only writing about the problems he sees, but is trying to do something about them. A true “engaged” traveler to be
sure.
In this entry, for
example, Berman and his new wife, along with two folks named Sarmishta and Debasish, are attempting to “systematically
measure the malnourishment of a sample of tea worker families”, by surveying 160 tea worker families on eight gardens.
They sit with the families and ask them about their diets and health, compiling data on food consumption (or lack
thereof), disease and death. Berman is doing this as a volunteer…needless to say a heck of an interesting way to
travel…and the blog is a fine work of travel writing and activism. There are other entries here on other places they’ve
been so far, and the couple will be traveling for quite some time ahead, so we’ll check back on them occasionally.