Budget Travel’s 10 Best Undiscovered Locations

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s that time of year again when Budget Travel reveals its Best Places You’ve never Heard Of.

Every year the editors of this fine magazine interview 10 travelers and ask them to “reveal the places they’ve recently discovered.” The underlying theme here is that these are very cool places which most people have never heard of before, but may some day become popular tourist destinations when word gets out.

True to form, nine of the 10 suggestions this year are places … I’ve never heard of! The lone exception is the city of Wroclaw, a rather nondescript Polish town I visited 12 years ago and found exceedingly boring. Things, however, have apparently changed — at least according to traveler Walter Lowry, who touts the city as having the “prettiest plaza in Poland and perhaps in all of central Europe.” He also applauds Wroclaw for its fine shopping.

As for the other nine cities, here they are. Click, discover, and enjoy!

• Castelmezzano, Italy
• Caraiva, Brazil
• Baranja Region, Croatia
• Estacada, United States
• Yirgalem, Ethiopia
• Puerto Angel, Mexico
• Jura Region, France
• Jomsom, Nepal
• Sangkhla Buri, Thailand

Gadling’s own Leif Pettersen is traveling through another not-so-well-known location: Ia??i, Romania.

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Pies to Drive For

by Jamie Rhein on

There are some pies worth driving for. The chess pie at the Inn in Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky comes to mind. So does the strawberry rhubarb pie at Wallkill View Farm Market in New Paltz, New York. Then there are the apple pies of the tiny restaurants along the Annapurna trek in Nepal. (Those pies you have to walk to.)

Tonight I sampled four pieces of pie heaven at Henry’s in West Jefferson, Ohio. Set next to Highway 40, (the historic National Road) across from a cornfield not far from town, this place looks more like a 1950s gas station than a restaurant . The reason it looks like a gas station is because it used to be one–and a diner when this stretch of highway was a hopping scene. Now, I-70 to the north takes the big traffic with it.

Still, Henry’s has a place on the U.S. pie circuit. The waitress told us about one Irish rock band that makes Henry’s a stop on when they tour even though it’s miles out of their way. Recently she’s noticed more people she hasn’t seen before pop in for a home-cooked meal and the pie that’s kept Henry’s on the map. I popped in with my family after my daughter’s soccer game since her team played West Jefferson’s, thus our trip there. I knew about this pie because of Tom Barlow’s post about it on the now retired Blogging Ohio. (Tom is now blogging at BloggingStocks) Another person I know drives her mother here once a month for coconut cream pie. Here’s a map from Tom’s post to help you find it.

We had black cherry, peanut butter, lemon and custard pie. We ordered our slices before we ordered dinner. Good thing because there were only a few types left when we arrived at 7 pm. Dinner, by the way was also great–and cheap. I won’t need a soccer game to pull me there the next time. (Here are more photos of Henry’s by Micheal Stern at RoadFood.com)

The Thankless Life of a Sherpa

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’ve ever trekked in Nepal, you’ve no doubt witnessed the marvelous mountain goat abilities of the local Sherpas.

I consider myself a pretty decent backpacker that moves at a pretty decent speed. But Sherpas regularly blew past me at double my speed, carrying triple my weight, and doing it all in flip-flops.

And as if to rub in how much more manly they are, their packs were usually large whicker baskets supported on their back by a strap around their forward. I always peered into the baskets when they walked past and marveled at the contents; fuel canisters, bags of rice, dozens of bottles of Coca Cola, and, in the case of the wonderful photo above (FishBowlEscapes via Flickr), entire steak flanks.

I traveled the popular Annapurna Sanctuary route where guest homes along the way fed us the very food and drink we saw passing us on the trail. Let me tell you, I sure appreciated that 50 cent bottle of coke all that much more after witnessing the manpower required to get it up there.

So, how hard is the Sherpa life? How difficult is it schlepping up and down the mountain every day supplying greedy foreigners with their Coca Cola?

Well, to find out, writer Erick Hansen strapped on the head gear, loaded up a basket and gave it a shot.

Instead of watching that rerun of Friends tonight, spend a half hour listening to his Outside Magazine podcast; you probably won’t complain about your job ever again.

Vacationing at Everest Base Camp: The Himalyan Burning Man?

by Neil Woodburn on

About 15 years ago I was in Nepal considering spending a week hiking to the Everest Base Camp. Because of time constraints, however, I opted against the long trip.

After reading High Times, Kevin Fedarko’s intriguing account of life at the base camp published in this next month’s Outside Magazine (August 2008), I now wished I had.

As it turns out, Everest Base Camp is an amazing amalgamation of nationalities and personalities that comes together for three months of the year in hopes of bagging the world’s tallest peak. The metropolis which arises can grow to 1,000 people and be so eccentric that Fedarko calls it the “Himalayan version of Burning Man.”

Rich Texans, poor Czechs, Polish Playboy Bunnies, and an oddball assortment of other characters all rub elbows here in various degrees of comfort and discomfort–depending upon how much they’ve spent on their expeditions. Base Camp, it appears, has nearly all the comforts of home–including a satellite dish and 360 pound generator one group of climbers had flown in by Russian helicopter. And of course, there is a baseball diamond as well. What base camp would be complete without one?

And then, of course, there is the enormous Sherpa population who are in charge of making sure all these numb-nuts stay alive. Some of their nicknames are rather humorous; the Ice Doctors tend to the dangerous route across the Khumbu Icefall while the Poop Doctors clear out the solid waste from the latrines (charging $1.05 per pound).

My favorite, however are the Butter People. This is what the Sherpas call the pampered western climbers who pay a fortune to have their hands held while “climbing” Everest.

I suppose I would have been a Butter Person, or at least a poser, had I made it to the camp 15 years ago. But I wouldn’t have cared; at least I would have been there to experience all of this.

Hand Laundry Around the World

by Jamie Rhein on

When searching for an image for my post on travel washing machines, I saw several shots of people doing laundry the old fashioned way–by hand. Here is one of them.

This shot, posted on Flickr, was taken by abrinksy in Udaipur, India. There is something about laundry that makes people get an urge to whip out their cameras. Here are other photos that caught my eye…

Taken in Vietnam by Agnguyen2682. I love the images of clothes paired with the plants and the girl in yellow.

This one is in Dominica. The photographer, herzchen points out the woman is even hanging up a teddy bear.

Here’s making another use of a hot tub in Iceland. fuzzypika

In Ghana, West Africa. I wonder what Stig Nygaard stood on to take this picture.

By sainthelenfire in Feng Huang China. This shot is at a canal.

Taken by Dey in Nepal. I’m always struck by how plastic bowls can look so bright in certain environments.

Taken at at Amani Baby Cottage in Uganda by Danny Summerlin. The criss crossed white lines appealed to me.

Hanging laundry in Croatia. I like the way taf captured the angles, the light and the shadows.