Madagascar, by rights, should be rich and flourishing. It has everything: natural resources, a heavenly climate, picture-book scenery, tropical weather, friendly people. But it is one of the poorest countries in the world – on account of centuries of exploitation, first by the French, and latterly by corrupt elites. With luck, all that is about
Look out from the balcony of your room at Le Sirenuse and you’ll see the trio of rocks jutting out of the Tyrrhenian Sea that gave the hotel, one of the last true greats in the world, its name. The three jagged islets form an archipelago, which is said by the Greeks to have been
I am 36, not six. Nevertheless, I arrive in New York with my favorite book, Eloise, packed carefully in my hand luggage. At the airport I hail a taxi, shove my bags in the back and ask the driver to take me to the Plaza Hotel. Talk about exciting. Eloise, for anyone who has not
On New Year’s Day, I was awake at 5 a.m. – but not for the reasons you might think. I hadn’t been out all night celebrating with friends. I was awake early because it was a powder day in Utah, the type of day skiers and snowboarders dream of. I had to be at my
I am writing this on the 17th floor of the Novotel Sukhumvit, on Soi 4, aka “Soi Nana,” in Khlong Toei, Bangkok. For anyone that knows the Big Mango, they’ve already guessed where I am, psychogeographically: from that tell-tale word “Nana.” For those still in the dark, I am on the rude, ribald, rambunctious street
Picture yourself lying in bed in a restored vintage railroad car parked on a bridge overlooking the Lower Sabie River in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Outside your window, there’s a gigantic herd of elephants, ranging in size from pint-sized babies to Brobdingnagian behemoths marching purposefully by as though auditioning for a National Geographic documentary.
I am standing inside perhaps the most sophisticated stadium ever built: a magnificent, latticed half-dome of white steel and trillion-pixel megascreens, bent over a football pitch so green it looks iced. And I am watching my least favorite sport on Earth: American football. As I guzzle citrus beer, the players take their 683rd strategic break
The children of Llullaillaco don’t look too different from the living children I’ve seen around Salta. They’ve got the same diamond-shaped faces, pecan-colored skin and straight, pitch-dark hair. Of course, the children of Llullaillaco are smaller, as people five centuries ago were wont to be – and dead. I’m talking about three Incan child-sacrifice mummies,
But what would you do if there was no risk of being caught? Some people want to kill
Villa Treville retains the director’s sense of chutzpah and style
It is a place of dreams and deceptions
Glamping in the foothills of the iconic volcano that won’t let you out of her sight
The stars of the show were the sea lions
At home with the leader of the KKK
I’d never killed one before. I’d hunted other animals: deer, rabbits, doves, ducks, turkeys and so on
Like so many, I first learned of the place because of Alexandra Tolstoy
In Europe, I’ve felt most tired, hungry and poor – yet also most alive
Here in the west, many don’t want a trade war with the United States. They want in
Underneath its gray, foreboding exterior, it is a joyful and exciting city
Laos is now an economic vassal of China, a protectorate, or feudal satellite firmly in Beijing’s orbit
