Swimming To Vietnam
Getting out of Cambodia was surprisingly pleasant. First, when we’d dashed through the Siem Reap airport on arrival, after 30+ hours of travel, I think our eyes were too crusted over to properly appreciate how…
Phnom Kulen: The Holy Mountain
Two days before our departure to Vietnam we have one last adventure: a visit to Kulen Mountain. We’ve pushed it so far back in our schedule because it has the potential to be the most…
Temples All Around, Barkeep
This region of Cambodia, the beating heart of the ancient Khmer Angkor kingdom, reminds me of nothing so much as Carthage (here and here), in the sense that you can’t swing a cat without hitting…
Wats Up
Angkor Wat is many things. It’s an iconic UNESCO World Heritage site, driving Cambodia’s tourist industry. It’s the largest religious structure in the world. It’s a 12th century Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu. It’s the…
The Old City, And How It Got Its Name
The Old City is home to many of Istanbul’s greatest hits: Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, The Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar. The problem is that every one of these locations is on the…
Kapadokya: Land Of Fairies
Or, as it’s Anglicized and better known, Cappadocia. Ground Zero for Instagrammable hot air balloons. If you know us you’ll be unsurprised that we didn’t go aloft. What may surprise you, and certainly surprised us,…
Strapping On The Bible Belt
Turkey has some serious Christian history. Constantine, who converted the Roman Empire to Christianity in 312, established Constantinople as the Roman capital in 330. That attracted a lot of Christians to Turkey, but there was…
Hammam: It Ain’t Nuthin’ But A Turkish Bath
I hope you all appreciate the breadth of research I’m willing to engage in to provide you with only the most timely, most topical, most accurate reporting. This is the third installment in my hopefully…
… Not Constantinople
We keep going on about how the places we’ve been visiting are so old. “Ooh, Guanajuato dates to the 1500s!” “Holy shit, Marrakech was founded in 1070.” “Wait a minute, the Phoenicians lost Carthage in…
We’re Not The Only Ruins Here
Hard as it is to believe, there are ruins here we haven’t seen yet. Perhaps more surprisingly, we’re still interested in visiting them. In this case, there are a pair of locations, Dougga and Bulla…