Searching for Orwell
Posted on 13. Jun, 2024 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
There are worse travel strategies than to visit places with evocative names.
There’s Timbuktu, Congo, and Okavango in Africa; and Salvador de Bahia, Darien, and Patagonia in Latin America, names which purr with history and poetry.
But Asia’s resonant place names beckon to me above all others. There’s Sumatra, Java, and Borneo; Malacca, Vientiane, and Makassar; Kelantan, Kathmandu, and Ayudhya. Not to mention the rivers: Ganges and Yangtze, Mahakam and Mekong. And the one I was headed towards: Ayeyarwady.
My destination was Katha, a small town on the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River, which has achieved a modicum of recognition. It was here, between 1926 and 1927, that a British policeman named Eric Blair spent six months as one of 90 British police officers in Burma. Eric Blair, who subsequently took the pen name George Orwell, based his 1934 novel Burmese Days on a fictionalized version of Katha that he dubbed Kyauktada (which is derived from the name of a district in Rangoon).
Read MoreLaos White Elephant Settles in After Long March
Posted on 30. Nov, 2023 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
BAN SAMING, Laos
Capturing a rare white elephant usually brings luck and fame, and it did for Boun Somsy, at least for a while.
Then, as sometimes happens, a couple of wannabe-royals stepped in and rained on his parade.
This is a tale of prophetic (and sensual) dreams, an unexpected windfall, how an areligious communist government usurped a potent Buddhist religious symbol, and, as is so often the case, nature conservation.
Read More“Are You Strong Enough to Go Through with This?”
Posted on 17. Nov, 2021 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
This true personal journey is one of dozens of true stories published in: Curious Encounters of the Human Kind – Borneo and Dead, But Still Kicking “ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO GO THROUGH WITH THIS?” Encounters with female vampire ghosts in a city built on a ghost story. PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan The […]
Read More“Lost” Indonesia Jews Recruited to Fulfil Biblical Prophecy
Posted on 16. Nov, 2021 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
“Lost” Indonesian Jews Recruited to Fulfil Biblical Prophecy Small clan taken to Israel to hasten Second Coming. KISAR ISLAND, Maluku Islands, Indonesia This is a story of serendipity and remarkable zeal born of one woman’s lifetime religious quest. It is a tale of unasked for fame for simple people, and of journeys they […]
Read MoreWhy travel far?
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
IN SEARCH OF A “MORE VIRGIN” DESTINATION A traveler’s dream — being the first foreigner to trek in Nagaland. LAHE, Myanmar My travel agent friend in Yangon sent me an itinerary for a trek to Nagaland, with a comment every traveler dreams of: “This place is more virgin; you will be first to visit.” […]
Read MoreOn the yeti trail
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
ON THE YETI TRAIL Chasing a wisp, a legend, a key to who we are. OGYEN CHOLING, Tang Valley, Bhutan “If you want to look for a yeti just climb the mountain behind the village. That’s where they’ve been sighted.” I was enjoying a post-dinner whiskey with Kunzang Choden and her husband Walter Roder, […]
Read MoreCivet coffee – do you know where that coffee’s been?
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
YOU KNOW WHERE THAT COFFEE’S BEEN? Searching for the perfect fecalicious civet coffee. BUON MA THUOT, Vietnam Oysters. Termites. Camembert. Snake blood. Brains. Broccoli. On the long list of strange things that people voluntarily ingest, one might add civet coffee. Civet coffee, called café chon in Vietnam and kopi luwak in Indonesia, is probably […]
Read MoreAlmost last shaman
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
THE (ALMOST) LAST SHAMAN It’s been a good ride, but Iban healer doesn’t expect many others to follow his path. SERUBAH ULU, Sarawak To the untrained eye he seems an unlikely magician. Frail, but with a hundred-watt smile. He has two wispy whiskers, short grey hair, and holes in his earlobes where he once […]
Read MoreFlying Phallus Fights Forces of Evil
Posted on 11. Mar, 2014 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
FLYING PHALLUS FIGHTS FORCES OF EVIL How does the male reproductive organ, “exuberant, slightly askew and sometimes frothy,” protect villagers? NABJI, Bhutan “I can make you a new phallus, no problem.” “But we’re leaving in the morning.” “Trust me.” Figuring that we could always use a bit more protection against demons in our house […]
Read MoreA la Recherche de Pondy Perdu
Posted on 12. Jul, 2011 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
A LA RECHERCHE DE PONDY PERDU A visit to Pondicherry invokes a bit of France, and a lot of new India PUDUCHERRY,India As Bastille Day events go the reception was rather tepid – a lackluster speech from the French consul, a few plateaux of fromage and saucisson, and a distinct lack of either fireworks or […]
Read MoreJumping Through Buddhist Hoops in Burma
Posted on 30. Aug, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
INLE LAKE, Burma “Come on Brochette, jump through this hoop. Arnold Schwarzenegger can do it – it can’t be that hard.” My friend’s ginger cat in Geneva was doing what cats everywhere do – exactly what she felt like. Which at this moment was not jumping through a hoop. I was trying to accomplish a […]
Read MoreLast Great Elephant Hunter Achieves Indochine Glory
Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Curious Travel
He’s notched up 298 pachyderms, and a lucrative product endorsement contract BUON MA THUOT, Vietnam. Stardom can be defined in many ways. For Ama Kong it is a number, 298, the sum of wild elephants he has captured. Now 90, with failing eyesight but still with a healthy head of hair, Ama Kong is the […]
Read MoreUzi Fever
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
Letting the macho urges go out with a bang in Cambodia PHNOM PENH, Cambodia In this uncertain world of drive-by killings, high school massacres and gonzo postal workers, is there nowhere a guy can go to blast an Uzi for fun without being labeled a politically-incorrect barbarian? Well, there’s always Cambodia, where Taiwanese entrepreneur Victor […]
Read MoreThe God Who Flew Off With a Mountain
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
It takes chutzpah for an Indian villager to stay angry at one of the most popular gods in the Hindu pantheon, but Padhan Patti wants her mountain back DUNAGIRI, India It takes a bit of Hindu chutzpah for a remote Indian villager to stay angry at one of the most popular gods in the pantheon, […]
Read MoreThe Sultan and the Mermaid Queen
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Curious Travel
This article is adapted from a chapter in: QUESTS Searching for Heroes, Scoundrels, Star-Gazers, and a Mermaid Queen Explorer’s Eye Press © 2024 Geneva, Switzerland ISBN: Paperback: 978-2-940573-43-1 ISBN: eBook: 978-2-940573-44-8 Available from: THE SULTAN AND THE MERMAID QUEEN A Love Story for the Ages SURAKARTA (SOLO), Java, Indonesia The instructions, […]
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