When I was wrapping up my stay in Viet Nam I about a week to write a research paper. Rather than spending a week cooped up Ho Chi Minh City, I rented a laptop packed up my books and caught a flight to the Con Dao islands off the south coast. I spent my days SCUBA diving and my evenings cranking out the paper. For most of the time I was the only diver, and represented 50% of the western tourists on the islands. The boat in the picture was fishing near our dive site and would swing by in the late morning to sell us some really fresh lunch. It was a perfect last week of my trip.

As a working ex-pat in impoverished countries, there are some things I’ve learned to view as facts of life.  The occasional bucket bath, the acceptance that meetings will always start 2 hours late, and entire phone conversations that consist of various “hello? hello? HELLOs???” are of course the givens.

The most difficult realization was that I would never roam as freely as I did when I was an idealistic adventuring college student.  Well, at least not on the company dime…  There are just too many dangers, real and imagined, that require my organization to place the infamous white Landcruiser in between me and the folks of wherever I may be.  Nonetheless, I do my best to “quest for adventure” and have landed myself some hilarious (sometimes only in retrospect) stories along the way. 

One way I learn more about what’s really happening in the community is to chat with my drivers (yes, I have drivers.  I drive everywhere.  Lack of basic exercise and how to avoid rapid weight gain will have to be a whole other post.  Admittedly, it involves Billy Blanks).  A recent conversation here in DR Congo left me simultaneously laughing and  yet a bit nervous for the future.  I was out in the parking lot, chatting with all of the drivers while I waited for the tardy members of a meeting I was supposed to attend, and we got to talking about how exciting it was that the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) was calling a cease fire in Nord Kivu (see the article on BBC: DR Congo Faction Ends Fight).  I was excited because part of my job is trying to figure out the heck my NGO and its partners get bednets to that region.  With a cease-fire, we’d be one obstacle down!  Lack of basic infrastructure to go…  Well, the drivers were certainly happy as well because a) some had family in the area, and  b) who wants a war in their country?  Somehow, the conversation veered towards me being American (hey, it happens) and that’s when it happened.  The comment.  And I paraphrase: “The leaders of CNDP want peace to be like their brother Barack.” “Barack Obama?” “Yes, he brings peace. You should be proud of your country’s choice.”  I am proud.  I am also skeptical of the tie between Barack’s generally inspriational words and this cease-fire. I am definitely a little terrified that America’s president has not only the weight his country on his shoulders, but seemingly the weight of the world.  I suppose this is nothing new for “the most powerful person in the world.”  But this is different, this is messianic.  My mind flashed to the holiday announced in Kenya on Election Day, and even Parisians celebrating along the Champs Elysee. This is big.  The drivers in Congo tell me it’s big.  Is it too big?  Unattainably big?

Fingers crossed for Barack Obama.  In the meanwhile, I will go get a drink to celebrate the possible end to DR Congo’s war.  Here’s to you DRC, and to my hope for your country’s leadership.

Thanks for welcoming me Questing for Adventure.  Here I go!

Usually for my adventuring fixes I am always itching to get out of Washington, DC, where I’m residing at the moment. Don’t get me wrong. I love urban adventuring–not necessary the subcultural activities typically associated with urban adventurism, but rather the exploring of cities and neighborhoods and people. Typically, though, this is in the context of exploring places and cultures that are not my own. While I never tired of my excursions into Nairobi neighborhoods, and while I loved wandering places such as Maputo, Johannesburg (yes, I’m lucky I made it out alive), Mumbai, and London…I don’t hold close to the same feelings for DC anymore. DC has not completely lost its allure that first captured me when I was a tourist as a kid, but it also is no longer the object of my adventuring spirits.

…Except for this coming week that is. DC is going to be a madhouse, a true urban jungle. Trying to navigate throngs of 1.5 million plus on Tuesday to watch what I cannot help but see as one of the truly historic moments of my lifetime will, IMO, add, not subtract, from the experience. (Yes, I am currently ticketless.) You think climbing a mountain is hard? You think swimming across a channel is a challenge? Ok, so do I. But trying to see both the inauguration from the spill-over locations on the national mall and then trying to sneak one’s way into the parade route might be impossible, with police capping the capacity along the parade route at 280,000 to 300,000 thousand. (See USA Today has the best interactive map of the parade route.)

That is not to mention the general adventure of trying to hit up all the events that are going on and finding nightly places to crash closer to the downtown action–all while maintaining the necessary well-grooming for the more formal events–as transportation options severely diminish and cell phones perhaps cease to function. That is also not to mention the fact that as of right now DC has a below zero wind-chill temperature.

This next week just might be one hell of an adventure.

Light reflecting of Lake Geneva dances on the ceiling of Chillon's dungeon. Click for larger version.

CNN/Budget Travel had an article yesterday detailing what they consider to be the most beautiful castles in the world. One on the list is the beautiful Château de Chillon which I raved about earlier this month. The rest of their list is:

England: Bamburgh Castle and Leeds Castle
Scotland: Eilean Donan
Wales: Beaumaris
Germany: Neuschwanstein Castle
Denmark: Kronborg Castle
France: Château de Castelnaud and Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle
Romania: Bran Castle
Switzerland: Château de Chillon

Of all the castles on the list, I’ve only been to Chillon, so looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me. Check out the article for more on each castle.

I’m sure that the Egyptian board of tourism was spending sleepless nights wondering how they were going to answer those Estonian advertisements that were sure to cut the legs out from under their tourism industry. Well, they’ve finally come up with an answer: advertisements that make sense.

Imagine it’s a cold rainy London winter day, and you see this ad for a gorgeous sunny get away. I don’t know what response it might provoke, but a psychologist might tell you that it would make you favorably inclined to go to the warm sunny place. Very clever Egypt. Very clever indeed.