Early one morning, I was roaming with a friend, and we came upon a piano. Remember, we're in the desert...and there's a piano on the corner. Surreal. We hopped off our bikes and tapped a few keys, finally managing to produce Heart and Soul. We're hacks, at best. A guy...
What do you find in Black Rock City? Everything--absolutely everything--but especially art, people, and music. Those are big broad categories, and it's nearly impossible to capture the myriad forms they take. Every single person who comes is free to create whatever...
Burning Man may be the greatest party on the planet. I'm sure there are other events to rival its Bacchanalian revelry, but Burning Man is unique in part because it is created by its participants. This brings a sense of community, ownership, creativity, and...
Winston Churchill stayed in bed until 11am everyday and then started drinking whisky, which he continued through the rest of the day. President Obama sticks around until almost 9am in order to send his kids off to school. Philip Roth's bookshelves are alphabetical by...
What to do after two months of guiding in Nepal? Something radically different. I landed in San Francisco long enough to change clothes and bags and head off with friends to a festival in the Santa Cruz mountains. Fire Drums is a weekend of workshops and practice for...
In the final minutes of a 12-hour flight, I was bleary-eyed and tired. Over 30 hours in transit, too many movies, and not enough sleep. I could have stayed hidden in the Himalayas for another month with pleasure, but instead I was returning home to all sorts of...
After a 15-hour flight, I step into the glass and light of Hong Kong airport, spontaneously deciding to venture into the city for the first time. What can you do with 7 hours in Hong Kong? Plenty. 1. Join forty women in the park doing early morning...
Tahoe is buried in fresh snow, the earth encased in a pristine shell that dissolves beneath feet and fingertips. Perfect conditions to learn how to snowboard. So I did. People who meet me and hear that I'm a trekking guide in Nepal often conjure an image of me as a...
Our 13-seater plane landed on the grass runway while I was grinning foolishly with excitement. A decade ago, my time with the Peace Corps in Khadbari village was idyllic. Sure, it was hard at times, but it was also a peaceful and communal existence. Landing here again...
Life in Nepal is an amalgamated existence--the modern alongside the archaic. It can range from startling to confusing to frustrating: ATM’s and WiFi offer convenience…but only when they’re working. Hotels with marble floors dump their garbage on the street. The...
The hills of Hong Kong are staring back at me through a haze. 80 degree heat and only a thin outline of the mountains makes remaining in the airport more attractive—I watch freighters and fishing vessels glide into harbor from a soft red fuzzy sofa. Hong Kong airport...
Driving the convertible: top down, music up. Blacktop two-lane road snakes across the hot dust of wine country and into the depths of redwood forest before expelling me into coastal Pacific fog. It’s no secret I’m smitten with California, in all its forms. After 3...