Jungle Trekking in Laos and Befriending Parasites

Jul 1, 2015 | Laos

The jungle did its job. And the leeches were experts at theirs in the Luang Nam Tha Protected Area of Laos. I scraped the wiggling bloodsuckers off with my knife at every stop, but new ones would grab hold of my left foot even as I was clearing the right. We danced...

Vagabonding Injuries

Mar 24, 2014 | Life on the Road

Updated: 2017 Looking back through my pictures from the last few years, I found a few fun photos of vagabonding injuries that I’ve accumulated while traveling. Some of this grizzly collection were mere annoyances, while others nearly changed — or finished...

Wild Kayaking in Sarawak, Borneo

Jul 8, 2013 | Borneo

I came up laughing but I knew that something bad had happened. That same sickening twist in the pit of your stomach, the gut feeling of inevitability, when reality trumps fantasy — the moment when you know that you’ve sustained an injury that can’t...

The Evil Inside and Wandering Flute Salesmen

Oct 24, 2012 | India

Part 1: The Evil Inside I tossed another handful of pills down like jellybeans. Assorted shapes and colors, antibiotics and probiotics, I had no idea what I just swallowed or the dosage. I didn’t care. No, I wasn’t getting ready to walk into a rave....

Ouch!

Mar 26, 2011 | Thailand

Ouch. Feet are important for vagabonding. Lieutenant Dan’s famous advice from Forrest Gump of “take care of your feet” rang through my head about the time I stepped on the rusty nail in Pai. Rather than step on the sharp point as I would have...