After we returned from the Annapurna Circuit trek, each of us had some comments on some items of our gear, which we’d like to share with you here. Please note that this is not a complete list of every item each of us packed. SHOES A Merrell Men's Chameleon 4 Mid WP Hiking Boots – Cape Union Mart – R1,999 Could not be happier with them. Excellent boots, not that heavy, nice and flexible, but at the same time still very supportive. Grips on most surfaces like a Goodyear off-roa

Open the Google Translate Page, choose to translate from Italian to English, and type the word “Bellissima” in Italian. It returns the word “Gorgeous.” Now that’s an accurate word to describe Rome, the Eternal City. We had two days and three nights in Rome. What should we do and what had to be left for (hopefully) another time? We chose to stick to the most well-known things and were mostly glad we did. So we fit three Italian dinners, six well-known tourist attractions (and

We are pancake lovers, so I guess when you visit Graskop, stopping at Harrie’s Pancakes is a no-brainer. We had been traveling through Mpumalanga, and somewhere between marveling at waterfalls and taking in the sunrise over God’s Window, we took a detour and stopped at Harrie’s. Both of us were raised with a proper South African paradigm: Rainy days are pancake days. You can test this theory on a rainy day in Kimberley. Just step into any of the shops where you can order fres

Photo credit: Anthony Switzer Two separate tales are presented here: The tale of the hikers and the tale of the retreaters. Both are useful for would-be hikers, but for different reasons. As for the retreaters, today would be our last day on the Annapurna Circuit. Not the way we’d planned, of course. According to our plans, we would be crossing Thorung La today, but bronchitis had put that dream on hold for now. No, we were taking a vehicle from Manang to Besisahar today. It

That-Man was bouncing around with excitement when he told me he’d heard about this place – this MEXICAN place – not too far from where we stayed in Patan. An American couple had told him about The Lazy Gringo and he wanted to investigate for himself. So a-hunting we went. Google stuck a little red balloon to a point on the map and we followed the route. As we approached the corner behind which the entrance is tucked, a faint realisation grew clearer and clearer. i've seen thi

Sand dunes are some of my favourite things along the coast. Of course, climbing a sand dune is not my favourite thing, but going down is always more fun. i always marvel at how much wind it takes to collect all those little grains of sand. The shape is another point of wonder. The mere thought that millions and billions and trillions of little objects (which you come to realise are not even the same shape or made of the same material if you look at it through a microscope) sw