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ISSUE #41 //$8.95 GST INCLUDED www.getlostmagazine.com
CHASING THE SUN
2O beaches stunning secret
Far-flung jewels and hot hideaways
Underwater Giants
Facing Scotland’s basking sharks
MiaMi’s Other half
The city’s cool underbelly
GlOw achiever Taiwan’s kookiest festival
Paradise fOUnd Slow down in Samoa
ISSN 1449-3543
aUstralia | BraZil | canada | the PhiliPPines | POland | Uae | UK | Usa
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20 Secret StretcheS of Sand Get beached on a little-known slice of paradise.
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SCOTLAND Stare into the jaws of one of the ocean’s biggest fish.
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SAMOA
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BrAZIL
Go wild on these Pacific islands – all with a side of coconuts.
hiking the heights of Chapada Diamantina National Park.
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AUSTrALIA Leap into the deep at one of our most exclusive dive sites, off the coast of Western Australia. #8 get lost ISSUE #41
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ThE PhILIPPINES Meet the cave dwellers of Palawan’s Singnapan valley. get in the know The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.
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contents
et books, 22 Lonely Plan ckpack, 23 Lowepro ba ip, 48 USA tr s, 114 Tamron len
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News & Views The globe uncovered Events What’s going down? Get Social Send in and win Places to Stay The weird and wonderful
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Top Trips The best we can find Top 10 Bizarre exhibits Retro Travel Polish misadventure You Wish Finding Canada’s grizzlies
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Get Packing An instant itinerary for PNG After Dark The other side of Miami Festival Lights and lanterns in Taiwan
106 LIkE A LOCAL
120 TOP BArS
110 FOOD
122 MUSIC
112 PhOTOGrAPhy
124 rEvIEWS
116 TrAvEL JOB
128 CONFESSIONS
London calling
The hungry traveller in Nashville Sneaky shortcuts
Bartenders on a mission
The world’s best watering holes Leonard Cohen soothes the angry mob Gadgets and other goodies Camp’s out
118 TASTE TOUr Dishing up Dubai
get in the know Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of mobile phones than she did to the building of the Great Pyramids.
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omen dance With big-eyed masks to honour the Virgin of Socavón at the beginning of carnaval de oruro in bolivia. i took this picture while on an epic journey from ecuador to tierra del Fuego and back with my wife, Karla gachet – we planned to hit oruro right at carnaval. it’s a festival that has been celebrated for more than 2000 years, and is now a blend of christian and pagan customs. We witnessed some intense rituals, such as sacrifices and dancing devils. these masked women caught my attention and i moved in close to capture their bubbly eyes and intricate costumes. • Canon EOS 5D • Canon 50mm • ISO 100, f/9, 1/800 sec Photography by Ivan Kashinsky/ Panos Pictures
Mac’s Club Deuce is a little like Italian opera: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll love it anyway. #36 get lost ISSUE #41
get in the know In 1944 Miami pharmacist Benjamin Green cooked cocoa butter in a granite coffee pot to make the first suntan lotion.
after dark: MiaMi
MiaMi Leaving flash, brash South Beach far behind, Roberto Serrini and Miranda Kendrick uncover Miami’s cool underbelly. Photography by Roberto Serrini
get in the know Julia Tuttle was the original owner of the land on which Miami was built, and she was the only woman to plan a major US city.
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in the dark
An annual Taiwanese festival celebrating the start of the New Year lights up Adam Gibson’s life. Photography by Adam Gibson
This huge horse is the centrepiece of opening night. #42 get lost ISSUE #41
get in the know Stinky tofu, or chòu dòufu, gets its odour from being fermented for up to several months in milk, vegetables and meat.
taiwan
get in the know Taiwan has more than a hundred hot springs, with the greatest concentration in the north of the country near the Datun Volcano.
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Plankton hoover: the whale shark’s metre-wide mouth is an eating machine. #52 get lost ISSUE #41
get in the know Robert Louis Stevenson’s lighthouse builder father Thomas was allegedly none too happy about his son’s literary leanings.
scotland
In the chilly waters off the Scottish coast, Andrew MacIntyre gets up close to some giant beasties on one of the ultimate underwater wildlife expeditions. Photography by Shane Wasik
get in the know The Oban Distillery is one of Scotland’s oldest sources of single-malt whisky.
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get in the know Samoa consists of 10 islands, four of which are inhabited.
samoa
In a land of coconut palms and blazing sunsets, Nikola Sarbinowski discovers the traditions – ancient and far more recent – of Samoa’s two largest islands, Upolu and Savai’i. Photography by Nikola Sarbinowski
A blowhole blasts a coconut into the air at the Alofaaga Blowholes in Savai’i. get in the know Slimy little pods of seaweed called limu (sea grapes) are harvested and served with raw fish to add a salty burst of flavour.
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Relaxing in a private lagoon.
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olten light bleeds across the ocean’s surface beneath a swollen sun.The world’s first sunset burns with the same fiery hues as the lava that only a century ago poured across this land and congealed in pools. Come nightfall, I float in a lagoon only metres from my bed and search the sky for shooting stars.
I’ve been lured here by the promise of unearthing a Polynesian paradise and of fa’a Samoa, the laid-back way of island life that survives, somehow, despite the threats of magma from within, cyclones from above and tsunamis from below. Setting sail from Upolu, Samoa’s main island, I wind up on the less explored (but no less gleaming) jewel, the island of Savai’i. Despite being just 20 kilometres north-west of Upolu, only a fraction of tourists who visit the nation make the journey across the Apolima Strait. Fewer still stay overnight. A quarter of the nation’s population is shacked up on the condensed ash and cinders this active volcano has disgorged over the past five million years, but beyond the port there is no main town. Manicured villages dot the coastline between a hot mess of lava fields, cliffs and verdant jungle. “Three years ago, there would be one car on the road – that would be peak hour,” says Chichi, our guide. Now, we’re stuck in a traffic jam with two cars in front and a Land Rover behind on the one paved road around the island. Departing bitumen, we pause to gather a man before lurching down a trail toward the sea. Our hitchhiker disembarks, basket in arm, and strides to where the waves slam against hard rock. He slips a coconut from his bag and with an expert arm tosses it into a crevice before him. Nothing happens. Then, with a roar, the blowhole spits it out as if it’s a cherry pip, soaking us with salty spittle. Back on the road we pass a group of girls wading in the shallows, their rainbow umbrellas transforming the lagoon into a shocking blue cocktail. An equivalent coast in Europe would be littered with basting bodies and #62 get lost ISSUE #41
water bottles sucked dry, but here beaches are either bare or home to a handful of fales, houses without walls but topped by tin or grass roofs and blessed with unbeatable views. The island’s residents seem to share one vibrant palette of paint that slathers schools and meeting spaces with bougainvillea pinks, pineapple yellows and every colour in between. These open structures reflect the personality of the locals. “Your walls are to keep people out,” says a woman I meet, named Samoa. “Back in Australia you have to ask people for permission to go into their place. Here you don’t have to.” Arrive at a family’s fale and request refuge and you’ll be welcomed into their home. But don’t let the lack of walls fool you – propping up each roof is an ironclad social structure honouring the village chief, tradition and the Church. Chichi cuts the engine beside the shell of a chapel, sucked clean by surging seas. Waves from a cyclone in 1990 swallowed the village, but not the villagers, who swam to a local school. Across the road two muscled men smear a fresh lick of paint on a concrete shrine for Mary. Travelling sinners needn’t fear – redemption is just around the corner. The nearest church is never more than a few hundred metres away. Missionaries imported their religion to these islands in the 1830s and although 99 per cent of citizens declare themselves Christian, traditional customs remain embedded in the culture. Further around the island I gaze over Cape Mulinu’u, the western-most point of Samoa. The ocean here once swallowed the sun along with the souls of Samoan ancestors as they passed into Pulotu (the spirit
get in the know Most Samoan families donate 15 per cent of their income to the church, but some give up to 50 per cent.
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Mucking around in nature’s playground – this rock pool sucks swimmers into a cave. get in the know Samoans collect and eat the palolo worms that live in coral and only emerge to spawn twice a year.
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About 25 kilometres of the Lapa Doce cave system has been mapped, although approximately only 1500 metres is open to visitors. #68 get lost ISSUE #41
get in the know Bar nibbles in Lençóis include licurí, a palm nut native to the Brazilian cerrado (savanna).
Brazil
Once the centre of Brazil’s diamond-mining region, Chapada Diamantina National Park, with its underground caves, soaring plateaus and diverse ecosystems, is now on the travel radar. Get there before everyone else does, writes John Malathronas. Photography by John Malathronas
get in the know The maned wolf has a vulpine head and a canine body but is neither a wolf nor a fox.
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They’re remoTe, deserTed or yeT To hiT The Travel radar – 20 of The besT secreT beaches around The world.
Thail and
Koh Lipe Thailand is one of The lasT places on earTh you’d expect to find a secret beach and, although Lipe isn’t deserted, you’ll find far fewer tourists and a lot less development here than on many of the nearby islands. There are three main beaches: Pattaya, Sunrise and Sunset. Sunset is the least developed with shacks made of driftwood acting as bars and restaurants. At Sunrise Beach (pictured), you’ll find Castaway Resort with its breezy bungalows, some set right on the sand. If you really want to get away from it all, they’ll pack you a lunch, organise a boat and drop you at one of the nearby deserted islands where you can make like Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.
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get in the know Stretching for 212 kilometres, Praia do Cassino in Brazil is considered the longest beach in the world.
get in the know Germany lays claim to the largest indoor beach. Up to 6000 visitors can enjoy the ‘resort’ of Krausnick, south of Berlin.
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The
PhiliPPines
Pamilaacnadn Isl
Image: Tommy Schultz
TourisTs have already
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discovered the stunningly beautiful island of Boracay in the Philippines; so where do you go if you want to get away from everyone? We asked get lost photographer, beach expert and Philippines resident Tommy Schultz where he’d head: “Located about an hour by boat from Panglao in Bohol, Pamilacan is surrounded by the cobaltblue water of the Bohol Sea. The local people are very friendly and happy to arrange dolphin-watching day trips. The last time I visited, I stayed with a family of local fishermen who cooked me simple meals of freshly caught fish with rice and a sliced yellow mango to eat while the sun faded behind Cebu.”
get in the know At the north-east end of Pamilacan Island is a 200-year-old Spanish fort, once used to keep watch for pirates and other intruders.
usa
R ockacwhay Bea hoT dogs, moma, Times square… These are The usual suspecTs
Image: Paul Hamilton
that bring to mind New York City. Beaches? Not so much. But head to the South Shore of Long Island and you’ll discover the ultimate urban beach. Lifeguards are on duty between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, there’s a kids’ zoo and it’s the only place in the five boroughs with a community of surfers. Plunge in for a dip, grab a bite at Rockaway Taco, then play a spot of volleyball on the sand. Rockaway is so cool, Dee Dee Ramone even wrote a song about it.
Image: Tourism Western Australia
ausTralia
Cape L eveque
The specTacular coasTline of cape leveque on wesTern Australia’s Dampier Peninsula sees the red rock of the desert drop down to white sand and water so clear it’s like glass. You can swim, snorkel or sunbathe on the beach, go fishing for barramundi or meet up with the local Bardi community to find out about bush tucker and traditional ways of life. (They also run the wilderness camp, Kooljaman.) July to October is whale season, too, with humpbacks cavorting just offshore on their southward journey.
get in the know Cape Leveque is named after hydrographer Pierre Leveque, who was on the French ship Geographe that visited the area in 1803.
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