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ISSUE 53//$9.95 GST INCLUDED

getlostmagazine.com

PAR IS’S F ORBIDDEN Q UAR T ER What’s hiding underground?

IN TO THE HINTER L AND Tassie’s new mountain biking retreat

ISSN 1449-3543

SNOW SHOWDOWN EUROPE VS NORTH AMERICA ON AND OFF THE SLOPES

S ’ D L R O W E H T S I H T IS

T S E L O ?

N W CO O T H C A E B

ALBANIA | ETHIOPIA | ICELAND | ITALY | MYANMAR | NETHERLANDS | SOUTH AFRICA

CONTENTS

WIN

mera, 10 Olympus ca voucher, 17 ntures Urban Adve ough TG-5, 18 Olympus T nture, 44 Arctic adve

EUROPE VS

NORTH AMERICA

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S N OW S H O W D O W N

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90

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Two winter heavyweights battle it out on the slopes

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MYANMAR

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MEXICO

Ride the railroad through the highlands

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W

E S

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FRANCE

Uncover a Pacific Coast paradise

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84

FESTIVAL SOCCER MEETS WRESTLING AT FLORENCE’S RENAISSANCE FOOTBALL MATCH 14 ON THE RADAR

24 HOT FIVE

18 HAPPY SNAPS

28 YOU WISH

Send us your photos and win!

20 PLACES TO STAY The weird and wonderful

Market hopping right by the ’Stans

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AUSTRALIA Cycle, eat, sleep, repeat in Tassie

114

Creep through Paris’s clandestine tunnels

Travel happenings around the globe

CHINA

78

ETHIOPIA Gather at a sacred shrine with Oromo pilgrims

get in the know Teeth belonging to limpet aquatic snails are the strongest known natural substance.

22 TOP TRIPS

Get going in a group

Heavenly churches

LIKE A LOCAL THE RISE OF SAN FRANCISCO’S MIDDLE POLK DISTRICT 118 FOOD

From Nola to Norway

120 PHOTOGRAPHY

All the gadgets you’ll need

Snorkelling Iceland’s continental fissure

How to take better safari snaps

30 GET PACKING

122 TRAVEL JOB

Out and about in Amsterdam

32 AF TER DARK

124 BARS

Meet the chefs reinventing Albanian cuisine

Game day with a sport anthropologist

126 REVIEWS

128 CONFESSIONS

When flip flops fail

Johannesburg when the sun sets

get in the know Bombay was officially renamed Mumbai in 1995.

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AJASTHANI CULTURE TAKES centrestage at the annual Jaisalmer Desert Festival. Over three days each February, men compare whiskers in a moustache competition and partake in the Maru-Shri (Mr Desert) contest, costumed camels parade in a military tattoo and music and dancing abound. A procession opens the festival, winding through the narrow streets beneath the Jaisalmer Fort – one of the world’s largest, with 3000 people living between its walls. I followed the pageant, dodging camels and marching bands and, at the end of the parade, I came across these women dancing. They were completely absorbed in the moment. I love the way this photo captures the colours, joy and movement of the festival itself.

• Olympus E-M10 • Olympus M.40–150mm f/4–5.6 lens at 116mm • ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/400 sec Congratulations to Kirsty Greenland for winning our Frame Your View Competition! She’s scored an Olympus camera for entering this shot.

Think you’ve got a winner?

Send us your best travel photos for a chance to win an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, valued at AU$999, plus a double-page spread in the magazine! This stylish, compact, interchangeable-lens camera is perfect for travel. olympus.com.au

To enter the competition and for T&Cs, go to getlostmagazine.com/competitions

JOHANNESBURG Johannesburg has a reputation for being a no-go zone at night. Mark Daffey ventures into the darkness to determine if its reputation is deserved.

Photography by Mark Daffey

Craft in Parkhurst mixes a mean milkshake.

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after dark JOHANNESBURG 9pm Fourth Avenue is a well-to-do suburban strip populated by restaurants and cafes and interspersed with boutique fashion stores, jewellers and crafty outlets. We pass each during our 250-metre stroll from Craft. The Wolfpack’s schtick is to pair gourmet burgers with craft beer. All the draughts are local (try the Smack! Hillbrow Honey, brewed just 14 kilometres away), while the beer in bottles is imported from all parts of the globe. Where Craft hosts an aspirational crowd and couples on dates, here the clientele is older – mostly groups aged 40 plus, scattered upstairs and down. It’s the sort of place where old friends gather. Like most establishments along this strip, the restaurant spills out onto the street.

Beers in hand, we check out the breezy upstairs lounge, where a herd of guests is making an almighty racket. “I think they put the rowdy groups up here,” jokes Phillemon, draining his drink and making for the door.

The Wolfpack 21 Fourth Avenue, Parkhurst thewolfpack.co.za

Y

OU WILL HAVE HEARD THE STORIES about residents in Jo’burg who refuse to leave home after dark. And then there are the tourists who skip South Africa’s economic powerhouse in favour of its savannas or the unsurpassed beauty of Cape Town. Those forced to spend a night there during a layover boast about locking themselves in their hotel rooms for fear of getting mugged. Occasionally, though, you hear whispers of a Johannesburg revival.

Of an artistic scene emerging from Jozi’s industrial roots, and of great breweries and lively bars lining pockets of innercity suburbs. So is Johannesburg’s murky reputation true, or is it just an urban legend?

With a night to spare, I’m keen to find out if the notoriety is deserved. But I’m also hedging my bets by hiring a guide – someone who can recommend safe areas to visit.

So a tall, strapping dude called Phillemon meets me in the lobby of the Maslow hotel in Sandton. He outlines a rough plan for the night before we load up in his sporty Audi A3 and head out into the wilds of Johannesburg for what could be my most dangerous assignment yet.

The Wolfpack in Parkhurst.

Afternoon drinks on the Sandton Sun Hotel’s San Deck.

5pm Our first port of call is the Sandton Sun Hotel, just two blocks from the Maslow. The hotel’s concrete, cuboid exterior appears cemented in the 80s, though that’s offset somewhat by the warm tones of its spacious entrance. An escalator rolls up to the San Deck, a terrace bar towered over by its own sloping exterior and neighbouring office buildings. Middle-class businessmen and women gather on wicker chairs and couches, while chilled house music plays in the background. Waiters deliver trays laden with international beer, South African wine and the hotel’s signature Sandtonista cocktails to those lounging on beanbags around fire pits. A cool breeze keeps temperatures comfortable after peaking at 34°C earlier in the day, and the pool remains bather–free as the sun dips behind an office tower across the road. It’s an easy place to while away a couple of hours, though the prices can make you feel like you’ve been robbed when you consider the cost of a bottle at a local liquor shop.

Sandton Sun Hotel Corner Fifth Street and Alice Lane, Sandton tsogosun.com 34 get lost ISSUE 53

Match craft beer with burgers at the Wolfpack.

7pm

The makings of a tasting paddle at Craft.

get in the know With six million trees planted in Johannesburg, the city is considered the world’s largest urban, man-made forest.

The affluent residential enclave of Parkhurst is a 15-minute drive from the gleaming business hub of Sandton, and 10 kilometres north of the CBD. Parkhurst is a very white area, where wealthy householders erect three-metre-high walls to protect their privacy (and belongings).

We park in a side street running off the historic Fourth Avenue, where an enterprising gent guides Phillemon into a tight space with animated gestures. For a tip of around 50 cents, he’ll guard our car until we return – a practice common in all parts of the country. It’s probably unnecessary, but for the peace of mind it provides it’s money well spent. Phillemon leads me to Craft on Fourth Avenue, which specialises in woodfired pizzas.

But there are also stews, moussaka, pork ribs and regional specialities like ostrich bobotie (a dish of baked, curried mince topped with savoury custard) and bone marrow-infused oxtail for around AU$12. Ingredients are all locally sourced

too. “It’s about reminding you of your childhood,” the manager explains of the home-cooked style offerings. It’s a little different to the meat and three veg served up when I was a kid. Craft’s also famous for its #OhShakes – overflowing milkshakes oozing with Nutella, salted caramel and crème brûlée flavours. But for something boozy, the drinks list features around 20 exotic cocktails, an equal number of gin creations from boutique distilleries around the country and 10 local craft beers on tap. We sit by the concertina doors, thrown open to embrace the evening air, and the manager sets down a tasting paddle.

With a bowl of mussels in a creamy white wine sauce on hand, I slurp my way through a Soweto Gold lager, the limited edition Tears of the Hipster pale ale, a Drifter Brewing Company’s Standard Coconut ale and finish with a lemony Mad Giant Guzzler pilsener.

Craft 33 Fourth Avenue, Parkhurst craftrestaurant.co.za

Dinner is served at Craft.

get in the know Johannesburg may have a bad reputation, but on average it takes police just 60 seconds to arrive on a crime scene when called.

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MYANMAR

Its popularity may be growing, but there’s plenty of Myanmar that is still off the radar. Mark Eveleigh explores the country’s eastern half and talks to members of its remarkable communities.

Photography by Mark Eveleigh

The rattle of steel wheels breaks the silence of a highland dawn in Kalaw, Shan State.

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MEXICO

THE CURIOUS CASE OF

Flash Parker takes on the sun, surf and an alter ego in Sayulita, one of those chilled villages on Mexico’s Pacific Coast everyone thought had long ago disappeared.

Photography by Flash Parker

School is in session on the beach at Sayulita.

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FRANCE

Dodging coppers and crawling through tiny cracks is all part of a night out in Paris’s catacombs.

Nick Place goes deep into the darkness beneath the City of Light.

Photography by Chapodepay and Nick Place

Bones from more than six million Parisians fill the tunnels of Paris’s extensive catacombs.

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CHINA

China’s westernmost city is as far removed from Beijing as you could possibly fathom.

Dave Hazzan unravels the ancient city of Kashgar.

Photography by Jo Turner

Cars may be banned in Kashgar’s Old City but motorcycles still whiz by, sometimes at ludicrous speeds.

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AUSTRALIA

I HINTERLAND Fanging through an obstacle course of thick ferns, jagged granite and towering gums, Chloe Cann learns the art of mountain biking at Tasmania’s new trail-based retreat.

Photography by Chloe Cann

Pump up dusty, sun-dappled trails at Blue Derby.

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t’s while careering down a mountainside at 30 kilometres an hour that I realise my once wide vocabulary has reduced to two little words.

“Fuuuck!” and “shit” aren’t typically part of my everyday vernacular, but they are making a frequent appearance on this craggy incline in the hinterland of north-eastern Tassie.

Uttered with varying degrees of frustration and terror, they are occasionally accompanied by noises most often found in labour wards.

I’m mountain biking the new Blue Derby trails, and have experienced almost every iPhone emoji imaginable. Though it seems most riders I pass experience just one: unadulterated glee.

As the largest single mountain bike project undertaken in Australia it’s a honey pot for enthusiasts of the sport, offering everything from cruisy greens through to gnarly double blacks. Anyone can pitch up to the trails, bike in tow, ready to test out what this remote and rugged corner has to offer. I spot all kinds of folks gearing up – families with young kids, lone riders with kelpies and big groups of fiftysomethings out on a weekend jaunt. But those who want to get the most out of Blue Derby’s bounty would be wise to enlist the help and guidance of expert local riders and, at a three-hour round-trip back to Launceston, to stay in lodging nearby.

Newcomer Blue Derby Pods Ride promises both, with some incredible Tasmanian produce tossed in for good measure. Dreamed up by young local couple Steve and Tara Howell some three years ago, their eco-friendly lodging was finished in April. Here, guests spend three days and two nights exploring the dirt ribbons that thread through the green valley and bedding down in four minimalist, custom-built cabins hidden deep in the forest.

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EUROPE VS

NORTH AMERICA

S N OW S H O W D O W N

The only way to reach Skoki Lodge is by foot or ski through the Canadian Rockies.

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Image: Paul Zizka Photography

Over four rounds these winter heavyweights battle it out in the snow.

First up, they face-off over their finest pistes. Round two sees ski-free escapades thrown into the ring, followed by a skirmish over cuisine.

Finally, the continents clash over the coolest in accommodation.

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