PIERRE TRUDEAU & The Longest Portage CANADA’S TOP PHOTOJOURNALISTS Larry Towell & Co.
TRAVEL FOR REAL
in Peru with Wade Davis
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Ultramarathoner Chad Ulansky
Kayaking Siberia Ancient Tsunamis Return of the Hippies
MARCH/ APRIL 2006
50
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South Dakota’s Badlands Crazy Horse Revisited Solo in the Sahara
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FOR REAL A mystical trek
CANADA'S TOP ADVENTURE TRAVEL MAGAZINE
CANADA’S TOP ADVENTURE TRAVEL MAGAZINE
10 YEARS OF TRAVEL
OUTPOST TRAVEL FOR REAL
OUTPOST TRAVEL FOR REAL
Outpost ★BONUS★ Taiwan’s amazing Kinmen Islands
Outpost50 contents MARCH/APRIL 2006
Tripping 12 Local Knowledge Bangkok’s tuk-tuks; Malaysia’s sea-turtles; Sleeping with strangers
16 Canada Made Me THE LONGEST PORTAGE Pierre Trudeau’s epic canoe advice Hippies Return; Red Gnar; Spirit of Canada
22 Going Hard THE LONELY PATH OF QUIET TERROR Solo in the Sahara
24 Field Notes ANCIENT TSUNAMI: Israel’s lost seaport
28 Comix WELCOME TO MY COUNTRY Winter’s Blues Boys
30 Full Tilt into the 21st Century A look at the decade’s big travel stories
35 Healthpost Why we need IAMAT
40 Bad Karma at the Border Trapped in the no-man’s land of Nigeria-Benin
42 The Middle Ages Documenting a lost generation
44 Monsoon Cup A race that’s really not for beginners
46 MEC’s The Traveller’s Edge 82 Open Box Outpost investigates satellite radio
83 Our Readership Survey 87 Big Fat Word Reviews: Bhutan, bike, and blog books; retro-hip CDs
90 Backpackerz Buzz News from Hostelling International
98 Wright of Way PHOTO, TOP: PATTI GOWER; BOTTOM: CHAD ULANSKY
Features 49 1000 Bright Tomorrows Story and photos: Lionel Mann In Taiwan’s remote Kinmen Islands, an ancient craft turns the props of modern history into things of beauty.
54 Almost a Desert, Never the Same Story: Ryan Murdock / Photos: Jason George South Dakota’s super-sized badlands contain many big surprises, including a huge mountain that is slowly being blasted into an effigy of the great Native American hero. PLUS: Crazy Horse Redux
64 The Fearsome Theatre of Qoyllur Rit’i Story: Andrew Gregg / Photos: Wade Davis, Andrew Gregg The annual pilgrimage to Peru’s Valley of the Gods features men dressed as bears whipping each other in a syncretistic ritual dating back to the Incas. Andrew Gregg goes on a mystic trek into the unknown with Wade Davis.
70 Awful and True Story: Larry Frolick Photos: Larry Towell, Lana Slezic, Roger Lemoyne, Steve Simon, Patti Gower Legendary photojournalist Larry Towell leads a stellar company of award-winning Canadian professionals into the stark world of 9/11.
Photo: steve simon
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Outpost travel for real
no.50
Publisher
Matt Robinson matt@outpostmagazine.com Editor
LARRY FROLICK larry@outpostmagazine.com Editors-at-Large
christopher frey chris@outpostmagazine.com kevin vallely kevin@outpostmagazine.com Senior Editor, Travel Health DEBORAH SANBORN deborah@outpostmagazine.com Senior Editor kevin black black@outpostmagazine.com Photographers-at-Large
Lorne bridgman, donald weber Art Director
stephen gregory stephen@outpostmagazine.com Map Design & Illustration
Steve wilson Designer
alexandra ishigaki Associate Editors
cale bain, lionel mann, Krishna Rau
Thumbing it by Sea
Assistant Gear Editor
I am in the process of planning a trip to Ecuador, and I was in MEC shopping for a travel pack, when I came across an article about crewing or thumbing it by sea. It sounds cheap and adventurous; where can I get more info? Rodjer Labrador (by email) “Thumbing it by Sea,” by Lyndon Ulmer, (Outpost, Issue #47), was a MEC Traveller’s Tip. Check out The Cruise People, at www.tcpltd.com for freighter fares. If all else fails, head for the Caribbean as summer approaches, when a lot of winter sailors look for crew to help move their boats north. See our next Issue #51 for more on tripping cheaply over Big Water.
Scott Jordan
Contributing Editors
michael buckley, Paul Carlucci, chris chopik, david field, adnan khan, Patti Gower, Tyler Stiem, Chad Ulansky Explorers Club Co-Editor
JOSEPH FREY
Online Manager LIONEL MANN lionel@outpostmagazine.com Reviewer
Pat Kennedy Editorial Assistant
One Volunteer’s Experience: John Gallagher, Toronto
Volunteering Abroad Hi. I have been looking on the internet for volunteer opportunities abroad this summer. In terms of location, I was thinking of somewhere in South America. Could you recommend a reputable organization? Taylor Dyon Mississauga, ON
“The town I ended up in was called Rosario do Sul, in the furthest south state of Brazil. It is a Canada World Youth destination, with its share of problems. Home of the Gaucho, with pink and yellow cube houses. Poverty, but local people have an uncanny ability to make the most of things, finding any excuse to throw a party. The main thing to look at when volunteering abroad is cost. The word ‘volunteer’ does not only mean you will not get paid, but a large percentage of programs may have you shell out $3,000 or more for a month or two program. There are quite a wide variety of programs: agricultural and community work, even working on computers in an IT department. By the way: The people of Rosario were really great, I am going down there again this year!”
The best recommendation comes from someone who has just worked abroad as a volunteer. We asked John Gallagher, 22, who recently spent a few months in southern Brazil working in a home for the aged (see box). Also, check out our global Volunteer Guide (Issue #47)—and ask some returnees directly.
…And Outpost Makes Three I love this magazine! My boyfriend bought me a two-year subscription and now it’s time to renew and we are married! Thanks for the trip ideas, we had an amazing honeymoon. Holly Vibert Thunder Bay Outpost welcomes
The West Weighs In, Too Love your magazine! I have been reading it for years and it’s the only one I read cover to cover. Heather Michaud Turner Valley, AB
Outpost march/april 2006 www.outpostmagazine.com
our readers’ letters. And please check out our National Adventure Travel Reader Survey on page 83—Free prizes!
Elaine wiltshire
Outpost [ISSN: 1203-7125] is published six times a year by: Outpost Incorporated, 425 Queen St. W., Suite 201 Toronto, ON M5V 2A5 Editorial and Business Tel: [416] 972-6635 Advertising Tel: [416] 972-6527 Fax: [416] 972-6645 E-mail: info@outpostmagazine.com Web site: outpostmagazine.com Individual Subscriptions Canada: 1 Year [6 Issues] $20 Cdn, 2 years $35 Cdn USA: 1 Year [6 Issues] $30 US, 2 years $50 US Intl: 1 Year [6 Issues] $40 US, 2 years $60 US Subscriber Services: 416-972-6635. Although we rarely do, we may make our subscriber list available to carefully screened companies and organizations whose products may be of interest to our readers. To be excluded from these mailings email us at circ@ outpostmagazine.com, or write to the above address. Subscriptions to Outpost are also available through memberships to Hostelling International in British Columbia and Alberta for $35 Cdn. Publications Mail Agreement #0040017920 Postmaster send address changes & undeliverable copies to above address. PAP Registration No. 10626 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada, through the Canada Magazine Fund and the Publications Assistance Program (PAP), toward our editorial and mailing costs. Copyright 2005 Outpost Incorporated. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Printed in Canada. Outpost is a member of Magazines Canada.
clockwise from top left: The southeastern coast of Taiwan Warming tea in one of the many night markets in Taiwan Round and round the carousel goes in the Hualien night market A hunting knife and meat cleaver by Maestro Wu’s hands
islets and lies 200 kilometres west of Taiwan. The largest island, also named Kinmen, and the second largest, Liehyu—sometimes called “Little Kinmen”—are the only two open for tourism. Within an Olympic swimmer’s distance, only two kilometres away, sits mainland China’s Fujian province, which squeezes the group of islands on three of its four sides. Under watchful eyes, Chinese and Taiwanese fishing boats share the ocean, bobbing like corks and reeling in their nightly catches of lobster, crab and fish. Kinmen is a lot closer to China than to the rest of Taiwan. Due to its strategic position, Kinmen was only opened to tourism in 1992 after years of military rule. Up until that year, there were 100,000 soldiers patrolling the area; today there are only 12,000 stationed here, and hardly visible.
It was not always this amicable. In 1949 the Chinese Civil War descended on these islands. Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Kinmen and transformed it into a frontline defence position against Mao Zedong’s encroaching Communists. Many battles ensued, but it wasn’t until 1958 that the real assault began. China pounded Kinmen for 44 days with
50 Outpost march/april 2006 www.outpostmagazine.com
more than 475,000 bombs in total. Propaganda bombs rained pro-communist leaflets down on the inhabitants of Kinmen every other night for the next 20 years. A typical leaflet, showing a smiling Chinese couple, read: “Don’t waste your life.” But brochures such as these were not enough to make the Taiwanese surrender.
The 1958 bombing of Kinmen left the main island with hundreds of ruined buildings. Over time these were all rebuilt. Twenty years of non-stop shelling, however, left the islands not only with an expensive mess, but also an unexpected souvenir and resource. The propaganda bombs were made of stainless steel. In the hands of industrious entrepreneurs that high-quality steel formed the basis of what would become a thriving industry: Knife-making. Wu Tseng-dong is one such entrepreneur, the most eminent knife-maker on the island. When we meet, he greets me with a broad smile and a firm handshake and he ushers me into his shop. The factory is located behind a door in the back of the shop: the Chin Ho Li Steel Knife Factory. Impressively laid out like a high-end downtown Taipei store, bright lights focus on spotless
Almost a Desert,N
S
ta t,Neverthe
Same ★
Ryan Murdock discovers South Dakota’s Badlands, where the big sky races time and time stands still Photos: Jason George
photo: wade davis
64 Outpost march/april 2006  www.outpostmagazine.com
THE FEARSOME THEATRE OF
QOYLLUR RIT’I
In Peru’s Valley of the Gods, pilgrims dressed as wild bears whip the air in a ritual dating back to the Incas. Andrew Gregg takes a trek into the unknown with author-explorer Wade Davis PHOTOS: WADE DAVIS, ANDREW GREGG
The dust along the road settles like flour over the children’s faces. These kids—farmers’ children overwhelmed by the sudden stream of traffic rumbling through their usually quiet Peruvian village—stretch out their hands, asking for money. But with so many vehicles moving steadily up the road, they have no place to direct their pleas. A convoy of trucks and busses passes them without hesitation, stopping for nothing on a pilgrimage to the indigenous mountain gods, the Apus. Our destination: The foot of Mount Ausangate, the highest and most powerful peak in this part of the Andes. Once there, thousands of Quechuen from Peru and the surrounding nations will revel in the Qoyllur Rit’i, one of the greatest aboriginal festivals in the Americas. For me, along with two National Geographic explorers-in-residence, Wade Davis and Johan Reinhard, the Qoyllur Rit’i will be the high point in a story of two seemingly opposite religions—the Catholic and the Incan—unified at 4,700 metres.
www.outpostmagazine.com MARCH/APRIL 2006 Outpost
65
AWFUL AND TRUE Documentary photographer Larry Towell leads a stellar company of peers into the stark world of 9/11. Larry Frolick interviews Canada’s top photojournalists, the men and women who shoot the front pages for a living Photos: Larry Towell Lana Slezic Roger Lemoyne Steve Simon Patti Gower
Israel. Ramallah. West Bank. 2000. Palestinian demonstrators in clash with Israeli soldiers.
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