• About Us

    Audrey Scott and Daniel Noll serve up a scatter plot of observations from rapidly changing countries on their journey around the world. Tune into Uncornered Market for human stories, engaging travel photography, street food reportage, and insights into personal growth. Read more…

  • Article Channels

    Travel Articles

    Food Articles

    Opinion and Perspective Articles

    Humor Articles
  • Donate: Buy a Footstep

    Currency:

    Amount:

    Website(Optional):

  • Articles by Country

  • Articles by Topic

  • Monthly Archives

  • Check These Out

  • Buy from Amazon

  • Suggested Reading

    How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization

    How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
    Author: Franklin Foer
    Who knew you could learn so much about globalization, economics and politics from soccer? Great read.

    Artist\'s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

    Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
    Author: Julia Cameron
    One possible path to re-discovering the creativity you never knew you had.

    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition

    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition
    Author: Jared Diamond
    An admirable crack at explaining why the world is the way it is by way of an anthropological macro-history. This book probably comes up the most in conversation as we travel.

    The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back

    The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back
    Author: Bill Shore
    Inspiring profiles of social entrepreneurs and projects we all can learn from and hopefully replicate to give back to community.

    Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation

    Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
    Author: John Carlin
    Although the storyline is built around the South African rugby team and the 1995 World Cup, this book is more about Nelson Mandela and how he was able to unite a divided country. Inspiring.

    Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

    Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
    Author: Paul Theroux
    The author re-visits Africa and re-assesses the place he once knew... and judges it once and for all. Well written, poignant observations of the thumbprints left by career politicians, aid workers, and everyday people.

    Outliers: The Story of Success

    Outliers: The Story of Success
    Author: Malcolm Gladwell
    A look at the internal and external factors of how extraordinary people got to be, well, extraordinary. One of those books that challenges assumptions and makes you think differently.

    Three Cups of Tea: One Man\'s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

    Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
    Author: David Oliver Relin
    Incredible story of how a mountaineer and traveler changed his life around to build schools for poor villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Building trust and listening are key in making his projects sustainable.

Category Archive: Humor

Nibbles That Give Me the Shivers (or, Sh*t I Wouldn’t Eat Again)

The key to eating grilled mutton is to chew and swallow it before the fat cools and congeals on the roof of your mouth.

— Our guerrilla eating tip for Central Asia.

“You guys seem to have only good things to say about your experiences, especially the food. Have you ever had a bad meal? Something disappointing, gross, or even repulsive?”

You bet. Continue Reading »

What’s Missing From My Hotel Room

When I was a management consultant and clients footed the bill for my travel expenses, I had a colleague with a knack for milking his four- and five-star hotel stays for all they were worth. For example, he would request turn-down service multiple times in one night.  “For the chocolates,” he’d say.  Then he’d take a walk down the hall and raid the maid’s cart for more.

In the understatement of the century, let’s just say that the nature of my accommodation concerns has evolved. The days of watching colleagues stalk turn-down maids have been replaced by nights searching for hotel attendees in dark, dank hallways that recall films like “Psycho” (cinematic excellence) and “Hostel” (a cinematic abomination).
Fisheye Hotel Room in San Francisco el Alto, Guatemala Continue Reading »

Dating Advice from Galapagos Birds (or, When Charles Darwin Meets Cosmo)

I’ve been out of the dating game for exactly 12 years, so maybe I’m not the best person to write about how to snag a man. However, during our recent trip to the Galapagos Islands, I observed the behaviors of various birds and something struck me: their mating habits reminded me of those dating advice columns I used to read in Cosmo.

If memory serves, it’s a cruel dating world out there. For those of you still in the game, take comfort that the animal kingdom knows no more forgiveness than our human one.

Were Charles Darwin to lead a voyage into the realm of dating advice, perhaps this is where he’d take us: Continue Reading »



Article Series - Galapagos Islands

  1. 8 Days in the Galapagos Islands: A Photo Tour
  2. Dating Advice from Galapagos Birds (or, When Charles Darwin Meets Cosmo)

Why Pandas Need Air Conditioning

Just One More
In zoos all over the world, crowds battle to catch a peek of one of the world’s most recognizable and rarest animals, the giant panda. During our visit to the Chendgu Panda Breeding Research Center, tourists were so few that the pandas actually invited us to join them and granted us an interview. Here’s what Jing-Jing, their spokesperson, had to say: Continue Reading »

What Annoys Men? The Definitive Guide from Calcutta

Lakshmana Temple - KhajurahoAstute Chinese women told us what they thought about men in Ten Secrets of Women Call.

Now, men get their say.

For all the women out there who spend countless hours wondering what annoys men, this one’s for you. Continue Reading »

Bogartin’ on Gordi

Bogartin’ on Gordi!”

That’s what Russia is doing in Gori, Georgia – at least according to Angelo Moore, the lead singer of the ska-funk band Fishbone. Our conversation with Angelo takes place at the be2gether summer music festival , on the border of Lithuania and Belarus.

Even so, Angelo had a bit of trouble placing Lithuania and Belarus – and Russia and Georgia, too. But who wouldn’t?

Check out the video. It gives a taste of the be2gether festival atmosphere and finishes with Angelo’s take on international affairs. Continue Reading »



Article Series - Be2gether Festival

  1. Politics Without Borders
  2. Bogartin’ on Gordi

A Wife for a Goat?

While sifting through papers tonight, I found this Kolkata (Calcutta) newspaper clipping from our time there in April 2008. I couldn’t have made this up if I tried.

Man swaps wife for goat

A Bulgarian farmer has swapped his wife for a goat – because she couldn’t give him kids. Stoil Panayotov exchanged his third wife with Elena, the eight-year-old goat at a livestock market. The extraordinary deal was concluded in front of a stunned crowd in the market town of Plovdiv, central Bulgaria. “The day before, a friend told me that he has had no luck with women and that he really liked my wife,” says the 54-year-old. “The deal was reached when my wife gave her approval. The goat has given birth to three kids and my wife to none. So this deal was more profitable to the goat owner, I got a secondhand goat and he got a brand new wife.”

The Wine Bends: A Detour in the Austrian Countryside

Under a Watchful EyeAh, Austria. We could wax artistic about Vienna’s museums, poke fun at the people in period outfits selling classical music concert tickets, tell stories about Euro 2008, or tempt you with impressions of Viennese coffee houses and flaky apple strudel.

But what fun would that be? You can read about that in the New York Times Travel Section, Conde Naste Traveler or any other travel magazine.

Instead we’ll share how, with the help of an Austrian friend and an unplanned turn of events, we discovered the real Austria in the country’s Weinviertel (Wine Quarter) about an hour outside of Vienna. Continue Reading »

Hitching a Ride with the Chinese Olympic Spitting Team

We were on another long-distance bus in the middle of nowhere, this time in heart of China’s Yunnan province. Heavy, sporadic rains danced on rice terraces whose luxuriant greens complemented the surrounding hills of red clay. It was just another iconic, beautiful moment on our journey through China.
All Aboard the Chinese Olympic Spitting Team Express
Then came the symphony of throat-clearing and phlegm-dredging; pools of mucous-laden saliva slowly crept along the metal crevices in the aisle. Continue Reading »

7 Ways to Trek Like a Supermodel

Gemma Ward on VogueImagine hiking with a Vogue cover girl and not realizing it.

As if our trek around the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal wasn’t interesting enough, we accomplished it with Australian supermodel Gemma Ward close at hand most of the way.

Unfortunately, the rumors regarding Gemma’s identity didn’t begin circulating until the final days of the trek. “I think she’s a model. I’m sure I’ve seen her on Fashion TV,” echoed among the young Israelis – fresh from military service – trekking with us. [Aside: Fashion TV piped into Israeli military barracks?!]

And we only truly believed them when we connected to the internet and found the photo above. By then it was too late to play alpine paparazzi. But we did get a peek. Continue Reading »

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site Map
© 2006-2010, Uncornered Market.
Articles may be excerpted with attribution, but not reproduced in whole. Photos may not be used without prior permission.