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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Shantaram: A Novel
Author: Gregory David Roberts
Administering first aid in a Bombay slum, selling fake passports and running guns to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Technically a novel, but closely linked to the Author's own experiences. Fantastic read.
We’re often asked about our favorite markets. The panorama below puts you in the middle of one of them in Udaipur, India. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: India, Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
9 Comments | 12 September 2011
Ever want to just be a kid again and swing to your heart’s content? Then we have the perfect place for you. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
12 Comments | 10 August 2011
What better time to visit Crawford Market in Mumbai than mango season! Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
11 Comments | 30 May 2011
So you think Indian food is just chicken tikka masala and palak paneer? Think again.
Recently, I’ve settled into a familiar morning routine: a masala dosa and sweet milk coffee in a simple canteen just down the street. Attendants make their rounds with metal pails full of sambar and colorful wet chutneys, ensuring that all customers have ample supply, more than enough to eat.
The activity, the flow, the smell and most certainly the taste all make me feel at home. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Food, India by: Audrey Scott
40 Comments | 25 February 2011
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been uploading the remaining photos from our travels through India and Nepal in 2008 (This New Year’s resolution, if you’re wondering: NEVER EVER allow ourselves to get this far behind on photos.)
Experiences, emotions, and even memories of certain smells came back to me as I added labels and descriptions.
Sometimes a story behind a photo really stays with you. While sifting through our images from Udaipur (a terrific town in the Indian state of Rajasthan), I came across this photo of a girl we’d met in the market there. In some ways, it looks like so many of our other photos of children and people in India – colorful, human, evocative. But to me, this image carried a story — and a lesson.
Continue Reading »
Filed Under: India, Personal Growth by: Audrey Scott
26 Comments | 1 January 2011
Smack dab in the middle of Tamil Nadu in southern India is the city of Tiruchirappalli (say that three times fast), or Trichy (much easier to say, isn’t it?). It boasts several famous Hindu temples, including Sri Ranganathaswamy (You can say that three times fast, too, if you like.)
What you see is classic India: one part deep history of layered carvings and colorful paintings and another part everyday life of bicycles, shops, street stalls and kids trying to pronounce Audrey’s name. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Panorama by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
8 Comments | 27 December 2010
Bad luck in Berlin takes us on a flashback to southern India.
Continue Reading »
Filed Under: India, Travel by: Daniel Noll
15 Comments | 23 September 2010
I recently shared our stories of Chandigarh with a group of new friends over a beer and was shocked to find someone who not only knew of Chandigarh but also asked me what I thought about the “Rock Garden.”
As cool as the Nek Chand Rock Garden is, the story of its construction and evolution in the unlikely city of Chandigarh is even cooler. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: India, Panorama by: Daniel Noll
20 Comments | 13 August 2010
The driver carved his way across northern West Bengal through territory unknown to most, including the mapmakers. Our SUV eventually rolled to a stop at the end of a dirt road where a group of village women dressed in their best and brightest saris were seated in a semi-circle on the ground. They had been waiting for hours.
And they were waiting for us.
Continue Reading »
Filed Under: India, Perspectives by: Audrey Scott
10 Comments | 19 September 2009
To say that you’ve seen the world before seeing India is like saying you know yourself before taking a good long look at your naked body in the mirror.
Evening Puja (Prayers) in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Click Fullscreen (4 arrows) and move around the panoramic image.
Author’s Note: As we begin to write about our last visit to India in greater depth, I’m reminded of my first trip there — also my first trip abroad that I took solo in 1997. Those were the days of traveler’s checks, thick stapled wads of Indian rupees, and exorbitantly priced, poor quality phone calls booked from telephone wallahs on the street. The ATM machines, internet cafes and easy-to-purchase mobile phone SIM cards of today’s India seemed only a pipe dream back then.
This is the first of a multi-part series chronicling the bizarre experiences and lessons – about India, travel and me – that first visit imparted. No other trip since has affected me in quite the same way. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: India, Perspectives, Travel by: Daniel Noll
31 Comments | 31 August 2009
