Wanderlost #5
This week on Wanderlost newsletter: sea nomads, wheeled nomads and digital nomads, ancient photographs, winter in China and much more.
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NOMADS
When we think of nomads, images of brave people riding horses in the steppes rapidly come to our minds. Have you ever heard of sea nomads instead? In this amazing gallery, Australian photographer Mark Leon shows us the traditional way of life of the Bajau Laut people. These ancient nomad tribes spend their lives on board small wooden boats, in the seas off Malaysian Borneo coast.
Argentinian photoreporter Walter Astrada, after 20 years into his profession, decided to leave everything behind and set off on a round-the-world trip. He learned how to ride a bike, took a bunch of clothes and photographic equipment with him, and left from Barcelona, Spain: as of today, Astrada has been on the road for 8 months. He’s in Myanmar now, and here you can follow him in his adventure.
“If you think too much, in the end you’ll never do it. I wanted to go around the world, and I thought I could do it by motorcycle.”
If you’re up to a nomadic lifestyle, Swedish operator Rebtel offers unlimited phone calls for his users all over the world. Plus, the service will go for free till the end of 2016!
TIME TRAVEL
You’re crossing the States, it’s been a long day on the road and you decide to stop by for a refreshing beer, or a whiskey if you fancy. The barman stares at you in disbelief: “We don’t sell that shit here, cowboy!”. Don’t worry, it’s not the 1920s, it’s just Kansas. Believe it or not, a few states, counties and municipalities in the US still ban the sale of alcohol under the current (2016) legislation. Here’s a map, avoid the red dots if you wanna get some booze.
At the end of the 19th century, and till the start of WWI, the golden age of expeditions brought several dozens of explorers to wander through the vast expanses of ice in Antarctica.
After more than a century, one can still spot some of the shacks used as shelters by those brave adventurers. One of this huts was used by Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1914 (Google Street View), and a small box containing frozen films was rescued from there, providing invaluable evidence of the first men ever to venture in the last unexplored continent.
It may not be as exotic as Antarctica, but those negatives by Bud Glick dating back to the 80s are nonetheless pretty amazing. They depict New York’s ever-changing, bustling Chinatown, and they’re quite nostalgic.
If you like traveling in space and time, good news my friend. New York Public Library has recently shared more than 180.000 digitized items, including some unique and rare materials. There’s a rather complex system to search through such an immense collection, so we suggest you to simply get lost in this endless world of pictures.
WINTER IN CHINA
Southern China is known for its hot and humid climate. Yet, winter is being particularly harsh down there this time, and the huge metropolis of Guangzhou has seen the first snowfall in 70 years. Romantic, isn’t it? Well, probably not, if you ask one of the 100.000 citizens who got stuck on queue outside Guangzhou train station.
In the mean time, a few thousands km away, the city of Harbin in northern China has just hosted the 32nd edition of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. It’s tacky yet magnificent, exaggerated and undeniably kitsch, and it’s definitely in our to do list.
We hope you enjoyed this fourth issue of our newsletter, see you next week!
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