Despite my earlier reservations, it only took around half a day for Nanyuki to shift from being a strange land rife with potential dangers to my new home. I love waking up in the morning and seeing the gauzy form of Mt. Kenya through the filter of my mosquito net, which hangs from a four…
Author: Lauren Evans
Nairobi, Nanyuki and the Tyranny of “You’ll Be Fine!”
If I had to chronicle all the times I felt scared while I was traveling, you’d wonder why I do it at all. I feel scared on the plane (it’s going to crash); I feel scared in cars (they’re going to crash); I feel scared walking down the street (I’m going to trip, fall into…
Living With Geckos
At first, I was sure they were birds. “How the hell did it get in here?” my boyfriend wondered as we lay in bed, staring up at the darkened ceiling. Outside the window, Siem Reap was settling in to the business of night time. Dogs woofed in the distance; somewhere across the way, a deep…
Ratting Out Cambodia’s Landmines
I learned about the landmine-sniffing rats on my first day I was able to walk outside in Cambodia, which was my third day in the country. It took me so long to venture out because I’d somehow managed to pick up a cold in Hoi An, making me the first person in recorded history to…
Funky Balls: Vietnam’s Whip-Its
One of the beautiful things about traveling is stumbling upon forms of entertainment that make you cover your cheeks with your hands and shriek, Holy shit, they would never let us do this in America! Truly, isn’t that why any of us go anywhere? I discovered funky balls on my last night in Hanoi, after an…
Bourdain and Obama and Me
Despite being celebrated for its inconspicuousness, I was expecting more of a fuss at the bun cha shop where Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama famously dined together in Hanoi. In the eighth season premiere of Bourdain’s show, Parts Unknown, Bun Cha Huan Huong Lien is painted as a modest hole-in-the-wall at the outskirts of the…
Danse Macabre, Hanoi Scooter Edition
Having spent the last eightish years living in New York, I’d foolishly thought I had a handle on navigating crowded, noisy streets. But that was before I got to Hanoi. The only thing louder than the din of scooter horns is the sound of my nerves shattering every time I step outside. Like everyone with…
Here’s My Advice: Visit Elephant Nature Park
I remember the first and only time my parents took me to the circus. I was a pretty adventurous kid, always happy to be tossed into a pool of water or strapped into a roller coaster. But I hated the circus, so much so that we had to leave early because I wouldn’t stop crying….
Welcome to Thailand
I’m sitting in a cafe masquerading as a diner, and like so many of the places I enjoy the most, I’m embarrassed to say I like it. Two elderly white couples are chatting quietly in the adjacent booths, and assorted bric-a-brac is arranged self-consciously around the dining room. Out back, beneath the gray, persistently gravid…