In Portugal’s southern Alentejo province, near the town of Evora, in the incongruous midst of a vast cork plantation, stands Portugal’s Stonehenge. It is called Os Almendres. Around 6,000 years ago, for no obvious reason, …
March 20, 2022
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Stories by Ken Jackson
Os Almendres: Portugal's Stonehenge
A Mexicali Chinese New Year
Before washing up in San Diego, I lived as an expatriate “gweilo” (foreign devil) in Hong Kong for 20 years. In Hong Kong, I had cultivated a taste for exotic South China cuisine like blood …
January 11, 2021
Fascinating Kinmen, Taiwan
A convenient weekend break from the noise and bustle of Taipei is a one-hour flight to the island of Kinmen. Although Kinmen is controlled by Taiwan, it lies only eight kilometers from the Chinese mainland …
October 14, 2018
A "wee" island off the Devon coast
It seemed like a great stroke of luck when I booked the last two tickets available on the M.S. Oldenberg from Bideford, North Devon, to Lundy Island on a high-season Saturday. That is, until I …
May 29, 2016
Adventures in Tawi-Tawi
Editor's note: The author visited Tawi Tawi in 2007. There are a few more accommodations there now, it looks like. A few years ago, ignoring the advice of our horrified Filipino friends, my wife and …
March 26, 2015
Pago Pago, American Samoa
A thick drizzle soaked me one Saturday afternoon in Pago Pago, American Samoa. (Pronounced something like “Pango Pango.) But the drizzle was a welcome relief from the Deluge of Heaven that had just raced across …
February 18, 2014
Other people's luggage
Imagine any Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their six-year-old daughter Suzie from Cairo, Illinois. They have just finished touring England on a bus. At Heathrow, they check in for their flight home. They give their …
Up a Mangrove Channel in Micronesia
“Whenever you come to a fork in the channel, go left,” the owner of my hotel said as he prepared a kayak for me to paddle into the Mutunnenea Channel in northeastern Kosrae, Micronesia. “Eventually …
February 12, 2013
An American in Dalat
“Welcome to Dalat. Please give me your passports. You are American? How do you come here?” Not an unusual greeting from the young female receptionist in a white ao dai local dress at the Dalat …
November 19, 2012
One Night in the French Quarter
Before Katrina devastated New Orleans, the State of Alabama sent me and two other newly appointed law clerks to attend a conference there. We were given a pre-paid twin room at the Hotel Monteleone (for …
October 16, 2012
Thirsting for Knowledge in Macau
In the former Portuguese colony of Macau, the tourist office pamphlet promoting the wine museum offered an incredible enticement. Admission with wine tasting costs 15 Macau patacas (U.S. $2), and “of the new wines, about …
September 7, 2012
Hong Kong: The Number One Wanchai Rule
A female undercover cop in Neptune, the notorious subterranean disco in Wanchai’s red light district, pulled out her badge and shouted over the band at my well-served friend. “Excuse me, sir. Did you just say, …
July 21, 2012
Saigon: Be Careful What You Shop For
“So, you’re going to Vietnam? Can you pick up an ‘ao dai’ for me while you’re there?” If a casual female friend ever says this to you, politely decline. Say you’re sorry; you’ll be too …
June 26, 2012
England's Eclipse, 1999
“That’s eet, then?” With that summation, the last total eclipse of the millennium ended after 40 seconds under an overcast sky on Dartmoor for a young Manchester woman with two cranky kids. “I kood ‘ave …
May 31, 2012
Speedboat to Battambang
Last rainy season, after a few days touring the temples of Ankgor, I decided to visit the former French capital of northwestern Cambodia – Battambang. My guidebook explained that traveling to Battambang by speedboat was …
April 14, 2012
Looking Back: Day Trip up the Khyber Pass, 1998
There is a 19th-century Protestant church at the south end of Bombay’s Colaba Causeway. It has a disproportionately tall steeple, and before the skyline of Nariman Point was developed, it was the most prominent landmark …
Captivating Cape Verde: Locked in an African Wine Bar
I’m sitting in an African bar scratching a description of Praia, Cape Verde, into a notebook, sipping my third cup of passable Portuguese plonk. I don't know if it was my intense concentration on the …
Traveling in Style: A Personal Train through Transylvania
“The painfully slow Personal trains should be avoided as a rule, unless you’re heading for some tiny destination.” – The Rough Guide to Romania “These trains are achingly slow.” – Lonely Planet: Eastern Europe I …
January 24, 2012
Bordering on Lunacy: A Taxi Tour in the Mexican Borderlands
Ciudad Acuña is a small Mexican border town near Del Rio, Texas. Day-tripping Americans come for shopping, cheap booze and a shot at depravity in the compact tourist zone near the international bridge. Occasionally, a …
January 2, 2012
Another Hong Kong Afternoon
A Chinese Gollum squatting on a concrete stool Savors a secondhand cigarette butt And searches the sacred text of his racing form For a path to redemption. In a nearby meat shop, a bloody-shirted man …
September 1, 2011
An English D-Day Remnant: Devon, England
An unlikely memorial to the D-Day invasion lies half-hidden in a narrow wind-ravaged valley among the sand dunes of Braunton Burrows on the north coast of Devon, England. While the remembrance sites in France have …
May 12, 2011