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Cost/day: $100
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
For the first time in ten months, North Korean soldiers came down from their posts and took pictures of each other right outside the conference building joining North and South–while I was getting a tour inside the building.
However high the tension between the countries, it seemed trivialized by the bright blue paint and perfectly immobile South Korean soldiers in their teal uniforms and round helmets. It felt as if we were all acting in a play, not treading one of the highest security areas in the world.
There seems to be an interesting trend starting in the theatre world, one which has history lovers and travel addicts like me very, very intrigued.
Theatrical companies are facing declining audiences as many now flock to the more realistic experiences of the modern digitally-enhanced blockbuster, and they have been forced to get creative in their choice of staging. This has prompted some to do away with the stage altogether; catering to people’s interest in a more, shall we say, “immersive” theatre experience. As a result, some highly respected British drama companies are beginning to hold performances of historically-based plays on the very sites where those stories actually took place.
The latest—and largest—to follow this new trend is none other than Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The revered drama company recently announced plans to spend its new season performing the Bard’s three Henry VI plays, which cover the tumultuous and violent reign of Henry VI and the medieval War of the Roses, on the sites where the plays’ historic battles took place. The drenched-in-history surroundings of Tewkesbury, St Albans, Barnet, and Towton (no, NOT Downton) will see productions of the classic works set where the fifteenth-century king and his knights duked it out with his rivals for the crown.
A similar performance was also held at the Bosworth battlefield in a production of Shakespeare’s epic Richard III, the main character of which has recently gained new fame after his remains were unearthed in a car park near the site of his death in combat. Across the Channel, a performance of Henry V—famous for his victory over the French and his “Band of Brothers” speech riling up his hopelessly outnumbered troops—will take place in Agincourt, the site of his unlikely triumph.
So, if you find yourself near any of these historic and serene locales this year, you might just be able to experience a world-class performance of a classic play—on the soil upon which it all happened.
Suddenly, a night at the theatre doesn’t sound so boring, does it?
Cost/day: $70/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
A monitor lizard!! I wasn’t even in the park. I was just walking down the road, and I almost tripped over it. It was HUGE and scared me to death. I have been in awe of all of the different types of animals in Yala Park, though. Sloth bears, peacocks, a leopard and her cubs, elephants, monkeys. It’s incredible.
Cost/day (for a family of five):
Strangest thing we’ve seen lately:
Before his wish to die, but well after 40 degree fever and horrifying nightmares, the kindly villagers performed ritual healing ceremonies on my husband Kobi. They picked two of this leaf, four of that one, this root, that berry and cooked them over a banana-leaf-sealed open-fired vat. Then, with ritual prayer chanting, candles, and incense burning, he was stuffed under a dozen thick blankets to breath the steam, drank a cup o it, and bathed in the waters. Their love and earnest determination to cure him were touching. Two days later, he was hospitalized.
Cost/day: $20
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
Evidence of Google Translate is everywhere. I constantly find signs and packages in nonsensical English. Take, for example, this paper bag from a local cookie shop:
“The infinity love which is not condition of the father who thinks the family.”
Cost/day: $40/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
Our family of seven is camping in Mexico beneath a full moon and enjoying a tranquil evening after crossing the border into this ‘dangerous’ country. Just the day before, we were warned that we were ‘risking our children’s lives’ by taking them to such a lawless place.’ Completely alone in a farmer’s field, we watched the sun peacefully set and then rise again the next morning on our first full day in Mexico.
Cost/day: $80/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
I discovered the smallest island in the world in Sumatra. It’s made entirely of sand, and it’s covered in starfish. The locals call it Sand Island. It’s off the coast of Belitung Island in Southern Sumatra. The island is so small that there isn’t even a palm tree. But lots of starfish float upon it’s shores, and they are the biggest starfish that I’ve ever seen.
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Cost/day: $50/day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
The Panama Canal. I sat on the observation deck for hours, watching in amazement as several ships passed through one of mankind’s greatest engineering feats – which saves ships the arduous 8,000 mile (12,875 km) journey around South America by connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.
Cost/day: $40
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
A gold coloured gun as it was being stuck at my nose by a young man on the streets of Mendoza. I’m no gun expert, but something felt weird about the gun. Also, the young man holding it was smaller than I was and for some reason, that made me feel more surprised at the experience than afraid. But the gun sticks out in my mind very distinctively.
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Cost/day: $50-70 a day
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?
The collective depression of San Francisco’s denizens after their beloved 49’ers lost a thrilling Superbowl against the Baltimore Raven’s was a strange and unfortunate phenomenon to witness. Red-clad, boozed and bleary eyed folk sat in the few bars that bothered to stay open, mumbling incoherently to themselves and shaking their heads. It was a painful loss, given that the 9’ers had responded to a first half spanking and a 35 minute power outage by surging back and, very nearly, pulling off a preposterous comeback. But it wasn’t to be and, instead of partying in the delirium of a win, the city grumbled, cried, drank heavily and then went to bed early.
Impromptu sidewalk dance party. Not that strange in San Fran.
