Eat, Pray, Scrub

in Bali

I don’t normally swallow mysterious pills from strangers, but in Ubud I made an exception. This small-but-lively city is the health capital of Bali, and I couldn’t resist tracking down Wayan Nuriasih, one of the star healers from the book Eat, Pray, Love, and trying her jamu—traditional Indonesian medicinal concoctions.

Join me in Wayan’s health drink-serving, palm-reading, future-forecasting, herbal-scrubbing, massage-giving, bodywork shop as the healer uses me to entertain the neighborhood. The story, published in Wandering in Bali: A Tropical Paradise Discovered, will be available on June 1, 2012.

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Magical Beans

in Bali,Culinary Tourism

The world’s most exquisite coffee—and certainly the most expensive—is made from coffee beans that have been eaten, partially digested, and excreted by a small Southeast Asian creature called the luwak. Come along as I explore Bali, track down the paradoxical creature that produces Indonesian Kopi Luwak, and learn its secrets.

The story is in Wandering in Bali: A Tropical Paradise Discovered, available June 1st, 2012.

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Elizabeth Gilbert’s Literary Cookbook

May 9, 2012
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Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray, Love was at the top of my reading list when I planned a trip to Bali last year. The memoir so impressed me that upon arriving in Ubud, I followed Gilbert’s path to meet healer Wayan Nuriasih in person, and tried her herbal jamu…

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Silk from Ashes

April 23, 2012
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Read Silk from Ashes to find out how the women in Dubrovnik, after enduring bombs and occupation, siege and starvation, were able to transmute ashes into a source of dignity and independence — with a little help from 11,640 insect eggs hidden in one courageous woman’s cleavage.

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Bali Photo-Journal

April 23, 2012
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Bali is festivals and floral offerings, ceremonies and spas, the echo of gamelan music floating across rice fields … centuries-old temples, intricately-carved wooden masks, hypnotic dance, batik, magical double-ikat weaving, and Ubud’s Sacred Monkey Forest. View more than 300 photos of Bali’s best sights…

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What Eve Ensler Knows

March 27, 2012
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“Bullets,” Eve Ensler says, “are hardened tears.” Boys, too, need to embrace their “girl cells.”

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Animal Attraction in San Francisco

March 5, 2012

“Nothing in life is more important than sex.” So says Steinhart Aquarium Director Bart Shepherd, and I’m inclined to agree. Shepherd recently announced the opening of a new exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences about sex, mating, and evolution. This first new gallery since the new Steinhart Aquarium opened in 2008 is also the [...]

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Free Today: Top Ten San Francisco iPhone Apps

February 16, 2012

The 10 most popular iPhone travel apps that cover San Francisco and surrounding region are free this Wed-Fri, February 15-17, 2012. From daytrips to the coast to best city restaurants, outdoor recreation, annual events, accommodations, shopping and much more, these iPhone apps have got the Bay Area nailed down — big-time! Thousands of color photos, [...]

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Roz Savage Breaks Another World Record

November 29, 2011
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Adventurer and environmentalist Roz Savage is the first woman to row across the “Big Three” oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. Even more impressive, she did it solo, in a 23-foot rowboat, without a support vessel. “I have battled twenty-foot waves, sleep deprivation, self-doubt and depression, but I have never been happier.”  — Roz Savage Read [...]

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Animal Addict’s Guide to Global Volunteer Travel

September 12, 2011
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My essay about tracking lemurs in Madagascar — while fighting off stinging caterpillars, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, blood-sucking leeches, spiders the size of my fist, and moths bigger than a hummingbird — is featured in the new e-book, Animal Addict’s Guide to Global Volunteer Travel. For traditionalists, the book is also available as a hard copy on [...]

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