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Category / Don’t Be A Tourist

The Remains of a Paris ‘Kowloon’ Walled City

You may recall we once discovered Kowloon City, the Hong Kong ‘historical accident’, an urban enclave so densely populated by squatters that even the law lost its grip on the seven-acre plot crammed with 300 interconnected towers. It turns out we had one just like it right here in Paris. And unlike Kowloon, which was…

Are Mongolian Nomads moving into China’s Ghost Cities?

“I stumbled across some traditional Mongolian yurts plonked in the middle of this empty ghost city,” said Shane Thoms in an email to me this morning. It’s always exciting to receive news from my favourite urbex photographer who is usually based in Japan but took a break to spend some time in a Northern Chinese ghost city in the…

Picture Perfect LA: How to Settle into the City of Angels

You should probably know that I’m a California virgin– so this was my first visit to the city of Angels! When you arrive in such an iconic city, it can be a little overwhelming to know where to start. So for any other California virgins out there, follow me and let’s head straight to Abbot Kinney Boulevard…

The Hidden Feast in a Barcelona Factory After Dark

We left the Barcelona night behind us, disappearing through a graffiti-covered door on a bustling back street of locals going about their downtown nocturnal hustle. All we have is this calling card with an address on the back as we wander down the austerely-lit corridor and take the first staircase, not entirely sure where it will…

And now, a Catalogue of Crazy Customized Coffins

Someone is selling this Airstream coffin on eBay for $4,500. It comes from Ghana where it was made in a workshop in 1995 by Nii Anum, a disciple of Kane Kwei, a carpenter born in the 1920s who made a name for himself making custom fantasy casket in his hometown of Accra. Kwei first began…

Sleep inside a Designer’s Cabinet of Curiosities Boutique

Here’s how it usually works with me on the internet. I’ll stumble upon a single photograph of something that looks curious and intriguing and I’ll follow that image down the rabbit hole to the other end of the earth, literally. Today I came out the other end of the rabbit hole in Australia after finding a…

The Reindeer Riders

If the descendants of ancient legends truly exist among us today, these are they. Despite the odds, the nomads of Outer Mongolia are a people seemingly immune from degeneration, still living in such proximity to wild animals with a certain spiritual wisdom, sense of healing and well-being lost to our notions of time and laws…

Spotting Cute French Guys on the Paris Metro

I have a friend who used to leave her house for work at the exact same time everyday to make sure she caught the same train as her Paris metro crush. She never mustered the courage to speak to him and one day he just stopped taking the same train and she never saw him again. It…

The Secret Seventies Bar Hidden inside a Retro Laundromat Café

I‘m guessing every keyword in that title had you at hello. Secret, seventies, hidden, retro, laundromat café– yep, I like to think I’m starting to get a feel for the sort of things that float your boat. So let’s get straight to it and hop over to London for a moment to check out this spot I’ve been eyeballing every since it…

Disappear inside the Secret “Sinners” Cave Temple

If you’re in need of the perfect spiritual hideaway, I think I might have found it. Like something out of a legend, nestled inside an ancient grotto carved out of steep limestone cliffs in a remote region of Italy, the clandestine Temple of Valadier is thought to symbolize the Virgin Mary’s Roman Catholic title, “Refugium eccatorum”, meaning “refuge of sinners“… (c) Luca…

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