culture

Get the authentic cultural experience on your next foreign jaunt. Wander like a local; here, there, and everywhere.

Why is Hong Kong so superstitious?
On a hot and humid day in Hong Kong, local finance worker Wai Li is visiting Wong Tai Sin, the city’s busiest temple, to use a fortune-telling practice known as kau cim.
By Gay3 years ago in Wander
Canada's little-known Emerald Isle
From almost anywhere, it’s a long journey to Fogo Island off the north-east coast of Newfoundland, itself an island off the east coast of Canada. But when I arrived in the little village of Tilting – having disembarked the ferry from “mainland” Newfoundland and driven to the island’s eastern side – I might have believed that I’d slipped past the North American continent entirely and sailed all the way to the other side of the North Atlantic.
By Seamons Mahall3 years ago in Wander
What can different cultures teach about boredom?
A dozen or so young men wait, some playing cards or chatting around a fire. It’s a scene from any street in Niger over the past three decades. One, the “tea man”, attends a small metal kettle on hot coals. He is responsible for the long and laborious process of brewing his group’s, or fada’s, gunpowder green tea. It’s the reason they have gathered.
By Gay3 years ago in Wander
The last speakers of ancient Sparta
As you enter the mountainous village of Pera Melana in Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula, you’re likely to hear the roar of scooters zooming down narrow roads and the chirps of birds stealing ripe fruit from trees. But if you approach the village’s central cafe, you’ll hear a rather unusual sound. It’s the buzz of conversations among elders in a 3,000-year-old language called Tsakonika.
By Seamons Mahall3 years ago in Wander
Tarab: Syria’s key to finding happiness
For years, Hamam Khairy’s grandfather worked the land with his siblings and children just outside Aleppo, Syria, singing traditional tarab folk songs along to the local radio station as they picked cucumbers, aubergines and tomatoes. To keep the then-infant Hamam quiet, they sat him in a rubber sack and kept the radio next to his ear so he wouldn’t cry.
By Gay3 years ago in Wander
England’s sleepy ‘Scientology town’
It has been described as Britain’s strangest town and the real-life answer to Twin Peaks. But East Grinstead hardly exudes a sense of dreamlike Lynchian terror. Elegant 14th-Century buildings house bookshops and jewellers; butchers hawk burgers and sausages from market stalls; and friends cluster cheerfully outside cafes. The scene is one of pleasant gentility. It all seems so… normal.
By Gay3 years ago in Wander
'Kulning': A hypnotic Swedish singing tradition
Skallskog is a secluded farm without running water or electricity that most Swedes have never heard of. Hidden deep in the Nordic wilderness, this humble collection of cattle barns and russet-red farmhouses may seem like a place of little importance. But this is where you’ll find the disappearing roots of an ancient Swedish singing tradition so intimately connected to nature that it can only be described as magic.
By Seamons Mahall3 years ago in Wander
Hong Kong’s guardian of the gods
Tucked away on the south-western coast of Hong Kong Island, Waterfall Bay Park is a tranquil oasis that feels a world removed from the bustling streets and dense cluster of glass-and-steel skyscrapers that tower over much of the city centre.
By Seamons Mahall3 years ago in Wander
An Indian state's harmonious approach to life
My research had told me that Reiek Peak in Mizoram, India’s north-eastern state, overlooks the surrounding hills and plains of Bangladesh. But last October, when I finally reached the summit after an hour’s hike through a moss-green jungle, mist blanketed the view and I saw nothing but thick whiteness. "I’m so sorry, the weather is so bad today," my driver said, sensing my disappointment.
By Gay3 years ago in Wander
Isabel Allende on travel, culture and what inspires her
Isabel Allende has been inspiring readers to fall in love with the world for nearly 40 years. Widely considered to be the world's most-read Spanish-language author, the Chilean writer's deft blend of social commentary and magical realism is a reflection of her peripatetic upbringing and the many people, places and cultures that have fuelled her curiosity.
By Gay3 years ago in Wander
Nigeria: the country that loves to overachieve
In a lifetime of feverishly competitive Scrabble-playing, I have only been defeated by six earthly beings. Growing up, my mother’s nickname for me was “speedometer”, and I began teaching myself German at the age of nine in order to catch up to the 10 languages my parents spoke between them. For Nigerians like myself, a competitive streak is as natural as spicy jollof rice at a wedding.
By Gay3 years ago in Wander
Milan: Italy’s lost city of canals
Just before Italy’s second lockdown in November 2020, the banks of Milan's Grand Canal were busy with people. Bargain hunters picked their way through market stalls, browsing tables of retro telephones, haphazard rows of art deco furniture and racks of vintage clothing. Others sat in the cafes, sipping aperitivi or coffee, gazing out at the shoppers. The clear water of the canal reflected the dazzling autumn sunshine.
By Seamons Mahall3 years ago in Wander