The best American travel writing 2008-edited by Anthony bourdain

Didn't read much of the stories in this book Cept for one on Singapore (three chopsticks by calvin trillin).Kinda narcissistic... The story featured KF Seetoh and how he brought the author to taste the best food, aka hawker food in Singapore. I think the story exemplifies again how food brings and binds people together. And very often when one thinks about a place or when someone mentions a place we have been to, we will tend to ask if they had tried a certain dish at a certain place. When friends visit our country, food is not missing the planned itinerary. The story ended with the author imagining what he would say to Seetoh of he ever visits NYC "but you haven't had a calzone yet...... You can't go home without eating a knish, it will knock your socks off." Exact same words that Seetoh used Cept for different food of course.

Aleph- Paulo coelho

I think nothing can compare with the alchemist. It's the same with the Aleph. Aleph is a autobiography of sort of Paulo coelho's travels in 2006. He embarked on a "quest" to find his spirit, as he had felt stagnant in his spiritual growth. On his journey in Russia,Siberia, he met a young woman named Hilal who claimed that she was connected to Coelho based on a story he wrote about a friend keeping a fire burning for his friend. Through some mental invocation, coelho found out that Hilal was a woman who had loved him 500 years ago and who had died because he did not have the courage to stand up for her. Now all he wanted was her forgiveness. It seems all that we do, did, and will do are interconnected. This book will appeal to you depending on what your beliefs are. Although the idea of reincarnation is exciting, how real is it ?

1968 and I'm Hitchhiking through Europe- Joe Mack

A college student's summer vacation in Europe in the 60s. Quite a charming read as the book wasn't so much about what he had seen in Europe but the people he had met. I wonder if the world is as opened as it was back in the 60s, where people were unafraid of inviting strangers they had picked up from the road to their home for dinner. Is hitchhiking a thing from the past or is it still a viable mode of travel? With the world a less safer place than it was, I believe the former might hold true.