Duality, that’s the word. The most vulgar tourism one can imagine (drunken stag parties of entitled overgrown children everywhere all the time) – and the most peaceful travelling through emerald rice terraces. Out.of-place “sport pubs” and neon-polluted “night clubs” – and the most intricately built temples. Four star concrete “all-inclusive” resorts with swimming pools and … Read more
So, you thought we’d forget this? The best kite festivals of the Summer? Forget Indonesia? Yeah, right. Here we go! This story started almost three years ago on a freshly harvested cotton field in Hubbali. Aji and Gregor were relaxing after they managed to convince the Slovenian trilobite to carry three Indonesian cobras into the … Read more
“Do I feel lucky?”– Harold Francis Callahan Days before the Creative Days of Faust Vrančić festival are the worst. Not only does every venture out of bed carry an inherent risk of breaking a leg or catching a disease (the world is a dangerous, hostile place), one has to take extra care of the loved … Read more
A long, long time ago there were the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and British Empires. Then a lot of things happened, and now there are Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, India, and the United Kingdom — among many other pieces of this long-lost, irrevocably shattered imperial puzzle. Andrea and Ľubica are imperialists at heart*, so they tried … Read more
It’s ok to brag, they say, if you have something to brag about. And we do! 🙂 When we were striving to get KAP Jasa – kite team Slovenia recognised as a NGO working in public interest, people who were to approve our status were a bit baffled. What are kites? To which category should … Read more
It was a rare moment, a perfect alignment that almost never happens. Three wind apps; the illustrious Országos Meteorológiai Szolgálat, Hungarian meteo service; EMFCW and EUMETSAT, and even the Slovenian ARSO, plus all good and bad weather sites across the internets were all saying the exact same thing: Wind is from the south-southeast, 13 km/h. … Read more
“I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.”– Pippi Longstocking Marjan Marinšek was the managing director of the Cultural Centre in Velenje, Slovenia. Astrid Lingren was … well, Astrid Lindgren. Marjan and Astrid were friends. In the late eighties Astrid brought Pippi Longstocking to Velenje – … Read more
A great Calvin and Hobbes strip (almost all of them are great, but this one is really exceptional) shows the main characters chilling on a meadow under an intense blue summer sky, with Hobbes commenting that the sky looks really pretty, when Calvin suddenly declares that it “is too blue” and that it “needs some … Read more
There were two kites lying on the grass. Abandoned, almost done; the edges were reinforced correctly, the spars were taped down in place, the cover art just a couple of strokes from perfection – but the tails were missing, the bridle was not set yet, and they were both a bit crumpled. Say they were … Read more
“¡A lo mejor!”– Javi We were a couple of pints deep in Guadalquivir – well, in a discussion about Guadalquivir, having re-ignited the ancient debate of riverine salinity. It was late (or early); we were kinda loud while Javier was, as a proud sevillano, trying to keep a low profile, since we were closer to … Read more