My stopovers in Brisbane and Cairns, Australia, brought me back to a world that, over the past two months, I had almost forgotten existed: vast sprawling cities, flashing lights, people who do not say hello to each other when they pass in the street because there are simply too many of them, tour agencies advertising expensive “half and full-day rainforest treks”, the sort of meaningless experiences bought up by gap year students feeling the need to take a break from their year-long booze cruise around the world. Guam, an overseas territory of the USA, is also highly developed, although it has retained much of the laid-back atmosphere and physical beauty that is inevitable on a small, jungle-covered Pacific island with beautiful white sand beaches, transparent blue waters and a mountainous interior. My host in Guam was
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