1996, IRIAN JAYA

The slim valley is misted in, too wet for the planned hike into the gorge below. Instead, we visit the villages dotting the grassy hillside around this mission town.

Our guide, Sam, waves a cheery greeting, seeking permission for us to clamber over a low stone wall and enter a small village compound. Within, the men are so serious they scarcely look up at the first outside visitors to come this way in a month.

A council of barely clad men -- some wearing only gourds on their penises -- standsaround a two-foot pit, weighing the situation. Already, the villagers have filled the pit with clover, then piled on broad green husks. Next, they decide, come the stones, roasted in a nearby fire and then transferred to the leafy basket on the broad end of a wooden paddle. We have wandered into a magic ceremony -- magic to clear the weather.

The local head man supervises; elders advise. Children watch from behind their mothers' skirts as the huge husks are bundled around the hot stones, forming a ball. More rocks are placed on top to hold the mass closed. The bundle begins to steam, hot stone against fresh greenery, and soon clouds of condensation veil the scene.

Soon, sure enough, the sky clears -- but only in the place directly above this small village. Who says the modern ways are better?

1998, LUANG

PRABANG, LAOS

Thong Dy, the boat man who has ferried us throughout our week here has invited us to dinner. We sit on the floor around a small table filled with bounty -- sticky rice cakes, little fried sweets of sticky rice and sugar; bananas, incense, candles.

His friends and family start the sing-song prayers. White prayer scarves are draped over our shoulders, and a bit of cotton string tied across each of our wrists. This is called a basi ceremony, we are told, performed for special people before they undertake a journey, to wish them safety and prosperity. The strings should stay on for 7 days.

We feel incredibly honored; strangers are rarely so cared for in our normal world.

1999, EGYPT

In many ways, this is a typical tour of Egypt. Lazy days on the Nile are interspersed with guided visits to the famed ruins at the Temple of Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, haggling for silver and spices in the markets at Luxor and Aswan, and side trips to the Pyramids of Giza and Egyptian Museum at Cairo.

But while most cruises and organized tours involve dozens or hundreds of fellow travelers, our boat carries only 22. Lunch is more likely a falafel on the run than a two-hour restaurant meal. The usual sightseeing jaunts have been replaced by a sunrise donkey trek, a camel ride to a Sixth-Century monastery and a dinner with a Nubian family in a home 10-minutes hike from the nearest village.

The price, too, is a departure: only $600 per person for the entire 10-day trip, vs. $1,700 to $5,000 per person on more luxurious tours.

Find someone who's having a better time, and I'll give them a very good price on an Egyptian cotton tablecloth.

2001, CHILE

The climb itself was rugged enough: an uphill slog through a moraine wash filled with rocks as big as a VW Beetle, slabs the size of a Humvee. But it was the wind gusts on this hillside in Torres del Paine National Park -- as strong as 60 mph -- that had me clutching at boulders so I wouldn't literally be knocked off my feet.

''Come on. The view really is worth it!'' called my hiking companions. As I hauled my aching thighs across the last granite ledge, I had to agree. Three jagged spires pierced misty shrouds, rising above a frozen gray-green lake in a netherworldly rockscape. Surely this must be some wicked lair, the birthplace of the demons themselves.

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