Tag archives for The Lunatic Express

Kickstart An Age-Old Mystery

Posted by Leslie Trew Magraw of National Geographic Traveler on September 12, 2012
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Celebrating the building of a new jeu, or men's house, in the village of Omadesep, Asmat. (Photograph by Carl Hoffman)

A week before Thanksgiving Day in 1961, Michael Rockefeller, scion of one the most powerful families in U.S. history, decided to swim for shore after his boat capsized off the southwest coast of Dutch New Guinea.

He was never seen again.

Video: Riding the Lunatic Express

Posted by Janelle Nanos on March 4, 2010
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In this month’s issue of Traveler, we excerpt contributing editor Carl Hoffman’s upcoming book, The Lunatic Express. In the excerpt, Hoffman describes riding an Indonesian ferry that felt like “every man, woman, and child in Jakarta was swarming into her belly.” But after several days on the boat, he writes, the passengers began to treat…