Going to Extremes

If recent history has proven anything, it’s that things, big things--countries, regimes, ideologies--can change and even vanish. Fast. (Now you see the Communist-Soviet-Eastern Bloc-Evil Empire, now you don’t.)

For the traveler, this is usually good news. New world orders mean new world destinations to be explored. On the other hand, things can change back just as fast: Until last month, Northern Ireland had been quietly reemerging as a plausible tourist destination.

But former trouble spots and once-forbidden places--even if their notoriety is more pop cultural than political--offer a jolt of reality in a world increasingly deadened by “virtual” experience. Plus, nearly always, surprises.Berlin is coming to grips both with its blackened past and evolving role as the political and cultural center of reunified Germany. (Surprise: The former East Berlin is where you’ll want to hang out.) Travelers were once discouraged from setting foot on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, site of Father Damien’s leper colony. (Surprise: You’ll want to visit the colony, and Hawaii is never more Hawaiian than on Molokai.) Built on the bones of a Nevada-desert ghost town, Laughlin’s nickel-slots mien hasn’t exactly advanced a reputation with the terminally hip. (Surprise: The pre-theme-park-Vegas atmosphere will slap a smileon your cynical face.)

There’s never a dull moment in the Mideast, but Cairo, with its handy suburb of great pyramids, is as safe a bet as you can make in this tumultuous part of the world. And who’d have thought a journey through Laos on the Mekong River would yield photographs filled with light and whimsy?

Surprise. Or, to turn the phrase, you have to be there.