Internet makes many things available to us that we'd otherwise have no access to. One such thing is a Blog (short for Web Log) which we generally associate with the random musings of an individual without friends, like me, for example. However, once in a while we hit upon a blog that curates extraordinary original content. Stories that we'd otherwise never hear. Photos we'd otherwise near see. The tales are not good enough or from people popular enough to be in The New Yorker or National Geographic. One such blog is 'Roads & Kingdoms'. This blog features long, intimate observations from people across the world. It is described as "an independent journal of food, politics, travel and culture" by its creator Nathan Thornburgh.

If you dig offbeat articles and human stories about travel that are unsensational and hence not of value to popular media then subscribe to their feed. They tend to be long, sometimes overly so, which is the only negative thing I can say about them.

Some of my favorite reads from their site are listed below.

Brother's Keeper - a story about soccer world cup where only the homeless can play
A railway pilgrimage in Pakistan - vignettes from a four-day journey on the Khyber Mail express from Karachi to Peshawar
Nomads on the Grid - discussion on bringing tech to Mongolia nomads
Mystery of the mountain of pain - a view of a climb to a forbidden mountain in Turkey