Rene Redzepi who runs the two-starred Michelin restaurant “Noma” in Copenhagen said about Anthony Bourdain, “We were in awe of him. He was like the Milky Way, and we we’re all just tiny specs.”  I have always loved how Anthony Bourdain could encapsulate travel and life around the globe with his words. I have compiled some of my favorites along with my photography.

“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”

I know this feeling very well and have experienced it many times as in the image above at the Ta Prohm Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia shortly after the Khmer rouge left the area. 

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s OK. The journey changes you. It should change you…you should take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”      

Maasai village in Kenya.

“Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of the nationalistic feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.”

A memory of pancakes at my Mother’s house.

“To be treated well in places where you don’t expect to be treated well, to find things in common with people you thought previously you had, very, very little in common with, that can’t be a bad thing.”

Working with a supplier in Bali. Click on this video of working with Merdeka in Kerobokan Bali.

“To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese, is not a life worth living.”

Being served veal at the Mistral Restaurant in the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, Lake Como Italy.

“Get up early and go to the local produce markets in Latin America & Asia, those are usually great places to find delicious food stalls serving cheap, authentic and fresh specialties.”

Ubud Bali morning market.

“Southeast Asia has a real grip on me. From the very first time I went there, it was a fulfillment of my childhood fantasies of the way travel should be.”

The Red Bridge in Hanoi Vietnam.

“If I am an advocate for anything, it is to move. As far as you can, a much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food. It’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get off the couch, move.”

Tagallalang Ogoh Ogoh Festival in Bali. Click on my video of the mesmerizing Ogoh Ogoh parade in Ubud, Bali.

“Without experimentation, a willingness to ask questions and try new things we shall surely become static, repetitive, and moribund.”

Walking on a trail in Siem Reap Cambodia near a burial site for victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1997.

“No one understands and appreciates the American Dream of hard work leading to material rewards better than a non-American.”

Wesco Fabrics Custom Workroom in Denver back in the day.

“If I believe in anything, it is doubt. The vast cause of all life’s problems is looking for a simple f***ing answer.”

Contemplation in a Brussels cafe.

“Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moments of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom…is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.”

Perhaps my very favorite Anthony Bourdain quote. Sunset in Centennial Colorado.

Images: Dick Gentry