Program 289a: Underground Zanzibar; Rugged Abruzzo Italy; Southeast Asia Overview

Adventure traveler and author Richard Grant describes the craziness he encountered on the island of Zanzibar. A native of small town Italy explains the uncrowded appeal of Abruzzo, in the rugged Apennine mountains. Also, a tour guide to southeast Asia outlines the visitor scene from Vietnam to Burma.

• Adventure traveler Richard Grant, author of "Crazy River:  Exploration and Folly in East Africa"  (Free Press/Simon and Schuster)
• Virginia Agostinelli, tour guide, originally from Abruzzo, Italy
• Julian Brown, tour guide to France and to Southeast Asia, based in Paris

• Richard Grant's website. 
• The publisher's website for Richard Grant's book "Crazy River."
• Zanzibar.net provides a useful overview, and links to tourism-related features in Stone Town and elsewhere on the island.
• Virginia Agostinelli's hometown in Abruzzo is Pacentro, and the main city in the region is L'Aquila. 
• Farra San Martino is the town in Abruzzo which Virginia says is famous for its pasta, and the Life in Abruzzo website has tips for finding the famous saffron grown in the Navelli area.
• Photos of the April 2009 earthquake damage in Abruzzo, and damage to the village of Onna, are posted on the Boston.com website.
• Lonely Planet has extensive entries and reader forums on Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Burma  (aka Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand.
• There is a website for "James Bond Island" in Phuket, Thailand. 
• Wikipedia and WikiTravel have detailed entries about Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.