Word: lands
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...husband and I chose Bali because we like things a little messy. We're both journalists who enjoy chatting with the shaman, exploring bumpy back-country lanes and trying spicy stews at the open-air restaurant a few rice paddies away from our land. But I recognize that not everyone finds charming the idea of a spirit tax - a contribution to the village partly based on how many spirits reside on your land, and a calculation, mind you, that can only be made by the village elders. Indeed, if you're looking for a stress-free condominium with access...
...House Rules Buying property in both places isn't quite as simple as purchasing a house back home. Mortgages are rare. Currency fluctuations make buying at the right time all the trickier. And, most importantly, in both Thailand and Indonesia, foreigners cannot own land. Expatriates have two choices. They can either lease land on a long-term basis, which means the value tends to depreciate as the years pass. Or they can set up legal structures in which a local person or company owns the land but usage rights are held by the foreigner. Although tens of thousands of expatriates...
...Down to Earth For me, my current concerns are less global and more spiritual. The former owner of our land, a rice farmer, feels guilty because he failed to erect an on-site shrine to a local goddess. He thinks we should build it to ease his soul and promote village harmony. After all, locals have heard the spirits on our land wailing when they use a nearby water source. Then, in an offhand remark, our shaman tells us about a Frenchman who had built a villa nearby. Wija was called in to bless the land and chat with...
...extraordinary story of how Israeli detectives built a case against Golan and his alleged cohorts is the subject of Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land by Nina Burleigh, a former TIME staffer who now writes for People. In fast, noir-ish prose - imagine Sam Spade in the Holy Land - Burleigh tracks her story through the twilight world of Arab grave robbers and smugglers to the glimmering salon of a billionaire collector in Mayfair whose mission, writes Burleigh, is "proving the Bible true." Past accounts of the James ossuary are fiercely partisan, written...
Like any other Holy Land story, it's a potent mix of religion and politics. As Burleigh writes, "Where historians seek clues to the puzzle of the ancient worlds, evangelical Christians seek proof of the literal interpretation of the Bible and nationalist Israelis want evidence of ancient Jewish inhabitation...