D.R. Appointment

WORTH A TRIP: "I've always marveled at how the four-hour flight from New York to Santo Domingo seems too short to bridge the vast distance between the two worlds," says Karl Taro Greenfeld in December's Conde Nast Traveler. On his previous trips to the Dominican Republic, Greenfeld, a sometime sportswriter, has focused on beisbol . But this time he and his family seek out the shrinking portions of the island that its adolescent tourism industry hasn't yet developed.

After a quick exploration of Santiago's Zona Colonial, where "the grandiose buildings, sized M rather than XL, all look like they want to be the Reichstag when they grow up," they venture inland to get "a glimpse of what the area was like when Columbus landed 514 years ago." That means green, really green. (Although Columbus probably didn't shoot pool "with a fat boy named Hermano, who rode up in an ATV.") Then to the coast -- first to one of the last non-all-inclusives on Playa Dorada, then to Samana's beautiful, remote beaches, where, "Thank God, the action has not yet arrived."

WORTH A FLIP: In Smithsonian, travel writer and world-class grump Paul Theroux writes of his experiences raising geese, animals he finds admirable and even worthy of affection. But in lambasting people who ascribe human qualities to geese and other animals, he scorches the sainted E.B. White (sparing, for now, the authors of "Bambi" and "Yertle the Turtle"). We also liked mystery writer Tony Hillerman's article praising the high desert country near Albuquerque: the mountains, nearby pueblos, tribal artisans and, at night, all the lights, "including my Los Ranchos porch light." . . . A volcanic eruption does tend to disrupt things. Caribbean Travel & Life goes to Montserrat, where half of the island "disappeared under a massive cloud of volcanic debris" in 1995. But, you know what? It's still a good -- if different -- tourist destination. That is, if you're into hiking, birding and diving. You can explore Plymouth, the capital city, now "buried up to its rooftops in dried mud, rock and ash." . . .

There are trips, and then there are trips "where we discover that there is indeed somewhere left in the world that is stranger than we can imagine." Like the Mangoky River area in Madagascar, as revealed in Men's Journal. It takes two bush-plane flights and two days by 4x4 just to get there. But it's the habitat of several lemur species, fellow primates threatened by the rapid growth of slash-and-burn agriculture. Lemurs, crocs and fox bats ("enormous, hairy beasts that make you want to forget your mammalian heritage") all struggle, along with man, in "the conflict for Madagascar's future." . . . In Islands, the scene opens with our heroine eating seaweed on the Jersey shore -- the one without Springsteen. Susan McCarthy is in the Channel Islands, between England and France. During the World War II Nazi occupation of the islands, locals ate seaweed rather than starve. Jersey today is a "charming island of fruit and flowers" -- and cows, of course, the "toast-colored" Jerseys, famous for cream. . . .

Do you speak Pashmina? "Each of India's 28 states . . . has its own distinct designs, its own textile language," an Indian textile designer tells Travel + Leisure. Indian weavers long ago learned how to make dyed fabrics that were "the envy of the world." Village women still do much of the work, but their home-industry traditions are threatened by modern techniques and the distraction of Bollywood soap operas on cable TV.

WORTH A CLIP: For travel writer Pico Iyer, it's Cuba ("the great unvisited treasure of the world on our doorstep"). Backpacker polled 62 people with diverse interests in the outdoors for their favorite wilderness spots. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who will have lots of time to enjoy it now, likes Mount LeConte in the Smoky Mountains. First lady Laura Bush says, diplomatically: "My favorite spot is always the last place I hiked, second only to the place I'm going next." . . . Budget Travel goes not to the movies, but to the movie locations. It scouts 10 locales of recent and soon-to-be-released films, including this year's "Pirates of the Caribbean" (filmed on several islands), "A Good Year" (Provence) and "Marie Antoinette" (Versailles, of course, and Paris).

WORTH A NOSH: In Halong City, if you want a good meal, look for a large group of diners with a grandmother at the center. "No respectable Vietnamese family takes grandma to dinner at a dump." Gourmet's Karen Coates samples not only the city's restaurants and street food, but the islands and caves of the bay (where fishermen tie up for midday naps) and the active fish market. ("A girl with squid wants me to buy; I tell her I have no kitchen in Vietnam, and all the women tsk-tsk at the tragedy.")

-- Jerry V. Haines