Out of all the places I visited for this story, Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia was my favorite. It’s a remote area where the cultural traditions of the Hamar, Bume, Karo, and Mursi people are still very much alive, just as they have been for centuries. The display of their elaborately painted skin, braided hair, or colorful clothing is a way of life, not a tourist show. And that was refreshing.

I had to fly to Canada a week after 9/11. At that point nobody wanted to fly, including me. But I was scheduled to start shooting this story, so I headed to the Atlanta airport. This once bustling airport was now deserted, and only ten other people boarded my plane. All of us just sat there looking at each other. It was very eerie. Then the pilot told us that he wouldn’t fly if he didn’t have to. This did little to ease my nervousness.

When I was in Dubai, I saw a hotel with a big, glamorous, water fountain, complete with dancing, colored lights. This kind of opulence was a strange site in a country known for little surface water.