Bourdain Takes the Road Less Traveled

Nicaragua has a history of oppression, political turmoil and civil war. Tony visits the Central American nation as its infrastructure and economy are slowly being rebuilt. One of his stops was at La Chureca, the city dump, where hundreds of destitute families pick garbage for a living.

In July 2006, Tony and his crew traveled to Lebanon to film an episode of No Reservations. They expected to explore the beautiful country and enjoy delicious food. Instead, they ended up trapped for in a secured hotel atop a hill overlooking a war taking place in Beirut. After a week of uncertainty, they escaped the city by boat. Tony and the crew later returned to film the episode they had attempted to in 2006.

Tony visits Haiti almost a year after the Caribbean nation was devastated by an earthquake in January 2010. While there he meets with actor and movie director Sean Penn at Petionville Camp, a tent city built by his relief group, J/P Haitian Relief Organization (shown here). While Tony was in Haiti, the country endured a cholera epidemic and a hurricane threat.

China is one of the earliest and most important cradles of civilization, and one that Tony had not visited until the first season of No Reservations. Tony gets to enjoy one of the most dynamic cultures in the world. He stops by Tiananmen Square, dines at Li Qun Roast Duck Restaurant, learns about calligraphy and tours the countryside of HuangLongXi.

Tony travels to Cuba to find the heart and soul of the island nation that's rich in good food, time-honored traditions, glorious architecture and pristine cars from a different era. Tony embraces the passions of the native people and marvels at one of the more beautiful cities he's ever seen.

Colombia is a bright and beautiful country that's glowing with optimism and hope. It's shedding its label as the drug capital of world, a title it held recently for more than a quarter century. Now it attracts tourists in part for its great food. Tony explores Colombia and discovers its unique cuisine and hopeful citizens.

New Orleans, a city known for its love of food, music, and life, was forever changed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The city is still a vibrant and spectacular town even as it continues to rebuild from the Hurricane, one of the worst natural disasters in American history. Tony explores the true impact of Katrina on this unique city.

The geographic region of Kurdistan comprises land that touches five countries: eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, western Iran, northern Syria and Armenia. Tony and his crew ventured to the war-torn Kurdish region to explore the tragic history and the hopeful future of the Kurds, and sat down with three US soldiers stationed in the fledgling country.

Most of this former Russian Republic was hidden from foreign eyes for centuries. Tony journeys through Uzbekistan's 2000-year-old capital, Tashkent, dines at Jumanji, and gets acquainted with the culture by visiting the Registan, the center of the ancient city of Samarkand, a UNESCO's World Heritage Site.

Tony and his crew discuss Liberia's troubled past and the country's hopes for the future with a man at the Ducor Hotel in Monrovia, the capital of the West African nation. Settled by freed American slaves, Liberia became a republic in 1847. Democratic elections in 2005 ended more than two decades of authoritarian rule and civil war. Security in Liberia is still fragile as the country rebuilds its social and economic structures.

Tony and his friend Zamir Gotta take a trip to the Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic that struggles to thrive and prosper as a democratic nation. They enter the 'exclusion zone' around the shrouded Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (shown here), and tour an abandoned amusement park in the nearby ghost town of Pripayat.