On further reflection…

I keep thinking about the negativity in my past few posts. I’m out here in the world, seeing new places, meeting new people, doing what I love to do! Why all the complaints?
A big part of it is the tourist/traveler tension. In roughest terms, someone on a 2-week holiday is a tourist: You see the [...]

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The nomadic sloths

Last night I returned from my Ger-to-Ger (G2G) trip smelling of sheep, horses and sour milk.
As the bus rolled west towards Ulaan Baatar from the hills of Terelj National Park, a dramatic thunderstorm rolled east, dropping gallons of water that turned the streets of UB into muddy streams.
I was joined on my 6-day/5-night holiday [...]

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I’m back, baby!

This is my first post written on my brand new Asus Eee 1005HA. I couldn’t bear life without a netbook anymore, so I just took the subway to Beijing’s “e-mall,” found the Asus booth, and said “I one one of those.” Definitely the easiest sale of my sales guy’s career.
Yes yes yes I have much [...]

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Hot and sleepy in Shanghai

This is my second attempt at a post from Shanghai. I hope this one doesn’t get eaten by the Great Firewell as well…
Imagine a spoof on a high-tech sci-fi movie. Above you tower outrageous, flamboyant steel-concrete-and-glass high-rises, all marked by an absurdist flourish – a pincer-like peak, an incongruous swoop of concrete halfway up, a [...]

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I need a computer!

I’m sitting here at the Internet-connected computers at my hostel – the Qianmen Hostel in Beijing. I’m by the door out to the noisy, hot street. The air conditioner next to me is leaking, so one of the staff is mopping around me. Behind me, other guests are coming and going through the door, sometimes [...]

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Read the NY Times….

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/travel/17journeys.html?_r=1&ref=travel
They cut a bunch (notably my LSD reference) but still….cool to see the story out there! I guess it’ll be in the Sunday Travel section, too.
In other brief news, I’m taking the train from Kazan to Tomsk tonight, via Уekaterinburg. I arrive in Tomsk Tues am. I’ll try to post details from an internet cafe [...]

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My itinerary, and random observations and events

Partially so *I* can remember, here’s what I (and my dad, when he was here) have been doing:
Wed April 22: arrived. after border scare, checked in to hotel and dinner at the hotel restaurant. the “entertainment” included “traditional Russian dancing” and some poor dude dressed up like a bear.
Thursday: changed money, bought some food, wandered [...]

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Taking a step back

After weeks with my brain, body and heart going in different directions, and different paces, I think I’m almost realigned.
During my final few weeks in the US – the fraught, busy days in New York; the harried few days in Mass – I had no choice but to sublimate any deep thought going on. If [...]

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A beautiful day

Tonight I’m suffering my first insomnia for a few weeks. Perhaps it’s the leftover glow of excitement from my first – and only – game at The New Yankee Stadium. Sure, it was an exhibition game (against the Cubs; the Yanks won 7-4) but it was the first game played by the Yankees in their [...]

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Mental note

I admit it, I’m foolish for trying. I tried to outmaneuver the Russian visa process, and it’s costing me – in time, frustration and lots and lots of money. Mental note: Don’t try to outfox Russian bureaucrats. They’ll leave you weeping and penniless.
The following post is a blow-by-blow account of my quest, as yet unfinished, [...]

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