Good grief! Applying online for visas is totally frustrating. The websites are so fussy. It took us two days of scanning and rescanning documents to upload to the Brazilian and Bolivian embassies, the Brazilian embassy being the most sensitive. They have not less than 1 gazillion strict rules to follow. Totally exhausting. Now we have to put our passports in the mail and hope for the best--like that the person who opens ... Read More
Iceland: A Cold Land Full Of Hot Surprises
We stood in front of the bubbling and gurgling geyser, Strokkur, watching it churn in a hole just 30 feet in front of us. It belched and tossed up a five-foot gush of water, then detonated a projectile of water that flared upward more than 100 feet. The geyser, Strokkur, erupts and is about to toss a water plume over 100 feet into the air. Some of the fun of a visit to Iceland is watching these guys leap out of the ... Read More
Cuba Reemerging
Note: I traveled to Cuba in 2013 and wrote an article shortly after that talked about efforts in Cuba to rejuvenate Havana and its old buildings, its culture, its economy, and its place in the world. But it is a different story now because much has happened since I first wrote it. People from around the world are rushing to Cuba before the Americans are turned loose on the island. So, rather than let the ... Read More
Three Days in Beijing
We stayed at a 500-year-old temple that has been converted to a hotel. It is on the edge of the old city and was quite convenient for our treks into the old city. We had the courtyard nearly to ourselves. Note: This is Char's account of our anniversary trip to Beijing. June has been busy for us. Before school ended for me in mid-month, we made several weekend trips to nearby cities, met friends for dinner and did a ... Read More
The Daily Grind
HANGZHOU, CHINA--July 8, 2014--In case those of you out there who are following our Asian escapades think that my wife and I are off on a non-stop adventure, I just want you to know that our lives still have more than a modicum of the daily grind. Our lives are still full of the normal administrative tasks to which we all must attend. Bus Passes For instance, on our return from our travels through Vietnam and ... Read More
Take My Picture, Please
HANOI, VIETNAM—JUNE 24, 2014—Five Vietnamese people asked me today to take my picture with them. I am in the airport lounge waiting to board my flight. My wife and I are watching for a couple of Canadian girls whom we met during our cruise on Halon Bay. They show up and we chat for a bit. Suddenly, a Vietnamese man takes me by the elbow and says something. He gestures to another bank of chairs where other Vietnamese are ... Read More
Dinged At Airport Security–Again
HANOI, VIETNAM—JUNE 24, 2014—Got dinged again in airport security, this time in Hanoi. Cork screw, but one with no blade. It’s just crazy to me. Passed airport security in Shanghai on my way to Hong Kong with two cork screws. Returning to Shanghai from Hong Kong, I got dinged for the cork screw with the foil cutter blade. I passed airport security from Beijing to Hanoi with remaining cork screw, but had it ... Read More
Not Your Everyday Chinese Fare
Located on Píngjiāng Lù, one of the old streets in Suzhou, Mike's Hot Dogs is an unlikely find. Opened in May, 2014, Danish expatriate Mike Matthiesen and his wife, Xiapeng Zhu, are counting on the novelty and good taste of a German hot dog recipe to bring a different snack food to both Chinese and western foodies. Probably the last thing I expected to see while strolling along one of the old streets in Suzhou, China, ... Read More
A Story About Getting Home
It’s better to miss a train by an hour than by two minutes. On our return trip from Hong Kong we missed the train from Shanghai to Hangzhou by two crummy minutes. The level of frustration in missing a train is inversely proportional to the amount of time by which it is missed: miss it by an hour and you will shrug your shoulders; miss it by two minutes and you will summon every word of street language and invective and ... Read More
The Mother Of All Bus Rides
Joe and Char board the 25, the first step to embarking on The Mother Of All Bus Rides, aka, The Bus Ride From Hell. Our bus experience on a recent Saturday in Hangzhou, China, clearly sets it apart from all other experiences of the week and lands it squarely in the I-can’t-believe-I-lived-through-that category. In thinking back on it, I’m a little undecided whether to call it “The Bus Ride From Hell,” or, “The Mother ... Read More
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