Almost ended up going through Iran, but found a last minute seat past it. Love the archaeological sites, and the people are lovely, but the governm…

{October, 2005} As usual, before I left I got a lot of advice about the places I was going, most of it by people who not only had never been there…

Imagine, if you will, row after row of terracotta warrior statues, over 6000 of them, with possibly many more still in the ground. Even more impres…

Three separate cave complexes called “Temple of a Thousand Buddhas.” None of them came close to having that many, but then, according to legend…

In Japan there’s this twist on gift-giving where you give a friend a gift and it raises your standing in the community, so to speak. If you’re …

Only stopped in Almaty, a huge, dusty kinda town, but a beacon of civilization after the desert. Hey, any town that has an “American embassy” (…

What a friggin’ beautiful place, once you get outside the cities. Took a long drive alongside this huge lake that reminded me of Balaton in Hunga…

Because I spent extra time in Central Asia, I ended up going from Armenia straight to London, when the original plan was to go to Istanbul and then…

Another round-the-world trip, and all I learned was that I’m too old for this shit. . . This year I’ve been to, in chronological order, Italy …

Ever stand next to a redwood, walk around it, look all the way up, feel really small? Now pretend it’s covered with blue and white tiles, and it�…

Nothing much to see, unless you’re into war history (did that rhyme? Poet, and didn’t. . . realize it). Some incredibly beautiful women, though…

In case you were “baffled” by all the mention of French fries in China, here’s the e-mail run:   Oct 14, 05 4:10P Help me, I’m star…