These photos were taken between April 15th - April 20th in Beijing, China and the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, which I found spectacular, despite the hazy atmosphere. Damn shame about the foggy air, because there appeared to be some seriously huge granite mountains shooting up north of the Wall heading towards Mongolia. As far as Beijing the city goes, I didn't really care for it. Too many cops at Tianamen Square -and everywhere else, for that matter; no night markets, just one street for pubs (with another section where Frank's Place is), and very little to do outside Renmin [View Full Entry]

---

---

My primary motivation for traveling to Tawu Mountain Nature reserve in southern Taitung County was to visit a protected area set up with the help of legendary conservationist and wildlife hero Alan Rabinowitz and George Schaller . Two of the world's most proactive field biologists, these two dudes met with former Taiwanese President Lee Tung Hui and in 1987 finalized work in the area to secure its protection. Rabinowitz writes of his meeting wit [View Full Entry]

---

---

We spent a week out on Gili Trawangan in July. We arrived at around 6pm on the Perama boat, transferring off to a smaller transfer boat before arriving on the beach. Not calling ahead was a bad idea, and it seemed like most places were full. Feeling a little bit desperate, we took the first room we could find at a place called ABDI, which, in all my travels, was probably the nastiest dump I have ever stayed in (70,000 Rupiah's a night). Vowing to find new accommodation in the morning, we decided to drink off our misgivings about our rooms [View Full Entry]

---

---

The latest edition of Lonely Planet Indonesia proclaims that "tourism in Lake Toba is almost dead." I think there's something like an 18-month delay between finishing off the editorial work and the book being printed and arriving at bookstores. During that time, someone pulled the plug on Toba's life support line and it is today a ghost town. This was evident even in July, peak travel season for Indonesia. I didn't think I would mind that too much, but the effect is saddening: locals hanging out in their empty shops talking to neighbors all day, no business, abandoned hotels, derelict lots [View Full Entry]

---

---

"I, like, hate Medan," said my 17-year old brother of the capital of North Sumatra. I don't quite agree with him, but I don't love city either. The entire metropolis reminded me of the outskirts of Kathmandu -like, the area near Tribhuvan that's a run-down shamble old bricks, mangy monkeys and polluted rivers. I didn't see any wildlife in Medan itself, but I enjoyed having a beer at a pub on a small lane adjacent to the beautiful mosque on J.I. Raya. In fact, sipping a large Bintang and listening to the 'call to prayer' live just a few dozen meters [View Full Entry]

---

---

The first thing I noticed upon entered the gates of Mt. Sibuyak Park on Sunday July 20th was the hunting party playing with their rifles, and their 3 dogs running doing laps around the pickup truck in anticipation of the hunt. I turned to our guide and asked, "what are these people doing?" He looked a little uncomfortable and answered a bit hesitantly, "uh...they are going hunting." I stopped. "Hunting here in this park?" "Yes, this is not a national park, so it's not protected." "But," I stammered, "but...we're going hiking in here right now, and surely there are other tourists [View Full Entry]

---

---

These photos were taken at 7am in Caotun, Nantou County, Taiwan. 7am is nice almost anywhere -soft morning air, birds, light traffic, stillness, morning dew, all that good stuff. Not so in many areas of Taiwan. I have wondered for a long time why it is that Taiwan's buildings are so hideously ugly, and I finally came to conclusion that when it came time to "designing and planning" these structures, whatever was deemed the fastest, easiest, cheapest way possible to throw them up, that's how it was done. Fastest, easiest, cheapest. Cha-bu-doah. Enjoy. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Took a nice weekend away from Taipei to Hong Kong with the wife, meeting up with Mike Pacifico and his younger brother Anthony in Hong Kong. It honestly reminded me of NYC's Chinatown. One major (positive) difference I noticed between Hong Kong and Taipei is that the former lacks scooters and street vendor stalls, which was a refreshing change. England must have implemented some strict regulations during its 99-year administration of the island. I hope that the Cantonese keep it up. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Another awesome national park down south. The pix of the langur monkeys were taken at Ao Ton Sai beach in Krabi. Found a great place to stay in the hills of Krabi called Phanom Bencha Mountain Resort (www.phanombenchamountainresort.com, 075-660501) that had wonderful wooden fan bungalows for 800 baht a night with grand views of an epic pink/white/black limestone crag. The bungalows are set in a lush garden. The manager had to drag an 8-foot python away from the resort. He grabbed it with his hands, put it in a burlap bag, and walked away with it over his shoulder. The thing [View Full Entry]

---

---

I intended to do a partial trek of the Annapurna Circuit, specifically, up to Manang and back down, but changed my mind when the views of the Himalayas disappeared completely soon after our arrival. We were awarded awesome views of the great snowy mountains as we approached Kathmandu on our flight, and we could still see some while we waited for our van in the airport parking lot, but by the time we arrived in town the cloud line had lowered and blocked them out. It was kind of like a strip tease; the dress -in the form of clouds- was [View Full Entry]

---

---