Bird Creek Ridge trail is about a 40-minute ride south of Anchorage along the Seward Highway, which hugs the Turnagain Arm, which, at 10am when we drove out, was one giant reflecting mud flat with a few deep channels of gray water coursing through it. We climbed from just a few feet above sea level to 3,700+ feet in a very short distance. Awesome Chugach Mountain and Turnagain Arm panoramas all the way up, and piles of fresh bear scat. We saw the Tarmagin -Alaska's state bird- going up, and a bald eagle -the national bird- riding a jeddy on the way down. One of our party had recently returned from 3 years of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he found the steep incline no problem -"no Taliban or Al Queda, no problem." He filled ... read more

These were taken down on the Kenai recently.... read more

A hastily arranged (and free, courtesy of China Airlines) 2.5-day trip to Bali was, as they say, just what the doctor ordered. Kuta beach was "tube city," a surfer's dream, and my 6am swim was bliss. This was my second trip to Bali, and I found myself liking it more this time around, despite the fact that we missed the sunset at Jimbaran Beach because our "herbal oil massage" lasted nearly 3 hours. Nonetheless, the seafood barbecue -lobsters, prawn and barricuda- at Jimbaran made up for it. ... read more

Yahoo News and the Taiwan Weather Bureau both called for heavy thunder storms not only for Haulien County, my destination for this trip, but for the entire island of Formosa. And yet, as my train approached Rueshui station in the East Rift Valley, I was frantically applying 100 SPF sunblock (I’ve become obsessed with guarding my skin against UV rays since going for my medical exam last month; when I took off my shirt the dermatologist gasped in horror -not at my gut- but at the “severe sun damage” in the form of freckles on my back. She was to check for leprosy, and judging by the shock in her voice, I thought I had a horrific case of it. Freckles are bad news, I guess…) After checking into my “minzu” (B&B), I rented a scooter ... read more

The Aurora Borealis exploded in the skies over east Anchorage tonight, lighting up the skies over the Chugach Mountains in the most intense display I've beheld yet in my 7 months here in Alaska. I was going out to get some beer when I saw a flourescent green curtain flicker open in the sky, then another slowly burn into existence beside it. A girl walking by stopped in her tracks and gasped, turning to me, "Did you see it?" I changed directions and ran into the university lake park across the street, where there are no lights to absorb the green glow of the Auroras. When I reached the park I had to wait a couple of minutes before they became active again, but I was not disappointed. Literally like phosphorescent sea snakes did they slither ... read more

The Steaming Jungles of Phang-Nga, Thailand By Greg McCann Better known for its limestone mountain-studded bay where scenes from the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun were shot, inland Phang-Nga, in southern Thailand, is home to some of this country's most pristine national parks. Unscathed by last year's tsunami and only an hour and a half from Phuket International Airport, this sleepy backwater offers perhaps the best -and most easily accessible- jungle trekking in the The Land of Smiles. The town of Phang-Nga itself is only a launching pad for the parks in the area. Most visitors come here to join boat tours of Ao Phang-Nga National Marine Park, and certainly, that ought to be seen, but stick around for a few days and your options for going inland are spellbinding. First off, ... read more