I am not sure what to say about Budapest. It is so many places all at once. It reminded us a bit of Prague in terms of the ornate nature of its architecture but it seemed a magnitude in size bigger and the old buildings were generally in poorer condition. We walked for hours looking at what could be some of the most beautiful buildings if anyone was willing to restore them. Clearly this city was once one of the most beautiful places in the world, but years of war and economic hardship including years of communism took much of the [View Full Entry]

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The Italians ate all the Toast!!! If you haven't heard, Kim and I are vegetarians. As vegetarians, you often look for Italian food first when you travel. It is one of the most prolifically traveled delicious foods in the world that includes vegetarian dishes. Since we can get Indian and Thai at home easily, we look for Italian when we travel. Is 'prolifically' a word? That is the beauty of World-English, it is whatever you say it is. And, I hereby declare that 'prolifically' is a word. You can't do that in some languages. The thought police will arrest you. But [View Full Entry]

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We are traveling south along Croatia on a ferry in the Adriatic Sea. We took a 2 hour bus from Rovinj to Rijeka. The driver was smoking below a no-smoking sign, so we didn't feel guilty about eating and drinking below the no eating or drinking signs. We then took the ferry. The overnight ferry from Rijeka to Dubrovnik was sold out of private rooms, so we slept on deck. It departed at 8pm and arrived in Dubrovnik at 3pm the next day. Yes, a 19 hour ferry ride. We slept on the floor below a table and read books. It [View Full Entry]

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Rovinj, Istra, Croatia We spent 2 days in Rovinj, Croatia. Nice place. Small and peaceful. Cobblestone streets and a beautiful little harbour. The first night we stayed in a hotel about a mile out of town. I am beginning to see a pattern here in the unwired world. The only hotels online in a place like Rovinj are big monstrous modern aberrations or old world palaces catering to people who are happy spending 250 Euros per night for a place that has no relation to or flavour of the land they are visiting. These hotels might as well be in Miami [View Full Entry]

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August 5, 2009. We have been in Venice since the 2nd. Amazing place. She is a bit haggered around the edges as you will see from the pictures. All the better for wear and tear. She ages gracefully as she sinks slowly into the sea. Much of the excitement of exploring her is walking about aimlessly with the map snugly in your pocket. Often your choices end in dead-ends, but in Venice, the way and the end are beautiful, so you learn to make choices fearlessly. Small tight alleyways interspersed between waterways. Sunrise boys guiding gondolas through water traffic jams. Gondolas [View Full Entry]

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We are on the train going from Milan to Venice. We flew into Milan from Delhi arriving Saturday morning, and did a little sight seeing in Milan before catching a train to Venice on Sunday at 1:30pm. I didn't get my normal early morning walk because my neck is giving me trouble. I hurt my neck weigh lifting about 2 weeks ago and they don't have chiropractors in Northern India, so I will try to find one in Venice on Monday morning. I haven't had to go to the chiropractor in over 3 years. One of my friends in the US [View Full Entry]

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The executive management team for the CPA Global office in India headed off to Shimla this weekend to align ourselves around our common purpose. When you have goals as big as CPA Global you need to be in the highest state of trust and communication. Fortunately, our country head in India, Bhaskar Bagchi, not only understands this but he takes his team out on corporate team building exercises to assure this. For this team building exercise, Paul Mathew of the "Corporate Theatre" facilitated the experience. Paul teaches successful team behaviors through experiential learning. It was a brilli [View Full Entry]

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We flew from Boracay to Cebu on Day 5. We were a bit disappointed upon arrival at Costabella Tropical Beach Resort in Mactan Island. There was nobody at the place, the beach was very small, and there were large fences between the resorts so you couldn't walk down the beach and people watch like you could in Boracay. The place was hurting due to the economy. Magellan the Spanish explorer, met his death at the hands of Cebu Chieftain Lapu-Lapu in 1521 AD. The remaining 18 crew members of the original 237 returned to Spain in 1522 completing the first full [View Full Entry]

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Our first stop in Manila was the Mall of Asia. We heard it was the largest mall in Asia and it was certainly the largest mall that we have seen in Asia. I am simply guessing but it was about 10 times the size of Select City Walk in New Delhi. I have been wanting to pick up a traveling sized computer and I found an HP Mini there for about $480.00. That is about $100 more than I can get one for in the USA, but I won't be back in the USA for at least 6 months. I am [View Full Entry]

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This past weekend, Kim and I and a few friends headed off to Orissa. Caitlin works for a non-profit organization (NGO) that feeds malnourished children in rural India. Basically they take very poor children who are dangerously underweight for their age and feed them a highly nutritious liquid food supplement that fattens them up. She fattens kids up for about $8 each, if you would like to pitch in. Tina works for a non-profit that identifies entrepreneurs working in businesses that have lasting long-term positive effects on large groups of people. They help these entrepreneur [View Full Entry]

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