I left Mongolia to meet my dad (who has decided to join me for 3 weeks of backpacking) in Malaysia. The good part is that were he not with me, I would not go to the jungles of Malaysia and Indonesia on my own. Aside from that, let's just say I can't wait to be free again! Plus, people seem to think I'm his girlfriend which is really disturbing since he's balding, almost 60 and we look alike. Sometimes, we get weird looks and we constantly have to inform people of our relationship ask for rooms with 2 beds instead of [View Full Entry]

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Sain bainuu! Originally, I wanted to ask you to please remove any romanticized idea you had about Mongolia or traveling the country on horseback like Chinggis Khan from your head. This is because the reality of living here is, well... there seemed to be no reason to come if you can go to Mt. Raineer in Washington state or ride a real horse. Well, it may have taken me 3 weeks, but I finally found the beauty in this country... just in time to NOT be able to see it........ You see, I kept thinking I was not going to the [View Full Entry]

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After a 30 hour train ride including a 3 hour stop at the Chinese/Mongolian border where they sold JIEKA Daniels, I woke up in what I thought was a bad version of communist Romania circa the 1980's. Where I really was, was Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, and sure enough, it was only a matter of time before I'd be experiencing power outages and a lack of hot water - just like in communist Romania - except Chinggen-ized. Yup, everything important in this country has "Chinggis Khan" in it's name or image. Don't you dare call him GHENGIS! Also make sure [View Full Entry]

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My internship at the TM TV station has gone well! Despite not speaking any Mongolian in a country whose TV news is ALL in Mongolian, I made the most of it! When working in national news, I attended press conferences and drove around in a mini van with the camera crew and other reporters. We tried and failed to make conversation. I'm convinced that when they weren't messing around or singing Mongolian ballads, they were poking fun at me because I constantly heard my name... That aside though, I first showed up on Mongolian TV sitting at a press conference staring [View Full Entry]

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As most of you know, I'm in Mongolia for a month interning in TV News Broadcast Journalism through a program. They placed me at Eagle TV (the Fox news affiliated Christian TV station in Mongolia) and I figured I'd give it a shot because while to the right, being to the right in a former Communist country is still to the left of the left in the US. Not surprisingly, I lasted A WHOPPING 1.5 WHOLE DAYS before it was time for a new placement. Day 1: I walk in and they tour me through their office which contains 1 large [View Full Entry]

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Snip-its for all of you who A.D.D. and can't read non-broken up long text: SUPERSTAR STATUS: I LOVE CHINA (or at least the semi-fake, propagandized Beijing, China I've seen)! I'm pretty much a superstar here and you can be one too if you come! Every day, I've been asked by at least 5 Chinese/Asians to take pictures with them. Sometimes, people just take pictures of me right in front of my face and then try to be slick about it even though I see the camera a few feet away pointing directly at me. Trust me, I'm not alone. This happens [View Full Entry]

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From the moment I arrived in Beijing I felt like I was transported to the future. In all the places I've traveled to, I've never encountered such a "perfect," (deadly heat and humidity aside) asthetically pleasing and well planned city. The only question is if Beijing was always like this, or has become so because of the Olympics. Imagine if San Francisco, Boston, NY or any old city in Europe got the chance to be partly demolished, re-planned, re-designed and re-built today. All of the roads and buildings would look new, clean and beautiful and the organization of the city would [View Full Entry]

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2008 Around the World PART 1 (As definite as can be): July 31: Fly to Beijing Aug 7: TV News Broadcast Journalism Internship in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Sept 6: Train through rural western China to Lhasa, Tibet. Fly over the border to Khatmandu, Nepal Sept 13: Nepal working with James Banks' foundation: http://www.dorjhanafoundation.org/ Sept 29: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, & Cambodia November 22: Bethlehem, Palestine interning with: http://www.maannews.net/en/ December 22: Romania January 3: London January 9: California 2009 Around the World PART 2 (In [View Full Entry]

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