I don't know if I've ever been in a city that has renamed and or moved itself as many times as Ulaan Baatar has! When a capitol of the more recent Mongolian empire was first declared it was 1639 and that capitol was 420 kilometers from the current capitol city. Actually city might not be the right word to use in reference to that first capitol. Ger camp might be a bit more accurate. Remember that at their heart the Mongolians are a nomadic people who were always accustomed to following their livestock. And as the pasture went dry, the camp [View Full Entry]

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The train rolls into Sainshand, Mongolia at 5:20 am. And our four barely awake bodies tumble down the stairs, dragging our bags behind. Onto the wide open platform standing alone in the wide open Gobi Desert under a massive wide open Gobi sky. The train is gone one minute later. The sun is already up. And so is our guide, eager to meet us and take us out to our ger (yurt in Mongolian) camp - and then on to explore! The ger camp is right under a nice ridge that breaks the endless Gobi wind and will later give us [View Full Entry]

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Beijing, China to St. Petersburg, Russia. On a train. The 'Tran-Siberian Railway'. 8505 kilometers of views. Five weeks across China and Mongolia and Russia. From Asia to Europe. Now that's quite an adventure. And for us it began June 6 as we flew out of Mumbai, on our way to Beijing. Us? Us is four teachers from my school, the American School of Bombay. Katie, Lynn, Deb and myself. And we plan to join up with a former teaching peer in Irkutsk in Siberia. Vania. She currently teaches in Moscow. First, I gave silent thanks as I crossed over that point [View Full Entry]

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As I headed south out of Lexington, Kentucky on the broad swatch of concrete that is Interstate 75, I couldn't help but remember traveling this same way so many times in my childhood. Back then the family was always heading south to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I remember the old Interstate tuckering out in south central Kentucky, dumping us onto a narrow and twisting even older US Highway, 25W, down around Jellico, Tennessee. Well, nowadays that Interstate stretches all the way to Florida. And its wider and faster than ever. Nonetheless, as I headed further south, a taste of [View Full Entry]

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Sri Lanka? Where in the world is that? I'm pretty sure I never studied it in social studies back in the Deer Park Community Schools back more decades ago than I'd care to mention. Sri Lanka? But I read about it. As the government tries to end a decades long civil war, cornering the last 'Tamil Tigers' in hopes of bringing peace to the war torn northern tip of the island nation. And I remember reading about it a lot. Right after December 26, 2004. When the devastating tsunami killed 30,000 people there. So I read a little in my guide [View Full Entry]

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The early morning sun filters gently through the trees, casting crisp shadows that dance on the ground in the gentle breeze. The colors are rich, brilliant - as only the early morning sun can do. A bicycle clatters by, its stack of eggs cartons, stacked two feet high, poised perilously over the rear wheel. A rickshaw driver offers me a ride. But I prefer my own two feet this morning - 'exercise' I say as I indicate my legs. Even though English is probably his third language, after Hindi and Punjabi, he nods in understanding. A pilgrimage. That's what I'm on. [View Full Entry]

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From the very first it seemed a trip that dreams are made of. A full week traveling with two fine companions. My fellow teacher at the American School of Bombay, KC. And Eric, who I've had so many adventures with over the past ten years - now teaching in New Delhi! A full week traveling in India. By train. And not just any train. The Maha Parinirvan Express! This was a pilgrimage - to the places that marked Prince Siddhartha as he became the Gautama Buddha. This was a pilgrimage - to the sites that had been indelibly marked as the [View Full Entry]

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Dharamsala. In the foothills of the Himalayas. We fly in aboard a small twin engine turbo prop. And then drive up the twisting and turning mountain road to Mcleodganj. The home of the Tibetan government in exile - here in India. Where the Dalai Lama hangs his proverbial hat when he's at home, not off to distant points in defense of his homeland. I passed a peaceful week here, in the pines, enjoyed the ginger lemon honey tea as I wandered from Gompa (monastery) to Gompa, breathing cool fall air. I once again viewed the movie Kundun - with Philip Glass' [View Full Entry]

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In far northern India, precariously rests the gem in the crown of India, the state of Jammu and Kashmir. And in that far northern state lies a remote and sparsely populated region called Ladakh. The name in the Ladakhi language literally is La-Dags, and means 'land of high mountain passes'. Ladakh, one of the last refuges of Mahayana Buddhism in the world, is also called 'Little Tibet' or the 'last Shangri-La'. It lies cradled high in the Himalayas, between the Karakoram and Great Himalayan ranges. So for me, as soon as school was out for the 'summer' and I had endured [View Full Entry]

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It had been three wonderful days so far at Kanha National Park. Morning and evening safaris each day. Langurs (primates) and Chitals (spotted deer) and Barking Deer and Peacocks and Indian Buffalo and Wild Boar and Sambar (Indian Deer) and plenty of incredibly beautiful birds. Like the Indian Blue Jay and the Kingfisher. And we'd had a our moments viewing the beautiful Barasingha or Swamp Deer, a species that is only thriving in this one location in the world. And only thriving due to intensive management to promote its survival. We'd even joined in the tiger frenzy the first mo [View Full Entry]

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