This won't be an interesting blog entry. No adventure, no history. It's only a snippet of Paris, just in case any one is as enamored with this city as I have become. Actually, this entry is just for me. Once we return home, this blog will be a way for me to recall the things we have seen and done while living in Europe... From the town of Versailles, we catch a cab back into the city. We would be leaving bright and early the next morning, so we are off to see what we can in the district of Marais. [View Full Entry]

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In one of those deals that only make sense to airline marketing staff I grabbed a heavily discounted ticket from Stockholm to Bangkok. I paid SEK 5.400 for a ticket that would take me from Stockholm to Copenhagen and then onwards to Krung Thep. The poor sods wanting to board the plane in Copenhagen would have to pay SEK 19.000. Go figure. This modus operandi kind of set the parameters for the trip in general. It was kind of marred by minor hassles all along the way, delayed and broken down trains, illness and scrubbed flights. Perhaps I am starting to [View Full Entry]

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One of the things I love about traveling without an itinerary is that plans can change on a moment’s notice. My plans were to leave Cappadocia on an early bus to Kahta, near the base of Mt. Nimrut, with my Canadian friend Errol and then continue on to the mountain. We packed our stuff up in the morning and checked out of the hostel. Then we headed down to the bus station to buy some tickets. The man at the counter informed us that every bus (they were not that regular) to Kahta was full for that day and the next. [View Full Entry]

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After a 5:00 am wake-up call, Torrance rings the gong on our front wall before placing a pot of coffee through the dumb waiter door in the living room. By 5:30 am, Alan and I have donned raincoats for a wet walk to the reception area where Enoch, our ranger, and his tracker, Sam, are preparing the Land Rover for this morning’s 3-hour excursion. As the rain pours, Alan, Gail (another guest) and I peer from underneath green poncho hoods at an African fish eagle, impala, kudu, cape buffalo and giraffe. The rain is pounding when Enoch asks, “Would you like [View Full Entry]

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For the past weeks I have been dealing with "writer's block", and hundreds of photos began to accummulate in my Blog, as I was trying to overcome my daily anxiety dealing with the 2008 Presidential election in America. I have now survived the strain and the stress of the daily English news about the direction and conclusion of the election on China's television CCTV-9, and the internet coverage of MSNBC, CNN, and the New York Times. I have also noticed that my hair has become more gray and a little thinner, something a "political junkie" like me has to expect every [View Full Entry]

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Morning drive from Hella to the Skaftafell Region to visit Seljalandsfoss, our first waterfall of the day. Very fun, if also very wet, as it was possible to walk behind the waterfall although most of us spent the majority of the time trying to protect our camaras than actually appreciating the view! The sun decided to come out for us briefly though did very little to dry us - I am now resigned to spending the whole time here in my very unattracive raincoat! Next onto Skogafoss waterfall which I didn't have the energy to run up to the top of [View Full Entry]

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The RG's description of a 12 hour bus ride to reach San Agustin, punctuated by military and guerrilla roadblocks at which one might be relieved of money or other valuables, was as out of date as much of the information circulating about travel in Colombia. As I waited at Popayan bus station for my 6AM departure, I chanced upon the deaths/injuries board showing a tally for each of the transport companies and was pleased to see zeroes in all columns for Cootranshuila. 6.75 hours later, most of which was spent on a fairly horrendous pot-holed gravel road - though the green [View Full Entry]

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The Transsiberian Train is a journey by itself. There are many travelers leaving their countries just to take the longest train ride in the world. To be precise we didn't ride across the Transsiberian line, this one connects Moscow to Vladivostok. We crossed the Transmongolian line, from Beijing in China over Mongolia finishing in Moscow (The Transsiberian and Transmongolian join they journey around half way near lake Baikal in Siberia). There are so many ways to do this trip. From a nostalgic direct, super luxury coach to a cattle-class hop-on hop-off vodka filled adventure. It all [View Full Entry]

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