We've spent a little too much time here at Old Bahama Bay Marina, idling amongst the wealthy. The rest was welcome from the rough crossing, but the only thing to do here is while away dollars and show off your diamonds and your $1.50 boobjob. The locals can barely hide their smirk in the face of it all; they can play this game. They even have a patois so that the USers don't understand. These are the weekend jetsetters from Florida escaping their family and financial problems just to show off their motorcraft's widescreen TV during the Packers-Cowboys game. No worries, [View Full Entry]

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I've discovered that the hardest part of sailing is actually getting off the dock. The captain had started several ambitious projects and was in no way able to complete them. We had planned to go south, and the winds looked good. But, a few more delays, a few more days, and the winds change. Fed up with waiting, we just came here to Grand Bahama Island! The crossing was rough once we left the harbor. We were greeted with strong waves and winds, strong enough to nearly knock off the wind generator at the stern of the 43ft boat. (Nautilus is [View Full Entry]

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Olkhon Island North of Irkutsk the road is quite uneven and ridden with potholes. In fact, one man stands on the roadside waving his arms in an undulating fashion, so as to alert drivers of bumps ahead. He smiles and waves as we pass; his horse waits unbothered. Does he really do this all day long? The landscape is featureless. Other than random shrubs, patches of forest and yellow wildflowers, few signs of activity exist. At Bayanday, we passengers were left off at a general store. Some stood around, some shopped or smoked. The store was one of those sole refuges [View Full Entry]

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6/18-22 Trains I found a seat ahead of the masses, right side facing east, so as to best view Lake Baikal. Across from me sat a guy of about my same age and aspect. Long Russian train journeys require company or some form of dialogue. Hence, Russians are quite gregarious and bien dans leur peau amongst new strangers. In a matter of a few minutes after departure, he initiated conversation. "You going far?" "Yes," psyched that I understood. "Novosibirsk?" "No, Irkutsk." I replied, surprised that I had carried the conversation that far. After a reflective look out the windo [View Full Entry]

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Ulan Ude I stepped off the train onto the platform of Russia, surprised that the country actually did exist. I had somehow grown up with the notion that this was a no man's land, some verboten territory of inhumane machines. Never had I the slightest dream of ever coming here to this shabby train station occupied by louche loiterers. Yet here I was. And this was Russia. Although the guidebook outlined several attractions in Ulan Ude I wasn't quite sure what I was meant to enjoy about this place. As the overcast morning shrouded any brilliant impression, I charged through the [View Full Entry]

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Notes from the Trans-Siberian ...farm, straw hats, gravestones in copses, shrub and brush, glass-fragment guarded prisons, rows of brick houses, hidden courtyards, putrid rubbish pits, lambent peaks, trees sprout from stonewall, moss melts down the craggy crest, little Russian lad with a toy motorcycle, sandals and a chocolate mustache, lone sunflower on a dirt pile, rows of rice pass, conical strawhats float over the fields, mules trot sluggishly hoofing dust, distant monastic isles in an expansive bog, the great mountainous wall of nature drapes the horizon, the jigsaw skyline of jagged su [View Full Entry]

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The sliding electric doors parted as I approached. Before me unfolded the arrivals lobby of the airport. The usual crowd filled the room: taxi drivers soliciting rides for exorbitant prices, elegant ladies sitting alone avoiding eye-contact, Western travelers plotting the next move. Yet four distinct groups of mainly men formed around four wide-screen television posts. All were absorbed in a football match. China was playing in its first-ever World Cup tournament against Costa Rica and the nationalist pride of the Chinese was on display. The television poked its screen out above the [View Full Entry]

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