The first time I ever smoked a peach cigarette, I was wearing a dinosaur suit and sitting on my friend's balcony in a Tokyo suburb. My friend had a dinosaur suit because he'd gone to a fancy dress party the week before, and I was wearing it because I was cold and it was made of fleece. I'd never been much of a smoker, but the vending machine sold dozens of different flavours and what was the point of traveling halfway around the world if I wasn't … [Read more...]
A Hungarian Hotel in Germany
Our heads were fuzzy and our legs like jelly when we left the long, overnight flight from Kansas City to Munich, Germany. After clearing passport control and getting our luggage, my husband and I headed to the rental car area of the airport. Despite our fatigue, we managed the paperwork and check-out with only a minimum of frustration. An hour later, we settled into a Mercedes C Class sedan and made our way out of the city, Ken at the wheel and … [Read more...]
Ancient Bushman cave paintings
Just returned from a fantastic outing on the horses to see ancient Bushman cave paintings. We rode through expansive fields of mostly corn until we reached a viewpoint overlooking an impressive gorge. From here it was on foot down a very steep rocky trail to the first of the caves - called "echo cave". It was obvious why this cave took its name after we shouted ourselves hoarse, practicing our new found Lesotho words including "dumella" - a … [Read more...]
Malealea Lodge, Lesotho
Greetings from Malelea Lodge in the remote hinterlands of the "mountain Kingdom" - the landlocked county of Lesotho (not pronounced how its spelled, rather phonetically you say "Lesootoo"). The country has the highest mountains in Southern Africa and receives significant snowfall at the higher elevations in the winter. There is even a small ski resort in the eastern part of the country! We drove in from South Africa crossing the border at … [Read more...]
The Paris of Edith Piaf
On December 19th 2011 French singer and icon Edith Piaf would have turned 96 years. It goes almost unsaid that the French capital was her stage and her life where she is also put to rest at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Throughout her life she lived in various Paris apartments from shabby to absolutely luxurious. For any visitor of Paris it is interesting to discover the City of Light through the life of this woman with the unmistakable voice. … [Read more...]
Changes in the Village
I've been coming to our village in Eastern Thailand every at least once a year for the past 10 years (we own property next to the village). Things change so fast here. In the last 4 years we now have land line service and a 10mb Internet connection (that's 4x as fast as we have at our place in California). Oh and we have 24/7 running water. Prior to this we had to walk 5 minutes to the local pond, turn on the pump for water and then walk back … [Read more...]
Village Updates
Our niece Puk Boong shows up promptly every afternoon around 4pm dressed in her school uniform. She is attending a private school where English is taught at a younger age than a public school. The scope of her English so far is in song - she can vaguely sing the words to a number of songs - and has perfect tone. Today, the 29th of December apparently was Christmas Day at her school. She had to wear the "Christmas" uniform and happily performed a … [Read more...]
Village Life, Eastern Thailand
Back in the village in Eastern Thailand - 90 minutes from Poipet on the Cambodia border - nice to have some pleasant weather - two days ago hot with fans needed at night - now blankets needed! Village is only 2 homes (used to be about 6 homes) but population swelled dramatically the past few days when friends moved in along with all their tents! Enjoying home made coconut ice cream along with lots of fried insets we are catching with the blue … [Read more...]
Rattler
You plan on some things, and others just happen. Usually you don't plan on getting bitten by a rattlesnake for example. It's just one of those things when you're out in desolate country; alone, weather beaten and emotionally off guard. Of course you could argue that inserting yourself into desolate and dangerous country is, in a way, inviting an encounter with an ill-tempered reptile. True I didn't know when setting out on my two-month canoe trip … [Read more...]
Christmas in Catalonia
Little is left until Christmas - and walking the streets seeing all the lights and decorations we all feel the holiday spirit in our bones. All cultures that celebrate Christmas share common traditions, like having a tree or a nativity scene, however, every culture as some peculiarities when it comes to holiday customs. I have been living in one of the apartments in Barcelona for over 2 years now and I found that there are some very odd … [Read more...]
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