Wanderlustress

Birth-month Begins!

I milk the occassion of my birthday for as long as I can ;) And so my birth-month begins, and I'm excited because we're taking a road trip for four days! Its been a long time since I went anywhere by car. I’m always lugging my backpack onto trains, buses, planes, and taxis, but what a luxury to pack as much as I want and just throw it all it a car, without having to worry about throwing my back out! And believe me, I’m taking a lot!…just because I can.

The weather looks like it will be sunny and crisp, nice for taking nippy late autumn walks in Belleport, and cozying up with good wine, home-cooked meal, and old friends. And I can’t wait to be back in Newport, to reminisce about those high-school years body-surfing at Second Beach, drinking beer in the dunes, making out in the parking lot of Brenton Point, sailing up Narragansett Bay…ahhhh…I can smell the sea air and taste the clam chowder already! Staying at the Francis Melbone House will be d i v i n e. Monday night at the Black Pearl will be the highlight of the weekend. We’ll then conclude the trip with a stopover to Pound Ridge to cook dinner for a couple of good friends, and currently, stressed out parents of two toddlers.

I LOVE New England!!!

…see you next Wednesday.

Retraction

I was mistaken. I had previously taken a photo of a covered woman. I was on a ferry going up the Golden Horn, the river that conspires with the Bosphorous to divide the city proper of Istanbul into three sections. I connected with a little girl, and took her picture so she can then see herself on the LCD display. As always happens, she was thrilled (but still shy), and her family were thrilled as well. So I took a picture of them. And here it is. I retract.

Respite

Let's take a break from the boring stuff and go to Turkey...shall we?

These photos were taken in the Cappadocia region of Central Anatolia. I was sitting in a cafe, or rather, lounging among the thick carpets and lush pillows watching people go about their daily lives. I was far enough away to shoot this grandmother with his grandson sitting on the stoop of their residence waiting for potential buyers for the hair nets they have laid on the ground for sale. (No. I didn't buy a hair net. But let me know if you want one and I'll be sure to pick on up for you next time I'm in Turkey.)

Now don't go out and start shooting covered women! This is the only time I've ever broken that golden rule. You are NEVER supposed to photograph covered women. And if you ask permission, the woman will NEVER say "yes", especially if she is around her husband, a male relative, a male neighbor, a male grocer, a male...ok, NEVER. You must ask the male company if it is ok to take a photo of covered women. I've never done so and don't know how they would respond. But I have witnessed the wrath of an old man screaming at tourists who took photos of his wife sitting on a donkey cart. I felt sorry for the poor woman, and the old man, because they had been so violated and disrespected.

In my situation at the cafe, I was very far away, and no one new I was taking a photo because I didn't hold the camera up to my face but used the LCD display. It looked as if I was holding out the camera to show my friend photos or a video clip. Pretty stealthy, huh?

Come Fly Away

Hot Air Rising - Namib Desert, Namibia 2002

Airborne - Namib Desert, Namibia 2002

Landing - Namib Desert, Namibia 2002

Packing Up - Nambib Desert, Namibia 2002

Packing It In - Namib Desert, Namibia 2002

About Central Asia

The following has been taken from the "Central Eurasia Studies World Wide" web site:

Definition: Diversity and Coherence

"Central Eurasia" -- for the purposes of «Central Eurasian Studies World Wide» -- is a not-too-neatly circumscribed domain on the interior of the Asian continent. Much ink has been spilled trying to come up with definitive definitions. Though the domain encompasses great diversity, there is also cultural continuity across the broad region, as well as shared history and contemporary problems. In rough terms, "Central Eurasia" encompasses the region from Iranian Azerbaijan and Turkic/Muslim regions of southern Russia in the west, through northern Afghanistan and southern Siberia, to Tibet and Mongolia in the east.

The rationale for this broad definition is that much of the region shares one or many of the following characteristics:

1. Linguistic and cultural roots associated with Iranian and Turkic culture from prehistoric times;

2. In-migration of Turkic population for over well over a millenium, with Turkic dynasties and Turkic language predominating in many regions and periods, while Persian remained a lingua franca over much of the domain;

3. Economic life characterized historically by a mixture of pastoral nomadism, settled agriculture, crafts production and trade;

4. Islam as a predominant religion, as well as, in places, Tibetan Buddhism and local forms of Christianity;

5. At some historical moments, a position at the center of expansive empires and cultural domains, through much of history occupying a marginal position amidst more powerful states on all sides;

6. Current problems of autonomous statehood and economic reform.

The contemporary states regions and territories which are covered by this term are, from west to east:

- The Caucasus and Caspian Basin lands of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia; Daghestan, Chechnya and the Northern Caucasus generally;
- The Turkic and Muslim regions of the Volga Basin and Southern Russia;
- The northern parts of Iran, Afghanistan;
- The former-Soviet Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kirghizstan;
- The northern edges of Pakistan and India as well as Nepal;
- Southern Siberia extending through Tuva and Buryatia to Mongolia.
- Xinjiang/Eastern Turkistan and other western regions of China with large Muslim and Turkic population;
- Tibet, and Inner Mongolia.

*While Central Asia is defined here academically, the Peace Corps includes only the former-Soviet Central Asian states, and does not currently have a program in Tajikistan.

Africa Burning (Part 1)

I've been expanding on this story since I first wrote it last year. It has appeared on OneWorldJourneys, but I've just dusted it off and infused it with more details. The first installation is here (bc I'm sleepy). More to follow.

My lasting impression of East Africa is of forest fires. I had witnessed miles after miles of fires along a 3,728mi (6,000km) expedition into western Tanzania. From a distance, smoke on the ridges of hills gave us a warning of the fires to come, but as we approached in our Land Cruiser, we could see that acres of the forest were actually burning. Along our route, we were sometimes blocked by fire and were forced to drive through the intense heat and flames, along the roadside. We would try to go off-road to detour around them, but sometimes there was no choice but to pedal-to-the-metal plow through. I wasn’t sure what risks the fire posed to our truck, but I was fully aware of the searing heat on my face and arms.

After being in the bush for three weeks, we had finally arrived at the campground along the shores of Lake Tanganyika, on the Zambia side. Approaching the site, we had just driven through miles of smoldering embers, and as we descended the hill towards the welcoming coolness of the blue water and open space of the lake, smoke was billowing from the hilltop above our camp. Over excited, we immediately immersed our grimy bodies from head to toe in refreshing, clean water. After living on dry baths, the fire went unheeded, as did the threat of crocodiles and hippos. We splashed around until we were revived of our senses, and quickly swam back to shore. Lying on my sarong, I could smell the stinging smoke and hear the crackling embers above. Later that night, as we were finishing our dinner, we heard a loud roar. This time, however, it was not the roar of lions we had become accustomed to while camping in the game parks. It was the roar of the inferno feeding itself on dry grass and desiccated trees. We ran out to find that the fire had descended almost half way down the hill towards camp…

To be continued.

Climb Sepu Expedition

I am either in constant pursuit of places I have never seen, or pursuing the adventures of those who go where I may never go.

Here, a Marmot sponsored expedition to climb the unconquered Sepu Kangri in Tibet. I have been following their progress in stages over the past year. The multi-media format is professionally presented, and personally narrated.

Enjoy!

Dinner for One

After being hungry for hours, I walked into the kitchen and found myself flouring chicken fillets with Turkish roasted chilies I brought back from Istanbul in July. The red and black flakes are less spicy than they are fragrant, infusing a bouquet from the fire fueled by Istanbul breezes.

The fillets joined the already caramelized garlic and shallots in a pan luxurious with olive oil. The bittersweet morsels quickly seared onto the chicken, crispy and piqued with flavor. To that, I finished off some left over sun-dried tomatoes and simmered it all in a basil pesto. Capellini never had better company.

I was half tempted to call a dear friend over to join me, especially when I opened the Bordeaux. But I resisted in better judgement of recent emotional revelations this dear friend had for me. I can't reciprocate in kind.

Tonight, its dinner for one.

To Follow My Feet

Tonight I learned the reason why I have wide, flat, peasant feet. It’s because my maternal grandmother was from Isan, the northeastern region of Thailand. Isan is predominantly agrarian, and everyone there is poor. It is the picture perfect postcard photo of women bent over, knee deep in mud, tending the terraced rice paddies fringed by swaying palm trees, under the background of hazy rolling hills. Isan was the last place my aristocratic Lopburi great-grandmother would have wanted her second son to select a wife, which also explained why my mother had been so abused by that family. She was the polluted bloodline, and she passed that peasant blood on down to me, straight down to my feet.



My feet have been horrible and totally ill suited for the life that I’ve led. They are not only flat, but are flanked by bunions so big the right one is often mistaken for a sixth toe. And because they are so heavily calloused, I really don’t need to, and probably should never wear shoes. While every ounce of my heritage was expecting me to wake up before the sun in a thatched-roof hut with its cool, smooth bamboo mat floors, and walk out into the soft muddy fields, I was squeezing the painful breadth of my feet into stiff penny loafers, tennis whites, leather boots, high-heeled corporate pumps, and even slinky CFM stilettos.

All my life, I was really meant to be wading in the rice fields. Perhaps that is why my life has culminated in an opportunity to be, literally, “out in the field”. My feet are taking me away from painful materialistic confinements and into a world where they will feel more “at home.”

World View

Thanks to Paul Watson, here's a great map of the world. You can also test your knowlege by taking these map tests. Let me know how many countries you can name and locate correctly.