78°55’30”N 11°55’20”E
Svalbard
The Arctic
So, can you name the northernmost civilian settlement in the world?
Here’s a hint:
A research town in Oscar II Land on the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya) and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden.
Bukhara, Uzbekistan
June 1, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
I love oriental rugs. I grew up with them. My parents had one in the dining room in our apartment in the Bronx. My grandparents also owned a few. Eventually I inherited them all. And I bought more. Like members of the family, the thick rugs of earth tones and deep red and warm blue were always an important element in the interior of my home.
Did you know that I was a rug salesman in Boston? In one of my late "careers" I worked for Newton Oriental Rugs and Able Carpets. On the job I learned that Americans love a "story" and I was good at story-telling. To my attentive customers, I told fabulous tales about each intricate, "unique" hand-made rug imported from some exotic place somewhere. And, could I "hondl" and negotiate!
So when I realized that the city of Bukhara was on my itinerary in Uzbekistan, my first thought was "Bukhara!! That's one of the more popular patterns of oriental rugs."
Bangkok, Thailand
15 June 2010
Dear Friends and Sports Fans Everywhere,
Back in 1994, when the FIFA World Cup was staged in the USA, I attended two matches at Foxboro Stadium outside Boston: Bolivia v Korea and Nigeria v Greece. I had never seen a football (soccer) match before. I loved the enthusiastic national pride of the spectators and I was impressed with the athleticism and skill of the players. I enjoyed the constant “stress” of the game. I was “sold.”
Beijing
China
August 7, 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
From Bangkok, en route to Ulan Bator, Mongolia, I decided to stop over in Beijing. I wanted to see my friends and to visit one or two sights I had missed two years ago.
Actually, my first stop was a return to the small village of Chuandixia. My friend Diego, his friend Miland, and I rode the Beijing Red Line subway for almost an hour to the last stop. Diego then negotiated with a driver and we took off for the 90km ride through the hilly green countryside west of the city.
Bangkok
Thailand
December 20, 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
(Have any of you lunatics conjured up the connection between Chanthaburi and bunny rabbits?)
Across the waters of the Gulf of Siam, about a forty minute ferry ride from Koh Chang, lies the city of Trat. North of Trat is the city of Chanthaburi.
In Chanthaburi I took my usual stroll, but this time I had a destination in mind - the Holy Mary Catholic Church. The largest Catholic Church in Thailand was built by the French during their occupation of Trat and Chanthaburi Provinces from 1893 to 1905. This area borders Cambodia - part of colonial French Indochina.
Udon Thani
Udon Thani Province
Thailand
January 2, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
“Mr. Jan, where you go cown dow?” A Thai friend asked me this question just after Christmas. I was stumped. I was puzzled. It took me a few minutes to unravel the mystery.
