BootsnAll Travel Network



What my blog is about

After crossing the big 4-0 (you know, the "new 30") and reading a book called "Wild At Heart," I've had this hankering to indulge my wanderlust, break away from the routine and reassess the course of my life. Well, the time has come! As you probably know, I'm single and without kids--which I didn't expect would be true at this point--but here I am, completely untethered, and blessed with the wherewithal to pull this off. Maybe I'll come back "changed." Maybe not so much. But there or here, I want to live "deliberately," as Thoreau says, sucking the marrow out of life--and not, as I'm so prone to do, lumber along, myopic, letting weeks bleed one into the next. Right. So, off I go, although I'm not sure exactly when or where. God only knows, literally. Who (else) can be certain what tomorrow will bring? Anyway, enjoy the ride!

Chewless in Singapore

December 11th, 2007

“Drug traffickers will be punished by death,” the customs card reads. Then, “Welcome to Singapore.” That pretty much encapsulates Singapore. They’re severe when it comes to criminal activity. But they make you feel very welcome. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , ,

Hue We Go, My Son

November 30th, 2007

Choices.  After Daniel left, I had some.  I could go west into the country of Laos, described by fellow travelers as “mellow.”  After over a week in Vietnam, mellow sounded good.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags:

Men Among Hmong

November 28th, 2007

 SSCN26981.JPGSSCN26991.JPGSSCN27021.JPGSSCN27051.JPG Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Ho Ho Ho

November 28th, 2007

The trappings of Christmas can already be seen.  Several stalls in the Old Quarter of Hanoi now stock glittery decorations and a life-sized Santa Claus figure.  For that matter, the Santa Clauses were already coming out when I was in Athens.  It seems the secular Western icons of Christmas just can’t be avoided. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Let Saigons Be Saigons

November 27th, 2007

I arrived in Vietnam with Daniel and I’m still here.  He has since left for home.  I’m presently in the central part of the country, but more about that in a later blog entry.  I’ll start where Daniel and I started–in Saigon. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Angkor Management

November 26th, 2007

Determined to squeeze in as many sites as possible, my brother Daniel and I took a plane from Thailand to the Kingdom of Cambodia on November 17 and spent one night there, in the Siem Reap province, home of the spectacular temples of the ancient Khmer people.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,

This Land is Thailand

November 20th, 2007

A Current Fare

My stay in Bangkok began with something of a, well, bang.  My plane touched down early Thursday morning, November 13, and I made it through customs without a hitch.  My brother arrived the day before and booked a hotel room, where he would be sleeping when I arrived.  He warned me about taxi drivers stiffing tourists with inflated fares and said the fare should come to about $3 and certainly not more that $5.  This was based on the most current exchange rate when he looked.  He also suggested passing by the first group of people peddling rides inside the airport and getting a cab at the farthest curb.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,

My Big Fat Greek Entry (embellished)

November 13th, 2007

 SSCN0932.JPGSSCN0988.JPGSSCN0933.JPGSSCN0936.JPG Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , ,

ro-MANIA

November 10th, 2007

After Hungary, I roamed to Romania, accompanied by Sarah.  While there, I encountered four different maniacs who, in my book, put the “mania” in Romania. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,

“Dangerous Avoider Of Work”

November 8th, 2007

On my second attempt to catch a train out of Sarajevo, I had success.  The 11.5 hour journey northward took me out of Bosnia and Hercegovina, through the little bit of Croatia that juts to the east just above B-H and on into Budapest, Hungary, arriving after dark on November 1.   Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , ,