An American Abroad

Audio Interview With Yours Truly

Odyssey Master and fellow travel blogger Jay of Jay’s Odyssey conducted an audio interview me earlier this week about my travels and tribulations. It was a fun — even outrageous — conversation. We covered the pitfalls of eating spicy food in Bangladesh and then using a urinal, as well as the perils of being interrogated by the Tunisian police on suspicion of fornication. You can listen to it here.

Jay is a serious bicyclist who is about nine days away from embarking on an epic trip through Mexico and points south in just nine days. It’s a trip that’s been delayed twice, most recently because his bicycle was stolen. Now that he has wheels again, I look forward to following him on his journey. He’ll be Tweeting about his travels @jays_odyssey.

Two Years Old!

Today, June 9, 2015, my blog is two years old. What started out as little more than a convenient way for me to keep a personal online diary and to stay in touch with family and friends has grown beyond its original bounds. I’ve written 267 posts which have received 31,770 page views from 9,649 unique users in 135 countries and territories.* This is still small potatoes by big-blog standards, but nonetheless very gratifying to me.

In the two years I’ve been maintaining this site, I have written about my travels to 15 countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia, Morocco, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the USA, and Vietnam). It’s been an exciting journey for me — and I’m not done yet. In my very first post, I wrote that I wanted “to travel, to come to know Chinese culture from the inside, and to gain some perspective on my own culture by viewing it from afar.” Substitute “global” for “Chinese” in that statement and I think I’m doing that. Along the way, I’ve also written about books, bicycles, motorcycles, movies, terrorism, unauthorized public art, teaching, music and religion.

I’d like to thank everyone who has visited this site, encouraged me, commented, and given me ideas for what to do with it next. You rock!

* The countries and territories I’ve had hits from are Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Georgia, Greece, Germany, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guernsey, Haiti, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jamaica, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Réunion Island, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zambia.

Here’s a map of my visitors:

Hit Map

5000

I logged onto Google Analytics this morning to discover that this blog now has just over 5000 unique “users,” almost 20,000 “pageviews” and almost 10,000 “sessions.” Very small potatoes compared to big commercial sites, but the numbers still make me happy. I appreciate everyone who’s tuned in.

Also, I now have readers in 113 countries (or country-like web domains):

Algeria
Andorra
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Cambodia
Canada
Cayman Islands
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cote d’Ivoire
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Ethiopia
Finland
France
French Polynesia
Georgia
Greece
Germany
Guam
Guernsey
Haiti
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jamaica
Jersey
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Malaysia
Maldives
Malta
Mexico
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia

75 Countries

This blog hit a milestone yesterday: viewers in 75 different countries.

Thank you to all my readers in Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam.