An American Abroad
After my unexpectedly costly journey from Tunis to Sousse, I woke up Saturday morning determined to look at my new hometown through fresh eyes. This is what I saw. Here's the view from my hotel room balcony. Note the church -- an unexpected … [Continue reading]
My travel luck ran out last Friday on the train from Tunis to Sousse. It was six in the morning and I was jet-lagged, insufficiently caffeinated, and burdened by two heavy suitcases, a heavy leather duffel, and a bulging nylon shoulder bag. As … [Continue reading]
On the evening of Wednesday August 6, I boarded a 767 in Detroit and flew east into the darkness. Eight hours later I landed in Rome and it was mid-morning. I had forgotten about the southern European custom of applauding when a plane lands. I … [Continue reading]
The two highlights of my trip to Shanghai were walking through the neighborhood around Tianzifang Street and seeing my old friends and students. It can be hard in Shanghai -- and elsewhere in China -- to find older buildings that have been … [Continue reading]
Once I got settled in Shanghai, I set out to explore. To do that, I first had to navigate the Shanghai subway system. As you can see from the map below, it's so simple even a laowai could do it: There were some strange and interesting ads in … [Continue reading]
After saying goodbye to Spencer, I flew from Hanoi to back Kunming. The reason for this zig-zag was because I had stored my big luggage -- about a hundred pounds worth -- with my friend Martin while I traveled in Vietnam. Who wants to be encumbered … [Continue reading]
Although I'm now back in the U.S. for a brief visit, I am still reliving the final week of my life in Asia through pictures and notes. Spencer and I visited Halong Bay on our final full day in Vietnam. We got up early to take a four-hour bus ride … [Continue reading]
Hanoi's history as a French colonial capital is still very much in evidence. There are gracious tree-lined boulevards fronted by beautiful old mansions. There are still some colonial commercial buildings, now sandwiched in … [Continue reading]
The Hoả Lò prison, better known to Americans as the Hanoi Hilton, was built by the French in the late 19th century to house anti-colonial Vietnamese for political crimes. Many of the leaders of the successful fight against French colonial rule were … [Continue reading]
For people of my age, the idea of visiting Hanoi is very strange. As Bruce Springsteen says in the intro to his cover of "War," "If you grew up in the sixties, you grew up with war on TV every night." That was my first experience of Vietnam. So if … [Continue reading]
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