Planes, trains, and...trams! For some reason, I've always had a thing for trams. Funiculars, trams, street cars--if a city I visit employs any of these as a means of transportation, I'm there.My friend Vanessa so generously sent me this gorgeous postcard from Lisbon.It's … [Read more...]
Book of the week–Matterhorn
Last week while I posted snippets from my trip to Vietnam 20 years ago, I was also engrossed in Karl Marlantes' debut novel, Matterhorn (El Leon/Atlantic Monthly, 2010).The story follows US Marine Lieutenant Waino Mellas, a naive Ivy-educated patriot who's plopped down on … [Read more...]
Happy Lunar New Year!
When people think of China these days, they think of goods. Exports, great shopping deals, and knock-off designer accessories.But back in 1991, the Chinese economy was just beginning to come out of the cold. And the market in this photo was about as good as shopping got back … [Read more...]
The house of Chen
Before people in China owned cars, before they traveled abroad for pleasure, and before they could shop wherever they wished, they lived in apartments like this one.I stayed in this apartment 20 Chinese New Years ago when I visited my friends in Nanjing. The room in this … [Read more...]
Chinese New Year at the kids’ table
Oh, boy. This scene could have resulted in disaster.An open well, four kids, and a semi-literate 20 year-old foreigner who didn't have the language skills to tell a real adult if a kid fell down the well, let alone call for help.But it was all cool. In fact, these kids … [Read more...]
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