Ugly Americans

Passport Problems, a.k.a. I procrastinate. A lot.

Photo off the boat -- Norway
From Boat in Norwayfor those not on Facebook, one of my recent pics. You can follow the link to my picasweb photo page.trying to upload photos and video from Mongolia, China and Vietnam, but with computer screw-ups currently, it's proving difficult. Thanks for your patience.Michael

Various Notes
Sorry its been so long between me writing here. Having my computer going on the fritz has set me back, especially with pictures. The damn thing works one day and then not for two days. And back and forth. In any case, here are some various notes from some of the countries I've shot through in the last few weeks.* Russian women are incredibly beautiful. Right up there with Columbian woman in frequency of appearance on random streets. The odd thing is that you see hundreds of model-like women in their 20s walking around. . .and absolutely no attractive women over 35 years old. Its like some switch gets pulled and they go from 9s and 10s, on the common scale, and fall off th

New Travel Plans
OK, I haven't wanted to mention this before, at the risk of jinxing myself, but I've been mildly freaking out for about a week about my travel plans and other miscellaneous stuff.  I had made reservations on a cargo freighter leaving Singapore to Perth, Australia on December 12th, which would get me in around December 21st.  It shocks me that there is so little traffic between Southeast Asia and Australia, at least in terms of ships that will take passengers.  That ship was the only freighter going between the busiest port in the world, Singapore, and a well-developed, first world economy, Australia, for a period of about three months.  Fortunately, I r

Cambodia meeting
I do not remember how I originally heard about this person, but there is a fellow Arkansan living near Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  A guy named John McDermott, who is a professional photographer.  I am getting within a couple weeks of there and remembered reading about his stuff at some point.  Google to the rescue.I found his website easily: http://www.asiaphotos.net/Emailed him and asked if he was still in the area and would like to meet for a drink.  He replied inside the hour.  And a couple of Arkies are going to get a beer or three near Angkor Wat and I'm going to pick h

Chinese place names
There is something enchanting about China, namely the names of some of the places you will be going to if, and when, you visit here.Inside the Forbidden City (which was really a worthwhile stop), you can see the Supreme Harmony Hall, the Complete Harmony Hall and the Preserving Harmony Hall, which are all back, to back to back of each other.  Go can walk through the Heavenly Purity Gate (I was glad they didn't have a vengeful God).  There is the Palace of Peace and Tranquility and the Heroic Splendor Hall.  I wandered through the Pavilion of Literature Profundity, but I don't think it rubbed off on me.Not to be outdone, the Summer Palace has a collec