France

Paris. What else is there to say about Paris that hasn't been said by better writers than me? I will say this: We woke each morning and exercised for a couple of hours under the Eiffel Tower. Then we would eat a light breakfast of incomparable French pastry, and then wander the city the rest of the day, eating lunch in whatever wonderful cafe happened to be near. In the evenings, we would hang out with Meghan and Rick, and my sister Nora, who was vacationing in Paris and Morocco. It's a pretty great life.

Italy

After leaving Berlin, we hooked up with my sister Meghan and her husband Rick, who live in Paris. We rented a car and drove down to Rome. Along the way, we spent a few days in Cinque Terra along the Italian coast, just south of Genoa. It was amazing, the pictures don't do it justice. Walking along the coast, drinking hot chocolate in cafes during the day and good wine at night are really as fantastic as you might think it would be.

Rome was amazing as well. We spent a bunch of time with my mom's cousins, Alvaro Mino and his sister Pierra. They are awesome. The stories were great, as was the food and the wine and the little tours that Pierra would give spontaneously. If you have any relatives at all in Italy, I suggest you visit them.

Germany

We climbed aboard an Airbus in Ulaan Bataar, and 8 short hours later we had winged across much of Asia and landed in Berlin. Welcome back to the Western World! We loved Berlin. The city is busy yet quiet, filled with great parks and displaying it's tumultuous history. We enjoyed the way the Germans have embraced the difficult period of the Nazi regime, and gloried in the fall of the authoritarian state. I'm happy to say there was no danger of me being shot as I scaled a remnant of the Berlin Wall. We spent far less time here than the city deserves, especially since, as Europe goes, this town is quite affordable. But, Paris and Rome were calling to us...

Mongolia

The endless wind sweeping off the endless steppe under an infinite blue sky. It's easy to see why the Mongolian people have a reputation for toughness. Anyone surviving and thriving in these conditions has to be tough. But, for all that toughness, most of the people we met were very friendly and warm. There's a lot of national pride, not only in the past--the mighty Kahns that ruled most of the known world, but also in the present--rejecting the overarching influence of Russia and China to forge their own country based on democracy. We loved Mongolia for the beautiful land and the great people. Our time there wasn't nearly long enough to appreciate it all, but we had a great time and we'd love to go back.

Home Sweet Home

We're back in the beautiful Berkshires, enjoying the warm weather and trying to get our lives in order. We are definitely going to blog the last few amazing stops of our trip within the next week- so check back soon for Mongolia, Germany, Italy and France. Our camera got stolen in Mongolia (on Peace Street of all places) so we had to switch to film for a bit and are in the midst of getting those onto CDs. See you soon!

The Trans-Mongolian Railway

We fought through the bustling throngs in the Beijing Rail Station and boarded our train for Ulaan Bataar. I was almost shoved down the stairs and under the wheels by a tiny little Chinese woman intent on making her train. Nevertheless, we found our car and our berth, a four bed cubicle that we shared with Monique and Sven, a great Dutch couple who were on a journey similar to ours.

Once the train started rolling, we were treated to an ever changing vista of mountains in northwestern China, with the Great Wall snaking along the ridges, to the endless plains of the Mongolian steppe, sometimes obscured by fierce snow squalls, and other times clear and barren and dotted with wandering herds of horses, antelopes, and camels.

After three days of swaying to the rhythm of the rails, we arrived in Ulaan Bataar, to face the descendents of the mighty Chingiss Kahn.

The Great Wall, China

Well, although it's a myth that the Great Wall of China is visible from space, nevertheless it is impressive, and very, very big. Makes you wonder what they were thinking building a wall this huge up and down over mountains--it certainly didn't help defend the country from raiders who just went around it, or bribed guards to let them through. But is indeed impressive. Still, I'm glad I wasn't one of the lucky guys hauling stone up those ridges to build the thing.

This particular section of wall is about 40 miles from downtown Beijing. Beijing sits on a broad, open plain. The hills to the north and west form a sort of natural barrier and protection, especially when you consider that the Mongol tribes lived to the north and west. That natural protection was augmented by the wall. But those Mongolians are good horsemen, and they didn't have much trouble riding around the thing, or in some cases over it. As the mighty Chingiss Kahn famously said, " A wall is only as good as the soldiers manning it."

We were joined at the Wall by hundreds of Chinese tourists who love to visit the nation's historical sights. A booming business of souvenir hawkers and snack sellers has grown up around parts of the wall, and Debbie and I were asked to pose with dozens of Chinese who wanted their photo with us. I know we're a good looking couple and all, but it was a little strange. I'm sure we've been immortalized in photo albums all over China.

Beijing, China

Our last couple of days in China were spent in Beijing taking in the famous sights. The first thing we realized about Beijing is that it is really, really big. Seems to be the theme here. So we took some really long walks and a long bus ride too. The bus ride brought us out to the Ming Tombs, where I got to compare my dental work with that of the stone carved boar guarding the raised dias at the gate. Debbie, of course, is far more chic posing on the elephant stool of the carved patio furniture.

Our walk brought us to the famous Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Both of these are of course big. The Olympic torch was scheduled to arrive the day after we were there, so there were many people setting up for the ceremony, and many people wandering around gawking, like us. And of course Chairman Mao watches over everyone.

Yantai City, China

We spent last weekend just kicking around in lovely Yantai city with friends. Yantai is known as the "city of the double sea" in China, because it is at the tip of the Shandong peninsula with the Bohai Sea to the west and Yellow Sea to the east. We took in the sights downtown--the old lighthouse and the quays, and then enjoyed ourselves at Tashan Park, which is on the mountain just up the road from the school where we teach. The gondolas go up to the pagoda pavilion at the top, where the monkeys like to hang out. The bumper cars were pretty fun, although anyone who has ever spent any time on a road in China will wonder why the Chinese need an amusement like bumper cars--their normal driving habits are pretty much what most of us would think of as bumper car worthy.

Happy Spring!

Each day as classes wrap up, out in front of the school's gates vendors gather to sell the kids sweets and toys. Yesterday as we left to go downtown for some lunch and errands, we came upon an entirely new product for sale --baby chicks! In many different colors! They were so cute and soft, I wanted about ten, but sensibly Jude didn't think they'd make good stow aways.

Qingdao, China

Last weekend, along with some other volunteer English teachers, we visited one of the many historic sites in Shandong Province: the city of Qingdao. The city is an important coastal town that has served as China's port to the world for hundreds of years. Boats and sailors from Korea, Japan, and the European seafaring nations land here for trade and commerce. Qingdao is the site of the sailing events at the 2008 Olympics, and construction is proceeding at a furious pace.

The city, which is ultramodern, is also home to some old traditions and temples. Nearby is Lao Shan, one of the five sacred mountains in Tao tradition. The temples in the city also harken to sacred origins of the Tao faith, and the red ribbon signifies good luck in the coming new year.

Yantai Bilingual Middle School, China

Well we left behind the tropical heat of Thailand and arrived in the city of Yantai, China on a chilly, gray winter day. The city is big. It has big buildings and big streets and big construction projects going on all over the place. The school where we live and teach is also big. And the classes are big--40 students or more. If you asked our impressions of China so far, we'd probably say China is big. They seem to like to do everything in a big way.

We've been here for two weeks now. We've settled in to our lovely little apartment--the "Foreigner's Flat." We've been treated very well by the staff and the kids. As you can see, the staff is big too. That's us with the sixth and seventh grade English teachers. Yes, just the English teachers. We'd probably need a panoramic lens on the camera to take the picture if we wanted to include math, science, history, and phys ed teachers.

Teaching is fun, and the kids are great, and the weather is warming up. We're planning to do a little traveling around the area over the next few weeks to see the sights...

Monkey Temple, Durbar Marg and Friends!

Our last few days in Nepal were spent with my family from the village, who now live in Kathmandu. That's Machendra--he was six years old the last time I saw him. It was awesome being with them again. And they were thrilled to meet Debbie. We also did some last minute touring, to Swayambunath, a huge Buddhitst stupa, and Durbar Marg, the old site of the Royal Palace. Both sites have buildings that are over a thousand years old.






Now we're resting up in Bangkok before heading to China!

Chitwan Nat'l Park, Nepal

Tigers, rhinos, and crocodiles....oh yeah! We just spent three days at Chitwan National Park. We took an early morning elephant safari--yes we rode on top of elephants. There are wild rhinoceroses in the park. Rhinoceroses are the second largest land animals in the world. They don't see too well, they don't hear too well, and they have a really nasty temper. This makes it easy to sneak up on a rhino, but not so much fun once it realizes you're there. When a rhino is disturbed, it charges. Therefore, the only safe way to see rhinos is to ride the largest land animal in the world--elephants! A rhino will charge an elephant, just like it charges anything else. But the elephant will make a low rumble to let the rhino know that it's an elephant, and the rhino will stop. Which is nice for everyone.

We also took some walks once the sun warmed things up, and found these crocodiles, or muggers as they're called here, basking in the warm winter sun on the river bank. Of course, our guides like to have a little fun at our expense. To get the goofy American to walk under the elephant, they tell you that it's good luck to do so. The only lucky thing that happened to me was that the elephant didn't pee on me. Which I guess is pretty lucky...have you ever seen how much pee comes out of an animal that size?

Aside from these animals, we also saw a barking deer, tons of birds, monkeys, and fresh tiger tracks. If you're ever in the Indian jungle, remember, if you see a rhino, run! (but not in a straight line). If you see a sloth bear, bunch up in a group and make noise! If you see a tiger, back away slowly and maintain eye contact! Or, just ride your trusty elephant.