Silk Route Planning

I read all the materials for my upcoming trip to some stops of the Silk Road and realized, despite the numerous days and places we'll visit, that we will actually only be in three countries, China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Pretty amazing nonetheless since the China portion will be far from the normal stops (apart from Beijing and Xi'an) that people go to. And who had ever gone to Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan (apart from my wife's internationally inclined HS friends). According to the materials we'll be spending 22 nights in 3 star or less hotels, 4 nights on the train and my favorite, one night in a Yurt.

The great thing about traveling is the pre-trip shopping, specially for a slightly different trip like this one. However, since I am in poor struggling travel writer mode I decided not to buy anything new for this trip. Not that I'll be struggling by any means, I've collected enough junk in my years working for a bank to equip any trip I go on nowadays. Still, pre-trip shopping would have been nice.

Apart from continuing my US trip story, I'll be interspersing this with my preparations for my Silk Road trip. Thought I'd let you know in advance so you don't get confused.

Crabs, crabs, CRABS!

I went to see a doctor about a year ago for an annual check-up and after the test results came in he announced that my cholesterol levels were ridiculously high.

"Note, I said ridiculously high, not just high" he said to me.

"Do you like crabs" he asked.

"Yes, of course" I said, hiding the giddy feeling I was experiencing by the mere mention of my favorite seafood.

"Well, you can still have crabs, maybe once a year" he said matter of factly.

Needless to say I haven't gone back to see him.

I love crabs, here in the Philippines we have the big crabs from Mindanao, King Crab in Banaue or P. Guevara serves them (they deliver too).

Then I went to Singapore and had their chili crab and black pepper crab and promptly announced it as the best crab in the world. I had mine in the slightly swanky Traders Hotel, Ah Hoi's Kitchen, but you can get them at any decent seafood resto in Singapore (don't forget to order the fried bread for dipping in the crab dishes' sauce).

On my previous trip to the US however I was introduced to the lowly Maryland Blue Crab and I had to re-assess my proclamation of the world's best crab. To make it even more amazing, this crab was served not in some posh restaurant where waiters stand by at your beck and call, nope, these crabs were served out of a brown paper bag, unceremoniously dumped on my cousin's newspaper lined kitchen table where the only piece of crockery was a bowl for the empty shells. I was in heaven. The experience was such that I had to go back and visit my cousin again, with the proviso that I would get my very own bag this time. So on my way from NY to North Carolina, I decided to make a quick stop in Baltimore to visit my now favorite cousin.

True to his word, I get to Maryland and he takes me out to the wonderful restaurant that makes these great crabs. I'm standing in line waiting for my order to arrive. A rather portly gentleman was also waiting in line for his order and it was clear that his cholesterol levels blew mine right out of the water. His order comes first, he grabs two large brown paper bags and as he passes me on the way out, he looks over and says "You only live once, might as well make the most of it".

Words to live by.

Silk Road here I come.

Okay, there are two epic trips I had wanted to go on in the foreseen future, both trips were initially implanted in my brain by my mountaineer buddies. The first one was a Silk Road trip with my friend from Cambodia, a 30 day odyssey from China through Central Asia. Unfortunately family got in the way, literally, as in she recently married and has a kid on the way.

The second trip with my friend from MSF, currently stationed in Kenya, is the Annapurna Trail which is still on for 1st or 2nd quarter of next year.

It's easy to say your going on these trips but when push comes to shove, as the above shows, there are so many things that can keep these trips nothing more than dreams. With one trip indefinitely canceled I was not so sure the second one would push through and here is where my wife steps in.

She'd been fussing about my upcoming birthday wondering what she should get me when all of a sudden I see an envelope at the breakfast table. It's a reservation for a Silk Road trip with overland tour operator World Expeditions. I couldn't believe it but there it was, all laid out. My trip would start in Beijing, go through China (Xi'an, Lanzhou, Xiahe, Labrang, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang, Tulufan, Urumqi, Kashgar) and then head out to central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Bishek, Tashkent, Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand). If anyone's done this already, any helpful tips would be most appreciated.

And now I must say thanks to the wife, she's the best isn't she. Thanks sweetie.

Now my back's against the wall on what I should give her for our upcoming wedding anniversary, any suggestions?

Planes, trains and automobiles

Thought I'd drop a little line about my mode of transportation I used on my US trip. Actually, the title says it all. I took the plane for the major distances, North Carolina to Florida, Florida to California which made a lot of sense. I was going to rough it initially and take the train from NC to Florida, a good 13 hour train ride but my friend found a cheap flight and so I had to endure only a hour or so airplane ride.

Train rides though are pretty good. Amtrak trains are clean and you basically have reserved seats. Here's the real upside to taking a train, even though it sometimes costs as much or if not more than the equivalent plane ride. For one, you don't have to arrive an hour early, you can almost get there 5 minutes early, hop on the train and you're off. Also, you don't go through those ridiculous security checks. You get to the train station, go straight to your platform and get on your train, no checking of the bags, no taking the shoes and hat off, no nothing!

Another upside, you get to see the countryside pass you by.

And a nice round of Belgian Beer to finish the night

After a night of comics, Paulo Coelho, alcoholic milk shakes, Jedi knights, fountains and sex shops we decided to end the night fittingly with more alcohol. Although I never really connected beer with Belgium (except for Stella of course . . . oh Stella how I have missed you), Pat was adamant about bringing me to the aptly named bar Vol de Nuit which I believe means night flight.

We were happily walking on the street when she announces that we had arrived. No signs, no neon lights, just a small alleyway leading into a small courtyard. Had it not been for the people milling around it would have been easy to miss this place. Reading the review of this place basically confirmed why I liked it so much. It had more red crosses than green check marks but all the check marks were in all the right places - happy hour, free entrance, food.

The waitress also seemed to know what she was talking about, recommending their best beer for me and then stopping me from ordering a lesser beer for my second round . . . or it may just have been a marketing ploy. I wasn't too keen about her suggesting a mix of two beers for Pat though, I mean for goodness sakes, brewers but their heart and soul into achieving the best mix of hops, barley, yeast etc. only for it to be thrown into a mix of other beers. Sacrilege!

Nothing quite like a beer though to round out my stay in New York. We down a couple of more beers, talk, reminise and head home. Slightly inebriated but walking straight nonetheless Pat pushes me off at the right station for me to take my train to New Jersey.

New York Street Views

Getting lost in New York has its own rewards. Finding the Jedi order in Washington Square Park was definitely not something my friend had planned and now while we were on our way to rendezvous with several pints of the best Belgian beer there were several other spots we ran into to.


Having someone else worry about navigating your way around is a definite plus, it allowed me to take in the sites like the naughty sex and magic weed shops on the way, the fountain by the side of the road, the quaint little restos and the slightly creepy street I saw through a wrought iron gate.

So next time you get lost, don't sweat it.

Petro what?

Taking a short break from my US trip to tell you about a great local destination.

Yesterday was a holiday in the Philippines and it was with much surprise when my wife woke up and announced we would go see the Petroglyphs in Angono. First of all it was the last day of a long weekend and we had happily been lazily vegetating on the couch, watching movies with my niece and nephew, leisurely biking in UP with friends and so to announce this sudden trip seemed to go against the flow of everything we had achieved (in terms of relaxing) so far.

Also, I had been to Angono once before and the traffic was horrendous so I for one was not looking forward to this. I was hoping she would gravitate towards staying at home, even after wasting the whole morning and tempting her with a full Japanese lunch but this was not to be. So we set off.

The good thing about three day weekends is that Metro Manila is practically deserted with everyone else taking off. We reached Angono sans the traffic I remembered and Pris was a great navigator pointing out the directions flawlessly. The Petroglyphs were apparently in the hills of Angono and we had to go through a tunnel to get to it. Here I was thinking "ok, we drive the car through the tunnel, park in the parking space, pay the entrance we and look at the cave art. This is what happened, we drive up the steep hills near Angono (first gear all the way), find an rough road that leads to a cogon field, find a tunnel (literally a hole in the mountain) which it turns out is too small to accomodate the car. We get out, note there were no signs here saying this was the way to our final destination, and walk on foot into the tunnel. You can see the other end but there is no lighting in the tunnel itself. On the other end there were two guys hanging out and we asked about the Petroglyphs and they had the same reaction I had this morning "Petro what?".

We walk further on and find it. I never knew we had such ancient sites in the Philippines. When I think of ancient artifacts and art I think of Angkor Wat or the Pyramids and even if these scratches on the wall seem insignificant compared to those wonders of the world, at least these were our very own. The Petroglyphs date back to 3000BC. Amazing, isn't it. As always I was glad Pris dragged me out to this destination and this was one trip where the journey was definitely part of the attraction. I love caves.



Location notes: Coordinates for cave entrance - N14deg31.889 E121deg11257

Use the force

Here's where the evening took a weird turn. After downing the burgers and shakes of Stand we decide to walk to our next destination, a bar that serves only Belgian Beer.

Pat takes the lead and before long we are lost. We find ourselves walking into Washington Square and while she gets her bearings, through the trees, in the dim light of the early evening I could see an unmistakable light. At first I couldn't believe it but as I dragged Pat to the lights it confirmed my initial guess. . . . Lightsabres, in Washington Square Park.
Yes, right here in the middle of New York were a bunch of Jedi (wannabe) Knights sparring with their light sabers. I assume they were all Jedi and not Sith, I mean who would want to be a Sith?

I sit down on the park bench and watch this amazing display of geekness unfold in front of me. I guess what really made it bizarre was that they were wearing ordinary casual clothes. No dark brown burlap robe, no funky monk like attire, just jeans, t-shirt and a lightsabre.

Strangely I felt at home watching this spectacle. And to end this entry here is my most favorite Star Wars quote:

Scene: Luke's X wing fighter sinks into the bog on Dagobah where he is trainig to become a Jedi. Yoda tells him to pull out the fighter using the force.

Luke: All right, I'll give it a try.
Yoda: No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try.

After failing to lift the fighter out Yoda does it using the force.

Luke: I don't, I don't believe it.
Yoda: That is why you fail.

Wow, words to live by imparted by Master Yoda. I got to get myself a lightsabre.

NY Dinner

From the Strand we head of to the Stand. Yes folks, despite what seems like a spelling mistake, our choice for dinner was Stand. Simply put it serves hamburgers but Stand is not like any hamburger joint I've been to before. For one you have to wait to be seated and when you add that with the modern surroundings and the sosy crowd of beautiful people that eat there you know you're in for a treat.

I think I ordered the mushroom beef burger but what really stuck to me were the alcoholic milk shakes. Yup, you hear me right, from Campari Orange to Kahlua Vanilla and Strawberry Vodka, all debunked the myth that you cannot have dairy products with alcohol. Did I mention everything tasted great.

One level up

The next stop was Pat's way of elevating my intellectual level from "picture books" like comics to books with no pictures in them. The Strand Bookstore boasts of 18 miles of books, although I believe this has not been scientifically proven (side by side? from cover to cover? with the books opened up?). Many of these books do, in fact, have no pictures in them at all and seeing so many of them cramped in one place was pretty amazing.

We shuffled around the first floor where Pat stuck several tomes in my face asking me if I wanted to buy this or that and in the end I asked her to pick a book out for me. She picked "The Alchemist" by Paolo Coelho.

After more shuffling around we went up to the second floor where a presentation / book signing was happening. That kept us interested for a few minutes but when it was clear that it was someone I didn't know (like Stan Lee) we decided to get out of the place.

On the way out we did grab some goodies, a couple of moleskin notebooks, gift wrapping paper and "The Book" (aka The Alchemist).

Going to the Strand can be very daunting, especially if you have no idea what you're looking for but that's half of the fun. I usually gravitate towards travel books (looking out for my next destination), photography books (obviously) and interior design books (that one I can't explain) but as my tour guide for the day showed me there are treasures to be found. We passed a table that had compilations of old newspaper comic strips beautifully bound in a huge book and in another table we found artsy postcard sets in a box. I bought one - Optic Nerve by Adrian Tomine.

Having gotten my spending urge temporarily out of the way it was time for our next destination . . . dinner. Fuss . . Fuss . . Fuss. .

Back to New York, New York

So I called in the heavy artillery to get me to see New York in a different way. My friend P who naturally fusses over stuff wanted to know what I wanted to do, what I'd like to see, what kind of food I'd wanted to eat. So I stuck with my guns and told her whatever she likes doing on her own free time. The result was surprisingly refreshing.

Our first stop was Forbidden Planet, the comic store just off Union Square. I had been there before but through my friend's eyes I finally saw it for what it was - Geek heaven. It's not a mega store, if anything the place, with its many rows of comics and display cases of action figures was a bit cramped but I liked it.

It had obscure titles of my youth like 2000AD, a British comic from which Judge Dredd originated. And if that isn't international enough for you there was a whole section for Manga comics too. I don't buy comics, I mooch off my brother who is a bit of a comic nut, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate them.

In the end I bought an amazing Dr. Who (British again) t-shirt featuring the Dalek (pronounced DAHlek not Daylek like the uninitiated call them). It wasn't going to be our only geek encounter for the night though but it was definitely the perfect way to start.

Exterminate .. Exterminate . . EXTERMINATE . . . (yes? no? man you guys really need to catch a few Doctor Who episodes)

The Olympics are here!

I wonder who will light the Beijing Olympic Flame tonight.  It's become quite a dramatic moment and there have been several amazing ones in the past.  Who can forget the lighting of the 1992 Barcelona games where the archer shot a flaming arrow into a tower to light the Olympic flame.  (It's been said he actually shot it up and over as was intended but that was enough to light the gas . . . I like to think he hit the mark).

Then there was Yoshinori Sakai back in 1964 who lit the flames in Tokyo.  Yoshi was a 19 year old whose only claim to fame was being born in Hiroshima on the day the bomb fell and his lighting the flame stood for a rebirth for Japan coming from such a tragic event.  A real tear jerker if you ask me.

My favorite of course was the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when a Parkinsons ridden, shaky Muhammad Ali took the torch in his infirm hands, walked a couple of steps to the base of the structure that would house the Olympic Flame and lit it up. 

Beijing, you got your work cut out for you.

Missed it!

According to my good friend D, I missed a very new feature of the Brooklyn Bridge. That's what I get for going around on my own. I think it went up in June sometime which was just about the time I was there . . . of course I was on the bridge itself so it was easy to miss the waterfall.

The Bridge

As I was finding myself more and more walking around aimlessly in this beautiful city I decided to call in the Cavalry, a friend who had lived in the city for several years. She decided to meet up with me after work but having a few hours to kill I decided to go to the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge is a bit of an obsession with me, I've always said I'd go there whenever I visit the city but never did. This time around I did and I have to say, I like. It was a beautiful day, lots of people walking on the bridge doing the same thing I was and it was a great view.

I sat down beside the near end pylon just to take in the sky, people and the view. Lots of drama on that bridge, from the tourists sporting their national tourists picture poses (think Asians with the peace signs and Caucasians with their "look over there" pose) to the eternal battle of bikers screaming at the hapless tourists that wanders into their lane.

The Very Public New York Public Library

Coming from my failed attempt of running around in Bryant Park I decided to go to what is another one of my favorite places in NY, the Public Library.

First of all I'm absolutely chuffed at the idea of being able to walk into that place explore the massive halls and just enjoy all the marble and hardwood decor that place has to offer. Even better is walking up to any bookshelf, picking up a book and reading it till the cows come home (or until they close up for the day). All this with no entrance fee or ID requirement. Nowadays there is a security check at the door and they do check your bags for books when you go out (apparently the ultimate NY souvenir is a book stamped NY Public Library).

Beyond this however the place is magical. I don't understand why it isn't packed all the time with people just reading. This reminds me, I have to visit the Manila Public Library and see what that's like. Somehow I think it will be less . . . magical.

On My Own

Up to this point I was basically on a family vacation. Part II of my trip however was on my own. The wife had to come back to her power job while I had a few days to kill. She took a flight from Providence and almost instantly I wanted to go home with her. Who would do the whole asking for directions thing, who would buy the tickets and more importantly who would tell me where to go and what to look at. Yes, pathetic as it may seem, I am a robot traveler when with the wife.

The good thing about striking out on my own was it broughtthe adventurer out in me and so I had to think of new places to see, things I wanted to look at, explore the weird, the wonderful, the unseen! From Rhode Island I headed back to New York for a couple of days. So here was my chance to do my own thing, not being tied down to a family group decision . . . . so I go to Bryant Park, where I went on a previous trip with, you guessed it, the family. I'm such a loser.

I went back because I liked seeing all the people soak in the rays, some taking their shirts off to catch what little tan the sun could provide and others just taking it easy on the lawn, the chairs, the benches or the small tables around the park.

I wanted to go back to Bryant Park so I could walk on the grass, feel the green stuff between my toes and basically be amazed at the beautiful green spot that is walled in by tall concrete skyscrapers. I wanted to run into the field, hand lifted to the sky, do circles, spin myself silly and look like a complete freak in the middle of the city (no one knows me there anyway).

Here's what I get instead . . . .