Before I Ran Headlong Into the Firewall, I Loved Beijing
First of all, the subway made sense. Bless Beijing for having the Olympics, because it made our first trip on the metro – from Beijing Central to our stop on Line 2 –… Continue reading
Category Archive: travel
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Trans-Mongolian Journey: from Ulaan Baatar to Beijing
We woke to new scenery. After a day of the Gobi (like all deserts seen from a train, beautiful at first, and stultifying after seven hours of exactly the same), the small but… Continue reading
The quirky case of Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia
Tomorrow, I’ll get on the train to Beijing. I’ve been in Ulaan Baatar one less week than originally planned, but about five days too many. I know, I said I liked the city.… Continue reading
In Mongolia’s cold, even fermented horse milk tastes good
Do not be fooled. Mongolia may have an average of 280 days of sun a year, but that doesn’t mean you get 280 days of warmth. It is remarkable how beautiful the day… Continue reading
My First Meal in Mongolia
This was my first meal in Mongolia. I wasn’t really sure what it was, but this really nice Mongolian kid named Tolgi, who was studying to be an English teacher and who had… Continue reading
Adventure to Lake Baikal’s Olkhon Island (and a really cute kitten)
On the microbus from Irkutsk to Olkhon Island, the Russian men around me seemed to keep talking about the fact that I was a woman traveling alone and, if I guessed right, making… Continue reading
Best Vegetarian Restaurants in St. Petersburg and Moscow
Natural food stores all smell the same – vaguely of herbs and essential oils, a bit of Indian spice. If you walk into one, you’ll readily identify the scent. I always had this… Continue reading
Before Autumn in New York City
The sun was radioactively orange, emerging from the silhouettes of old factories whose destiny within the decade will be live-work lofts. The color felt unreal, only elsewhere available in the artifice of nail… Continue reading
House-Hopping, and an Appreciation of Dish Sets
My friends are amazing. They’ve emailed me out of the blue many times in the last month and a half to say, “Hey, I’m gonna be out of town for X number of… Continue reading
Riding the Trans-Siberian: May the Visa Gods Permit
So I began looking at the Trans-Siberian Railway, because that’s part of the list, and frankly I’m getting to the point here in the Bay where I’m so comfy I don’t want to leave,… Continue reading
Vaccinations: The Other Side of Exotic Travel
I’ve been thinking about traveling to Southeast Asia for some time, though I couldn’t yet tell you when exactly, and it will be for some undetermined amount of time. This just throws the… Continue reading