Mustagh Ata, the “Father of Ice Mountains,” towers nearly 25,000 ft above sea level. Further north, there is no higher mountain on earth (with the exception of its twin summit, Kongur). The Kirghiz muslims called it “Hazrat-i-Musa” and believed that white camels bore Mohammed’s body to heaven by ascending its staircase slopes. It is situated [...]
The red eye from Saigon arrived at 7:00am, and I had about seven hours before the connecting flight was to leave for Seattle. The weather was beautiful. So I ditched the airport and took the train in to my favorite part of Tokyo, Shibuya – “crowded valley” – popularized by the film “Lost in Translation. Those Japanese [...]
Ho Van Hue – the main street near our office here in Saigon – is filled with wedding dress boutiques. Paradoxically, it also has a more-then-average number of casket shops. Still, from one person’s viewpoint, you’re never too young to start wishing….
More photos in my Vietnam Gallery…
Usually the flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong arcs out over the Aleutians and down acrosss Kamchatka, but our “circle route” was much higher. Should have known. We dropped right over Siberia and into Beijing for a quick refuel before heading on to Hong Kong and then Saigon. Just an iPhone snap.
The Karakorum highway crosses the backbone of Asia, connecting Chinese Turkestan and Pakistan. The Kunjerab Pass, at 15397ft, is probably the highest border crossing in the world. This shows the highway as it leaves Kashgar headed for the Pamir Plateau.
This picture was taken at about the half-way point on a train trip from Singapore to Norway, at a place called Jiayuguan （嘉峪关） in western China…
I love this sign. Found it in the middle of the Wadi Rum desert in southern Jordan near the border with Saudi Arabia. Originally the train line was built to carry pilgrims to Jeddah, but it has long been abandoned.
Rain in the desert is magical. The scent of ozone wafts up from the dry ground and charges the atmosphere with a palpable strength….
Moab is just a two-hour drive from the dizzying heights of Telluride. It’s a different world. View the entire “Rockies” road trip here. Click any picture to see full size (maximize your browser first).
Telluride lies several hundred miles southwest of Aspen – actually, it’s just over an hour’s drive from the Four Corners area where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona all touch. It has one foot in the desert country, and one foot in the San Juan Mountains, an offshoot of the Rockies that is millions of [...]
After passing through North Cascades National Park, the Palouse is an interesting change of geography in this inter-mountain region between the Cascades and the Rockies…
