by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 26, 2016 | Africa
Baggage My luggage didn’t arrive in Ethiopia when I did. A broken lock on my hotel door caused me a restless night in the plane-stale outfit I’d worn across several continents. As I tossed in bed, I pondered a month without all of those items so carefully rolled to...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Asia, Musings, Travel
I Knew I Had Arrived when a blast of humid air hit me like a vacuum cleaner in reverse. After nearly two days in airports and planes, I’d lost touch with what real air felt like, but wasn’t feeling terribly appreciative of THIS air or the cockroach-like critters...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Asia, Musings, Travel
Off to Hong Kong in the SE of China sent me west out of adjacent Shenzhen, the much-touted area that was tiny fishing villages just several years back before becoming a bustling early success story of China’s economic boom. I boarded my first overnight sleeper train...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Asia, Musings, Travel
I Sit Presently on the upper deck of our ship, cruising the Yangtze River, while steep, wetted rock walls embrace our path along this green river and waterfalls toss themselves down the cliff sides in narrow ribbons of white against black and white walls covered in...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Asia, Musings, Travel
Up at 4am to catch a taxi to the T3 Beijing airport, I was rattled when I walked into a seething early-morning mass of people the approximate size of a small country, all vying for space at check-in counters.Not one attendant in sight, I had no idea where to check in...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Asia, Musings, Travel
The Great Wall had not been high on my priority list, but I am certainly glad I had the opportunity to visit it, for it was a much more meaningful experience than I thought it would be. Actually, there is no ONE Wall, but rather many segments of walls built at...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Asia, Musings, Travel
Onward to Kashgar Heading west again across the southern rim of the Taklamakan Desert wove us in and out of desert land, oases, and villages. I have not yet figured out how to describe villages and their constant hum of life, but suggest you imagine whitened-beige...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Asia, Musings, Travel
Back Tracking a Moment to Where I’ve Been and Setting the Stage for the West Let me take just a moment to give you some sense of where I am and where I have been. Let’s draw a mental map juxtaposing the U.S. and China. China and the U.S. are similar in continental...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Musings, South America, Travel
Invisible By day, they are invisible, scattered about the city like stray dogs on the prowl, digging through yesterday’s trash, begging outside of restaurants, or sleeping in the ragpiles of cardboard and debris. But as creatures of the night, they regroup,...
by cristinemp@comcast.net | Mar 20, 2016 | Musings, South America, Travel
Lying on Lima’s Southern edge, near Pachacamac ruins, a warren of squatter housing evolved into what is today portrayed as an “Oasis of Hope.” Villa el Salvador (VES) was founded in the early 1970’s by an initial wave of 10,000 migrants who either fled from the...
