Ka-ra-kal-pak-stan
This was a real tongue twister. Ka-ra-kal-pak-stan. Ka-ra-kal-pak-stan. Now say it faster. Ka-ra-pa-kal… Damn. After spending nearly a month in the ancient Silk Road cities, the Fergana Valley, and the Nuratau Mountains, we thought we were finally getting a grasp on Uzbekistan’s diversity and complexity. We were starting to understand […]
Night Trains
Years ago, when we were staying on an island in Cambodia in a little bungalow on the beach, Victor walked off the bed platform in the middle of the night and fell down a few feet. He wasn’t fully awake and somehow didn’t hurt himself. When his mom heard this […]
Next on the Bucket List: Oktoberfest in Munich
I was chatting with my cousin, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany, and telling her all about our 36-hour trip to Munich just to attend the opening of Oktoberfest. “Have you ever been?” I asked her. “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “We are not big drinkers at all!” “Neither are we!” I […]
People Live Here. Nuratau Mountains.
We were outside the Jizzakh train station, patiently waiting on our Yandex Go taxi driver, when another taxi pulled up. The driver, a tall lean man in his early seventies, leaned out the window, “Where are you heading?” We explained that we were waiting for another taxi and he nodded, […]
Full Bloom in Namangan
A Tajik woman in a colorful dress was elbowing and pushing me away. I was too close, and she demanded space. She was also bothered by my camera, hissing at me that it kept poking her in the back. But what could I do? We were in the crowd, and […]
Cruising Down the Streets of Havana
After writing nine posts about Cuba earlier this year, we thought we were done with our stories from the island. But to be honest, it would be unfair not to describe the most touristy thing we did while there. Learning about the U.S.-organized invasion at the Bay of Pigs or […]
In Search of Haggis – One Day in Scotland
All the way back in 2009, we spent one day in Scotland, and I have wanted to go back ever since. This was an impromptu trip to the U.K. brought about by a random airline price mistake – $250 for a nonstop roundtrip from Chicago to London in the spring. […]
All You Can Eat: The Great China Buffet
On our first day in Beijing, we woke up at 5 am in our hotel room, jet-lagged from the long flight and starving. I tried to fall back asleep and wake up at a more reasonable hour, but the growling from my stomach was too loud to ignore. “Do you […]
The Eighth Wonder of The World
I was surrounded by people on all sides, pressing and pushing against me, the momentum of the crowd carrying me forward whether I wanted to or not. I could see Victor’s head bobbing up and down ahead of me, and I tried to keep an eye on him but couldn’t […]
Another Day, Another Istanbul Market
In two prior posts, I described our thrilling shopping adventures at the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district. Yet, the market that we fell in love with the most was located away from the tourist hordes-on the Asian side of the city. It’s hard to characterize […]
Let’s Spice it Up: More Shopping in Istanbul
In the last post, I described the fun of visiting and bargaining at the Grand Bazaar. And although my parents and I enjoyed the craziness of this behemoth ancient market, we found other markets in Istanbul that we loved even more. Several days before visiting the Grand Bazaar, we spent […]