Stuck in the Mud!

Bingzhongluo

Gongshan County

Nu Jiang Liuku Autonomous Prefecture

Yunnan Province

China

June 13, 2014

Stuck in the mud!  Is that ever a good thing?

Despite the gloomy weather and the potentially muddy country roads, my guide Ilian and I decide to visit a Tibet style temple and to explore the mountain villages above Bingzhongluo here in the upper and remote reaches of Yunnan Province.  We hire a local man with a four-wheel drive vehicle.

So here’s what happened.

Another series of “accidents”?

After my flight from Bangkok to Helsinki, I take the bus to the downtown station and walk towards my hotel.  I finally arrive at the proper street but do I turn right or left?  I stop a man and ask directions and he points to the right.  I notice he is wearing a Star of David so we chat a bit and he points out that the Helsinki Synagogue stands just down the street to the left. **

Helsinki

Finland

August 12, 2014

Hei,

Many years ago I had an American-Hungarian friend.  She insisted that Hungarian was “different” and resembled no other language in Europe.  Since I was a young man who thought he already knew everything, I doubted my friend’s characterization of her language.

Hungary lies in the middle of Central Europe.  Certainly the language is in some way similar to her neighbors’.   Surely Hungarian is related to Slovakian Slavic, or Romanian Romance, or Austrian Germanic?

Well I was dead wrong!

Minsk (pop 2 million)

Republic of Belarus (pop 9.5 million)

September 7, 2014

Minsk: “The Old Country”

So after the drama at the Belarus Embassy in Riga, what can I expect from the Immigration officials when I arrive at the airport in Minsk?   Discrimination?  Suspicion?  Paranoia? 

Belarus has five neighbors:  Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.  Will the immigration officer display a Russian attitude, a Ukrainian or Polish or Lithuanian attitude, a Latvian attitude?   Or a unique Belarus attitude?

I approach the Immigration counter.  A young woman takes my Passport.  She’s blonde.  She’s gorgeous.  She scans the information page, stamps my visa, and with a bright and totally sincere smile welcomes me to Belarus!  The whole bit takes about six and a half seconds.  If this is a Belarus attitude, well, gloriousky!