This mascot outside a fast food restaurant near the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin seems to show what the world really thinks of Americans. Except that he's thin. … [Read more...]
Finishing the Loop With a Tour of Lao Bike Repair Shops
We hung out at Hin Poun Viewpoint at the top of the pass for a bit, admiring the view, taking pictures and enjoying some celebrity treatment at the hands of a group of Laotian college students on break. Basically that involved every one of us posing for various pictures with every one of them, as us westerners are often asked to do in Asia.After that, we had a thrilling … [Read more...]
Exploring Gigantic Kong Lo Cave by Boat
At its entrance, Kong Lo (Konglor) Cave is relatively narrow, but once you get in a ways, it widens considerably. In some places it apparently gets up to 90 meters wide and 100 meters high. At narrower points, the river fills the cave from wall to wall; when the cave widens, you even get a beach at one point, with what appeared to be pure white sand, although it was impossible … [Read more...]
Lingerie on a Goat is a Sure Sign of a Very Lonely Herder
This sexy goat was found at Karakul Lake in Xinjiang Province in the far west of China, just north of the Pakistani border on the Karakorum Highway. We were certain that red strap had some practical function, but none of us had any idea what that might be. Let me rephrase that: we were really hoping that thing had some practical function....Believe it or not, I've also … [Read more...]
Another Detour in Search of Another Nonexistent Attraction
After we left the little village, we had a few hours of bad roads ahead of us. We picked our way through the obstacles in the road slowly, stopping a bunch of times to take pictures of the very strange and unique, post-apocalyptic-looking landscape along this section of the motorbike 'loop'. We also stopped once for another flat tire, this time on a different bike … [Read more...]