Brunei

Aug 28, 2017 | Travels

  In 2016, I was incredibly fortunate to be in Brunei on its National Day, celebrating its (33rd) independence from Britain in 1984. Its downtown streets were lined with 33,000 members of the military and students from schools from all over the country. I got a...

Iraq

Aug 27, 2017 | Travels

Wow, quite a trip to Iraq. There were several ISIS-inspired bombings in Baghdad just before my arrival, which made me second guess my decision to go there. However, after speaking with Douglas Layton, the President of the Kurdistan Iraq Tours, I was reassured of my...

Iran

Aug 22, 2017 | News, Travels

A week prior to leaving for Iran (in ’16) I still did not have my visa and I was getting a bit nervous. This is a country that has had US sanctions imposed on it since the 70s and gets few visa requests from Americans. I’m sure that my request was thoroughly...
Myanmar

Myanmar

Aug 22, 2017 | Travels

Woman from the Kayan tribe wearing rings on her neck to resemble a dragon Jim’s Perspectives: Myanmar has only, realistically, been actively promoting tourism since 2010, so now is the time to go before throngs of Europeans discover this jewel of a country....

Uzbekistan

Aug 22, 2017 | Travels

“We travel not for trafficking alone. By better winds our fiery hearts are fanned. For lust of knowing what should not be known We take the Gold Road to Samarkand.” These are the final 4 lines of poet James Elroy Flecker’s The Golden Journey to Samarkand....

Tajikistan

Aug 22, 2017 | Travels

  To get from Turkmenistan to Tajikistan in ’16 I had to fly to Dubai, endure an 6 hour layover and then fly 3 hours to Dushanbe. Tajikistan is the smallest of the “Stans” in terms of population and definitely the poorest. This country has recovered little...