Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.
food findings from a short but sweet visit to Krakow: ok, it wasn’t *really* cake in a can, but only the filling (to my disappointment–sort of like discovering poutine in a can is actually only the sauce). this time it was definitely lard on bread. not too bad, but I should have added some salt. I later found a bottled … Read More
Since it’s December and minus 15°C out, I thought I’d write about the beach. Or at least about the last time I’d been to a beach, which was in Dalian on China’s Northeast coast. Dalian was rated China’s most livable city in 2006–a fact that kept popping up everywhere we went (or maybe we were just watching too many CCTV … Read More
I’m in Copenhagen for a few days and thought I’d go see the the Little Mermaid (“den lille Havfrue”, originally created by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen). Ok, so the statue is actually currently in Shanghai for the Expo, but I was curious what would be in its place. So after walking through a beautiful park (filled with runners and … Read More
Trains are a great way to travel within China. There are several different categories of train, as identified through the route number. Routes consisting only of digits (no letters) are the regular, cheapest (and slowest) trains. Train numbers starting with ‘K’ are fast trains (kuai literally means fast), T trains are te-kuai (especially fast), and Z trains are zui kuai … Read More
There is a section of the Great Wall just outside of Dandong called 虎山长城 (Tiger Mountain Great Wall), again along the border with North Korea. The wall itself is not all that remarkable if you’ve been to other sections: it looks way too new & reconstructed, with the site obviously renovated to herd tourists. But I must admit the view … Read More
This is my second time facing North Korea–the first time being a tour of the DMZ organized by the USO–but this time it’s from China. I’m now in Dandong, a very industrial looking city with 600,000 inhabitants. 查看大图 As you can see, the Yalu (“duck green”) river separates China from North Korea–the Chinese side looks rather raucous and full of … Read More
Stavanger is Norway’s oil city, and so naturally I had to visit the oil museum. Norway was apparently a poor country less than two generations ago, but in 1969 oil was discovered in the North Sea. Since then, the government has been careful about limiting foreign rights to the oil. In 1972, Statoil was founded (though it was later partially … Read More
While Oslo is technically in a fjord (as defined by wikipedia), the Oslofjord is not all that impressive. But after this weekend, I can finally say that I have been to a real movie-worthy Norwegian fjord! A couple of hours away from Stavanger (on the southwest coast of Norway) is Lysefjord: View Larger Map To get to the start-off point … Read More
Last Wednesday was the longest day of the year, and a traditional day to have a big bonfire party in Norway. I was at my in-laws’ new cabin by the sea (well, in a fjord), and that night they had a big barbecue: It was a nice summer party, but a couple of funny things: some of the guests arrived … Read More
a hit at the Market in Ottawa, ever since the first Presidential visit: maple-leaf shaped cookies with “Canada” emblazoned on them.