My brother steals the show at Gotham

Growing up my brother was always funny. Not in the Jerry Seinfeld kind of way, but in the accidental-i-can't-believe-that-actually-happened-to-you. For example, one night when taking a break on the New Jersey Turnpike, he pulled into a rest stop to get some food. When he tried to order a Cinnabun, the woman behind the counter misunderstood him and mistook his slurred, "I wanna Cinnabun" for "I have a bomb." Twenty minutes later the SWAT and bomb teams were on hand and Jonathan was talking his way out of a nasty arrest. And this was pre-9/11.

As it turns out, his comedy is more than just accidental. For about a year Jon has been writing and performing in New York. Last night was the first opportunity I had to see him live. And I think I was more nervous that if I had been up on that stage myself. But he was amazing and he had the entire club in stitches. Although there is something a bit odd to watch your baby brother make jokes about buying porn while sitting next to your parents. That said, he was the cleanest comic there by miles.

One night in New York. One night at the Gotham Comedy Club. One night to confirm that my brother is funny beyond his fart jokes!

Woodstock, Vermont

After two years of very little "road tripping" we've been taking advantage of our world class highway system and have spent many hours on the road this past week. Today, we're in Vermont to celebrate our 2 year anniversary.

Last year Liam surprised me and showed up in London on our first anniversary. This year it was my turn to plan, so I found this great little place called the Woodstock Inn, just over the border with New Hampshire. The town is typically New England and almost so cute you think, "this can't be real!" We spent our first few hours in town at the health center enjoying the pool and jacuzzi. Then we showered, changed and headed out to dinner.

When we were in Maryland with my folks Liam and I were talking about how quickly the past two years have flown by. 2 years of marriage, a tour in Kazakhstan and many adventures along the way. Liam looked at me and said, "Doesn't it feel like so much longer than 2 years?" which was immediately met by a round of "ooohhhhs" from the crowd. 2 years feeling like 20 may not seem immediately like the sign of a good relationship, but I understand what Liam was saying. We've done so much in the past two years that it is hard to believe it was only 24 months ago that we were embarking on our journey. So I'll cut him some slack -- so long as he promises me that I don't look more than 2 years older :)

Mt. Cardigan

Today, our friends Dani and Patrick treated us to a trip to Mt. Cardigan, just a few miles from Newfound Lake. I figured after all of the hiking we had done in Kazakhstan, a little 3100 foot peak would be a breeze.

I should have realized the pain my body would be in from the get go when Dani took off at a break neck speed (that girl is in shape!). Thirty minutes into the hike I was sweating like a dog and wishing I had brought more than one bottle of Crystal Light.

The views were amazing, even though it was an overcast day (the picture above was borrowed from the internet). When we reached the summit, the wind was ferocious and I have a great shot of us with our hair dancing about (I look like I am wearing a helmet, thus this lovely photo will stay off the internet). After our 6 hour hike, we treated ourselves to milkshakes at the Dairy Barn and then retreated to Patrick's house for a night of good food and movies. Great day!

Newfound Lake, New Hampshire

Arrived last night in New Hampshire and as I type this the rest of the house sleeps. Which is an easy thing to do in a town this serene. We are staying with good friends from Boston who have a home here and plan to do some boating and swimming today.

The drive up here was long (4 hours to PA where we spent a night with my folks and then 7 hours yesterday) but beautiful. As we drove north the weather became more cool and the mountains more green. In Vermont beautiful farm houses were tucked into rolling hills and every once in awhile we'd spot a covered bridge -- it was like turning through the pages of a New England coffee table book.

We arrived at Newfound Lake after getting a bit lost (I always wondered how Map Quest did such a great job of getting where you need to go. Found out yesterday that sometimes they are just plain wrong. We would have needed an ATV to make it on the roads suggested). But we were just in time for our dinner reservations at this rustic little restaurant in the hills above the lake. We shared a bottle of wine and alot of laughs as we watched the sun set behind the lake.

Risky Business

My article, Risky Business, on travel to dangerous and politically unstable places came out today at InsideOut Travel. I had alot of fun writing this piece, especially conducting my interview with Rob Sangster, who I really enjoyed e-meeting (isn't it so strange that we can have entire relationships with people over e-mail and never meet them?)

It has been tough to get much writing done these past few weeks with the big move. I'm hoping to find some free time in a few weeks once all of the logistics (little things like finding an apartment) get settled. I'm wrapping up my profile on Dahlia Lithwick and also working on some edits for a piece on Turkmenistan, which was just accepted by another publication. Will be nice when I have an office set up again and can really get back to work.

Back in the USA

We've been back in the States for a little over a week. After arriving in Dulles, we spent our first night at my in-laws' new place in Washington DC and caught up over dinner. I managed to make it until 10PM before crashing.

The next day we packed up our things and drove to the Maryland shore. My parents rented a great house (and crabbing boat) on the Eastern Shore and for 10 days various family members came in and out. It was a great way to spend our first week at home. And to get my fill on seafood after living in one of the most landlocked countries in the world. The other day it occurred to me that our meal preparations could have come from Forest Gump, except instead of shrimp it was crab: crab cakes, crab chowder, crab stuffed mushrooms, crab gumbo, crab crepes, crab and spinach dip, and then just plain ole Maryland crabs and a hammer to crack em' open. It was heaven.

It was also amazing to see my family. My dad was in his element on the crab boat, putting out the line, guiding us on netting the "biggest crab ever" that just got away.... and my Mom doing a stellar job in the kitchen getting all of those crabs to calm down in the pot ("just throw a little Old Bay on them ... that calms them down!") And my brother, who is about to turn 25, is all grown up and has turned into a master crabber - those 8 foot legs and arms don't hurt. Even my baby sister is no longer a baby and I'm so happy she was able to make it to the house for the last few days after finishing up her tournament with the US Field Hockey Team in VA Beach (we spent Wednesday driving down there for a game: 8 hours in the car for a 70 minute game. That's love.) And we had aunts, uncles and cousins all make it in for the week -- lots of laughs and good times catching up.

A few thoughts on coming home. I love America. The grocery store clerks smile when they ask you if they can help and 90% of the time they mean it. Driving down the road to the Eastern Shore I felt so at home, drinking in the scenery: block letter signs on the lawns of firehalls congratulating this week's raffle winners; American flags hung from white picket fences, schools, front porches; corner markets and antique stores; even the Shell station with an air conditioned mini-mart was a joy to see again.

I don't think I ever realized how foreign I felt in Kazakhstan until I came home. It is hard to quantify roots, but you know them when you're there. And they mean a whole lot more.

Last day in Almaty

Hard to believe it. Our tour in Almaty has come to an end.

We had a walk through of our house this morning. I've been throwing out everything that won't fit into our suitcases and this afternoon will be running around tying up all the last minute loose ends. And then at 3:30 am (gotta love flight times out of here) we're history.

Great to be "home" from China, and soon it will be great to be "home" from Kazakhstan.

Animal Market in Kashgar

This is by far my favorite image from the trip. As we were leaving the animal market on Sunday this group of men called us over to their table. We pantomimed greetings and then asked if we could take a few pictures. This particular gentleman seemed to be the ring leader and was loving the attention. Right before I snapped this picture, he grabbed my camera. After joking that he was going to keep it, he handed it back (or more like I grabbed it back) and he asked me to take one more.

What I also love about this shot are the guys behind him. Just kind of chilling and enjoying the show. Sigh. Going to be a long time until I am in a place like this again!

Elvis in Kashgar

Last night my friend Asel threw us a great going away party (I donated the 30 lbs. turkey we never cooked that has been sitting in our freezer since last Thanksgiving to the cause). When I dropped the turkey off last week I chatted with Asel and Sean and they told me all about their adventures in China -- and Sean warned me about Elvis.

"Elvis?" I asked, a bit confused about the connection between the king of rock and western China.

Sean smiled. In China, everyone in the tourism industry has a western name. The woman who helped us arrange our car in Urumchi was Mary. The receptionist at the hotel in Kashgar was named Terry. And then there is Elvis. This man purportedly works in the tourism industry, but many suspect his job is to keep an eye on westerners. After our numerous bump ins with Chinese cameras and people photographing our passports, we weren't too surprised when in the Kashgar market, we too met Elvis.

Elvis is a 5'10'' Uyghur man with perfect English and more than happy to help you around Kashgar. He'll take you to his favorite rug shops and dining spots. And probably make sure you don't speak to any locals to find out how they like living under Chinese rule. One of the Australians we met in Karakul had also met Elvis and said that he had been so helpful he gave Elvis the names and numbers of all his western friends living in China so he could contact them(!)

At dinner last night I retold our story of Elvis and had everyone laughing. It's not everyday that you have a run in with the King. Especially in China.

News from China

Finally found an internet cafe on our last day in China. Strange to be in a news vacuum, especially when people like Sandra Day O'Connor resigns from the Supreme Court (I'm reading up as quick as possible at this internet cafe, as it costs about a billion RMB/hour for access).

Our whirlwind three day trip has taken us from Urumchi to Turpon to Kashgar to Karakul and back to Urumchi. We visited the Sunday Market in Kashgar and the animal market where locals buy and sell cows, sheep, goats, etc. Later in the afternoon we had beers in the park and watched local men sing and dance the traditional Uyghur dance -- and Maureen had to turn away a few suitors (she still has bruises on her arms). We slept in a yurt in the mountains and awoke to hail coming in through the cracks in the roof. We survived long car rides on dangerous roads and a few bouts of car sickness. We even survived an afternoon of horseback riding, although Maureen got stuck with a camel instead of a horse (our guide very insistent, "two horse, one camel!")

My favorite day of the trip was absolutely Sunday in Kashgar. You had the feeling you were witnessing the way things were done for the last several thousand years. In the animal market locals posed for pictures and one older man pretended to steal my camera and I almost had a heart attack (I have a feeling this is a trick he enjoys playing on shutterbug tourists.)

We've also had our share of Big Brother experiences -- I think our passports have been photocopied at least 100 times in our five days here and our photos have been taken almost everywhere we go (the most disconcerting was getting off the plane in Urumchi to find a woman with this massive digital camera walking around a crowd of westerners taking pictures). And then there was the Chinese man in Kashgar who was taking video of us as we took pictures of the massive Mao statute in People's Park.

Amazing the difference between Urumchi and Kashgar. Kashgar feels pretty much like the other Central Asian towns I've visited in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, while Urumchi is as Chinese as they come. I guess that's what you get when you move your population out west to stake down your claim.

More tomorrow when I'm back in Almaty.

Blogging for Books

Wish I had found out about this earlier...

The Zero Boss has a monthly contest called Blogging for Books. Writers create a blog about a certain topic and a guest writer judges all of the entries. This month's guest judge was Jen Leo.

The theme for June's contest was travel ("Hit the Road, Jack") and the topics were:

1. A memorable trip or "mini-vacation" (with "memorable" covering everything from "best time of my life" to "unmitigated disaster");
2. A time you did something spontaneously, in order to shake up your life;
3. A time you metaphorically took "the road less traveled", and madean unpopular or uncommon decision.

Some great stories were submitted: here's a list of the finalists.

I plan to stay tuned for upcoming themes -- really a great idea!