I had thin road tires and clip in pedals installed on my bike in late June and began a hap-hazard, self designed training program. On the first day I cycled for an hour and covered 20 km. Later that week I rode 44 km. Over the next couple of weeks I took a few minor [...]

Day 2 of a month of Fiesta Mexicana, Puerto Vallarta. I met a woman in a shop and told her I wanted to go on an adventure off the beaten path. “Come and visit me” she offered and gave me directions that I scribbled on the back of a napkin. ‘Take the path along the [...]

Love Ones, TASHI DELEK. Our Tibetan guide explained that ‘Lha’ means ‘Heaven’ and ‘sa’ means “place” in Tibetan. Lhasa, at 3.650 m above sea level is the highest capital in the world and is as close to heaven as you can get. We are smitten! My traveling companion to Tibet is my Ecuadorian sister-in-law Consuelo. We are very ‘sympatico’ [...]

Love Ones, China is a country of vast contrasts and I went from the sublime (Yangshou Mountain Retreat) to the ridiculous (Xian, population 8 million NONE OF WHOM KNOW HOW TO DRIVE! I spent my first morning in Xian watching a Chinese HORROR SHOW. I had an excellent front row seat in the balcony protected [...]

Love Ones, the great expedition continues and I have only lost my VISA once (retrieved thank goodness). Doesn’t really matter as the bloody thing is useless here anyway. As I continue on my journey I realize how impossible this would have been if not for my dear pals in Shanghai. I left Vancouver knowing that [...]

Love Ones, having left the bosom of my fam in Shanghai four days ago, I have had THREE BIG ADVENTURES and I’m happy to report all have been SUBLIME! Toby warned me – I would be traveling into the heart of darkness – no English, no Caucasians. First stop was UNESCO World Heritage site Mt [...]

Yes Love Ones, I am in China. I am currently lollygagging under the down cover of my massive king sized bed in my “all to myself” spacious, cool, wonderful apartment, atop the tumult and chaos of Shanghai below. CRAZY TOWN. Favorite slogan so far…..MAKE GREAT EFFORTS TO BUILD HARMONIOUS, SOCIALIST SOCIETY…SPEED UP THE URBANIZATION PROCESS!  [...]

I know I promised you TED but sometimes I’m not to be trusted!   How can I resist?  It’s the Ides of March.   In 44 B.C. “Caesar summoned the Senate to meet in the Theatre of Pompey on the Ides of March. A certain seer warned Caesar to be on his guard against a great peril on the [...]