Travel Blog
Things I have observed in my world travels.
October 23, 2013
I love flying the polar route to East Asia. On this flight to Japan, it was mostly cloudy but it cleared up over what I believe was Siberia and/or the Kamchatka Peninsula. There were endless white mountains and no signs of roads, villages or any form of human habitation. Completely desolate. It cleared up again […]
Read full article ">Holland: Reflections on the Dutch Model, and Why Some Smaller Cultures Do So Well
November 1, 2011
Amsterdam is clearly one of the great cities of the world, and Holland one of the most successful countries. With only 16 million people, two-thirds of the country would be underwater were it not for the system of dams and pumping stations. The Dutch obviously have to cooperate with each other to survive. Reflecting that […]
Read full article ">Paris, September 2011
September 1, 2011
It’s interesting to take the TGV south from Amsterdam. You’re aware that you’re in Holland as you pass through Rotterdam, but the next step is Antwerp, which is in Belgium. There are no signs saying “Welcome to Belgium,” not even when the train passes through Brussels. There is no need to check passports or change […]
Read full article ">Taiwan’s Challenges, as It Engages With China
November 15, 2010
In this my final posting from my Asian journey, I am left with big questions about Taiwan’s future. How can it maintain its political independence as it engages so completely with the mainland in economic terms? And how can it ever sort out very difficult problems between its government and that of the mainland? As […]
