JAPAN | Monday, 13 Apr 2009 | Views [441]
For this trip I’m consulting Fodor’s, and National Geographic, instead of the usual Rough Guides and Lonely Planet. And to get into the mood for Japan I opened Kurosawa’s Something Like an Autobiography , and went up to page twenty-five today. He ... Read more >
Tags: japan, kurosawa
JAPAN | Sunday, 12 Apr 2009 | Views [676]
It isn't so long ago that I went to Istanbul, and although—to enhance my experience—I read Orhan Pamuk ahead of my departure and Pierre Loti while in Istanbul, the memories of the time spent there are fading, leaving behind static images of this ... Read more >
Tags: istanbul, japan, kyoto, tokyo
CHINA | Saturday, 28 Feb 2009 | Views [1259]
When the seventh tout asked to sell a watch to me I raised my voice. I was surprised that his aggression vaporized at that minor inflection and he stepped aside, but after I’d gone ten steps he hurled at my back all the English he could muster: “fucking!” ... Read more >
Tags: shanghai, walking
INDIA | Tuesday, 24 Feb 2009 | Views [453]
I couldn’t see the lights of the city when we came below the clouds, but only water, which streaked across the windows and wriggled and fell and formed again, and among those stringy lines some larger bubbles stayed and quivered till they were taken down.... Read more >
Tags: shanghai, walking
