Killington, Vermont - December 28-31, 2008

It wasn't the best skiing, but Vermont in Winter rarely fails to calm my soul and this trip didn't disappoint. My nephew Cody, my cousin Nick and I drove up to Killington on Sunday and were greeted by a roaring fire and the comfortable confines of Turn of River Lodge a few miles downhill from Killington base lodge on sleepy Route 4. The skiing conditions were really bad as a weekend warmup created vast sheets of ice across the resort. A snowstorm descended on our last day, promising better conditions for later in the week, but we had to hit the road and return home on Wednesday...bad timing for our skiing portion of the trip.

Cody and Nick went snowmobiling on Tuesday as I sat by the roaring fireplace in our lodge and read a bit and just relaxed. I drove up Route 4 a stretch and took some pics before picking them up from their snowmobile outing.

I'm already looking forward to a return trip later this season when the powder should be more widespread.

Happy New Year!!

Keith

Killington Powder

My sights are set on Killington, Vermont for next week as I take my next road trip with my nephew Cody and Cousin Nick. I'll be skiing for four days up in one of my favorite corners of New England...and I here the snow is epic for so early in the season. Looking forward to carving some turns on Devil's Fiddle and The Glades! And perhaps sipping a few micro brews at the Wobbly Barn.

I'm off today and won't be thinking about work till January 5, 2008 when I return to the classroom. Much needed break!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Keith

Bocas del Toro or BUST, baby!!

I decided to venture south...way south deep into Central America this spring with my intrepid cousin Nick to explore Panama City and some islands off its stunning Caribbean coast. We'll fly into Panama City where we'll spend a few nights exploring that energetic, tropical capital. From there, we'll take a one-hour puddle jumper to an archipilago called Bocas del Toro. The warm, clear waters and dense, virginal jungles are the main draw here and we'll take full advantage of both with snorkel gear and sturdy hiking boots.

Until then, there's the more immediate pleasure of a short work week with the T-Day holiday looming on Thursday. Looking forward to some good food and football and some down town this long weekend. Go Giants!!

August 4 - Bloomfield, NJ

Hi all:

I'm back home now in New Jersey and have just about recoverd from jet lag. What a month! My first instinct is to declare how incredibly fortunate I feel to have experienced such an adventure. From my perch here in Jersey, my trip has the feel of a great dream. Each stop had its special sounds, colors, people, tastes that it would be impossible to describe it with one broad stroke. It's funny, but this trip confirmed for me that I feel most alive when I'm on the road. Every step was a new discovery. Every turn of the corner revealed a fresh face, a mysterious smell, a captivating sight. One of my favorite travel writers, Paul Theroux, titled his adventures by train across Asia in the 70s, "The Great Railway Bizarre." My trip was also a "bizarre" of sorts--different languages, smiling faces, shouting merchants, oppressive heat, culinary delights, explosions of every conceivable color known to man, myriad religions, spirituality, and lifes struggles to survive. My South Asian "bizarre" was exhilarating, humbling, depressing.

Travel is also about meeting people and sharing stories. Here are a few of the people I encountered from Singapore, to Malaysia, through Vietnam and Cambodia.

There was Peter Nelson from outside of Perth, Australia. We traveled up the Mekong River in Vietnam into Cambodia and shared a taxi upon arrival in Phenom Pehn. His hearty laugh still echoes in my ears. He told me his children dismissed his adventurous spirit as a "mid-life crisis." He said he preferred the road less travelled. He also told me that if I got tired of his chattiness, to just tell him to shut up. A cool bloke.

The Mekong River also revealed Philippa--a fifty-something New Zealander teaching in Shangai, China. She confessed her first marriage was a "mistake" and that she had no regrets about her choice of careers. We chatted about teaching philosophies and life from our window seats on the wooden houseboat as the sun faded over the Mekong River. She urged me to consider teaching in China. I smiled, and nestled her business card in my wallet.

There were the random Vietnamese children jumping naked from the banks of the Mekong River screaming "hello!" as they met the brown water. Their shouts will forevever reverberate in my ears.

My "tuk tuk" driver in Phenom Pehn, Cambodia whisked me around to various parts of the city...accepting as payment whatever I deemed fair. He was hard working and carried his gas canister right behind his seat--a troubling fact considering his insanely risky maneuvers on the road.

Litte India in Singapore revealed a slim, middle aged wood worker in the nascent stages of designing a wooden door--meticulously chipping away at his creation with his instrument.

There was the Frantic young French woman who shared our shuttle van to the airport in Kuala Lumpur. Her repeated pleas to the driver of "Come on...Come on..." were hilarious...and seemingly ignored by the driver. No word on whether she made her plane.


With South Asia now behind me, it's time to begin plotting my next adventure. As to where I'm heading, or "Why" I'm going there...stay tuned.

Cheers,
Keith

Day 21 Phnom Pehn, Cambodia to Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam

I had breakfast in Cambodia and dinner in Vietnam. Woke in Phnom Pehn and organized my stuff at my guesthouse before venturing out for a quick breakfast of an omelette at a nearby cafe. I then retrieved my backpack and boarded a direct bus to Ho Chi Mihn City, where I am now writing this entry. When I say "direct bus", I do not mean fast. The journey should have taken about 4 hours or so...but the final tally was 7 hours. At one point after we crossed the border into Vietnam, our driver simply stopped the bus and crossed the street to have a quick chat with a roadside merchant. That's really the pace of life here...

My three days in Cambodia were haunting, uplifting, depressing, exhilarating...the gamut of emotions were experienced. As I left the country this morning, I marveled at the fact that the millions of people residing in that troubled city today manage to move, exist, survive despite the magnitude of the horrors that touched them not so long ago. Almost every Cambodian, I would suppose, has a link to the horrors of Pol Pot...as I was walking the grounds of infamous prison in the capital a few days ago, I overheard a young guy, neatly dressed, in his 30s, tell a western couple that "my mother went to this place...my father went to that place..." His parents were likely victims of the madness. There are millions of other similar stories that are difficult to fathom.

I'll be spending two days here in Ho Chi Mihn city for my second "tour"...and will fly out for Malaysia on Tuesday...then on to my final city of Singapore, where I'll fly hom on Thursday. Tomorrow, I'll likely just wander the city and soak up its energy...

Miss you all...see you soon.

Keith

Day 20 - Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

Sizzling mid-afternoon heat has driven indoors to an internet cafe with AC...it's 2:45 pm sat (you're all sleeping...probably...) Cambodia once again has left me with few words to describe the horror and shock of what I saw just a few miles outside Phnom Pehn this morning. About a half-hour moto ride found me in a bucolic field of a few acres just off the main road where I began wandering around the grounds of the Pol Pot's killing fields of Choeung Ek. I made my way down a dirt path and was instantly confronted by a tall, white momunent to the more than 2 million Cambodians killed by Pol Pot's regime from 1975-1979. A sign on the large white edifice urged visitors to keep silent and take off their shoes. Rising about 100 feet in the air and fronted by glass on all sides, the memorial had shelf after shelf of human skulls piled high. I mounted the steps towards these shelves in utter disbelief...they are on display for the world to see.

The interior of the monuent only allowed for about 6 visitors or so to make their way around inside. The cramped quarters meant that we all were within inches of thousands of skulls of executed Cambodians stacked in heaps all the way to the monuments top shelf. My horror was only compounded by the fact that this massacre happened during my lifetime. Pretty tough to digest. The few acres surrounding the momunent were open green fields that looked like a moonscape. Huge craters littered the grounds marking the spots were millions of Cambodians were killed and dumped in mass graves. It was a largely quiet and surreal place--the only occasional sound coming from a poor Cambodian boy or girl begging for some change.

I left the grounds and was driven by mot rickshaw back to the Central Market of Phenom Pehn where I browsed a bit and had some lunch in the teeming bazaar...

That's it for now...time to leave the comfort of the AC for a bit...

Keith

Day 19 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Hi all...just ducked in this internet caft to escape a wicked downpour...it's 4pm and I had a good day here in Cambodia's capital...I took a motor scooter...or rather a ride behind a young local driver (he would never pass a driving test in the U.S.) We darted in and out of traffic and finally arrived in 10 minutes or so from my guesthouse at Tuol Sleng Museum. This was an incredibly moving few hours for me as I toured one of the former Cambodian dictator's most notorious security prisons...Pol Pot turned these school grounds into a veritable torture chamber and detention center...classrooms were made into prison cells. I silently made my way around the grounds...becoming more and more horrified as I moved along...there were a series of rooms with the pictures of all the innocent Cambodian victims who were tortured and executed for no other reason than they were either too "educated" or didn't fit into Pol Pot's vision of the "new"Cambodia he wanted in 1975. One room even had a display of dozens or skulls behind a glass encasement...truly a horror that I will never forget...and I think that has to be the principle message behind the museum...because I've never witnessed something so graphic and disturbing...

After a few chilling few hours there, I took my moto ride again...(with consistent--and unsuccessful--sales pitches from my driver to buy fruit, check out a hotel...ect...) back to my guesthouse...

I managed to post a few pics from the trip...back to Vietnam on Sunday...then Malaysia for a day...then Singapore for a night...then back to NY...I'm dizzy...but loving it...