Author Archives: boujin

Here’s to traveling with old friends. Days, weeks, even months before our arrival in Istanbul we knew that we were going to Istanbul by the end of September. We had a pair of good friends to meet who were going … Continue reading →

I’m drawing a blank when trying to conjure up memories from the relatively recent past so I’m going to skip ahead in time, closer to my current activities and try and fill in the holes at a later date.  The sites, smells, … Continue reading →

Travel has a lot of ups and downs and this story finds me at the bottom. Going to Syria from Jordan To go north or to go west were the options before us. Sitting in a small whitewashed hostel bedroom … Continue reading →

I hadn’t felt this swept up in antiquity since standing on the well engineered terraces of Macchu Picchu. Jerash, in northern Jordan, can go blow for blow with any ancient heavyweight out there. Seeing as how the most memorable heavyweight … Continue reading →

The scroaching summer sun cast a burning glare down on me. Down at my feet the heat had taken its toll on the rain starved ground and it was a mess of dust and sharp rocks. The slow whisper of … Continue reading →

August 11th, 2010.  A new moon.  Ramadan begins. It wasn’t our plan to land in Egypt at the start of Ramadan.  It just happened that way.  As the story unfolded during our sojourn through several Islamic countries in the Middle East … Continue reading →

Breathing slowly, the temporary vacuum in the mouthpiece forces open the regulator valve and brings in a steady stream of bottled air to fill my lungs.  Looking up I can see the canyon defined by the light blue of the sun piercing … Continue reading →

It was 8 o’clock in the evning and Hisako, Junko and I were passing beneath the soft glow of the San Miguel Market sign into an open air market for one of Spain’s most celebrated inventions – tapas. The freshly … Continue reading →

These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you. Always our motto the first day in any city. Madrid was no exception. With map in … Continue reading →

Hisako Watanabe awoke slowly. An iPod was ringing in the darkness — a tinny, familiar ring.  She fumbled for the bedside lamp and turned it on.  Squinting at her surroundings she saw the sagging bunk with Joe fast asleep overhead … Continue reading →