U.S.A., Colorado, Avon

Drove down from North Dakota today. To Colorado.

Russia, Chukotka, Egvekinot

Got drunk three nights in a row. First with the sailors, then with the first mate.

Pacific Ocean

Russia, Kamchatka, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky

Sea of Okhotsk

Sea of Japan

Sea of Japan

Russia, Vladivostok

view from the Hotel Moryak

Russia, Vladivostok

Russia, Vladivostok

Monument to the Fighters for Soviet Power in the Far East

Monument to the Fighters for Soviet Power in the Far East

Russia, Siberia

I saw the end of a raduga [rainbow] today, in a clearing in the autumn forest in Siberia, from the train.

Russia, Ulan-Ude

Lenin's head

Russia, Naushki

In Naushki right now, on the train, in Russia on the Mongolian border.

I kissed her on the cheek. She kissed me back, on the cheek, and then wiped her lipstick from my cheek with her palm.

Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

"Bingo"

Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

I am teaching English. A whole generation of Mongolians is learning how to form contractions from five words at a time.

Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

I am still in Mongolia.

Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

Mongolia

Mongolia, Kharkhorin

Erdene Zuu Monastery

Erdene Zuu Monastery

phallic rock and vaginal hill

Mongolia

Radigan Neuhalfen
self-portrait

Mongolia

Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

Gandan Monastery

Lenin
Ulaanbaatar Hotel

Sukhbaatar
Sukhbaatar Square

Mongolia

Russia, Siberia

We have nothing better to do with our lives than ride across Siberia on a train.

Russia, Ural

horse wagon

archaeological dig

Israel, Tel Aviv

Was in a park in Tel Aviv a few days ago. A little old guy hobbled over and sat next to me on the bench. He was talking to me in Hebrew. I responded in English. He said, “I don’t speak English, you don’t speak Hebrew,” and raised his hands in exasperation. We sat in silence a while. Then I asked if he spoke Russian.

He said, “You speak Russian?! I asked you if you spoke Russian!”

I said I hadn’t heard him. So then he began to talk. He told me he was from Poland. He had worked in a Russian store a while and learned Russian. Then he had worked in a factory in Germany, and he showed me the five-digit number tattooed on his left forearm. Immediately after that he came to Israel and served in the Israeli army. He had been in Israel 50 years now. He had sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters. He asked me how long I was going to be in Israel. Leaving in a few days, I said.

“To where?”

“Russia.”

“Why do you want to go there?” he said. “Why not stay in Israel?”

“I don’t speak Hebrew,” I said with a smile.

“So? Stay here and you’ll learn it. I didn’t speak Hebrew when I arrived, and I learned it.”

“I could,” I said, and nodded.

We sat in silence a while again. Then he got up and hobbled off.

Israel, Sephoris

archaeological dig

Israel

Greece, Athens