The Kulma Pass between China and Tajikistan was finally opened to foreigners last year, so I seized the moment and took a road trip through from Kashgar to Murghab, then up through the high passes into Kyrgyzstan. There had been a little early snow, enough to make things scenic, but not enough to block any […]
Browsing Posts in Travel
Pamir Passes
November 6, 2018
Xinjiang: Shipton's Arch
November 3, 2018
This morning I was out at Shipton’s Arch, near Kashgar, Xinjiang, China. It was unknown outside of local lore until British traveler Eric Shipton “discovered” it in the 1940s. It is probably the tallest natural arch in the world. It grows out of a mountain slope and then bridges over a deep canyon. So one […]
California: Nike Missile Site
September 30, 2018
The Nike Missile Site in the Marin Headlands, just North of San Francisco, is the sole preserved site from a giant 1950s era US national anti-aircraft defense system. This site was one of six defending San Francisco, using nuclear tipped anti-aircraft missiles so they could reliably take down incoming Soviet nuclear bombers. Gulp. On the […]
Moscow: Vostok-1
September 5, 2018
To my gleeful amazement, I unexpectedly ran across Gagarin’s Vostok-1 capsule yesterday! I was out wandering in Moscow and at the VDNKh exhibition center I discovered a newly opened museum “Cosmos”. It turns out to be a big new Space Technology museum. And sitting in the lobby was the original Gagarin Vostok-1 capsule. Oh wow! […]
Perm-36 Gulag Museum
August 31, 2018
Perm-36 is the last surviving Gulag camp, now the “Museum of the History of Political Repression“, about 90km East of Perm. It was abandoned in 1988, became extremely dilapidated, then was reclaimed as a Museum in 1994 and partially restored. So what is visible today is a mix of original buildings and reconstructions. It is […]
Gdansk: Neptune
August 23, 2018
As a loyal follower of Neptune, as soon as I arrived in Gdansk (née Danzig) I made a beeline to the bronze Fountain of Neptune, a stylish affair dating from 1615. When I got there I was surprised to find Neptune sporting a stylish tee shirt. He looks good in it, but say what? The […]
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