To not leave any wine region in the country untasted in situ, I decided on a road trip to Oregon’s Rogue River and the more famous Willamette Valley near Portland.  That the state also offers an acclaimed Shakespeare Festival added artistic flare to the visit.… Continue reading →

New Delhi

2011

Soon after arriving in London I noticed advertisements for the year-end Masters Tennis Tournament.  I have wanted to see Federer play live for the longest time and kept missing him.  Having followed tennis since the 1950’s, and seen great players such as Kramer, Gonzales,… Continue reading →

My first impression of Laos alighting from the plane was the hot, humid and heavy air that stuck to me until I got inside the terminal.  Thankfully, it was an air-conditioned, small modern building with the technology to process travelers quickly.  Laos… Continue reading →

We arrived in Dushanbe at 5am after an uncomfortable overnight flight from Istanbul.  Herded into an ageing bus, passengers-in-the-know dashed towards a table and started filling out a form.  By the time I figured out what they were doing, all the entry forms were… Continue reading →

A week has passed since my return from the Beijing Olympics, but I still hear shouts of “Chai Yo”—“step on the gas” or “go” when an athelete from China was participating.  In smaller arenas the noise was deafening.  Many of us had to… Continue reading →

The brutality and callousness shown recently by the ruling military dictators of Myanmar belies the deeply pacific and humane values of its people.  It’s a country of spectacular gold domed Buddhist temples, 50,000 monasteries and half a million saffron robed monks.  I planned my trip… Continue reading →

Participating in anti-Vietnam war protests three decades ago had indelibly imprinted Cambodia in my mind. The temples at Angkor Wat were among the few major archaeological sites I had not seen. Visiting the country offered an exciting prospect. War and civil strife for several decades had ravaged… Continue reading →