Travel
19 posts · all topics
Red Town Trail Coal Creek Then and Now
Tracing the history of a popular Bellevue hiking trail
How short are the PreCheck lines?
According to the TSA’s John S. Pistole, as quoted in the New York Times , about 1M passengers/day are enrolled in PreCheck. There are about 800M passengers/year (2-3M/day…
Maybe Japan is not really lost
Japan’s decline has become such conventional wisdom that you pick up a book like this and immediately expect an explanation of Japan’s “lost decade” (now turning into two…
[book] How Asia Works by Joe Studwell
View on Amazon Long-time journalist Joe Studwell ( The Economist , Far East Economic Review , etc.) and now "mid-career PhD at Cambridge University” (what I’d love to…
Comparing China and 70’s high-growth Japan
Interesting chart via Financial Times Alphaville from a presentation by C.H. Kwan at Nomura's Institute of Capital Markets Research: The right-hand column (ICOR – incremental capital output ratio)…
LINE and more Facebook/Twitter Asian Competition
Before you start to think Facebook will take over the world, look again at new competitors emerging in Asia, including this one originally from Japan and now boasting…
Impressions of Burma
Burma (aka Myanmar ) is changing quickly. Political prisoners are being released, draconian rules are being relaxed, and if this continues I expect tourism will explode from tens…
Let's call it Burma
The United States government (as well as the UK and most other European democracies) officially refers to it as “Burma” , a perfectly fine name for the country.…
How to use an iPhone over Ethernet
Okay, you're not really doing iPhone directly over Ethernet, and you'll need a Mac close by to do it, but this is a trick I find handy in…
Moving to China
I’ve been a little quieter than normal online the past few months. There were a bunch of changes happening at work that were keeping me busy and it…
Purple toes in Zillah
There are no wine lovers in the San Francisco Bay Area (or in Seattle for that matter) who haven’t been to Napa Valley. But comparatively few people know…
Kenmore Airlines to Camp Orkila
As far as I know there’s no law forcing us to do it, but for some reason it seems like all Mercer Island fathers enroll in the Y-Guides…
Flights around the world
Whenever I’m on a flight, I like to imagine how many people must be in airplanes at the same time all around the world. My favorite flight info…
Family reunion at the Mayflower
We brought the kids yesterday to Plymouth, Massachusetts to see the Plimouth Plantation , and the full-size replica of the Mayflower. My wife's family can trace itself back…
Cell phone calls from airplanes
A very smart, well-read, highly-educated friend of mine is convinced that the "standard explanation" for 9/11 is a hoax. As one proof, he points out that you can't…
Visiting Lithuania in Sixteen Years
Sixteen years ago this week, I was traveling in my family's ancestral home of Panevezys, Lithuania. A New York Times travel writer visited there now , searching for…
Jesus Christ lizard and the bugs of Costa Rica
Everywhere in Costa Rica, all the time, there's something interesting to look at or hear. One of our days was spent on Rio Frio, watching some of the…
Volcanoes in Costa Rica
Spectacular volcanoes are another reason Costa Rica is like Hawaii , only cheaper. The best example of this is the Arenal volcano , as seen from the window…
Interesting facts about Costa Rica
We're back from our trip -- a very busy, jam-packed, hectic vacation in Costa Rica. This was my first time to visit the country, and as I always…