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Tag Archives: china
Getting in to North Korea
This is the first in a multi-part blog on North Korea…
Many readers have asked about my time in North Korea. Why did I go? How did I get in? What was I thinking?
I’ll start at the beginning. It was August 2001, a month before 9/11 changed the world forever. I was living and working in Tokyo. Summer vacation was coming up, and I planned to visit a friend in Indonesia. The problem is, all of Japan goes on vacation at the same time. They’re absolute workaholics, and if vacation time was individually scheduled (like it is in most countries), guilt would keep everyone slaving away. So for two weeks each summer the country shuts down, the freeways clog in 100-km traffic jams, and air tickets jump to five times their normal price.
Posted in North Korea
Tagged asia, china, DPRK, great wall, Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, road wisdom, Ryan Murdock, travel, travel writing, vagabond
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A Postcard from the Taklamakan (2)
Desert travel blurs all time sense. I don’t know if it’s the hypnotic motion of the camel or the endless monotony of the scenery. The mind works on two levels simultaneously. The automatic level is watching the route, choosing a path, adjusting for balance. The other level is flowing along rivers of memory, through labyrinths of thought, reliving past events and acting out future possibilities.
Posted in Asia, Postcards from the Edge
Tagged asia, china, postcard, Ryan Murdock, taklamakan desert, travel, travel writing, vagabond
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A Postcard from the Taklamakan Desert
Endless dunes shimmered beneath a heat haze. We wound around them at a plodding camel’s pace, roped together in a caravan that evoked images of Silk Road trading expeditions. Sand blew up and swirled into my eyes; it crunched between my teeth and coated my lips. I pulled my broad hat down low and tied a bandanna across my mouth and nose. Beneath a long sleeved white shirt my arms were already beginning to blister.
Dunes stretched oceanic to the dust-haze horizon. The only sound when we stopped was the sand as it hissed in undulating patterns. The desert sometimes slithers.
Posted in Asia, Postcards from the Edge
Tagged asia, china, Ryan Murdock, taklamakan desert, travel, travel writing, vagabond
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