Here are the quick & dirty highlights from my trip to Paris – but if you really want to see many more cool pix of Paris & Budapest – you should go here….

Paris seems to have discovered my love for all things glam & sparkly (& no, it doesn’t quite do it justice – but it is still awesome) & is my Favorite New Thing from this trip to Paris:

Click here to watch the movie (2.5MB)

I also enjoyed viewing the end of the Tour De France from my mobile viewing platform rented from the city no less)….

Click here to watch the movie (8.3MB)

The “mobile moving platform” was VERY cool – basically the city of Paris rents bikes for reasonable rates from various locations around town & also from a bus that sets up at special events! I did a good bit of biking in both cities…. Here is a shot from Budapest…

The other thing I loved about Paris & even Budapest was that since the cities were bigger – things were up and available til all hours. My cousin & I did a LOT of dancing – which rocked…. < PEEVE MODE >And before any of you SFer’s go – “yeah I wish…”- how often do you go out late? < PEEVE MODE OFF >

Again, for all my favorite pix from Paris (& Budapest) click on over to my pix page…. Continue reading →

I just got back to Paris from Budapest & since that means a dedicated DSL line again I feel at home*. (whew!)

What did I do in Budapest?….. Why, I performed live in front of my adoring fans of course:

You MUST HAVE QUICKTIME 7 to Play the Movie

90 sec small video version (2.8MB)
90 sec big video version (8.6MB)
(looong download – but worth it)

Well actually, my cousin (the cameraman & Mr. never-done-karaoke-before!) & I stumbled into a “Hungarian Idol”-type night at a local club & after much hemming & hawing, I went for it. Unfortunately, the contest was over before they let me on, & much of the audience had left, but dammit – someone needed to bring the funk to Budapest!…. so I pressed on…. and lest the video fools you, there were more Hungarians there than the footage shows….

Can anyone figure out what the announcer is saying at the end? Near as I can tell from my 3 day immersion course in Hungarian, it is something like “and his hovercraft is full of eels.”**

‘deep
writing from Paris…

* The other thing that made Budapest feel alien was the fact that you can spend hours upon hours with nary a latin root as far as the eye can see! These people should have been conquered by the Romans better or something. The only respite lay in words like, my favorite, “szandvics” (sound it out). Makes Paris & French feel downright homey.

** bonus points if you know the reference Continue reading →

So 2/3rds of my trip to India were spent visiting my Mom’s sisters & their families. The term for an aunt in Hindi is Massi. My research indicates that Massi’s are strong, sweet, intelligent, understanding women whose ultimate goal in life is to fatten nephews beyond reason and to generally fuss over them no end.

Here are a few amusing moments of my trip into Massi-dom: Continue reading →

As some of you know, on my recent trip to India, I spent a good bit of time trying to see a tiger at Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan. After many attempts, this is the tiger as I saw it:

Actually I was pretty happy with that until some folks on the next %$#@#$% safari saw this (BUT NOT ME)

🙂 Oh Well – I had fun hunting anyway…. & I’m pretty lucky to be able to see what I did…

BIG thanks to Stefanie Phillips in Hong Kong for taking the pix! Lucky Bastard! 🙂

I’m writing this somewhere over the Pacific on the way home from 16 days in LOMP – the Land of My People – India*.

I guess my favorite moment of the trip was the most surreal one & it happened late in my stay. It was this Dance Off / Freak Show (guess who was the freak) / Guest of Honor (guess who was the VIP) Experience at a wedding in Rajasthan. The pinnacle of that pinnacle was a surreal close-dance with a grinning 50 year old Rajasthani man with red betel-nut juice stains on his front teeth to “Who Let the Dogs Out” on 5 hours of sleep. I suggest trying this & trying and not to freak out. Go ahead try it. I dare you. 🙂

I’ll warn you now that this story is a little rambly, and I’m not sure it has a point (or a plot) but it is definitely amusing to me at least. It was one of those great travel moments when you find yourself outside your comfort zone and unexpectedly learn something about the world and the way you move through it…. Continue reading →