So except for a quick stop in mostly forgetable Mamallapuram, this trip has been mostly a Matt’s “Best of Southern India” tour, wherein I show Karen all of the places that I liked when I lived in Bangalore 3 years ago. I think we’re in consensus that Kerala is the best state to visit. Favorite […]

So Karen and I were sitting in the departure lounge in Singapore, waiting for our flight to India, when I noticed that I was different from all of the other men there.? Sure, I’m a couple of shades whiter than office paper, but that’s not what I’m talking about: I was pretty much the only […]

At least that was the slogan that Karen came up for it during our 2.5 day visit to the island of Penang.? We had a good time there.? Penang actually shares a lot of similarities with Singapore–it was founded as a British trading colony and is very multicultural (about 50% Chinese, 30% Indian, 20% Malay.)? […]

So we started out this trip thinking we were going to see a lot of Indonesia and Malaysia.? The Japan part was a fun afterthought, but Southeast Asia was always the goal, and Karen and I were really looking forward to it. But, of course it’s monsoon season in Indonesia and Malaysia, and there’s unfortunately […]

Is what Singapore feels like when you walk around a bit.  Actually, that’s not exactly fair, but that’s been our experience for the last few days–there area  a lot of places to shop. Singapore is a small city state, just north of the Equator, hanging from the bottom of the western half of Malaysia.  The […]

 The city of Kobe is reputed to have the best beef in the world, so last night Karen and I made a special trip there just to try some.  (I don’t just eat McDonalds!) There’re a number of reasons why this stuff is supposed to be so good, the foremost of which is that the Wagyu […]

The Japanese are at the forefront of the world of automation. They’re good at manufacturing and making cool things like robots. Now that I’ve been here a couple of times, I think I’ve learned their secret–they’ve learned to embrace automation because their favorite way to buy things is through vending machines. It’s not uncommon to […]

Happy New Year! We met up in Tokyo with my brother, Paul, and his wife, Vanessa, a couple of days ago and have been having a great time here.  We starting on New Year’s Eve by visiting what were meant to be the really crowded, busy intersections in the shopping district–hoping to experience the frenetic pace of life […]