FROM FIRST WORLD TO THIRD WORLD IN 7 HOURS

Travel with Jim can be a bit risky.

A dark woods is a frightening place for many. Yet, I'll walk in our woods back home at 2 a.m. and enjoy every minute. Travel can be like that--today is what many people fear. Today is the day Karen says the proof she loves me is that she'd ever consider doing this at all.

Our day began at the magnificent Mandarin Oriental, in downtown Hong Kong. A city of perhaps 6-7 million people. In the heart of perhaps the greatest financial center in the world. Beautiful gardens within walking distance of the headquarters of the Bank of China a/k/a USA's Credit Card

Some might recall the day when airports varied--when you could go up on the roof at O'Hare Airport or walk to the gate with your guests. Maybe you remember when stadiums were so different from one another that you could identify them by the quirky outfield, the odd goalposts, the seats without backs. Ah, but the world changed and airports, though quite different in some ways, became homogenized. The traveler through Atlanta could be the traveler thru Hong Kong.  Here is the Hong Kong International airport (notice the McDonald's, Starbucks and even a Greek place)

Hey, I found out what Pajama Boy was doing before he became the Obamacare spokesperson.

And of course here's the new doctor you'll be seeing too.

So, that was our day in transit.
We traveled thru Kuala Lumpur--a rather scary airport where we encountered women in burka's and men who certainly were not going to open the door for Karen. From the fastidiousness of Hong Kong British, to a very different feel in an equally splendid airport in Malaysia. Even as the architecture did not vary, the people certainly did.

And then we arrived in Yangon (Rangoon in the past), Myanmar (Burma). There will be much more later, including a visit tomorrow with the US Ambassador, but for today the contrast between Hong Kong, where every Westerner may feel comfortable eating in a Michelin Star restaurant to a true Third World country is enough to consider.
Closed to Westerners for nearly 30 years, Burma has only opened to us in the past 24 months.  So to say it is a risk that not many would be willing to take is not saying more than the obvious.  But that is what makes it so exciting don't you think?  And, well, we did go to Siberia, though the second time Karen deferred to Bill Morgan (and his famous Russian Bathhouse experience.... do tell, do tell--another time). And when I suggested the Amazon this past year, Karen said that was a step too far, though Colin Campbell (yeah the former Chief Judge from Phoenix who before he became so darn famous was my roommate and debate partner at Northwestern) was persuaded to go and learn to fish (really, had never before fished--but learned in the Amazon.... do tell, do tell--also another time).
Sorry, again I digressed. The point was--no risk, no reward. Or maybe it was--it's great because it's hard. No, I think it was, Jim has a screw loose and will probably be trampled by an elephant someday while fishing for an extinct species in the mountains of Tibet, but he died with a smile.


Hong Kong in a downtown park to Burma from a cab... all in a single day. Here it is. And it is proof Karen deserves sainthood (but, of course, she's Lutheran and they don't believe in saints).