jastram.de Blog - Travel

Ever wonder why GPS/Map services are free these days?

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 17:54:32 -0400

Google Maps on Android, Nokia even offering offline maps for navigating abroad - who pays for all this? Well, here is an interesting idea: charge big merchants for leading you past their stores - even if it is a detour.

Eindhoven

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:06:52 -0500

Yesterday we made a daytrip to Eindhoven in the Netherlands. It's a cute little city, just 1.5 hours away from Düsseldorf. They have a fabulous Museum of Modern Art, and the Glow Exibition was still going on, which had some spectacular installation. It's a great destination for a day trip!

Nice Spanish Restaurant near Piccadilly Circus

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:03:12 -0400

Piccadilly Circus is full of Tourist Places - so I was quite pleased to find this little gem of authentic Andalucian Cusine:

Andalucia Tapas

4 Panton Street

London SW1 Y4DL

+44 (20) 7930 9950

Meeting Ambassador Young-jin Choi of South Korea

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:12:11 -0400

When I visited Boston last week for a friend's wedding, my wife and I looked for interesting events. We didn't get disappointed: besides attending a panel discussion with Howard Zinn on the withdrawal from Iraq and watching the Play Einstein's Dreams, we had the honor of attending a dinner with Mr. Young-jin Choi, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations. Mr. Choi was giving an enlightened talk for WorldBoston.org. I found a transcript of the talk he gave at the Carnegie Council - and below you'll find my personal comments.

Continue reading "Meeting Ambassador Young-jin Choi of South Korea"

These are REAL houses!

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:05:43 -0500

This is not a model or computer graphics - it's a photograph of a housing project in Mexico City. Click on the picture to enlarge and see more stunning photography, taken from a helicopter.

Become a Lonely Planet Writer!

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 13:48:04 -0500

Alex Leviton, a friend of mine who is a Lonely Planet Travel Writer, pointed out that LP is running their Bluelist contest again. Participants can become a Travel Writer for a week - interested...?
Continue reading "Become a Lonely Planet Writer!"

Hiroshima and the atomic bomb

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 15:41:16 -0400

It's been a while since you heard from us. Since our bike trip, we enjoyed Hiroshima for a few days, and are now at our last destination, Tokyo.

Hiroshima was mainly about kicking back (well-deserved after 560 km by bicyle) and, of course, the Atomic Bomb installations. Below you can read my impressions.

Maha added two essays to her pages: Hiroshima things besides the A-Bomb (like... the world's largest rice paddle), and a page of random notes with plenty of pictures.
Continue reading "Hiroshima and the atomic bomb"

561 bicycle-kilometers later

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 15:26:51 -0400

On September 10, Maha and I left Kyoto on our bicycles, with Hiroshima as the final destination. We took our time, enjoyed the ride and smelled the roses, and arrived safely on September 25 at our destination.

The ride was full of surprises. For one, we were cut off from civilisation - no Internet cafes on the way! Also, initially we were stunned by how urban the ride was. However, once we left Japan's main island, we were surprised how rural (and at times stunningly beautiful) the ride was.

Maha describes the ride in detail on her pages, including the daily milage and a map showing our route - don't miss that! I won't describe the riding at all, but give an impression of the land we rode through. Enjoy the reading!
Continue reading "561 bicycle-kilometers later"

Monestary Life

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 06:32:39 -0400

Our next stop was supposed to be a one-week stay at the Kyoto Kokusai Zendo, a Zen monestary. Things didn't turn out exactly as planned - I got sick and Maha realized very quickly that the spiritual approach in this monestary didn't work for her. So we both left early, albeit for different reasons.

Maha wrote her impressions on the monestary in her blog, mine are below. She also added a few notes about our first two days of bicycle riding - we rode over 100 km so far.
Continue reading "Monestary Life"

First pictures!!!

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 09:44:33 -0400

Share the first batch of pictures with us:

Turkey: http://jastram.no-ip.org/gallery2/main.php/v/Travel/turkey2005/

Japan: http://jastram.no-ip.org/gallery2/main.php/v/Travel/Japan-2005/

Bathing Monkeys and Chanting Monks

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:55:57 -0400

Where next? We'd have our Meditation Retreat early September near Kyoto, and wanted to catch a day of the World Exposition in Aichi on the way down there. Other than that, we were free as birds and decided to take a break in Nagano, without knowing much about it. It turned out to be a really plesant stay in the nicest Ryokan so far, and we visited the famous bathing monkeys from Yudanaka.
Continue reading "Bathing Monkeys and Chanting Monks"

Sado Island

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 16:01:08 -0400

The last few days have been amazing, and it feels like being worlds away and not having been home for years. The last days we spent on Sado Island at the 2005 Earth Celebration by Kodo.

Maha described our trip to Sado and created a great report of our experiences on Sado: http://mahabu.com/japan.html - we hope you'll enjoy it!
Continue reading "Sado Island"

Karaoke in Tokyo

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 15:39:57 -0400

Istanbul to Tokyo, arriving August 16th, 2005 - This is my second trip to Japan, for Maha it's the first trip. But then again, Tokyo is hardly a culture shock for somebody born and raised in San Francisco who loves New York City. So Tokyo turned out as a place where we both felt immediately comfortable. This didn't make the Subway ticket machine easier to use, and exactly as last time, a friendly Japanese came to the rescue to help us buy the correct ticket. And the fact that there was an earthquake just fifteen minutes before our delayed landing didn't seem to upset anybody either.
Continue reading "Karaoke in Tokyo"

One Night in Istanbul

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 15:16:38 -0400

A stop in Istanbul wasn't really planned - it happened by accident. Flights to Japan from Germany are expensive, and the cheapest flight had a stop-over in Istanbul. A 24 hour stop-over. So instead of hanging around at the airport, we went on and spent a night in Istanbul.
Continue reading "One Night in Istanbul"

It's travel time again - eight weeks Japan

micky@alum.mit.edu (Michael Jastram) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:12:28 -0400

You receive this email either because you signed up for travel news at http://jastram.de, or because you followed my Asia Trip in 2000. Either way, you're on my Travel Mailinglist which has been quiet for a long time but will get busy shortly. From mid August until mid October I will explore Japan with my wife Maha. She will send out alternating messages which will give you two perspectives on one country.

Feel free to forward this message to friends who may be interested, and if you're fed up with what I have to say, you can unsubscribe by replying to the email or by editing your profile.