The Chinese refer to their infamous cities in order. First cities are Shanghai and Beijing, second cities that are candidates for first include Shenzhen, Guanzhou and others. Third cities perhaps include perhaps Ningbo, Wuhan, Suzhou and so forth. There is no formal classification, but it’s estimated there are more than 160 cities with more than 1 […]
This is China. People keep reminding me of this with each challenge I’m faced. These people are typically expats, people who’ve made the decision to live here despite the challenge. When things don’t go smooth or expectations are far from realized, it’s a simple, yet, hopeless moment of throwing one’s hands up in the air, […]
It’s 4:30—Wake Up… I press the electronic dimmer for the window from my seat on Air Canada’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner. I’m on flight 25 and the pilot just announced we’d be landing in Shanghai thirty minutes ahead of schedule. As the window magically brightens we descend through the low lying clouds, water beads dot my […]
Not long ago China, comfortable hiding behind its wall of isolation, for the most part, closed itself to foreign visitors—and most everything else. In 1949, Mao Zedong, after conquering Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War, formed the People’s Republic of China. In the process of socializing the country, foreign investors were kicked out and landowners were forced […]
“What’s next?” My friends and family asked when I returned from my original WorldRider journey several years ago. I’d come to a fork in my road. I asked myself the same question, often. People also asked, “Was your trip a life-changing experience?” Sure, circumstances surrounding one’s life always change and evolve. Yet deep inside, I […]
Since my book FORKS was published this summer I have been on a whirlwind promotional tour. Crisscrossing the county several times in a van wrapped in photos and graphics from the book and toting a pallet of books and my trusty F650GS Dakar motorcycle. Even so, the bike saw the lenses of more cameras and […]
ust over a year ago backers through Kickstarter made it possible for me to print and promote my new book “FORKS: A Quest for Culture, Cuisine, and Connection. Three Years. Five Continents. One Motorcycle.” Those backers who followed my journey to publication will likely remember the various cameo appearances of a character—a cat—who slowly dragged […]
When I first set off on my WorldRider journey many years ago, the concept of blogs were still rather unknown, Facebook just opened its door to non-education audience, and Twitter was just a funny name for a confusing service its founders called micro-blogging. At the time, the most powerful and popular blogging technology platform was […]
With a bit of a gap between my Detroit and St. Louis events, I decided to call Marshall McPeek, the TV anchor I poured wines with while at the Ohio Wine Festival. He wanted to get me on the Columbus morning show to share stories and recipes from FORKS, but I had to get to […]
I’m loving this summer FORKS on Tour ’14 book tour because it gives me the opportunity to see my own country. After spending three years traveling around the world, and then another 3 years reliving this experience in writing and publishing FORKS, I now get to experience places and meet new people in the United […]
