by Matthew Allison | Oct 9, 2005 | Asia
Why Visit North Korea My First Step into North Korea: A Longtime Obsession Realized A Fascination Born in Seoul In October 2005, I finally fulfilled a dream that had been growing inside me since 1999, when I first moved to Seoul, South Korea to teach English. Living...
by Matthew Allison | May 19, 2005 | Asia
May 2005: For years I would stare at the map and wonder about the uninhabited archipelago of islands in the south of Myanmar and the sea gypsies, their only occupants who tend to live longer on the sea in their makeshift boats than on land. The islands were one of...
by Matthew Allison | May 17, 2005 | Europe
May 2005: My friend and I rented a Dacia, a small Romanian-made car, and spent a week driving around Romania, focusing on Transylvania. This mountainous region in central Romania, with an average elevation of 5,000 feet, is steeped in superstitions about werewolves...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 31, 2005 | Middle East
Damascus, Palmyra and Bosra A Glimpse of Syria Before It Changed Forever March 2005: As part of a larger Middle East journey, my friend and I spent three days in Syria, determined to see as much as possible in our limited time. Even then, we sensed that visiting as...
by Matthew Allison | Mar 18, 2005 | Europe
A Stopover in Amsterdam and Haarlem: Bicycles, Canals, and a City of Contrasts March 2005: As part of a 10-day trip to Jordan, Israel and Syria, and even a short layover to have dinner with my family in my childhood neighborhood in Minneapolis, my friend and I visited...
