Gerben's Travels

Elephant Seals

2008-03-31T03:25:00.004-04:00

See my seal photostory on my Facebook page. One seal forces his way into the group and forces another one out.

Whale Watching at the Point Reyes Lighthouse

2008-03-31T02:59:00.009-04:00

Can you see the whale's tail??

People watching for whales

The Lighthouse . . . . . . . even closer

The Lighthouse . . . . . . . closer

The Lighthouse . . . . . . .

How many steps down? Over 300? And the same back up????

More Wildflowers

2008-03-31T02:27:00.005-04:00

There are many more Point Reyes wildflower photos on my Facebook page.

Plants, Wildflowers, and Ladybugs

2008-03-31T02:17:00.002-04:00

Do you see the Ladybug in the bottom photo?

Birds and Deer

2008-03-31T02:12:00.003-04:00

Surfers, kites, and relaxing

2008-03-31T02:05:00.005-04:00

This guy had the right idea: relax on the beach! More photos of the kite flyers and the surfers are on my Facebook page

Point Reyes Beaches

2008-03-31T01:54:00.003-04:00

Saturday Overview

2008-03-31T01:46:00.004-04:00

Today I went to Point Reyes National Seashore (http://www.nps.gov/pore/). It was fun. I walked along the beach, watched people surf and fly kites, and looked at the wildflowers, seals, whales, birds, and deer. The only disappointment was no seashells! Only sand and a few small rocks on the seashore. I drove up to the park on Route 101 as suggested by the web site. Kinda boring as the road went through some small towns and urban and commercialized areas. I did get to see some typical northern California suburbs and weekend life (high school car wash in one town, a grade school rummage sale in another). Going back to San Francisco I took Route 1 along the shore. Much more interesting. The road winds along the coast, in and out through the woods. A much more scenic drive. Here are some photos of Point Reyes.

Preparing for California

2008-03-24T18:13:00.004-04:00

Ah yes. Time to travel once again. Although, to be honest to all of my intrepid readers, I did take short trips in both January and February but decided not to share those exciting adventures with an audience. Now it is off to California for the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute user meeting on Genomics of Energy & Environment in Walnut Creek, one hour by train northeast of San Francisco. For those interested, the meeting web site is http://www.jgi.doe.gov/meetings/usermtg08/ I plan to spend Friday afternoon and evening in San Francisco and spend Saturday all day at Point Reyes National Seashore (http://www.nps.gov/pore/). I just got a new "super zoom" lens for my camera so I hope to take pictures of whales, sea lions, birds, and flowers at Point Reyes. Let us hope that it doesn't rain on Saturday and that the day will be sunny so that I can share some good photos.

More evidence of aliens in Roswell

2007-12-24T21:06:00.000-05:00

Today I continued my quest to find aliens in Roswell. I found a crashed spaceship on main street (photo) and a t-shirt extolling the taste of barbequed aliens ("just like chicken"). Finally, checking out of one store my cashier was an actual alien (photo).

Where are the aliens in Roswell?

2007-12-23T21:47:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I went in search for aliens in Roswell. Where? In the Wallmart of course. Where else would aliens blend in with the rest of the crowd? In fact, the Wallmart seems to advertise that they are alien-friendly. Here are some pictures of the murals outside the Wallmart showing aliens shopping inside. Here also is a photo of me with a large alien inside the Wallmart and another photo of me outside waiting for the bus with some aliens. Stay tuned with my blog, tomorrow I go in search of flying saucers.

Christmas in Roswell?

2007-12-22T23:00:00.000-05:00

Time to travel to Roswell, NM, for Christmas. Some people think New Mexico is a foreign country (after all, Mexico is in the name). I brought my passport just in case. You never know if you will need it to get back to the "real" U.S. How exotic and far away is Roswell? It takes over 12 hours to get there from New Jersey. I can get to Rio de Janeiro in 9 hours, Tokyo in 12 hours, almost any city in Europe in less than 10 hours, but Roswell takes forever. Why? It is in the middle of nowhere. On my favorite airline Continental I need to first fly to Houston, wait a few hours (good time for lunch, excellent restaurants in the Houston airport), and then continue to Albuquerque (another airport with a good restaurant). Then after a few hours wait a small airline called Mesa flies a tiny plane the last 45 minutes to Roswell. Wait … the departure schedule in the Albuquerque airport says the Roswell flight is cancelled? A quick check at the Mesa desk confirms: no pilots are available to fly the plane. Hmmm … should I take the offer of a free hotel room plus a free dinner and breakfast and fly tomorrow at 1:30? And take the chance that they might cancel that flight also? Or should I rent a car and drive the three plus hours to Roswell? Since I only plan three days in Roswell I decide to rent a car and reserve one online (the Albuquerque airport has free internet!!!! Why can't other airports do this?). Now, should I be nice and volunteer to drive the other stranded passengers? Or should I be naughty and simply ignore them? Since I want lots of presents from Santa this year I decide to be nice. Luckily there are only two other passengers going to Roswell that evening. I make them a deal: if they promise to keep me awake while I am driving I will give them a free ride to Roswell. It turns out that they are both singers: one sings in Las Vegas and the other in Nashville. Quite an interesting mix as they kept calling me "the professor" like on Gilligan's Island. They kept up their end of the bargain and played some of their CDs and sang solos. We had a lively conversation to pass the boring time driving through the mountains and across the plains after dark. Finally we get to Roswell and have coffee in the Starbucks in the giant Wallmart parking lot on the north side of town while waiting for their relatives to pick them up. My good deed for the day.

Sunday - back in NJ

2007-12-02T22:45:00.000-05:00

Sunday we landed in Newark. In a mild snow storm. Quite a difference from Brazil. Immigration went really fast and we got all our luggage except for one bag right away. The last bag took another 40 minutes or so to come off, supposedly one of the luggage compartments was frozen shut. Our limo driver drove us back to Rutgers in the snow fall. When I got home I made fresh squeezed orange/tangerine juice and Brazilian coffee to drink with fruit for breakfast. Of course eating fruit and drinking juice and coffee for breakfast in NJ is quite a bit different from eating fruit and drinking juice and coffee for breakfast in Brazil. A very big difference in state of mind.

Saturday - where is everyone?

2007-12-02T22:31:00.001-05:00

Saturday morning in my hotel I waited and waited and waited for my group to call me. No one did :( My friend Helaine from Piracicaba called my hotel room twice that morning because she wanted to meet up with me and the students for one last day together. Helaine agreed to drive two hours to Sao Paulo to meet me late in the afternoon. So I went to a flea market and a shopping mall just to walk around and window shop. Late in the afternoon I met up with Helaine and we went out for passion fruit ice cream (the best!) plus coffee (Helaine) and fresh orange juice (me). Then Helaine drove me to the airport where I met up with my students, they couldn't get their boarding passes without the paper tickets in my backpack.

Friday - Food poisoning!!

2007-12-02T22:27:00.000-05:00

Friday morning I woke up feeling very bad. I think it was a mild case of food poisoning. Probably from the truck stop the night before. Everyone else checked out of the hotel and moved to the one that USP originally reserved for us for Friday night. I stayed in bed the whole day sleeping while everyone else went shopping in Sao Paulo. Here is the view from my hotel room window. The "Christmas tree" on the right looks very nice lit up at night.

Thursday night change of venue

2007-12-02T22:11:00.001-05:00

Thursday afternoon we decided ourselves to alter the schedule. We wanted to go to Sao Paulo that evening. So, Evelyn found us a great hotel in Sao Paulo and called and made reservations for us. We convinced the bus driver to leave that evening. We left the San Carlos bungalows just after 8:00PM. We stopped along the way at a Brazilian truck stop. A REAL truck stop. We had dinner there against my better judgment. We finally got to our hotel in Sao Paulo just after midnight. Here is a photo of one of our roommates saying goodbye as we left Pirassununga.

Thursday USP Pirassununga flower photos

2007-11-29T23:19:00.000-05:00

I was a little bored today so I walked around a few times and took pictures of flowers.

Thursday USP Pirassununga poster session

2007-11-29T22:58:00.000-05:00

Today the students put up their posters. While the USP students only had to put up their posters for a half a day (either morning or afternoon) our students put up their posters all day. The biological sciences judges decided to evaluate the posters so they spent a lot of time asking the students questions. I wonder if we will get the scores? We also attended short hour-long symposia in the morning and early afternoon (in Portuguese, of course). There was also a short concert by some young students.

Wednesday afternoon USP Pirassununga campus tour

2007-11-29T22:57:00.001-05:00

Wednesday we went for a campus tour starting at 6:00. The Pirassununga campus is the largest campus by size but the smallest campus by number of students (only about 800). They have a lot of farm land and a lot of animals: horses, cows, buffalo, sheep, etc. There are only two departments: Aninal Science and Food Technology. We went to the barn to see the horses. Then we went to the on-campus swimming hole where we met some students (can you read the sign by the water?). Then we stopped at a Jabuticaba tree. This is a funny tree because the fruit grows out from the trunk and the branches. Looks a little like a cherry but tastes a lot different.

Wednesday Day 1 of the USP Pirassununga symposium

2007-11-29T22:55:00.001-05:00

Wednesday morning we went to the USP Pirassununga symposium with our posters. Surprise! Our poster day is Thursday. The Rutgers students went for a tour with the USP students. I sat in a corner and did some more writing. Then I used the very sloooooooow internet connection to e-mail my document. I can't check my e-mail because the connection is to slow. I see I have over 90 messages waiting for me from only a day and a half. I had lunch in a nice fish restaurant and took pictures of the birds in the river outside the restaurant. After lunch I gave my presentation. I showed the Biotechnology video again and challenged the USP Sao Carlos students to do one also. I also gave a presentation on my research. During my talk I asked who knew where New Jersey is and all the Rutgers students raised their hands. Ha Ha Ha.

Tuesday afternoon arriving in Pirassununga

2007-11-29T22:54:00.000-05:00

I apologize for my absence from blogging. We moved to Pirassununga Tuesday afternoon. A long drive (2.5 hours) because instead of going "straight across" the bus driver took the "freeway" which means going far to the east until a fork in the road and then making a U turn and coming back on the other side of the fork (see the map on one of my previous posts). Upon arriving in Pirassununga we were told by our USP hosts that we would be staying in converted farm houses. More like small cottages, must have been for the farm hands in the old days. Each cottage has 3 or 4 bedrooms and 1 or 2 bathrooms plus a living room, kitchen, and front porch. But …….. no internet access. Oh no! What am I going to do without 24 hour access to the internet? The next day we were allowed to use computers at the symposium but internet access was incredibly slow. I had to go through internet withdrawal! But the bungalows are nice, in the middle of a farm, near the cows. Very rustic setting. Nice except for the nearby freeway with road noise. And … oh … the bugs! Because we are on a farm there are the occasional big nasty-looking spider, beetle, mosquito, and other creepy crawlers hanging around trying to get into the beds with us. But, we Cook College people know how to handle bugs - Raid!, better living through chemistry. One trip to the grocery store and we were fortified. I am more worried about the Capivara that I heard may be in the woods around the farm. Capivara are rodent-like animals that weigh 140 pounds and are almost 3 feet tall. I don't want to meet one of them when out for a walk at night.

Tuesday early afternoon Biology Education Center

2007-11-29T22:51:00.000-05:00

Tuesday afternoon we were taken to the biology student center in town. This is like the Liberty Science Center but much, much smaller. It is a place for middle school students to go to learn about biology. Here are photos of a bacterial cell with it's DNA hanging out, a manual for microbiology experiments, a poster for cloning, and a poster about mosquitoes and Dengue Fever. The mosquito photo is for Mary. She wanted me to bring some mosquitoes back to test in her laboratory. I told her that I didn't want to get arrested by the USDA people when I went through customs on the trip back. The mosquito poster is my compromise (Hi Mary!)

Tuesday morning USP Sao Carlos Symposium

2007-11-29T22:48:00.000-05:00

Tuesday morning the students put up their posters in the USP Sao Carlos gym. Here are pictures of all the SEBS students with their posters. I sat in the bleachers all morning and got some writing done on my computer.

Slow Internet - Blogging Delayed

2007-11-28T09:33:00.001-05:00

Internet is really slow here. Will post updates later. Sent from my cell phone.

Monday in Sao Carlos

2007-11-26T20:26:00.000-05:00

Monday was a slow day. We went to the opening ceremony for the USP Sao Carlos campus undergraduate research symposium. I had to give a very short speech. I also showed the Designer Genes club Biotechnology video (see http://youtube.com/watch?v=3oW1sUrTGLc). I challenged the students in Sao Carlos to make their own video in response. I told them to look ours up at youtube. The afternoon was mostly free so I worked again in my hotel room :( In the evening we went to a grocery store attached to a small shopping mall. I got coffee for Sinead, the kind she told me she liked that I bought for her two years ago from the same store (Sinead, are you reading this???). I also got Passion Fruit gatorade, Passion Fruit jello, and Passion Fruit concentrate juice (500 ml makes 8 liters!). We had dinner at a small restaurant in the mall with outside seating on a small cliff so we got fresh air and a nice view of the lights in the city below. To bad I didn't bring my camera to dinner. I went next door to the juice stand and got a 50/50 mix of orange juice and passion fruit juice for dessert. Can you tell from this post that I like passion fruit? I even had fresh passion fruit for breakfast this morning. Here are photos of the view of Sao Carlos from my hotel window and a photo of me at the head table at the symposium (I suppose I need to teach my students how to take good pictures with my camera). And ... oh ... big thanks to Mukund Thakore, Rotem Naftalovich, Davinder Sandhu, and Manoj Thakore for making the video.

Sunday to Sao Carlos

2007-11-26T06:02:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel at 4:30AM. I don't think anyone got more than two hours sleep. Our cab driver picked us up at 4:45 and our TAM flight to Sao Paulo took off at around 6:45. We all slept on the plane even though it was a short ~45 min flight. Upon arrival in Sao Paulo we had an adventure because the plane let us off in the international terminal (the plane was continuing to New York). We had to explain to the immigration and customs agents why we hadn't filled out the proper entry forms ("because we flew here from Rio" … "but what are you doing in the international terminal?"). Our Brazilian friends were waiting for us and we had a little breakfast in the airport while waiting for the Rutgers engineering group to show up. Then it was a 3.5 hour bus trip to Sao Carlos. In the evening we went out for Brazilian pizza (a lot of cheese, no tomato sauce, and different vegetables and meats) and ended the day at a nice ice cream shop. Sorry, no pictures today.

Saturday in the Botanical Gardens

2007-11-26T06:01:00.000-05:00

Saturday was a fun day. In the morning I worked again :( in my hotel room while some of the students went shopping on the beach. I heard that some of the students were to tired to do anything, what is wrong with kids now days? We met up at about 2:00 with Helaine and we decided to go to the botanical gardens over by the big lagoon in the south side of the city (see my pictures from Corcovado for an aerial view). We spent a couple of hours walking through the gardens. There was a free concert of Brazilian music in the Botanical Gardens at 5:00 which Helaine and the students listened to. I missed the concert because I took Vanessa back to the airport since she had to return to the U.S to work Monday morning. We met up at our hotel at 9:00. We then went to an arts and crafts flea market near the beach and bought some more souvenirs (I got some paintings). We ended the day on the beach after midnight watching the larger than normal waves crashing in.

Friday afternoon hang gliding in Rio de Janeiro

2007-11-23T22:14:00.000-05:00

Friday afternoon in Rio was a lot of fun. I told the students weeks ago that one of the best things I did in Rio on my last trip back in February was to go parasailing. To do this you contract with a professional outfit that does both hang gliding and parasailing (see http://www.skycenter.com.br/). They take you into a national park, up a very steep road to the top of Pedra Bonita mountain. Then you launch off the mountain, fly over the national park, the city, the ocean, and finally land on the beach. A lot of fun and a very picturesque view (photos of me parasailing back in February are on my Facebook page for my Friends). *One* of the students wanted to go hang gliding on our current trip and *one* student thought that maybe he would want to do this. So, we took two cabs down to the Pepino beach in the Sao Conrado neighborhood and talked to the Sky Center manager. While we were talking we watched people hang gliding down from the mountain and out over the ocean and landing on the beach. Suddenly *three* students wanted to go hang gliding and *two* students thought that maybe they wanted to do it. After watching the first two students launch and float gently down to the beach I suddenly had *five* students who wanted to hang glide. A very exhilarating and fun thing to do.

Friday morning in Rio de Janeiro

2007-11-23T22:06:00.000-05:00

Friday was another fun day. After breakfast I went to my room to work (boring!) while the students went walking around Copacabana looking for souvenirs. We met at noon on the roof of the hotel. There is a very small but nice pool there along with some chairs and tables. Some students took advantage of the situation and tried to get some sun (some are turning a bit red - I guess they aren't applying the sun block very well!). My professor friend Helaine from the University of Sao Paulo in Piracicaba flew up to join us for the weekend. She met us at the hotel at 1:00. Here are some photos of the view from the roof of the hotel, you can see the Christ the Redeemer statue and the beach. Notice how even though there are tall buildings all around that there are still trees planted along some of the roads. Very nice.

Panoramic view of Rio de Janeiro

2007-11-22T21:32:00.000-05:00

Views of Rio de Janeiro from north to south from Corcovado.

Christ the Redeemer statue

2007-11-22T21:28:00.000-05:00

Up the escalator to the Christ the Redeemer statue

Sugarloaf and Copacabana

2007-11-22T21:23:00.000-05:00

More views of Sugarloaf and Copacabana and photogenic Vanessa from the helipad.

Copacabana Beach from lookout point

2007-11-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

The Copacabana neighborhood where we are staying is just between the two hills.

Sugarloaf Mountain

2007-11-22T21:18:00.000-05:00

Sugraloaf Mountain and downtown Rio de Janeiro

Scientists, can't take them anywhere!

2007-11-22T21:16:00.001-05:00

Here we are reading about the geology of the mountains surrounding Rio

Christ the Redeemer statue from lookout point

2007-11-22T21:15:00.001-05:00

Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado ("Hunchback") Mountain

Everyone at Lookout Point

2007-11-22T21:09:00.001-05:00

Here we are at the lookout point on the way to Corcovado, the mountain with the Christ the Redeemer statue.

Waiting for the bus

2007-11-22T21:06:00.001-05:00

Waiting for the bus at what we *think* is the correct bus stop. Left to right: Jared, Vanessa, Virian, Katie, Rotem, and Tom.

Thursday in Rio de Janeiro

2007-11-22T20:49:00.000-05:00

Thursday I told the students to go to the beach in the morning by themselves since I had some work to do :( in my hotel room. They told me that they had fun walking up the beach and swimming in the water. Then I let **them** figure out how to get to Corcovado, the mountain with the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city. Of course we got lost trying to find the correct bus stop (was it the 538 bus? The 583 bus? A different bus?) and how do we know which bus stop is for which bus (bus numbers aren't always posted on the shelters). Anyways, we took the bus to the end of the line (that wasn't hard to figure out, just wait until the bus driver says "end of the line" in Portuguese and everyone gets off the bus). Then instead of the short railroad which goes directly up to the statue we took a private shuttle bus up to a lookout point where we could first see all around the city and then continued up to the Christ the Redeemer statue. Very nice trip. We took the shuttle back to the bus stop and then took the 584 bus back to Rio. Again, it was hard to figure out where the bus was going and because of that we didn't really pay attention to where we were (of course, we don't know the layout of the city here!). So, when we suddenly saw that we were going through the tunnel from the Copacabana neighborhood to the Ipanema neighborhood we jumped off the bus and walked back though the tunnel and down the street to our hotel. Maybe tomorrow we should try to find bus maps for Rio. Quite an adventure and a lot of fun. Pictures will follow with captions. More photos are available on my Facebook page for my Friends.

Arriving Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro

2007-11-21T23:00:00.000-05:00

We arrived safely in Rio de Janeiro after a long flight from Newark to Sao Paulo and then a short flight from Sao Paulo to Rio. My friend Helaine (a professor at the University of Sao Paulo) arranged for good, reliable taxi drivers to pick us up at the airport and bring us to our hotel. We got to the Hotel Copacabana Atlantico around 3:00 in the afternoon. Some of the students borrowed my cell phone to call their parents. One photo shows Jared and Rotem trying to figure out how to use my cell phone to text message their parents. I had to do it for them. I thought that all kids now days were born with the innate ability to use all electronic devices. I guess not. After getting settled in the hotel we went down to the beach for a very late lunch and for a walk by the water. Then we went shopping for fruit, juice, water, and other essentials. Our hotel is nicely situated, only a quarter mile from the beach (one photo shows the road to the beach), next door to the bank (but their international ATM machines aren't working, a perennial problem in Brazil), across the street from a burger joint (bad), and across the street from a fresh fruit and juice store (good).

Brazil Itinerary

2007-11-19T18:55:00.001-05:00

Tuesday night we are leaving for Brazil. My students are Jared, Katie, Rotem, Tom, Virian, and Vanessa. We have our passports, visas, tickets, and are all anxious to go. We will first fly Newark to Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, arriving Wednesday afternoon the 21st. We will spend Thanksgiving on the beach! I hope we can find some turkey! Helaine, my professor friend from the University of Sao Paulo in Piricacaba, will join us in Rio on Friday moring. We leave Rio very, very, very early Sunday morning the 25th and first fly to Sao Paulo and then drive to Sao Carlos. In this city is the USP campus specializing in engineering. There we will join hundreds of USP undergraduate students who will present posters on their research. Tuesday night the 27th we will drive to Pirassununga. In this city is one of the USP campuses that specializes in agriculture. There we will also join hundreds of USP undergraduate students who will present posters on their research. Friday the 30th we depart for Sao Paulo where we will spend two days touring the city. We fly back to Newark overnight Saturday night. Maps are courtesy of http://www.maps.com/ and Google maps.

Looking ahead ...

2007-10-01T17:39:00.000-04:00

I have good news for the vast audience of my "Gerben's Travails" blog (sorry .... I meant "Travels," maybe this is a Freudian slip, my subconscious told my fingers to type the wrong word because I really don't like traveling? Or maybe because I spend to much time working while traveling? Who knows?). I am now planning a trip to Brazil at the end of November. Those readers who travel vicariously through my blog will have something to look forward to. I will be going to Rio de Janeiro for Thanksgiving and then to Sao Paulo, San Carlos, and Pirassununga the last week in November. Rio for Thanksgiving is strictly a fun trip while the week after Thanksgiving will be spent on three different campuses of the University of Sao Paulo in three different cities, visiting during the time of their spring undergraduate research symposia. Joining me will be several Rutgers undergraduate students who will present posters on their research at the San Carlos (engineering school) and Pirassununga (agriculture school) symposia. Blog postings will begin the third week of November. Anticipation is a large part of the joy of traveling.

Goodbye Central Asia

2007-08-09T13:55:00.000-04:00

It is time to leave Central Asia. Of course, my prepaid taxi driver is not answering his cell phone so I may have to stay here a few more months. My Kyrgyz friends told me not to worry, they will take good care of me. Oh well, the hotel arranged a different taxi for me. I leave the hotel in 30 minutes, at 12:30 in the morning to catch my 3:10AM flight to Istanbul (who scheduled this flight at such a horrible time?). The flight is six hours long and then I have an eight hour layover in Istanbul (hmmm ... check into a hotel to sleep or go to the city? ... hard choice). Then I have a 3.5 hour flight to Paris, a taxi from the Orly airport to the CDG airport, a nice overnight sleep in the airport hotel, and then an 8.5 hour flight to Newark.

Kyrgyzstan Museums

2007-08-09T13:52:00.001-04:00

Today I went to the history museum and the art museum in Bishkek. Quite interesting. I also did some shopping in some nice art shops. I had a wonderful lunch at a sidewalk cafe and a light dinner on the roof of my hotel to get a final view of the mountains and the sunset. Here is a photo of me joining the Russian revolution in the history museum.

Kyrgyzstan - still working!

2007-08-09T00:20:00.000-04:00

Oh well, I guess the fun stuff is all over. After traveling up and down the mountains in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, swimming in the lakes and rivers, meeting with wonderful people, it is now time to pay for my trip. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent working, fixing three laptop computers, adding software and checking Skype and Messenger so that I can keep in touch with my Kyrgyz colleagues. I made all sorts of reservations (with Mary's help back at Rutgers, thank you Mary!) for the visit of my Kyrgyz colleagues to the U.S. scheduled for the last week of August and the first week of September. I even went to collect more samples for our research project at the Chua Canal that runs through Bishkek (see photos of me in action again!).

Kyrgyzstan working again

2007-08-06T12:44:00.000-04:00

Monday the 6th I spent the morning helping Asel study for the GRE exam. Then in the early afternoon Tinatin and I met with the Rector of the Kyrgyz Turkish Manas University. We discussed my new NIH funded project to work with Tinatin and how the university will handle the subcontract. The rector is very eager to use our project to improve research at the university. Then I went shopping for art and souvenirs, went for a walk around town and through a nice park which had a lot of nice small sculptures, and had a nice dinner at a small cafe on the edge of the park. I have to remember this cafe ... they had wonderful homemade ice tea. Sorry, no pictures.

Kyrgyzstan Sunset

2007-08-06T12:43:00.000-04:00

Sunday night I had dinner on my hotel roof and watched the sun set over Bishkek.

Kyrgyzstan - expedition to the mountains - roadside stand

2007-08-06T12:36:00.001-04:00

We passed many roadside stands by local people selling fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. We stopped at this stand to buy some stuff. The white liquid in the bottles is fermented horse milk - a traditional Kyrgyz alcoholic drink. The whitish balls are a type of cheese or hard butter made from horse milk. The yellow liquid is a type of greasy liquid butter made from sheep milk.

Kyrgyzstan - expedition to the mountains - lunch time

2007-08-06T12:33:00.000-04:00

Here is the roadside cafe where we had a nice lunch. Do you recognize the word cafe in Russian in the restaurant sign?

Kyrgyzstan - expedition to the mountains - sampling!!

2007-08-06T12:26:00.000-04:00

So, we had to do some "business" to justify our trip into the mountains so here I am collecting soil samples with Tinatin and Asel. Note that in these and in my previous sampling pictures that I am holding my infamous high-tech sampling device - a stainless steel soup ladle - in one of my hands.

Kyrgyzstan - expedition to the mountains - nature photos

2007-08-06T12:23:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos of moutains and rivers.

Kyrgyzstan - expedition to the mountains - road photos

2007-08-06T12:08:00.000-04:00

On Sunday the 5th we went for a drive on the main road southwest of Bishkek, toward Osh. We drove about three hours up into the moutains and over the main pass at the highest point (about 3,000 meters) on the road (and, of course, drove about three hours back). The reason for the trip was to re-collect soil samples at some sites that we already proved valuable for our project. Of course, the mountain scenery was a much better reason to make this trip. Here are some photos of the really nice road, including two tunnels (one a major tunnel through a mountain), the toll both (yes, New Jersey is not the only place that has toll boths), and some of the animals with which we had to share the road.

Kyrgyzstan - at the Datcha

2007-08-06T12:03:00.000-04:00

Saturday the 4th Tinatin took me to her datcha in the country southwest of Bishkek. We had a nice picnic (Kyrgyz style BBQ chicken, fruits, juice, bread, etc.). Of course, since there was a small stream on the edge of her datcha property, I could not resist taking a sample for our research project.

Kyrgyzstan Boring Work

2007-08-06T11:59:00.000-04:00

Thursday and Friday August 2nd and 3rd were all work in Kyrgyzstan. Thursday I spent several hours with Dr. Akimaliev the leader of our Kyrgyz project. Friday I spent a few hours helping Asel start studying for the GRE exam. Otherwise I caught up on e-mail and other work-related items. Sorry, I have no pictures of me working in my hotel room, by the pool, in the lobby, etc. My hotel has good wireless internet so I can work almost anywhere.

Kyrgyzstan Bishkek again!

2007-08-01T16:07:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday morning we drove from Almaty to Bishkek. In the evening Tinatin, Asel, and I went to a very nice restaurant in the mountains to celebrate Tinatin's birthday (which was a week ago Sunday).

Kazakhstan Almaty mountain resort

2007-08-01T16:01:00.001-04:00

Here we are at the mountain resort outside Almaty. It has an outside ice skating rink and (higher up) a place to ski in winter (which we visiited last January)

Kazakhstan Almaty Mountains

2007-08-01T15:57:00.001-04:00

Also on Tuesday the 31st we went up into the moutains. Here we are by a small river. Guram the Kazakh team leader joined us for the excursion.

Kazakhstan Almaty city tour

2007-08-01T15:55:00.001-04:00

Tuesday afternoon the 31st we walked around town and saw some sights.

Kazakhstan Microbiology Labs

2007-08-01T15:48:00.000-04:00

Here we are in the labs of our microbiology colleagues in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Tinatin and I toured their labs, gave another lecture/demonstration of our protocols, and had some tea. On the bottom I am with Ludmilla (left) and Almaskan (right) who will be working directly with Tinatin and me on our project.

Kazakhstan - Denied Entry!!!!!

2007-08-01T15:41:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Kazakhstan around 11:30 Monday night the 30th. I wasn't allowed to purchase a visa because I didn't have an official "invitation letter." I was told to "leave the country on the next flight back to Dushanbe (but my Tajik visa only allowed one entry into their country ....)." Apparently an invitation letter is not needed if you get a visa through the Kazakh embassy in Washington, D.C., but an invitation letter is needed if you want to get a visa in the Almaty airport (I am going to write a letter of protest). I was able to get a two day transit visa since we planned to leave on Wednesday by car anyways (waited until after midnight so it would be good the 31st to the 1st).

Tajikistan Dushanbe River Sampling 2

2007-08-01T15:39:00.001-04:00

Sampling again near a bridge.

Tajikistan Dushanbe River Sampling 1

2007-08-01T15:36:00.000-04:00

Here I am collecting river mud again for my reserach project. I got some help from the boys who were swimming in the river to cool off.

Tajik dinner and dancing again

2007-08-01T15:28:00.001-04:00

Sunday night we went to another local restaurant with live Tajik music and two dancers. The food was excellent. This dancer was trying to get me to stay a few extra days to go out with her (we had to leave Monday). To bad I can't speak Russian or Tajik. This time I asked Saidbeg to use *my* camera's video function to capture me dancing Tajik style with this lovely lady and with Mijgona, Tinatin, and Asel. To bad I can't post videos here .......

Tajikistan Dushanbe Hotel

2007-08-01T15:26:00.000-04:00

My wonderful hotel in Dushanbe.

Tajikistan Road Trip - Kids

2007-08-01T15:25:00.001-04:00

Some kids at the check point selling milk and fruit.

Tajikistan Road Trip - Afghanistan

2007-08-01T15:22:00.001-04:00

Afghanistan is across the river. I wanted to cross the bridge but our driver said we didn't have time.

Tajikistan Road Trip Lunch Break

2007-08-01T15:16:00.000-04:00

We stopped here for lunch. I had wonderful local figs, mulberries, apples, and plov (the rice and meat dish).

Tajikistan Road Trip - Gas Stop

2007-08-01T15:13:00.001-04:00

We stopped for gas here. I again collected some samples.

Tajikistan Road Trip (2)

2007-08-01T15:10:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we drove 16 hours back to Dushanbe. Here are some pictures. We had to share the road with some goats.

Tajikistan - Khorog samples

2007-08-01T15:05:00.001-04:00

Here I am doing my superscientist thing and collecting river mud outside of Khorog for my research.

Tajikistan - Around Khorog

2007-08-01T15:02:00.000-04:00

Here we are driving around Khorog. We went to a second hot springs further away from the city.

Tajikistan - Khorog Bazaar

2007-08-01T14:59:00.000-04:00

Here we are at the Khorog Bazaar Friday morning to buy food for our excursion that day and our trip back to Dushanbe on Saturday.

Tajikistan - around Khorog

2007-08-01T14:52:00.000-04:00

On Thursday the 26th we went on a trip to the hot springs outside of town. Here we are with car trouble and later having a late lunch at the hot springs. Three of our group of five went soaking in the hot springs (not me!).

Tajikistan - Khorog Hotel

2007-08-01T14:51:00.001-04:00

Here is my *wonderful* bed-and-breakfast family style hotel in Khorog.

Tajikistan - Khorog - Botanical Garden

2007-08-01T14:47:00.001-04:00

After giving our presentations at the meeting we went to the botanical garden before dinner. The gardens are on top of a nice hill overlooking part of the city. We ate some fresh apricots before leaving.

Tajikistan - Khorog - Conference

2007-08-01T14:38:00.000-04:00

Here we are at the Pamir Mountains Biodiversity Conference. I presented a poster and Slavik, Yusuf, and Tinatin gave lectures. I was also interviewed by the national radio station.

Tajik Road Trip - Children

2007-08-01T14:36:00.001-04:00

We met these children when we stopped for dinner. They were selling fruit, vegetables, and milk.

Tajik Road Trip - Gas Stop

2007-08-01T14:34:00.001-04:00

We got gas here.

Tajik Road Trip - Check Point

2007-08-01T14:31:00.001-04:00

Here is a checkpoint along the road. A special visa is needed to go to Khorog because it is in an autonomous district along the Afghanistan border.

Tajik Road Trip - Rest Stop

2007-08-01T14:21:00.001-04:00

Here is where we stopped for breakfast. A cafe along the side of the road with a nice pond. Here I am with Yusuf, Mijgona, Tinatin, and Asel.

Tajikistan road trip (1)

2007-08-01T14:17:00.001-04:00

On Tuesday the 24th we traveled from Dushanbe to Khorog. It was 19 hours by car, going high up into the mountains. Packed 5 in a car it was quite cozy. The road was alternately paved, stones, and dirt. No matter what the surface there were always lots of potholes. The road twisted and turned around the moutains and up and down the valleys and passes. This is the main road from China to Dushanbe and points west and goes along the Afghanistan border.

Tajik Lecture

2007-08-01T14:14:00.000-04:00

Also on Monday the 23rd Tinatin and I gave a lecture to the Tajik microbiology group on the protocols to be used for screening. Here we are with Asel as my translator.

Tajik Microbiology Labs

2007-08-01T14:10:00.001-04:00

Monday the 23rd we toured the microbiology labs of our Tajik partners. They have a nice quantitative PCR machine to monitor disease outbreaks, especially anthrax and Hoof-and-Mouth disease.

Tajikistan Dining and Dancing

2007-08-01T13:57:00.001-04:00

I arrived in Dushanbe after a flight from Bishkek on Sunday the 22nd. The flight was delayed over 4 hours and the Bishkek customs agent tried to shake me down about my plastic petri dishes (Where is your letter from your employer authorizing you to carry lab supplies? But why would I need such a letter?). We had a wonderful dinner at a local Tajik restaurant and the women decided to teach me how to dance Tajik style with the local band playing in the background. Here I am dancing with Mijgona, Tinatin, and Asel. My friend Saidbeg Satorov has a video on his cell phone but we don't know how to transfer it to a computer (sigh).

Apologies

2007-08-01T13:53:00.000-04:00

For the last week and a half I have had either no internet access (5 days in Khorog) or very slow internet access (Dushanbe) or inconvenient internet access (Almaty) so I have not been updating my travel blog. Today I am back in Bishkek with wireless internet in my hotel so I will upload photos for the Tajikistan and Kazakhstan part of my trip.

Saturday at Lake Issyk-Kul

2007-07-21T13:07:00.001-04:00

I went swimming for a few hours every day at Lake Issyk-Kul. Here are pictures of the beach and me in the water.

Friday at Lake Issyk-Kul

2007-07-21T13:02:00.001-04:00

The Aurora Hotel is an old Soviet-style sanitarium where people go to relax. Based on the (translated) conversations I think that I am the only westerner around. Here are some pictures of the hotel and the path through the gardens to the beach. The hotel is shaped like a ship (!) My room is on the second floor, second from the end.

Thursday to Lake Issyk-Kul

2007-07-21T12:57:00.000-04:00

First thing Thursday I purchased a Kyrgyz SIM chip for my cell phone. Call me if you can afford the charges! My phone number is +996-05-03-03-86-88. The local cell phone makes it easier and cheaper to communicate with my Kyrgyz friends. Then we took a cab to Lake Issyk-Kul. Here is the view from my hotel window. First the garden, then the lake, and then the mountains on the other side of the lake. This is a good place for scientific discussions.

Working in Bishkek!

2007-07-18T08:12:00.000-04:00

Now that my vacation in Europe is over it is back to work! I spent half a day with my friend and colleague Professor Doctor Tinatin Doolotkeldieva at Kyrgyz Turkish Manas University, a 10 minute walk from my hotel. We discussed how to handle our new grant, her University and Institute, and how to handle the rest of my trip. Then I toured Tinatin's new labs (pictures) which are well equipped with incubators, microscopes, spectrophotometer, thermocycler, small fermentor, small autoclave, chemical hood, sterile hood, etc.

Finally in Bishkek

2007-07-18T07:59:00.000-04:00

I flew Turkish Air from Istanbul to Bishkek, a five hour flight. The flight was 5:00PM to 10:00PM Istanbul time but we arrived in Bishkek at 1:00AM local time. Once I got to the front of the visa line it took *me* only 5 minutes to get my visa. Must be my happy face (or that I had two expired Kyrgyz visas in my passport already). The four people in front of me seemed to be having problems and the person immediately after me took over 30 minutes to get his visa (and there were more than 10 people in line after him). Of course, there were five people in the visa office but only one was working (the others provided "advice"). This is not typical of my experience in the Bishkek airport so something must have changed in the way they operate. When I woke up this morning I had a beautiful view of the mountains from my 7th story hotel room window (pictures are left, center, and right from my balcony).

Last Day in Istanbul (Tuesday)

2007-07-18T07:42:00.000-04:00

Today I spent almost the whole morning in the Archeology Museum. Then I took a cab to the Asian side of the river to have lunch at a cliffside restaurant overlooking the city. Of course, my cab driver got lost (Yea, right, the restaurant is right next to the bridge entrance on the Asian side!) and brought us to three wrong places. Then he wanted an exhorbitant amount of money "on the meter" which was hidden from us the whole time in the cab so we didn't see the amount piling up. When I finally agreed to pay him, he "swapped" a 50 lire bill that I gave him for a 1 lire bill (I only had 1 lire coins) and claimed I was trying to rip HIM off (!). There was also the cab driver the first day who instead of taking us down the river to the restaurant we wanted took us across the river and back and then wanted to charge us an extra fee for the "site seeing tour." Believe me, all the stories about con artist Turkish cab drivers are true.

Istanbul on Monday

2007-07-16T19:07:00.000-04:00

On Monday I went on a mosque tour. There are over 2,000 mosques in Istanbul. I only went to two (0.1%). I also went to a very, very, very old church that was being restored and to another palace museum. I also spent a few hours shopping in the Grand Bazaar.

Istanbul on Sunday

2007-07-16T18:59:00.000-04:00

Today I went on a cruise up the Bosphorus River. In the afternoon I went to the palace museum. In the evening I went to dinner with a variety show - cultural singing and dancing. You'll have to see me in person for the photos of me with the belly dancer.

Flying to Istanbul on Saturday

2007-07-16T18:47:00.000-04:00

Surprise! Turkish Air only lets you have one checked suitcase. Not only that but it can't weigh more than 20 kilos (~40 pounds). I had to pay extra for my luggage. Once in Istanbul I had enough time to go to a whirling dervish exhibition in the old train station. Then I had dinner in a nice restaurant overlooking the river. I ended the day on the roof of my hotel where one can see the blue mosque all lit up.

Goodbye to Lisbon

2007-07-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

Today was my last day in Lisbon. I went to the Castelo de São Jorge fortress on the biggest hill in town and then I went to the Tower of Belem which used to protect traffic on the river. Then I had lunch in a very nice small neighborhood restaurant. At the airport the security people confiscated my shampoo (110 mls - 10 mls over the 100 ml limit) and my sun screen (120 mls). Luckily I have more of both left behind in my Paris hotel. Back in Paris I had Chinese food for dinner!

Thursday in Lisbon

2007-07-13T02:51:00.000-04:00

Thursday I took a guided walking tour of the old city. Then I had lunch with a Portuguese couple. Then in the afternoon I wandered around the city. In the evening I went to a good restaurant that had a Fado singer.

Lisbon's Aquarium

2007-07-12T03:30:00.001-04:00

Wednesday afternoon I went to the Lisbon aquarium to cool off. Here are some pictures.

Lisbon - First Full Day

2007-07-12T03:23:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday I walked around Lisbon, especially near the river and in the historic central district. I took a guided trolly ride around the city to see as many places as possible and get an overview of the city. Here are some pictures.

Lisbon

2007-07-11T04:40:00.000-04:00

Lisbon is a very beautiful city. The city is built in a hilly area so the streets go up and down. Typically European there are castles, churches, very old buildings, and lots of shops for tourists. The Hotel Mundial where I am staying is again near a metro stop (two blocks away) and is just north of the Baixa district and the river. I walked across town (see picture of a nice square near my hotel), went up the nearby tower for a panoramic view, and took some pictures of the city. Then I had dinner at a typical Portuguese neighborhood restaurant.

Paris is wet and chilly

2007-07-09T10:17:00.001-04:00

View of the metro station in the rain, taken from my hotel room window. Paris is wet and dismal today.