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What Nguyen Trai Street in District 5 of Saigon used to look like. Notice people not wearing helmets, the streets were not as congested. This was a peaceful time to live…

Winter, 1997, in Karatau, Kazakhstan, was the coldest I ever experienced in my life. I was at my Peace Corps site for just a little over two months when winter struck…

The Parachute Rigger School. The good old days at NAS Memphis. It was funny since the Naval Air Station was not located in Memphis, Tennessee, but outside in Millington…

Sorry I have been quiet this week. I am fighting acute bronchitis resulting from my nonstop colds that I have been getting since last May. I spend a lot of time home…

About a one ride ride from Naryn is At Bashy, Kyrgyzstan. At Bashy, horse's head in the Kyrgyz language, is one of the most beautiful places in the world with the Tien…

During my trip to Naryn with ACCELS, I had an opportunity to visit the local mosque. Three of the Kyrgyz boys below gave me a tour of the mosque including going up the…

One of the most beautiful rivers in the world. The Naryn River runs through Naryn, Kyrgyzstan, and is one of the main headwaters that would become the mighty Syr Darya…

This picture was one that surprised me when I saw it in the US. It nearly brought tears to my eyes. If you look at the photo below, look at the girl to the farthest…

I had a memorable summer volunteering with the Turkish Education Volunteers Foundation (TEGV) in the summer of 2002. I volunteered as an English teacher. I had a nice…

My faithful Cessna 152. Just a two-seater, not a whole lot of horsepower. Still fun to fly. I took this plane from Seattle, Washington, to Hillsboro, Oregon. It was my…

Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a pilot. As a kid, I wanted to be a Japan Airlines pilot. In college I instead wanted to be a Marine Corps pilot. I got close when I…

As a kid, I had always wanted to be a fighter pilot. the closest I ever got was when I was a Flight Equipment Marine with the US Marine Corps Reserves. The picture below…

That's Megan with her tongue sticking out. She always had fun with me. She was the only student I ever had who successfully tied my shoes to a table without me knowing…

Many may be surprised but Japan does not have an official standing military. After World War II, they gave up this right in their constitution. If this was true what was…

It was the summer of 2002, I had traveled to Sasebo, Japan, with my Japanese mother. It was my first trip there since 1990 so it had been 12 long years since I have been…

One of my most memorables times during graduate school. I spent the 2001 summer interning with TEGV in Istanbul, Turkey. During this time Turkey was in turmoil, the US…

Yep, that's me on the left. Many people are surprised when they find out I am half-Japanese. That is my full-blooded Japanese mother to the right of my half-blooded…

Cafe Tram is one of my favorite coffee shops in Saigon now located in the Phu Nhuan District. You will love the water gardens and their small water falls here. Prices…

I met my Vietnamese friend at the Vincom Center today. Vincom has one of the best food courts in Vietnam with a large selection of restaurants including Carl's Jr…

A couple days ago I felt like taking these pictures while heading out of Pham Ngu Lau towards Le Lai street.