Aggregate Thoughts in a Fragmented World

Posted by goodman on February 20, 2007 7:15 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
I had the opportunity to eat at Gordon Ramsay's first American restaurant over the weekend in New York. The new LondonNYC Hotel (formerly the Rihga Royal) in midtown is where he is "based", where he cooks for "Gordon Ramsay at The LondonNYC" (fine dining), The London Bar (breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and a nice bar at night), and even the... (more)

Posted by goodman on February 21, 2006 12:48 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
First let me say that it was an amazing trip! I would do it again in a heartbeat! While not everything was perfect, you can't expect it to be over a month's time, it was so amazing that anything that did go wrong was laughable. The last week that I spent in Delhi was quite fun. I got to experience... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 28, 2006 8:26 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
Next stop, Agra and the Taj Mahal. A quick trip 'cause the Taj is the main attraction in Agra and that's what we were there to see :o)! What made it interesting is that we drove from Jaipur to Agra. Don't think that I was behind the wheel, there was a driver. What made it interesting was driving on what... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 28, 2006 8:19 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
The next stop on the itinerary was Jaipur. This is not only the home to yet another *seriously* wealthy ruler of India, a Maharaja, but is also the center of India's precious and semi-precious stone market.... Let's just say that above and beyond the sights, the shopping was incredible. I totally lived up to the family motto, "We came, we... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 28, 2006 7:58 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
We flew to Udaipur and that was an adventure unto itself.... but the flying adventure gets even better later in the trip so I'll expalin that one then :o)... anyway, we set off to the hotel, and what a hotel! It was the Lake Palace, a former palace of the Maharani of Udaipur. You may know it better as the... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 26, 2006 9:20 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So here are my pictures of Bangkok! What an amazing city.... I spent 4 days there before heading to India. The things that I did... well, as stated before it all started off with a great airport pickup by The Peninsula Hotel driver. He was quite a nice guy named Domrong and intent on asking me if I was single.... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 25, 2006 9:11 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
OK, so I am seriously behind in my writing for my travel blog, but there's a reason... net access has been a bit flakey since Bangkok, and it wasn't even that good there... :o(! So, what have I been up to, well here's the list of things that I have seen and done and would like to write about, and... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 14, 2006 7:02 AM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So it took a bit of doing as my flight from Siem Reap Cambodia was delayed for a couple of hours, but I finally got here. The driver from the Peninsula Hotel was waiting for me and I said farewell to the family friends that I had been touring Cambodia with.... When the Peninsula took over, things got to a... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 13, 2006 7:51 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So I am leaving Cambodia today and heading to Bangkok. What can I say about Cambodia other than it is an amazing place and I will definitely be back to bring other folks so that they can experience what I have. This is a place that is striving to not only make itself better as it moves into the modern... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 12, 2006 9:17 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
Went for a boat ride on the Tonle Sap lake, the largest lake in Southeast Asia. Very interesting once you can get past the smell.... You start on a small river/tributary to get to the lake and it's not the cleanest thing in the world. Kind of reminds me of the canals in Venice... :o). As you are going by,... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 12, 2006 9:09 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
Went to Banteay Srei and it was amazing.... I know that I keep saying that it's all amazing, but it is. This location especially. It isn't very popular with the tourists and is located about 20-30 minutes away, but it is well worth it. The temples detail is still intact and all original, so if you look at the pictures... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 11, 2006 6:21 AM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
I am a bit behind.... Today was such an amazing day.... It started with Angkor Wat at sunrise, but that meant getting up at 4:30 am and being out of the hotel by 8. Then we ended the day with Angkor at sunset. So to say it was a full day would be an understatement :o)! So I also took... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 10, 2006 7:00 AM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So I got to Siem Reap today... The flight was uneventful and quick. Then went to the hotel and shortly after headed out to see the sights. We decided to change the itinerary up a bit so that we could avoid some of the people, but we'll still get it all... ;o)! In order to get to what we were... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 9, 2006 4:00 AM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
Today was an interesting day.... It started out nice and "happy", ending in a depressing manner.... Here's what I saw.... Royal Palace (pictures here): there is a king of Cambodia and he still lives in the Royal Palace. It is located where four rivers join and has views of everything. It glitters and has everything that a palace should.... I... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 8, 2006 6:41 AM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
Today I went to Udong Cambodia with my tour guide. It was the former capitol of Cambodia prior to it moving to Phnom Penh, about 30 Km away. The drive was really interesting as we drove through the outskirts of town and saw these houses built above a lake and along the river.... They were farming fish in man made... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 7, 2006 4:28 AM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
I had some "alone time" today so I went out walking to see the sights and here is what I saw.... http://www.jimgoodman.com/gallery/asia2006 First let me say that it was hot.... The Central Market: built by the french in the 30's, a huge central dome with halls leading away from it, each with a different item/category sold in it. The meat... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 6, 2006 6:01 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So here I am.... Finally after what was 36 hours by calendar, 18-19 hours flying and 7 hours of layovers, etc. Man was I tired :o)! First thing you notice when you get off the plane is that it's hot and humid.... I mean really humid! Beautiful airport, new shiny as compared to Vietnam, which I am sure was built... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 5, 2006 9:48 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So I get here and all is well. Disembark and start looking for my connecting flight.... The folks at the airport here aren't that helpful. They don't even hang out at their desks/assigned stations! Anyway, here I am sitting in a pretty old airport that looks like it is from the 60's, maybe the 70's.... It's hot (not really air... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 5, 2006 4:15 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So far so good.... I made Hong Kong in good time although we were an hour late pushing back from the gate in LA. I am typing this as we are about a half an hour out.... My friend Marty would have enjoyed about 10 minutes of the flight. That would have been the part where they rolled a cart... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 4, 2006 3:49 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So I am spending my last hours at home in Los Angeles before I go off on my adventure.... I leave on the red-eye tonight at midnight for first Hong Kong, onto Ho Chi Min City then Phnom Penh. Then keep checking here for pictures and comments on my trip to see Angkor Wat.... Nervous and excited at the same... (more)

Posted by goodman on January 2, 2006 9:31 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
I am watching some TV while working and I am seeing commercials for upcoming episodes of new shows. Some of 'em even look like I'd give them a watch and it says "Starting Friday...." And I realize that Friday, I will be in Cambodia!... (more)

Posted by goodman on December 22, 2005 9:44 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So here it is, just inside two weeks 'till my big trip. I'm a bit nervous about it... new places and all, being gone a month, etc., but I'm also excited about it. I hope to try to keep track of some of it here and upload pictures to the gallery... Oh, if I hadn't told you... I'm going to... (more)

Posted by goodman on October 31, 2005 5:34 PM |Digg |Del.icio.us |Reddit |SphereIt |StumbleUpon
So it is finally starting to gel... my travel at the end of this/beginning of the New Year. I haven't really traveled to a new place in a while even though I love it. But this was a great opportunity and I just had to jump on it :o)! So in December, I will be going to Vietnam and Laos.... (more)