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Saudi Arabia could become a great destination for tourists at some point in the future.  They just aren’t there yet.

My father was a Superior Court judge in Columbus, Georgia. His legal philosophy was ahead of his time. He believed that “victimless crimes” were contrary to freedom and the intent of our constitutional founders. His theory of law was that the force of government should only be used to protect people and property, not to incarcerate people for what they do willingly in their private homes. Thus, he believed that prostitution and drugs should be legal. He came close to losing an election when his opponent claimed Judge Smith was “soft on drug dealers.” (He was!) . . .

Flying from Beijing to Shanghai, Susan and I boarded the Viking cruise ship Yi-Dun.  We had the pleasure of a Shanghai city tour in which we viewed an ancient garden containing ornate buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

The skyline of Shanghai is impressive, containing the world's third tallest building, the Shanghai Tower with 128 floors, at 2073 feet high.  (The world's tallest building is Dubai's Burj Khalifa at 2722 feet high.  The second highest is the Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at 2227 feet.)--source Wikipedia

Mount Fuji was an impressive site as our ship approached the Shimizu harbor.  Mount Fuji is Japan's highest mountain, an active volcano in a perfect conical form.

A Brief History of Contemporary Sikkim The history of Sikkim parallels that of Bhutan in many aspects. Like Bhutan, Sikkim was a geographically isolated Buddhist kingdom that was never colonized by the British or any other country. Bhutan has remained an independent country, though it...

Singapore is a very small country located at the bottom of the Malaysian peninsula.  It has no natural resources.  Alli its food has to be imported.  As a financial center and trading center, Singapore is extremely successful.  Its citizens enjoy one of the highest median incomes in the world.  Singapore's citizens are 70% of Chinese ancestry.  Other ethnic groups include Malays, Indians, Thais, and more.  Enjoy the photo gallery of Singapore's rich urban landscape.

This blog will describe Southern Chile: Puerto Montt, two impressive glaciers, Punta Arenas, and our transit around Cape Horn, the southernmost part of Tierra Del Fuego, South America.

I’ve flown into Atlanta on my way home to Columbus, Georgia, countless times in the last four decades. It’s impossible to arrive again without flashing back to the trips that occurred on the occasion of the deaths of my parents in Jan. 2002 and Dec. 2003. There’s a certain emptiness caused by the fact that though I’m returning “home” to the place where I spent the first eighteen years of my life, that it’s not the same because my parents aren’t there anymore.

Many years ago, I was told the following joke which highlights Scandinavian cliché stereotypes: In a ferry sailing on the Baltic Sea, two Danes, two Norwegians, two Finns, and two Swedes walk into the bar. The two Danes clap each other on the back. . .

Enjoy my observations about life in Sweden with photos that each tell their own stories.