Travel

My week at Canada culminated with a woeful performance by the Montreal Canadiens on Hockey Night in Canada. I stayed in the Eastern Time Zone for the next two weeks.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

I have traveled to six countries this month, getting on an airplane once every 54 hours (on average) and staying at hotels from the waterfront at Kota Kinabalu to the noisome streets of Kowloon and to a surprisingly quiet Kanda last week.

I flew nine times in the past six days, from Bangok to Saigon to Dalat, then from Dalat to Saigan to Bangkok, from Bangkok to Brunei to Kota Kinabalu, then from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei to Manila, and finally back to Bangkok.

My record in January was 1-0. I made two birdies in my first round of the year and then concluded the month with three solivagant weeks away from the challenges of the golf course.

When you think of Hokkaido, I’m sure what comes to mind is Genghis Khan and chocolate-covered potato chips. After spending the past few days at Sapporo, Furano, and Asahikawa, I can assure you that there is a lot more to Hokkaido than that.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

Like Manny Pacquiao, I took the month off, spent some time at Japan, and made plans for a match in 2011. I also went to India and visited nineteen golf courses, including the Ft.

As we approach a new year, I like to reflect on those sage expressions that help me to understand the world and the type of life one should lead.

These prestigious culinary awards are given to an eclectic selection of restaurants (and or dishes, or regions, at my whim) based on a year in which I ate approximately 1091 restaurant meals in sixteen countries.