The Russian province of Sakhalin, an island north of Japan, has always been associated in my mind with oil and gas projects, earthquakes or nasty snow storms. Other than it once belonging to Japan, I... Continue reading →

Vladivostok: Impressions from Visit The budget hotel I stayed at first had no hot water. Then, after a hard rain storm, had no running water at all for a day or two. The city’s sloping... Continue reading →

Transnistria: Visit to Breakaway Region ”Back in the USSR” is what one Moldovan tour guided calls his one-day car excursion to Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, a Moldovan breakaway region. That tour guide’s title is probably... Continue reading →