Around the World in 77 Days
- May 13 In flight over the Arctic Ocean
- May 14 Arriving at the hotel in Tokyo
- May 15 EVIA Workshop; meeting a new colleague from India
- May 16 NTCIR Day 1; banquet dinner with a
possible sabbatical visitor
- May 17 NTCIR Day 2; some members of the
NTCIR-7 program committee
- May 18 NTCIR Day 3; with Sam Tseng, a
previous visitor to Maryland
- May 19 Kamakura, at the Great Buddha
- May 20 Iwakuni, a little slice of America
- May 21 Hiroshima, 160 meters from ground zero
- May 22 Arriving in Seoul (note the riot
police in the background)
- May 23 Seoul, trying Korean food for the
first time, with Professor Rim an his students
- May 24 Seoul, at the National Museum of
Korea, which has an excellent exhibit on the first movable metallic
type printing presses (which were in Korea, not Germany!) (a
video from the after-dinner entertainment is
also available)
- May 25 Daejeon (Korea), enjoying food
from the Pacific Rim with Sung Myaeng and his wife.
- May 26 Gyeongiu (Korea), testing the
hypothesis that anyone can be a Buddha.
- May 27 Seoul, at the War Memorial of
Korea. Sort of like an airshow across the street from my hotel.
- May 28 Clark Special Economic Zone
(Philippines, Near Manila); a nice hotel for $60/night.
- May 29 Clark Special Economic Zone; seems
like everyone has an F-5 on display.
- May 30 Clark Special Economic Zone; at
the museum.
- May 31 Clark Special Economic Zone; where
the ceremony returning the base was held.
- June 1 Manila for two days at the Hyatt.
- June 2 Manila, touring Corregidor with a
group that translates Bibles into Cebuano.
- June 3 Chiang Mai (Thailand), at the
night market.
- June 4 Chiang Mai, overlooking the city
from Doi Suthep with four Sri Lankan monks.
- June 5 Chiang Mai, at the Cultural
Center, a museum describing the history of the region.
- June 6 Chiang Mai, looking
(unsuccessfully) for someone would would take a picture of me.
- June 7 Pattaya Beach (Thailand), on
the beach walk.
- June 8 Pattaya Beach, with a seaside
table for dinner.
- June 9 Pattaya Beach, coming back from my
dive trip with my instructor and my dive buddy. By coincidence, all
ex-military (Navy, Army and Air Force).
- June 10 New Delhi, in many ways
reminiscent of Dante's Inferno (47 degrees centigrade when we landed,
and no air conditioning in this taxi!).
- June 11 (near) Rishikesh (India), at the
Lakshman Jhula bridge, which is just a short walk from my hotel.
- June 12 (near) Rishikesh, out for a
morning stroll along the Ganges River. In this case, a 6 AM morning
stroll to beat the heat.
- June 13 Haridwar (India), at the train
station for the trip back to New Delhi. Note the train behind me, with
no air conditioning. Also note the cow near the train.
- June 14 New Delhi, at the Central Park
in Connaught Place.
- June 15 Between New Delhi and Agra
(India), on a sleeper train.
- June 16 Agra, the Taj Mahal at sunrise.
- June 17 Delhi, at the airport for my
flight to Moscow.
- June 18 Moscow, with some of the Peking
to Paris race cars, who happened to be passing through Moscow and
staying at the same hotel.
- June 19 Moscow, visiting with Vadim
Stepanov and his family.
- June 20 Moscow, at Red Square.
- June 21 Moscow, at Moscow State University.
- June 22 Moscow, with a dummy that the
Soviet Union sent around the moon.
- June 23 Moscow, at the Submarine Museum.
- June 24 At the Munich airport, where I
ran into Rebecca Hwa (a former Maryland postdoc) on our way to the
Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) conference.
- June 25 Prague, with Mona Diab (a former
Maryland student) at the ACL conference.
- June 26 Prague, with Dina Demner-Fushman
(my most recent Ph.D. graduate) at the ACL banquet.
- June 27 Prague, on laundry day.
- June 28 Prague, at the Charles Bridge.
- June 29 Saint Petersburg (Russia),
walking along a canal.
- June 30 St Petersburg, in front of the
Hermitage Museum.
- July 1 St Petersburg, another canal.
- July 2 St Petersburg, with the Soyuz 16
descent capsule in the rocketry museum.
- July 3 St Petersburg, at the
headquarters of the Russian Navy.
- July 4 Warsaw, at the Monument to the
1944 Warsaw Uprising.
- July 5 Krakow (Poland), at dinner sharing
a table with a student from Italy and her family.
- July 6 Auschwitz (Poland), at the gate to
the Auschwitz 1 death camp.
- July 7 Krakow, at Schindler's factory
(from the movie Schindler's List)
- July 8 Istanbul, at the Blue Mosque.
- July 9 Istanbul, breakfast with a view at
my hotel.
- July 10 Istanbul, at Hagia Sophia, which
was first a cathedral, then a mosque, and now a museum.
- July 11 Istanbul, seeing the sights at
Topkap Palace.
- July 12 Istanbul, cruising the Bosphorus.
- July 13 Vienna, at the Church of Saint
Charles Borromeo.
- July 14 Vienna, out getting a little
culture with my friend Goethe (who was looking quite dead that day).
- July 15 Lake Worthersee (Austria).
- July 16 Lake Worthersee, at my hotel.
- July 17 Verona (Italy), at the (Roman)
Arena.
- July 18 Verona (Italy), inside the Arena
for an evening performance of La Boheme.
- July 19 Lake Garda (Italy), at my hotel.
- July 20 Garmisch (Germany), hiding
between the mountains.
- July 21 Vienna, going jogging along the
Danube.
- July 22 Amsterdam, with Tapas Kanungo.
- July 23 Amsterdam, with Mark Sanderson.
- July 24 Amsterdam, with Melanie Gnasa.
- July 25 Amsterdam, at the SIGIR banquet.
- July 26 Amsterdam, with Mark Maybury.
- July 27 Amsterdam, with my hotel in the
background.
- July 28 Dulles Airport (Virginia), 76
days and four hours after departing from the same location.