Posts made in May, 2015

Like Burma, I’m going to split my trip to Ethiopia in several posts. If you are not familiar with the Danakil depression, I have included a Google map of the area below. It’s in the northeast region of Ethiopia, in the semi-autonomous zone called the Afar region. The Afar region is named after the Afar tribe that administers the region. However the Afar tribe is split between Eritrea and Ethiopia, causing people to cross between the two countries relatively easily, despite the border with Eritrea being technically closed (Ethiopia and Eritrea were at war in 2000). As you may know, Eritrea is not a safe place. This region is relatively high risk for foreign travelers, as stated by the UN, which recommend not to travel there. Traveling there is a long...

This is my 100th post and if you had told me 2 and half years ago that would have written 100 posts, I would not have believed you. It is fitting that my 100th post is about May’s Full Moon. On paper, this full moon had the potential to be great: it was going to line up perfectly over the Coit tower, the timing was perfect, exactly 32 minutes after sunset (so the sky would be a great blue) and it would really be a full moon (30 minutes later). I forgot one thing, it is summer here now in San Francisco, which means that Karl the fog is present. I was hoping all day that it would stay cool so the fog would stay away. When the moon showed up, it was looking good but in a couple minutes as the moon was rising, the fog was moving in. In a matter of minutes, I...