Street performers abound here. Their outfits can be as varied as the instruments they play. I had no idea what the young fellow was playing on. His lady companion was as enthusiastic as he was concentrated. And then there was a new sight on the very next corner...

Standing on the street across from the Water Cube I was struck by how the setting sun danced across its flank. I imagined that was intended, but it occurred to me that the experience once entering the facility could only pale to the exterior's approach. For that very reason I did not go in. Plus I am a crummy swimmer. www.DontForgetThePepto.com

While exploring the 798 Art District in Beijing I was confronted with these anachronistic beasts whose cages were stacked vertically, shipping container-style. Although it has become a bit of a destination, the 798 is a great place to spend an afternoon. You actually get to see some "real" art and not just the stuff meant for tourists.

In our hurry around Shanghai to procure "authentic eats" it suddenly hit me that we were missing the true soul of the experience: the very people that make it happen. As I angled into this grim back alley my companions worriedly waved me back toward the street. The alley smelled ghastly and the floor was sticky with effluvia. I started to regret my choice until the vignette above presented itself to me. That's when I realized that if one is bold enough to peel back the facades one can be treated to the heart of the city. www.DontForgetThePepto.com

I wanted to get as far away from "civilization" as possible. I thought riding an elephant in the jungle of Laos might appease that sentiment. Our safety briefing: "You ride with her, jump on back, ride in river. Water is wet." Uh...OK. They usually ask most people to ride on the side-by-side chair perched high up on the elephant's back. But after he noticed my swollen calves and figured I could hold on to anything he had me slide down onto its neck. It actually felt more secure than sitting on that teetering chair. Riding through the lush river valley in water up to the animal's ears, listening to the deep thrum of the elephant's breathing, I felt I left civilization and arrived at "nowhere" simultaneously. Ahhhh...Okay. http://www.dontforgetthepepto.com/asia/2011/5/11/elephants-monks-andladymen-oh-my.html

This is what you came for. Sure it's the exotic smells, the snippet of a town almost buried between two rivers flanked by jungle carpeted hills... ...but it was somebody's promise that this part of SE Asia had actually held time at bay. And in a region where ancient treasures are frequently cheek-to-jowl with crass development, that is no small feat. A walk through UNESCO designated Luang Prabang seems to constantly veer between its thousand-year roots and its 19th Century French-Colonialist rule: But no further. And when you do see an anachronistic tuk-tuk or (gasp) auto they tend to look almost intentionally antiqued. Like the monk above that strolls non-chalantly by this classic Citroen from the 1950s, a visitor will be challenged to pick apart the constantly shifting provenances of the scenes they encounter, but one thing will be for sure: It will never feel like the present. http://www.dontforgetthepepto.com/asia/2011/5/11/elephants-monks-andladymen-oh-my.html

11:00pm, Tapas Bar, San Sebastian Rush hour. Sometimes this is as close as you would get. Being neighborly helps to get people to pass you your food and drinks. Txikito de Iraeta might have had better luck passing the food around but I didn't care about standing up and eating from one place to the next. The several hundred other patrons didn't seem to mind either, night after night...especially the smartly dressed older gentlemen that spontaneously belt out a traditional cancion from time to time.

August, 2010. 9:30pm I was taken with how the setting sun shocked a small cluster of buildings as the mountains behind brushed up against a cloudy roof. Looking across the bay where we tried to locate the spot where we had been sunbathing until two hours earlier. Mostly young lovers and local Spanish vacationers were on hand for the sunset on Mt Urgull, (really a large hill) which constantly taunted me to climb its woodsy paths to its summit. We were the only foreign tourists there, which is how we felt most of the time in San Sebastian. Starving, we realized we had to get back down to edge into position at the tapas bars before they swelled with locals picking off the best fare...

I thought my watch had died. Or that I taken too much sun during my nap. The scene before me just didn't say "7:30pm". Because it felt like 4pm anywhere else. Not only because the sun was still so high, but because the beach was still so crowded. And it was a weekday. People were racing each other freestyle to the floating platform in the middle of the bay. Kids were still cajoling their parents for ice-pops. And our lunch at the base of the hill in front of us still made us feel full. So I took my watch off and put it in my bag because it obviously was causing me too much trouble... ...and that's August in San Sebastian.

You can get it all...in one stall. Street vendors cater to the whims of locals and expats on their nights out in Ha Noi, Vietnam. http://www.dontforgetthepepto.com/asia/2011/5/10/ha-noi-part-deux.html

Spice pots from one of the stalls at Quan An Ngon. 138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam http://www.dontforgetthepepto.com/asia/2011/5/10/ha-noi-part-deux.html

Quan An Ngon: It's an open air restaurant surrounded by food stalls and served by waiters. The various stalls represent different regional fare from around the country. Sitting at communal tables surrounded by the stalls you really feel part of the action as a variety of customers stream in and out: locals, lovers, expats but not too many tourists. Some Chinese next to me were filling up on chicken heads. Mmmmm. And Heineken. Plus Quan An Ngon is close to the Hanoi Hilton where John McCain "stayed" as a POW, so if you're visiting that sight, Quan An Ngon is a 'must' lunch or dinner stop. 18 Phan Boi Chau Str., | OR 1st floor, 25T2 Hoang Dao Thuy Str.,, Hanoi, Vietnam See more here: www.DontForgetThePepto.com

This past May I stopped in Ha Noi on my way to Laos and Cambodia. In barely 1.5 days I felt like I got to see a ton. This is NOT my preferred way to take in any town or city, but it was all I could fit into my schedule. Obviously I missed a ton, but I did have a good time...see all the pics & videos here: http://www.dontforgetthepepto.com/asia/2011/5/9/ha-noi.html