I’ve been getting into reading a little bit about Carl Sagan recently, just out of coincidence (and reading alot of digg.com). He died in 1996, but today would have been his 75th birthday – and so there’s been a ripple of news stories with his quotes floating around in the last few days.

One of them that I came across touches on musings about what the Voyager satellites were loaded with before they were sent out on their long and perhaps never-ending mission, and it’s quite an amazing thought really… what should we send out to sum up humanity – to sum up Planet Earth…what would you send out if you could launch a time capsule into space?

Check out what we sent:

”Accordingly, as each Voyager left Earth for the planets and the stars, it carried with it a golden phonograph record encased in a golden, mirrored jacket containing, among other things; greetings in 59 human languages and one whale language; a 12-minute sound essay including a kiss, a baby’s cry, and an EEG record of the meditations of a young woman in love; 116 encoded pictures, on our science, our civilization, and ourselves; and 90 minutes of the Earth’s greatest hits-Eastern and Western, classical and folk, including a Navajo night chant, a Japanese shakuhachi piece, a Pygmy girl’s initiation song, a Peruvian wedding song, a 3,000-year-old composition for the ch’in called “Flowing Streams,” Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Stravinsky, Louis Armstrong, Blind Willie Johnson, and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”"

Pretty cool, no? And funny that music is such a big influence in representing who we are…

Read more [here]

Forgot to post this when it went up last week! It’s been a busy few weeks, but lots more content will be coming soon.

Kowloon Walled City @ Gadling

Two more posts to finish the series on Thailand:

Ko Samui @ Gadling

&

Sounds of Siam @ Gadling

Oh yeah, forgot to update that there have been a coupla’ posts on Gadling since I’ve been back too… check ‘em out.

The road (+rail +ferry) to Ko Pha Ngan @ Gadling

Ko Phan Ngan @ Gadling

Full Moon Party @ Gadling

A week ago, I was on a plane from Beijing to Hong Kong, after having taken the train from Hong Kong to Beijing for the weekend. As I was on that flight, I was making a mental list of all the things I had to do during my last 36 hours in Hong Kong, and then roughly 36 hours later, I was on a plane back to California.

And that is where I write this to you now – after a day at the beach, and a weekend spent with family & friends. It’s hard to think that six months passed while I was in Hong Kong, but I think I’ll always look back on it as a fantastic period of personal growth and introspection. And I owe alot of that to Joe, who not only made it possible, but challenged me and pushed me to become a better person.

– Video after the break –

This week, Hong Kong was in the news because Sarah Palin made a speech the day that I returned. As CNN showed clips of Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, and the skyline – it was nice to know that I really knew those places – I know their context, I know what happens there. And I think that’s what traveling is all about…knowing the context of a place.

Seeing pictures after the fact and understanding them, connecting with them, rather than just registering them in your brain.

Someone asked me why I decided to take the train (for 24 hours) to Beijing instead of a 2 hour flight…and it’s partially because I really like train rides, but partially because it helps me understand the context of the destination so much more. To see the countryside, the construction, the farms, the mist, the trees, blah blah blah.

So? I have two videos to share, one of Beijing – one of Hong Kong – that I hope you’ll enjoy with or without their given contexts.

New post on Gadling about Bangkok – recommendations, observations, and plenty of photos (most of which have appeared here in July).

Article @ Gadling

A fun piece about a street musician that can be found on the Khao San most nights of the week. Includes audio (at bottom of article), check it out

Article @ Gadling

My first article on a new series about Thailand went up today. New article every other day for the next few weeks!

As you might be able to tell from the article…I love the Khao San. I’ll never be able to forget some of the great conversations I had with interesting people here. You can literally walk down the road twice and meet people from 10 different countries, any day of the week. If you’re going to Bangkok and are looking suggestions, please let me know.

Article @ Gadling

A quick update from the road – I’m in Addis Ababa, enjoying free WiFi again and getting to catch up a little bit with the digital world from the past 3 weeks.

I had an amazing time in Madagascar with ToughStuff – I spent about 6 days in Antananarivo, and another 6 days on a road trip to Toliara (Tulear), Madagascar on the southern coast of the island. Alot of people there have limited access to electricity – and rely on kerosene or candles for light at night. The villagers were really excited for the possibilities of ToughStuff, especially for the entrepreneurs that were able to borrow or afford several lamps to rent out to others that can’t afford to buy them yet.In comparison to kerosene, the lamps save them money (which they’re able to save or use for “luxury” items like sugar) – are healthier for them (no more chemicals burning in small spaces) – and require no maintenance or upkeep.

It was so cool to get to be a part of the launch there, and to see first hand just how these products are invigorating people that are so far off the grid. Of course, there’s still a long way to go to lift areas like this out of poverty…this can’t solve everything… but the most important part is that it’s a step in the right direction – and a really simple concept for people to grasp and develop into their own businesses.

A couple notes on Madagascar: foreigners are called vazahas – so everywhere I went I would hear kids shouting vaaazaah!. There was a noticeable emphasis on waiting for everyone to receive their food before digging in – I think it was especially apparent because the rice (staple of every meal, no exaggeration) would arrive at the table almost immediately – but everyone would wait until all the accompanying dishes – chicken, pork, or fish would be brought out to everyone…Coca Cola dominates the drink market (no surprise) and owns a majority of the single major bottler in Madagascar, Star Brasseries – and apparently has even blocked a few other bottlers & breweries from entering the market.

The beggars in the capital were far more persistent than beggars I’ve encountered anywhere else – often following me for several blocks until I learned to just stand still and engage in a staring match until they would realize that I really wasn’t going to give any money up. That being said, I never felt very unsafe at any point – but also didn’t wander around too much by myself like I have in Arusha.

I’ll be covering Madagascar more in detail for Gadling in the upcoming weeks.

Being back in Arusha was strange and comforting at the same time. Great to see familiar faces…to be recognized by acquaintances (after 8 months – something that definitely won’t happen in HK)…and to see what has changed (or more often what hasn’t). There seems to be some light at the tunnel for CCF, the organization we spent our time documenting last year – the boys have taken the initiative to draft a new constitution for a new organization that they will attempt to run…and have secured their living space for at least 2-4 more years.

As I leave, I think I was definitely able to strengthen a few friendships that I didn’t really appreciate before – and I was able to tie up alot of the things that felt unresolved from last year. I was lucky to have the chance to go back so soon – and have a feeling I’m not completely saying goodbye to Arusha this time either…

Sorry if this is just a written stream of consciousness, but it’s all I’ve got in me at this point – for those of you in the States, I’m planning on making a return in the next few weeks & would love to see any and all of you that are in the southern california area…

PS! Recent Gadling posts are HERE.

Ok, so if anyone out there is actually still reading this, quick update. I’m in Antananarivo, Madagascar – shooting a few videos for a brilliant social enterprise called ToughStuff. Please check out their website to find out more about them.

Antananarivo is a weird mix of things. Take Paris, France – turn the clock back 70 years or so – replace all the picturesque trees with dusty, wilted ones – and imagine that the population is a heart mix of African & Indonesian people, and that’s kind of what Antananarivo feels like.

Nonetheless, I’m loving getting to explore a new place and talk to new people. PS new Gadling article up ( Dim Sum Dialogues: Family Business )