Start is Florida for it all, but ultimately it’s Los Angeles I travel from San Francisco to assist the producer pack and get ready to fly from LAX.
First stop? Hong Kong and then on to mainland China.
Tianjin China which is a ‘small’ suburb of Beijing of about 12 million people.
Then fly far west of China to Urumchi, China.
From there we fly to Thailand.
Then Cambodia.
Then Turkey
Then Afghanistan.


Afghanistan winter

Along the Mekong River in Cambodia after shooting an interview there.

It’s really an epic adventure trip. Filming all these locales.
I recall filming on the Mekong in Cambodia. Filming in frozen Urumchi China during their winter. So cold the cold breaks my headphones as I simply pull them off my head they shatter.
I have to borrow a ridiculous blue puffy ski jacket for this segment. We were mostly in hot China to the west and summer weather now in deep winter suddenly. Had to buy real animal fur gloves – they are amazingly warm.
I get invited to a muslim call to prayer at a private residence in Urumchi.
Urumchi I develop my ‘Cloak of Invisibility” as I call it. It’s a colorful checked Krama around my mouth and nose and all unmarked clothing and normal brown shoes. I blend in invisible and no one give my blue eyes a second glance as I’m around Uighur people and Afghans who feature blue and green eyes frequently.
Among other things: The Great Wall (I’d seen it before in 1997) but it’s still amazing. The Blue Mosque in Turkey, the Cambodian countryside.
I got on a camel in Urumchi, rode an elephant in Thailand (as one often does).
It was great to have a paid trip around the world to so many beautiful places.