On of the strangest CD covers I have ever seen. I saw this by chance, while living in Manzhouli, China, 2009. The disastrous lighting of this picture, which I had to snap covertly in the "CD shop" of that outlaw citylet on the steppe, makes the writing hard to make out. It reads from left to right, in a combination of Latin Script and Hebrew Square Script (note that Hebrew is supposed to be read right to left) "MYSTERIOUS AND GLAMOROUS INDIAN DANCE".
Totally bizarre. I am sure I was the only one in Manzouli who realized that this was not Devanagari. Oy.

Shenyang, China, 2010

Taba Border, Sinai Peninsula, Israel-Egypt, December or January, 2006

Shan Qian Hui, asher Ahavti, Shenyang, 5770-1

Bust of Ho Chi Minh, outside Vientiane, laos, Mar. 2011

Yet another Vietnamese toast to Communism,

outside Saigon, Mar. 2011. Go Go Vet Cong! yeah.

At least she's not Malignant Girl (?). Translation: 'She's not AS much of a cancer as Barbie (TM).' -Mar. 2011; somewhere in rural Vietnam, south of Hanoi and North of Saigon---which is a long swath indeed.

Unicycling in Vientiane, Laos, Mar. 2011; This is for you Joel.

Unicycling in Vientiane, Laos, in front of the Vietnamese Embassy, Mar. 2011

Feb. 2011, Beijing Sam MiDrA''P and AMO''Sh, Two damned good friends; He and I helped each other out in Brotherly ways, from Manzhouli to Shenyang to Beijing those two years and 3 months I lived in China. I wouldn't've madeit without him. Truly, a Mensch is my boy Sam. -Writing from Cu Chi, Vietnam; a local mother and son who own a roadside hammock-filled outdoor canteen helping me out, letting me sleep the night for far cheaper than I would in a guesthouse---in fact for about a dollar or two. I have been unicycling and walking the Route 22/AH1 from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to Moc Bei since this morning. Many amused local Vietnamese on "Hug-mobiles" (motorscooters---so-called because the passenger hugs the driver, holding on for dear life) cell phone-filmed me unicycling along the roadway alongside wet watery fields of greenest herbal blade and water buffalo wagging their great horns, sniffing wildly at the air. They were giggling profusely, smiling so joyously, their eyes bright. If nothing else, I am glad to break the spell of boredom. Remind them of a wider world---just as they do for me. AMO''Sh Out.

A comment I tried to leave on a Qaraite's Blog with an article about the 'Telugu Jews' (Bene Ephraim) of Andhra Pradesh, India:

B''H

I am a young American Jewish man of Ashkenazi-Sephardic descent and have been living in the Far East for several years. Currently, I am in the process of making a somewhat singular 'Aliyah to Israel. Armed with a ukulele, unicycle, and small word processor, I am making a tour of various countries where human rights violations have occurred. I am traveling by bus, by foot, and by unicycle. The unicycle, having one wheel, for me is a reminder that Ha''Sh is absolutely unpairedly Ekhad. A bicycle, a tricycle would not do for obvious reasons.

The hardest part is having to observe many Yamim Tovim alone---which is not advisable.
However, by Pirqei Avot, a "Minyan of one" has to be enough between my sojourns with Jewish communities along the way to Israel.
Kashrut is another challenge. However, I eat no meat of any kind that is not Kosher outside of Jewish Communities---& restrict what I consume to what is deducibly "Pareve".
Unfortunately, unknown Treifizing "contaminations" of produce before purchase do occur, which thwarts perfection for the time being. Plus, I am not a licensed Mashgiakh.

At the time of writing, I am in Vietnam. However, within a few months, I intend to round my tour into India. For several years, I have been planning to go to the 'Bene Ephraim' of Andhra Pradesh to check on the current situation as per "Yiddishkeit"---but I better correct this to "Yahadut". To me, though I come from a traditionally "Rabbinic" family, with probable Hasidic ties on my mother's side before immigration to the Unites States (when they seem to have Judaically "normativized"), the Qara'im are within the People Israel and are Jews. Certainly, there are clear differences in certain adherences, but they are not so different as to totally disqualify one from the other---in terms of co-Yahadut. That is, there are certain Oral Torah adhrences that one must perform to be a "Rabbinic Jew" that are not held within the Qaraite Community---but both are Jewish Communities, or better yet, The Jewish Community. At most, in difference, the two are sects. They do not by any means constitute separate religions.

Now, I would like to come to the Bene Ephraim as a "Rabbinic Jew" to observe their adherences---which act includes seeing performance of Mitzvot and observance of family purity. However, what I will most look for is an expediency toward Identity as Jews, as Sufferers against Persecution to Guard the Sanctity of the Holy Torah, to study Hebrew, to study Torah, to practice strict Jewish monotheism against all manner of 'Avodat Elilim, and to effect Tikkun Ha'Olam, Ahavat Yisrael (which by extension leaks into all Humanity and Life), & Ahavat Shamayim.

I am not a Rabbi as per Smichah, thus I am no certain authority (by Rabbinical definition),
but I will do the best I can to assist and learn, if allowed, among the Bene Ephraim for a short time. Thereafter, making 'Aliyah to Israel, I will do what is possible to popularize the case of the Bene Ephraim, insofar as my concept of their Yahadut has reached the level of Anavat HaTzaddiqim.

I must say: I do believe that an Orthodox conversion is necessary for inclusion into Rabbinic Judaism. This is a reflection of the Law of Return in current Medinat Yisrael. This is not to say there is no such thing as a 'Jew' outside of Rabbinica---clearly as I have said, I do not agree with this preposterousness. A Qaraite is a Jew and deserves without question the right to make unimpeded 'Aliyah. The Bene Ephraim, on the other hand, I do believe, should undergo normative Orthodox conversion in order to make 'Aliyah---unless they were to be "converted" (I say this in quotations to demonstrate my uncertainty that they are not Already Jewish) into an existing "sect". The cohesion of Judaism must be maintained
for the highest Sake.

My email address is Historyatchalal@gmail.com
My blog is Amoshimasha@blogspot.com

Sincerely, Alon Ben Qeini (Alex M. Schwartzman)AKA "AMO''Sh"

-Saigon, Vietnam, 5771

Revisions of the Tour

Unfortunately, a revision of the Wall To Wall (U)nicycle Hosomichi* has been necessitated by a severe depletion of funds saved, working in China for over two years, due to coming down with Shingles (the same virus as chickenpox) in Seoul, Korea. There I sought medical treatment---consultations with doctors and purchase of antivirals and topical creams. It cost me a fortune.
I will unicycle as much as I am able, however, the whole European leg of the quest will have to be canceled. Additionally, due to the one-month duration of some countrys' visas, I may be forced to unicycle for 2 or 3 weeks, and then bus out of the country---in order not to overstay. Renewing visas is not really an option, with my current means. At the time of writing, I am in an internet bar in "Chinatown", Vientiane, Laos. My passport was issued a Vietnamese visa today and I should have Thai visa by tomorrow. I will pick up my passport from the Royal Thai Embassy in the afternoon if the mosquitoes don't eat me first---airborne piranhas as they are.
The Tuk-Tuks, these 3-wheeled perilmobiles, rickshawish contrapitons, the kind of "taxis" that double as "hearses"---they're THAT dilapidated, smoke-belching, and dangerous---they might drop you softly and baby-fresh at your destination or you might endup mangled in a tropical muddy puddle of the reddest, orangest ochre clay under the skyline of looming, swaying palm trees, chuckling at your corpse beneath them, giggles of derision on the equatorial breeze.

In a few days, I intend to do some unicycling from Vientiane to the Vietnamese border---but I may take a bus once in the mountains, due to time-restrictions and the fact that I am still recovering from the neuralgic symptoms of Shingles which the Korean doctors told me could persist for months.

I am certainly getting some writing done. Writing aphorisms and poems in the evenings over a beer, the molasses thick air of Vientiane night bathing my skin like homemade flapjacks in maple syrup, my roommates ass-wagging little lizards darting their long grey tongues as they skiddaddle cute reptilian lightning bolts up the peeling white walls of my very basic room.
This Chinatown guesthouse is something of a relief. Not speaking a word of Lao, Mandarin Chinese is spoken---and I can get by. Moreover, the very basic room is a castle. For soon I will be sleeping in a jungle hammock strung between palm trees along the roads between Southeast Asian civilization.

* 'Hosomichi'---from the great Haiku Poet Basho of Japan (the tiny, modest museum dedicated to whom---I just visited in Tokyo last month---visiting the brushed scrawlings of the man who'd so influenced my turn to "concision" in poetic verse, where before I would "sprawl")---his seminal work being a travel account in prose and Haiku, "Oku No Hosomichi" (Narrow Road to the Deep North/Narrow Road to the Interior)

Lastly, let us take a moment for the over 15oo lives lost in the recent earthquake and tsunami in Nippon---may Ha''Sh bring peace to their souls---Shalom 'Al Nafshoteihem.