Where is the Idiot Today?

Glad that a cliffside lunch on Mount Shasta celebrating the 50th anniversary of the mission to the moon included astronaut-inspired freeze-dried ice cream. Read more

Meeting Buddhas and Buddhists during a meditative stroll through forested Shasta Abbey, a 14-acre training monastery for monks in Mount Shasta, California. Read more

Follow The Idiot

Comprehending Contemporary China

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Joel in An Odyssey in China & Tibet, Follow The Idiot, Idiotic Musings | 29 Comments

It would take at least one million pictures, and/or one billion words, to commence cataloguing the characteristics, changes and concerns that encapsulate bygone and contemporary China.

But The Idiot is ready to take on the task.

Here are the first ten of his one million photographs following a riveting odyssey from Beijing to Read more

Slices Of Lhasa Street Life

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Joel in An Odyssey in China & Tibet, Follow The Idiot, Idiotic Musings | 8 Comments

A teahouse run by nuns in downtown Lhasa.

A rooftop view of the Jokhang Temple, the center of action in Lhasa’s Barkhor district.

It’s impossible to ignore – and illegal to photograph — the omnipresent Chinese military troops in riot gear on the rooftops and Read more

Has “Normalcy” Returned To Tibetan Lamaseries In China?

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Joel in An Odyssey in China & Tibet, Follow The Idiot, Idiotic Musings | 14 Comments

Yellow Hat monks chanting before a prayer session at Labrang Monastery in Xiahe, China.

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in central China that were closed or disrupted two years ago due to conflicts with the government in Beijing are functioning with apparent normalcy this month.

The Idiot took an odyssey to Read more

Reaching The Summit In Tibet

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Joel in An Odyssey in China & Tibet, Follow The Idiot, Idiotic Musings | 4 Comments

The hottest spots in Lhasa for expats and foreign tourists to network and swap info, both online and off, are the two Tibet Summit Fine Art Cafés owned by a 46-year-old American from Ohio.