Lotsa linkage

I have never had an abortion. I have, however, used Planned Parenthood services numerous times over the years, because despite what many people believe, PP is much more than an abortion provider: birth control, cervical exams, STD/HIV testing... At times when I had no job or health insurance, PP was the only place I could go that A) would take a person w/ no insurance and B) was affordable.

The U.S. House of Representatives has just voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care. CLICK HERE to find out more and to learn how you can help.

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Something that everyone should read. Incredibly depressing, yet at the same time, inspirational. And highly informative. The shit that goes on against women in our modern world is just unconscionable. Read and learn, and find out how you can help. (And a big thanks to my Aunt Mary for sending this to me!)

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We've put up a lot of stuff over at Desolation Travel of late. On the blog, Derek wrote about his time in the Crimea, and Joe wrote about the madness of Turkmenbashi. Additionally, we've started uploading some of our own YouTube creations. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, if you're interested in seeing the photos from the Crimea and Turkmenistan, just click on the photographs below :-)

Crimea: Sevastopol, Khersones, Bakhchisaray, and Balaklava, Ukraine


Turkmenistan

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And lastly, here's Charlie, being cute :-)

Book review times two!

But, as I've reviewed books about traveling to remote and desolate places, it should be obvious that the review is not below, but over on the Desolation Travel blog. Just click here or on either of the pictures below - and enjoy!

The Black Gate Opens

Ben Scott emulates a hobbit sneaking into Mordor by legally entering Tajikistan. No, seriously, there is a connection. Just click here or on the picture below to find out!

A new post from Desolation Travel!

I know it's been a while - we've all been pretty busy recently - but we finally have a new post and a new set of photos up over at Desolation Travel! CLICK HERE or on the photograph below to read the new post by Nicola Simpson.

post-holiday links post

I spent Christmas Day at Gwen's - click here or on the supercute picture above to see the pictures, most of which are of Sahn :-)

I re-edited my photos from Solburun 2008 - click here or on the photo above to view the whole set, and click here to read the blog post. Enjoy!!

Simon's Cat shows us why some of us just can't do trees.

And lastly, TIME Magazine ran an interesting story about required HIV testing for foreign English teachers working in Korea. (h/t, The Marmot's Hole)

Linkety-Linkety :-)

Some more links for your enjoyment - please check them out!

· Balykchy: A Town on the Edge - Ben Rich brings you his adventures in the decaying lake-side town of Balykchy, Kyrgyzstan.

· Seaside of Death: The perils of progress in Sumgayit - in keeping with the theme of decaying lake-site towns in the former Soviet Union, Joe Scarangella brings you his adventures from Sumgayit, Azerbaijan.

· But that's not all from Joe... he's also brought us a series on a desolate island off the coast of Yemen.

· And from me (because you came to my blog, so surely you want to hear what *I* have to say), I've revisited a couple of tales from my past: one wonderful - a visit to the collapsing remains of Russian nobility; one horrific - a large portion of why, for me, 2009 was a living hell.

Calendarriffic Madness!

In addition to my 2011 calendar featuring photographs of South Korea, Desolation Travel has just put up *two* 2011 calendars - one is specific to Kyrgyzstan, while the other has images of desolation from all over the former Soviet Union, taken by the Desolation Travel team. Each calendar sells for $19.99. Check 'em out and buy one - or better yet, buy all three! Simply click on the image(s) below to preview and purchase!

More desolation than you can handle!

During the past month, we've been pretty busy over at Desolation Travel.

· We expanded beyond the former Soviet Union just a bit with a post about Detroit and rural Pennsylvania.

· Nicola shared her tale and photographs from a December trip to Kazakhstan, complete with nicotine-craving mafia burglars.

· Ben R provided us with a travel guide to and photographs of the breakaway republic of Transdniester.

· Derek promptly went to Transdniester, and shared his story of bribery and extortion

· And lastly, in a fit of pique over the cancellation of my planned trip to the DMZ this weekend (cancelled, of course, due to the shelling of Yeonpyeong-do), I posted about North Koreans in Russia, and added my story and photographs from my trip to the DMZ in 2004.

If you'd like the direct links to our sites, here you go:

http://www.desolationtravel.com

http://desolationtravel.blogspot.com

And if, for some inexplicable reason, desolation isn't your thing,
check out Charlie being petted and purring!
(The purr becomes audible around the 15-20 second mark.)

More desolate by the day!

Desolation Travel continues to grow!
Click here or on the picture above to check it out!

Even more fun, excitement, and desolation!

Joe Scarangella presents Abkhazia: Conflict in the Caucasus, consisting of a blog post and photo gallery about his visit to this rebellious corner of post-Soviet Georgia.

I get a little lightheaded and mangle Clash lyrics as I go Rockin' the Tash Ra(bat) while revisiting my journey along the ancient Silk Road in Kyrgyzstan with a blog post and photo gallery.

And our British Bens try to out-do each other: Ben Scott presents images from his whirlwind trip to Uzbekistan (here), while Ben Rich shows us life in the Kyrgyz fishing village of Balykchy (here).

Enjoy!

More desolation!

UPDATED: Since I posted this, we've added a trip along the Pamir Highway and a phone-in appearance by my friend Joanna on a radio program about Siberia to the blog - so be sure to check it! Additionally, we now have SIX photo galleries up on desolationtravel.com!

Interested in hearing about the drunken, nine-fingered, Ukrainian plumber? Or a trip by rail from Beijing to Kyiv? How about a Christmas-day visit to the former shores of the decimated Aral Sea? Or a trip by motorcycle across the melting ice of the world's deepest lake? We've got it all over at the Desolation Travel Blog!!

Super Awesome Links!

The Desolation Travel website is still under construction, but at least we now have one page of content, and we already have a couple of blog posts up at our blog.

Clicking here (or on the image above) will take you to an absolutely stunning collection of photographs taken by Ben Rich in the Chernobyl Dead Zone area of Belarus.

Please check out our blog: http://desolationtravel.blogspot.com
to read the story of Ben's trip to the Dead Zone