The Journey to Asia Begins - May 30, 2011

I have arrived in LA and am spending 36 hours with my traveling companion; my son, Larry and his cat, Harvey, whom we are leaving behind. Harvey is a thin grey tabby who was once the cat of the writers of Odyssey 5, a Showtime produced sci-fi drama in which the Earth was destroyed by some force unknown (I have always thought it was Galactus, the nemesis of the Fantastic Four) except for 5 astronauts who were in orbit at the time. While dealing with the visible destruction of their home planet and trying to determine if there are any alternatives to the "Cold Equations" of oxygen in the shuttle, the astronauts are magically (advanced science always seems like magic) into an alien space vehicle where an interesting man in a robe tells them that this has been happening to a lot of planets lately and he wants to put an end to the carnage by sending the crew back in time, giving them 5 years to find out who or what has caused the destruction, and thereby saving the Earth and a lot of other folks too.

Thinking over the alternatives, the crew quickly agrees and is sent back. It was a great idea (mostly Manny Coto, later of 24) and starred a great cast including Peter Weller, of Buckaroo Banzai and RoboCop. The writers included the remarkable Alan Brennert and the Jonathan Glasser who wrote many Stargate episodes.

Harvey the cat walked in one day and was adopted by the writers. When the show was unexpectedly cancelled by Showtime, the writers had to decide what to do with Harvey. The choices were simple- put him out on the streets of LA somewhere north of Montana and hope for his best or give him to the young production assistant, Curtis, who could make good lattes. Curtis got the assignment. Now Harvey lives a couple blocks from Hollywood Blvd, still with my son, and is sitting in my lap as I type this entry.

Today we went out and got Larry prescription filled for malarone because we are heading towards the northern border of Vietnam and China, near Sa Pa, to do some photography and the mosquitoes are there as is the malaria. We also unpacked Larry's new Fuji X100 which may be the nicest retro camera ever made. You can come back to this spot every day or so for the next three weeks and I will let you know how it is going.

We fly tomorrow to Narita, Japan and change planes to fly on to Thailand. On Friday (their Friday not U.S.) we will meet Gavriel Jecan, partner of Art Wolfe, and fly to Hanoi. We will be joined by three other photographers, who will be introduced later. As a preview, one is an awarding winning photographer from Puerto Rico, another an excellent woman photographer from Penn State and finally a geologist from Indonesia.

The pictures, I hope, will make your coming back to this site often. Wish us safe travels and beautiful sunsets. Eventually we will conclude in Angkor Wat, Cambodia around June 15. Your comments are welcomed.