After difficult good byes, which we'd we'd been dreading since we started the trip, jen and i parted ways and immediately wondered how we could last 2 weeks without seeing each other...

as she headed west back to sunny LA, i worked my way further east for my first trip into russia.  after a bit of trouble @ the airport, which i overcame with my most pitiful bewildered "please help" look, after discovering the immigration papers that greeted me were in every language _except_ english, the russians took enough pity on me to welcome me into their country, where i spent the next week or so.

china wasn't as hard to get into, and the hospitality there [which i never take for granted] was quite a bit warmer than russia, which made that leg of my lonely trek a bit more tolerable.

TO BE CONTINUED!...