Not having posted since February, here's a quick catch-up on elections in Pakistan, life in Quetta, and a business/pleasure visit back to the US.

It's been fifteen years of drought, says a Quetta-ite, since the city has had a good winter snowfall, and I was here to see it!  I traipsed around a giddy city, my sneakers soaked but not minding the wet, caught up in a morning of delight in Pakistan.

Tales of a festive holiday season wait within - who says one can't have a good Christmas party in a Muslim country?  The actual Christmas we spent in Laos, a beautiful country with a relaxed atmosphere that also hosted my best New Year's Eve ever.  Back home, the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assassination.

Recent political events in Pakistan have been drawing worldwide media attention.  This post has some of my perspective on the Musharraf-declared emergency rule and how it is affecting life in Quetta, as well as some normal news from every-day life here.

Once in awhile while one is traveling in foreign places one is lucky enough to find a priceless cultural artifact of intrinsic and inestimable value, a treasure that must be bought no matter the cost.  Thankfully, in this case it only set me back 200 rupees (3 bucks).  I don't want to give it all away, but today's priceless artifact is a toy involving a mechanical animal and a Pashtun (one of Pakistan's main ethnic groups) playing guitar.  There's video!

Sometimes I find things in Pakistan that are too funny to keep to myself.  Enjoy the first of what may become an occasional cross-cultural feature, as we find Jennifer Aniston's image on a product I'm pretty sure she doesn't know she is endorsing.

In case the news gives you the impression that Pakistan is nothing but political turmoil and suicide bombers, and I've given you the impression that Pakistan is nothing but bearded men and covered women, read about Jules and my trip along the marvel-of-engineering Karakoram Highway to the stupendous Northern Areas, home of apricots, spectacular October foliage, and awe-inspiring 8,000 meter peaks.

After a busy August in Mansehra, September takes us to three Pakistani cities and three Asian countries as we leave Mansehra, vacation in Nepal via Bangkok, then return and move to Quetta in the west of Pakistan.  October has been a settling-in month as Jules learns her new role as head of office in Quetta and I start exploring my third Pakistani city.

An account of one of my mountain bike rides in the hills of Mansehra, including encounters with donkeys, goats, a camel, kids both shy and bold, loads of beautiful scenery, and an oppressed ice cream man.  Lots of pictures!

Recent government action against militant students at the Red Mosque in Islamabad has provoked reactions in Mansehra, the northern Pakistani mountain town where Jules and I spend most of our time these days - unless we're getting 'evacuated' to Islamabad.  Read about our experience of the fallout from the latest front-page news from Pakistan.

During March and April 2007 I had a run of columns published in Dawn - a Pakistani English-language newspaper - one a week in their Saturday edition.  They were short pieces featuring something I found interesting about Islamabad life and accompanied by an original photo.  Inside you can find all eight of these slices of Pakistani life.

From the US to Pakistan, Islamabad to the mountains

In which Jules and I travel from the US West Coast to the US East Coast, thence to Islamabad, thence to the mountain town of Mansehra.  Be regaled with tales of sidewalk ice cream, rag-cloth 'brooms,' sewage near-misses, spice-gifts, and the geographic virtues of see-through shirts and dupatta cover-ups; watch Salman and Osama vie for top international honors.

 How things are different here - of washing machines, suicide bombers, Valentine's Day evils, and the population of hell.  Includes a link to a YouTube video I posted with some of my own footage from Islamabad.

A story sandwich, with tales from Pakistan as the two slices of bread and tales from Jules and my trip to India (the teaser - it included a hospital admittance for one of us) as the filling in between.

A quick blurb about Thanskgiving week in Pakistan and about the state of my writing life here.

From a country of drab and desert to a land of color and marsh, and back: a quick vacation in Thailand

In which there are photos of Jules' shoes being shined, an Islamabad market, a trail leading into the hills, and other pictures for your viewing pleasure.

A quick intro to Islamabad and some of its sights.