Hello!  Howdy!  Boa Vinda!  Hola!  Dobra Don!  Hallo! Willkommen!  Salamatsysba!  Asalamaaleikum!

Welcome to Jim Ellinger’s Travel Website
"Tearin' Thru' Luggage Faster'n TSA!"

Photos and stories from my extensive travels in recent years.

If you have questions or comments or travel tips…

Please email Jim at jimedia@grandecom.net

Jim Ellinger's Travel Tips

ESCAPE FROM AMERICA
A practice evacuation run & Lessons from Katrina

THE FULL LIST OF ONCE AND FUTURE COUNTRIES

PREVIOUS TRIPS

Spain, Andorra, and Morroco

Hell & back

Messages & pictures from Jim's trip to the 'Stans.
Teaching press-release methods to Central Asia.

Jim and “The World’s Most Dangerous Blonde”
travel to smoggy Kathmandu, Nepal in February 2003
for the AMARC8 International Community Radio conference.

These pages, previously posted elsewhere, have been extended with:

Kathmandu Temples Elephants

OTHER TIMES & PLACES

London Kiev Volgograd Mozambique

Camp Sierra Yosemite Ellinger, Texas

Kew Gardens Monarch Butterflies

URL list of groups that Jim associates with and/or supports, as well as sites dealing with travel, translation, regional issues, etc. 

Media groups Jim works with or supports

Other comments and stories from fellow travelers and friends:

Regional Information on the ‘stans of the FSU:

KYRGYZSTAN DAILY DIGEST

http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/kyrgyzstan/hypermail/news/index.shtml

Heart Of The Silk Road:
Tan Wee Cheng's Travels in the Central Asian Republics of Kazakstan,

Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan

http://www.weecheng.com/silk/kyrgyz/kyrgyz1.htm
http://www.weecheng.com/silk/kazak/kazak2.htm

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty : http://www.rferl.org/mm/

Spook Central CIA’s World Factbook:

Kyrgystan:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kg.html
Kazakhstan :

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kz.html

ACDI/VOCA: http://www.acdivoca.org

On-line language translator: http://babelfish.altavista.com/

“Radio in a Suitcase” Wantok Ent. Ltd.
Grunthal , Manitoba, Canada (204) 434-6423
       To make it feasible for every group/organization in the world to own, operate and maintain their own community broadcast station regardless of their socio-economic conditions.

       Jim met the folks from Wantok at the AMARC8 conference in Kathmandu, Nepal in Feb., 2003. This is a great group bringing independently operated radio to millions of folks around the world.   Visit their website at: www.wantokent.com

Celestial Mountains

       For everything you could possibly want to know about the terrain, history, horsemanship, politics, currency, flora, fauna, food and folks of Kyrgystan,

this is the group to check out! An encyclopedic volume of information.

Jim stayed at their very nice Silk Road Lodge in Bishkek in Dec., 2003.
Visit their website at:www.silkroad.com.kg

Freedom House: Providing Global Human Rights Training and Support

       Publishers of the annual “Freedom of the Press, A Global Survey of Media Independence .”  Freedom House just completed installation of a million dollar printing press in Bishkek, allowing opposition papers a facility to print their publications…even during election times. It should be noted that Kyrgystan recently slipped from

“partially free” to “not free” in the FH ranking of press freedoms. Now all five of the ‘stans of the FSU are listed as “not free.” In Jim’s opinion, Kyrgystan appears to be moving towards greater personal and press freedoms much faster than its neighbors.
Visit their website at: www.freedomhouse.org

Handmade Felt Products from Kyrgystan
“Supporting Sustainable Livelihoods for Livestock Producing Communities”
       Funded by UK ’s Department of International Development (DFID), this wonderful group supports the artistic efforts of women’s co-ops in rural communities. Jim dropped a load of cash at their gallery in Osh . In fact, he bought so many items there, he had to STAND on his big mutha’ suitcase to get it closed! If you got a Christmas present from Jim in 2003…this is where is came from!
Visit their website at:www.kyrgyz-village.com.kg

Nepal

Since declaring a state of emergency on 26 November 2001 for the purpose of fighting the "Maoist terrorist" movement, Nepal is on a dangerous downward spiral of repression, accompanied by acts of torture committed—with the utmost impunity—by the army and the police. More than 120 journalists have been arrested and at least three of them subjected to harsh treatments and humiliations tantamount to torture. "Troops do what they please. They completely violate the laws by arresting, questioning, torturing and detaining suspects, especially journalists," objected Subodh Raj Pyakurel, General Secretary of INSEC, the Nepalese human rights organisation. On 2 December 2001, for example, Shankar Khanal, a correspondent of the public station Radio Nepal and of the Space Times daily, was arrested along with Ganga Bista, a correspondent of the Nepalese public television station and of Chautari Times, a local newspaper. Both were tortured to make them reveal the names of their Maoist contacts. "Police forced them to strip naked, then beat them and sprayed them with hot and cold water. They did it several times a day," asserted Subodh Raj Pyakurel. Moreover, the wife of journalist Bijay Raj Acharya, who was arrested on 9 January 2002 and released on 16 March, reported: "My husband was tortured during the first two or three days of his confinement in the Balaju army barracks. His hands and feet were bound and he was given electric shocks." According to many concurring testimonies, such practices are widely used against any person suspected of being pro-Maoist. The Nepalese Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, assured Reporters without Borders: "If any errors have been made, the individuals concerned will be freed and compensated." This statement seems to be little more than an empty promise so long as the Nepalese army remains free to commit such crimes with total impunity.