tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post952051442950736328..comments2024-03-29T20:04:30.755+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: The Romance of Central AsiaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-19294111151430412872020-12-30T05:47:09.670+08:002020-12-30T05:47:09.670+08:00I recently reread Dan Abnett's Riders of the D...I recently reread Dan Abnett's Riders of the Dead - which is (at least in part) a story of a Western European (or the equivalent thereof) plunged into and adapting to life on the steppe. Solomon VKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11763252777153908412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-76946391796043316912020-12-28T12:24:34.874+08:002020-12-28T12:24:34.874+08:00Good post. I believe that the map is for @ 200 B.C...Good post. I believe that the map is for @ 200 B.C.Korgothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04683370654357044679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-79359123391499678522020-12-24T16:42:58.714+08:002020-12-24T16:42:58.714+08:00Not sure where I'll be staying yet. It's j...Not sure where I'll be staying yet. It's just for a couple of weeks - big conference and some meetings and (hopefully) sightseeing. Ironically your description sounds a lot like Bishkek as I remember it.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-755767679781827772020-12-24T05:12:16.269+08:002020-12-24T05:12:16.269+08:00Wow!! What an amazing experience that must have be...Wow!! What an amazing experience that must have been. Hard agree on the romance of it all, on the Marco Polo feeling of endlessness.Jason & Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08382538007150266805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-51380877207672890182020-12-23T06:06:35.829+08:002020-12-23T06:06:35.829+08:00Yeah, that prairie. I'm a coastal guy, but viv...Yeah, that prairie. I'm a coastal guy, but vividly remember my first prairie thunderstorm (at a wedding in Missouri). Had never seen anything like it. The sky is enormous. Huge pillars of cloud. Like the whole fetch of the continent was roaring down on you. Just a different scale. Ivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08923725063649465366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-50742423560009859312020-12-23T05:02:23.548+08:002020-12-23T05:02:23.548+08:00Mmm...what do you want to know? I lived there for ...Mmm...what do you want to know? I lived there for around 3 years, and can recommend several good restaurants. Will you be staying at the Sheraton? "The skinny" differs depending on whether or not you intend to be there long-term.<br /><br />The people are very nice and friendly. Single guys find the sexual mores to be fairly permissive, so I've heard (on the other hand, women from 1st world countries will find the place pretty rough, especially in the work place. The machismo scale is off the charts, even for Latin America; that can be a culture shock). There are gaps between the rich and poor, as in all developing countries, but the disparity in Paraguay feels particularly large, as much of the wealth (and there's a LOT...many billionaires and the lowest tax rate in South America) goes OUT of the country rather than being invested in infrastructure and whatnot. The rich can afford to go elsewhere and so they do, meaning that even Asuncion feels "rinky dink" despite being the country's largest city. I mean, they even lack paved roads in many of the best neighborhoods, parks are rundown and overgrown, sewers drains are open and stinking, and every time it rains people are literally washed away (i.e. drowned). <br /><br />That being said (and there's a lot more I could say), the economy's on stabler footing than Argentina, the crime rate is far lower (and less violent) than Brazil, and the food is much better than Uruguay. Depending on your needs and preferences, those things make a big difference.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-1785100999170151732020-12-23T02:00:00.980+08:002020-12-23T02:00:00.980+08:00I'll have to track it down.
I'll be in P...I'll have to track it down. <br /><br />I'll be in Paraguay for work next year. Give me the skinny on Ascunsion.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-57680002544893673222020-12-23T01:59:02.596+08:002020-12-23T01:59:02.596+08:00Yeah, I actually think GRRM does a reasonable job ...Yeah, I actually think GRRM does a reasonable job capturing it in the first of ASoIaF. Kim Stanley Robinson also in The Years of Rice and Salt.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-51309527407274655192020-12-23T01:57:35.947+08:002020-12-23T01:57:35.947+08:00Samarkand and Bokhara are the ones to visit. Khiva...Samarkand and Bokhara are the ones to visit. Khiva is supposed to be wonderful as well but very far off the beaten track in a country which is off the beaten track to begin with.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-89181525137117875902020-12-22T23:22:56.255+08:002020-12-22T23:22:56.255+08:00The Pacific Northwest can feel quite as cramped an...The Pacific Northwest can feel quite as cramped and green as the UK with its forests and mountain ranges, so I completely understand the romantic notions of wide-open flatlands. Having made twice annual pilgrimages to Montana most of my life, I am well acquainted with the majesty of Big Sky Country, if not the scale of the Eurasian steppes.<br /><br />[that being said, living in pancake flat Paraguay for years was grueling and I really longed for different terrain]<br /><br />For a time in the late 1990s, my romantic notions of Eurasia led me to a burning desire to run a BECMI campaign set in the Ethengarian Khanates of Mystara. It never got terribly high off the ground, unfortunately, but I do consider that Gazetteer to be one of the better ones, and it occupies a soft spot in my heart to this day.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-58979243899587720432020-12-22T22:18:23.790+08:002020-12-22T22:18:23.790+08:00As someone who has worked in Mongolia, I very much...As someone who has worked in Mongolia, I very much appreciate and agree with this post. Thank you. From a gaming point of view, I've been collecting a Steppe Nomads fantasy force to play the Warhammer 2nd edition scenario "The Dolgan Raiders". However, although I'm happy enough with the miniatures I've chosen I don't feel like I've been able to get even remotely close to the sense of romance you describe. (Even though I was quite literally painting it at a time of longing to be back there!) I think what I'm lacking is that sense of space and big sky and I don't know how I can harness that. <br /><br />I get the feeling I'm asking too much of my toy soldiers!robotforadayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05302954722308521390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-34368620788781981022020-12-22T08:31:32.269+08:002020-12-22T08:31:32.269+08:00Growing up on the flat prairie of Illinois, along ...Growing up on the flat prairie of Illinois, along the Mississippi River, and then living among the cramped mountain valleys of Japan and Korea, I totally get that feeling of vastness from the sky whenever I return home for a visit. <br /><br />I have a significant number of Uzbek students at my university, and their descriptions of the nation have convinced me to add Tashkent to my list of travel destinations after covid is dealt with.Dennis Laffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03053699552003336733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-8127140642774194832020-12-22T05:28:16.669+08:002020-12-22T05:28:16.669+08:00“Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but h...“Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky."<br />― Willa Cather<br /><br />Though that quote was originally about Arizona (I think), it certainly seems to apply here as well.Annon #8107https://www.blogger.com/profile/16869484989966434932noreply@blogger.com