Travel Letters

Beijing: "Sovereign at the Summer Palace"

Beijing

China

January 8, 2008

 

Dear Family and Friends,

“The rich are different from you and me.” They have homes and compounds in Palm Beach or Palm Springs, or Beverly Hills or Pocantico Hills, on Cape Cod or Cape May, or in Oyster Bay or South Hampton on Long Island.

Royalty are very different. HRH the King of Thailand owns a palace on the seashore and one in the mountains as well one in the capital. South of Thailand, the Sultans of Malaysia collect Rolls Royce motorcars. And the Maharajas of India? Do they collect everything?

Drawn by the curiosity of a bourgeoisie, I eschew the public bus of the hoi polloi and engage a driver and automobile for an excursion to the imperial retreat of “my betters” in Beijing: The Summer Palace of the Emperors of China.

And today I am alone. I am the sovereign of my day.

Harbin, China. "Wear Everything"

Harbin

China
January, 11 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

"Oh, my goodness!"

The airplane from Beijing descends through the clouds towards the Harbin airport. I stare at the landscape below and I think, "Oh, my goodness!" Actually, "Oh, my goodness" is not the exact phrase that comes to mind. "Holy cow" is a little closer but still not 100% accurate.

Deserted roads and snow-covered farms spread out everywhere like an Amish quilt that landed in a vat of bleach. Smoke from a tall smokestack rises in a disturbing pattern; it blows horizontally.

"Be happy where you are, Jan. What did you expect? Tropical waves washing up against white sand? Coconut palms, maybe, swaying in a light breeze? You are in Harbin for the Ice Lantern Festival. Harbin. 45 degrees North Latitude. North of Vladivostok and halfway to the North Pole. Ice, Jan, ice. Think ice."

Taipei: "Fur Elise"

Taipei,

Taiwan

Republic of China

October 24, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

I am shocked, shocked to find that "Für Elise" is the "national anthem" of Taiwan!

As I check in to the Han She Hotel in Taipei, "Für Elise" flows forth from the lobby sound system. It's not a very good version; it's too heavy for my taste, and not lovely and lyrical as Beethoven intended. 

As I stroll around Taipei, and in the streets of other cities and towns, "Für Elise" pours forth. But from where? At first I thought it was a loud mobile phone announcement or maybe an inducement from a shop or a restaurant. But it's playing on every street, morning, noon and night. Finally I found the source.

Lothal: "Dear Oscar, the Harappan!"

Lothal

State of Gujarat

India

 

March 9, 2007

Dr. Oscar White Muscarella

(Cc: Family and Friends)
Ancient Near East Department
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, New York

Dear Dr. Muscarella,

Oscar, my friend. One of us slipped up!

Was it you? Did you cut the Indus Valley Civilization from the curriculum of your Ancient History course at The City College?

Ranakpur, Dilwara, Palitana and the Dohli: "The Jains"

Palitana

Bhavnagar

Gujarat, India

March 10, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Kem cho,

The green and yellow aluminum beach chair is lashed to a bamboo platform. The platform is then lashed to two long bamboo poles. Here in Palitana this litter, this contraption, is called a dholi.

I sit. Charged camera is at my side, binoculars strung from my neck, cap atop my head, my day-bag loaded with water and sunscreen. I give the signal. In the late morning sun, one on each end of a pole, the four young dholi bearers deftly hoist yours truly aloft for the two hour, four kilometer (2.5 mi) scenic ascent of 3572 steps. Three thousand. Five hundred. Seventy two. Steps. Six hundred meters. Up.

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