Hue, Vietnam
July 29, 2003
Sunny, hot, breezy
I am sitting at the Mai Huong Patisserie, a small sidewalk cafe near an intersection of the main street. I am watching an unending stream of incessantly beeping motorbikes; police officers with whistles stop speeders! I am enjoying my favorite - iced Vietnamese coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Deeelicious.
July 29, 2003
Ha Long Bay
Vietnam
Ha Long Bay is the culmination of my three weeks in Vietnam, the "cross of the t and the dot on the i, the icing on the cake."
Listen.
Sushma and Paawan, newlyweds from Mumbai (Bombay), were with me on the Hanoi city tour. They had reserved a car and driver for the three-hour drive to Ha Long City. They were booked on a luxury yacht for a two-day, one night cruise of Ha Long Bay. They invited me to join them. Cabins were available.
I knew it would be a splurge. I said "yes!"
Aguas Calientes
Jueves, el 20 de Noviembre
Thursday 20 November 2003
Saludos a mi familia y mis amigos,
I am sitting in the central square of Aguas Calientes, a town tucked away in a valley in the Andes. Surrounding the town are steep, straight-to-the-sky green mountains topped with clouds.
I am watching and listening
Day One
Arequipa to Chivay
November 25, 2003
Dear Family and Friends,
Say “Hello” to Enrique, my tour guide, and Felix, my driver.
My small tour group is bound for Chivay and the Colca Canyon, by minivan.
The group consists of a young married couple from Spain, a younger, soon-to-be married couple from Peru, a young man from Japan and a young man from Germany. Yes, as per usual, I am the senior member of the group. “Señor Juan,” if you please.
Just outside the city we stop for some last minute provisions: bottled water, snacks and the WC. We are off to the high plains desert, volcanoes and the famously deep Colca Canyon.
(By the way, it’s a good thing we stopped for some extra water supplies. After about a half hour on the road, we passed another tourist van on the side of the road. The radiator was steaming. So, we poured in our extra drinking water and everyone was happy. No service stations out here, my friends. Just endless, stark, spectacular desert scenery.)
Udon Thani
Thailand
March 8, 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
I got tired of just sitting around at The Honey Inn so after a few days of R&R I hit the road again, this time heading to northeast Thailand.
It was a short but "monumental" ten day trip. Even a little bizarre.
Chaiyaphun. I thought was going to see a silk-weaving village outside of town but in the searing heat and under the penetrating and debilitating sun I lost my patience. (Another couple I met later in the day had the same problem. On the way out of town, on the bus, we saw the sign, facing the "wrong" direction.)
Bangkok, Thailand
March 21, 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
Before departing Miami on my very first trip to Thailand, December, 2001, all my buddies who had already been here unanimously "insisted" I "head directly" to Pattaya, a popular beach resort close to Bangkok.
My guidebook was considerably less enthusiastic, but my friend Jeff, who had been living here for six months, also "insisted." So a little reluctantly and dutifully, I made the two hour bus ride with Jeff as my "orientation counselor."
Let me say this about Pattaya with a certain sensitivity:
Remember the business card from the movie "LA Confidential"? ...
"Whatever you desire."
I spent two fun days there. Jeff and I did what we did. As I stretched out on the beach, I even had an attractive dragon "tattooed" on my left forearm while I sipped a cold Singha. Tattoos also for my friends Nam and Ann.
I wanted to see Thailand, so I left Jeff and friends behind. I flew to Chaing Mai to resume being a tourist. I figured I'd never go back tp Pattaya.
Never say, "Never."
