Bogor
West Java
May 14, 2005
Salamat Malam,
Years ago, in Boston, my colleague Paul used a favorite expression when I made an error in judgment. With a smile, and a slightly affected tone, he would pronounce, "Well...That... Was... Stuuuuupid."
Bandung
West Java
May 17, 2005
Salamat Malam,
At 7:00pm, the North Sea Bar was dead. Except for Evert, a smiling Dutchman, 54, enjoying his tall green Heineken.
Evert has a business in Holland and lives with his twenty-seven year old girlfriend in Bandung. Soon to be married. (Where have I heard that one before?)
We chatted for an hour; I ordered some chicken fried rice. He asked me if I would like to meet his girlfriend's girlfriend. Era arrived quickly. And quickly we decided that we were compatible.
We decided that the next day we would hire a taxi for a drive to Tangkuban Prahu - The "Overturned Volcano" crater 30km north of Bandung.
Bandung West Java
Indonesia
May 18, 2005
Loyal Family
Esteemed Friends
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In 1955, for one week in April, Indonesia hosted the Asian-African Conference in Bandung. It was the "first intercontinental gathering of coloured peoples in the history of mankind."
Yogyakarta
Central Java
May 22, 2005
Dear Family and Friends,
I had to leave Bandung. I wanted to stay a day or two longer. I was enjoying the sights and my new friends. But my chest was heaving, my eyeballs burning, my whole system in rebellion. The pollution so intense.
FORGET PHUKET...WELL, NOT YET….
Phuket
Thailand
June 7, 2006
Dear Family and Friends,
I am standing on the upper deck of the 27 meter motor craft “Kong Tong” – Golden Mountain – as the young deck hands weigh anchor from the bottom of Phang Nga Bay.
Jaipur to Bikaner
Rajasthan, India
February 24, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
The phrase "Horn Please" is emblazoned in huge, colorful and artistic boldfaced letters on the rear end of every powerful, solid, steel-framed intercity truck. Or "Sound Horn" appears. Or "Blow Horn." My favorite is "Blow Horn." India is a nation of one billion horn blowers.
It is good form. Everyone is encouraged to sound his horn to alert the truck driver ahead that his rig is about to be overtaken. And, (and this is a big "and") every driver of every type of vehicle alerts everyone else of his presence and his insistence to proceed unimpeded according to some preordained universal master transport plan known only to himself.
