Travel Letters

Chanthaburi: "The Rabbit in the Moon"

Posted December 24, 2010 by Jan
Thailand: Southeast

Bangkok

Thailand

December 20, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

(Have any of you lunatics conjured up the connection between Chanthaburi and bunny rabbits?)

Across the waters of the Gulf of Siam, about a forty minute ferry ride from Koh Chang, lies the city of Trat.  North of Trat is the city of Chanthaburi. 

In Chanthaburi I took my usual stroll, but this time I had a destination in mind - the Holy Mary Catholic Church. The largest Catholic Church in Thailand was built by the French during their occupation of Trat and Chanthaburi Provinces from 1893 to 1905.  This area borders Cambodia - part of colonial French Indochina.

Bangkok: March Visitors

Posted March 26, 2011 by admin
Thailand: Bangkok

Bangkok
Thailand

26 March 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

March has been my own mad month - of visits and visitors: Ngoc Vi and Thao My; Moon and Kevin; Mai and Mark; Luisa and Dolly; DeeDee and Richard.

Ngoc Vi came to Thailand on a four-day tour with her daughter Thao My. They live near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

I met Ngoc Vi seven years ago near the cathedral in HCMC (Saigon). After a brief chat, she invited me to her sister's wedding the next day.

Ngoc Vi is a specialist in agricultural productivity. She has worked as a consultant to Vietnamese farmers. This year she left her job and is enrolled as a full-time student. She expects to earn a Master's degree in Business Administration.

Thao My is an energetic, talkative, irrepressible four-year-old girl. Her goal was to ride an elephant here in Thailand. She did just that, all alone, according to her mother, at an elephant park south of Bangkok.

Next Stop? The Horn of Africa!

Posted April 4, 2011 by admin
Ethiopia

Bangkok
Thailand

March 29, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

My upcoming departure for the Horn of Africa reminds me of  Haile Selassie and Abebe Bikile and the dramatic events and the enduring personalities of the 1960's.

Who among us can ever forget the sounds and images from late November, 1963: the gunshots in Dallas, the bloodied dress, Walter Cronkite's tears, the murder of the murderer (?), Chopin's music, a boy's salute to the flag covering the coffin of his father, the rider-less horse?
 
Do you remember the funeral procession of John Kennedy - heads of state in a solemn march? Le Président de la République française, Charles de Gaulle at 6'5" (1.96 m) walking beside and towering over the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie at 5'1¾" (1.58 m).

De Gaulle died in his bed in 1970. But Selassie?

The opening sequence of the film "Marathon Man" features the archive footage of a graceful young athlete, on a summer evening in 1960, effortlessly running the 42km (26 mi) Olympic marathon, gliding past the Coliseum and along the darkened, torch lit avenues of Rome, sprinting toward the finish line at the Arch of Constantine. Abebe Bikile became the first black African to win a gold medal at an Olympics event. 

Phanna Dureyavijit (1946 - 2012)

Posted December 24, 2011 by Jan

Nang Rong

Buriram

Thailand

Sunday

December 23, 2012 

My Dear Friends, 

I am sad to report that my friend Phanna Dureyavijit passed away on Thursday, December 20 at her son Kiew’s home in the Isan province of Buriram.  For the past few years, Phanna suffered from the painful and debilitating effects of diabetes.  Kiew told me his mother passed away peacefully in her sleep.  Phanna was 66.   She leaves behind her three sons, her mother, six sisters, and innumerable family members and countless friends.

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