Bangkok
Thailand
July 7, 2008

Dear Friends and Photography Fiends,

Before I left Bangkok for Sumatra , I decided to take a peek, finally, at the Advanced User Guide to my digital camera.

I leafed through the pages and lit upon "Photo Stitch."

I focused on the directions but with only modest comprehension. I also needed to find the disk that came with the camera, two years ago! I found the disk. I loaded the program.

Here's the way it works: you shoot a series of photos of the same wide subject with each shot slightly overlapping the previous shot. Then you import the shots into your computer and the Photo Stitch program performs as you would expect. Your shots are stitched together, seamlessly.

It's a miracle.

Bukhara, Uzbekistan
June 1, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

I love oriental rugs. I grew up with them. My parents had one in the dining room in our apartment in the Bronx. My grandparents also owned a few. Eventually I inherited them all. And I bought more.  Like members of the family, the thick rugs of earth tones and deep red and warm blue were always an important element in the interior of my home.

Did you know that I was a rug salesman in Boston? In one of my late "careers" I worked for Newton Oriental Rugs and Able Carpets. On the job I learned that Americans love a "story" and I was good at story-telling. To my attentive customers, I told fabulous tales about each intricate, "unique" hand-made rug imported from some exotic place somewhere. And, could I "hondl" and negotiate!

So when I realized that the city of Bukhara was on my itinerary in Uzbekistan, my first thought was "Bukhara!! That's one of the more popular patterns of oriental rugs."

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

India

February 27, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

India is blessed with ancient stone -- deep deposits of granite and marble and sandstone. For centuries, for millennia, masons, architects, artisans and artists have quarried and designed and cut and carved their local stone to build a dramatic and eternal heritage.

The glossy white marble of Agra, the sparkling pink sandstone of Jaipur, the rich red sandstone of Bikaner -- the geological riches are the pride of India and a prize for her visitors.

And now, Jaisalmer -- a golden city! Jaisalmer, the golden-yellow sandstone walls rise up from the hills to dominate and defy the golden gauntlet of the Thar Desert.

Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat) 

Thailand

December 4, 2004

Dear Family and Friends,

I have had a very happy two weeks.

On 22 November, after departing Bangkok by train at 05:45 I arrive four hours later at Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Khorat.  After a brief nap at the impressive Khorat Hotel ( A/C, TV, king-size bed, huge bathtub -- all for $14.25 per night -- a little expensive for this area),I had a buffet lunch of a variety of chicken and fish dishes and coffee and dessert (watermelon, pineapple, ice cream - not! -- for $2.25 -- also a bit expensive).  I met yet another ex-serviceman and his Asian wife . . . everybody is happy.

After lunch I hired a motorbike taxi and visited three Wats (Buddhist temples) nestled into quiet corners of this otherwise bustling city in the Northeast -- an area called Isaan.

Issan Part 2.

Khao Yai National Park

Thailand

November 25, 2004

Dear Family and Friends,

Yesterday I was in the jungle.

I left the Isaan Plateau and headed southwest to the mountain chain which forms the border between Thailand and Cambodia. 05:15 - 05:30...Motorbike taxi to bus station. 06:00 - 07:00...Bus to Pak Chong. 07:15 - 07:30...Khao Yai Garden Lodge picked me up.