Mandalay

Myanmar

January 11, 2005

Dear Family and Friends,

Today is a day for a quiet stroll.

After breakfast at the hotel, I stroll over to the main market - three floors of dozens of small stalls selling dry goods and clothing and cosmetics, house wares and electronics.  I buy a small piece of red and gold-threaded floral design fabric to add to my collection. Next I stroll out to the street for a coffee under the clock tower.

Then I stroll towards Strand Street which could only mean the The River. The guidebook says, "There is always something happening there." Mandalay is very spread out so I stroll about half way to the river and hail a tri-shaw.

January  15, 2005

From Yangon I flew north to Heho, purportedly the smallest commercial landing strip in the world; taxi to Nyaungshwe to visit Inle Lake.

Nyaungshwe. A busy little town with several shrines, monasteries and stupas to climb. I chanced upon a workshop - women weaving bamboo mats. And the staff at my hotel were the most hospitable, generous, gentle: "More tea, sir? More tea, sir?" And local food specialties so delicious I dare not describe.

Jakarta

West Java 

May 13, 2005

"Ahoy, there!"

North of Kuta ("Old Batavia" as the Dutch called it), my guidebooks recommended Sunda Kelapa, the old port where dozens of large, wooden, colorful, tall-masted/motorized schooners are moored.

Yichang
Hubei Province
People's Republic of China

June 25, 2010

My Dear Cruise Aficionados,

After the Nile and the Amazon, the Yangtze is the third longest river in the world.

The Yangtze or Chang Jiang is also the longest river in Asia. That really is saying something when you consider that the Yellow River #2 is 5464 km (3395 mi), the Mekong #3 is 4909 km (3035 mi), and the Indus #9 and Brahmaputra #10 are each 2909 km (1808 mi). Numbers 4-8 are rivers in Russia that run from south to north in Siberia and flow into the Arctic Ocean.

The Yangtze rises in the west from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and empties into the East China Sea  The river flows 6300 kilometers (3915 miles) while draining eleven provinces from Qinghai to Shanghai.