Hong Kong 香港
Special Administrative Region
April 13, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Their answers were always the same.
Whenever I asked other tourists what they liked best about Hong Kong, they responded heartily:
"Hong Kong is safe and clean. Transportation is excellent. Service is efficient. Shopping is supreme. The streets are buzzing. The food is good. The sights are impressive."
As one Aussie couple explained, "Hong Kong is lovely."
Vientiane, Laos
January 12-16, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Sabai Dee,
Here's a good one:
"The reason I didn't recognize you, Jan, is because when we met six years ago, you were fat. Now you are slim and younger looking."
So said my friend Kia, a lovely Laotian woman, who with her husband Wisai, runs a small restaurant in Vientiane.
So what am I doing in Vientiane?
{C}
Medellín
Antioquia Department
Republic of Colombia
November 18, 2008,
Dear Family and Friends,
Now here's a unique travel adventure:
My Avianca flight from Cartegena to Medellín left on time at 08:00. Ten minutes into the flight the pilot made an announcement. Since my Spanish is improving day by day, little by little, poco a poco, I understood the pilot to say that the airplane had a technical problem and we had to return to Cartegena. We made a sweeping 180 degree turn and in a few minutes we were on the ground.
The gate agent estimated that our waiting time would be about an hour, mas or menos (more or less). "Mas or menos" I figured out is the Spanish equivalent of the Arabic "Inshallah."
Jaipur, Rajasthan
India
February 23, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
Noise and dust pierce the senses. Construction cranes pierce the sky. Jaipur is crowded. Jaipur is "developing."
My gracious hosts at the Govind Niwas Guest House, Admiral and Mrs. Madhvendra Singh recall earlier days when in the evening they would relax on their veranda or in the spacious garden in front of their home
Now, the avenue is just too busy. My friends are resigned to the inevitable yet they continue to enjoy the beauty of their city.
How many travelers have I met who focus only on Jaipur, dusty and "developing?" Like my hosts, I seek out Jaipur, pink and attractive and "developed."
Amber
Rajasthan,
India
February 23, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
It just keeps getting better!
"The magnificent delicate-pink, fort palace of Amber (pronounced Amer), a beautiful, ethereal example of Rajput architecture, rises from a rocky mountainside about 11km north of Jaipur." [*]
As Adit and I drive into Amber, the walls and the towers, more golden than pink, sit high and imposing on the mountains to my left.
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.
