Wadi Musa
Petra:
Candidate for "Wonder of the World"
H.K. of Jordan

May 31, 2007

Salaam Aleycum,

It's 9:00 pm here in the dusty Bedouin Village in the dark hills outside Petra.  We just finished tea together and I am saying a final goodbye to my friend Manal.  We are shaking hands.  She is so sweet I want to give her a hug, but that's completely inappropriate.  Even a handshake is quite bold for a young Bedouin woman who covers her head and wears  full length clothing.  Woman?  I should say, girl.  Manal is seventeen, but "going on thirty-seven."

Ajlun

Ajlun Governate
The H.K. of Jordan

June 2, 2007
Dear Family and Friends,

I am standing on a terrace perched on a steep hillside in the north of Jordan. The view is historic.

Below and to the west and south is the fertile and green historic Jordan Valley.

Beyond the tomato farms, olive trees and apricot orchards lies the historic Jordan River. Across the river lie the Palestinian Territories, Israeli Settlements, military roads and "no-man's land."

Cairo

Arab Republic of Egypt
June 10, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

The ferry across the Gulf of Aqaba left three hours late ("we have to load the ferry"). But the ride is splendid. I have to pinch myself: To the port side are the hilly brown barren coastlines of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. To starboard is the hilly brown barren coastline of Egypt, North Africa! And, I check my map to learn that the Gulf of Aqaba is the northernmost section of The Red Sea. The Red Sea!!

Beijing

China

January 8, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

“The rich are different from you and me.” They have homes and compounds in Palm Beach or Palm Springs, or Beverly Hills or Pocantico Hills, on Cape Cod or Cape May, or in Oyster Bay or South Hampton on Long Island.

Royalty are very different. HRH the King of Thailand owns a palace on the seashore and one in the mountains as well one in the capital. South of Thailand, the Sultans of Malaysia collect Rolls Royce motorcars. And the Maharajas of India? Do they collect everything?

Drawn by the curiosity of a bourgeoisie, I eschew the public bus of the hoi polloi and engage a driver and automobile for an excursion to the imperial retreat of “my betters” in Beijing: The Summer Palace of the Emperors of China.

And today I am alone. I am the sovereign of my day.

Harbin

China
January, 11 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

"Oh, my goodness!"

The airplane from Beijing descends through the clouds towards the Harbin airport. I stare at the landscape below and I think, "Oh, my goodness!" Actually, "Oh, my goodness" is not the exact phrase that comes to mind. "Holy cow" is a little closer but still not 100% accurate.

Deserted roads and snow-covered farms spread out everywhere like an Amish quilt that landed in a vat of bleach. Smoke from a tall smokestack rises in a disturbing pattern; it blows horizontally.

"Be happy where you are, Jan. What did you expect? Tropical waves washing up against white sand? Coconut palms, maybe, swaying in a light breeze? You are in Harbin for the Ice Lantern Festival. Harbin. 45 degrees North Latitude. North of Vladivostok and halfway to the North Pole. Ice, Jan, ice. Think ice."

Xi`an
Shaanxi Province
China
January 16, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Whenever I tell my Chinese friends I am going to Xi`an, they always respond with, "Jan, you are going to an ancient city."

It is difficult to imagine that modern Xi`an, with a population of more than three million, is an ancient city. Yet, ancient it is.