Bukit Lawang
North Sumatra
Indonesia
June 27, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

The Rindu Alam Hotel sits along the banks of the Bohorok River, a rocky, mountain stream that runs into the Batang Sarangan, a river that flows northeast into the Selat Melaka, the Straits of Malacca and the Andaman Sea.

The Bohorok is what you would expect from a jungle-mountain stream -- rough, cold water, lush green hills nearby and a blue-gray sunset that consumes the batteries in my camera.

A victim of the flash flood that tore through here five years ago, the Rindu Alam has newly furnished rooms and many young trees and flowers. But I didn't come here to see the flora. I came for the fauna.

{C}

Berastagi 
North Sumatra
Republic of Indonesia

June 29, 2008

Meine Kinderlein,

In the summertime, when I was a young boy, my parents scooped me off the streets of New York and carted me and my sister Paula up to "the mountains." "The mountains" is how we New Yorkers refer to the Catskill Mountains, a cool two-hour drive north of the hot City.

The mothers and children usually stayed all summer. The women played mahjong and canasta and tended to their family. We children swam, played ball and took short hikes. We put on shows. The big event every day was when the bundle of mail was delivered to the RFD mailbox on the main road. We argued over who would sort the letters and bring them to the families. And once a week, the Krug's Bakery truck showed up. They had the best powdered donuts and crusty blueberry pies you ever tasted. With home made ice cream on top.

The fathers came up from The City on Friday night. Mom was cooking happily and we anxiously-awaiting kids always sang, "Daddy, what did you bring me?" Daddy drove back to work early Monday morning. Much later I learned that the round-trip weekend drive was known affectionately as "the bull run."

In "the mountains" there was a well-established institution known as the "Kukh-aleyns”.  "Kukh-aleyns” literally means to cook alone or to cook for yourself. Here's the way it worked: in a large boarding house, several families had a bedroom room or two upstairs. On the main floor was a spacious, open area with ten or fifteen small kitchens, side by side. Each kitchen had a stove, sink, a refrigerator, some cabinets and a dinette set. Every mother cooked alone for her children, and each family ate separately, but all at the same time in the large and noisy dining room.

I thought that the"Kukh-aleyns”was indigenous and unique to The Catskills. Turns out that the idea is centuries old and practiced until this very day in the Batak villages in the Karo Highlands of North Sumatra.

Pulau Samosir
Danau Toba
Sumatra Utara
Republik Indonesia

June 30, 2008

Dear Jack,

(cc: Friends and Family)

Seven years ago, when I began writing my Travel Letters, I only considered three "E's." I thought I could Entertain my readers with stories from my destinations. I also wanted to Educate myself and others just a little. Finally, I hoped that I would Encourage my family and cautious friends to be more adventurous as they made their own travel plans.

One of the unexpected and wholly positive unintended consequences of my letters is that they have reminded other travelers of their own adventures to exotic and remote locations.

Your response to my Sumatra "Islands and Lakes" letter is the most recent example:

Hong Kong
April 16, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

It's about an hour's ferry ride from Central Ferry Pier to Lantau Island, the largest of all of the Hong Kong islands. The ferry is filled with pilgrims to Tian Tan Buddha.

The impressive Giant Buddha, the world's largest seated outdoor bronze Buddha is 30m (98 ft) tall and weighs 250 tons. To reach the terraces surrounding the Buddha, there's a climb of 260 steps. And the stairs are crowded. Everyone and every group poses for a photo or two. Or three.

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.