Travel Letters

The Wedding of Moon and Kevin

Honey Inn ***

Nang Rong

Buriram Province

Thailand

June 18, 2006

Dearly Beloved, 

Just thirty minutes before the required moment, the mistress of ceremonies at Moon’s evening wedding reception, my friend Rose asked me to speak on behalf of Kevin Brown, Moon’s new husband.  (Moon and Rose and I have been friends for four years.)

Not unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I cheerfully agreed.

Except for Kevin's sister, Jan (and acknowledging the excellent English of Peter from Austria and his Indonesian wife, Norma, and a couple from Belgium) I am the only other native English-speaking Westerner at this gathering of one hundred and fifty Thai-speaking guests of all ages.

Rose provided simultaneous translation.

So, here, slightly enhanced, is what I said:

“Normally the Best Man is a loyal friend who has known the groom for a long time.  Now, I have known Kevin for a very long time – almost twenty-four hours.

Kuala Lumpur: "R x T = D"

Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

July 7, 2006

Dear Family and Friends, 

Selamat pagi. Good Morning.

Did you know that the lift at the Menara Kuala Lumpur travels at an ear-popping rate of 276m in 58 seconds?

The lift at the Manara Kembar Petronas travels at the rate of 5m per second.

So, can anyone tell me the kph for each lift? How about mph? Don't ask me! I was an English major, remember?

{C}

Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar, Perak Tong, Kota Bharu: "Loosen Up? My Good Luck"

Ipoh

Malaysia

July 13 2006

Dear Family and Friends, 

I am up before dawn and in the dark I leave behind one of my favorite shirts drying on the line at the Sunset View Chalet. The ferry leaves for Lumut at sunrise.

Ipoh! Ipoh! Announces the driver of the red Roadway bas as we depart the stesen bas at 07:30.

At one point during the two-hour ride to Ipoh, through small towns and villages, stopping here and there for local school children and shoppers, I call the Hotel Excelsior!!!

Yes. I sprung for a HotLink Malaysian SIM card.

Loosening up a bit more, I check into a top-of-the-line mid-range hotel and head out for my stroll of the city.

Pulau Perhentian: "Loosen Up? My Bad Luck"

July 15 2006

TO: Resident Manager

Perhentian Island Resort

Pulau Perhentian

Malaysia

 

Dear Sir:

I know that in Southeast Asia it is considered outrageously insulting in the extreme to raise one's voice in anger. I know that it is considered quite rude to complain.

So, instead I am writing you this letter to tell you about my "bad luck."

{C}

Chiang Mai: "Royal Flora Ratchapreuk"

Chiang Mai, Thailand

November 7, 2006

Dear Family and Friends, 

As a Native New Yorker, I freely admit I knew next to nothing about my native plants. I remember the green hedge at the entrance to my apartment building on Anderson Avenue in The Bronx. Tall leafy trees lined and shaded the next street, aptly named, Woodycrest Avenue. In my old neighborhood, a few empty, rocky, hilly lots sustained some weeds and scrawny trees that survived, I know not how.

The Maya - Xunantunich, Caracol

San Ignacio

Belize, C.A.

January 4, 2007

 

Dear Family and Friends,

I am sitting on the shaded breezy terrace of the Running W. Steakhouse & Restaurant at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, up the steep hill from the town of San Ignacio in western Belize. I enjoy the buffet breakfast of orange juice, freshly scrambled eggs, Johnny cakes (flour, yeast, salt, slightly hard), Creole buns (slightly sweet with cinnamon), watermelon, papaya and robust Belizean coffee. The staff is friendly and attentive.

Beyond the railing of the balcony are green treetops of the surrounding jungle. Indeed, the tag line of the hotel brochure reads, "The only jungle in town."  A few birds flit about and on a ledge just below my table.  Wish Will, the hotel´s mascot suns himself under the cloudless Centro American sky.

For his breakfast, Wish Will gulps a few large chunks of ripe papaya. Didn't his mother teach him to chew before swallowing? Wish Will of course is a three foot (1m) spiny iguana who along with his family and friends lives here comp at the hotel.

Below and to my right is an all-weather tennis court (in this heat?). To my left, a cool blue swimming pool and chaise lounges and the traditional Belizean Rest-stop - two, red, cloth hammocks that await my tired Belizean buns after five days of non-stop travel.

Stanley, my favorite taxi driver in Cayo takes me seven miles out of town to the ancient city of Xunantunich (soo-nahn-too-neech). First we must take a little ferry across the river. One car at a time. The ferryman hand cranks a steel cable that stretches from bank to bank. A long spiny orange iguana makes his way from a tree above to the river bank.

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