Miami, Florida

June 5, 2003

Dear Family and Friends,

Do you remember that optimistic quotation from MAD Magazine? "What, Me Worry?” Like Alfred E. Newman, it is my mantra for this summer.

I will not be cowed by bio-medical acronyms.

My spirit will not be tainted by that puerile color wheel emanating from the offices of Shrub’s henchmen in Washington.

Instead, I shall journey on to admire the lovely hues the world provides.

June 19, 2003

Bangkok

Thailand

Dear Family and Friends,

I have a buddy in Miami who has a very short attention span. He doesn't like my long-winded travel letters. He says he "skims" them but actually I don't think he reads them at all. He doesn't even share them with his wife.

June 24, 2002

Thailand

Sawadee krap,
Hello Everyone,

Greetings from the “Land of Smiles.”

I arrived uneventfully in Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon. The trip, door to door, was thirty-three hours. That includes the three times I had to remove my shoes for inspection at Miami International Airport. (What price security?)

Hua Hin

Thailand

July 16, 2002

After Angkor Wat I flew back to Bangkok. I strolled through a large park in the center of the city and practiced my Tai Chi with a Chinese master. I went to the zoo.

I attended Friday evening prayers at the ornate Wat Suthat. A huge gold Buddha and mysterious chanting.

Miami, Florida August 19, 2002 Wherever I travel, an unexpected emotional moment may arise - an encounter with someone or something that can move me to tears of happiness. West of Bangkok, in Nakhon Pathom, I was wandering around a very large market place. Everyone stares since I am the only farang (foreigner) around.