What I have to show and tell here is limited, I know. A day or two in a country, with selected excursions, does not make me an expert. So, what I hope I’m doing here is sharing my limited experience. I do want to point out, though, that in each country our hosts were proud to show the best of their homeland.
During our two days in Thailand, visiting Bangkok, our hosts clearly enjoyed creating fun for us as well as showing us three impressive Wats, sacred sites for Buddhists. If you’d like to google them, we visited Wat Ratchanadda, Wat Suthat, and Wat Po. At the latter site there was a record breaking reclining Buddha – so huge the building that housed it was built around it. So large my camera couldn’t get a photo. To tell the truth, it took a visit to Asia for me to learn that the Buddha is portrayed in many positions. It is not an effort to reproduce his appearance, but a reflection of the feeling, spirituality inspired by the Buddha.
I didn’t get very good Buddha photos here, but I am including one that isn’t too bad.
I’m also including a photo of the Wat of one of the King’s brothers. (OK. I confess, I don’t know who the king was, but I was interested that he loved the Chinese porcelain so much that he even used the broken pieces to help decorate the Wat.
The most “fun” thing the first day was a TukTuk ride – so called because that’s what they sound like.
I did manage to get a decent photo of Bangkok’s appearance around the metal palace. (You might like to google that too.)
The second day we saw a 45 minute cultural show in a large theater. That was before I realized that my camera (probably five years in my possession) took movies. That wouldn’t have helped with filming the show, however, even if I had realized it. It was too dark. The best I got was a photo of the back ends of the crowds seated on benches to watch the show. Definitely not interesting enough to share.
But I do have photos of the elephant show that followed, as well as the ceramic garden we visited afterwards. First, the elephant show — the opening parade.
And take a look at the banner on today’s post. People lying on the ground so the elephants can step over them. It was clear the audience knew the routine, because when the time came they ran out to put themselves in position to be stepped over. Also, there were those who volunteered to be picked up and carried in the elephant’s trunk. I didn’t include a photo of that here.
But I am including one of the many photos I took in the ceramic garden.
I hope that showing these photos conveys the sense of pride and fun our hosts displayed. The trip was feeling like much more than a view of tourist attractions. I was — and am — filled with the warmth of contact with wonderful people. And guides who spoke amazingly good English — mostly American English.
The writers rule is “Show;don’t tell.” That’s what I’ll try to do here. I’m sure you will see immediately what a change there is from Singapore to Thailand. Still tropical, but otherwise … well, just take a look.
What we experienced depended, of course, on what excursion we had chosen to buy, but the impression remains that here, as in our subsequent stops, folks were anxious to show the best of what they had. Here’s a sampler, beginning with the header. Yes, coconuts actually look like little faces. It’s my understanding that the white nose is the embryo, protected by the shell.
Enroute to see the harvesting of coconuts, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand where our guide demonstrated a number of fruits that were unfamiliar to me, but some in our group recognized several.
The first stop after that was a coconut plantation where we watched a monkey working at harvesting. They actually go to school — along with their owners — for training in efficient removal of coconuts from the tree. Removal? They literally throw them down. Here I have an owner holding the restraining rope as his monkey starts his climb to work.
Still in the coconut frame of mind, we visited one of the many fresh food markets we would see until we hit the big cities again.
As we had seen in the Buddhist/Tau temple, we saw a neighborhood of Buddhists and Muslims living side by side.
That’s where we saw the grandparent’s houses built by Buddhist families to honor their dead ancestors. This is a particularly classy one that has recently been supplied with gifts to the departed.
And finally – the gold-leafed sitting Buddha. You may already know that shoes must be removed before entering the temple.
I am anxious to share with you my impressions and not-so-professional photos from this amazing, broadening, heart-warming, one-month trip.
It was a trip through the degrees of recovery from colonialism, civil war, international conflict — the destruction of which human beings are horrifyingly capable. Throughout, it was clear to me that there are no exotic people — only folks like us who have been through lives we can only imagine. And the courage of working to restore devastated countries.
Please, please, don’t cause them any more pain.
I’m sure our view was limited by the fact that we were on paid excursions of our choice. I know that tourists see a different Washington DC than the people who live there, for example. Within that limit, what stood out was the eagerness to show us the best they had.
So, let’s start with Singapore. We spent two nights there before departing for the cruise away from the equator. We were tourists taking delight in a beautiful city-state, unblemished by civil war as the British peacefully left their heritage behind.
Here was the beginning of the Buddhist atmosphere. As in locations we visited later, we found here a close cooperation between religions, as in the temple share by Tauism and Buddhism.
Here was a modern, affluent community, as viewed from Faber Mountain.
Our hotel, the Fairmont, was luxurious, with delightful people in the dining room. As we left, we were each gifted with our favorite hotel brand tea by people who had quickly learned our names.
Exiting the restaurant led us into access to the shopping mall with its many opulent stores.
Finally, the photo at the top reveals the Singapore Flyer, claimed to be the largest ferris wheel in the world, and. to the right, the ArtScience Museum where, among other things, we took a brief course on early photographic methods, bringing home a souvenir attempt of our own.
Comfort, opulence, and appreciation of air conditioning, being practically on the equator.
Things looked different at our next stop.
p.s., I can’t figure out how to remove the reference to Ireland at the top. Any helpers out there?
As you may have guessed, or knew, I’ve been out of the country for the month of February. An amazingly fabulous experience. Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, Bangkok, China, Japan ..
I plan to share photos and comments with you. And no, this is not a photo of my means of travel — just an excursion.
People are wonderful! There are no exotic people — just delightful folks met casually or with more intention. My view of the world is so much fuller.
But for now, I’m just proud of myself that I managed to get this posting up. Actually, no jet lag, but oh my! What does accumulate. And it seems that all my electronics took my absence personally and decided to break down.
It was worth it! I’ll be back with more words and photos.
The Chinese have just spent three days celebrating the New Year. A time to review, revaluate, and start over with new hope. What a great idea. Let’s all choose to celebrate a new year now, or whenever we want.
I may not be blogging very much for a while. My time is taken up with lots of other stuff these days. One big thing is working with TM Publishing to complete the editing of the former “Mrs. Job.” As I’ve said before, people pronounce “Job” as if it has to do with paid employment and that is clearly misleading. So we’re looking for another title and cover illustration.
Once we get all this relationship counseling taken care of, I’ll be offering the original “Mrs. Job” at a reduced price.
In the meantime, if you have read “Mrs. Job,” you might be willing to put out a few suggestions for title change (and cover.) (Anything that doesn’t have “Job” in it.) The publisher has offered the following suggestions.
Some questions to prompt the brainstorming process:
What is the core idea of the book?
What is the primary emotional experience you want a reader to have while reading or by reading the book?
What phrases, images, or emotions from the book resonate most strongly with that idea?
What prompts the protagonist’s story arc? Why does the character who changes the most in the book, change?
What symbols and images connect to that cause?
What feelings does the point of view character experience throughout the story?
Does the reader share these feelings? If so, what feelings should the reader experience?
What symbols or images related to the story would evoke that feeling?
These are some of the things we discuss as a company when creating a title and cover. They are just a starting point; hopefully, putting the answers to these questions into words will spark other ideas.
My daughter pointed this out today. Challenging — even a bit scary — but so important. An excerpt from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt.http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html
In conversation with friends, my granddaughter, an historical interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, described the question she asks people on the tour she leads at the palace. Who was the last governor to inhabit the palace? If no one answers she gives a clue. “He’s a well-known historical figure with red hair.” If still no one answers, she gives another clue. “He wrote the Declaration of Independence.”
Getting the answer, one friend averred “I don’t really care what color hair he had.”
Here’s my reaction. I think it’s very important to know what color hair he had. Why? Because we learned in school, and in the years following, to see our founding fathers as icons, fixed images of wisdom and unchangeable truths. It follows that we adhere to them as if they are not to be challenged.
That’s not the truth. These were real men, courageously working together to break away from old restraints and establish a new society. They worked, argued, fought, and compromised within the limits of their own experience. The Declaration of Independence was a work in progress, on which they finally decided to agree and get on with it.
Why is it important that Jefferson had red hair? Because it describes him as a living, imperfect human being who needed haircuts. The danger in sealing the arguments of our founders as if they were fixed, unchangeable, perfect-for-all-time pronouncements is to deny the very treasure they left us with… the flexibility and freedom to move and change with the demands of the time and the people who populate it.
In appreciation of Martin Luther King on his day.
We were on the wrong bus — went to the wrong place — didn’t have the excursion we signed up for. But sometimes mistakes can lead to pleasant surprises, like the Australian Gannets we saw when we unknowingly joined the birdwatchers.
I guess the lesson is: Be Prepared For Unanticipated Treasures.
The new header is Holland America’s Oosterdam. Definitely not the best photo, but I’m going to leave it for now. I’m still having trouble mastering the header thing.
Still reporting on the Australia/New Zealand trip, I want to tell you about one of our favorite things in New Zealand – the Taieri Gorge Railway. The train was waiting for us right on the dock at Dunedin, initially named New Edinburgh, later re-Christened Dunedin, the old Celtic name for New Edinburgh.
Our hosts were volunteers enthusiastic about old railway cars and routes. Seated at tables, we were served light refreshments as we traveled hills and gorges, over bridges built specifically for this revitalized train. Occasionally we paused at old station stops, greeted by people selling mostly home crafted wares.
I found it hard to imagine how they made it there in their in their vans, but I was told there were roads through the mountains. Chatting with one woman I realized what an ideal life it was for a craftsperson who liked isolation.
Doug – the real photographer – spent his time on the platform between cars, getting some fabulous shots, while I hung out inside, chatting with the folks from Rhode Island who shared our table.
I would have bought a gorgeous hand knit scarf, but the seller took only New Zealand cash, and I survived the whole time there without acquiring any local money. Credit cards and even dollars got me through.
Anyway, I’m including here a couple of my photos from the trip. Strongly recommended journey!
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