THERE’S A BLIZZARD IN NJ, SO I’M OFF TO CALIFORNIA!

February is almost over, and I’m headed for California to see my two sons, Robert and Tom. We’re in the middle of a blizzard, so I couldn’t have picked a better time. 

I’ve been receiving a lot of e-mails from people of all ages, who have read my book and want to relate their adventures to me and their hopes for future journeys. I urge all of you to write in the “Comment” section of this blog, so my readers can enjoy your insights as well. You will be doing us all a favor. 

I do want to share, briefly, the stories of two such adventurers I met recently. A dynamic lady and kindred spirit, Jean Kellogg began traveling at age 52 and is still going strong at 80. In 2004 she went back to college and earned a BA (Phi Beta Kappa) from Drew University, after which she organized a writing class for retired people and was able to persuade Edna Doll, a retired professor of poetry and English at Union County College, to teach it. The emphasis was on memoir and poetry and she was a gentle, but strict taskmaster. Edna had started traveling, extensively, at 70 and continued into her 90’s. Jean traveled more conservatively, but Edna, who died yesterday at age 94, went the backpack route like me. What an inspiration both these women are! 

I like to remember Edna’s words after she went whitewater rafting down the Colorado in her late 80’s.  “Get out and look at the world around you. There is so much to do and see. You don’t have a choice of how and when you die, but you do get a choice in how you live.” And she added for good measure. “I take my life with a grain of salt, a squeeze of lime, and a good shot of tequila.”

 A newspaper headline, in honoring her life stated: After nine decades it never occurred to her to stop. 

I’ve added another link to my latest facebook album. The other four links are in the Jan. 15th blog.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16605&l=aabc1&id=584094331 

 Last Wednesday the taping of my interview for Seeking Solutions With Suzanne, presented by Suzanne Roberts, went well. I urge you to watch the program. It airs every Sunday night at 6 on CN8 here in NJ, and three times a day on CNN Headline News. It’s a very informative program aimed at people over 60, but inspirational to all ages. She has an incredibly varied range of subjects and interviewees. I shall announce the time of my interview as soon as it’s scheduled. 

Here’s the latest report from Lee Compton and Yana Viniko in Myanmar.  

“Mingalaba (greetings)! We head out of Yangon for the bus to Bago. Hope to stay at Dr. Tin’s place near the village in Taungoo [where he trains elephants] tonight if we can make the bus connection on the main road to Mandalay. So far we’ve had no problems. Last night we took a walk over to Shwedagon Paya and noticed that the big monastery next door to the complex was completely dark and ostensibly deserted. There were even a couple of somber soldiers stationed at the entrance. It was creepy, to say the least. We probably won’t know the full extent of what happened here, but it’s safe to say that the remaining monks seem to be keeping their heads down low as far as the authorities are concerned. Let’s keep them in our prayers.

Well, we made it back to Kalaw and have been enjoying ourselves here for
almost a week now—it’s one of the easiest places to hang out in the whole country, I’m convinced! Weather is wonderful—warm, not too hot with a nice breeze to tie it all together. We’ve been doing short day treks around the area from our home base at the Golden Kalaw and here, as elsewhere, there is a dearth of tourists. We practically have the run of the place. Made it up to a cool spot called Viewpoint, a day hike to a fabulous overlook, and then stayed the night at a farm cum homestay run by a Nepalese family. Probably we’ll go to Bagan day after tomorrow, deciding that we’ve had enough interesting trekking around here, and will spend a few days there before flying back to Yangon.”  

You may remember that I took a trek from Kalaw to Naungschwe at Inle Lake last year, staying at a monastery along the way. I’m sure there will be much more information from Yana and Lee once they return to Thailand. You have to be very circumspect when writing from Burma. But it’s wonderful to think of their seeing our old friends and getting a chance to find out, first hand, what the Burmese people are thinking and feeling. I can only imagine. 

The highlight of the opera season for me was a performance last night of The Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera. I have the overture on my cell phone, so you know I love Rossini’s music. But this was one great production with the best Figaro I’ve ever heard, Franco  Vassallo, and the best Rosina, Elina Garanca. Jose Zapata, as Count Almaviva, and the entire cast were superb. It was sheer fun, something we need to counteract the news of the day. 

I mustn’t forget that I also enjoyed Otello last week, with an outstanding performance by Renee Fleming.  

In closing, I’d like to recommend a book I’m enjoying and that really speaks to me: Touching My Father’s Soul, by Jamling Tenzing Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay, who summitted Mt. Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary on the famous 1953 expedition. The author’s climb up Everest in 1996 as the climbing leader in David Breashear’s expedition to make the IMAX film, Everest, was, first of all, a quest to understand his father. But it was also a gripping story that gave voice to the life of the indigenous Sherpa people of the Khumba region, revealing a world that few, even those who made it to the top, have ever seen.

NEWS FROM LAOS, HOT OFF THE WIRE.

You may remember Lee Compton and Yana Viniko, friends from Whidbey Island and Seattle, with whom I spent time in Myanmar last January. They decided to explore Laos this year and return to some of the places Lee had previously visited. Their letters are long and enthusiastic and I’d like to quote some of their observations for you.

“Sabaidee!

Here we are in Vientiane, – great weather and a lot of French tourists, a few Anglos and Allemagnes, though oddly we haven’t seen any Americans. Seems that there’s more traffic, especially motor bikes, though the many more shiny small cars compete with the old lorries and tuk-tuks that seem to reflect a growing affluence. Vientiane, the capitol, is charming, with its former French Indochina overlay. We had an excellent meal last night at a French expat’s bistro with all the trimmings. Cost for both of us was under $20.

 

We cruised the silk markets yesterday, but, sadly, the average quality of goods has declined as noticeably as the shrink-wrapped electronics have increased, thanks to neighbor China’s relentless expansion in growing new demand for consumer goods. They’ve (China-Lao consortium) even torn down part of the old original  ’morning market’ to build a soulless new mall-style building in the name of ‘progress’. If imitation IS the sincerest from of flattery, rest assured that the American dream lives on as one of our most successful exports (sigh). Everything is getting too ‘modern’ for Lee. His disappointment is almost a daily affair.

 

I did have a delicious 1-1/2 hour Lao herbal massage ($8) where this 100 lb gal can turn your limbs to Jello and then, when you’re immobilized, press hot and steamy herbal bundles into your flesh to completely rout any tension that might remain….ahhh. I slept like one of those happy and adored Lao babies you see draped like fashion scarves over their mom’s shoulders.

 

We’re now in slightly smoky, but not too sleepy, Luang Prabang, the second largest city in Laos and a heritage site for old wats (temples) and Buddha images. We’re exploring the Mekong River and enjoying a few days of laze in the haze, a welcome reward after enduring the ten-hour bus trip on the “VIP” bus from Vientiane. [Folks, I know what those bus rides are like. Don’t you believe VIP.] After we came up for air from that adventure we’ve been on a slow ramble about the town with many pleasant interactions among young orange-robed monks, ever-smiling, undemanding merchants, and assorted mellow tourists. Lee says that the place has grown by leaps and bounds in the last two years, having been seriously discovered, as evidenced by the plethora of new buildings, fresh paved roads, and kilometers of charming herringbone brick sidewalks, including an expanded night market that doesn’t quit. 

 

Today we took a long walk across the Nam Kan River via a rickety bridge of bamboo and up the other side where the riverbank sported bright green terrraced rows of the most gorgeous looking vegetables, like spectators on bleachers, watching the rushing water action below…drenched skinny kids throwing wads of river weeds at each other (and any tourist brave enough to join them in play) and those young orange-robed monks floating downstream on old truck tire inner tubes.

Looks as if we will be going back to Myanmar/Burma after all. Getting our visas approved in Vientiane seemed to be a “sign” that we should go. It was so much easier to do here in Laos than in Thailand. We’re somewhat apprehensive, but also eager to find out how things are after the terrible crackdown last Fall. Overall, I have a positive feeling that things will go well.”

 

It has been ten years since I visited Indochina, and at that time things were still pretty rough. You were strongly advised not to travel from Vientiane to Luang Prabang by bus for fear of land mines and bandits. So I flew. But I shall never forget the beauty of the Mekong, the caves I paddled to, or the sunsets over the river. It was a tranquil, friendly country that had suffered a great deal. I suggest you go there soon, while it still has its old charm.

 

I look forward to Yana’s report from Myanmar. I don’t know if there is any internet connection, yet, but I long to know if she made contact with any of the wonderful people we met last year.

 

One last bit of news about Myanmar. Reports are few and far between, but I found this tiny squib in the NY Times on Jan. 18.

 

“The military government’s Press Scrutiny Board ordered the Burmese-language edition of the weekly Myanmar Times not to publish this week for having run an article that was not approved, said Ross Dunkley, the editor-in-chief. The article, from Agence France-Presse, was about the junta’s plans to raise license fees for satellite televisions to almost $800, three times the average yearly income. The current fee is $5.00. The move would prevent most Burmese from seeing news that is not rigidly controlled.”

 

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

In a much lighter vein, I know you’re going to laugh, but I just took down my Christmas tree–and my Santa Claus collection, and the fir boughs that encircle the little wooden orchestra members on my mantel piece, and the carved Norwegian nativity scene. Am I sentimental? You bet! I like this winter season so much that I was very close to heading for Ladakh (on Caroline Martin’s recommendation) this February for a winter trek on the ice of the frozen Zangskar River to several out-of-the-way monasteries in the mountains. Well, actually, everything in Ladakh is out-of-the-way, but this would have been especially isolated. Instead, I’ve elected to go in late April through mid-June, and to make my plans when I get to Leh, the capitol. James Wilson, with whom I traveled in Myanmar, will join me for three weeks of trekking. I’ll be writing more about this in the next month.

 

By the way, if you want to get an idea of where I’ll be, there are maps on www.shantitours.com  This was a difficult decision, time-wise, because I really would have liked to accompany Tamara Blesh, whom I met in India, when she returns this summer. Visit her website at: www.travelinglibrarian.org to see the work she did last summer setting up libraries for the children of Ladakh. She is currently raising money to purchase books in Delhi to distribute to villages off the beaten path, promoting literacy among young people. In order to get to these villages you have to trek in with pack animals and I would love to have gone with her and observed her work. But the summer is for New Hampshire and, this year, the Assiniboine Mountains of British Columbia.

 

Ladakh is a small Buddhist country nestled in northern India between Tibet and Pakistan. It was Lee Compton who first opened my eyes to the region over twenty years ago. Here is a description of the country from the website: http://www.health-inc.org

 

It could be said that Ladakh is a region that never should have supported a human population. Life here has always been difficult: it lies between the main Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, with the Tibetan Plateau bounding it on the east. It is a land of complex geography in the rain shadow of the Himalaya, making it one of the few inhabited high-altitude deserts in the world. Most of the population lives between 3,200 and 3,800m but a few villages and the nomads of eastern Ladakh inhabit lands up to 4,500m. It is bitterly cold during the long, 5-month winters, yet being a desert, it can also see 38°C in summer months.

I’m presently reading a fascinating book, Three Cups of Tea, which starts in the Karakoram range near K2 and deals with Pakistan, a country on Ladakh’s western border, and Greg Mortenson’s project to build schools for poor children in remote areas. It gives a realistic picture of the people of this region and their needs.

 

Theater note: I enjoyed the revival of Harold Pinter’s Homecoming, starring Eve Best. Great ensemble acting. Complicated Play. Catalyst for heated “after play” discussion. Also enjoyed a revival of Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart, directed by Kathleen Turner.

 

HOUSEKEEPING NOTE: I have finally gotten my archives posted by months, as you may have noticed. If you want an old posting, just click on the month. And be sure to click on the title of each posting in order to read the entire entry. You probably already know that. I didn’t, and figured that there are still a few computer neophytes out there like me.

 Next time…more local news and a new facebook album. Check in the previous entry for the links.