Calcutta: The City of Joy

Market Near Howrah Bridge, Kolkata

Dear family and friends,

Calcutta. Kolkata. Once called ‘The Jewel in the Crown' of the British Raj, whatever it is called, this city is a seething mass of 14 million people; an unimaginable 33,000 people per square kilometre in the city center, the overwhelming numbers of whom are struggling just to live. I suspect there is nothing that could prepare one for the first onslaught of sights, smells, and sounds of Calcutta. Even by the standards of other cities in India, the realities of Calcutta are guaranteed to take your breath away. I know that having been to India before did not quite prepare me. The squalor, the smells, the poverty, the misery, people by the hundreds sleeping in the streets, beggars, noise, and chaos are like no other place I have been. My first thoughts are 'What the hell am I doing here'? But surprisingly the initial horror is soon replaced by a kind of fascination about how all this works.

Thailand: The Land of Smiles

Street Food Stall Smiles

Dear family and friends,

Thailand is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South East Asia. Tourism was jump started in the 1960's during the American-Vietnam War. At that time, the US built a number of bases here, and now millions of tourists and travelers come here every year attracted by great beaches, delicious food, countless beautiful Buddhist Temples (Wats), all wrapped up in an exotic and historical culture.

Thailand is known as the Land of Smiles. There can be little doubt as to why. Every meeting, greeting, or leaving is an occasion for a big smile, often accompanied with the familiar palms-together, up-under-the chin, ‘wai’ sign. This genuine cheerfulness is said to have its roots in three Thai concepts, naa (face), sanuk (fun), and phuu yai - phuu nawy (big person - little person).

What the devil is happening in Tasmania?

Dear Family and Friends,

What the devil is happening in Tasmania you asked? Well, to begin with, Errol Flynn, Hollywood Idol of thirties, forties, and fifties is still commemorated in a small restaurant in Hobart where he was born. And Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, also born in Hobart, is revered. In a country that has sought to throw off the vestiges of the British Crown, Mary, their home grown Royal, has captivated them. Somehow Princess Mary came up in a conversation we had with a local young lady (I think because Mary just gave birth to an heir to the Danish throne). When we asked who she was, the woman was honestly flabbergasted. She truly thought we were kidding her, having her on.

Bridestove Estate Lavender Farm

Papua - Stone clubs to karaoke clubs

Dear family and friends,

Steam was rising from the fifteen fire pits, each about 8 feet across, filling the air with cooking smells. They were not necessarily the normal cooking smells I am used to; rather it was a bit like steamed spinach mingled with the smell of boiled wieners, too long in the pot. Some 1,500 to 2,000 of the locals were sitting around, eagerly awaiting the opening of the pits.

Kopi Luwak

Dear family and friends,

I don’t think there is anything that we associate more closely to Indonesia than coffee. We even call our coffee java, for crying out loud. Quite beyond the beans we get from Java, most of us now look for coffee from other parts of Indonesia, including Sulawesi, Sumatra, and Bali, even Papua. I know coffee originated in Africa, and it is hard to beat Central or South American beans, but where would we be without Indonesian coffee? Today, names such as Sumatra Mandheling, Sulawesi Kalossi, Java Jampit, drip off the tongue of true coffee cognoscenti as easily as most might say “Nabob regular grind”.

 

What's Sumatra With You?

What's Sumatra With You? 

"The Wild One" at Lake Maninjau

Dear family and friends,

And so I carry on, from New Zealand, it was on to Malaysia, first Kuala Lumpur, and then Melaka (Malacca). There is little to be said about Kuala Lumpur other than it is just a great big, hot and polluted city. Melaka on the south west coast of Malaysia is much smaller and a lot easier to take. I spent about three days in each city, and as always, the noise, clamour, traffic, heat, and smells of Asian cities are a shock to my senses. Durians are being sold and eaten everywhere, and the pungent, slightly sweet, rotting smell of this popular fruit competes so well with the smell of open sewers. It’s great to back in SE Asia!