12/29/01 bogor, indonesia so what's it really like being here in west java amidst thousands of brown-skinned, ramadhan-celebrating indonesian muslims - deep in the thick of "kebun raya", the incredible jungle botanical gardens of bogor? where i'm the only white skinned "boulay" (honkie) for miles and acres of picnic-loving, holiday humanity whose denizens call out "hello" and "hey mister", practicing their pidgin english on the only local strolling monkey in the park - moi? well, it's -- strange. sort of like - maybe - being the only black sitting
Java, 2001, santa’s surprise – ja-vaaaaaa
december 18, 2001 bandung, indonesia selamat pagi, teman teman (good morning, friends) c'est moi, your trouble-shooting cock-eyed adventurer. on the island of java! paleolithic home of the original prehensile "java" man. monkeys fucking on the side of the road. dark, sweltering green jungle canopies making even day time into a deep-shadowed jungle adventure. brilliant torrential monsoon rains - for hours on end - drenching and nurturing endless rain forests of aboriginal indonesian paradise. hell, i thought i bought a ticket for a nice tame,
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 1, into the asiatic void: bangkok
into the asiatic void: bangkok may 10, 2000 hola amgios, c'est moi, your ever-adventuring gringo travel fiend. i'm on another two month see-the-world-before-you-die discovery trek --- this time to southeast asia. i left for bangkok on may 7th, and i have a "flexible" return ticket for july 7th. i hope to see cambodia, vietnam, laos, thailand, malaysia, and maybe even bali. having never ventured to asia, it feels like a big cultural departure - and psychic immersion - to the east -- hopefully in a good way. i'm really looking forward to it. leaving my isolated LA routine for the great
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 2, whoa! cambodia
5/15/2000 greetings, compadres-- from along the road to --- cambodia. just arrived in phnom penh, captital of the country. definitely third (or fourth) world - but still reeking of french provincialism, at least along the mekong river where el mario and i are staying for 20 bucks a night with a 5th floor window view, air con, tv, and a phone. in other words - the place is poor - where a dollar can buy you an hour "moto" ride - or half a deliciously authentic cambodian meal of fried noodles, freshly-cooked vegetables, and beef. where roads are pave
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 3, oy vay, vietnam!
may 21, 2000 greetings brothers and sisters of the revolution i am now in dalat. vietnam. never heard of it? but biensur, it is the cool-air, mountain-high resort of the country that flies its red flag with yellow communist star over its plush jungle green, red blood-stained history. all the honeymooners and well-to-do party members come here to play... with their stylish, french-built country homes, sitting above le lac, now buzzing with motorbikes and the omnipresent sleazy tourist trade. good morning............. vietnam. what am i doing here?
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 4, easy riding the ho chi min trail
easy riding the ho chi min trail may 28, 2000 greetings comrades, i have been thinking of you all. some of you have gotten quite prolific, creative, and dare i say, verbose (2 sentences from doug warhit! 2 pages of questions from jack slater [answers forthcoming]). thank you. know that i have a shit-eating smile on my face picking up my mail in these small, sweltering vietnamese concrete establishments, thinking of you sipping your ice lemon tea on the patio or selling off another few shares on the nasdaq. i'll bet you didn't know exactly how much you could fit on the back of
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 5, geckos on the wall
geckos on the wall almost june, 5/31/2000 hue, vietnam geckos on the wall. little spiny green lizards climbing up the cracked white plaster wall. into your brain. from the run-down hotel across the street from "apocalypse now", the supposedly trendy, but now empty, nightclub in downtown hue - the laid back coastal town with the sprawling, but also empty, gray sandy beach. why empty? because the hue locals go only after work - to the beach that is, around dusk - to avoid the sun. don't want their skin any darker, don't you know? but no tourists there either. not the nightclu
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 6, destination for the new millenium
good, morning, vietnam "hello!" shouted from the roadside, by children, teenagers, women, men, solicitors, beggars, poets, cons.... "hello". "hello." shouted back by the gringo american touristo poetcon. up with the sun and the roosters this morning. 5 a.m. tooling around on my moto out in the luscious countryside. realized my idea of a perfect moment is not stillness - a caught moment of perfection - but movement -moving out and through the open, on a country road - in a rental car in southern chateaux-laced france - or in rainy, sheep-laden, green-rolling scotland. or perhaps up or down t
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 7, hustled & hassled in hanoi
june 10, 2000 hanoi, vietnam hail, hail, my stalwart cadres, i'm emerging from a cave, as i celebrate my one month travel anniversary - - out on catba island, one of the three thousand spawn of vietnam's great protective mother dragon, who has populated emerald green halong bay, in the extreme northeast of this reverse-of-california-shaped country, with a marvel of mineral-rich and spirit-carved islands whose caves and grottoes, swooped and tunneled by the sea and the wind, give the misty boat tour here a feeling of other-worldly
South East Asia, 2000, chapter 8, addendum
june 12 vientiane, laos well, i made it. i'm out of nasty/gnarly 'nam. but not before i saw the national one ring russian-style circus the night before - with trained bears, dogs, monkeys, & elephants. i got the best seats under the communist red bigtop from the circus director himself - after i introduced myself and told him in cumeezi sign language (since his english was more wishful than actual) - that i used to be a clown too. and - he gave me the phone number of his twenty three year old daughter, who has the same birthday as my father!,