Yesterday I did a radio interview with Kevin and Sue McCarthy about my trip to Borneo and Kuala Lumpur. Kevin reminded me of a term that I had forgotten that says a lot about Malaysians. It’s called Hidari Islam, and means their brand of the religion is cloaked with tolerance […]
Yesterday was a perfect summer day….for floating down the Deerfield River. I can always count on my friends Jack and Laura to motivate me to get moving. Either it’s a bike ride, a hike to a new undiscovered forest, or floating down a river–they are my primary motivators to move, […]
I read a WSJ review of a new book about the early days of Fidel Castro and Fulgencio Batista called “Havana Nocturne.” this morning on our sunny deck. The book depicts a wild era of ‘rum, roulette and revolution,’ spiced up by orgies involving future presidents and famous American mobsters. […]
It’s been quite a while since I woke up in my own bed with my familiar cat, Mama, lying next to me. It’s great to be back home and to vault again into my two-ring circus of a job. I did of course do what bosses often do and snuck […]
After twenty plus hours sitting in the back of a plane, I reached the familiar house where I grew up near Princeton NJ late last night. Nat and Val were eager to find out about the trip. What I love about my two parents is that they are always so […]
We took a walk after dinner and came upon a festival, with pulsing rhythmic Arab music flowing from a corner of two streets in the Golden Triangle. It was the Festival Sampah, and the people crowding the stage and dancing wildly were all Arab. The music was hypnotic, the pulsing […]
The Great Hornbill is among the most impressive birds that we saw in Kuala Lumpur’s giant bird park, located in the ‘green lung of the city,’ a series of parks and a giant mosque. Strolling down lanes under a huge green canopy, there were all manner of birds, from owls […]
Tonight about nine I took a stroll down the big boulevard in the Golden Triangle to get a bite. I wanted to get something simple, and continue my tradition of eating native, (cheap). So I strolled down past about four dozen men and some sexy young women waving laminated placards […]
We learned about the patterns that bring different nationalities to Kuala Lumpur from our guide, Sara. Each country seems to prefer their own type of relaxation. Each comes at different times–July and August are Arab times, and February is when Iranian visitors come to KL. The Indian visitors, she said, […]
We’ve just arrived in the Portuguese explorer city of Melaka, on Malaysia’s west coast. This city is famous for the Straits of Mallaca, where pirates lurk, and for being a UNESCO World Heritage Sight. I remember being here in 2006; we even stayed in the same hotel, which is called […]
Sony and I find the women behind these abayas to be both mysterious and frustrating. Mysterious because I keep wondering how they sneeze and how they drink coffee with that thing on…and how do their sunglasses not fall off their noses? At the buffet this morning a woman wearing an […]
You can judge a country by the way they eat…and Malaysia certainly tops my list of culinary wonderlands. It’s just that there are so many choices…and everything, almost, is really good. Ok, last night I did sample a ‘national dessert’ of shaved ice with three different syrups that I left […]