Posted: October 2nd, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: Dominican Republic fall--2010 | 1 Comment »
October 2nd, 2010
As I carried bicycle into the Hotel Nuestra Casa de Amor (Our Home of Love) a bird began shreiking full volume.
AYE AYE!
OHHH OHHH!
AYE AYE
OHHH! OHHH!
I stopped at the top of the stairs. One of the three daughters of the family was holding a full-sized raven on her arm, and it was sounding off full blast.
ALLO ALLO!
COMO TAS!
COMO TAS!
The raven may have kissed her...
Estoy bien I answered. Me llamo Jaime I told the raven.
I put my bike down and watched Anita kiss the raven. Then she slowly petted it. I reached out to touch it. It quickly turned at my hand, flashing its red eyes and bit me hard.
OWWWWWW I said in English.
AYE AYE
OHHH OHHH
Si, Anita said. Danny bites.
...but he turned and bit me hard!
I see he does.
I looked around on the upstairs roof and I saw cages and cages of tropical birds. Anita explained that she and her two sisters rescued birds and kept them in cages. They also had homing pigeons that returned from wherever they were released in the Dominican Republic. The parents and the three sisters all lived downstairs. The hotel part was upstairs, very separated from the residence below. It consisted of four rooms in a row. Anita told me that one of the rooms was already rented to a newly wed couple who were both working in town. I took a center room which happened to adjoin their room.
Posted: October 2nd, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: Dominican Republic fall--2010 | 4 Comments »
October 2nd, 2010
Las Terrennas, Dominican Republic
post 1
riding along 150+ kms of beaches
I am cycling the north shore and the mountains of the Dominican Republic on a 3 week trip. This time I did not take my bicycle with me. I have had too much hassle from the airlines with extra fees, broken and missing parts, and completely stolen bicycles from airports to want to deal with it again. I decided to either buy one there, or much better yet, rent one.
I packed ALL my bicycle necessities into one large backpack. It consisted of two panniers, a rear rack, my bike tools, seat, helmet, three changes of clothes, a laptop, and my minimal personal effects. 35 pounds worth. Not bad.
But finding a bicycle in Puerta Plata was difficult. First I landed the day before a national Catholic holiday. So everything would be closed. One has to wonder how there can be any respect left for the Catholic Church here after what the original Catholics did. Just read Bartolome de las Casas accounts of the genocide that wiped out virtually every last Taino Indian within the first 30 years of the conquest. The estimates run to 250,000 or more tortured and murdered. You must ask your how could the remaining Dominicans still believe in such a murderous church. But perhaps it was just Darwinism. The only ones they did not torture and kill were the few remaining believers.
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Posted: April 13th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 2 Comments »
Back in my arms again, my beloved dog Zambo on our farm
I am safely back in the United States, on my farm in Indiana. One of the reasons I am posting this is because several people sent emails to me, worrying about me. They had not read a new posting in a while, and they were worried that something had happened, like, as one person said, whether I was ‘in a Thai jail’. Well, I am not.
I am on my farm, plowing and planting. I have planted 20 hazelnut trees, onions, sunchokes, many greens, potatoes and other root crops. It is still too early for the big three of corn, beans, and squash. We did not get a killing frost this spring, so all the blossoms on my fruit trees will make it. If you look in the background of this picture, you can see a pear and plum tree in full blossom. My problem now is “Where are the bees?” I see none on the trees. I may have to start keeping bees again.
If you look in the background of this picture, you will see a black contraption to the right of me. That is my almost complete solar food dryer. I hope to be using it later this summer.
I will be traveling some more, this summer and winter. If it warrants it, I may blog again.
Best to all of you.
Posted: March 16th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 5 Comments »
Post #32 from SE Asia
From the eastern side of Bangkok, Thailand
March 15th, 2010
Look at these foods.
In every market, in the evening, you find these selections
and this...
whatever direction you turn...
I could have taken 10 more photos like this, at any marketplace
These are from all the just ordinary markets where regular Thais eat daily. You will find this in every town here you visit. This food is as good as any from the best restaurants. The Thais have a food culture here. It appears to me that the poor people eat about as well as the wealthy in Thailand. And Thailand in many ways, is becoming a wealthy country.
Posted: March 16th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 3 Comments »
#31 from SE Asia
Bangkok, Thailand
March 16th, 2010
Arriving back in Bangkok, March 16th, 2010
I rolled back into the same guest house that I left from today, March 16th, at noon. I had left here on January 9th. So it was 65 days on the road. I had no major disasters on the way. A lot of challenges, but they were all solvable.
I was waylaid today twice in the terrible Bangkok traffic by the ‘red’ demonstrators. I had to change my route and weave thru the barricades. Apparently, the protesters shut the city down 2 years ago. I thought about putting my bike in a taxi and being carried in. But a taxi would never have made it thru the demonstrators at all. I had a fine feeling returning today. Before I left, I really was not sure that I ‘had it in me’. It’s a high I am feeling now.
Posted: March 13th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 9 Comments »
#30 from SE Asia
From Eastern Thailand
March 13th, 2010
Warning: This story is gross, without any photos. Read at your own risk.
I have been reluctant to publish this one. Part of me thinks, ‘This is in bad taste.’ Another part of me thinks, ‘Dwight, you have been in bad taste your whole life, so why change now? Go for it.’
Let me tell you a few things that were NOT the grossest things on this trip.
1. Watching people in NE Thailand eat 4″ long deep-fried water bugs.
2. Returning to my hotel in Hanoi after an evening of beer-drinking with an Aussie professor and I stumble down an alley to see some men barbecuing a puppy on a skewer. (hard to believe that this would not be the grossest)
Before I go any further, I am going to quote Jack Nicholson. He said that there are 3 rules that old men should abide by:
1. Always show your kids and grandkids that you love them.
2. Never pass up a bathroom
3. Never waste an erection
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Posted: March 12th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 5 Comments »
Post #29 from SE Asia
March 10th, 2010
Siem Reap, Cambodia
An incredible meal of amok and a seafood salad
There is some fine dining in Siem Reap. Most of the time I eat in the open markets with the other peasants. I can find some great local foods there. But I am trying the national dishes of the countries I visit, and checking out a few recommended restaurants. So I have ordered the national dish of Cambodia, Amok. It is a fish baked in a mild curry and coconut sauce inside banana leaves, with various herbs and vegetables, many of which I have never had before. Along with that I have a seafood salad on lightly steamed veggies and greens, again with unknown herbs. I am amazed from the first bite.
A new vegetable for me, Cho
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Posted: March 12th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 3 Comments »
#28 from SE Asia
from Siem Reap, Cambodia
March 9th, 2010
The Temple of Banteay Srei
Siem Reap is where the Angor Wat temple complex is located. Usually people refer to it as ‘Angor Wat’. But Angor Wat is just the the largest and best preserved of the many temple complexes here.
I do not want to repeat the readily available information about all of these temples and ruins here. But here are some points that stood out to me.
1. The temple complex is simply immense. I bought a 3-day pass for $40, and I needed every hour of it. I rode my bicycle 40 km on the first day just to visit the temples in the Angor Wat complex. This included some serious hiking and climbing. By the end of the day, I was really tired. On the 2nd day, it was a 70 km round trip to visit the Banteay Srei Temple to the northeast. This was entirely worth it. The detail and quality of the work was extraordinary. On my 3rd day, I rode 40 km round trip to visit the Rolous temple complex to the east. I had no regrets afterward about making this trip either.
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Posted: March 9th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 5 Comments »
The 2-directional Tonle Sap River
#27 from SE Asia
March 7th, 2010
along the Tonle Sap river
I leave Phnom Penh at sunrise before the heat of the day. The road traffic is not frantic. I stay on highway 5, on the south side of the Tonle Sap River and Tonle Sap Lake. Within 10 miles, the traffic and street noise has dropped to the level of a country road. The drill is clear to me. Get in as many miles as early as I can, before the heat of the day. I am doing 3 gallons of liquids a day. I will have to do this all the way back to Bangkok, for winter is over here. It is now getting hot. My goal is 90+ kms ahead, to Kampong Chhnang (that is honestly how they spell it in English), where the Tonle Sap River meets the Tonle Sap Lake.
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Posted: March 9th, 2010 | Author: dwight | Filed under: SE Asia 2010 | 1 Comment »
The Tuol Sleng Prison Museum
Post #26 from SE Asia — the Khmer Rouge
March 6th, 2010
pulling into Phnom Penh, Kampuchea
I could feel the difference immediately riding in Cambodia. (They call it Kampuchea.) Slower drivers, much less honking, the roads not nearly so dangerous. More smiles. I knew that I was back in the ”Buddhist belt’”.
You have surely heard of the disasters that Kampuchea has been thru. Just watch THE KILLING FIELDS again to get an idea. Briefly, after the bombing of Cambodia destabilized the country, there was a civil war where the Khmer Rouge came to power in April of 1975. In the next 4 years, the Khmer Rouge proceeded to kill 2 million people, 1/4th of the entire population in one of the most insanely genocidal unleashings of this century. Anyone with any education, who spoke any foreign language, was immediately executed.
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