Wanderlust Heaven!

I remarked last week that it’s been two years since I left my job. I got some emails from friends asking me if I had any regrets, if my inclusion of that point signaled any desire to return to work. Let’s just say that if I were to say “yes,” well, there’d be a shorter and better answer. I’m quite happy where (and when) I am in life. But I did get a jolt a few days ago, when I opened an email from a former colleague in Mumbai. I had emailed him a couple months back, and he was finally getting round to replying. After the obligatory niceties, he wrote asking if I wanted to work on an ‘Indian social change’ project he’s running. He attached a Word document as way of explaining the actual project.

I was particularly surprised because the title of the document was ‘Overview MBS incl housing by MK’. A quick key: ‘MBS’ are my initials and how I used to sign work emails. ‘housing’ looked suspiciously like an offer to put me up somewhere while I got back to work. And ‘MK’ could be the initials of the firm’s senior partner in Asia. Synthesized, this looked to be a fairly advanced proposal for my eyes, a (loud) whisper campaign to get me to return; I was a bit annoyed simply from reading the title. And then I opened it, and saw with some relief that it was no such subterfuge – ‘MBS’ stood for ‘Market-Based Solutions,’ ‘housing’ for a housing-related component of the project, and ‘MK’ for another partner of the firm. Just a generic project overview, nothing more. Whew. I scanned it briefly, it looked intellectually stimulating but not something I wanted to do. And the fact that my friend took two months to reply to my email (this project kept him so busy he ‘barely had time to breathe,’ according to his note) was not a selling point. I recalled those days well, even two years on; so I respectfully declined his offer. I imagine he was in no way surprised by my response.

Had dinner at Sublime with Prem Joshua and girlfriend Suzanne, Umang, Sat, and Hassan. The place was packed and we waited forever for our food, but that wasn’t a problem because we were sitting in the ‘bed’ area and went through a couple bottles of wine. And we had a great conversation that went all over the place. One topic was my idea to put together a ‘Goa Comedy’ piece that mocked several sacred cows, a la:

-the ‘old days’ of Goa and how they were so much better (Josh calls people who talk like this the ‘Goa Inventors’)
-yoga and yogis – taking it too seriously (see my comments from recent entries)
-other quirks of Goa life – Josh lives in a house this year, and the other night when he got up to pee, his landlady thought the water was left running and shut it off – I told Josh that from now on he should pee into a cup and, just to be sure, brush with it and then drink it down…

Josh has been getting some shit for his graying locks – everyone seems to be mentioning it this year. Except for me – if you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones. I wish I had long, gray hair! But this did provoke a discussion about things that stand out in our memories. I recall visiting Sacre Coeur in Paris years ago, and seeing Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin descend the steps, a stunning woman on his arm. I vividly recall being amazed at Plant’s size (he’s well over 6 feet tall), and his wild, graying hair (similar to Josh’s). He looked like a god coming down from Mt. Olympus. As for his consort, I recall she was stunning but that was it – no details remain. If she were Joni Mitchell or perhaps a famous model, I probably would remember more, but as it was, all I stored were details about my boyhood hero. Weird, huh?

Spent some time reconciling my finances for year-end. No real tasks, just wanted to have a good snapshot of my situation. And I can’t complain – 2007 was another good year. I spent a bit more than I expected to…but the market overall went up solidly and I made good progress. My strategy is working and I’m damn glad about that – but I suppose the downside is that I don’t feel any compelling need to be productive. That said, I did have a revelation while on the treadmill last week, and now have a pretty good idea about my book idea and how to frame it. I’ve been going back and forth about how to set up the book and its thesis, and in hindsight I’m happy I didn’t pour a ton of effort into working on it earlier…it was important that I ‘see the light’ and now I believe I have. Now, of course, I need to prioritize the writing and find the time – and I will make that a focus in the new year. Hold me to it, readers…

Went to the Saturday Night Bazaar again – lots of people there, eating, drinking, buying and selling. Weird 70s heavy metal band onstage, playing Deep Purple and whatnot. Behind them was a huge poster advertising ‘i-Pill.’ No, i-Pill isn’t something you take to improve your computer game skills…it’s an emergency contraceptive taken if your condom breaks or if you decide you really don’t want to have a baby in 9 months. Yet another symbol of India changing, something like this would have been unthinkable years ago…

A bird shit on me while I was eating breakfast a couple days ago. It was a small dropping, and my pants were already ready for a washing, so no big deal. But thinking back, the last time this happened was in Goa, years ago – and I was wearing my last clean shirt back then. I had had to go out and buy a new shirt that time…they say that bird shit is lucky, but I fail to understand…

Wanted to check out the diving here in Goa. I’ve been told it’s average, but felt like some underwater time. The day before I planned to go, I downloaded some podcasts, one of which was a Discovery Channel piece on two divers who had been lost 20 miles from the Solomon Islands. They had to swim to shore through shark-infested waters. They made it, but barely. Didn’t discourage me from diving, but every time I hear these sorts of tales I am reminded of the dangers of diving and how you need the right equipment. These two didn’t even have a ‘safety sausage’ or a whistle/air horn, any of which would likely have alerted their boat and averted their hellish experience.

Went out with Goa Dive Center out of Calangute, run by a German woman. Nice day out…average diving (at best). You take the boat to Grande Island, an hour away. First dive was in a coral bed on one side of the island – I dove with a couple other certified divers, while the German woman taught a course to some others. This dive site was not great – we attempted to follow her suggested path, but it was a real maze and we ended up far away, around the bend of the island. The waves were breaking against the rocks, and I got a few cuts fighting my way back into the deeper waters. Not quite Tom Hanks in Cast Away, but challenging enough. Got back to the boat and went onboard for lunch.

Second dive was better. The German woman guided us, and we explored a 50-year-old Portuguese shipwreck in 15 meters of water. Huge boat – I think it was carrying railroad ties/trestles. Now it’s broken apart in a few sections. The issue is that the visibility is not good, maybe 3-5 meters, so you’re constantly struggling to stick together as a dive team and not get lost. Perhaps the best part was that another dive shop, Barracuda, had placed a small Xmas tree and a ‘Merry Xmas!’ note on part of the wreck – it was funny to swim by and see that down there.

Random - while I was underwater, those still on the boat sat mesmerized as a plane went down at the airport, a few miles away. They said it descended (too) quickly, then there was an explosion and a plume of smoke. This being Goa, it was hard to get any real news about it - and I subsequently put it out of my mind till the next morning, when I read that a one-seater Navy Harrier plane went down at Dabolim Airport. The pilot ejected and was fine…

All in all, a pleasant day out – the diving was forgettable, but I do love being under the waves and may consider diving in the Indian Lakshdweep or Andaman Islands in coming months. At the very least, I’ll be in Cebu in early April and am already planning some dives with friends there.

These two recent dives were my 97th and 98th in total…so next time out I’ll get up to 100 dives. I’d best make it someplace special. As for 2007, I’ve had 59 dives – more than my cumulative experience before the year. I think I’m done for the year…but what a year it’s been for diving.

Christmas in Goa – quite a concept. The place is getting crowded, but I think less so than usual, and less than I had anticipated. It’s not overwhelmingly crazy – and I’m pleased about that.

Various Xmas scenes and thoughts from Goa:

-the other night I saw some Xmas carolers walking down the side of the road, led by the world’s skinniest Indian Santa Claus
-I got email Xmas cards from travel agents I’ve used in Australia (a Chinese woman named Jessie) and in Thailand (Lydia, the dyspeptic one). Business must be down…
-Bean Me Up has a veg Xmas dinner with all the trimmings. Lisa makes this nut loaf that tastes a lot like meat, and is quite tasty, particularly if you indulge in organic activities beforehand…
-Hilltop, near BMU, got its holiday mayhem going with a two-day party starting Xmas Eve. I hadn’t been there before, so ponied up the 1000 Rupees and went. Ran into friend Hassan there, who came equipped and we had lots of good laughs. Thankfully there were loads of food vendors all around the perimeter – I can get so hungry at these parties that I often wonder if I’ve shifted species and become some sort of canine.
-had lots of memories of past Xmases, all over the world. I often wonder if my memory is worsening…and even how solid it was to start with. I try to be good about note-taking for this slog, if I didn’t tap notes into my Treo every day my entries would be short indeed. But I’ve concluded that I remember the important stuff – at the very least, I think my memory is better than most. Perhaps it’s because I no longer have to fill my brain with tons of work-related matters…
-a couple Xmas photos from Bean Me Up. Lisa and head waiter Vinod are in the second one…

Felt like crap on Boxing Day, stomach was giving me fits and I felt weak all over. I’ve actually had a touch of nausea over the past couple weeks, but haven’t bothered with it. This time it was bad…I was a wreck all day, and finally popped a Cipro. This is admittedly the nuclear option – I could have tried an organic solution like grapefruit seed oil, which Lisa and others advocate. Antibiotics are problematic in that they clear out the good bacteria along with the bad…still, I only use ‘em when I feel deathly, and over the years I’ve had good luck. This time was no different – within a half-day I was feeling much better, and a day or so later, as I write this entry, I feel remade. Went to yoga this morning and was able to get through most of the poses.

Glenn, the teaching assistant from yoga class, came by my table here at BMU just now. We hadn’t really spoken before, although he’s adjusted my poses in class countless times. He seems a super-nice guy, and now that we’ve had a chance to talk a bit, I might be less annoyed when he pulls my arm back when I’m in some contorted position…

My current month of yoga is now up, Gaby the teacher told me this morning. I need to think of my next step…Curt and Marta get here tomorrow, and admittedly one reason I’ve tried to keep up with class is that I want them to have a place to practice when they’re here – and Gaby’s shala is a stunning place, set near the sea. At the same time, I don’t know how often C&M will want to get up and practice…and I also question whether I want to keep up 6 times/week during the balance of my time in Goa this season…so I told Gaby I’ll just pay for each class (rate is of course higher) and see how I feel in a couple weeks. Gotta keep my options open – the story of my life!

Am reading an intriguing book called “A Fortune-Teller Told Me.” The thesis: an Italian journalist living in Asia is told by a Hong Kong fortune-teller, back in 1976, that he musn’t fly in 1993 for fear of crashing/dying. Years later, the author considers this prediction and decides not to fly for the year, instead taking trains, buses, cars, and boats. I’m only partway into the book, but it covers his perambulations around Asia and Europe and it’s a very good read. So many incredible books out there…even I am pressed for time in getting to a small fraction of them.

I just heard that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated today. She was shot at a campaign rally, by person(s) unknown. Huge news out here…that won’t help Pakistan settle down anytime soon. I read the news here in the internet cafe…and when I exclaimed loudly about it, the British doofus next to me said ‘I should know that name but I don’t…who’s that?’ He then left, and I commented to the employee manning the desk about the ignorance of some of the foreign continent here. He replied, ‘I don’t know that person either.’ You’ve got to be kidding me…I know that Goans are lazy, but Benazir Bhutto is in the news pretty much every day and she was PM of Pak for 8 fucking years…

As I near the end of this entry, I’m reminded that I had half-heartedly promised to include some sort of ‘2007 greatest hits’ list. This is my final entry for the year…and I do want to leave you with something to ponder, something which encapsulates what I’ve ingested from my Asian experience. I’m not really in a list-making mode – that was so 2006! – and I prefer to leave you with a slightly random final vignette instead. Here it is:

A couple days ago, I got an unsolicited email from a fellow named Michael, who had read a past slog entry and wanted to know my father’s name. Why? Because Michael had also served at March Air Force Base in California during the Vietnam War, and he had been sent to Vietnam from this base in the place of another man whose wife had just given birth. I had written of my father avoiding such a fate by dint of my sister’s timely birth, and Michael thought there might be a thread there. I plan to check on this with my father…but regardless of the outcome, I am struck by the background links running between us all. A random email from a Vietnam War vet…a father’s backstory…the son’s wanderings and musings. Is there any relevance in our having the same name? What else is at play? Perhaps reading the fortune-teller book has had some esoteric influence on my thinking, but I think it may be as much a case of my eyes taking some time to fully open and see. Over and out.

I know that I’m still in Asia, but there is a lot to this continent. India just doesn’t have that much in common with countries like the Philippines or Laos. I was reminded of that the other day, when I went around the back of Bean Me Up and saw the kitchen staff having their midday meal. They were not using chopsticks to shovel rice into their mouths…instead, they were using their hands to mix their rice and curried vegetables together into a lump, then shoveling it into their mouths with their hands or small pieces of roti (bread). I tend to think of this style of eating as Middle Eastern/African, and people in those regions do eat like this…which leads me to perceive India as far more than its admittedly prominent place as a subcontinent. India, to me, is Asian, but also the gateway to the Middle East and Africa. Being in Mumbai often feels like being in a large African hypercity (think Lagos) or a Middle Eastern city that hasn’t been paved with gold from oil riches (think Cairo or Amman). I know, I know, Cairo is in Africa, but let’s not get hung up on niceties.

That’s my profound observation of the week. Less profound observations and statements to follow.

Got an email from an old colleague in Tokyo – informing me that an old client of mine from Oz just got promoted to head his company’s Japanese subsidiary. I did tons of work for said subsidiary and my old colleague wanted an introduction to the Aussie. I was happy to get the news (I think it’s a positive step for the Japanese gang), and happy to make the intro. With any luck the two gents will get on well and some business will get done. A former manager of mine once told me that if you’re around long enough, you’ll see nearly everything, and he’s been proved correct over the years. Back in 2000 I worked with this Aussie on a project in Sydney – he was just a national sales manager back then, and a fairly quiet fellow. Never would have guessed he’d rise so far so fast, but he did it, and now he’s running Japan for the company – simply amazing. I imagine when he has time to sit back and think about it, he’d agree.

Other funny things came in over the transom. I logged onto LinkedIn and was able to get the email address of a former girlfriend of mine in India. We went out back in ’92 in Mumbai…we ran into each other on a Bronx-bound train from Manhattan back in ’96…we then lost touch until now. Sent her a note, she called me in Goa, and we talked for an hour. She’s back in India, back in her home state of Nagaland, and we’ll probably meet up there or in Goa sometime before April. She’s one of my few remaining links to that incredible summer in Mumbai; as much as I find social networks a time-sink, and hesitate to get onto sites like Facebook, there are some real nuggets if you look for ‘em.

Things are starting to heat up in Goa. The infamous Ingo’s Saturday Night Bazaar got going again, it had been closed down for a month or so while bribes were being negotiated. Those have presumably been settled and now the fair is back. It’s a crazed affair complete with fire-jugglers and musicians from all over the world, and hundreds of market-stalls run by locals and foreigners. Bean Me Up has a stall there, and it’s a good meeting place for my friends and I.

I’ve been asked for a few shots of Bean Me Up – I posted quite a few last year, but here are some fresh shots, including waiter Vinod (Bini), the grounds, and surroundings – it’s a beautiful spot:

I’ll try to get some pics of cows on the beach and other iconic Goa images. Once friends Ken and Carmen get here, the camera will be out and about with some regularity…

Have been getting into yoga more and more. I was pretty half-assed about attending over the past few weeks, but I have a couple friends coming from London over the holidays, and want to make sure I can get them into my class, which is already packed. So I’ve been a good boy lately and have been going to class…and I think Gaby, the instructor, is becoming less annoyed with my mercurial patterns (and poses). I continue to serve as class dunce, although there are a couple others who aren’t much more adept than I. And I am making some progress, although some poses will always be out of my grasp. But at the end of the day, I know that I can beat up any guy in the class, that I can outrun any girl, and that I probably have more money than anyone else in the class. And isn’t that what yoga is really all about??

Was reading a copy of The New Yorker and noticed my cousin Richard Brandt was mentioned in the Shouts & Murmurs section. He’s a retired NYU physics professor and occasional guest on David Letterman – stuff like ‘Stupid Human Tricks.’ He’s got a super-dry sense of humor and is, needless to say, the smartest member of our family. That’s truly damning him with faint praise.

I’ve not been doing much writing, sad to say – I just seem too damn busy with everything else. A typical day for me lately looks like this:

8:30 -get up, have coffee/tea
9:15-11:30-go to yoga class
11:30-13:00-shower/eat lunch/read papers
13:00-14:00-check email etc.
14:00-15:00-go to beach or do errands
15:00-17:00-read and listen to podcasts (language lessons, etc.)
17:30-19:30-gym
20:00-dinner, go out, phone calls, etc.

If you think about it, there’s typically not a huge amount of fat in the day, if you try to get a full night’s sleep, you take the time to have proper meals, and you try to stay in shape. Of course, it’s all about priorities, and right now I’m spending 4 hours/day on yoga and running/etc. I think I’m going to have to dial some of that back in the New Year and focus more on my writing – it would be a lost opportunity to be here, spending 4 months in one spot, and not use that stability of situation to make some progress there…

But I can’t blame everything on my demanding workout sked – on Sunday there’s no class, and I simply spent my day on Little Vagator Beach, eating and reading at Fishtail beach shack. Worked my way through a couple New Yorkers, had some nice Goan fish curry rice, swam a few times, had a few very cold Kingfisher beers (the coldest I’ve had in Goa – I savored every drop), and next thing I knew it was late afternoon and I was too blissed to bother firing up the laptop. So it goes…

And on Monday morning I skipped yoga class so that I could join Richard from BMU in his daily trip to the Mapusa market. Richard handles the behind-the-scenes operations at BMU (Lisa is the ‘front office’ and impresario), and he has to go to Mapusa every day to shop for food and get parts for the restaurant and hotel. Fairly thankless work, to be sure – but Richard seldom complains and has in fact had his fun with the chores. I went with him to see him in action, and to see a part of Mapusa that isn’t easy to access.

We must have visited 30 stalls and stores in 90 minutes. Richard drove his little beater Maruti car around like a madman (he installed a truck air horn and that works well in getting others to shake their tail feathers). I had ventured into the Mapusa market before, but this was an entirely different story. Richard speaks nearly every subcontinental language and has a good time insulting the vendors, and they him. I heard a bit of Hindi, Marati, Konkani, Arabic, Urdu, and who knows what else. Common insults, rendered into English, centered on ‘butt pirate’ and ‘sister fucker.’ I considered jumping into the fray but decided to let Richard hold the fort. It goes without saying that I was quite impressed by Richard’s savoire faire and ability to navigate the shoals of shopping in Indian markets – he got what he needed and got out with his humor intact. And I felt that I had seen a deeper aspect of BMU and was grateful for that.

A few photos of Sir Richard the Frenchman in action – notice flying watermelon in final pics:

The market visit was surprisingly good exercise, but I did go to the gym that night. As I was doing a few abdominal exercises (does anyone know any of these that aren’t so fucking joyless?), two foreign tourists came into the gym and asked the attendant if they could borrow the scale. I’ve seen this before – hotel guests wanting to borrow the crappy little scale. I don’t get it – why don’t they just weigh themselves on the spot? One of the two girls was impressively obese, and she may have wanted to weigh herself in the privacy of her room…if I were her, I would have forgone the scale and spent the evening on the treadmill.

Went with Lisa to Panjim to see the new movie ‘I Am Legend.’ This was based on a short story written a while ago, I believe by Neil Gaiman. I read the story when I was in the Philippines earlier this year, and found it compelling. I won’t spoil the plot, but I did find the movie radically different from the short story – but that was perfectly fine. It’s been set in the near future, in Manhattan, and the shots of the city in an abandoned and crumbling state are brilliantly rendered. You can see individual stores (e.g., the old Tower Records in the East Village). I would love to spend a day in a studio watching them create these scenes – I have no idea how it’s done, but suspect heavy use of computer images.

Afterward we went to take a look at Lisa’s new BMU menus, which are being designed by a computer shop. It’s taken months longer than anticipated – welcome to India – but the new menus will be beautiful and a huge improvement from the current versions, which are fine but getting long in the tooth. Hopefully the new ones will be here by Xmas…but I wouldn’t bet good money on it.

They’re finally fixing the roads around Vagator – a week before Xmas. Timing is a problem in India – when you go out to eat, the roti often comes a few minutes after the mains, and you’re sitting there helpless and waiting for the waiter. Similarly, the infrastructure work is performed too late, and haphazardly too – instead of using real asphalt and repaving the roads, they’re using tons of out-of-state laborers to crush rocks, plug the holes with them, and pour a bit of tar over the rocks. Right now they have only reached the ‘rocks in the holes’ stage and driving on the stuff is not easy. But watching the work can be fascinating and a real education. The laborers are often women, working in Stone Age conditions and techniques. At night, they sleep at the side of the road, on piles of rocks and dirt – seriously. When I first saw this, I just assumed they were a) too exhausted to go anywhere else or b) drunk and down, and both may have been true, but the reality is that they have nowhere to sleep, very little cash, and they make do.

Goans drive by and harass them – explicitly. One poor woman was reduced to tears the other day; some locals had driven by and asked her (and presumably her female co-workers) if ‘their pussies were for sale.’ This woman finally snapped and was screaming the Hindi word for ‘pussy’ non-stop until she was trundled away. It was not quite a moment of truth in life, but moving nonetheless. Indians often treat each other like shit – I’ve seen my own friends in Mumbai give waiters a hard time and flaunt their affluence. People treat those less fortunate like crap in every country, but in Asia it’s often disgusting.

Today, December 20th 2007, is the two-year anniversary of my final day of work at Monitor Group. I officially left in mid-January 2006, after my unused vacation time cycled through, but December 20th 2005 is certainly a red-letter date in my calendar. Seems like yesterday that I had my final meeting (with the Jewish Sales VP of my old client), rode back to Monitor’s Tokyo office with my colleague, got my bags, and said goodbye to the entire Tokyo office – who waited outside my elevator and bowed as the doors closed. I had a tear in my eye as the elevator descended…in fact, I forgot to push a floor button for a few seconds, I was so moved. Then I got in the car and was driven through downtown Tokyo en route to the airport – I swear I looked out the car window for the entire hour or so, taking it all in. That night I landed in Hong Kong, went to my flat, unpacked my bags, and packed another bag. And the next morning I flew to Bangkok for two weeks of holidays in Thailand.

So many roads since then…I have been busy seeing this world of ours. I’ve run into quite a few others who are doing it too, in their own special way. To paraphrase my old friend Ray George, I think I can be happy almost anywhere there’s an ‘edge’ – which excludes Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city Ray visited for a job interview and found decidedly lacking in edge. It’s truly incredible how many places have an edge, and I hope that when I’ve come across these places my writing has highlighted this. I’m excited to carry on and continue seeking the universal truths – sprinkled with the down-and-dirty elements that power my pen. Have a good holiday season and see you in a week for my final 2007 posting, one which will probably have some sort of list of observations and experiences from the year. Over and out.

I sat by the duchess at tea,
She asked: do you fart when you pee?
I replied, with some wit:
Do you belch when you shit?
Which, I think, left the honors with me.
-Limerick (obviously)

I’ve been working my way through my monthly mail stash. Getting through my many magazines tends to take 10-14 days, during which time I read like a fiend. Opened the quarterly magazine from my alma mater, Tufts University, and saw that they had excerpted my blog on one of the early pages. Cool. It was the bit on my visiting Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok to get vaccines and figure out my blood type. A decent piece to feature, it was a complete yet brief story and, I imagine, slightly adventurous for those chained to their desks. That said, I’ve heard from precisely zero friends, which I interpret to mean that I’m about the only person who bothers to actually read the magazine in any detail.

I’ve been thinking about this blog lately, having now passed the 500 page mark. For the past year and a half I’ve occasionally wondered if I should be doing anything else with it – trying to get paid advertising linked to it, leveraging it for a book, using it as a springboard for a set of short stories. For now I think I’ve settled on the last option, but none are mutually exclusive (putting aside copyright and ownership issues for now). And some of you know I’ve finally gotten going on writing a few stories, some for submission to contests and magazines. I’ve shared these drafts with some of you, and friend Johann responded with some very helpful, much-needed hard-hitting feedback. In a nutshell, he told me that I was guilty of cutting and pasting from the blog, that the stories were muddled, and that my characterization was weak. All quite accurate. At least he didn’t call me ugly. Now I see that I need to start with a blank page and structure the story much like a slide deck. Johann and I worked together at Monitor for years, during which time I gave him lots of feedback on his work – life is long and now it’s time for him to return the ‘favor.’ And I appreciate his candor, and the thoughtfulness and care he took in preparing his feedback. This weekend I aim to sit down and start re-working these stories.

Saw in Bean Me Up’s magazine/book rack a paperback copy of The Book of Dave by Will Self. Snatched it right up. The premise of the book is that an insane cab driver named Dave writes a journal full of his ravings, which is later buried for centuries and one day found by a future civilization which celebrates Dave as a prophet. I’ve got the hardcover back in Boston – last year I bought one for myself and one for brother-in-law Dave for his birthday. I didn’t get to it before taking off, and didn’t relish carting around the big hardcover, so left it at home along with a bunch of other heavy tomes. Now I’ll be able to read the softcover here in Goa and cross that one off my slowly decreasing backlog of books in my possession…it’s incredible that I’m still working my way through books I ordered from Amazon.com three years ago. What was I thinking??

Some intrigue here at Bean Me Up this week. Headwaiter and anointed one Bini told Lisa (the owner) that he was quitting, effective December 20th. Bini has been moody lately, and his British girlfriend’s coming here on the 19th…but his revelation was still a shocker and plunged Lisa and Richard into the depths. One of Bini’s drivers for wanting to quit: he wants to spend a lot of time with his British girlfriend when she’s here. I think that’s a bad reason for quitting – first, when you have a girlfriend you better be making some scratch (or else), and second, any girl that would bug you to quit your job just to free up some time is pure trouble and should be erased from your life. More on that in a minute.

I felt for Lisa – she’s been pinning her hopes on Bini to step up and help her expand BMU to Calangute and other locations; I’ve often wondered if Bini’s got the toughness to play that role. He’s a lovely guy, but seems to lack critical self-reflection and the ability to solve problems and make decisions in a methodical manner. Sometimes he goes on and on and you wonder what the hell he’s talking about. And sure enough, the very next day he changed his mind and soon sat down with Lisa to recant and atone. She put him through the wringer – as was her right. His anointment has been postponed, if not deleted, and for now he’ll need to prove himself in Lisa’s eyes. And guess what – now his British girlfriend may not come this Xmas, she seems ‘confused’ and is not sure she wants to come here. Yeesh. Bini me boy, keep thy job. I’m ordinarily all for being unemployed and footloose, but only after you’ve ticked off a few boxes first.

Came back from the gym the other night and watched a ‘fire show’ put on at BMU by Sergei, a wiry Russian dude. The usual tossing of burning batons, fire-breathing, etc. Lisa’s got a bunch of shows planned for the upcoming weeks – she’s exceptionally skilled at conceiving, planning and designing for these types of events. BMU is having a New Year’s Eve party this year, and Lisa’s flyer/ticket has a baby smoking a cigar (blunt?), being dragged into the New Year by Father Time. Quite creative and very funny.

I’ve been riding my motorbike around a lot lately. I’m sure I’ve written in earlier Goa postings that there are few pleasures equal to simply riding a motorbike around this place. Today I went to Mapusa just to mail a couple postcards, including one to nephew Jacob, who will soon be four. The ride to Mapusa is fun – about a half hour, with lots of curves and a few inclines that provide soaring views. Last night I left the gym and rode back to BMU. En route a snake slithered in front of my bike; I just missed it. Later on, as I rode over a small bridge, a flock of white birds (sort unknown) flew overhead, and I sat there and watched them as they flew, painted against a light blue evening sky. Didn’t have my camera with me – that would have been a brilliant shot.

Have been busy making flight bookings for next spring. Need to go to the US East Coast in April for my 15th business school reunion. Couldn’t find any available frequent-flyer seats departing India around then – and eventually settled on a roundtrip between Cebu and New York. I’ll need to get to and from Cebu, but that shouldn’t be too hard. Will also give me a chance to see some friends there and spend a few days scuba-diving. I do find myself getting to Cebu every year – there must be something to that. I’m pondering picking up a condo there and making that a base of operations…but it’s probably a bit too early for that, I still want to move on and explore other lands before making any decisions.

Friends Ken and Carmen will be here in a couple weeks – have been out scouting restaurants and activities to keep them busy. There’s so much to do and see here that I need to avoid blowing their minds…they’ll probably get here and be exhausted from work and the trip. I think for the first day or two, it’ll be beaches and massages, and after that we can get into diving, hiking, parties, etc.

Included in my recent shipment of magazines was a Sports Illustrated with a photo of the World Series champion Red Sox on the cover. Seems like forever since I sat in my Mumbai hotel room and watched the boys take out Colorado and romp to victory. I usually keep these back issues as insurance against an undetermined future stretch in which all Boston sports teams suck and I’m forced to rely on old memories to get me through the hard times. As for right now, Boston is the sports capital of America and everyone’s got a boner over the Sox, Pats, Celts, and maybe even Da Bruins…

There was supposed to be an NBA season preview issue in the shipment, one which featured the ‘New Celtics’ on the cover. But it wasn’t in there. This unfortunately isn’t a rare occurrence – in past years I’ve had key issues of Sports Illustrated ‘go missing’ right after a Boston championship. Not sure who did the pinching – postman, mail guys at Monitor, etc. A real pain…I’ve had to make arrangements with relatives and friends to get me backup copies just in case. I emailed SI and asked them to re-send this Celtics issue, and they responded affirmatively, so let’s see if it ever gets to me. An unexpected side effect of victory – an everyday copy of SI becomes gold to local fans. There’s always a flip side, methinks.

Went to Nine Bar to hear some trance last night. Quite a few people there dancing to the beat. Afterward, came back to BMU and had dinner at the bar…Lisa sat next to me and for some reason we soon started teasing Bini; I channeled Linda Blair in The Exorcist and mimicked her ‘Dimi, Dimi, please don’t hurt me Dimi’ scene (I know, a bit obscure, but classic), and Lisa did Marlon Brando in The Godfather – ‘Vinny, now that Sonny’s gone you’re head of the family.’ Teasing Bini seemed like the thing to do and he was good-natured about it. Lots of laughs at Bean Me Up these days, and it’s only going to get better…

But annoyances do intrude. Mo from Pune is back – he’s Umang’s friend who was here last year, and who succeeded in bothering me with his creepy, needy mannerisms. He came up behind me at the bar the other night and latched on – for some reason I think he’s expecting me to hang with him and keep him entertained, and I’m not interested. Forgive me for not being friendly, but I should be allowed my misanthropic leanings, particularly when the subject in question is Mo.

Lisa was in an especially perky mood last night – possibly because Bini reversed his decision to quit, and she now has him by the balls. Women do seem to like those circumstances. We went out to Primrose to play pool. Lisa has known the family that owns Primrose for years, but when we entered and she said hi, the patriarch of the family (they’re Goan) turned to an associate/friend and said something snide which she picked up on. Imagine that – they’ve known each other for years, and he’s usually pleasant, but when she, a foreign woman, greets him in public, he feels compelled to disparage her. Wow – there’s a short story in there, for sure. Not an uplifting one – it would be more around the cruelty of humans toward each other and our basic animal instincts. Not sure I want to write that one, come to think of it…

Lisa got the better of me in pool, but we ended up drawing at 2-2. She had one game won, but scratched when she sank the 8 ball. I can’t tell you how many pool games I’ve won that way – it’s deeply unsatisfying, the pool equivalent of the boxing rope-a-dope, but you do get to say you won. Anyway, we had fun and talked lots of shit before heading back to BMU.

Read in Wired Magazine about a service called WakerUpper.com. You go to this site and enter some details, and it provides a wake-up call to your mobile or landline. A virtual hotel wake-up service. Not that practical if you don’t have access to a computer beforehand, and I’m not sure it’s a real advantage over simply setting your mobile (or watch) alarm, but I will give it a try and see how well it works.

Closing thought: ill-defined, open-ended ‘social wars’ a la the ‘war on drugs’ and the ‘war on terror’ are meaningless without a real ‘war on poverty’ at the base. If we want people to stop abusing (not the same as using, please note) drugs, and we want to take the steam out of terrorist recruitment, we need to provide other avenues to fulfillment and satisfaction. Building warships and starting hot wars seems like a pretty clumsy way to get things done in the 21st century; instead, let’s hire lots of young programmers (we can train them) and keep them busy with productive work – private sector and governmental. How much does one warship cost? I’ll bet you could employ a hell of a lot of young Arab lads for the same price-tag…

Any reactions to that one? Over and out…

‘Before I was enlightened, I chopped wood and carried water. After I was enlightened, I chopped wood and carried water.’
–Old Buddhist Proverb

My last few days in Saigon were a mixed bag. I was feeling the odd yet usual anxieties that accompany the wooing of a younger foreign woman; much lost in translation, uncertainty about where she spends her time and what she’s doing, concern that she’s more after my wallet than my personality. I recognize that some of those feelings aren’t unique to the Westerner/non-Westerner milieu…but they do tend to be magnified here.

To clear the head, I walked around Saigon for hours on end. And I found some surprisingly enjoyable pockets of peace in the crazed city…places where motorbikes feared to tread and postcard vendors saw no business. To boot, the city was gearing up for Christmas; note that it was already early December, at least they had waited that long. I understand that Xmas in the States now begins in August. Retailers will stop at nothing.

I doubt that Uncle Ho would approve of the Xmas decorations in his namesake city – they were pretty gaudy, and represented (at least as I interpreted them) a confluence of commercialism and religion, not two of old Ho’s preferred (or tolerated) pastimes. But I thought it was just fine…at least Vietnam is becoming a fairly normal place, i.e. somewhere where greed rules and everything else falls into place. Hallelujah!

I realize that I haven’t shown any photos in recent weeks – photos that might do a better job than my mere words at illustrating my points. That’s largely because my camera has stayed in my bag; I guess that I’m much more inclined to take pictures in a new place, even though the best shots are often those of everyday life and not monuments. I’ll get my act together soon and resume the posting of a few pics each week…

Took Phuong out on Thursday night. We went to a very nice Vietnamese restaurant, then over to the Sheraton’s Level 23 Club to hear some Canadian band. It didn’t seem there would be much dancing at first, but pretty soon the wine was flowing and everyone was on the floor (dance floor, that is). Phuong is an avid dancer, and a yogi as well, and knows her way around the dance floor. I just tried to keep up…although I do pride myself on being one of the better Jewish dancers around.

Phuong’s younger sister showed up. We sat together and talked when the music wasn’t blaring. The conversation was quite amusing – the girls would talk, then Phuong would turn to me and say something like ‘Younger sister say you very big shoulder.’ I’m not sure I ever heard Younger Sister’s name…it was a very Asian encounter. It was good fun and afterward we went out to eat and blew a lot of money on in-season hairy crabs. My money, of course. ‘Taking the sister out’ is as mandatory and regular an exercise out here as is the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Younger (or Older) Sister must be impressed with the foreigner; Older (or Younger) Sister must gain face/status by accepting bounteous gifts from said wealthy foreigner. Anyway, one thing I’ve learned is that it doesn’t pay to be cheap…you just have to grin and try to have some fun with it.

Random street scenes in Saigon:

1. Old Westerner wandering around the shops wearing a Boston Red Sox cap. I didn’t strike up a conversation, but should have. I suppose I was still recovering from my recent encounter with the Slarzes in Mapusa, Goa…

2. A local girl wandered by in full surgical mask (good idea, given the scooter fumes). The mask had a small USA flag on it. Man, would Uncle Ho be pissed!

3. Many stores seem to be official outlets, but I wonder. Near my hotel I saw a ‘Levi’s Store’ that looked a lot like those in the West…and I saw a ‘Benetton’ store as well. Are these sanctioned outlets or are they knock-offs?

Caught up on some podcasts that have been stacking up in my iPod. One was from The New Yorker, and featured a geneticist discussing what we can learn from ‘defeated viruses’ that have left residual ‘junk DNA’ in us. One bit I found fascinating: chimps can get HIV, but it’s not lethal for them. Another virus, name forgotten, is the converse – we can handle it, but chimps cannot. What science has learned is that a protein which both humans and chimps have acts against of these two viruses…but can’t take them both out, just one. Interpretation/implication: the chimp-lethal virus was eventually overcome (far in the past) by chimps who evolved resistance to it, and these chimps eventually evolved into humans. In the process, the key protein fought off the chimp virus…but was then spent and is now no use combating HIV. Humans are wide open to HIV…whereas chimps’ immune systems easily take out HIV, but are useless against the other virus. I thought that was absolutely gripping stuff – and you can probably use that analysis to ‘prove’ evolution. Not that it really needs any additional data, but I’d sure like to see it presented to various Republican Presidential candidates.

Speaking of that…Mike Huckabee, an ex-preacher with otherwise fairly normal-sounding (almost Clintonian) practical ideas, doesn’t believe in evolution. What’s in his drinking water? The only people who don’t believe in evolution – most Muslims, and 50% of Americans. Throw in other data points – the death penalty, etc. – and we come off looking like shit.

Another podcast lent credence to that thought. PBS/NOW had a podcast about anti-voter registration efforts in the US. There are still extensive efforts – 95% by Republicans – to deny the vote to minorities and the poor, via redistricting (whoops – you’re not registered to vote in this district), ID card requirements (believe it or not, 20% of Americans don’t have a photo ID), etc. And the Bush Admin.’s Justice Dept. has been the worst offender – historically, the Justice Dept.’s Civil Rights area has fought these sorts of dirty tricks. But not now – now, they’re in the ‘vanguard’ and have filed zero lawsuits against local governments. Does the US have true democracy? After listening to this podcast (and another, on faulty voting machines), I wonder.

Didn’t bother to do much sight-seeing in Saigon this time…I’d seen all the key places on my first visit. At some point I would like to head to Mui Ne Beach, or down to the Mekong Delta, but given that this trip was a short one, to see Phuong, I just stuck around town. I think I’ve gone through my allowance of sight-seeing for 2007, and will perk up again a few months into next year…

As such, I spent a fair bit of time doing computer stuff. Finally uploaded Suunto’s Dive Manager software. It’s cool – it reads dive profile info straight off the dive watch.computer and shows graphical overview of the dive. But now I need to get the USB cable for the watch – that will take me a while, methinks. I also downloaded a trial version of Reef Log, an e-logbook for the Palm OS. You can log your dives on this and keep them around forever. Problem? On the actual dives you probably want to carry a paper log, to have the divemaster sign and to avoid getting your Palm wet. And having two sets of ‘books’ can be a pain…so in the end I suspect I’ll just try Reef Log, but stick with a paper log.

Downloaded some classical music on the advice of a friend who’s very knowledgeable about the topic. Got Brahms’s Rhapdosy for Alto Opera 53, and a few Mozart Symphonies. Will try to digest those and move on. Any ideas for other classical stuff, let me know.

Had to call the US on Skype a few times. Am always slightly anxious about doing so for ‘business calls.’ This time I had to call my health insurance company and a credit-card-issuing bank. I always worry that the call quality will stink, or that it will hang up halfway through a tricky call. So far the latter hasn’t happened, but I’ve had some poor-quality calls and it’s been dicey getting through. Anyway, took care of the health insurance bit – they were raising rates 20% and I downshifted to a cheaper plan; then I had to sort it so that they’d automatically withdraw from my checking account each month. Not as easy as it should be. Then spoke with the bank – I’m slowly rotating my credit cards in order to get ones with better travel offerings – and guess what? If you have decent credit these days, despite the ‘credit crunch’ you still get pre-approved offers and very good terms. In fact, they went me one better and offered me a ‘small business card’ based on my assertion that I am self-employed (which I am – I just don’t work and earn no income). I said OK to that offer, they asked me some softball questions about my ‘business,’ which amounted to my saying that I do some contract consulting work and file taxes as an individual/sole proprietor. The agent gave me the answer options and pretty much baby-stepped me through the checklist – no problem. So now I have a great new card coming with excellent terms. If you have a great credit card I should know about, please clue me in.

These, then, are the complications in my life. Not that bad…but they do keep me quite busy. Most activity seems to be centered on my monthly mail drop – when I go through that, a few things pop up that need quick attention. Then I turn my attention to the magazines in the package, and I’m busy with those for 10 days or so. The joys of a simple life…should I feel badly about wanting to keep things uncomplicated? Either way, I can’t help who I am. I prefer reading to talking…I prefer writing to playing cards and other games…I prefer virtually anything to working. That’s my manifesto and I’m sticking with it.

Heard about the farcical coup in Manila. I do feel badly for the Peninsula Hotel Manila…it’s a lovely place and I’ve enjoyed many nights there. Saw a few pics of the shattered lobby and I hope the Filipino government is picking up the tab. Oh, my poor Philippines…it’s a wonderful place and the people are top-notch. I think they need to be more ruthless about traitors – this coup was led by a former coup plotter who is still in prison AND was just elected Senator. I’m sorry, but if you’re behind bars, even if not yet convicted, you should not be eligible to run for office. And the previous coup was in 2003, I think – by this point the fellow (Trillanes) should have been tried and either shot or released. I wonder how many biz trips and deals were iced because of this coup…

Was getting a bit tired of the street action in Saigon. The Vietnamese are unrelelentingly commercial and are always on you to buy books, postcards, a moto ride, and darker offerings. And Phuong and I were starting to get on each other’s nerves…probably because I was taking off, again, and we hadn’t resolved much re the future. She’d already sniffed out my operating style, I’m afraid…complete fear about commitment and a general yearning to put off anything serious in order to wander the globe aimlessly. Guilty as charged. So was happy enough to head back to Goa, the land where the locals don’t bother to tout because they’re too busy sleeping or hammered on cashew feni.

Had to fly through KL to get back to Mumbai. Had another lengthy layover at KLIA, considered another session in the airport hotel. But had spent a lot in Saigon and decided to practice penury for a few days. Instead of sleeping, I found a wall socket and watched a couple DVDs I’d picked up in Saigon. Shawshank Redemption and Blood Diamonds. Both quite good, both movies I’d intended to see for a long time. Walked around KLIA for a while, it’s a great airport with lots of shops and restaurants. Saw Greenspan’s new book in a bookstore window. Really, this is the Age of Turbulence? I would have thought the 1940s, or the 1960s, or the 1970s were far more turbulent. Maybe he’s comparing the current stretch to 1993-1999. That’s far-sightedness for you…

Went to Burger King for my final beef fix of the trip. In front of me in line were three fellows in Muslim garb – skullcap and djellabah. Two of the three boys looked Causcasian – or maybe they were albino Semites. But they were probably Western boys looking for a burger fix. I also saw a Muslim woman, fully veiled, eating at another table – she lifted her veil whenever she took a bit of her Whopper. Surreal. Later I saw this gang go into a Nike shop – modern Muslim pilgrims, perhaps. The veiled woman was with them – evidently she had to eat at a separate table from them at Burger King. Charming.

Ate a Whopper and savored the taste of the flame-broiled beef, then got on my plane to India. It had been an odd trip…I had enjoyed most of it, and had learned a few things, but was still unsure where things stood with Phuong, and felt some insecurity as a result. Oh well…I need to stop being so self-critical, despite the benefits this trait brings.

On the flight I listened to a CD of Churchill speeches from the 1930s/40s. Brilliant in every way. And I despaired that his peculiar mix of foresight and wisdom is just no longer with us. He made his mistakes too (Gallipoli, etc.), but he was the #1 figure of the 20th century in my humble opinion. If only our current leaders understood that being strong and being smart are not mutually exclusive…

Landed in Mumbai. The usual chaos – not this belt, that one. Not that form, this one. My bag was one of the last ones off the plane, so stood there for 20 minutes. I always feel great relief when my bag comes down the belt. I have a green and black duffel that I cover my backpack with, courtesy of my sister. The resulting unit is large and I call it the green submarine. Nothing else remotely resembles it and it’s so large that I don’t worry much about somehow just grabbing it and running. Of course, in Africa I might feel a bit differently. Ask me that story sometime…

Got in a taxi and got to my hotel, Royal Castle, in Beach Candy/Kemp’s Corner. Another attempt to find a decent hotel in Mumbai. This one was actually all right. 1800 rupees per night, clean enough, big room, aircon. And the ‘hood is right near where I used to live. I dumped my pack, then wandered around for an hour. Came to my old building, the Meherabad. Saw that the ground-floor shop had changed. For decades it was a sculpture/outdoor furniture shop, with very cool Hindu religion figures. Once, when I had just moved into my flat upstairs, I was ‘summoned’ by the sculpture shop owner and berated because my aircon unit had dripped water on his stuff. Not a very nice welcome to the building. Now this shop was gone, replaced by some clothing shop called ‘Gas.’ And the little café Under the Over (so called because it was under the overpass) was gone too. I used to eat buffalo wings there – they were by no means authentic, but a taste of home for me during that weird and disorienting summer of 1992. Changes had come to Breach Candy…I was almost sad.

I was dead tired – fell asleep around 2 a.m. and didn’t arise till 11 next morning. Checked out. The owner was at the front desk now, and he asked me about my stay, gave me a receipt, and handed me a card and brochure for his hotel. I hadn’t ever seen this place before, it’s been around for 17 years (or so he said) but is off the main drag and not that easy to spot. Anyway, the usual front desk service in these hotels is diffident or abrasive, so this was a breath of fresh air. I might just stay there again next time I’m in Mumbai. The place could be cleaner – I noticed in the bathroom that the walls that are not in plain sight are a bit grotty, and there are random debris on the bedroom floor and under the bed. The place is not new, for sure – but Indian labor is cheap and my belief is that once you let things get a bit out of hand, there’s a snowball effect. They really should sandblast the rooms one day per year and then raise their rates…

Was starving by the time I reached the domestic airport. Checked in, then inhaled a large chicken burger at Coffee Day café. This place does pretty solid sandwiches. Was so hungry I ate a regular chicken sandwich for ‘dessert.’ Then ate a batata wada (potato puff) before boarding the flight. Made a mental note to hit the gym that night to make up for the gluttony. One benefit of being here is that there’s really no gut-stuffing in November/December, at least if you don’t make an effort to overeat.

Got back to Bean Me Up. Was like I had never left. I was happy to see the gang, they seemed happy to have me back. Went to the gym, had dinner, a few drinks, read a bit. Was warm – got on my motorbike and rode for 20 minutes to clear my head. Saw two dogs at a small fire at the side of the road, they were make incursions to try to get something edible in there. Rode on…saw a cow with its legs up against the side of a building. Wasn’t sure what was going on there – mad cow might have reached Goa? The night air was wonderfully cool and I felt cleansed of toxins and stress.

Back to yoga the next morning. I felt pretty good and flexible, I had practiced a few times in Saigon so wasn’t too stiff. And the class now had a few newbies, Italian fellows, who were as lame as I with yoga. It was good to have some brothers in arms amidst all the flexi-babes. I might just be able to stick it out a few more weeks…

Lisa at BMU is considering a New Year’s Eve party. That might be good – I have a couple friends coming from London, and given the level of nighttime mayhem in Goa, it may be best to stay on premise that night. Lisa’s friend is a well-known DJ and has offered to play the gig, so that’s set. We’ll see what she decides.

Lisa and Richard are planning to get married this month, after 20-plus years together. Wouldn’t you know it, they’re only doing so for tax/health/pension reasons. Anyway, they asked me to be a witness and I’m happy to accept. This would be my third wedding this year – one in Cebu, one in San Francisco, and now one in Goa. Random.

The Mennen Speed Stick deodorant I bought on September 27th in Phnom Penh at Pharmacie de la Gare is still going strong. I don’t know if that’s an indictment on me or a pitch for Mennen, but I’m content either way.

Received a brochure for my new health insurance policy. Mostly boring crap, but read it through anyway to check for glaring loopholes. The policy looks fine, but I did notice a footnote under the ‘Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment’ section that was, at the very least, rather insensitive. It read ‘Treatment for rape-related mental or emotional disorders and treatment for children under age 19 are covered to the same extent as biologically-based conditions.’ That is to say, the out-of-pocket cost is zero, but placing the separate line-items of rape and being a child under 19 side-by-side struck me as a very bad kluge. Blue Cross should’ve gone to the trouble of having a separate footer for each…

Woke up this morning to go to yoga class. A large cockroach was scurrying around my bathroom. Gave it a good kick and seemed to have mortally wounded it. Nice prelude to yoga, huh? Insect-killing, then calm Zen meditation and vigorous poses. Came back from class, the corpse of the roach was now a few feet away. I was surprised that it had been able to move – then I noticed it was swaming with hungry ants. Ugh. Took the hose and washed them all away into the drain. Fitting epilogue to that day’s practice.

I’ve now surpassed 500 cumulative pages in this slog. Many thanks to those of who who have stuck with me from the beginning, or from anywhere along the path. I do appreciate it – but would love to hear more from you, so get your insults and death threats in order. I mulled using this blog entry to detail some sort of list compiled from my travels – memorable experiences, great restaurants, close calls, you name it – but will instead be more thoughtful and do something towards year-end, which I find a more natural time for reflection than any page-count. I think the only thing I’ll say right now is that the past year and a half, mostly in Asia, has been invigorating and would be hard to match. I worked in Asia for many years before quitting, and in some ways traveling in Asia (albeit to many new places within Asia) has meant keeping within my knowledge and comfort zone. I think I needed this amount of ‘free time’ out here to expand my Asian experience; Asia speaks to my soul in so many ways, and I hope that my writings have helped to communicate that to you. At the same time, the world is large and there’s still much more to see and learn, and I need to get outside my comfort zone – so in 2008, I plan to continue my journeys, heading west to Turkey and the Middle East, perhaps to Russia, Eastern Europe, and the east coast of Africa. I heard about an outfitter that does trips from Cairo to Cape Town. What I wouldn’t give to return to the Cape for a long stretch – and why can’t I do it? It’s really all a question, as economists would say, of opportunity cost. I could be here today, or I could be there. But my constraints are few – I have the time, barring any unforeseen disaster striking. And I mean to spend the time seeing what I want to see, and telling you all about it. So keep tuning in every week and let’s continue our global communion, dear readers. Over and out.