Malaysia and Pakistan

Once again I am waiting for a flight in Qatar. This time I only had three magnets left. The first I gave to a family waiting to fly back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At first the older of the women was reluctant to take it because we had absolutely no means of verbal communication. Once she realized it was simply a gift, she smiled a thank you and I walked away feeling a little uneasy.

In the Qatar airport, only the US flight section is barricaded, completely sectioned off with yet another checkpoint and scan. This is the only place in the whole airport I see people having to take off their shoes. I walked away with all my gear except the bag with my diary/drawing pad. A woman chased me down to give it to me...whew! I gave her a magnet and have no idea where she is from.

In the line to board, I struck up a conversation with a younger woman in traditional dress that includes long dresses and headscarves. I noticed her earlier because I liked her choice of colors. She was from Pakistan on her way to an event in California. I gave her a magnet and we had a short conversation about the dangers of taking things from strangers at airports. After joking about how it didn't blow up or shoot bullets, she tucked it in her gear. We also sat near each other on the plane and she noticed me working on a drawing. I handed her my book and another lady, older, dressed as if from India, came up, snatched it from her hands, leaned down to me and rapid-fired a long comment that only had one recognizable word it in: talent. I thanked her and she sat down without seeming to notice that one of my drawings was of her.

Flores, Indonesia

From Labuhan Bajo, a city on the west end of Flores, one of Indonesia's many, many islands, I booked onto a tour of Rinca and Komodo Islands with some snorkeling thrown in. On our boat was a French couple, a Brit, Spaniard, and two Americans and three Indonesian crew members. We hiked short loops on the islands and saw:

Komodo dragons,

water buffalo,

 

 huge clusters of bees hanging from tree limbs,

 

 

 

monkeys, beautiful views, and islands, islands and more islands.

 

 

The captain of our little boat got the magnet. That's him on the left. The only metal I could find was on his little steering wheel so I stuck it there.

 

 

Yogyakarta​, Indonesia

I went to Java to see the Borobudur temple complex and was directed to meet a friend of a friend, a young man by the name of Yogi who I now call my friend. Yogi graduated from Indonesia's most prestigious university the day I arrived. There I had the honor of meeting him for the first time as well as his mother and younger brother. 

Yogi hopes to see the world so I gave him travel gifts: a North Carolina Tar Heels T-shirt, a mug from the MeMeTheWorld project (http://www.memetheworld.com/), and a magnet. The first day I was there Yogi and 'the boys', other friends of his at the university, took me to Prambanan, a Hindi Temple complex. The story is that a ruler had the desire to marry a woman who was not so enthusiastic about him. In hopes of winning her affection he allowed her to ask one thing of him, anything. She asked the impossible, one thousand temples to be built in one night. In the morning there were 999 temples. He had failed at his task; failed to win her love. Spurned, the enraged ruler turned her to stone and so she became the thousandth temple. This temple is still being rebuilt from piles of block that lay around, looking almost organized. Its got to be a daunting task.

 

I was teased about taking flower photos but that's what women do

The following day we all piled in and drove to Borobudor, a Buddist temple complex. This one is huge, certainly the largest in all of Indonesia. It is tiered and each level is lined with releif carvings telling depicting life in days long, long past. None of us are Buddist so we could only guess at what it was all about. We did notice that they were more about work and other earthly things on the lower levels. As we climbed, they became more and more about clouds, some with reclining figures. Could this be heaven? Nirvana? Yogi had the presence of mind to bring the MeMeTheWorld mug and his magnet. We had fun placing them in the arms of statues and in the teeth of lions.
 

Bali, Indonesia

Every day in Ubud, Bali, people set out these little offerings called cadang, if I got it right. They are made of stripped palm leaves and filled with some sort of dried stringy plant, flower petals, a sweet smelling yellow flower in season, and a food offering of a piece of fruit or a cracker. I caught this woman putting one on a motorbike and waving lit incense over it. She let me take her photo, though I'd rather she hadn't stopped to pose for me. She was very nice about it so I gave her a magnet.

This is the grandson of the painter who worked across a walkway from my patio at Demank homestay. I wish I could remember his name and hope that if he reads this he will leave it as a comment. This young man is ten years old and served as interpreter for his grandfather who is an amazing painter. He speaks four or five languages already: Balinese, Indonesian, Malaysian, another Indonesian dialect or two, and English. He is up on current events and we spoke of political unrest, Metallica and the Miss World contest which is to be held here with sarongs required. Wait...did I hear that right? Anyway, it was quite a conversation. Here he poses with his magnet.

Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Phillipines, Abu Dahbi

On my way to Bali, I flew Qatar Airways and after an eight hour layover in Doha, I still don't regret it. The plane offered comfortable seats with lots of leg room and the food was great. My seatmate was a man who lives in Nigeria and travels once a year to visit family in the USA. His name is Larry and he took a frog magnet home.

The airport in Doha is a really slick affair with a strong resemblance to a shopping mall. I couldn't believe all the perfume displays. A man I dared to approach in the gift shop was wearing the white robes and headgear that I associate with the movie "Lawrence Of Arabia". I approached him, told him of my project and he agreed to take one to his home in Saudi Arabia. The terminal was full of brown skinned people, many in ethnic dress. I found it to be interesting and fascinating.

I presented a magnet without explanation to the girl in charge of the women's restrooms which were never without long lines. She was in the foot washing part of the mosque unpacking boxes and I confess I sneaked a peek into the prayer room while presenting my little gift. Mark one up for Qatar.

I struck up a conversation with a lady from the Philippines. She told me about living on the island Bacolod which is a major sugar cane producer. She also told me of the island with underground caves and waterways, another with seven waterfalls, and another with lava beds and hot springs, all of them big tourist attractions. Her name is Gilda and we did the usual maternal photo sharing of children and grandchildren while waiting for our flights.

I approached a woman in a red headscarf who said, yes, she lived in Abu Dhabi and she took a magnet. I've been trying to get one there for years.

Italy

This post is a continuation of Tom and Brenda's journey. Unfortunately, their i-pod camera did not make suitable distance shots so I cannot accurately represent the beautiful scenery of Tuscany.

They rented a little house in Matraia with a view of distant olive groves and gave a magnet to their landlady. Tom found a wood-fired bakery next door and visited with the owner who spoke no English. I might add that Tom has a wood fired pizza oven of his own and his son is a baker.



Can one speak of Italy without art in the conversation?

Feeding Christians to the lions in a church in Barga.

Driving through Tuscany there were rolling brown and golden hills and then a city way up there, Voltara. The road winds and winds up to it and from it one can see a 360 degree view.

The rooftops of Voltara.

At one time Florence and Sienna were equal in power and wealth. Then Florence won out. Below is the central plaza, enormous public space, with Tom standing in the shadows.

Pictured below is one of the little villages of Cinquaterra. There are five little villages tucked into some pretty rocky terrain overlooking the sea, now sort of a national park. The sea washes against the rocks in a violent way and the bravest of the teenagers actually swim in all that white water.

A Cathedral n Lucca.

Lucca. The old Roman wall still surrounds it.

A beautifully frescoed building in the town of Trento.

Germany, slovakia, Austria and Italy

Several magnets took a trip to Europe with Tom who is a master builder of super-efficient masonry stoves and his wife, Brenda, a retired school librarian who would like to visit the sites on the jig saw puzzles she puts together. Their first stop was in Germany where the camera got displaced so their photos were taken with the i-pad and the quality was a little disappointing, especially the scenery shots.

Slovakia is where Tom shared his knowledge in a workshop where they built several stoves in an old school building. The woman who’s idea it was to have this workshop is an architect and she has now has a magnet.

The workshop gang.



This is a loudspeaker leftover from the communist era. Every morning it broadcast the national, anthem, news, announcements and so on.

 

A streetscene in Bratislava. Note the sign in the lower corner, interesting because the city was known as Pressburg until sometime around World War I.

 

Brenda gave a magnet to a toll clerk on the autobahn in Austria who seemed very glad to get it.

Austria

Italy was the main objective, especially Tuscany, an area so photogenic that its images grace many a jig saw puzzle. There are so many photos and comments that I think it best to follow this post with one on Italy alone.

Tom and Brenda's adventure ended in Munich, Germany at the same hotel they started out in. There they were reunited with their camera thanks to the clerks pictured below who were happy to ham it up for photos.