One-Way Ticket: March 2011

My grampa passed away last night in a hospital in South Korea. He had been battling pneumonia for several weeks and had a tracheotomy a few days ago. He was traveling around Thailand and Burma when he got sick. No one knew that he was heading home. My aunt Margi got a call from the embassy that he was in a hospital in Korea, and she and my aunt Mary headed over there right away. They got a hotel near the hospital and have been sending daily updates since their arrival a few weeks ago. Some of their emails were sad and scary; some were cute. At one point, my aunts called my dad and all the "kids" (my aunts and uncles) so they could say goodbye. This is me saying goodbye.

I caught the travel bug from my gramps. Since I was a little kid, he spent the most part of most years in far away places. The first place I remember is Costa Rica. He brought me Costa Rican money and a pancho in colors that I had never seen together. He talked excitedly about his experiences: the farming, the people, the food. Then it was Chiapas, Mexico, where he owned a small farm for many years. And of course, the trip that got his phones tapped: Cuba =) While I was in Switzerland, he and his dog Canella (often referred to by my dad's sibling as "step-mom") zigzagged through Europe for a year in his truck with a camper shell. He stopped in my town (Trun - way up in the Swiss alps) three times during that year. We visited castle ruins and ancient churches. But my favorite day was when it was raining so hard that we stayed in my apartment drinking coffee all day. He talked with me about his work; he spent his life fighting for workers' rights and campaigning for unions. He continued this work after he retired, contributing to newsletters, sitting on committees, and participating in various marches and events. I forget the details, but I remember his passion and commitment. He was a man who aligned every action with his beliefs. Our beliefs were not always simpatico, but his message to me was to live a life I love. And I am. Thank you, Grampa.

In Thailand (Nov. 2006)

Thailand (Nov. 2006)

Another bug I inherited from Grampa was dog loving. Many of the Secors did. Grampa loved his dogs. The first one I remember was Canella. Grampa lived on a boat somewhere in Mexico and Canella was what he called a boatyard dog: wild, living on what she scavenged. When Grampa came back to the U.S., he brought Canella with him. Their public displays of affection earned her the name "step-mom" from some of Grampa's kids. They were inseparable until Canella's death. A few years later, Canellita came into his life. She now lives with Margi and her two dogs (one she found wandering at Costco; the other was suffering a mean doggie sister at my brother's house), her cat, and whatever injured ducks cross her path. Margi is 125% her dad's daughter: love and light.

Grampa and Canellita
A Secor Christmas tradition:
we drape Grampa with all the bows
and ribbons while unwrapping presents

A FEW OF GRAMPA'S LAST EMAILS HOME

FEB. 6, 2011

I am in Myanmar now previously renamed by the British, Burma. I'm having problems with the computers. Please excuse. When I was here last I just missed Chinese New Year. This time it came up while I was here. My Brother in law, Jake, who I am traveling with decided to go to China town to catch it. We took the number 53 bus. As we got closer the trafic almost stopped. It became so slow that the bus driver was reading a book between times when he could move. We finnaly got out of the bus and walked in the right direction. It was much faster. While walking we passed up three more number 53 busses that were stuck in trafic ahead of our bus. When we got to China town the street was blocked off and there was a policman about every 30 yards to keep the street clear. It was obvious that somthing was going to come down the street. The people were about 10 deep on either side of the street. We hoped that we were going to see some dancing drasgons or something like that come down the street.We stood there like that for over an hour. My legs were killing me. Then some cares came down the road. Most were black but one was a red mini Cooper. As soon as it passed The police allowed everyone back in the street. We finnaly found out that the red Mini Cooper was what it was all about. It was the Kings daughter the Princes. I felt a little foolish for standing there all that time just to see the Princes pass by. She didn't even wave at me.

While Jake and I have some kind of excuse for standing there that long. I wonder about all those other people, about 20,000 of them, that they would stand that long to see a red mini Copper pass by. They do love their royalty. The king is proably the most respected person in the world. No one speakes evil of him. The fact that you can get 7 years in jail for disparaging the Monarcy has nothing to do with it. The king is in very bad health and is living in a hospital now. When he dies you will see ont of the most sectacular displays ever. they will propably breake out the dragon boats which are about 60 feet long and they are spectacular. Also the king will be caried to the funeral pyre on a golden carrage that takes up both sides of the road and is about 20 feet tall.

That's all i'm going to write right now as I am having problems whithe the computer.Pardoen the speeeling. Just guess at anything because I don't have time to go over it.

More later.

FEB. 11, 2011

I am having problems getting connected so I will make this short. We are in Mandalay where the flying fishes are supposed to play. Unfortunately it's a long way from any ocean and Kippling was never here. I wanted to tell a little more about Thailand and the Buddhist religion there. Women are not allowed to touch a monk. That even goes so far as to prohibit them from even handing a monk anything. If a woman wants to give a monk something she will either lay it down so that he can pick it up or hand it to a man to pass it on. neither women or men are allowed to go into a Buddhist shrine with their legs showing. If a women show up with a skirt that is above the ankles there is a monk there to issue her a long skirt that has an elastic in the wast so that she can just step into it. Small girls are exempt. The problem is that the monk at the door has to determine if she is really a small girl or a big girl. He casts a glance up and down looking for hips and other things to make his determination. After a shift of that he probably has to go and have a talk with the enlightened one.

A little more about back packing in Thailand. Everyone who has ever backpacked in Thailand knows about Kohsan Road. It is only one block long but when people refur to it they are really talking about an area of several blocks around it. There are many cheap places to sleep in the area. On Kohsan Road itself there are only two types of people. backpackers and people trying to sell to backpackers. In the daytime the street is crowded. At night it's packed. That is the area where you can find out information about anyplace in the world that you might want to go. The people are always willing to talk about where they have been and what they have done and what they have run into. On any given day there are probably nearly a thousand backpackers in the area. You can get a bare bottom place to stay for as little as $4.50 a day. That will get you a bed, fan, toilet and shower out in the hall and almost always hot water. Anything more than that will cost a little more. Aircon will add a couple dollars a day.

If you want to go anywhere you can just go to the desk where you are staying and make the arrangements right there. You pay at the desk and they make the reservation and arrange for a van or other transportation the pick you up and get you to where you are supposed to be on time. I thing that is a great way to travel. I have always said that it I have a bed roll and can find a bridge to sleep under I will have a good time.

More later

FEB. 19, 2011

Everyone who has traveled or heard much about Thailand knows about their street massage parlors. They are usually a half dozen or more lounges lined up along the side of the street and you just lay down and they will message anything that is legal to message in public. I saw A WHOLE FAMILY GETTING MESSAGES AT ON PLACE. THERE WAS THE FATHER, MOTHER, AND 2 YOUNG DAUGHTERS THE OLDEST WAS ABOUT 11 AND THE YOUNGER A COUPLE YEARS YOUNGER. The girls were giggling like crazy as this adult man massages they little feets. Since I was last here something has been added. It's called The fish spa. There is a tank of water about 12 feet long. It's transparent so you can see through it. Inside there are about 1,000 fish each about an inch long. They are the kind that have suckers for mouths that can hang onto the glass. You sit on a bench beside the tank and put your feet in the water which is almost up to your knees. The fish come and nibble at any dead skin cells and clean you at least almost up to the knee. For this you pay the man about $3 for half an hour., He makes out quite well considering that the fish do all the work.

I am now in a small town in Myanmar that I can't remember the name of and if I told you you wouldn't remember it either. It was another buss ride from hell to get here. We left at 3:30 in the morning. It seems that all of the tripes I have made start very early in the morning. That meant that I had to get up at least 45 minutes before that because as I have always said a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first cup of coffee. The trip took about 12 hours over one of the worst roads I have been over. My bony but is still sore. They filled every seat on the bus up then they put 7 plastic stool in the isles and filled them up. As if that wasn't enough they put 5 more on top of ther bus.

This is the first time in quite a whil that I have been able to send emails. Once before I wrote out 3 of them and they wouldn't send. I will try and catch up here as this town dosn't have a lot to see and the internet works. More latter.

PS. I am having fun even if it doesn't sound like it.

FEB. 20, 2011

Just before last email where I wrote about another bus ride from hell we were in the area of Bagan. That is one of the most famous archaeological places in the world. The area is about the size of Manhattan Island and has 4,400 Buddhist temples spread all over the area. Some of them are supposed to be well over a thousand years old. Jake and I rented bycycles and went out to where we could climb to the top of one of the ones that had a flat top. Most don't have flat tops. It's only the oldest ones. From the top we could see probably 50 temples off in the distance. We've gotten to the place where we don't have to go see each one of them. While each are a little different they are all pretty much the same.

More about the bus ride from hell. I didn't go into a lot of details about it other than to mention that the bus was loaded and the road was bad. As soon as we started the driver decided to torturer us with some radio program that I couldn't make out. At first I thought it was some kind of music that you can't sing, whistle or hum. that lasted for about an hour. I found out that it was a Buddhist chant. Then he put something from the radio that was some man talking, in their language, that went on and on. This bus was loaded with backpackers from all over the world and I doubt that anyoe other that the driver had the slightist idea what the man was saying. that went on for almost another hour. After that the sun was comeing up and he turned on the television. It was around then that wh hit the bad road. I've beem on some pretty bad reoad but I will say this was one of the poorest excuses for a road that I have ever been on. For much of it it was not paved. When it was paves it was only one lane wide so that when we came acros another vehicle going the other way both had to put wheels on the side of the road. Jake and I had the back seat on the bus along with three other people from Japan. we had the windows on each side. the seat that we were sitting on kept sliding forward out from under us. Periodically we would all have to get up and slide it back into place. Not easy when we all had gear to contend with. We got to where we were going though. It was only a place to stay for a short time to break up the trip. tomorrow we leave for lake Inleli. If we had made the entire trip to the Lake in one jump it would have been a 16 hout trip. the way the original plan went we were going to have to go back over that sdsame road for antoher 16 hours. I believe we wil tak a plane ride back to Mandalay.

One thing that I must add is that they are working on that road. I believe it will take them yeaRS TO GET IT RIGHT THOUGH. oNE THING THAT i HAD NEVER THOUGHT OF TILL Jake ASKED ME . he ASKED IF i HAD EVER SEEN A WHEELBARROW IN South east Asia. i HAD TO SAY THAT i HADN'T. THEY DO EVERYTHING BY HAND. i SAW WOMEN SITTING AND PUTTING ROCKS IN A BASKET THAT THEY THEN PUT ON THEIR HEADS AND CARRIED TO THE SITE AND DUMPED THE. so MUCH FOR MODERN technology.