...

News here, in brief (feel free to use all or part on your website if you

think it's of interest): 

Lynne & I are back in our Chiang Mai digs (rented condo opposite Wat

Chaimongkhon on the river) after six months in Mexico. We have a house

there, on the Pacific side of Baja, in a very small town called Todos

Santos. We'll be here in Chiang Mai till early 2001, when our Mexico cycle

will kick in again. 

We just returned from two weeks in Laos, where we rented a car with a

photographer friend and drove Route 13 from Vientiane to Luang Prabang on

the "death highway," spent a night in Vang Vieng and another in Kasi,

then took tripod and camera into the heart of the mountains around Muang Phu

Khun, exceptionally beautiful territory with jagged mountain peaks and

limestone formations.

Along the way attended the That Luang stupa festival in Vientiane and

participated in a mission to "rescue" four very old Buddha images from a

former royal temple (actually a meditation pavilion) on Don Khun, a

large but uninhabited island in the Mekong between Luang Prabang and Pak Ou.

The only reason the Buddhas hadn't already disappeared is because the Lao

consider the island to be zealously protected/haunted by the spirit of

King

Setthathirat. That protection won't last long if farang collectors were to

discover the island. We went with an American woman, Bonnie Acker, who

works as an art object restorer for the Lao gov't, a couple of Lao

monks, a British photog, and a German resident from Luang Prabang who organized

the whole thing. Nice spot, surrounded by pristine jungle. 

I rode Bangkok's new Skytrain from the Sala Daeng station on Silom Rd to

the Asoke station on Sukhumvit. Fantastically fast -- took 12 minutes; by

taxi the same trip would have taken 30-40 minutes perhaps. Cost: 20B. What

a boon! Even back in the 70s the traffic in Bangkok was terrible, and you

can imagine what it's like these days. Bangkok truly enters a new era with

this elevated rail system, which allows one to ride in air-con comfort

above the city's four busiest thoroughfares: Phahonyothin, Silom, Rama

I/Ploenchit, and Sukhumvit. A few new elevated expressways also speed

crosstown traffic. The next step is to extend the Skytrain to other parts

of the city, and to connect it with the main railway as well as a new

subway system now under construction. 

Coming up: Heading back to Luang Prabang to meet up with a loose group of

around 30 friends and acquaintances for y2k eve on an old wooden riverboat

rigged with cabins, afloat on the Mekong from dusk to dawn.

Then in January I'm going to Burma to ordain as a monk for three weeks at a

monastery in Sagaing (in the hills west of Mandalay) under the tutelage of

Sayadaw U Lakkhana. I've been wanting to buat for at least 20 years now,

and finally drove a wedge into my schedule to be able to do it.

Watching Larry Nahlik ordain here in Chiang Mai provided the final inspiration to

 leap in. I was very appreciative that Larry and Wat U Mong allowed me to

photograph his ordination and parts of his stay there; Lonely Planet

devoted an entire page of the latest Thailand guide (8th edition) to this

event.

All the best to the Thai 58 ring. If you come to Chiang Mai, pay me a visit.

Looking forward to new moments, new centuries, new millenniums,

Joe

Joe Cummings

124 Chang Klan Road #025

Chiang Mai 50100

THAILAND

tel (+66 53) 818244 or 270636, ex 106

fax (+66 53) 818 244 or (+1 413) 332-5540

email: [email protected]

website: http://www.joecummings.com

photo attached; spring 1998 in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico