Pre-trip Planning

I have planed this trip to SE Asia for several months.

I retired last May and have been launching into retirement with gusto!
This summer I attended three jazz workshops to work on my jazz piano skills: Jazz Camp West at a redwoods campgrounds near La Honda, California; Jamey Aebersold's Camp at Louisville, Kentucky; and the Stanford Jazz Camp.

Then in August I joined a gang of adventurers my age for a canoe trip down the Big Salmon River in the Yukon. It was an exhilarating trip, featuring a pristine uninhabited wilderness, king salmon swimming upstream, eagles perched by the river, families of mergansers, and signs of grizzlies and moose (and one big foot track left by a merry prankster ahead of us down the river), but also a dramatic canoe capsize on the second day of the trip followed by the rescue from the raging waters of the three canoeists including one with a prosthetic leg and repair of the canoe thanks to the help and north country wisdom of Trevor and his Yukon Canadian family, a second capsize incident two days later, and recurrent days of cold rainy weather. I somehow avoided being a victim of either of these mishaps, the fear of falling in the icy cold water perhaps providing me super-human strength in avoiding capsize. After the second capsize incident, however, we all became very focused and proficient with our canoeing skills.

In September I celebrated my 70th birthday with a large gathering of friends at a rack of lamb feast at our home provided by gourmet chef Mahmoud.

Now I'm off to SE Asia for travels to Hong Kong, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and a bicycle trip in Sri Lanka. I have traveled all of my life, with early travels around the US with my parents, many trips to Europe during my college years (Europe on 5 dollars a day during the 60's), courtship of my wife Rebecca with travel in Italy and Greece, and many trips to Central and South America, SE Asia, and Africa with my wife and children. This will, however, be my first trip to Sri Lanka.

Adventure travel is my passion!