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Visit to Southeast Asia a memorable experience
Photo by Courtesy of Roger Ptolemy
In the Ptolemy household, the Peace Corps is a family affair. Roger and Andrea Ptolemy met while serving in Tonga in the South Pacific, and their daughter, Jennifer Goodman, is about halfway through her stint in Thailand. (She graduated from Durango High School in 2000.)
In November, the Ptolemys met up with their daughter in Bangkok. In a fun twist, the program director of the Peace Corps in Thailand has volunteered in Tonga as well, so there was some fun sharing of war stories.
Funeral ceremonies for the king's sister were taking place while they were in the capital city, so most of the popular tourist attractions were closed. Goodman had warned her parents about that, so they changed into respectful black clothes at the airport in Kuala Lumpur before arriving.
Goodman traveled with the Ptolemys to a few destinations in Thailand, including a visit to the Chiang Rai, where they saw what may be the most unique Buddhist temple in the world, made of concrete painted white with millions of tiny mirrors creating a look of snow and ice. It was donated by an avant‑garde Thai artist.
They also had a few days of R & R at Krabi Beach near Phuket. A day trip to Ma Ya Beach, where the movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo Di Caprio was filmed, showed them why the spectacular scenery has inspired the Thais to make it a national park.
They ended the Thai leg of their journey with a visit to the home of her Thai family and the schools where Goodman teaches English in the northwest part of the country. (The Peace Corps requests that the press not name the town where she is serving for her safety.) The students were delighted to meet her parents, and they were introduced and asked to say a few words in both the elementary and upper‑level schools where she teaches.
The warmth of the Thai people and the friendliness of her fellow faculty and students are making Goodman's stay a delight. She feels that she is having a true Peace Corps experience.
The big adventure was the trip from Goodman's home to Cambodia, which her parents took on their own.
The Ptolemys found themselves among the hundreds of thousands of people who got caught in the closure of the Bangkok airport. So they took a complicated land route to Siem Riep, worrying about bandits, the use of e‑visas at a remote border crossing and the dangers of the 1 million to 3 million landmines remaining from the five‑year reign of the Khmer Rouge.
The journey took place on Thanksgiving Day, and they found themselves more thankful for their safe arrival than they'd ever been over a full table.
The stop at Angkor, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, was everything and more that they could have imagined. Most Westerners have heard of Angkor Wat, but it is only one of hundreds of temples in the area of the ancient capital of the Khmer, who were in power from 790 to 1327 A.D.
They stopped in Phnom Penh, the country's capital, for a look at the more recent past, including the Killing Fields. By the end of the Khmer Rouge's dictatorship, 2 million people, including all of the educated population, were dead. At a visit to the S‑21 prison, they learned that 16,000 went in, and only seven survived.
A boat trip on the Mekong River took them to Vietnam, with stops in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and Hanoi. Of course, because of our history there, there are a lot of reminders of the many Americans who fought and/or died there.
A final stop in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, showed them the other face of Asia, with some of the tallest buildings in the world and a high level of cleanliness and order.
Roger Ptolemy said there are some overriding themes that they brought home in their memories: A rich and deep history. Scenery that ranged from rice paddies and jungles to cityscapes. Meals always based on either rice or noodles. Lots of bicycles and motorbikes (not motorcycles), particularly in the countryside. And people who work hard and share generously what they have.
My passport is calling my name, but I guess I'll stick around and write the rest of this column.
Happy birthday wishes go out to Judy Peel, Jerry McBride, Virginia Miller Cavanagh, Jon Powell, Yvonna Graham, Sara Petersen, Sara Rolph, Ken Marshall, Ivan Estrada, Ruth Shock, Nancy Conrad, Harold Sparks, Mitchell Serwe, James Dickson, Carol Arnspiger, Tom Stuber, Chloe Bourdon, Jeff Booton, Jessi Parker, Mary Orsini, Marcia Baxter, Jacky Dzuibek, Gail Short, Don Brown, Joyce Boyer, Scattie McGrath, Jorden Stanley, Niall Byers, Jan Goldman and last, but far from least, Cheryl Jackson.
Do you know someone who has contributed significantly to helping young people and/or organizations that deal with young people in our community?
The Boys and Girls Club of La Plata County is creating a new Service to Youth Award to honor folks who have made a real difference in the village that is raising our children.
Nominees should not be affiliated with the Boys and Girls Club organization.
If you know someone like this, fill out the form you can find at www.bgclaplata.org. Applications may be e‑mailed to Vaughn Morris, the BGC director, at vaughn@bgclaplata.org; or mailed or dropped off at the Boys and Girls Club, 2700 Main Ave., Durango,
CO 81301.
Applications are due by Thursday.
The honoree will be recognized at a fundraising breakfast Feb. 18 in front of 150 adults and kids at the Boys and Girls Club.
We don't say thank you enough to people who help us raise the next generation. Here's a chance to do just that.
Whether you dropped a quarter or a C‑note into a Salvation Army kettle in December, your contribution added up. While the organization's volunteers weren't sure how they'd fare after all of the economy's ups and downs, kettle contributions were only a few hundred dollars off from 2007, bringing in more than $75,200.
Checks with nice donations are still coming in, and it looks like the total will be well over $100,000. (If you still want to make a donation, you can mail it to Salvation Army, P.O. Box 3296, Durango, CO 81302.)
You can only begin to imagine how much that money will be needed by our friends and neighbors in these tough times. The number of applications for help going to the Community Emergency Assistance Committee is already way up in 2009.
As always, touching and funny stories are still coming in about bell ringers' experiences. One man told a ringer as he put his quarter in that his grandfather had loved the Salvation Army. His granddad taught him when he was a little boy to always put in 25 cents when he passed a kettle. He's still doing so today.
For several weekends in front of Wal‑Mart, a group of teenagers was raising money for a drug‑and‑alcohol rehab program by selling crosses they had carved and put on keychains and other items. One day, a youth leader brought one over and gave it to a bell ringer, saying "God bless you for what you are doing." And they were trying to raise their own money.
Finally, there's a light note. Over the many years of bell ringing, a variety of organizations have created friendly rivalries to see who can out ring the other. The Kiwanis Club of Durango and High Noon Rotary Club, which both hold their meetings at lunchtime at the DoubleTree Hotel every Thursday, rang during the same week at Wal‑Mart.
"Rotary outrang Kiwanis $2,800 to $2,100," High Noon newsletter editor Wayne Bedor wrote regarding Salvation Army board member Jim Bolen's report. "Rotary was posted at the north entrance to Wal‑Mart and consequently had to shake a whole lot more to stay warm compared to the Kiwanis bell ringers posted in the banana belt of the south entrance."
My thanks to Wanda Ellingson for the update.
Here's wishing these anniversary couples a 2009 full of love and laughter - Tom and Joan Helm, Tom and Geri Mulligan and Doug and Jenny Houle.
For information about upcoming events and fundraisers, check Local Briefs.
How to reach me:
neighbors@durangoherald.com; phone 375‑4584; fax 259‑5011; mail items to the
Herald; or drop them off at the front desk. Please include contact names and phone numbers for all items.
If you are submitting an item for preview, please send it with briefs in the subject line and e‑mail it to herald@durangoherald.com.
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