Jungles and Shamans

In Pursuit of the Golden Lily, Rose Jamieson finds herself traversing the mountainous jungles of Thailand and Malaysia accompanied by Terak, a very special Jahai shaman. Since our intention on this journey was to visit some of the places described in the novel, the rainforest was a high priority! The first one we encountered was at Khao Sok Lake National Park in Thailand. This ancient ecosystem has evolved over the past 300,000 million years.

Dotted around the lake are standing dead trees... stark reminders that where now there is water, once stood a majestic rainforest. When the river was dammed in 1980, thousands of hectares of forests were destroyed, not to mention all of the animals that found themselves scrambling for land. It is a controversial subject. On the positive side, the area was saved from destruction by logging and the area now contains Thailand's largest area of virgin forest. The color of the water is otherworldly!

The sheer size of everything in the rainforest is mind boggling! 

And then there is water.... everywhere... it's a rainforest!

In the Royal Belum National Park in Malaysia, we were able to visit a Jahai village and meet some of the indigenous people living therein. This man is laughing because I fell in the mud! It broke the ice (mud) so to speak, and we were able, for a moment, to move beyond the usual tourist visit. It was precious, and, in many ways he embodied for me the spirit of Terak.

Photo by Carol (Ruby) Rubin

The Jahai used to live exclusively in the rainforest, as they have done for 50,000 years. Now, the Malaysian government has resettlement programs, and a few villages hug the banks of Lake Temenggor in Perak. Some of the people still prefer the nomadic life of their ancestors and remain in the jungle. I was interested to learn that the village Shaman lived by himself, on a neighboring island. No one is allowed to visit unless they are unwell, or invited!

The children enjoyed feeding the ducks some of the biscuits the 'foreign' visitors brought! I wished we'd thought to bring some crayons.

The Jahai are members of the Orang Asli, indigenous (original) peoples of Peninsular Malaysia. One can only imagine the wealth of knowledge these gentle people possess about the flora and fauna of their ancestral homeland. They still use bamboo rafts... we didn't get to go on one, unlike Rose, in the novel!

We didn't spot a lot of wildlife in the forests, however, I felt eyes watching. Ruby managed to photograph this one macaque monkey in Malaysia. Very dignified.

Photo by Carol (Ruby) Rubin

Ancient rainforest ecosystems are mythical, magical and mysterious. The biodiversity enclosed within these places is unfathomable. I sincerely hope that humanity makes every effort to preserve these pristine environments. If you ever have a chance to visit one... take it! You will not be disappointed. 

One last photo - on our jungle trek at Khao Sok Lake in Thailand, we climbed to the top of a very high mountain... but only Ruby managed to ascend the final ten feet! What a view awaited her! Well done Ruby and thanks for the photo op!!

The Bellevue Hotel, Penang, Malaysia

I have long dreamed of returning to my birth country, Malaysia. It was pretty thrilling therefore to wake up to  this view from Penang Hill the other day. We were staying at the Bellevue Hotel on Penang Hill to be exact... another establishment that is featured in my novel, Pursuit of the Golden Lily!

In 1939, My father and mother spent their honeymoon in Penang. Though the Bellevue was not built until thirty years after that, I like to think that they would have spent some time looking out from the top of the hill, like I got to do. I felt very close to my parents as I sat there.

      The old, wooden hotel balcony of the hotel provides a perfect setting from which to sit and look out over Georgetown and the Straits of Malacca. Enclosed by an abundant variety of exotic plants....
                       
                           there are some surprises lurking in the greenery....

The gardens are filled with beautiful flowers 

                                         
And exotic birds....
                                                                           

Another surprise was finding a Geodesic Dome! It was built in the grounds of the hotel by American inventor and visionary, Buckminster Fuller - often called "Bucky"! Turned out he was a friend of the Bellevue Hotel owner, Mr. Lim.

Finally, we went looking for a certain someone from the novel, to see if he might be lurking in one of the rooms at the hotel...

If you want to find out who...you'll have to read the book! Chapter One is online! Stay tuned...there are still places to visit and things to learn! Thanks for following the journey with us! Oh, one more thing... the Two of Spades has been showing up a lot on this trip... makes me think the title of my next book may well be... 

"The Two of Spades"!

Chapter One!

In honor of US Thanksgiving, I have decided to publish Chapter One of my novel, Pursuit of the Golden Lily online! I am grateful to so many who have supported my journey and allowed me the privilege of being able to write this novel. If you would like to read it you can do so here:

www.rosieemery.com/golden-lily.html

Enjoy!

Following the trail of the book....

My brother Chris joined Marjorie, Ruby and I outside the Thailand Burma Railway Center as we set off in search of some people and places featured in the book. It's fun to write a novel, then get to discover and meet the people and visit the places you've written about! These three supporters have all read Pursuit of the Golden Lily, so it was even more fun to be able to share the experiences with them. First stop....Sam's House!

Rose Jamieson, the protagonist of my novel, stays at Sam's Guest House in Kanchanaburi...so we went to see if Sam the owner really exists and....

Indeed he does! I think he was a little amused and confused  as we all descended on his Guest House babbling about some novel set in Thailand. Mr. Sam has been running his guesthouse since 1998, the year Rose Jamieson went to stay! There were a few other coincidences that I'll highlight at the end of the book... don't want to give anything away! Lots of Thais drive scooters and someone special in the book rides a motorcycle...so... we had a laugh pretending he might be around.

Found a phone booth, so made a quick call to Zen (he's a principle character in the novel). Of course it just happened to be a British Call Box!

I've been leaving 'a certain special someone' from the book, messages hidden in nooks and crannies all over Thailand. I hope he finds one! Now that would be spectacular!

And as for food... well I had to try Rose's favorite... Fried Green Papaya Salad

from ZabZabs! The best!

Stay tuned... as Zen's angels keep following the trail of Pursuit of the Golden Lily!

Farewell to the diary...

My brother Chris and I take a moment to leaf through our father's WWII diary before handing it over to Terry Manttan (pictured with both of us below). Terry's the General Manager of the Thailand Burma Railway Center (TRBC), in Kanchanaburi, Thailand. The small museum is close to the River Khwae Noi, not far from where Daddy spent time as a prisoner of the Japanese. It's been a long and winding journey to bring his historical memoir here. I want to thank my family and all the people who supported my Indiegogo fund-raising campaign - I would not have been able to do this without you. Deep gratitude to everyone. Dad's meticulous records of people and places will assist the museum staff in retracing the journeys of some of his fellow POWs, helping bring closure to their surviving relatives.

In October, I met with Managing Director and founder of the TRBC, Rod Beattie (pictured below). Rod, Terry and all the staff at the center are profoundly committed to their work. The establishment is a tribute to the hundreds of thousands of prisoners and laborers who worked on the Thailand-Burma railway under the order of the Japanese Imperial Army. In addition to the 12,000 Allied POWs who died, there were some 100,000 men from Burma, Java and Malaya who also perished. 

Much of what happened during the Pacific War has been largely overlooked by the West. Thanks to the tireless research of people like Rod and Terry, pieces of the puzzle are slowly being woven together. My research for Pursuit of the Golden Lily opened pandora's box for me; I learned a lot. The TRBC has done a wonderful job of illustrating what transpired during the construction of the Thailand-Burma railway. Being a physician, my father was spared the horrific task of physically working on the railroad. However, his frustration at not having adequate medical supplies to properly treat his patients was evident in the pages of his diary. He, and the other doctors, did what they could. Ruby took this picture of my brother Chris, standing next to an exhibit of a POW medical ward at the center. It's uncanny how Chris resembles the model of the doctor!

At one point on his arduous journey from Ban Pon, in southern Thailand, to the POW camps in the north - Thanbaya and Chaunggahla-ya - my father stopped off for a few days at Tha Sao POW hospital near Kanchanaburi. We visited the site on our way up to Hellfire Pass. Located on the banks of the River Khwae Noi, it now stands peaceful and serene. It was a beautiful day; the trees rustled in the breeze, the waters of the river rushed past. It was hard to imagine the suffering experienced there so many years ago.

 Marjorie shared with us a poem she wrote after we attended a WWII memorial service at the TBRC in Kanchanaburi. It's a beautiful tribute, and we were all profoundly moved. You can hear Marjorie read it on Youtube here: An Ode to Edward

Finally, before leaving the museum, Terry Manttan shared some precious information with us. By cross referencing Dad's diary with their existing records Terry was able to fill in the blanks of Dad's journey up through Thailand. And, most precious of all, Terry read us a report from Dad's commanding officer, 

Major Bruce Hunt:

"The Burma Hospital camp, for reasons stated above, could not be regarded as a success. Its partial failure, however, was much mitigated by the efficient work of the administrative staff, by the devotion to duty of the ward masters and by the professional skill and knowledge displayed by some of the medical staff. In this particular connection I would mention particularly Maj. W.K.E. Phillips RAMC, Capt. Edward Emery RAMC, Capt. F.J. Cahill AAMC and Asst. Surgeon Wolfe IMD. Outstanding nursing work was performed by Corporals Skippen and Sutton RAMC."

Thank you Daddy, for all that you did to relieve the suffering of so many. This journey has helped me to glimpse a fraction of what you went through and I can only hope to be as resilient and courageous as you and your fellow POWs were. 

Prasat Muang Sing

One of the most important archaeological sites found in the Khwae Noi River basin is the ancient city named Muang Sing (which means city of lions); the sprawling site is believed to have been an outpost of Angkor as it was mentioned in the Prasat Phra Khan inscription made during the reign of Jayavarman VII, a king who reigned over the Khmer empire from 1181-1218. Important discoveries made near this historic site include human skeletons together with metal tools, vessels and ornaments believed to date from the 13th century.

When I was researching material for my novel, Pursuit of the Golden Lily, this magical place provided the perfect setting for an important component in the plot. It was a thrill to personally visit Muang Sing, after only seeing it in photos and on Google Map. I was surprised to find it much as I had described - except for one very crucial detail, which I shall be sure to change in the final draft! Look in the footnotes at the end of the novel to see what it was! Built of laterite, an attractive, reddish stone, the buildings are surrounded by tall trees, some that literally grow into the walls. 

There are statues scattered throughout the temple, such as this one of Avolikitesvara, a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. In Mahayana Buddhism, bodhisattva is the Sanskrit term for anyone who, motivated by great compassion, is dedicated to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. 

Just for fun, I left a message for Zen, tucked away in the ruins....find out why when you read the book.

Of course we all wonder if he'll find it and give me a call! 

 

I'm waiting with baited breath!

                                          Thanks to Ruby and Marjorie for the photos!
         See more photos on Pursuit of the Golden Lily - The Journey - Flikr Page

Kanchanaburi & Surroundings

The town of Kanchanaburi is located where the Kwhae Noi and Khwae Yai Rivers merge into the Mae Klong River. It is the birthplace of the Buddhist monk Phrabhavanavirikakhum, who was born here in 1941. Known to his congregation as 'Luang Phaw Dattajeevo', his work in Buddhist teaching were recognized by the Royal Order but he is perhaps best known for his dedication to the outreach of meditation and Buddhism for world peace.

Kanchanburi was made famous by Pierre Boulle's novel and film of the same name, 'Bridge Over The River Kwai'. In reality there never really was a bridge over the River Khwae Noi, as depicted in the film. That bridge, which was wooden, was built further up river, and destroyed after the war. The bridge you see today in Kanchanaburi, was built during the war, when steel became available. The Allies bombed it during WWII, but the center span was reconstructed post war.

As a POW of the Japanese, my father spent time in Tarsao hospital located near Kanchanaburi. In my novel, "Pursuit of the Golden Lily" Rose begins her journey by lending her father's diary to the Thailand-Burma-Railway Museum...where she meets Jack MacLean! Well, I didn't meet Jack, but we did meet Rod Beattie and his staff. There'll be more about that later when my brother Chris arrives for the official 'handover' of the diary!

One of the highlights of being in Kanchanaburi was getting to meet some wonderful characters... like our driver Cheech'nChong!

He took us on a wild ride through the region that we will never forget! This beautiful gold Buddha overlooked the Mae Klong River, near Kanchanaburi.

We stopped at a small temple and were invited in to meet the head honcho monk, recently arrived from Myanmar. We did try chanting Rama Bolo, but he wasn't impressed LOL!

                      Finally, after all that walking and looking and and appreciating... we flopped down for one of Thailand's most amazing services... a Thai Massage.  Awesome!!!