“Pursuit of the Golden Lily” is a new novel by R. Emery, inspired by her father's WWII POW diary. Initially documenting the author's journey to return the diary to Thailand where it was written, the Blog now follows her experiences as she self-publishes, launches the novel and reflects on topics woven into the narrative.

Sunday 13 December 2015

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!!

Monday 7 December 2015

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"!