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Safety Harbor residents Todd Ramquist and Kiaralinda toured several East Asian countries in October with former Safety Harbor residents Catherine and D.J. Condon, who
now live in Myanmar (see story, FRONT PAGE).
Left, they posed with Tropical Breeze in front
of a boat that was being prepared for a ceremony in Luang Praband, Laos.
The city is located in north central Laos on the Mekong River. Residents decorate boats, large and
small, as part of a religious ritual. The small boats, such as the couples are holding above,
are made of rice paper in the shape of lotus blossoms, decorated with flowers and candles and set adrift in the river as good luck offerings.
The two couples also participated in the
morning alms giving ceremony, an ancient tradition in which Buddhist monks walk single file
through the streets with alms bowls and are given offerings by lay people of sticky rice, fruit or traditional snacks. The monks in turn distribute much of the food to the poor,
Kiaralinda said. After traveling in Myanmar and Laos with the Condons, Todd and
Kiaralinda headed back to the U.S. via Seoul, Korea.
At right, Tropical Breeze in the restaurant/shopping district of Insadong, which is filled with fine craft shops. A street
vendor took a break from pounding rice and peanuts for a traditional Korean candy to pose
with the newspaper. On his shoulder is the wooden mallet — pestle — that he was using to pound the candy in the giant wooden mortar. Despite the traditional tools, the workers
are wearing modern latex gloves.
Below, three children posed with Tropical Breeze in front of a temple in Bagan, Myanmar.
The city is a world heritage site, a 1,000-year-old temple complex considered comparable
to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat. Thousands of Buddhist temples and monuments were built
in a 243-year period from the 11th to 13th centuries when the city was the nation’s capital.
More than 2,000 temples and pagodas remain, many still in daily use. The children are
wearing zinc oxide sunscreen, dabbed on like colorful makeup, “just for fun.”
PHOTOS FOR TROPICAL BREEZE COURTESY OF TODD RAMQUIST AND KIARALINDA
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