joo-mu-boo

i haven't got much time. i need to get back to the beach. to the rolling waves, from gentle sweeps to tumbling bruisers. which will come next? i need to find out.

i've left israel. the weird enclave of jews in the desert. where they so obviously belong and don't belong simultaneously. i've left jordan, where we once again felt strangely at home amongst the muslims -- wandering aqaba, winding down sand-painted wadis in petra, dancing like an idiot around the rec room with mosleh with a gallabiyah around my head (pictures, alas, are forthcoming). feeling at home and welcome; that is until waiting in the airport security line i notice Mein Kampf for sale at the book stall.

'cause you never know when you'll want to read Mein Kampf.

we stop in dubai and wish we hadn't. it's like vegas but without all that bothersome gambling or the irritating possibility of escaping quickly to california. it's like a mall hatched from a packet of sea monkeys. just add water. we prefered the airport to dubai.

but whatever, because now we're in sri lanka. i have tons of lousy things to say about sri lanka. here they are:

at night, for about an hour, the mosquitos come out.

the only good things i can say are it's absolutely gorgeous, surrounded by white sand beaches, coconuts fall from the sky, the beers are large and only a dollar, the people -- when you wave at them -- break out in face-consuming smiles, and the whole place is deliciously uncrowded by tourists. it's like a calmer india populated by buddhists.

we may never leave.

so you better start planning your trip to come visit us here.