Letter transcription:

2-20-64

Dear David: I just reread Mark’s letter and still wonder what this car thing is all about. Why don’t you write me in detail just what the scare is on the whole thing. We took a tour this a.m. and saw the Royal Palace and Temple of Emerald Buddha. Those two places are the show places of Bangkok. Dad attended Rotary at noon. We took another tour this afternoon and saw the great reclining Buddha which is covered with gold and looks like it is a block long. I took a picture of the bottom of two toes – couldn’t get the whole figure in our camera. We also viewed the Marble Temple and Temple of solid gold Buddha. At one time of he[?] the figure was covered with plaster to disguise it from enemy then people forgot about it. Only in recent years did the plaster begin to peal off and was discovered they had a Ft. Knox here in Bangkok. We also visited UNICEF office and received some literature on their work here. Drove thru Chinatown section. We have tickets to attend Thai dance performance tonight at 9 p.m. We are just loafing around before going to eat dinner. We had some nuts and a drink about 5 o’clock and I am not too hungry. There is a swimming pool with a terrace for watching and that was where we loafed and had our refreshments. There are no Methodists here – or at least couldn’t find any listed in Prayer Calendar. There are some Catholics. Dad said the Rotary Club was quite international and there is a Masonic Lodge here. Fri. a.m. – Had breakfast with a couple from Philadelphia – they have left now on a tour we are waiting for. We are going to pack this afternoon for our departure tomorrow a.m. It is 18 miles to airport and we had to be there an hour or two before flight since we have to go thru customs, I will be glad when we get to Malacca. We will be there about 1 ½ days. It is so hot here it has a tendency to make one a little lazy. However the hotel where we are staying has air conditioning and I have to wear a light wrap when we dine. Our room is too cold for me but Dad likes it. We sleep under wool blankets – real crazy isn’t it. – Fri. a.m. – later almost noon. We have had another tour in a motor boat. Yesterday Dad said if he saw another Temple he thought he would throw-up – however he wasn’t quite that nice – just translate into something Uncle Floyd would say and you will have his words. We went to one today but it didn’t seem to have an ill effect upon him. The one we saw – or one of the ones we saw had a stairway on outside with 59 steps – and steep too. We didn’t go to the last step – just about 1/3 of the way, and took some pictures. We keep snapping and we are to run out of film today but can get all we want here at their price which is much more than in Singapore Hong Kong. We should have bought more while we were there. Everything but food is very expensive here. We are thru sightseeing and just intend to loaf around the rest of today. I called U.S.I.S. Mon. – Mr. Robert Lasker about going into Cambodia. He said it was safe for us to go. Woman at Travel Agency said the hotels there are booked full until April, so people keep going to see the sights. We have been told the accommodations aren’t so good but I think we can put up with it one night. We saw water people again today – something akin to what we saw in Hong Kong. Floating markets. We were on a river this morning and saw how the people live on edge of river and canals. They use the river for everything but drinking. They have large jars rain water is kept in for drinking but they wash their dishes in the river. We saw so many children in their birthday suits. When we were in Bali we saw something and

[page 2] although government has decreed the women must wear something above waists we saw many – of all ages – with just sarong. John said only filthy minded foreigners stared at Bali women who go bare breasted. I took one picture of a group of children in Bali in their birthday clothes but we were in a shady spot so it may not be any good. I think most of the Bali pictures should be good. We sent a box of Dad’s things back home today – his overcoat and a jacket and pr. of pants. We decided we didn’t need the radio so put it in and the large collection of literature we have gathered as we have traveled. It certainly gets heavy, but there is so much I want to show you when we get home. We collected quite a load of Methodist literature in Hong Kong. We were up early this a.m. for our motor trip and since we ate light breakfast are ready for something substantial. Let us have details of why you can’t drive the car.

Love Mother

©2016 copyright owned and transcribed by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found: https://genealogylady.net/2016/12/14/something-uncle-floyd-would-say/