Sunday, January 07, 2007

Chapter 78: Borobudur

In which our heroine wakes up early, spends seven hours on a three-hour bus ride due to two flat tires, misses a wedding ceremony, almost misses a wedding reception, dances the funky chicken, discusses the 19th century opium trade with a technical drawing teacher, squeezes into a public van with 16 other people, buys edible souvenirs, meets an American tourist, teaches racial slurs to a sociology teacher, and sees an (unofficial) Wonder of the World.

That’s about it, actually. How did those early novelists ever manage to add anything to their chapter summaries? I guess pictures will have to substitute for the three thousand words Fielding or Thackeray would add here.



17 people in an angkot. Only about ten of them are technically visible, so you'll have to trust me that I counted right.

(I did.)

If you touch the Buddha statue in the middle of the stupa, all your wishes come true. If you don't, you just look like an idiot trying.

(I didn't.)

Don't you think it should be an official Wonder of the World?

(I do.)

6 comments:

B.G. Christensen said...

I think your mom should be an official wonder of the world.

Anonymous said...

Thackeray and Fielding would have probably used more than 3000 words. And, though this post is wonderful in its conciseness, all you would need to do to bring it to Thackerian standards is include a lot of unnecessary description about . . . well, anything you could describe.

Anonymous said...

*sigh* Sometimes I lament the loss of my innocence: I concur that it should be considered a wonder of the world, but only because of how mammic it is.

Also, have you ever considered how ent-like "borobudur" sounds?

And as for thackeray, if he can be faulted for too much effluence of words on the page, I'm nevertheless glad his kin were just as effluent with their seed. Otherwise I might be somebody else (or nobody at all); and I like me.

Tolkien Boy said...

Hey, I can get a Abercrombie Fitch gift certificate! Too bad the real store has an ambersand...

On a totally unrelated note (apparently) I'm kind of envious of your wonders-of-the-world-hopping trips.

Anonymous said...

I'm not an official wonder of the world? How disappointing. And here I've been thinking I was.

Melyngoch said...

I realized while reading this that I'd forgotten what you look like. Strange, given I'm in love with you and all.