Douglas Noble's Birthday - scroll down for essay Traveling With Doug, by Cecilia Brainard
TRAVELING WITH DOUG
Cecilia Brainard
Through the years, Lauren and I have
travelled with Doug Noble. We were together in Cambria, Central Coast, in
cruises to Alaska and South America, San Miguel Allende with Hilary Walling and
Myrna Horton, and the Philippines with the Allens. We also did an Overseas
Adventure Tours trip with him and Hilary Walling to Vietnam; and last April,
Doug was with us in Malaysia, then on to Burma to join Kim Holmquist, Patrick
Culbertson, Richard Bakke, and Hilary for a memorable trip led by my friend,
John Silva.
What amazes me is that Doug packs
very light, two very small bags and that’s it. In the one bag that’s slighter
bigger than a briefcase, he has his clothes; in the other, he has his camera
gear and his journals. He never checks the latter in and has a fit when he’s
separated from this bag. He will spend hours writing in his journal, blow by
blow accounts of what happened each day; I used to keep travel journals but
when we’re with Doug, I stopped and just let him do all the work. He very
kindly sends me copies upon request.
As a camera/video person, he is most
competitive, and I’ve seen him curse another avid photographer in Hanoi when
the man got between Doug and a woman making rice paper. “God-damn-it!” with the
stamping of the feet. But he later made
up with the fellow and they became respectful pals during the rest of the trip.
Another example of Doug’s passion for picture-taking happened in the
Philippines when we arrived at the Bonifacio house/Museum. Eyes focused on the
house, Doug rushed out of the van, and in his ardor failed to see the metal
gate, or failed to see that the entryway wasn’t very big. He didn’t duck when
he entered and slammed his forehead against the heavy Spanish Colonial metal so
badly, he gouged his forehead and bled like you’ll never believe – I think you
can still see the dent on his forehead.
Food: hmmm, we have a lot of stories
about this one.
In cruises, he was famous for trying
up to three soups, and five desserts all in one sitting. During those cruises,
he liked to hang around the library where he’d work on a jigsaw puzzle; and
during the non-sailing days, he knew the schedule of all the trivia games,
raising these to a competitive level that Princess Cruise Lines is still talking
about.
More on food – in Buenos Aires, he
had this idyllic idea of where we would have lunch – there were five of us, the
Rosses were also there; but jet-lagged and tired from the morning’s walk, the
four of us outvoted him and stood in line for empanadas in a small take-out place
across our hotel. Before we fully
understood what happened, Doug got pissed at the people and stomped out. He
did not want take-out empanadas, you see, he wanted us seated in a nice
restaurant in Buenas Aires, having our grass-fed steaks and sangria. But back
in the hotel, he regained his composure. I understood then that despite the
American competitiveness, Doug is a Victorian romantic, which is why he loves High
Tea in historic hotels, and why he will stay in them even though they’ve been
downgraded to two or three stars.
Oh, and Chinese food – don’t bring
Doug to Chinese restaurants. We made this mistake in Makati, when the four of
us (we were with the Allens) opted for Chinese food, and Doug was very unhappy
about the food. “I hate Chinese food,” he said, and after dinner, he separated
himself from us saying, “I have to find ice cream to wash away the awful taste
of Chinese food.” Consequently, whenever
we see a Chinese restaurant called "Noble House" we always say, “There’s Doug’s
restaurant.”
One last thing about food – he’s the
first to laugh at the food supply I bring when I travel – I will have a bottle
of Margarita, See’s candies, cheese, salami, and other goodies. But he’s first
in line when I serve my Margarita, cheeses, and salami.
We’ve had great times travelling
with Doug, and are looking forward to more.
-end-
~~~~~
tags: friends, family, Cecilia Brainard, birthday party
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