17 Comments

I love reading your 'dispatches', they are really funny. Thank you for writing :)

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Thank you so much!

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brb sending you a few boxes of these, the ultimate gift: https://bulkcandystore.com/candy-cigarettes/

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I used to love these when I was a kid. Also, what a weird thing to give to kids, right?

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it's only weird if your goal is not to get small children hooked on big tobacco

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Yes, and that is a really weird goal.

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oh crap i already read this one. but i just reread it and came up with the same exact joke about candy cigarettes and then was like WAIT i have already made that joke and then I looked and now here we are

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Very nice, humorous, happy go lucky post, like it, well done, keep rocking in the free spirit world.

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Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying these!

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Nov 7, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

I can tell you that 10,000 rupiah will buy a lot of friendship in our house if you’re looking for another phenomenal deal. A certain 8-year-old just got a coin/bill collecting binder from Grandma.

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Say no more! We will return to Los Angeles with the required funds to purchase his friendship.

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Nov 7, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

As someone who understands Hinduism particularly well, I’ll say that it’s position on offerings is basically “anything goes as long as your heart is in the right place”, but eventually enough people do the same things.. and voilà, it has now become a custom.

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Thanks for explaining! I get the sense that there’s a cottage industry of offering gifts that people can buy.

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Nov 8, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

Oh yes. Each temple has a community of vendors around who sell specific offerings, and will share a local legend on how it came to be. Hinduism is extremely polytheistic by design, so each temple worldwide can be quite different. Glad you got to experience the Balinese variety!

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Thank you for explaining, this is very helpful!

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Nov 7, 2022Liked by Michael Estrin

Loving the journey!

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Thank you, Bryan!

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