Angela Wu, who owns her own small public relations firm in Taipei, became interested in kites when she was hired by a tourism group to promote a kite event. Fascinated by the sport and appreciating a business link for the future, she immersed herself in kiting to the extent she found herself in Jakarta in 2000 attending the annual festival there.

The Wau kites of Malaysia are perhaps the most beautiful of all kites. They are the symbol of that progressive Southeast Asian country in general and of Air Malaysia in particular. Constructed by craftsmen all over the nation, they are identified most closely with the state of Kelantan in the far northeast. The heartland is the town of Kota Bahru.

“Dear Mr. Scott Skinner, “Because of the ongoing work of the Government of Cambodia to nuture its traditional cultural traditions, such as dance and music and kiteflying, the Government’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has made a particular effort to publish another important book on Khmer kites with the financial assistance of the Drachen Foundation of Seattle, Washingon, U.S.A.

With anecdotes, tall tales, gossip, intelligent inside information and the occasional magic trick——all commented on in a forceful, clipped British accent—–Shakib Gunn of Singapore is easily able to dominate a dinner table of 20. He did it one night on that tight little island at a gathering of the Singapore Kite Association, an organization he helped found and has led for many years. A heart ailment has recently cramped his traveling, but hardly his enthusiasm.

Carved out of rubber and palm oil plantations and scrubland a quarter century ago, the industrial town of Pasir Gudang in peninsular Malaysia’s Johor state, bordered on the south by Singapore, is a bit soulless. It has factories staffed by people from all over the country, plus a fair number of foreign workers. Sense of community is lacking.

A vast former military camp named Fort Bonifacio east of Manila was sold some years ago by the Philippine government to a private real estate conglomerate. The Hong Kong-based corporation soon developed a portion of the land nearest the capital into the largest and most expensive real property holding in the whole country. A series of 50-story buildings were put up. Meanwhile, the remainder of the huge holding continued as unoccupied, flat grassland, intersected by a network of concrete roads.

Picture the scene: a park on a sunny Sunday, people all over the place, me with a nine-foot box kite and no wind to help me launch it. I’m trying to coax the thing off the ground when a woman with two dogs wanders over and says: “They are scared to death of kites. I’m trying to get them used to them.”

Happy Moments The park is full of very small children each running and shouting with her little yellow Sun Ray kite. The cloudy day has become a sunny one. It should fly. A big black monster tube. My wife and I just laugh and laugh as it rolls and rolls but never flies. Art

Do you have a clear space to fly? A bystander walking under your kite could get injured. Very taut lines, especially if made of nonstretch Kevlar or similar fibers, can cut and wound. Is a source of electricity near? Since a strong gust or unexpected windshift may cause you to alter your position, keep at least 100 yards clear of even smaller electric cables. Be aware that power companies are prepared to sue over damage to their property.

Without diminishing the unique magic of a kite in flight, what actually enables it to fly, to remain suspended in the sky, escaping earth’s gravity?