#65 4,000 Islands, but I only saw a handful which I quite enjoyed.

This picture above I'm really proud of because I was alone in this remote area and set the camera on these rocks and then set the 10 second timer and had to time the jump. This is the first try and I couldn't have done it better. Bragging over.

I got back on a bus and headed down to the 4,000 islands in southern Laos as my last stop in the country. I stayed on an island called Don Det which was one of the two biggest. It had a bridge that joined it to the largest island. The first day I arrived I rented a peddle your feet or your not going anywhere bike and cruised around the islands admiring the local houses, watching the kids in the water and just exploring for the day. It is sort of like Mackinaw island in northern michigan except the paths aren't paved there are many more Laos people and I didn't see any fudge. There are also many more animals and birds on the path in which you could hit. The only one I ever have heard of hitting a bird is Mrs Cline who hit a seagull with her peddle bike.(right now I picture her reading this going "you little shit, don't tell everyone that!!!, I'm gonna biff him when I see him next and laughing the whole time. (we have no idea what being biffed meant, it was mine and Pete's threat through high school and unless it meant lots of love and lots of food I don't think we ever got biffed)). All of the paths were extremely rocky and bumpy and I was sure I would pop a tire but low and behold it held out. I went to see yet another waterfall (the only one on the island and my last one for some time now) It really was quite nice and diffferent than the others.

This is the waterfall, easy to get to and very powerful, a few people die each year trying to swim in it.

I then biked down to the local little beach and that's where I went exploring over the rocks and took the picture at the top of the page. I also learned that the Mekong has dolphins, they are different than ocean dolphins, darker, smaller and have a round face with a short nose where ocean dolphins have a long nose.

After my bike ride I just read and relaxed. I got some food at the guesthouse I was staying at which was absolutely delicious and cheap. I can't use Laos money outside of Laos and found myself with a bit. I decided that I would start the 5 meal a day plan for the next couple of days, it was a great plan and I pulled it off with little problem.

My bungalow was right on the river facing the sunset. I layed in my hammock with my mini speakers going, reading my book and watched the sun go down with a fresh cut, cold pineapple in my lap (this may have been one of the five or it might have been just a snack).

The sunset over the river was just beautiful, I couldn't stop taking picture the whole time from different angles and as the sun was lowering.

This was one of my favorite pictures of the sunset from my porch off my bungalow. $3

The following day I biked around a bit more in between meals and then rented a inner tube for the day. Luckily there were no swings to risk my life on here. I did look into my wallet and think "I've got to spend some money" (this thought very rarely crosses my mind). Laos has one kind of beer, it is called "beer laos" and it is pretty good and pretty cheap. I bought a couple beer laos and went to float on my tube for the rest of the day only stopping to eat and replenish the beer lao. Somewhere during this day I decided I had to push on the next day and so bought a ticket to Cambodia.

This is near the border where we crossed. Along with paying the fee for the visa into cambodia we had to pay an extra $2 at 3 places where they stamped something because it was sunday. Other days you don't have to pay that fee.

I think I decided to go to the furthest place possible because the next day I spent 12 hours on boats, minibuses and big buses and I wasn't even to my destination yet; my destination being Siem Reap which is where the famous Ankor Wat is. So after a full day of travel I still had to wake up the next day and drive in a bus for another 5 hours. I finished my book I was reading which is the autobiography of Anthony Keidis, the lead singer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers called "Scar Tissue". I recently also finished another book called "Killing Pablo" which is about the hunt for Pablo Escobar. Anyway, I finally made it to Siem Reap and rented another peddle bike and cruised all around town. When I was on the smaller streets all the locals would laugh at me when I biked past. I don't know if this is because 1) I'm white

2) I'm wearing a pink shirt---by the way pink is my new obsession, it's not even a question; they should make that a song.

3) I had sweat dripping off of me since I was biking around in the middle of the day when it is hotter than Louise Lane in daisy dukes or anything for that matter, or nothing for that matter.

Either way I plugged (mark) on and ignored the heckling. I saw a bit of the city and went into Ankor Wat for sunset before biking back here to write this damn long blog.

Side note: I think I've lost all fat and muscle in my butt because everytime I sit on a bike, it a bus, on a bench or even now in a chair for any length of time it gets sooooo sore and sometimes goes numb. I would get it massaged but it is too costly in this city.

Things I've learned:

A dork comes from slang for what they called a whales "penis" I don't know why I put it in quotes but it just came out that way and it's not possible for me to hit backspace.

The derivation of the word "fuck" came from the early naval logs that the captain would keep. If a crew member was punished for having sexual intercourse, it was noted in the log as "FUCK" (for unlawful carnal knowledge).

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

Howard Thurman.

#64 Southern Laos on my motorbike/waterfall tour. Now it decides to rain and I've killed my bugs then I've given birth to.

After announcing to everyone in Pakse that I have a fungal rash and need a cream (I announced it to everyone because no one spoke english at any pharmacy or anywhere, so it doesn't matter because no one understood me; I finally had to go to the emergency room to ask a doctor who spoke a little English what the cream was called. Anyways, It's from to much moisture in the air and I got it in places like behind the knees and armpits, so shut up, I realize everyone reading this knows now which doesn't bother me because my mom loves me regardless since she is the only one to read this) I decided to get out of any cities and go to the countryside.
I rented a motorbike for 4 days and hit the road, meeting up with a couple of people along the way that also rented bikes. All along the route were these little local towns and lots of waterfalls.
The first day after visiting the first waterfall I stopped in a little village and sat on a porch with a family while one of the sons played a miniature guitar and an older man weaved together a basket (they use these weaved baskets over here like they are going out of style).
After not seeing rain for months and then seeing it the day I arrived in the south (it's not rainy season so it's not supposed to rain much) it happened to rain every day I had my bike. When you are on a motorbike and it is raining you have to make a choice to either go slow and get more wet or pick up the speed and be colder along with the rain feeling like little bullets hitting you in the face. I didn't have a face cover on my helmet so I'd have to squint in order to limit the raindrops that would pelt my eyeballs. I always chose to go faster and try to get somewhere with cover. We ended up the first night in a little place called Tad Lo. I was given a bungalow that had two dogs always sleep on the outside of my door; free protection.


This was the group stopping at a little restaurant to stay dry during one of the unexpected rainfalls.






The next morning I did a hike and ended up walking along a river for a while. I watched as all the local kids fished and played in the river. I have seen here many times, kids going to the rivers with either fishing poles or a harpoons to catch food for the family and they absolutely love it. Another thing is that they must have some sort of a rule here along with lots of countries I visited where anyone under the age of somewhere between 5-7 can't wear pants, they must be naked. Many times kids have a shirt on, but just no pants.


This is a picture of the kids fishing out on the river.
All I could think about was the kids at home playing playstation and watching TV.






The next couple of days I visited a handful of more waterfalls and a few more little villages with nothing big to report about. It was extremely relaxing and a good change from everything I had been doing.
About my 4 days driving a motorbike:
I had to bandage up my hand everyday so that it wouldn't hurt the hole I have in the middle of my hand when I held the handlebar.
I almost hit: 2 dogs, a chicken, a duck, a lizard, a truck, no children (thank god) and a cow.
I went to do a sharp turn once and the wheels didn't grip so the bike went down, I managed to stay up, came to a stop on the bottom of my barefoot (which was sore the next day). No big noticeable damage that I was charged for.
I hit a big pothole once that caused the 4 water bottles in my basket to jump out of the basket onto the road; two exploded, two survived.

I went on a road trip with my friend Pete once from michigan to Syracuse in upstate NY to visit Nutter and I remember we didn't wash the windshield on the way there because we wanted to see how many bugs would be on the windshield during the trip there; there were a shitload.
Now you can imagine that same amount of bugs and I was the windshield, except at times I felt like I was in the Matrix seeing these bugs come at me in slow motion and trying to dodge them at the last minute. I dodged some but had quite a few hit me in the legs, arms, chest, and it seems most got me right in the face or forehead; do I really have that big of a head?
One time I remember seeing a butterfly about 10 seconds ahead floating around and thinking "that is so peaceful and beautiful" 10 seconds later that butterfly was implanted on my chest. I managed to save money on this roadtrip since I usually ate my fill of bugs on the way to anywhere.

When I got back to town today I went to this Sauna/Massage place.
When I would go the steamroom at MSU with my friend dan we would take these little tablets in the room that would mix with the steam and would open your lungs. Here at this one they put me in the Sauna and put a big pot of plants in the room with me. The smell of these were great and had the same sensation of opening up my lungs and making it 100 times easier to breath. After the sauna I decided to go crazy and get an hour and a half massage as opposed to the normal hour. The girl I had giving me the massage would stop and analyze any time she found anything on my body. A mole, a birthmark, a bruise, a scratch, my fungal rash, a scar, or anything. It would be a noticeable pause in the massage. It made me feel like a freak. I'm sure everyone has these things and she's seen it all before. Why couldn't she have paused to notice my muscles around my body or something that would make me feel proud. Instead I felt like the elephant man and wanted to cloth myself from head to toe. This girl is in the wrong profession, she would be a great dermatologist.
Also, I told this girl to be strong and I want to feel some pain during my massage. She started off walking on my back and legs for a while and then after that massaged with her hands. After the pressure of walking hands don't feel like anything. It's like having sex and then after going back to first base, it's just not the same. (In the end I'm not complaining, I'll take what I can get, hands, first base; life is delicious) After that I paid my total bill of $4 and got out of there feeling relaxed, great and looking around to see if others were noticing my freakish characteristics.
Tomorrow morning I head south to a place called 4,000 islands before heading into Cambodia.


This is me with my sweet ride on a dirt trail heading to a waterfall.
As you can see I had my hand bandaged up and ready to ride.
Since the gas was done with the right hand I would wave to everyone with my left, bandaged up hand. (I did a lot of waving on this road trip, I've really got it down)






I'll end with a lame joke in honor of the bugs lives I've ended.

What is the first thing to go through a bug's mind when he hits a windshield?

His ass.

#63 Sore muscles, aching bones, possibly broken ribs, a huge headache and all well worth it.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

My first day in Van Vieng (don't know the spelling, but what does it really matter?) I rented a moped at cruised all around town. The cheapest moped what a manual geared one so I forced myself to learn how to drive one of those (what better way to learn anything than on a rental). It wasn't so hard; it may have been hard for the bike, but I survived the day. I went and visited a few caves in the surrounding area along with doing a couple of walks through woods, farms, over a river which water buffalo were bathing in. I went down local, random streets and found places to eat were no one spoke english and I was back to pointing to what I wanted, which just because I pointed did mean I knew what I was eating, I just knew someone else was eating it and it looked a better color than the other things I saw. It was a great day to kick back, feel the wind at my face and check out the local area. The girls and the others got into town that night and we planned to meet up the next morning so I went out and got my street food for dinner which consisted of the traditional sticky rice along with kabobs that were delicious and only about 10 cents each; I didn't just have one.

The next day Mark (a guy I had met in the previous city) and I headed out to go tubing down the local river. There is a famous song about floating down the Guadalupe river in Texas which is about people sitting on a innertube for hours while drinking and partying all the way down the river. (Do you guys know the song I'm talking about?) Anyways, this is what I had in mind. It started off that Mark and grabbed a breakfast before going and then washed down breakfast with a cold beer Lao. After floating down the river for 20 minutes or so we were pulled in by a long bamboo to the first bar. These bars are just a bamboo floor and then the activity. The first activity was to climb up this tall ladder attached to the bar where you grab on the the handles of the zip line. You speed down this thing until it hits the end, coming to a big jolt that sends your body into a natural back flip. We spent a good hour here doing this over and over until heading off to the next group of bars.


I forgot to turn the picture, sorry.

After another 20-30 minutes of induced tubing we hit our next bar where we were joined by Little Lady Lane (if you remember from previous blogs). After doing this swing at this bar into the water we could see a couple bars down that they had the biggest swing on the river and so we headed down that way. At this point we were only about halfway down the river and so planned on a little while here before heading off. We ended up leaving this bar when it was closed, catching a ride and forgetting to return our tubes. In between arrival and that however we would climb up to around 35 ft grab onto this swing, take off and land anywhere from a smooth fall to a body shaking crash into the water (I did more of the second one). I must have swung on this thing 10-15 times and the more beer/mixed buckets we had in us the more exciting each swing became. I have a couple of cool videos on my camera to show when I get home. (Oh yeah, good news, between the 3 of us we lost sun glasses, two pairs of sandles, some money and forgot our tubes, but I have the camera and it still works).
The 3 of us hung out on this little deck right on the river, talking, making friends, going for swims and swings, drinking too much, but mostly just enjoying each others company before parting ways the next day.


When we got back to the tubing place I was scolded as the others ran away. I told them that someone said they'd return them which I'm sure someone will return them, then I ran away ready for bed like I've never been before. I decided I needed some fruit so I went and got a double banana and chocolate pancake topped with sweet milk.

The following morning I would have sworn that I was hit by a train the day before, every part of me ached and now being my second day it isn't much better. I also ripped a chunk of skin out of the middle of my hand by going on the swings more then is recommended. You would think that the day after this would be a great resting day; so would I. Instead I got up early to go for a day kayaking trip that I had paid for in advance. An hour drive south before stopping at the river with quick instructions of what you do if your kayak flips over and we were off. After cruising down and enjoying breathtaking scenery with only the sounds of the river and the jungles around us we had to pull over to look at the rapids ahead. We were instructed on how to do it the safest way and then one by one we went; I was the first to flip over.

We then stopped and had a fresh made barbeque lunch by our guides and relaxed until continuing on. We stopped partway down the river where we had the option to jump off a 10 meter (sorry about mixing the different units up) cliff into the water. We were told not to try to dive because you could break your neck or color bone easy. (If you were looking down from this height I don't think it would EVER cross your mind to dive) As sore as I was I had to do it while I was here. I even thought maybe this will jolt things back into place; it didn't. For the last leg of the kayaking, some local fishermen boated along side of me smiling and singing some local Laos songs until we came to our finish spot.

I got on a overnight bus afterwards and fell right asleep not even a bit bothered that an old Laos man was cuddling up in the seat next to me. When we arrived this morning in a city in the south called Pakse it was pooring rain and went on for hours. It was the first rain I had seen in months. Today is a resting day. I'm not sure my plan from here now that I am on my own after traveling with a group for some weeks now.

I have been buying the cheap local bottled drinking water and twice someone has told me "that water doesn't have any minerals in it, you shouldn't drink it." I had never really drank water in the past for nutrients, I usually drink it when I'm thirsty or to hydrate myself. Isn't that water a balanced diet is for, vitamins and nutrients. If water has no nutrients, what is it? It has to have something in it, doesn't it?

The biggest reason I'm not worried about it is because in Laos I'm a millionaire, that's right, me!!
$1 = 10,000 kip, so if you change over $100 dollars you get a fat wad of money which makes you a millionaire. It is easy to go from riches to rags quick though.

He who knows how to be poor knows everything. - Michelet

In God we trust, all others must pay cash. - American Saying

If you want to know what a man is really like, take notice of how he acts when he loses money. - Simone Weil

#62 I'm gonna go broke if I stop traveling.

Here is a day in Laos. I spent $3 for a bed in a guesthouse. Had a banana bread, pineapple bread and water for breakfast-$1. Rented a bike for a day$1 and biked all around town going through little villages and along the river. Had a baguette for lunch along with a sugar cane drink $1. Stopped to get an hour Laos massage $3. Went back to meet with others and go for a walk around the main downtown and outdoor market. A quick rest before going out to dinner where for 50 cents I get a bowl to fill as high as I can with a mixture of salads, rices and such. That along with a whole grilled fish stuffed with lemon grass $1. In the night market in Luang Prabang you walk down these little sidestreets and can buy any kind of fresh food you want. In the end, the fish was always my favorite. Sitting along the river, drinking a couple of beer lao $2 to close out the night. When I sit back and look at this I don't know how I could possibly afford to ever stop traveling.

When I arrived in Luang Prabang I spent the first day walking all around town looking at the local schools, shops and just admiring the old buildings and houses. I ended up meeting these local boys who offered to take me to see the junior national botcheeball championship since they were going anyway. I jumped on the back of their bike and went to see about a half an hour, it's all my mind could take of it. I then met up with little Lane and we walked around town and stopped along the river in a couple of spots to watch the local kids swim and play around the water while others washed in the river ether themselves or clothes.

The next day a group of 9 of us got in a tuk tuk and headed up to the famous waterfalls outside the city. When you are at the top level you can see the biggest one which has to be over 150ft high. The water had a beautiful blue tint to it and stood out more among the lushish green trees and bright flowers all around it. This big falls would cascade down through about 4 different levels to smaller pools where we would swim under the smaller falls and enjoy the scenery only stopping to have lunch. Near the waterfalls we were able to see a bunch of black bears that were orphaned and being taken care of in this compound. There was also a tiger in a seperate compound that had been rescued from poachers and was now being watched over.

My last day in Luang Prabang I rented a bicycle and biked all around town, usually cruising along the river and just enjoying the day to day hustle of the local people. I crossed this old bridge which didn't look to be the most stable of all bridges I had come across and as I pushed my bike I looked down through these thin wooden boards to the shallow river that was over 100 ft down. In the end I survived and it was a really great view from the bridge. I celebrated the end of my bike ride with a half a watermelon 70cents.

I went to eat my final night market meal with Michelle aka-mybelle, little Lane, and Vicki (who loves eating fish with us because she wants everyones fishheads if they aren't going to eat them, although little Lane did eat her fish eyes) before getting on a night bus to Van Vieng where I am at now.

I find myself wanting to stay in places longer just because the food is so good and so cheap, it is dangerous for me not to only travel based on what my stomach tells me.

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~Jim Davis

#61 Elephants, Boats, Hikes, Bikes, Rafts; the end of Thailand and into Laos.

Ok, Ok, I know I've been slack on this blogsite lately, but I've been on the go and there hasn't been good email access; and if there has I would still write that and lie because most people don't know how the email access is in Laos, let alone where Laos is.
Last I wrote I was in northern Thailand in Laos where we had bonfires along the river at nights and would try not to do too much to tire ourselves out during the days. We rented mopeds for a couple days and went on little trips on the outskirts of the city to visit waterfalls, hotsprings and just to drive around the countryside and see the small little villages that don't get many tourists. I got my first oil massage before leaving Pai which was nice, but in the end I want pain. I want to know that someone is working on my body and that I could be more sore the next day from the massage.
After Pai we headed back down to Chang Mai where we booked a 3 day trek. This started the next morning and was a great change of pace. The first day after hopping in a truck and heading out of the city for a couple hours we stopped and boarded our elephants which we road for a little over an hour through hills and across a river where the elephants stopped to drink water and to hose themselves down, which meant we were getting wet too since we were on top of them. The guides who control where the elephants go find that the best way to get them to do what they want is to hit them. They don't use a whip or kick with their heels. The have this stick which has a nail on the end of it. They say that the elephant doesn't feel the nail, but then why do they jump everytime they are hit with it. All and all it was good fun, but for the sake of the big creature, put the nails down. We then started our hike into the jungle. For the first few hours it was up, up and more up. This was exactly what I needed to remind myself how out of shape I was in and why I like relaxing at beaches soo much. It was a beautiful hike with great views. We had two local guides with our group of 7. I spent a good amount of the time with one of the guides, Tony (Ton) who would answer all my questions about the different uses of things in the jungle and about the local ways of life. At the end of the first day we came too our huts which were perched halfway up a hillslope that overlooked mountains, valleys and when the nights came we sat on the big porch and looked at the stars and watched the line of fire in the distance (it is dry season here now). The next morning was the big hiking day, and in total we hiked for about 6-7 hours, at some points walking through the jungle fires, over streams and eventually coming to a waterfall where we swam for an hour or so. Lunch this day was prepared in the morning (vegetables and rice steamed and mixed together). When we got it at lunch we were each handed a rolled up banana leaf with our food still hot inside. We made chopsticks from the bamboo we found and learned how to make cups from the bamboo in the jungle as well. On our final day of the trek, after walking a few hours we ended up at a river where we had lunch before going on an hour white water rafting trip. When the excitement of the rapids were over (they may have been level 2 rapids at the most, which isn't very difficult at all) we boarded bamboo rafts and lazily floated down the river before getting back in the truck and heading to chang mai to conclude our trek.
I immediately went and got a thai massage the minute I got back into town and this lady twisted my body and pushed on muscles that I didn't know existed.
The next morning we were up and at it again, this time in a minibus to head to the border of Thailand/Laos. After a day in the bus and getting our visas we took a short boat trip across the river to spend our first night in Laos. We had to get up early the following morning to board a big slow boat that we were to ride for the next two days down the mighty Meng Kong river to Luang Prabang. As I sat in the boat on the first day and watched the beautiful scenery and contemplated a different life here that I would never really see from the inside of a boat passing by, I made a cocktail or two and before I knew it the full day boat trip was over and we arrived in our first little village where for some unknown reason we ended up at an Indian restaurant. It quickly reminded me of the family I stayed with in India and all the great things about that country. I was back in the boat again the next morning, and this time since I was late, the chairs were running out which forced me to the back of the boat. This turned out to be a godsend because when I got to the back of the boat I found a big comfortable looking floor space with loads of cushions around. How had nobody found this area? I layed down and fell right asleep. When I woke up I found that many others have found this area and I had neighbors sleeping and playing cards and enjoying there spacious floor space all around me. When we finally arrived in Luang Prabang we got our rooms and headed out to the night market to get some food. We found one area where for less than $1 they give you a bowl and you can fill it as much as you can one time. As I sat down with my towering bowl and a fresh grilled piece of chicken and a fresh caught fish that was flavored with lemongrass inside I thought about this new, exciting place and how lucky I was to have this experience. It then hit me that I was on the last leg of this trip with just over a month to go and I panicked for a short time and decided the best thing to make me feel better was to walk a couple of stands down and buy a fresh, moist piece of carrot cake. This helped, but didn't completely do the job so I followed it up with a fresh piece of pineapple cake. Ok, life is good and everything must come to an end at some point.


I INTEND


I intend to rejoice in the energy of the dawn, savor the stillness of dusk, and accept both events as an invitation for contemplation.

To imagine at sunrise the realm of joyous possibilities for the day and to expect only a perfect unfolding.

To reflect at sunset what I have learned and to be grateful for the gifts of the day.

To set my expectations for tomorrow to bring an even more beautiful experience and understanding.

To let the stars disappearance with the dawn remind me that just because I can’t see, hear, taste, feel or otherwise perceive something it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

-I'm not sure who wrote this