#69 Easy Rider trip, then on my own where no english is spoken, but general love is. dropping some dinero

This is the kind of hotel that I NEVER stay in,
however, this IS the kind of hotel that I would
go and use their pool and take advantage of any
other amenities that I could get away with.
(this isn't a bad thing is it?)


I left Da Lat on my easyrider trip for a couple of days. My driver was a veteran from the war and knew about the areas along with history of the war including areas that were crucial strategic areas for both sides. I knew and still know very little about the war, but it was very interesting to hear it from someone who saw it first hand. This is a perfect entry to write in the entry #69 spot because Mr. Hien, my driver would talk about how at first the simple people who were fighting with the americans didn't want to listen and were reserved about dealing with them. That is of course, until the americans offered them cigarettes, playboy magazines and told them about there favorite game called 69. Mr Hien couldn't tell these specific stories enough, I had to hear them in some form or another every few hours. It was great to be on the back of a motorbike and go through the central highlands which were absolutely beautiful. We spent the days passing through the mountains past rivers, waterfalls, farms, and seeing the bare hills that after 30 years still can't grow anything due to the agent orange dropped there.

One stop was a little place called Lake Lak which we saw a local minority tribe who when they buried their dead, they put a feeding hole in the coffin from the persons mouth to the top of the coffin so that people can feed them through this feeding hole for two years once they were buried.
Another highlight of the trip was stopping at this park with multiple waterfalls and one of them we could walk behind and go to stand under it which felt like a massage. I can't get pictures up on this computer, which is why you have to deal with the two I took off google.

When my easy rider man dropped me off I took a bus to a town in the middle of the country called Kon Tum. Here, no one spoke english and I didn't see another tourist while I was there. I played some ping pong and got my butt kicked by these older men. I thought I may have calmed down on some of my competitiveness during this trip, but that is not the case; I hate losing and it put me in a mood; I wanted to break something. (those who know me well, can picture this I'm sure) After my time pointing to things and battling to ask a few questions I took a bus the next day to Hoi Ann.
These two bus rides were in mini buses (we would call them big vans). Nobody in these spoke a lick of english, but that didn't stop them from talking to me. The vietnamese words would flow, they knew I didn't understand, they just didn't care. On one of the rides I had a tiny little old man sitting in front of me who wore a top hat. He had a big smile and would turn around and hold my hand (which amounted to about an hour of handholding) and talk to me. At one point he offered me a sugar cube, how could I refuse.
I am now in Hoi Ann, which is a beautiful city on the coast. I spent my first day in tailor shops ordering clothes (yeah, doesn't sound like me; I felt like Bracken if you know who she is). I spent what's a lot of money for me, but got some cool stuff. (those of you who are about my size and can wear my stuff will want to borrow some of it), I walked all around town, then biked around town and hung out at my hotel pool (I'm in a dorm for $5 and get to use the pool) a bit talking to an 89 year old guy who would wants to live here if he could get his sports channels and CNN to watch Larry King. He also told me I was a neat person (not in the way of eating or cleanliness).


This is a jack fruit, I've eaten quite a bit of it. Fresh, it's a bit sweet, so you can't eat too many at one sitting, but dried and crunchy.....get in my belly!!!! a little about them:
The fruit is huge, seldom less than about 25 cm in diameter. Even a relatively thin tree (circa 10 cm) can have huge fruits hanging on it. The fruits can reach 36 kg in weight and up to 90 cm long and 50 cm in diameter. The jackfruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world.
The sweet yellow sheaths around the seeds are about 3-5 mm thick and have a taste similar to pineapple but milder and less juicy.
The English name jackfruit derives from Portuguese jaca, which is derived from Malayalam chakka.

The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes "sight-seeing." ~Daniel J. Boorstin

#68 Saigon, windy beaches, flower capital of vietnam in the mountains, and always; cheap eats!!

The guy to the front left was my cyclo driver, the darker toned
guy plays soccer in Saigon I think, he's from Nigeria. The other
two including the one with his arm around me have been drinking
for hours and are quite drunk. This is the place to get cheap beer,
you sit along the wall and next to the curb; only the finest!!!!!


Alright, I've got a lot to try to remember and tell you. I spent my second day in Saigon on a cyclo. "What is a cyclo?" you are probably asking yourself. Let me tell you. I sit in the front of this bike in a comfortable seat while this old man is standing behind me, peddling this 3 wheeled bicycle. During the Vietnam/American war the southern Vietnamese fought with the Americans and when the war was over many of these soldiers who at one time may have been teachers, lawyers, doctors or had other accomplished careers, weren't allowed their licenses back or allowed to ever own property, so many of them are in the big city and drive cyclos.

My first stop was to a market that sold lots of old war stuff, cantenes, pictures, dog tags, jackets and such. It was like going to a museum at the same time. It was a strange feeling being an american and going into this place for obvious reasons. I then saw many other parts of the city and learned what locals pay for certain things like meals, water and basic things that in the touristy part of the city prices are upped. I got the feeling very quickly that Vietnamese love money. The world likes money granted, but the vietnamese love money like Trick Daddy loves sugar. I spend the rest of the day walking around all the different areas of the city and checking out the locals spots. As I sat in the evening on the curb with locals who spoke no english and drank the cheapest beer in town with them I really felt like an accomplished traveler. I then had dinner on another curb with a bunch of construction workers and then taught me the names of the local foods that filled me and cost me less than 1/2 a dollar.

The next morning, Adam (the bug guy) and I headed north to Da Lat which is up in the mountains and is the place that many Vietnamese go for their honeymoons. It really was a beautiful area with a lake in the center that has a 7km path around it. There is a central market that has many of fresh vegetables and any thing else you'd want. (this area specializes in vegetables so I had a vegetable dinner, it was great!!) The following day after walking around the lake and town it rained all day so we rested up and took it easy only going out for meals.

This was the group that did the 140 km trip from Da Lat to Mui Ne, Mountains to Beach.

The following day Adam, myself, and another 3 people we met did a mountain bike trip from the mountains to Mui Ne beach. We were transfered the first 30 km out of town to a not so busy road in the mountains. From there we road downhill for a good 25-30 km which was awesome as well as dangerous if you down hit the breaks before the 162 degree turn around the edges of the mountain. As we road down we could see far off at the moutains and valleys below. We then hit flat ground and road for another 45-50 km before getting transported the final 30 to our destination at the beach.

In Mui Ne I woke up to see the sunrise and we all walked

the beach to see the sunset, this was our group for sunset.

In Mui Ne we took it pretty easy. The first day I got a massage on the beach (first one in Vietnam), layed in the sun, swam in the ocean (a new body of water for me to swim in), found a good restaurant, met some cool kiwis, and read some of my book before calling it a day. I rented a guy on a motorcyle to drive me around the next day to the famous sand dunes of the area (red and white), and to see all the fishing boats in the fishing village (imagine that), and the red canyon (very small, but very red)

This is the white sand dunes outside of Mui Ne,

beautiful huh? and my driver got it on the first try!!

I got back to Mui Ne to see Adam (who at this point I had traveled for 5 days with and we got along great) off as we went seperate ways. I headed back to Da Lat on a five hour trip on the back of a motorcycle with an easy rider. (my ass was sore!!!)

From Da Lat I went on a two and a half day trip with the easy rider which I will tell you in the next blog.

"If it's free, I'll have three!!" Adam told me this quote.

#67 Will we ever learn? Dark tour and farewell to Dave (papaya man)

No matter how much I complain about my transportation, it's never gotten this bad; and this isn't a one time thing, you see this everyday and for long journeys.

Dave and I left the beach and Alberto and headed north to Phnom Penh, our bus was normal full and had no air, so we were sweating Mrs. Balls (those on the Africa bus trip will get that). When we got there we found a nice backpacker right on the lake (there is a lake smack in the middle of town). I managed to try every food in the surrounding vicinity, my favorite (and probably the most unhealthy thing around) was the deep fried bananas; yummmmmm. That's basically all I did that day, well that and set up our busy touring next day, and oh yeah we watched a movie called "300" about spartans fighting a huge army of persians. It was entertaining, but a horrible ending in my opinion. In the evening, Dave and I sat on the deck of the guesthouse listening to music, sipping on a drink and watched the sun go down.

This was a plack (sp?) at the killing field, not sure if

you can read it, but if so, it's worth the read.

The following day, Dave and I got a tuk tuk for the day and headed to tour. Our first stop was the S-21 Museum which is where during the Khmer Communist genocide they would bring people to be tortured and jailed to get information about others. To see how they systematically tortured these people just made me sick to my stomach. After jail and being tortured they would be transported to the killing field (which was our next destination) where they were executed and put in mass graves. We found at that 17,000 were killed at this killing field before we found out that this was one of 400 killing fields around the country where somewhere around 2,000,000 in total were executed. They killed all the minorities, intellectuals, government people and all of their wifes, children and close family members worried that they would want revenge later. The executioners were normally between the ages of 12-16 because they were easier to brainwash.

The monument in the middle of the killing fields has all the skulls of victims that were dug up in this killing field. You can see in the skull holes and cracks that show where they were beaten to death. Towards the end of the khmer regime they wanted to save money on bullets so would club them over the head with bamboo sticks, clubs, hoes or butts of guns.

It amazes me that this happened not so long ago. It finished in 1979 when the Vietnamese came into Cambodia to put a stop to it. The worse part is to think that things like this still go on today in parts of the world; if only Cambodia and other countries had oil in their soil huh?

Seeing all the skulls and hearing the story made me think a couple of things. Obviously, just disgusted sick that this could happen, but also looking at all the skulls and bones make me think that in the end that's really all we are; worm food. With this, it made me more happy to be living my life how I want and reconfirmed the feeling of getting the most out of everyday and our short lived lives.

Now, what was possibly even worse than all of this was that when we left the killing field and were pretty speechless, our driver asked us if we wanted to go to a shooting range. (The last thing I want to do it hold a gun after that). "You can shoot ducks, or dogs or chickens if you want". What tourists would go and see and learn about a horrible genocide with millions of innocent people dying and then want to go and shoot helpless animals; their really, truly are some f*&^ed up people out there. "No thanks!!" was all we could muster. We then headed into the heart of Phnom Penh and drove along the riverside before checking out the two biggest markets in the city. At one we found a guy, Adam, from Hawaii who was looking at all the bugs you could eat. He wouldn't try one but really wanted to see someone eat them. Dave and I agreed that if he bought them, we'd eat them. Adam was so excited and reasoned that at home he pays $8 for a movie and here it's much more entertaining and live for a couple of bucks.

Here is with a Cockroach or something of that nature half way in the mouth. Really they all tasted like fried something or another.

(they've got nothing on my friend bananas though!!!)

We headed back to our guesthouse to relax and contemplate the day while relaxing on the deck again doing the same as the night before.

This morning I left Dave and headed to Vietnam on a nice 44 person bus. When I got on and found out that there were only 12 people on the bus, it was like winning the lottery. I sat in 8 different seats during the journey just because I could. I am now in Saigon (Ho Chi Mihn City) and saw Adam (bug guy) and he and a swiss guy on the bus and I got a great room to split.

My days our numbered... in Vietnam and this trip that is, not in my life because I'm going to live forever, not forever ever, but forever being a long time.

Seeing in not having eyes, it's having vision. -a line from a faithless song.

Martin Luther King: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

#66 Ankor Wat, Orphanage, back to the beaches, stoned dream, eating till I burst.

I'm on a role with jumping pictures huh? This will never make sense but will make more sense when you see the rest of the pictures.

It seems that so much has happened since the last blog. The rash is still there.
After going to Ankor Wat for the sunset I got back and made plans to go and see all the different temples the following day with 3 Israelis that I had met up with; a guy who I shared a room with and a deaf couple. A full day with the nicest couple in the world who happened to be deaf. 1) It is very hard to be whitty with deaf people, by the time you try to show them the joke you were making, it's not funny.
2) Besides sign language for "I love you" I can't do much more and therefor felt left out of a wordless conversation most of the time.
3) They never tell me that I sound funny or don't enunciate my words which I liked.

So back to Ankor Wat. This place is up there with the pyramids and the Taj Mahal, it really is a sight to see. We woke up at 4:30 AM to get there in time to see the sunrise, after which we spent the next 10 hours on a temple tour and as nice and amazing as they all were by the time I got out of there I didn't want to see another temple.
The highlights for me were two of the temples and of course I don't remember the names of them right now. The first one is the one of the picture that has faces carved out of the stone all over the temple; this place felt alive. So alive in fact that it inspired me to wear this ridiculous outfit that I have no idea what it is supposed to be, but I did wear it and got a few great pictures out of it.


This is the temple with the faces, I don't know if you can really see them in this picture, but like always, pictures don't do justice.
The top picture is me in the outfit that is some sort of flying dragon or something.




The other temple that I really enjoyed was one that had all of these huge trees growing out of the sides of the temples and right up in the middle of it. (I know I'm not telling you all that much or anything too exciting but there were a lot of temples and they aren't the easiest thing to describe)
My final day in Siem Reap I ate 4 pineapples (and since that day I've averaged 3 a day) and walked all around town, through the old markets, down the busy streets, along the nastiest river I've ever seen and booked my ticket for the following day. I also made it to this orphanage called the green gecko which was started by a local guy and his australian wife. They help to educate street kids who are out begging for money or selling crap as the sole money makers in their families (most of these kids being younger than 12 years old). It was interesting to see and to hear about all the different kids and their family situations. The Israeli that I was rooming with and I met up with a couple of other guys we had traveled on the bus with and went out for a couple of beers. After 3 beers and a drink this roomate of mine was hammered and so we went home and as I was drifting off to sleep I heard him tripping over my bags heading to the bathroom which is where he stayed for over 3 hours passed out on the toilet (talk about a lightweight).
The following day I headed on another full day bus trip to the south of Cambodia to the beaches.
On the bus I met Dave, a chilled out, quiet english guy who had just started his trip. He and I got along well and after chatting for some hours decided to save a few bucks and split a room when we got to the beaches. We were wiped out when we got there the first night so we just went and grabbed some fresh baracuda before getting a full nights rest to do nothing on the beach the next day.
Don't trust the sunscreen here!!!! The next day Dave and I went to the beach where we didn't move for a few hours. After feeling a little warm we decided to go under the beach umbrellas. 3 days later at this point Dave is blistering and bright red; he spent half the day covered in blended papaya because the locals said that helps sunburns; I think they just wanted to sell papayas.
During this day though while we were looking at the menus of the local restaurant we saw something funny.

The first pizza is called happy pizza and the first shake on the other page is called happy shake. We like happy.







That night I had a dream: Dave and I went out in the afternoon and got a happy shake-mixed fruit we asked for. What is the green fruit they put in this blend that doesn't tasted very fruity? We sipped them for a while just to be cautious. This is when Alberto, and Italian that was on the bus with us came and sat down along with a weird Swiss guy that we never found out his name. This is when I began to get quiet and feel a little spaced out and different. I found that as they were talking I couldn't focus on anything they were saying, I'd hear a couple of words and then be completely lost. The confusion shortly turned into laughter and the laughter continued for the duration of the night, maybe another 4-5 hours which caused my stomach and many other muscles to cramp up from laughing so hard. While Dave was getting quieter in his corner (the only words I think he said all night was when I was laughing and would make eye contact with him, he would say "what are you laughing at" and that was it) and Alberto was drinking his happy shake I tried to explain to Alberto in a couple words at a time that were interupted by mad laughter until I could catch my breath again that when I talk to him and then turn my head away and then turn back to talk to him that I had no idea of time. I don't mean that I don't know what time it was, I mean that I don't know how much time elapsed between when I spoke to him and when I was speaking to him again; it could have been a second or it could have been 10 minutes. We also made a rule that if anyone had any deep thoughts that couldn't express it in more than 3 words because nobody could continue focused on conversations longer than that. Mix the time thing up with the fact that I didn't know if I said the words outloud that I was thinking of saying or if I just thought them. Because of this latest problem I found myself repeating words or sentences and then just gut laughing again. Some girls came by at one point and told them I helped them get a cheap taxi in a different city. I didn't remember them and could barely talk and tried to explain to them that I was like the character in "Memento" which none of them had seen so it meant nothing. This is basically how the rest of the night continued until I went to bed only to wake up and barely be able to walk straight to the bathroom. The next day I could barely function and didn't leave my bed while Dave didn't leave the bed due to his horrible burns. Strange dream huh? Has anyone ever had a dream like that?

I spent the rest of my days lying on the beach getting massages on the beach chair and waiting for the procession of food vendors to come by. I would at least every hour eat a)a pineapple, b)mangos, c)fresh grilled squid, d)lobster, e)spring rolls, or f)dried up fruit before either a)going for a swim, b)reading a book, c) listening to music, d) watching Alberto pay too much for anything (when I say too much I mean like $1 for a whole cut up pineapple when the going rate is half a dollar) or e) looking over at dave, trying not to laugh at his pain while he could barely move and every ounce of his energy was to pull every inch of his body under the umbrella into the shade.

This is the first place I've stayed in to have a TV in so long, there really is crap on TV. Room with fan, TV and private bathroom $6 split between two.

I head north tomorrow to Phnom Phen to finish my Cambodia tour.
In Khmer which is the lanuage here: Solsadie is a greeting like hello and al cone is thank you.


If I had to show a picture to fit in the dream, this one would be it.







I just thought these quotes were funny.


"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."
Dave Barry.

"What I like to drink most are drinks that belongs to others."
Diogenes.

#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

Meredith leaving me, Dathan joining me, back to bangkok meeting up with my little English lass and heading north for adventure after surviving death.

My last night on the islands, Dathan (who Meredith and I met and got along with a few days earlier) met up with us for a big night out. He was going to stay and do a scuba class for a couple of days on the island and spend in total another couple weeks. I suggested he head north with me and extend his trip. He said "I make my best decisions after some drinks". So after some drinks he bought a bus ticket to join me the next day.

The next day I found myself waking up in a hammock on the beach, Meredith and Dathan had to break the screen to the room and broke a couple of chairs in the process since I had the key on me.

We said goodbye to Meredith when our bus finally pulled into bangkok. Meredith-you were great fun to travel with; always a smile and a laugh no matter what the situation.

I found myself asleep and worthless for the next 3-4 days, sick as a dog. I had night sweats when the air was on in our room and then would wake up colder than a slurpee on a snowy day.

I had terrible headaches, body aches and couldn't keep anything in my stomach. After a few days of this I went to the hospital where the doctor had me get some blood tests and told me to give a stool sample. I told him that I hadn't eaten for some time and had nothing in me. He told me to go and try. It's like sending a brother into battle without any preparation. Trying, my headache got worse and I had practiced going in a hole in the ground during this trip, but never in a small bag. I needed a new plan. I went to the cafeteria and ordered some real spicy food and some other things so I could make the doctor happy with my sample. In the end, I had a very high temp but nothing showed up being too serious.

Dathan and I ventured out of bangkok on a day trip to see a floating market, where you cruise around on a little boat through these little venice like roads and can buy foods, trinkets, or even a coke in a plastic bag.

Sarah, who was one of the two English girls that I met up with a couple of times in India came and met up with us in Bangkok. We spent our day on a river taxi, going around the city and taking in all the sights from the view of a boat. We tried to catch cat fish with our hands (very difficult), and we saw a wide variety of houses along the river, along with a variety of plants and gardens.

That night we headed on another overnight bus up to Chang Mai where we settled in, went on a temple walk and later on in the night met up with Michelle (the other english girl) and went out for a night where we found ourselves at a bar playing pool and connect four.

The next day in Chang Mai we spent by the pool of a hotel that we payed about $3 each for. I got my clothes cleaned and cannot tell you how happy I was to have this bag of clothes with one of the nicest smells I smelt in a long time.

This night, while Dathan ran up an impressive tab while drinking at least 40 gin and tonics (I didn't drink since I was recovering from being sick) I went out and bought a bunch of cooked bugs from a vendor in the street which we all ate. Grasshoppers, worms, and a large variety of others.

We headed north the following day to Pai, which is this little town on a small river. It is so laid back and chilled out. I will write more about Pai later.

I read a fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone. I started in in India. It is called "Shantaram" and is based off a true story. It is great at explaining the Indian culture from a westerners perspective.

"For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. Feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world. Drag our shadowed crosses into the hope of another night. Push our brave hearts into the promise of a new day. With love: the passionate search for a truth other than our own. With longing: the pure, ineffable yearning to be saved. For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on. God help us. God forgive us. We live on."

-taken from a part in "Shantaram"

#59 Koh Tao-a bit tanner, still not superman, but getting better at snorkeling.

Meredith (aka-Megadeath) and I left Koh samui and headed on a boat trip for a few hours to Koh Tao-well known for it's diving and snorkeling. When we arrived after a full day in the sun on the boat it took us a while to find a room. We finally found a fairly cheap bungalow where we settled in before heading to the beach to watch a beautiful sunset and drank our no-name, cheapest bottle of Thailand liquor that we could find; not so bad...but no so good either.

The next day we got snorkel gear and a floating raft and spent the day going from the beach to snorkeling to lying on the raft, and back to the beach to read while people walked by trying to sell fresh grilled ears of corn, or a fresh chopped pineapple. (no ear cleaners here, thank God!!)

We found a cheap, local place where we have consumed the majority of our meals; yummy!!!

There was a bar that had a big screen TV and would show new pirated movies, and all you had to do to watch was buy a drink and settle in for the show. We chose to watch "Blood Diamond", which Mega didn't mind much and I couldn't stand it. Some horribly cheesy parts and for the most part I just can't take Leo D.

The following day I decided to get some exercise. While everyone on the island rents mopeds, or 4 wheelers, I decided that I was going to rent a good old do it yourself bicycle. "The island is not that big, I can see most of it in a day and get a little exercise" This is what was being thought in my head. As it turns out, Koh Tao is a VERY hilly island, and not with paved roads either. As I headed out I found myself getting tired fairly quick (this may be due to the lack of real exercise for the last I don't know how many days, or is it weeks, or possibly months). I saw a sing pointing across the middle of the island that had three destinations; my choice was the nearest one. In the end, since I passed without knowing the first and second destination I ended up at the third beach. This is after multiple hours of walking my bike up these steep roads barefoot because my sandals were to sweaty for my feet to stay in them. There were a couple times when I stopped on the side of the road and sat under some shade wondering if I should just start trying to make somewhere to live out of the brush and trees on the side of the road. When I did finally arrive I was exhausted and after a short nap went for a snorkel where I saw some of the most beautiful groups of fish swimming in huge groups, weaving in and out of other types of fish swimming together.

(don't let the smile fool you. This was at the end of my trip when I arrived back and showered-notice the bright red face is gone)

After some time at this beach I found a guy with a truck who agreed to drive me to the top of the mountain (it's really a big hill, but it felt like a mountain) for 50 baht (about $1.60), best money I've ever spent!!!!

I then went and checked out the first beach, which is the one I originally planned on going to first.

Anyways, my point is: if you find yourself on Koh Tao, the only reason you may want to rent a bicycle is to go down the street to the 7/11, which you won't want to do because they don't have slurpees!!! So, just give in to the fact that you won't be doing much exercise and if you really need some, throw the snorkel gear on and head out for a swim.

Today, we hired a boat and a driver to drive us around the whole island and check out all the different beaches and best snorkel sights. We went to a smaller, local island that is 3 little islands connected by sand bars; oh, how beautiful!!!!

We did the trip with a couple that I met the day before from France.

I'm tired from the trip right now so I can't think of too much to write about it, except it was a great day and thing to do after the bike ride yesterday.

Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies. -- Ann Landers

#58 Fighting hard, driving fast, sunfilled and threatened by a barber.

Thailands color is yellow. Yes, like the coldplay song. Why? If you walk around the streets on a weekday you will see 90% of Thai people wearing yellow shirts. It is their uniform. Any government job, big company job, or smaller businesses that want to think they are big and important, so pretty much everyone wears a yellow shirt. The hookers do not wear yellow, however they may pull a yellow ping pong ball out in the middle of the act.

Meredith and I traveled to the Thai islands together, we took an overnight bus and watched movies with english subtitles. No matter whether the movie was horrow, action, drama or thriller, the subtitles made them all a comedy. In a crucial part in one movie, the character yelled "there's nothing I can do, my hands are full" In the subtitle below they replaced full with free changing the message completely in the movie for those who didn't speak english. This didn't happen once, it happened every line.

We spent a couple days in the sun, just enjoying the water and weather, reading our books and listening to music.

One night we ventured out to see thai fighting; similar to kickboxing.

There were 6 fights, 3 were knockouts and the other 3 decisions.

The first fight was between two 12 year olds who really went at it. I found myself after deep thought lean over and tell Meredith, "I think I can take them!!!" Thinking about this after, I realized all the traveling and learning I'm doing, I'm still thinking about beating up a 12 yr old, and I wasn't even sure I could. It wasn't too violent and quite enjoyable to watch. Meredith and I bet on two fight with each other and found ourselves at a draw. After that we stopped because we felt bad betting on others pain. After 5 more fights of pure excitement, we were out of there and walked the stretch back to our place where we had to fight off all the girls (maybe underneath guys) who wanted us to visit their bar or massage parlor. (by the way, we passed a place today that was a karaoke bar/massage parlor-possibly one of the best places I could ever imagine)

Today we rented a truck/jeep and drove around the island. We went to lots of waterfalls, where we went for dip in one of the big pools at the bottom of one. We checked out the different beaches and small towns along the way as Meredith practiced driving on the opposite side of the road. It was great to have some freedom and get a chance to explore and see some other places on our own.

At the end of our day tour, we went and checked out some famous rocks on the island. The story goes something like a husband and wife went out on the sea to collect the woman who was to marry their son and they got lost at sea. In their memory the sea carved a man and woman genetalia out of some big rocks, we could really only see the man's clearly.

(warning- objects may appear bigger in picture)

I ended the night getting a shave at a barber shop like I did so often while in India and the barber cut my face up a bit. I was disgusted more than halfway through, told him I had enough and with my face bleeding and in pain he told me that he would find where I slept and finish the shave. "where do you stay tonight?" (like I was going to tell him after his threat) "where did you learn to shave?" I asked. I think he had some builtup anger and just decided to take it out on my face. (don't worry, I'm still as beautiful as ever, and if that still worries you, look at the picture above again!!)

"Be picky when choosing someone to shave your face"

-a new quote by guess who?

#57 One night in Bangkok...don't eat the banana.

In the first 10 minutes of my arrival into Bangkok I was struck with both complete excitement and then a complete letdown and dissapointment. I saw that there were 7-11's everywhere and couldn't wait to touch my lips to a slurpee, but when I went inside there was none to be had. Bangkok however, does have just about anything that you want to buy with street vendors of every sort. I found my favorite thing to purchase. For just over a $1, you can pick a cd from a large list and they can transfer it directly onto your ipod. The fist day I bought over 20.
In the night everwhere turns into a bar or massage parlor or both. As you can see above, they turn the front of 7-11 into a bar. There is also a gas station on the main corner that they make into a bar/restaurant/massage parlor, the bar being at pump 2.
I am staying on the bourbon street of bangkok with all the hustle and bustle, called Koosan rd.

I decided to get my first thai massage and see if they could outdo chacha.
Talking to some guys on the street they told me about the areas to find the little cute girls to give massages. Little girls? I wanted a big girl, with big forearms and strong hands. I found her, she was awesome, pushing on my back while her knees were on my hams, as I lay there drooling on myself. She could kick chacha's ass anyday. One hour was about $5.50.

I haven't tried yet, but plan on doing it soon. In the street besides all of the fresh fruit, pancakes, and thai food you can buy, you can also purchase fried grasshoppers, worms and such.

When I traveled on the truck through africa I met a girl from the US, Meredith who was traveling around SE asia now as well. She just met up with me in Bangkok and we will head down to the thai beaches tonight. Yesterday when she arrived we walked around the city until we found these guys playing a sort of volleyball with a small harder ball and only using their feet and heads to send the ball over the net. How high these guys could kick their legs was amazing.

We then headed to a different part of town to see the infamous ping pong show. Here, girl would stick things up their you know what such as ping pong balls. They could open a beer bottle. They could blow horns, shoot darts and smoke a cigarrette all with...yeah that's right. It was quite disturbing and my stomach hurts just thinking about it. We didnt' want to spend much money and it's true what they say "you get what you pay for". We had to have been in the raunchiest bar that exists in thailand and possibly the world. When she brought out the banana, the guy sitting next to us leaned over and said "never eat a banana at a sex show." Point taken.

After that we had to clear our minds of this and so we went and saw a great live band and let the music absorb our minds in hopes to push out the disturbing pictures we had in our heads.

I've always enjoyed playing ping pong growing up, but I fear that my game will be thrown off everytime I see a ping pong ball again.

There is a saying "don't put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear".
I think they need to come up with one about not putting foreign objects, ESPECIALLY razorblades in certain places.

Sex. In America an obsession. In other parts of the world a fact. ~Marlene Dietrich

#56 Final days and thoughts of India.

If I had to describe Indian very quick to anyone, I would say it is complete chaos, but a very systematic chaos.

My last stop in India was to Bangalore where I visited Kiran and Vibha, friends that I met while traveling in Egypt.
They showed me a new side of India. I ate my first meat since arriving in India, including sheep brain. We went out for some drinks and I saw 50 drunk Indians singing along to Ozzy Osbournes song, "mama, I'm coming home".
Bangalore is one of the most industrial cities in India, however by the night life you would never know it. Bars and restaurants stop serving at 11:30 on all nights. There are however 2 bars in the whole city that have bribed someone to serve alcohol until about 2am, but since they have little competition you can imagine that the prices are quite steep.

Sidenote: when I was leaving India I saw an Indian guy who looked like Rick James +50 pounds, it was awesome, I just wish I had gotten a picture.

On my busride from mysore to bangalore I talked with 4 older men for most of the 4 hours. One of them could tell you the day of the week you were born if you told him the year and date of your birthday; pretty damn cool if you ask me. They were great though and it made the journey go by quick.

Fresh fruit juice is like heaven to me, realizing my days were numbered, I drank a ridiculous amount of them in my last few days, with grape leading the pack. In those last few days my stomach was going nuts, but I didn't care, the juice was just too good when it touched your lips.

I don't remember what it is like to have a hot shower, it has been so long and you just get used to the cold shower which really wakes you up, and of course, that is if you shower at all. Also, many showers are a bucket that you fill up from the tap and then poor on yourself.

Imagine yourself on a bus and you aren't controlling your head, in other words, just letting your head sway side to side with the rock of the bus. Now, imagine a bus that is driving in quick zig-zags back and forth. Your head would sway back and forth. It is a mix between this and a bobble head to describe the number one action in India. If someone is talking to us and we agree with what they say we will nod to them. In India they do this head wiggle. Agreeing is not the only meaning, it also can be a hello or just acknowledging. There are also many degrees of the head wiggle. The more happy they are, the faster the wiggle which usually accompanies a big smile. I practiced and practiced and think I have it down a little, but it still throws me off to see, especially when someone asks a yes or no question and the reply is a wiggle which to me looks like it's in between yes and no, so I have no idea what the answer is.

It was great to see Kiran and Vibha for the last couple of days. Just familiar faces and being able to relax and enjoy their company before heading off to the new destination. They are preparing to move into a new house which has an extra room for when I come back (I thought of this, I have to run it by them again).

India was by far the most culturally different place I'd ever been. Take most things you know and turn them around and there you have India. It was a great experience which I feel I gained a lot from. I met some great people and consider myself quite lucky for opportunities I had while there. Some part drove me crazy and others I quite liked, but as I spent my first day out of the country, I feel like I will miss both equally; it is the beauty of the place.
Where else can you go to major cities and see cows and monkeys roaming the streets in the mix of the many people?

On my flight I sat next to an Indian who had never been on an international flight. When they showed the video of the guy telling people to have a good flight, wear your seatbelt and all the safety rules, he asked me if this was a tape or live? Then during the safety speech when they showed the yellow live jacket that you put on and blow to fill up with air, he exclaimed to me, "that would be useful if we land in the sea". He was dead serious. When the food and drinks came he passed because he thought we had to pay for them. He was happy we were sitting directly even with the wing so that if something happened at least we could climb out onto the wing. I felt bad bursting his bubble when I told him we couldn't fit through the window, we'd have to use the exit door. I was completely ignoring the fact that if we need that exit door, we are all gonners. I told him I was going to sleep and he told me he'd wake me. When I asked why, he said "just a kindly wake".

"Civilizations have arisen in other parts of the world. In ancient and modern times, wonderful ideas have been carried forward from one race to another...But mark you, my friends, it has been always with the blast of war trumpets and the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea had to be soaked in a deluge of blood..... Each word of power had to be followed by the groans of millions, by the wails of orphans, by the tears of widows. This, many other nations have taught; but India for thousands of years peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist... Even earlier, when history has no record, and tradition dares not peer into the gloom of that intense past, even from until now, ideas after ideas have marched out from her, but every word has been spoken with a blessing behind it and peace before it. We, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race, and that blessing is on our head, and therefore we live....!"

Swami Vivekananda, Great Indian Philosopher