#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.