#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

#55 Traveling with my little friend who thinks Ghandi is a place and seeing statues of who? and safaris of ?

So after I sucked back all my tears due to the fact that I had to leave the beach world, more specifically, chacha, I headed on an overnight bus to Hampi. Traveling in India is like this: my bus ticket said to arrive to check in at 10:30 and the bus departs at 11:00. Sitting at the pickup point until 12:30 and asking the people that work there every 10 minutes, starting at 11:00 where the bus is, only to have the constant reply of "very soon, don't worry, do you want chi?" No I don't want any more chi, I only want to get on the bus. So when the bus finally came one and a half hours late I boarded and got into the seat I paid for which was called a "luxury seat". Luxury in India I found is a VERY loose term. It can mean anything from comfortable to my legs, back and neck are breaking and if I get through this ride I will never book anything in my life that says luxury again. I was sat in a first row with my knees up against the metal wall in front of me so that every bounce my knees would collide and shake a little. After about 20 minutes of this I decided to sleep in the aisle of the bus on the disgustingly dirty floor that turned my once blue tshirt into a light brown. When I asked the bus driver what time we would arrive, he told me 7 am. "Are you sure?" I asked to so I could have an idea in my head when this nightmare would be over. Yes, 7am I think. When we finally pulled in at 10:00, I dragged my aching body out of the bus and looked for a 70 yr old, one eyed man named chacha which was no where to be found. I did however within 10 minutes of getting off the bus get offered the standard Rickshaw, taxi, tour, cheap room, anything to smoke and just hands that wanted money (they figured I was rich since they saw luxury on my ticket). What I had heard about Hampi was that it was great, there were rocks everywhere. It was recommended, so I went. Honestly it was great, and there are rocks EVERYWHERE. They aren't just rocks though and I really don't know how to explain it. There were some good hikes which lead me to temples up and within all the rocks. I rented a bike for what I planned to be a 4 hour bike ride but after about half an hour I parked next to a school in the center of town, watched people go by and interact and watched the children play before returning the bike after half the time. In the river the people of the city were washing there clothes next to the people bathing, next to the buffalo bathing. When the day was finished I headed back to my room, ordered some food (rice and vegetable curry-the easiest things to make here) and then waited 2 hours for it to come before eating it in 4 and a half minutes.
The next day when I was walked and toured out I headed out of town at about 5:30 pm only to arrive at my final destination of Mysore at about 12noon the following day, two buses and two trains later. I got a bed on the long train. (when I say bed I mean something about the length of an ironing board, maybe twice the width and just as hard)
I arrived in Mysore to find an email that the two girls, Sarah and Michelle who I met about a week before in Palolem where in Mysore so I went and met up with them and we decided to take a tour of the city in a Rickshaw (a miniature car). The first place our driver took us was to a catholic church. Our driver decided with his broken english that he was qualified to be a guide as well. In the church he pointed out 3 different statues of Jesus for us and then pointed to one statue of an apostle and told us that that statue was of Jesus's father. (This threw me, because I always had thought that God was his father, oh well, maybe not in India). He then pointed to a statue that said in bold print underneath "Saint Philimino" and told us that that was Jesus's mother. We walked down a hallway where there were hundreds of names engraved on the wall, something where if you donate a certain amount of money to the church they put your families name up. Well, our "guide" pointed to all of these names and told us that they were Jesus's cousins and mothers. This part of the tour alone made it worth the price of the trip. We then drove around and didn't see anything else because everything was closed due to the fact that it was a holiday. "It's tuesday, nothing is open, because it's a holiday". This is what they told us as if everyone in the world knew that it was a holiday. We just wanted to know if today was the holiday or was it the fact that it was tuesday?
We finally got dropped off and then had a few drinks got some dinner and awaited the next day which was when we would depart to Bandipur in hopes to see a tiger on a safari.
We took the bus to Bandipur and got dropped off on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. We found a small place that had dorms, but we couldn't rent the beds, we had to rent the whole dorm. They asked us if the 3 of us wanted the 6, 10, or 20 bed dorm. I think we'll take the 6, thanks. We had a room boy who would be outside our room if we needed any food, drink or had any problems with anything. When we finally went on our safari tour called "Plan Tiger" we got to see not only deer, chickens and peacocks, but we also saw a family of pigs walking around. We decided that the tour was called it's name because everyone who goes plans to see a tiger, but then are obviously much happier when they can see the same animals they could have seen from sitting on their front porch. (From our front porch we saw no only these animals, but many monkeys and also elephants, old and young.)

I am now back in Mysore and heading to Bangalore, my last stop in India to visit friends I made back in Egypt, Kiran and VIbha.

I quite enjoyed my time with Sarah and Michelle and was so happy that they could discover the magic of the "Plan Tiger" safari with me.
Sarah by the way who is the short one in the picture, we are the same height when I am sitting in a chair. When Michelle was reading from a guide book to her and mentioned Ghandi, she thought for a minute and then asked where in India that was. The first night I met Sarah she asked me if the U.S was one country. You'll never know if you don't ask. They are both as nice as can be to me so they can say any ridiculous thing they want. When I walk around with them I feel like I'm with celebrities. It is what I would imagine life for an NBA star or something. Two pretty white girls with a little cleavage and if they stand somewhere in public for more than 10 minutes they will have at least 50 Indian men staring at them. People in India don't try to hide it when they stare at you, they may be 10 ft away standing and facing in your direction and their eyes won't leave you for as long as you stand there.


"For every traveller who has any taste of his own, the only useful guide book will be the one which himself has written"
-Aldous Huxley an English Writer.

#54 Watch your hands with that eye chacha!!

My last day in OM beach and at the Indian beaches for that matter I figured I needed a massage for the buildup of stress that spending weeks on a beach can cause. Above is Chacha, he is in his 60's or 70's and can only see out of one eye. He was my choice for a massage. He had been doing it for years and others at the beach recommended him and said he had strong hands and was priced better than the rest. He told me to lie down on this big bench seat that was inside of the main room which also served as a restaurant. I was situated so that my middle section was even with the older swiss couples heads who were enjoying their lunch. I started off by telling chacha to focus on the back, neck and shoulders and not worry about the lower half of the body. "ok, ok, no problem". He started off on my back after oiling me up and when he asked if I wanted harder I told him harder is good. I could then feel every rib in my back flexing as much as they possibly could. After a few minutes he stood up, put a thin blanket on my back, grabbed the rafters in the ceiling and began walking on my back which was quite nice. When the back was concluded he began rolling up the bottom of my shorts so that the swiss couple could look at some big, white hairy legs while they ate their meal. Chacha started with the feet where in the end he would grab a couple of toes, lift my leg off the ground and shake so that I could feel everything crack from my toes up through to my hips. He then moved further up the legs and was using the palm of his hands to push on my upper leg when I thought, "wait a minute he's getting very close to...yep, that was my testicle that you just pushed on." (If anyone is going to massage my nuts it's going to be me) When that was over and I recovered from the whole thing he began going at my shoulders and neck, but while leaning over me I couldn't help to feel chacha's chachas on my lower back. 2 things crossed my mind at this point. 1st- I was picturing in the movie Garden State when the guy wakes up with balls written on his forhead. 2nd- I couldn't help to think that there were thousands of guys all around the world getting massages from beautiful girls and here I was with a one eyed old man massaging my balls with his nuts(covered of course) on my lower back.

I then had to sit up so that he could massage my neck and head. He started by taking the bottle of water I was drinking and had sitting next to me and poored the water on my head. Chacha also decided that he was a chiropractor as well and while massaging my neck, did that thing where you rock the head slowly back and forth before twisting with a quick thrust. When he did this I was happy just to come out of it alive. He told me I needed to relax so that he could do it again. I told him that I wasn't going to relax so he didn't need to bother and then, crack, he did it the other way.

In the end it turned out to be all in all a good massage and I was quite relaxed. He told me not to shower for a couple of hours and to let the oils settle in. How could I shower when he just gave me a bath in oil and chacha love.


"Be cautious about getting a massage by an old one eyed man named Chacha"
-Me

#53 Rupees lessons, don't trade your passport and the quietest beach yet.

This is Rupee. In Palolem Rupee became one of our good friends, everywhere we went Rupeee would follow. To town, to swim, at dinner he would lie under the table, at night he would sleep at my door. We began discussing how sad Rupee would be once we all left since he is so attached to us all and most people just tell the dogs to get away. I think a good lesson can be learned from Rupee. He can't speak with us but there was a general bond between us and a comfort knowing each other was around. In our time spent together Rupee flourishes, he doesn't spend each day worrying about when we will leave and begin loving us less so that the blow isn't so hard when the day comes. While we are there he loves us as complete as he possibly can so that nothing is regretted and no opportunity is passed while the chance was there. Maybe Rupee thought it was us that needed him by us which could possibly be the case. I may completely forget about Rupee in a year or at sometime in my life even after all the quality time we spent together but nothing can rid me of the great time that we spent together in the few days in Palolem.

I've given up with many of the rules of traveling.
Rule one: don't eat vegetables or fruit because they wash them with "the bad water"
This may work if you are traveling for a couple weeks but I have been on the road for more than 6 months and dammit I love fruits and vegetables so now when I want a salad I order a salad. Sometimes my stomach will feel it and for a day everything will be flushed out. Why is this a bad thing? This just makes room to eat some more delicious food.

My last dinner in Palolem I wanted to try a new restaurant. I headed by myself down the beach until I came to two guys playing a guitar and mandolin on the beach to people sitting at candlelit tables on the water. Here I went out and picked out my fresh caught tuna that I wanted to eat for dinner. As I enjoyed my $5 meal and listened to the live music with the sound of crashing waves in the background I saw fireworks begin to go off in the distant sky. This is the kind of last meal that I would want to have anywhere, the only thing missing was Rupee, who stayed with the bigger group.

When discussing vegetarians and meat eaters, Anthony who always tells everyone that it is "gin o'clock" came up with an argument that made me speechless. He said "If God didn't want us to eat cows, then why did he make them out of mean?"

I am traveling for around 9 months. Before I left it seemed like a lot of time, but when you are at these places it is soooo short. I know that I have been able to see many things but even what I see just barely scratches the surface of these countries. I could spend years trying to see everything which many people I meet try to do. I was talking with an English man, Stanley who I met yesterday who must have been in his 40's. He has been traveling for the last 10 years of his life, working here and there. When I asked him if he ever wanted to marry, he told me that he was married once to a Japanese girl but then in the end it just didn't work out. He said "she wanted kids and I bought her a cat; it was a great cat, but she hated it". (I think she may have hated the fact that she wanted kids and you bought her a cat)

I hear people explaining places they have been and they often say, "through my experience, this is the best way to do it." Of course this is the only experience they had so they have nothing to compare it to really. If they had a good time then in their mind they want to think that they didn't miss out on something else so what they did was the best choice. Alternatively, maybe they say they wouldn't do something that they have already done. However, you never know what brought this dislike up, it could have been bad weather, they may have been sick, it could have been anything that your visit to the same place could be completely opposite of their feeling. It is good to listen to other travelers to get an idea but don't believe everything they say.

Most people traveling on the beaches in India are from the Western culture. Basically the sellers are Indians, the buyers are white with a few exceptions thrown in of course. I can't tell you how much it bothers me to hear people from England or the U.S complain about their country. How it is all materialistic and they would be happier living on a beach in India where things are simple. What they don't take into account is that they worked in the Western culture saving up enough money in short time so that they can come and live on a beach in India with nothing to worry about. One girl I heard telling a guy who lived in one of these small beach villages is, "you're so lucky to have been born here and live here your whole life". He replies, "thank you, yes it's beautiful". He should have told her however, "Oh, you're right, I'm so lucky, because I was born here I can't get a passport to your country because even if I could buy a ticket to come over, my money wouldn't last me more then 3 days as opposed to you being born with a passport that advances you to go, collect $200, allows you to work for 2 weeks in order to come and live on the beaches of India like a queen for two months before leaving just in time to miss the Monsoon season which is when we pack up and move inland to do manual labor for half the year."

I met one girl who was from L.A. with a mexican look. Someone in the hostel said we have two americans here and pointed to her and myself. She quickly said "I'm Mexican." I asked her, "You were born in Mexico?" "NO." Do you live in Mexico? No, but my parents were born there. Ok, so you have mexican heritage. No, I am mexican. Do you travel with a mexican or american passport? American.
Did you go to schools in the US and speak english? Yes, but most of my friends there are mexican. They were born in Mexico? NO.

All I'm saying is if you take advantage of everything your country offers you then don't be hypicritical and talk bad about it. Every country has good and bad things, that's the beauty of traveling, trying to figure out which part of each culture you want to adapt in your life.

Enough of this thinking talk.

I'm in a little, quiet beach called OM beach. It's hot, more cows on the beach, good food, finished a book, "The Zahir". I wouldn't give it such a good rating.
I leave tonight on an overnight bus away from the beaches to a little village called Hampi.

"It's time to move on, time to get going, what lies ahead I have no way of knowing, but under my feet baby, grass is growing, yeah, time to move on, time to get going."
-Tom Petty

#52 I get all the news I need from the weather report.

I had planned on leaving Palolem beach earlier, but the lifestyle has sucked me into staying longer, I will now depart tomorrow. I've met some nice people who I've spent a bit of my time with. Anthony from Australia and Mike from New Zealand who live next door and I have hung out most days. We have also hung out with others living in our area like Michelle and Sarah from England.

I have found myself in a bit of a routine for the last few days. It goes something like this:
Wake - Bathroom - Swim - Walk on the beach-breakfast (tomato and chesse omelet, hash browns, toast and tea; $1)- read in the hammock on my porch - swim - listen to music while laying on the beach - swim - talk with others on the beach - swim - get an ice cream - swim - back to reading in the hammock - go to town to get water..email..other things - walk on the beach and watch the sunset - read in hammock - dinner -hang out with friends -bed Next day: do it again.

I sleep under a mosquito net which turns out to protect you from many things. Last night I woke up to something moving around my room and when I turned on the light I saw little mice or rats escaping through my ceiling; it's amazing to me how little this bothered me, I turned the lights off and went back to sleep.

We had a gin and tonic party last night (the neighbors and our few friends). Turned out fun with lots of laughs.

I ate my first banana-chocolate pancake...get in my belly!!!

That is basically my life on the beach for the last few days.
So, I hear there is a lot of snow in michigan. Can't say I'm missing it right now.

"I've got nothing to do today, but smile and doh doh doh, here I am" -Simon and Garfunkel in their song 'only living boy in new york'

#51 How much am I really spending? Dogs, Muscles, First meat.

"Sometimes I get the feeling I need to excercise. When this happens I sit down and wait for the feeling to go away." This was what I read on one Indian guy's tshirt. Indians aren't fat people. However, in no way does it look like any of them workout or excercise too often. The excercise that comes with their everyday work is the extent of it. My friend Kiran from Bangalore told me, "the last thing on an Indian's mind is excercise." I don't exactly know the reason for this, but wonder if it could be partly because of arranged marriages. Whether they are fit or bulging with muscles they are still going to get married. It is the parents that arrange the marriages and the last thing they are worried about is their child's spouses figure. There are few divorces in the arranged marriage world. I think this is partly because there is no pretending to be someone else while dating. Maybe not pretending to be someone else, but not going that extra mile when you are actually married like many do. We've heard it all before from some parent or relative bitching about their spouse, "he used to be so romantic before we were married", or "she used to want to do it more before we were married". Anyways, like everything, each kind of marriage has it's ups and downs, advantages and disadvantages.

India is a dog factory. There are so many stray, random dogs walking around. Half are puppies or mothers walking around with 10 hanging, milking tits. (I don't really know how many, does it change by the dog or are they all the same?) Those who treat your dog like a daughter or member of the family would be appalled over here.

So I spent my last night in Ajuna beach with John and the girls at a huge Sunday market. Thousands of people and just as many shops. Bands were playing, hippies everywhere, bars, and wackos. It was quite exciting to see the hustle bustle of the people. Interesting to watch the short time tourists who the vendors prey off of because they know their lack of bargaining skill and motivation. Then there are the tourists who have been there short time and bargain for hours. Then there are the Israelis who are known for being great and stubborn bargainers which is a show in itself to see and can be exhausting just watching them go at it.
Here is how most conversations go with a shopkeeper as you are walking by:
Shop: come look at my shop, you like you buy, you don't like no problem, very cheap prices.
Me: (if I decide to look) How much is that?
Shop: 500
Me: no thanks
Shop: ok best price for you 400
Me: not thanks
Shop: what is your best price?
Me: 50
Shop: impossible for me, ok my lowest price possible, 300.
Me: no thanks
Shop: ok, you make best price.
Me:100
Shop: ok, 200 but your don't tell anyone and it's the best price, I'm the only one that has this item.
Me: I saw this item at 10 other shops on the way here.
Shop: they are my shops too
Me: (of course they are)
Shop: so two hundred my friend, are you happy.
Me: that's ok, maybe tomorrow.
Shop: maybe I don't open tomorrow.
Me: I'll take my chances
Shop: Ok, 150
Me: see you tomorrow.
Shop: Ok, 100.


After a couple of nights of hanging out with John and crashing at his place I said farewell to them and Ajuna beach and headed south to Palolem beach. I took the buses there which took about 4 hours and cost about $1.50. The next viable option would have taken half the time and cost at least 20 times more. When I arrived I found a hut on the beach that looks at the bay (see above picture view from my room).
My hut most resembles a big box made from plywood, but has a bed and is the cheapest place on the beach, 200 rupees (less than $5). I ate my first meat in almost a month, fresh seafood sizzler, deeeeeelicious.

There are many hippies from around the world in these parts and they are often high and trying to tell people that they know the way to be happy. (when I say hippies it comes off as a bad thing, but there are many different stages of hippies and I somewhat consider myself one. I only say it because we can all picture a full blown one.)
There is a great quote that says:
"those who know, don't talk and those who talk, don't know"
-I don't know who said it.

#50 Cows on the beach, new friends with great stories, excuse me you want to do what?

I was more than happy to arrive in warm weather again and be able to pack the jeans that I have wore straight for over a month. I arrived in Goa and split a cab with some other travelers to Ajuna beach which is in N. Goa. First night I went to bed early since I didn't sleep the night before due to the wedding. Second day I walked around town checking out the little shops, streets and just getting a feel for the city. I headed down to the beach for the afternoon and after getting a massage on the beach I met a guy, John Hanks.
JOhn left England 15 months ago with his car and has driven it through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and into India. He has a 5 year visa for India and will spend a couple of years here before driving his car eventually to Japan, shipping it to the U.S and driving for some time around the U.S.
He told me about 1 guy who hitchhiked around the world, one who bought a rickshaw (a motorized mini car with 3 wheels) in Thailand and drove it back to England and it just made us realize that their are some great stories out there to be heard.
After sitting and talking with him for some hours he invited me to crash in his home in the living room where there is a spare mattress. He's renting a house for a couple of months. We headed back to the house and I met his two housemates, Luciana from Brazil and Lucia from Italy. Lucia is famous in the north of India because she was swimming in the Ganges river while it was raining hard and lighting hit the water, she got an amazing shock from it and couldn't sleep for 3 days but somehow didn't die, so many Indians in the north thinks she has special powers.

The following day I moved my stuff into their house and then walked around town, made cd's of pictures and packaged up things I have bought and collected along the way to mail home. Here in India also it is necessary to wrap the things with white cloth and stitch it; not just in Kuwait. I spent most of the day at the beach reading, listening to music and watching people. I bought a half of watermelon from a woman on the beach and a cow came by when I was half way through and tried to steal it from me, there was no way he was getting it. In the house they have some speakers and I have an ipod. We were all so excited to be able to listen to some music so we got some drinks and then after a while John and I headed out to a restaurant for dinner where we ate like kings, had a couple of drinks and at the end each paid 130 rupees which is about $4.
Today I mailed all of my stuff, I really don't expect it ever to arrive. You would understand if you saw the post office and delt with them for the hour that I did. I spent another day at the beach and when I arrived there I had different men come up to me and show me a card, here is what it said:

This is to certify that "John Doe" , aged 25 is a good ear cleaner. He will do very good work.

This is on a piece of paper with no authority signing it whatsoever. Anyone can go to a computer and type this and print it.
One guy after showing me this showed me a picture of a guy cleaning someones ear. I asked him who this picture is of because it wasn't the guy standing in front of me wanting to clean my ear. "It is my brother." Of course it is. Anyways, his brother is not there so why would he show this picture? Then I saw the tool that they use. They want to put these metal things in my ear to clean it out. First, there is no way in hell that they clean these things and if they do it is on their shirt. Second, if he paid me to clean my ear I wouldn't do it. The amazing thing is that there are many people who say "Ok, sounds good, I need a good ear cleaning, go for it, I'm not worried because your card says your good at it".

The south is MUCH different than the north. Everyone speaks English, at least enough to sell you something. In the north I maybe saw 1 white person for every 1,000 Indians, in the south at the beach town it's about 50/50. No monkeys, still cows.

Many people will help you or be kind to you and you often want to do something for them. A guy who helped John in Iran told him when John wanted to give him something for all of his help and kindness, "Don't return a kindness, pass it on."

#49 Dundeewad to my family. A great experience and having to say goodbye after the marriage.

My experience staying with the family is like no experience I could ever read about or pay a tour company for, it was priceless. Like the other families I have stayed with during my trip, they treated me like one of the family and let me look into their everyday lives.

One day the family and I headed into the city to shop for clothes and things for the marriage. I myself bought a traditional Indian outfit for the marriage. For each persons items they bought it was a family event where everyone would put in their own opinion. While walking around the city I had both of my hands held at all times by the little ones in the family. One man yelled at me because I was holding their hands and you should have seen the rest of the family go off on this guy. When we would see other white people in the city the little kids would point them out to me to say "look, there is your friend".
I spent one day at two schools talking with the teachers and the students. I had an hour at one school where they called an assembly and I spoke to about 350 students and answered their questions. For a punishment kids can still get their hands hit with a stick and I discussed with a few teachers that did this. One in the school I got to agree never to use it again with the help of a card trick. He was sure his card wasn't where I told him it would be and agreed to stop using the stick if he was wrong; he was wrong. I was presented with a flower necklace/chain for being a guest in the school.

If you ever meet a man from India that you nickname RC cola and he asks you to go on a program with him for 25 minutes, don't go!!!
The 25 minutes turned into more than 2 hours of meeting lots of his family and listening to his problems. RC only talks and doesn't listen to anyone. The biggest problem was that the family at home was waiting for me and so I was very late.
When we arrived home I was greeted with hugs and open arms from everyone; it made me feel great.
As far as arranged marriages go it is usually pretty mutual as far as both enjoying each other. RC cola's case is a prime example of how someone can get screwed and someone can get who they don't deserve. RC is the most obnoxious man in the village that I came across. His wife who is about 10 years younger than him is beautiful. He would have never gotten her if it wasn't for arranged marriages. He got married to her when she was around 10 and got her pregnant at 12 years old. There is a downside to every rule.

Every night we were at someones house for dinner and then always followed by traditional singing and dancing until the power went out each night. I was almost attacked by a monkey one day (pink faced one) and had to move faster than I moved in a long time to run into the bathroom. Almost every meal is eaten with Chipatee, a kind of bread. It is the womens job to make it. One night when I insisted on making it and helping there was an uproar in the house and in the neighborhood that I wanted to make chipatee. Many people in the village the next few days new that I made chipatee and asked me why I would do a woman's job. I continued to make chipatee and told the family I wouldn't eat any unless I made it. By the end of my stay they called me when they would make it and enjoyed watching me do it.

To prep for the wedding everyone decorated themselves with Henna tatoos. I got a couple of my feet and one on my hand, it lasts about a month.

On the wedding day I got to see all the preparing and excitement leading up to the marriage. We went to the city at about 6pm and all the people from Nick's side of the family meet in a park. From there the mob of people follows a band for some miles stopping every few minutes to break out into dance. This goes on while nick rides a white horse amongst all the people. The walk leads us to the place where the wife and all of her family and guests are waiting for our arrival. Here there is a big dinner and the ceremony takes place. Through the night the family would head back home and I would say goodbye. They asked me to change my plane ticket and stay longer which made it harder for me to leave. There were some tears from the family members. I know that I will remember my stay with them forever and hope that they remember me also.
Thanks to all the family, I enjoyed each and every one of you!!!!!

Since arriving in India I haven't eaten any meat, that has been quite different for me. I also haven't had alcohol since the end of November, it is amazing how much money I save not drinking.

I have put up the pictures from Kuwait.

Life isn't worth living unless you're willing to take some big chances and go for broke.-- Eliot Wiggington