SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

IVE MADE IT! Damn the Nay sayers. I have survived Southeast Asia/Europe and I am now in Australia! I have been in Sydney for the past 3 days. And I am freezing my ass off.

It was a bit of a challenge getting here from Indonesia. The Bali airport was a little different from what I am use to. You have to go through a full on security check before you check in or check your bag. Now, I wasnt expecting this so I had stuff in my bag that you wouldnt necessarily carry into an airport terminal.

'Can you open your bag sir?'
'Yeah, no problem'
'Do you have any metal in your bag sir?'
'Um . . . I might.'
'What is this sir?'
'Its a camping knife (with a 6 inch blade)'
'OK, And what is this sir?'
'Um . . . that is a telescoping steel patton.'
'OK, And what is this sir?'
'Those are used bullet shells (from an AK-47 but I didnt mention that)'
'You cant take these on sir.'
'Why not, they are empty?'
'Are you military personnel, sir?'
'No.'
'Then you cant take it on.'

Come on, the 6 inch Alaskan blade I had was OK, the 12" steel telescoping button was OK, but the empty AK-47 shells were a problem. I had taken those things on 6 flights since I got them, one of which was into Indonesia, but leaving with them was a problem. To be honest, I thought they might give me a full cavity search because of those damn things. But anyway, they took them, the best souvenir I had.

When I arrived at the airport in Sydney they stamped the last empty page on my passport. They said they dont care but some countries will, so I had better get an emergency passport. The only available pages are the ones for Amendments and Official Government Use in the back. My Indonesian Visa had to go onto one of them just because they ran out of room on the other pages, but I think that was lucky and no other government would allow me to use them.

. . . . .

Asian Doug is dead. I killed him with a pair of small scissors and 2 disposable razors. It took me 45 minutes to shave off that beard and I mangled my face in the process, but it feels good to be clean shaving again. I am still getting use to seeing my lower jaw again. And I have this weird kind of eye nose tan thing going on right now, but I think I made the right decision. Sydney is very cosmopolitan.

The first thing I did when I got into town was take a hot shower and the second was buy some cheap Western food. I got some bread, bananas, cookies, I already had some peanut butter, and a Value Pack of Backed Beans. A value pack of Baked Beans! Oh man I am going to go to town on those things. The poor bastard in the bunk below me better hold onto his eye brows, because he is in for one hell of a ride.

Sydney has been great, I am staying in a hostel in King's Cross. Ill be here through Christmas and New Years. Its a nice area. A lot of nice pubs and places to go out. Ive been hitting the pavement a lot lately trying to get some work but I think I am going to have to wait for the Christmas help to leave first. But I am confident Ill get some work.

So far Ive seen the Sydney tower, the Opera house, the Governor's house of New South Wales, the Harbor Bridge and just wandered around a lot. It seems like more then it is. I have been just hanging out a lot. The option to do nothing has been too tempting to pass up as of late.

. . . . .

My camera is still messed up. I got sand in the lens when I was on a dive boat in Borneo. So below is the only picture of me from Indonesia. I got a Malaysian couple to take it and send it to me. It is me in front of Mt. Bromo.

Check it out! Teen wolf never looked this good.

Bali & the Gilis, Indonesia

Ive been in the Gilis for two days. Its been beautiful here. Its an island maybe a mile long and a half a mile wide just off the coast of Lombok. Lombok is east of Bali. The island has maybe 600 people on it. There are no cars or motorbikes; everything is transported by horse and buggy and it took me 2 ferries, 2 buses and 10 hours to get here from Bali, but they have better broadband access then at home.

Bali was great too. I stayed in Kuta there. That is the tourist area where they had the two bombings, one 3 years ago and the other 5 years ago. When I arrived there, after being on another hideously long bus ride with a local throwing up next to me (notice a pattern), it was quite the scene.

Bali seems to be the Cancun for Australia. It seemed like the place was teaming with High School age kids getting extremely drunk. When I pulled in I saw 5, drunk, half-naked Aussies dancing through the streets leading an invisible parade to who the hell knows where. There were several large clubs lining the streets blaring music. One had an armed guard with an automatic weapon standing out front and in the distance you could see the large Bombing memorial with all the victims' names on it.

But despite all that I still really enjoyed it and I think Bali would be a place definitely worth returning to. I felt safe, things were cheap, and there was a lot to do. It would be a good place just to chill out and fall into the background.

. . . .

I board a plane for Sydney at 12:25 am on December 19. I arrive at 9 am. Getting excited! I plan on being in Sydney for at least 15 days and Australia for close to 6 months. It will be nice to finally unpack my backpack. The longest Ive been in any one place up until now has been Ko Pha-Ngan, Thailand and that was for 9 days, 4 months ago.

. . . .

These are old photos I got someone to send me from their camera in Borneo. They were taken during some adventure caving I did in the Mulu Caves. I thought they turned out pretty well considering.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia has been great thus far. I am really enjoying it here

Im in Yogyakarta at the moment, hiding in an Internet cafe from the day's constant rain.

I just arrived here last night on a train from Jakarta. The train took 9 hours from Jakarta, West Java, to get half away across the island to Yogyakarta. Java is a big island. Overall, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, just behind the US, with a population of 255 Million People. Half of them live on Java. 15 Million people live in Jakarta alone. On the train, it felt like we were going through the city 'suburbs', more like slums, for close to an hour. The central part of Jakarta didnt feel overcrowded though like I imagine Hong Kong or Shanghai would feel.

On my only full day in Jakarta, I was just walking around on my own and I had four different people come up to me and ask where I was from and just walk with me. The first guy came up to me just outside of the Freedom Square in the middle of town. He turned out to be a tour solicitor in the end, but was still a really nice informative man. And when I turned him down he just said thank you and walked away. In Thailand, he would have begun to curse me before my back was turned.

The other two men I just met while walking around near the Harbor. I walked past the guy and we made eye contact so I said hi and he said hi back. And as I kept walking past him, it started to rain and he waved me over to an awning to keep dry. It let up after a minute or two and we walked together for an hour or so around the pier. He walked to my left with his arms folded behind his back and his chin in the air. It was a good experience. He thought it unusual that I wasnt married and that I didnt have any kids. The conversation eventually turned to Religion because there was a festival going on that night. He asked if I was Christian and I said yes. He said he was a Muslim and quickly followed it up with 'No Problem'. The Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia have been the nicest people thus far.

The fourth guy was a motorbike driver. He worked for the tourist office there and when he saw me walking by he came out and gave me a taxi ride back to my hotel. I told him I was heading to Jakarta next and he came with me to the train station to help me buy the ticket. Great People.

The man that I was talking/walking with called the holiday, I believe, 'Sacrifice Day.' If that is the official name I dont know, but the night before I left there were goats all around town tied up outside Mosques for the nightly prayers.

The next day on the train, you could see the local people slaughtering the cows and goats from the window of the train. You could see a cow on the ground with blood on its mouth and neck and a man standing over it. There were goats strung up from house roofs and the local children gathering around to watch their fathers go to work. At some points, it looked like a whole town was gathering over an animal.

. . . .

Last night, after I got back to my hotel from walking around a bit, I lie down on my bed and put my arm under my pillow to begin to sleep when I found an empty bottle of Durex 'Pleasure-Enhancing Lubricant.' Disgusted, I immediately through the bottle across the room. I just sat for a second wandering what to do. My imagination began to take a hold of me but I maintained composure. It was late, I was tired and the sheets smelt OK so I just shut up and went to bed. I couldnt be bothered. I mean what probably happened is, the maid picked up the bottle from ANOTHER room and it fell out of her shirt pocket when she was putting down the clean sheets in THIS room, right? Thats the only reasonable explanation . . . . . . ha, I doubt this place has a maid or even a washing machine to wash its sheets. Whatever.

. . . .

Tomorrow I am getting on a bus for the Volcano in East Java, Bromo. Ill spend one night there and then head further east across the island, onto a ferry and Ill arrive in Denpasar, Bali by 6 pm. Im eager to get to the beach.

Jakarta, Indonesia

I just arrived. Im a little sketched out.

Samporna, Malaysia (Borneo Still)

I went diving today at what is suppose to be some of the best diving in the world. I went to Mabul island off the coast of Samporna, and tomorrow Ill go diving again at Sipadan. To go to Sipadan you need a permit because the government only lets 120 people go each day. You also need to book your dive at least 2 weeks in advance to get a place. I just showed. But I managed to get a spot. It could have been the Jeffery charm or could have been that some German guy got marooned at the Bangkok airport because of the Thai protests, but who is to say. Either way, Im pretty excited

Today after we went out, I borrowed some pictures from a fellow American diver who rented an underwater digital camera.

These are those pictures . . . . .

Doug love fish.

I look like a drowned rat.


That sea turtle was probably as big as I was. The dive master thinks it was a couple hundred years old.

Our final dive of the day was done below an old Brunei Oil Derrick that was drug to that area to be used as a dive resort. So, if you wanted to, you could go diving from an oil rig. Its very James Bond.

. . . .

Before I arrived here I was hanging out in the Jungle on a wild life trek. I spent three days and two nights in the jungle. It was pretty exciting. I got to see some Monitor Lizards (the 5 foot lizard that I saw earlier in Miri in the water. They are the same genes as Komoto Dragons), Crocodile, tons of breakfast-stealing monkeys, Tarantula, Snakes, and loads of bugs. We also saw a wild orangutan in a tree. He wasnt doing much and was hard to see but still we saw him. On the final night in the jungle the guy sleeping next to me had to leave camp early and go by boat to the hospital. He had a fever and just felt very hot. If there is one place to get sick I dont think that was it. I wander how he is, he didnt look too good. I feel fine by the way.

. . . .

I dive tomorrow, then hang here for one more day. Then Ill head back to Kota Kinabula where Ill chill out for another day. Then Ill fly to Jakarta, Indonesia on the 6th.

Also, am I the only person who realizes there are pirates off the coast of Somalia? Everyday I check the news and the headlines are always about Somalian pirates. Every picture they show of the pirates, they are just two guys in a raft and only one has an automatic rifles. You are in a 100 foot tall cruise liner. Just dont Stop!

Miri, Malaysia (Borneo)

Two Days ago, I arrived in Miri from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I left Singapore that morning and headed back through their customs into Malaysia to fly out of Johor Bahru. It is the cheaper flight.

Singapore was a good time though. It was a nice break. I arrived at the hostel in town there and found the English girl and Canadian guy I had been traveling with in the Cameron Highlands and Taman Negara Phang. It was nice to meet up with some people I knew after the long bus ride and problem with customs. They left after my first day there but they are headed to Australia too. We made plans to meet up there in Sydney for Christmas and New Year's.

Singapore was worth the price. I got to do everything I set out to: go to the Singapore zoo, see the Singapore National Museum, Clarke Quay, the Christmas decorations on Orchard Rd, check out the Battle Box (the bunker where the British surrendered to the Japanese) and of course drink Singapore Slings in the Raffles Hotel, their birth place. The Singapore zoo was exciting, the zoo was well put together and the animals there all seem to be unusually close to the visitors. You could touch a lot of the more mellow animals if you wanted. No one was around at one point and I touched a huge tortoise. SUCCAS!

But a week before I got there a Malay janitor jumped into the White Tiger cage apparently to commit suicide. The tourists thought it was just a show until the tigers took him down. I stopped by their cages and those Tigers are huge, without a doubt the biggest cat at the zoo. I dont know what a good way to go out is but that definitely is not it.

Singapore is a very Western city. It is very clean and very easy to get around. The metro there is immaculate. It is much more commercial then the rest of Southeast Asia. I dont know how many malls are too many malls but Singapore is close to it. I almost felt some reverse culture shock going back into such a place.

. . . . .

Borneo has been exciting. The city of Miri has a population of about 400 k, according to my cab driver, so it is pretty bigger then expected. The city has nearly everything a city should have, big hotels, taxis, malls, Starbucks, but at the same time getting around can be difficult.

Today, I went to the Lambir Hills National Park. I walked to the bus station and asked how I get there. I had to take a bus to a second station and then take another bus to the entrance. Easy Enough. 'OK, how do I get back?'
'Umm, You hitchhike.'

So I did, the park isnt suppose to have any wildlife. I guess that is by Borneo standards. I showed up at the park with my swimsuit in my bag ready to swim because it is suppose to be a safe place to swim. I actually met a local on the way in and he had just come from swimming. He said it was good swimming and wished me luck. After I paid my entrance fee, I walked maybe 15 feet to the bridge that crossed a small creek to get in the park. That is when I saw a 3 and a half foot lizard just floating in the creek with its head sticking out of the water. I initially thought it was a crocodile but its head was too short. Then I thought it was a Komodo Dragon because it looked like one. But having just been at the Singapore zoo I knew they dont live in Malaysia. But none the less, it was a big lizard and I wasnt even in the park yet. It was just letting the current carry it, but as it heard me step on the bridge it dove deeper and swam out of sight.

I went swimming anyway, there were locals there and I felt safe doing it. I ended up hiking probably 2 km after that. I would have gone further but it started to rain pretty hard and the sky was getting dark. The rain forest canopy helped slow the rain but as the rain collected on the leaves it just made the drops fatter. And water continued to fall on me even after it stopped raining as I navigated my way out by pulling on all the trees.

I got out fine and flagged down a bus to get back.

Tomorrow, I will wake up at 5 am to check out some local caves, the Niah Caves.

On the 24th, I will head to Gunung Mulu, that is suppose to be the best Park on Borneo and is only accessible by plane. So Ill be on a 30 flight to Mulu from Miri where I will remain for 4 days. I tried to book these flights online but apparently they only take Malaysian Credit Cards so I get to show up at the airport and slap down some cash for my flight. Im pretty excited to see what kind of contraption Ill be flying in. But seeing the park does have a sacrifice. It means I will be spending my Thanksgiving in the middle of the Borneo Brush, eating whatever it is I can scrap together, surrounded by locals who only see my presence as an intrusion. Which if you think about it makes my Malaysian Thanksgiving more authentic then your American Thanksgiving. . . . . . . . . . But if anyone wants to trade places, I would gladly do it. I am going to miss my Grandmother's stuffing.

Singapore, Singapore

I just arrived in Singapore from Langkawi.

I went from Georgetown, Penang to Langkawi. And from Langkawi, I took a 14 hour bus ride to Singapore crossing the entire Malaya Peninsula from North to South. The bus ride actually wasnt that bad. There were frequent stops along the way to pop a squat or grab some grub. Each rest stop has all you need. Toilets, Buttered Corn, Fresh Fruit, and His and Hers Prayer Rooms. All in all not the worst bus trip Ive had.

Georgetown was OK. I ended up seeing Fort Cornwalis, the place of the British's initial settlement in Malaya. It was pretty small not really worth the stop and an International Spice Garden there. The garden was actually really nice. As soon as I left I saw about 10 large monkeys walked across the telephone lines towards the garden. They were using the tail to hold on to the wire above them while they walked on the one below. They looked like hairy bumper cars.

I went to Langkawi to hit the beach. The beach was nice but the weather was nearly unbearable. I ended up sitting in the sun all day for the two days I was there and got pretty sunburned in the process. It makes carrying my backpack that much worse. But the opportunity to play some volleyball made it too hard to leave the sand. I think I almost had heat stroke after the second day. I was really tired, felt sick and I had a bad headache. I was fine after some water and Mango juice but I had to take a nap afterwards just to recompose myself.

When I first got on the island from the Penang ferry, you have to take a taxi to get to the hotels. I asked these Norwegian girls if they wanted to share a taxi to save the fair and I ended up hanging out with them the two nights I was there. Two of the five had just spent a month in Hawaii and they seemed pretty pleased with their American experience. It was pretty funny one of them was obsessed with the idea of New York City at Christmas time. She loved hearing about American Christmas and talking about where she went when she was there. It kind of made me jealous that I wouldnt be home for it myself.

It was actually really lucky I met these girls, because they helped me out in Singapore. Like I said I took a 14 bus ride from Langkawi to Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. It started at 5 pm and I arrived at 7 am. I got maybe 7 hours sleep over four different periods. So when we arrived at the Malaysian customs I was pretty out of it. Everyone gets off the bus goes through the departure customs, hands over their departure cards, gets their passports stamped, and gets back on the bus. No Problems! Now, Singapore Entry Customs. This time we have to carry all of our luggage off the bus to go through customs. Now as I said I was pretty out of it and not really thinking and when I got into the Customs Terminal I took two pictures, with my bright flash on, of the 'No Chewing Gum' Sign. Dumb Move. I put my camera away and turn around and a security guard reprimanded me for taking pictures in their customs area and said I could be arrested for that. I apologized and he eventually walked. I get to the custom counter and handed my passport over to the customs official and once again they have a problem with matching my beardless passport picture with the now studly, bearded Doug Jeffery. He eventually agrees that I am me, but then asks if I tested my camera in the terminal. I think he saw me do it so I just confessed to doing it. He seemed to get pretty flustered and then called his supervisor to deal me. I apologized to him and told him that I would just delete the picture if he wanted. He said it wouldnt make any difference. He then proceeds to give me a 30-day visa and then void it once his supervisor arrives. The supervisor then escorts me into their side security office and ask me if I took a picture. I told them I took two and showed them to them. They asked why I took them. I said it was just a novelty thing. He then asked me if I had any gum on me; I said no. He eventually said OK, quizzed me on my personal information and my itinerary and let me go.

They whole thing made me take probably 30 minutes longer then everyone else on my bus. So when I went back out to get on my bus I couldnt find them. I think they just wrote me off and went on without me. So once again I had entered a new country without getting their currency ahead of time and was nearly marooned barely within the border. But luckily, the nice Norwegian girls I had met in Langkawi had just been to Singapore and had given me S$7 that they didnt need. So I was able to hop on a packed rush hour city bus into town. In was a bit touch and go there for a while but it worked out in the end.

. . . . .

Ill be here for 3 days before I head out to Borneo.

Also, I just got word that my Australia Holiday visa was approved. I now can work in Australia for up to 12 months. I guess my Chest X-Ray was clear.

Malaysia

I've been out for 4 months and 8 days.

Right now, Im in Georgetown, Malaysia. Georgetown is on the island of Penang off the North Western Part of Malaysia close to the Thai border. It is a nice island and Ive been here for 2 days. Tomorrow, Ill catch the ferry and head off to Langkawi for another two days there. Then after that Ill catch the bus or train down to Singapore where Ill hang out for three days then Im off to Borneo to see some Orangutans. Im excited.

There are suppose to some of the best parks in the world on Borneo and Im getting ready to see them. Before I arrived in Georgetown I was in Taman Negara which is in the center of Malaya Peninsula. It a rain forest that is 130 million years, the oldest rain forest on the planet. I was there with three people I met in the Cameron Highlands, two English and one Canuck. We got to do a 45m-high Canopy walk and some short trekking. We didnt see anything to exciting but I did get to see some nice birds and some huge ants. I dont think Im sly enough to sneak up on any wild tigers, which were suppose to be out there. But I did some trekking on my own after we parted ways. I was out for maybe 3 hours max and when I cam back from the hike I took off my shoes and my socks were drenched in blood. I could actually ring out the blood in my socks there was so much. A couple of leeches must have snuck into my socks because there was a lot of blood. The cuts were not big at all but I think the leeches emit a chemical that thins your blood around the wound so that it just pours out of you. Anyway, the local store didnt have any band aids so I ended up duct taping toilet paper to my feet to stop the bleeding. It worked! MacGyver would have been proud.

Cameron Highlands were nice too. It is a very slowing moving mountainous region where they grow a lot of tea. Very beautiful. I got to go to a tea factory and see how tea is made. The tour was maybe 6 minutes long. You sort it, dry it, and package it! Bam, you have tea. But still it worth seeing the tea plants. And while in the Highlands, I got to hold a couple of big Scorpions. I wish I could upload the picture they were 4-5 inches long.

My first stop in town was Kuala Lumpur. That is where I arrived on my flight from Hanoi. Getting out of that airport was an experience. I pulled into the airport with a pocket full of Dong (Vietnamese Dong that is). No US Dollars. No Malay Ringgit. Just Dong. I tried to get the Currency Exchange guys to exchange it but they refused to take it. So I headed for the ATMs and to get some Ringgit but all of the ATMs were all down in the airport. So I tried to barter to with the Bus Services so I could get into the main part of KL but they wanted no part of my Dong either. So afraid of being trapped in the airport, I tried everything in my power to get some Malaysian Ringgit. I even tried to buy some of it off some other travelers, but I think they thought I was just begging. Ridiculous! I couldnt give this Dong away! . . . . But eventually, after searching for a good place to sleep in the airport, the ATMs turned back and I got some Ringgit. But for a while there I seriously considering making a pillow out of TP.

Besides that sticky situation, I was able to get into town and enjoy it. I really liked KL actually. It can be dirty in places but overall it reminded me very much of an American city. It was well developed, had a good subway, and a lot of skyscrapers. In all of the other SE Asian cities I was in except for Bangkok and Saigon there really arent any large buildings. So when you are walking down the street there are no large points of reference as you walk the city which can make the cities seem much more claustrophobic.

I got to go to the top of the KL Tower which is the third largest tower and I also walk across the Petronas towers Sky Bridge. Both were fun and had great views. The Petronas Towers were largest Buildings in the World until Taipei 101 was built in 2004 but they still remain the largest twin towers. Definitely worth a visit.

I also got to see the National Mosque while in town there. That was pretty neat and my first Mosque. Noone was praying in it while I was there but it was still a worthwhile trip. I was wearing shorts and a T-Shirt which apparently were too short for them because I had to wear a big purple robe to get it (Its not like I was wearing hot pants and a belly shirt). I didnt have to put the hood up, but all of the woman did.

Malaysia is my first Muslim country. It is not uncommon to see woman where veils or having their whole face covered. Today, I was in the Penang Spices Garden and I walking around and there was a Muslim couple out on there own. The woman had taken her veil off so her husband could photograph her face. But as I walked by she immediately held it back up to her face and followed me with it as I passed. Very mysterious! But if her face is such a secret, I wander who is going to develop that film?

I dont know how these woman walk around in these things. I am wearing a third the amount of cloth as they are and I look like I just got off a water slide all the time and they are dry as a bone. Ill give them props.

But I havent had any problems with the whole Islam thing. I have never hid that fact that I was American and I havent felt any hostility or hidden spite towards me as a result. Everyone here is extra friendly. People dont hesitate to ask where Im from or where Im going and I dont hesitate to tell them. Even if they dont speak English theyll jump right into a conversation with you. Today, an Indonesian guy asked me if I was from Pakistan. Ha! I guess it was the beard but still I dont know what he was thinking. All in all, Malaysia is a great place. This morning, I woke up and had my free breakfast while watching Aljazeera. I didnt realize till the icon came up. It seemed like normal news to me; it could have been BBC for all I knew.

. . . . .

Yesterday, I got a Chest X-Ray done at the Penang Adventist Hospital. To get an Aussie Holiday Visa, if you have been in SE Asia for more then 3 months, then you are required to have a Chest X-Ray. I thought about just skipping that fact on my application but the consequences would have been devastating for my trip if I was caught, so I just did it. The X-Ray cost my 85 Ringgit, just over $24. It was funny to watch the doctor who was maybe 5'4" set me up for the X-Ray. Apparently, Im slightly larger then his average clientele so he had me practically wrap my chest around his backdrop for the X-Ray.

I should know in a few days whether or not I got the Aussie Visa.

After Singapore and Borneo, Im going to fly into Jakarta, Indonesia where Ill head East across Java for 2 weeks and get ready for flight out of Bali to Sydney. Everyday, I get more excited for Australia. To be honest with you SE Asia has been great but Australia was always the end goal. And eating rice all day is starting to wear thin. In Nha Trang, Vietnam I weighed myself and I have lost just over 20 lbs. Im down to 183 last I checked. That is almost what I weighed when I graduated from High School. I just want a big meal, a clean bed, and a chance to go the gym regularly and I think Australia can give that to me. I eat 4 meals a day with dessert after each but I cant gain the weight back. No reason for concern, but Im eager just to get back in my fighting form.

Vietnam

Well, it has been a while, but things are going well on my end. In Vietnam, I have been to visit a bunch of different cities via an open bus ticket. I got to visit Saigon, Mui Ne, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi.

Saigon was nice a huge city with lots of motor bikes. I got to see some tunnels there and check out some of the French Pastries and ride in a cyclo.

Mui Ne is a smaller beach town just north of Saigon. It was fairly boring with not much to do. Their claim to fame is their Yellow and Red sand dunes. They were nice and presented a good opportunity to do some Sand Surfing on pieces of sheet metal you rent from the local kids. The one down fall of Mui Ne is it claimed my camera. I was at the last sand dune when I pulled out my camera to take a picture and the lens wouldnt come out. So that was a bummer. I was pretty upset. But luckily I was able to get it fixed in Nha Trang.

Nha Trang was a good time. It is a much larger beach town. There I met up with two American girls studying in Hong Kong. We went on a island tour off the coast. It was fun although it rained for most of it. But it still was a good time. To wait for the rain to pass at out point, the captain tethered our boat to another one and they had a band play on board. It was a fun little dance party. The one boat was all Westerners and the other were locals; it made for an interesting mix.

Hoi An was very beautiful. There was a lot of flooding in the area because of all the rain, but still it was worth a stop. Most of the buildings were made of old yellow cement and had these old wooden French shutters on them.

I ate lunch at a restaurant there and the patron tried to marry me off to her daughter. She told me to come back that night and she would give me Vietnamese lessons. I left town.

Hue was a bigger city. The main attraction there was an old citadel in town. It was nice but nothing spectacular.

I got to go on a tour of the former DMZ. Most of it was overgrown with vegetation and is now farm land so you arent really looking at anything very distinctive. I did get to see some old helicopters, jets, weapons and things which were worth a visit but overall it was kind of lackluster. The exhibits in their museums are so poorly put together. They are all unattended and if you want to could just pickup these old M16s and RPGs they have laying around.

But North Vietnam has been the best part. Hanoi has been OK but it has been my launching point to head to Sappa and Halang Bay. Sappa was beautiful I went on a 2 day trek there. I signed up for this tour and it turned out I was the only one on it. So I went on this hike with a guide who was a 22 year old Vietnamese girl who didnt even speak English and didnt really know the mountain well. I had to ask other people to translate for me to try and figure out where it was she was taking me. I wasnt sure Id make it back. But I did get to do a homestay with a Vietnamese family in the valley of Sappa.

At one point, we came to a part in the valley below Sappa where they were building a Hydro Electric Damn. We were walking past a bulldozer that was moving dirt into a dump truck to be taken wherever. As we were walking past the bulldozer, the operator put the bucket on the hill we were standing on and motioned for me to get in it. I hesitated but eventually got it. It was pretty cool he spun me around 360 degrees in the bucket about 15 feet off the ground. At home if I would have gotten in the bucket the operator would have yelled at me to get out. In Vietnam, they asked me to get in.

On the way back from Sappa, I met a German guy and girl and an English girl on the sleeper train and I ended up spending Halloween with them. We met up with three more of there friends and all 7 of us went out as Zombies that night. It was pretty good. We just got a bunch of bandages from the local pharmacy and some makeup and made it work. No one celebrates Halloween here so it was entertaining to watch the locals reactions. Simultaneously the streets were flooded in Hanoi as a result of some of the worst rain in 20 years, so keeping all of the bandaging dry became quite a choir.

I just got back from Halang Bay. I was on a three day trip out there. I spent one night on a boat and another one on an island. We had a group of about 15 of us. We got to do rock climbing during the day and kayaking as well. Good food. Good people. Good times.

Recently, my camera cable crapped out on me so I cant upload my pictures, my camera is been going through a lot lately, but I thought these photos were good substitutes.

Me trekking through Sappa.
A clean-shaven version of me hanging out with Matthew Broderick.

Me chilling out at my bungalow.


Me on the beach in Nha Trang.


Me and the gang.

Tomorrow at 7pm I head out for Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia.

Cambodia Pictures

The border between Laos and Cambodia. To cross it you had to walk about 200 m between the border officials stations for both countries. Right after the picture was taken, I turned around and went to the bathroom almost right where I was standing. Bathrooms were scarse.


I was in Cambodia for 15 days. I started in Phnom Penh, then hit the temples at Siem Reap and then the beaches at Sihanoukville.

A view of Phnom Penh.

To answer your question . . . . . about 40 mph.

You thought your commute sucked. Check out the van in the back.

Phnom Penh sunset.

Things you cant bring into a club in Phnom Penh. The sign was not reassuring. But I did have to get patted down before I went into the 'Heart of Darkness' club.

I saw this on my way to Siem Reap. The bucket on the left are the live tarantulas and the one on the right are the fried ones.

I have a couple hundred photos of the temples from the three days I was there. And none will do them justice. They were just huge and impressive. Awesome is the only word that does them justice. Angkor Wat below.

Ta Prohm. Tomb Raider was filmed at this one. It was funny; I was standing next to a Korean tour group getting an explanation. And all I heard was (Korean) (Korean) ANGELINA JOLIE (Korean) (Korean) And then a bunch of 'Ooohs.'

Angkor Tohm

Angkor Wat.

Ragna and our driver for the three days at the temples. One night he took us to an all Khmer club. It was pretty interesting. The beer was served with ice.

The beaches on the Southern Coast: Sihanoukville.

Vietnam

Right now Im in Saigon. Ive really been enjoying my time here. There are 4 million motor bikes in the city. To cross the street you have to just walk into the road and let them go around you. Its a bit of a leap of faith.

Ive been enjoying the Cafes, Bakeries and Pastries the French left behind.

Tomorrow morning Ill head North.

Me in the Mekhong Delta.

A riddle.

What is bigger then a coconut, smaller then a motor bike and costs less then $14 to shoot 10 rounds from in Vietnam? . . . . . . . . An AK-47.

I had the chance to shoot one in Cambodia and throw a Grenade as well but the time was never right. The one range in Phnom Penh was right next to the Killing Fields and the one in Siem Reap was right next to the Land Mine museum. Looking at photos of Genocide from the Khmer Rouge and watching films about UXO, a majority of which were American, hurting thousands of civilians never really put me in the mood. But after going to the War Remnants Museum and the Gu Chi Tunnels and listening to all the Vietnamese Propaganda about the war I had found the right moment.

Laos Photos

Anddddd . . . . we're back! Now that Im in Saigon I can publish pictures again. So here they are. I must warn you, some are disturbing!

Behold Sir Sweats-A-lot in all his glory. That is me and Thom, my Canadian friend in Luang Prabang after we rode 20 km by bike to some waterfalls. Foolishly we started at noon without enough water. This is the result.

You know you like the headband. You are not alone. The locals loved to stare at it. I assume it was the head bang and had nothing to do with the 6'5" 200lbs jackass riding a bike a third his size.



I was in Laos for 13 days. I went to Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane, Champasak and Don Det.

This picture was taken from the slow boat from Thailand as we were stopping in Laos to pick up more passengers. People were carrying on ducks, fish, and all kinds of stufff you wantẻd to sit next to. I thought it was a good first impression of Laos.

Me eating dinner in Luang Prabang. This was before my Tiger Beer shirt was absorbed by the Mekhong.

A view of a bridge in Vang Vieng. It was a beatiful place. Notice the UXO, Unexploded Ordnance, next to the entrance. 99% chance they are American.

When I was in Laos I was traveling with a really good group of people. We had a lot of good times. It made it hard to decide if I really liked Laos for Laos or the people I was there with. An English couple, Stephen and Kim, great people and Thom again.

Dad?

Its nice to see the Sickle and Hammer hasnt gone completely out of style. I have been to East Berlin and Russia but Laos was my first presently Socialist country. Seeing the Soviet Flag in public was pretty common.

Below is how Thom, Ragna, a Belgian girl we met in Luang Prabang, and I got to the Thousands Islands in Southern Laos. It was two canoes with boards running horizontally across them. And it was full of school children.

And then there was Cambodia. . . .

Leaving Cambodia

Ill leave the southern coast of Cambodia tomorrow at 7:45 in the morning and get into Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam by 5 pm, or so they say. So in fact Ill get in by 10 or 11 pm.

Internet here is slow.

Angkor Temples

For the past two and a half days, I have been exploring the Angkor Temples. They are very big and very impressive. There really is no good way to describe them; it would be best just to show pictures, but I think that will have to wait. Unfortunately, the pictures wont upload here. We had to hire a tuk-tuk driver to take us around the complex because the temples are huge and spread over various areas of the forest. The temples are worth seeing but the 600 year old trees growing on top of them make the experience something unique.

I have one more day of the temples here in Siem Reap then after that Ill stick around for one more day at the Floating Market. After that Ill head onto Sihanoukville before I head for Saigon, Vietnam.

Yesterday, I booked my ticket into Australia. I leave from Bali, Indonesia for Sydney, Australia on the 19th of December. It will get me there just in time for Christmas and New Year's. I heard both would be best to experience in Sydney. I am pretty eager to get there. Money is starting to get tight. I have about $3500 left for the next 3 months. I have more money in case I need it, so if I go over budget I am not in any real danger but my trip will be. I am really counting on getting a working visa in Australia before I get there. Ill begin my application for that soon.

My plans right now prior to getting into Australia, which I know have flipped back and forth a lot, are to go north through Vietnam and then fly to Kaula Lumpar, Malaysia and check that out. Then Ill head south into Singapore and from there hop on a plane or boat whichever is the cheapest to Borneo where Ill hang out with some orangutans. Then Ill slip on further down to Java and get my surf on for a bit before I head down under. That seems to be the best plan as of right now and I dont see much that will make me deviate from it.

The past few days have been pretty exhausting; Phnom Penh particularly. In my first taxi ride from my hotel I saw 3 monkeys playing on a telephone wire and guy just pull down his pants in the middle of a busy traffic circle and go to the bathroom. I also saw my first automatich weapon on the street. I saw a bunch of cops carrying them on several different occasions. It is a very busy, dirty but interesting place. Five days there was ample. So in Siem Reap I splurged for a nice room. It has a hot shower, fan, clean beds, and a TV. My first TV since Ive left Bangkok the first time.

Yesterday or the day before, I woke up and was able to catch game 3 of the Phillies/Brewers playoffs. The 9th inning was pretty exciting. It went from good to great to awful so quickly. Phillies' baseball right there.

But I can honestly say, Im not surprised that the Phillies' first National League Championship in 15 years, let alone a post season win, is coinciding with the US Financial Markets Crumpling. It makes total sense to me.

Besides that things are going well. . . . . . My beard is coming in kind of lopsided but no worries. The front part is coming in well. So it looks fine in pictures, but I look like a lunatic from my profile. It helps keeps the soliciting tuk-tuk drivers at bay. I think Ill just need a haircut soon.

Laos & Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cam-BOOOO-de-A!

It wasnt till I was leaving Laos that I realized how much different it was from Thailand. In Thailand, when you are booking a room the two main considerations are: Fan or A/C, Cold or Hot Shower. Myself the thrifty traveler usually always opts for the Deluxe Fan/Cold Shower combo. Because if you are going to use a cold shower in the morning you need to sweat through the night to get ready for it. But in Laos when booking a room you need to make sure the place you are booking has electricity. And if so for how long? That hot shower doesnt matter if the power goes out at 9pm and doesnt come back on till 10 am. Nor is the shower worth taking if it is spraying muddy, Mekhong water.

In Thailand, every place you go there is at least a 7/11 and one Drugstore. In the big cities you can find McDonald's, KFCs, Starbucks and everything else a growing boy needs. But in Laos that wasnt the case. Even in the capital, Vientiane, the only brand you really encounter on a regular basis was Beer Laos, which was pretty good I might add. A majority of the businesses you encounter are store fronts that double as people's homes at night.

This slow erosion of things I have come to take for granted hit me pretty hard recently in Southern Laos. Little did I know that after leaving Vientiane to head for Chumpasak, that there was only one other ATM in southern Laos. I actually had to leave Laos early to go to Phnom Penh because I didnt have enough money to stay. I tried to get a cash advance on my credit card on Chumpasak. But of course, the telephone line was down at the local branch of the Lao Developmental Bank. This really isnt surprising considering that we had to take a wooden ferry full of school children to get to the island. And the ferry was top notch; it was a bunch of boards running horizontal across the top of two canoes. Realizing I wasnt going to be able to get any money in Chumpasak, I had to either turn around and return to Pakse or head further south into Laos. We decided to push on with only the $100, I had by then, because I heard rumors from other travelers that there was another ATM off the coast of one of the islands. Normally, $100 would be fine for 4 days but I would have to cross into Cambodia to hit an ATM and the Cambodian Visa is $21, plus the entry/exits stamps are $2 more, and the bus ride into Phnom Penh was $31, so really I only had $45 for food, shelter, and transport for the last few days.

I wasnt sure whether the bank they were talking about gave cash advances or had an ATM. But they said you had to fill out a bunch of paper work in either case. Of course, I get in the vicinity of the alleged bank late Friday, when it is closed for the weekend and didnt have the funds to wait around till Monday. So I continued to push on with what I had. But I ended up OK. It only took a 12-hour bus ride spent surviving on peanuts, Lays, stale Mocha Oreos and bottle water. I pulled into Phom Penh with (I swear to you) $1 in pocket and 1000 riel ($.25). I have since then hit an ATM and have been living it up since. But it was touch and go there for a while. Thom had to head back early as well because he was worried he wouldnt have enough money to make it back to Bangkok for his flight. He turned back for the ATM in Pakse which wasnt working, so I ended up making the right decision by pushing on into Cambodia. After all of this, tt doesnt surprise me that the ATM I was at allowed you to withdraw up to $2,000 at one time considering the lack of ATMs in the surrounding areas.

Laos was great. I was ready to leave by the end because things were so rough, undeveloped but Im glad I went. Traveling from place to place there is just so difficult. I have never been, nor probably will ever be, to the surface of the Moon but Laos roads are probably the closest thing to it on this planet.

The cast of characters I was traveling with in Laos were Thom, the Canadian, plus several other people we met on the slow boat into Laos. Great people. The three main people were an English couple and a Belgian girl. The English couple, Stephen and Kim, were great people and I really enjoyed meeting them. They were great fun to hang out with because they were just very laid back people. You could tell that they were just very comfortable with each other. The both of them were 25 and 26 and were just ending their around-the-world journey. They two were out for a year. They started out in Canada, then hit the Western US, then went to Mexico and on it Cuba. From there they went to Australia, NZ, and then to SE Asia. The pictures they showed me of Cuba looked amazing. They were saying that when you get there they dont stamp your passport so noone knows you were there. Instead they stamp a random piece of paper that you are told to throw away before you leave the country. Appartently, they were saying it is a pretty serious thing. That if an American is caught with that piece of paper he or she could face a large fine or get serious jail time. I immediately wanted to go to Cuba.

As for Thom, he too was great fun. It was nice to hang out with someone who is on the same wavelength as me for a while. Im glad I bumped into him in Pai. Thom is a very well educated Canadian with a good sense of humor. He is now living in the US and is getting ready to start practicing law in San Fransico. He was traveling to celebrate his taking the Bar exam.

This trip really has changed my idea of Canadians. My encounters with Canadians really has been limited to ski trips in Mount Orford. And even then I dont know that Quebec is a good sample of all of Canada. But I have met several good Canadians on my trip. Im not going to lie, my stance towards Canadians prior to this trip was one of indifference. Honestly, they were kind of like Fig Nuttins to me. If you put one in my hand, Yeah Ill eat it. But other then that, Im not going to take the time to get up and open a box to get one. But that has since changed. Im seriously considering hitting up Vancouver and maybe some other parts of Canada too on my way home.

. . . . .

In Vientiane, I had my first American Embassy exprience, or really first Embassy experience period. It was pretty impressive but kind of a let down too. I was expecting to pull up to a huge building surrounded by Marines and walk into the building and be greeted by Americans so happy to see a fellow American so far from home. But no dice! The building was huge and fort like. There were no Marines. But there were a bunch of security guards. They all looked Laos though. I headed into the Embassy and left my Belgian and Canadian friends outside, not sure whether or not what I was about to see was for 'American eyes Only.' When I walked into the Embassy I had to check my camera and have my bag and myself go through a metal detector. Again no Americans. I then walked through a general open-air with about 10 people in it waiting for what I assume was American visas. I then proceeded into another smaller room for American citizen services. The room was maybe 12' by 12' and had two gas station like bullet proof windows that you communicated with the officials through. The room had 5 other people in it. They all were Laos expect for one who I think was Laos-American. Not once did I have to show my passport.

While I was waiting to be seen I just was looking around the room noticing all the information they had hanging on the wall. One of the flyers warned in bold letters that under Laos law it is unlawful for foreigners to have sex with Lao people unless they are married or it is a $500 fine. I turned a bit further and there were was the Dream Team staring back at me from across the room: George, Dick and Connie. Did W ever really have hair that dark? When I got to the front of the line, I ended up speaking with one of the officers who gave me the weakest hello Ive ever heard and didnt really even bat an eyelash at my presence. I was so dissappointed; I expected a little bit of surprise or a mild homecoming of sorts. Some small samples of Apple Pie at least. This guy let me down. He was nice but a bit of a nerd whose motivation for joining the State Department looked like it had been crushed long ago. He refused to make eye contact with me the whole time but still was helpful.

I just need to determine where I will be in 4 weeks so Virgina can send me my absentee ballot. I think Ill have it sent to a Marriott in Hanoi then Ill fax it back for the election. To be honest I think I only have a 50% chance of my vote being counted this election. There are too many moving parts I dont want to take the time to understand.

Also, I verified. Americans can only go to Cuba if they have a Special Educational or Business Visa issued by the US OR . . . . . .


My trip to Laos started in the North with Luang Prabang, then went south to Vang Vieng, Vientiane, Chumpasak and then to the Four Thousand islands down further. From there I headed into Cambodia. I was in Laos for about 11 days which I think was enough. The people I met and hung around with were really what made it such a great place. But most of them are gone at this point. The English couple has left, Thom has headed home too, so it is just me and the Belgian girl Ragna and Christoff, another Belgian guy we met in Chumpasak. The plan right now is to hang out in Phnom Penh for a couple of days and then head to Akgor Wat after that. Ill then come back on my own, pick up my passport with a fresh Vietnamese Visa, and head to the Cambodian islands down south before hitting up Vietnam. Im getting pumped.

Vang Vieng, Laos

Oh man, Im tired. Sleeping on the Jungle floor really takes it out of you.

This post is going to be brief. Im, as the English say, nackered. Dont even know where to start. Took the slow boat into Laos, took two days. That was fun. It was really a drunken party on a small boat full of Ducks and giant Catfish. I dont want to disturb anyone but the Irish like to drink and drink they can. I saw a Catfish loaded onto the boat that was maybe 3 foot long, no joke. It had to weigh close to 40 lbs. They kept the fish tied to a stick in the river while they loaded everything else on. It was so big it could be tied to something! I was joking, probably in poor taste, that that Catfish was the Secretary of Defense of Laos and that he going down the Mehkong to his vacation house to sip whiskey with his Mistress. He just had to get away from it all for a bit. That thing was so big though; it had a face.

Hung around in Laung Prabang for a while. Then headed to Vang Vieng which is where I am now. The bus on the way here was a disaster. I dont even want to get into so Ill do it briefly. We were lied to about the duration of the trip, It was full of people, someone stole our seats, I had to sit next to a local who was spitting out the window the whole time and across from some guy with open sores, the roads are so bumpy the locals get sick on their own buses, the bus broke down after 8 hours within 20 minutes of my destination, the babies all begin to cry as the nearby Thunderstorm moves in, the power goes out on the bus, another bus stops after an hour, I get separated from my friend, the bus takes me 5 hours past where I wanted to go and I had to take another bus back the next day resulting in18 hours of bus when I was told in was 5 hours. This account doesnt do justice to having to sit with your long dancers legs jammed into the seat in front of you while the guy next to you debates whether or not to throw up. Nuts! Did I mention afterwards I met a guy who had a guard on his bus with a AK47. Apparently, there are still guerillas along the road we broke down on. Im sure they wont both an innocent American though . . . . . LAOS!

I went tubing yesterday. Again craziness; cant go into all of it. But truly an experience I will never forget.

Sorry no pics. Laos Internet Connections dont live up to its reputation.

Im still traveling with the Canadian guy I met in Pai. We have picked up a couple others along the way. Things are going well.

. . . . .

Also, India isnt going to happen. Im going to have to eat the cost of my Visa. I decided if I want to be in Sydeny for Christmas and New Years that doesnt leave me enough time to get there and do the place justice. And I couldnt get a cheap ticket there. I think Ill hit the Phillipines, Indonesia and Malaysia for real instead. But this time in Malaysia, I wont have Herb to protect me.

Chang Mai II, Thailand: Doi Suthep Meditation Retreat

Well, I survived. It wasnt easy but I made it. The retreat was much more intense then I initially figured, but still a good time.

The temple, Doi Suthep, is just outside the city. It takes maybe 20 minutes total to get there. The temple itself is located on the top of mountain and the road up to it is long and windy. When you reach the top of the road there are two ways to the top of the temple: the staircase which is about 300 steps or an elevator. Even with the huge bag on my back, I went for the stairs. It was all really for effect just to show that I am willing to do whatever it takes to get through this mediation retreat and take it seriously. Its funny, on the way up a Thai woman coming down the stairs gave me a thumbs up. Things are going well.

So I get to the top, check in, and a Thai guy from the International Buddhist Center, very official, takes me to where Ill be staying. We walk past the tourist filled temple and go down a stairwell off the back of the building. We head into a long well-lit stone corridor with doors off each side. Already things got weird. What I walked into immediately reminded me of the movie 'Moonraker', or an futuristic 70s film where young couples are being launched into space to start a new Utopian society. The corridor was filled with several young men and woman all wearing the same White outfit. Each person was very calm and was just walking down the hall without a care in the world except for the task at hand. No one communicated anything to the other except for the faint bit of sexual tension that seemed to hang in the air. It was really eerie. As I walked by, I made eye contact with a girl. She looked at me for a second, didnt change her expression, and then looked away. I was expecting to see a shirtless Charleston Heston come out of nowhere with his gun drawn and run through the hallway any minute. No Dice.

We get to my door on one side and below is the room waiting for me inside. Stark to say the least. The rooms were clean, tile floor and the walls are all white washed. Definitely no distractions in this room.




After I drop my things off in my cell. He shows me the garden. Looking at the picture below. You can only think you walked into an asylum; people sitting in all white in a garden, lost in their own world, barely moving with no general purpose in mind.

There were 15 people total when I was there, 8 men and 7 woman initially. Everyone is coming and going at staggered times. Some people are there only for 3 days others for a month. Most people seemed European, English mainly. I think there were two other Americans and 1 Thai woman in the group but with the others it was hard to tell.

While at the retreat there is no alcohol, smoking, talking, or eating after noon. The no smoking you could see was taking its toll on some of the Europeans there. You could smell the tobacco on some of them so you know they were sneaking out for breaks. I later found out that some of them had been sneaking food for dinner too. Cheeky Monkeys! I, on the other hand, stood true.

It was tough. I would start getting hungry around three then it would subside and then pick up again about 7 o'clock at night. One morning I almost threw up because it had been about 20 hours since my last meal. I managed to get through breakfast but it was a close call. You really just lack the energy to move; I really didnt even want to eat by the end because I was just so tired.

I had trouble sleeping too. You can see from the picture that it wasnt exactly the Ritz. The tile was extremely hard and the mat they gave me was thin. I had to double the blankets over and put them under my bed. It didnt help much. I dont think I got more then six hours sleep any one night. And even then it wasnt without waking up several times during then night.

The two meals we did have was a funny sight. You arent allowed to socialize or talk while eating; you are just suppose to focus on your food. So for meals there would be 15 folding tables and chairs all setup in a line and everyone would sit at their individual tables alone and eat. The chair were all on the same side of the table so you couldnt make eye contact with anyone while eating. You just sat there, shoveled the foot into your mouth, and listened to other people doing the same. I couldnt tell if it was the food or if I was just hungry but I thought the food was really good.

The days were setup so you would have some practice then some instruction then some more practice and so on. The first part of the day was some communal meditation instruction. It was taught by a monk and it was almost like a Buddhist sermon interwoven with Meditation techniques. Then after that you would practice on your own for a bit and then would have an individual session with the monk. He would check up on you and add whatever techniques he needed to before you went off and practiced some more.

I had never done any kind of Meditation before. I thought it would just be people sitting around thinking about the world or whatever trying to achieve Enlightenment. That was the exact opposite. First off, the Lotus position caused me nothing but pain and frustration. That is the stereotypical meditation position, legs crossed, one foot on the other leg, back straight, and hands in the lap. You have to hold that position for about 15 to 20 minutes each time. Sitting like that cuts off the circulation to your legs, caused my legs to begin to shake, my knees ache, and my back tense up. It is by no means an easy, relaxing position. I really am proud of the fact that I was able to sit like that for 20 minutes by the end of the 5 days. It wasnt comfortable but I could. Part of the instruction we received was on how to overcome the pain of sitting in these positions for long periods.

And the just sitting around contemplating the world was a No go. You are suppose to clear you mind of everything and just focus on your body while meditating. Sitting with your body in a pretzel and clearing your mind isnt very easy. The goal is to be conscious of all your thoughts and movements to clear your mind to prevent 'Monkey Brain' as our teacher said. That is where random thoughts are just coming in and out of your head without your control.

Honestly, some of the things had some merit. I dont know how much meditation Ill do at home but I think overall the course was beneficial. It was interesting to see what the Thai Buddhist consider to be ' the Mind.' The mind to Westerners is your Brain and you point at your head when someone asks where your mind is. But to the Thai the Mind refers to something separate from your body and you point to your heart when you refer to it.

One part I was disappointed about on the retreat was how bored I got. I thought I would be able to get through it no problem but I ended up just sitting around a lot and napping. The lack of stimuli was kind of hard to take. And not being able to talk with people wasnt helping. Glad to be out and heading on.

If you took the 30 day course, which would be suicide if you ask me, the last three days you arent allowed to sleep. You just stay up for 72 hours meditating. No Thanks.

The Last Full Moon was two days ago. Ive been in Thailand for two Full Moons. The first was on my birthday and I spent it surrounding by people trying to drink their faces off at one of the craziest parties in the Eastern Hemisphere. And the second I spent at a temple in Chang Mai voluntarily starving myself and meditating.

The temple at night.

I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who once said 'You know what the difference between you and me is? I make this look good!"

The meditation hall where you are suppose to practice. At one point, I was in there and a cat jumped into the window from the roof. The monks let animals roam everywhere. You could be sitting in a hall and a stray dog would just wander through and noone would think twice about it. The same goes for Lizards and Spiders which can be a bit much.

. . . .

In about an hour, I am going to be heading into Laos. It is a 3 day journey. Two days are by boat. I should arrive the 18th midday. I chose the slow boat because the fast boat while cheaper is suppose to be extremely dangerous. Rumor has it on the fast boat you sit in a fetal position for 6 hours as the speed boat zooms down a narrow river at speeds probably 3 times what you should be going. There are suppose to be a couple deaths every year from it so Im taking a pass. Right now I heading into Laos with a Canadian guy I met a couple of days ago; should be good times. Im eager to get out of Thailand. While I treasure every moment Ive had here, I feel like Im stagnating a bit. Its time to get back out on the road and Laos is the destination.