short china post

i would go ahead and like to apologise once again for not keeping up with this thisng. i have been running accross the whole country of china. its hard time find time to stop and sit for a couple hours or so to write a full update. nonetheless i am goign to try to catch up right now. first the short version. i flew from bangkok to shenzen and my plane arrived late so we stayed in a hotel hat night. the next morning we woke up and went back to the airport to get a bus to guanzhou. the bus wasnt very long but i slep the whole way and upon arriving was stired by bill. from there we walked a long way to the far side of the city where there is a very small island with some youth hostels and other places to stay. we found a small place and i stayed the night there and was also able to book my train ticket for the next day. that night bill and I ate at a more local chinese restuarant and then simply explored the island. the rest of the night i spent reading in my top bunk dorm bed. when i woke up the next morning and bill took me to a bakery for breakfast that he had found the following day after i had gone to bed. we ate a semi late breakfast and from there decided to exit the island and explore some of the local ciy for a while before i was to get on my train. we explored the city and i got on my train to guilin. the train ride was a night train and i arrived the next morning. i got off the train and with my guide in hand walked to my hostel. i slept most of the day dince i had gotten no sleep on the train. when i woke up i went ahead and booked a train ticket for a next day and also a river boat tour. the next day i checked out early and put my things in a safe room. i went on the river tour which lasted a few hours. i got off the boat and had to take a bus back to guilin. from there i got my things and sat in the lobby of the hostel untill i had to wal kto the train station. i got on the train and again it was a night train but this time was worse because i had a....... no seat. no seat means you either stand or sit wherever there is room on the train. the ride was terrible but i got to wuhan safely. i got off the train in wuhan and was lost right from the start. 3 people pointed me in the wrng direction of where i wanted to go right as i got off the train. i luckily met some students who spoke english. they would have been helpful if they had actually lived in the city before but they were not natives to wuhan. so instead of doing the smart thing like calling a cab. a was paraded in a giant crcle around wuhan for the better part of 3 hours. we did end up find my hostel and from there i went to sleep. before i went to my room the studetns invited me to dinner and i promised i would meet them in the lobby later that night. i spent the rest of the day just resting and laying around doing absolutely nothing. i met the students for dinner and they took me accross the river of wuhan for a spicy food dinner and to visit an arcade. I got home late and immediately went to sleep. Day 2 wuhan. i met My teacher ms. carter and got to visit one of her classes. later that day the students took ms. carter and I out for dinner at a dumpling restuarant. after dinner ms. carter had to go work on something for class and the two students and i walked around the city for a while. we ended up going and playing kareoke and then going home. wuhan day 3 i met ms carter again to visit her classes which i did but also visited some of her coleagues classes. later that day the teachers taught the students how to play baseball. i helped with that and from there went back to the teachers hotel to visit with ms. carter and some of her friends since i would be leaving the next day. i left their hotel and got a taxi back to my hostel and stayed up late talking with the workers. they had taken very good care of me while i had been there and many of them let me have stuff for free since i had stayed so. also some of the workers were friends with the sudents i met so i had an in there too. from wuhan i would go to a city called wuxue. the students were from that city and they had invited me to go to their hometown. this town had a train station so i figured i visit for a few days then i can get n the train to xi'an. wuhan day 4. i woke up early and went to the bus station to get my ticket then came back to the hostel and rested until i went back to the bus station to get on the bus to wuxue. the bus trip was short.

cathing up on blog but......

here are some pictures from china

trying to catch up

alright i left off in the hammock and im gonna jump right back into it from there.
we stayed two days on the island of don khone which was plenty of time to see everything that this small island had to offer. the island was so small in fact you could rent bycycles and peddle around the whole island in probably about 2-3 hours. after we had gotten our things set up at our little riverside hovel. we rented bycycles and peddled to the exact opposite side of the island. it really shouldnt have been that much of a feat but, the path we took was specified by a guide book we read to be "too bumpy for bycycles". we did it anyway.. it definitely was too bumby at places but we made it with no ill problems. from there we explored some ruins of a dock where french merchants pulled supplies out of the water to transport by train to the other side of the island. the boats couldnt simply just float around to the other side as it is blocked by rapids. after exploring that for a short while we began the bike ride back choosing a different path this time. the path back was much more relaxing and not nearly as bumpy. we passed over 3 simple bridges and rode through thick jugles of trees, underbrush, and bamboo. we got back to our riverside house and just sat and relaxed for a while. we ended up leaving the house and taking the bikes with us to cross back over to the first island of don det for dinner. we ate at a small little restuarant that had a high porch over looking the bridge and river. Bonus for me they had hammocks next to the tables. we ate our dinners which for me consisted of baguette and fried eggs and then went back to our shack. we read on the porch of our shack untill Bill and Chris went to bed. by this time there was storm moving in and i decided to stay out. in the storm there was no rain no lightning strikes. Lightning would flash across the sky every so often lighting up both sides of the river and making small details on both sides clearly visibly for a spliy second. at one point a praying mantis assumed a position on our porch. i watched it for a good 30 minutes flying back and forth eating the bugs that were drawn to our 1 porch light split between our rooms. the light finally went out when the family we had rented form turned it off. so i went to my room seeing the way by the flashes of lighting and and oil lamp they had provided for us. I slept with the door to my room open which was fine, the only plus was that it brought a cool breeze into the room. i woke up the next morning and it was still rather early so i went back to sleep for an hour or so then got up. taking a morning shower was miserable but necessary. Hot water was neither availible in the house or on the rest of the island for that matter. after the ice bath we went to breakfast at the same restuarant we had been to the day before. this time i ate a fruit saland and baguete with fried egg. not a whole lot of variation in my meals but it was very very good. all of us ate breakfast at our own pace and once we had all gotten back to the shack we decided it was time to go seek out a boat that wwe could charter to see the rare mekhong river dolphin. Bill had gotten up early that morning and had found a place that would take us for a fair price. To get there we walked to an opposite side of the island to a place called the beach. On the island there are many hand drawn maps for visitors. mostly these maps consist of a white backing and somone simply just using a sharpie to draw it on. everyone of the maps had the beach labeled. The walk to the bech wasnt long but it definitely wasnt short. When we got there it looked ..... Like a beach. The whole side of the island after coming through the trees was sand for what seemed like two soccer field lengths. there were fishing boats unused and pulled up high in the sand. and some were in the water tied off to trees or rocks. standing on the shore and looking out there were rapds with very large rocks that stood high out of the water. Bill found the man he had told us about this morning and we paid him and fromt here he walked us down to the water. he un hooked his boat and walked it closer to the shore where we wouldnt have to get wet to get in. we jumped in the boat and took a 15 minute journey to another island where he ushered us to get out. when we got there we realized that not olny could we see the dolphins out in the water we hadnt expected to see but, we were also illegally in cambodia. Those types of trips where foreiners are taken and brought back soon after must be normal, because a combodian soldier didnt even flinch when he saw us landing on his territory. He simply pushed us to a little shack with tables and chairs and asked us if there was somthing he could get us to drink. we were sitting under the shack drinking sodas and looking out over a wide body of water and about 50 meters out you could see the dolphins surfacing for air. it was absolutely amazing. after a short time they gave us our suvenir (i know i spelled that wrong) dolphin watching tickets that said. you have been to cambodia ... blah blah. somthing nice that said we had been to cambodia without getting stamped. from there we simply got back into our rickety boat that was now taking in water.... which was very discouraging. somehow we were able to make it back to the main island with our boatman driving and dumping buckets of water overboard at the same time. we thanked the boatman and headed back to our favorite restuarant on the river and since there really was nothing else to see on the small island we laid around eating at the restuarant and sleeping in the hammocks untill it was late at night. we got to our restuarant at around 1 and we didnt leave till 8. i slept in a hammock from about 3-5 and bill and chris read for that time. when we walked back accross the bride to the island with our riverside hut. would could see an uncountable amount of stars. the cloud looking formation that never moved from its place in the sky was the milky way galaxy and it could be made out very easily and without question. after taking a short while to stare at the celestial beauty we continued our walk to our hut. when we got there we spent no time ont the porch we simply went to sleep. i was awakend late that night by a great storm. the wind blew fiercely against our shack and the door slammed open and shut every few minutes. then the wind slowed and a steady rain began. when i awoke it was still raining and it was time to fun i boat off the island and back to the first village that had the bus station. the house the we were staying at convieniently had a price per person for boat and vip minibus back to the inland. i really cant remember the order of where we went from there but i know that we were able to cross back into thailand that day and we were close to making it back to khon kaen but we missed the last bus there by an hour. so we had to spend the night in a town which i cant for the life of me remember the name. the first bus to Khon Kaen in the morning was at 5 so we ended up going to a cheap hotel and sleeping for a short time before waking up at 4 and walking to the bus station. we left from that bus station and some hours later. we arrived in khon kaen. because we had left so early the day was still young. bill needed to get on the motor bike and take a trip north to see one of his friends before we left thailand completely. Chris ended up going back to the hotel and i had some errands to run in town if i was going to be ready to go on my own. i needed a watch that had an alarm and just some toher travel snacks. i ended up walking around for at least a couple hours trying to explain to street vendors that i wanted a watch with an alarm. i finally realized the easiest way to explain this was to say watch and then say "beep beep". they understood immidiately and were even able to show me how to set it. i stopped at the supermarket and got some simple crackers and snacks for our soon to be trip to bangkok. i went back to the apartment and Chris was there reading and from there we really didnt do much. The last few days in Khon kaen we simply visited interwater everyday, visited the annual student market on campus, walked around town, and went to a rotary meeing. Lek was basically our driver for the last few days we were there. she helped us whenever she could and took us out to eat alot. the student market is simply an annual convention that they have in this big building on KKU campus. students can get good deals on clothes, books, bags, computers, and anything else electronic. even though all of the things at the student sale were interesting/cool i didnt buy anything. Bill bought a pack so he could begin his backpacking again though. The last day we were in KHon kaen we spent the morning at interwater. Interwater not only specialized in water treatment but the also put in pools and so on. out in fron ton Interwater there is one of the pools and Lek let me swim in it for a little while. it wasnt heated but it felt amazing. When we finally left Khon kaen we were able to say our goodbyes to Lek but Chelumchai had left a few days earlier on business. we said our goodbyes and i promised Lek i would return one day to run in the Khon Kaen marathon. Not only does Lek work at interwater but once a year when the marathon happends she works with foreign runners to help get them registered. Back to our story. we Left inter water and headed down town to a rotary meeting that perfectly fit our schedule so that we could sit in on it then get on a bus to Bangkok. The rotary meeting was simple. consisting of a buffet and then sitting at a table with its few members and listening to a language we coulding understand. they asked Bill, Chris and I to stand up and simply speak about our experiences while we had been there and we had a translator to tell them what we were saying. the meeting went on for some time and we had to leave while it was still in session. we said our goodbyes and headed for the bus station which was just around the corner from where there meetings are held. we got to the bus station and got our tickets from there got directly on teh bus and took our 6 hours ride to Bangkok. when we got there we took a taxi to kaoson road which is the main place for tourists to stay. it has all the street bars and worthless t-shirts and just that fickle people think they need. the only stores that are worth anything on that street are the food vendors and the enlgish book stores. we stayed at the same place we had stayed at the last time we were in bangkok. we left our bags in the rooms and went to explore the street looking for one of my favorite food vendors. its a kind of pancake they cook in front of you and fruit on top of it and then add think condensed milk.... very good. especially with strawberry jelly. we couldnt find any but we decided we would come back to the street later. we went looking for dinner and found it at a small indian restuarant that was placed on the second floor of a suits made to fit in 18 hours. the food was amazing and was not very expensive. we left the small restuarant thanking the small family that owned itand from there Chris bought his bus ticket to the airport and went to sleep while Bill and i walked the main street again. after a while Bill went back to his room and i walked finally finding my pancake guy. I ended up eating 3. i banana and two strawberries. after that i explored the shops and by this time the road was begining to slow down so i went back to the rom to get some sleep. When i awoke Chris had already taken his bus to the airport. i felt bad that i had missed my opportunity to say goodbye but notheless what was done was done. Bill had gone to the airport and had said he would meet me in the lobby of the hotel at 10:30 so i spent my morning walking the streets examining the day shops and using the overpriced computers. i met bill in the lobby of my guest house at 10:30 and from there i went ahead and checked out. we left our bags in the lobby of the hotel simply because no one would mess with them. the hotel watches youth bags for a price but no one in that hotel would steal our stuff. we left to go explore the street and find some early luch. it was still early for kauson road to start back up but the vendors were out early trying to sell all the things you dont need to you. we ended up stopping for lunch at a little side vendor that looked like a shack with some cinderblocks as a stove and a few cement tables and chairs. the food was very good although the vendor itself looked a little out there. we walked around for a short time untill Bill took me to a place where we could buy a bus ticket to the airport. we got our tickets and from there we basically had 4 hours untill our bus would get there. we split up to explore the street by ourselves. i ended up just exploringthe shops trying to find some stuff that wsant completely overprices or worthless. i ended up just getting some country flag patches and a cheap cheap pair of knock off ray ban sun glasses. i went back to where we had bought our ticket and the i used their internet to update the blog and checked the email. i sat around for the longes tine before going out one last time to check the book store and go get a drink from 7/11. the book store held nothign that i thought i would be interested in and 7/11 consisted of a water. i went back to the building for the last time and simply wrote untill a man came and picked us up in the minibus to the airport.

better late than never

im sure all of you are on the edge of your seat waiting for me to put up another update. it ahs been over a week to my count and during that week in a broad description, I have travelled to laos and back, layed in a hammock for at least 10 hours, traveled the length of thailand, and numerous other random things that made my overall trip fantastical. since i havent told the laos trip i will go ahead and start with we woke up the morning of and i began to wash some clothes so that i would have some extra clean one when i get back. after i was done with that i finished packing my bag and left to follow chris and bill who had started the walk down the road to the train station. it was a little nerve racking runiing after them only because they were a good distance down the road. i caught them and we continued our walk to a main road when we would get a truck/bus into town and from there walk to the train station. we got to the bus station and bought our tickets sitting in the outdoor staion waiting for our train to arrive. It ended up arriving 40 minutes late. the train was very cramped and no seats were availible when we got on. i sat on the steps next to the entrance door to the traina nd read the rough guide to china which bill had bgiven me to help plan the second half of my trip. the ride would take us a few hours to a town that bordered laos. when we got of the train we immidiately walked to teh border checkpoint and crossed into laos. upon arriving we got our visas and took a bus into the border town of vientiane in laos. the town itself is a very quiet comfortable place the has a very simple offereing to the many tourists who use it as a midway going deeper into the country. we got off the bus and began walking into the town with Bill in the lead. he had been to vientiane before so he lead us to where we could get a guest house. the first two we tried were a little pricy and from there we moved two streets over and found the cheapest room possible. the room cost $5 and since chris and i split it for a double it was all of about $2.50 for us to stay there. we left our things in the room and left out in search of some foodwe managed to find a small indian restuarant and got some pretty good eats. the meal in comparison to the price of the room was much more expensive. after dinner we stopped at a little side shop and bought some fruit shakes that were blended up on the spot. i ended up consuming two large shakes and from there waddled back to the guest house. When i got back to the room i simply laid in my bed writing in my journal and listening to my ipod. chris and Bill left the guest house to explore the city since it was still rather early and the simple guest hosue offered no amusement whatsoever. i stayed in the guesthouse and sinply did the same things until they had returned. our plan from this town was to take the earliest bus possible to some of the more southern islands in laos and from there try and attept to see the rare mekhong river dolphi. i dont know if i spelled mekhong right but i know that when chris and bill returned they had changed our plans to catch a late night bus out tomorrow and explore the town the rest of the day. after Chris, Bill, and I had discussed the next day plans for a short while it was time to turn in and get some rest. I remember waking up before Chris and not wanting to make too much noise and wake him. i rolled over and was able to go back to sleep for a short while before waking up and going to get a shower. Chris was up by this time and after we had gotten ourselves washed and ready we set out to explore the city with Bill. on the Laos money there is a giant temple which is of great size. the building is located just outside the city and when we left the guesthouse we immidiately started walking for it. the journey to the building was probably a little less than an hour but definitely well worh it. the bulding was foursided and at each corner there were large spires standing high. in the center of the large square was the larges spire which stopd much higher than all the rest. the structure was panted in a magnificent bright gold color than shined brightly in the 100 degree weather. normally you can go inside the outer wal of the structure but we had arrived too early. we walked around the large external wall and explored a small temple with some young monks walking around. the small temple was help up by simple pillars but the roof and the one wall it had were painted with bright and sharp mural type images that showed budha doing many different activities. by the time we left the small temple the large structure was open to the public. we paid the entrance fee and explored inside the walls of the structure. you could walk up onto a second level of the structure and after removing our shoes we did so. we left the large structure and walked through the tourist market stopping only get a cold drink. with nothing else to see we walked the long walk back to the main part of town and stopped at our favorite street vendor who sold us the shakes. pinaple wasvery good in the hot veater and after consuming two more {which cost only 50 cents a piece} we walked two blocks to a museum. the museum was simpole, holding many different artifacts throughout many ages. the most interesting being the war areas. tthe museum was very small and after exiting we went back to our guest house to rest. we got to the guest house and told them we needed sleeper bus tickets to paksi which would be ibky a transit point to the island of don khong. in a guide book we had read , it sai dyou could take a boat from paksi down the river to don khong. the guest hosue supplied us our tickets and we still ahd a couple hours to kill before a minibus came and picked us up to go to the sleeper bed bus that would take us to paksi. we left our things in the lobby of our guest house and walked to a nearby market to buy whatever food supplies we would need on the bus. we returned back to the house dropped our granola bars and headed out in search of a last meal before geting on the bus. after dinner we waited another hour at the guest house and were picked up by a what was called a minibus but was simply a truck with seats in the bed and a cover to keep rain off of us. the drive to the bus station was short, Chris and Bill sat up at teh front of the bus and i was crammedinto the back along with the other 10 backpackers plus their bags. upon arriving at the bus station we suffered little confusion before entering our sleeper bus. the beds were not large but not too small and when we bought our tivkets we were under the impresion that each bed was assigned to one person..........that wasnt the case. Chris and Bill ended up sharing a top bunk very close to me and I........ well i got stuck in the fame bunk with an overweight chinese guy. yeah i know go ahead and laugh it up get it out of your system. I took flack from Chris and Bill the whole 40 minutes before the bus started even moving. the bus trip from vientiane is an 11 hr trip which is why we took the sleeper. the guy who i was sharing a bunk with took the inside of the bed facing the aisle and i was left with te spce between him and the window. for the first part of the trip i watched james bond on the bus tvs. and then when all the lights were out and i was forced to try to sleep I pushed myself as close to that glass as mny body would allow and sat for what seemed like hours. i know i did not get much more than 5 hrs sleep because i listened to my ipod for way to long trying to sleep. but darkness finally reached my senses and when i awoke it was light shining into the window i had been pressed so close to and people were filing out of the bus. we got out of the bus and walked a short distance trying to stay as far away from the hustlers trying to sell you and over priced ride into town. we walked a short way and found a fair price tuktuk and from there told the man we wanted to to go the boat dock for the boat to don khong. after much confusion and two translators we found out that the boat to our original destination was no more. so we walked walked away from the hustlers who were now trying to sell overpriced boat rides on friends boats to don khong. we walked a short distance when a small travelers agency caught our eye and they were offering a good price bus and boat to an island called don det which was close to don khong but smaller and "more scenic". the small island was also connected to a larger island called don khone. so we payed the company and took our vip mniibus to a small river village. the bus trip to the viallge was no more than 3 hours and after stepping off the bus we immidiately stepped onto a boat and crossed to don det. we stepped on the boat to the island of don det and took a seat at a open air cafe type place tourists would stop at. the island had no paved roads, no air conditioning, no cars, and pretty much had no lighting to speak of either. all in all it was a pretty majextic paradise. we walked from the dock of don det to the botoom of the island where it was connected to don khone. don khone was much larger than don det and after paying the island entry fee...? we were able to find two small rooms that would suit us for the two nights we spent there. the rooms had no lights, no door handles, and the bathroom door looked more like a shower curtain. nothing that would really cause us any problems but would have been nice to have i suppose. what our riverside hovels did have however. the porch to our shacks was out over the edge of the water and on the porch were two of the most comfortable hammocks ever. alright i will let you guys dream on that for a little while but i am going to make my alst exploration of bangkok in the two hours i have before my bus leaves for the airport. i hope everyone who reads is doing well and had a fun fourth of july.

full laos accounts

i must say that i am sorry it has been a few days since i put up a post. We took a few day trip to Laos and upon returning i was more exhausted than i had been this entire trip. since the long delay of post has happend i am having trouble remembering all the full details of the start of the journey so i will edit this post later when i have my journal in front of me and can give a true update. i will begin it later tonight which will be morning for you all and you should be able to enjoy it by tomorrow.

new pictures from laos

wow such a long week

well let me first say that it has been a long and exhausting week of car travel follwed by hours of hiking or riding in a raft. with that said i will begin to explain. sunday was pretty boring we got up and moving pretty laet and then bill took us into town to get some groceries at my favorite lunch spot. we bought some necessary things and after i had paid and was puttign my things in my backpack chris and bill had accidently left me which was no real big deal other than the fact that i dtill didnt know where the #8 bus was to get home. so i walked the streets for a while until i realized taht all the truck/buses take the same route out of the city stopping at the non air conditioned bus station so i simply jumped on the first one i could find and then got of at the station and jumped on a #8 home. i got to the main road of KKU campus and walked the rest of the way. because it was the weekend, all the students were out doing activities. basketbal, soccer, rugby, a type of soccer volleyball, there are even free like jazzercize things on the street that you can just jump in and start doing. but i stopped at a basketball court on the way home and watched a small sided game of soccer. it was a 7 v7 type game with old tired as the goals. you didnt have to make the ball go through the tire just touch it. it was the first to 1 and then your team would switch out with the team that was sitting. one of the players sitting noticed me and walked right up to introduce himself and invite me to play. i dont know how to spell his name but he indroduced himself as "f", the two friends sitting next to him were "chuan" and "f". so two "f"s and chuan were the first i would meet that evening. i played one game and went back to my aparment to change into my running shorts and a lighter shirt since i was still in my clothes from that day. i was about to run back to by apartment when the "who had introduced himself first offered me a ride on his scooter. we made quick time of the half mile of the walk i would have had. i ran inside quickly changing and running back out to jump back on the bije. back at the court our team had been split up since some of the players i had seen before seemed to have already left. we waited for the game to end and took the field... or basketball court. the ball they played with was the size a younger age ball like size 3 but it weighed a ton. for anyone who doesnt play soccer this means it was really small but weighed too much. my team stayed on for three games and i scored both of the goals to win untill the last game when we lost. by the time the last game was over it was hard to see the ball because the sun had gone down so much. so with that game ending the night was done for futbol. "f" and his friends invited me to dinner later and i said yes immidiately. . they gave me a ride back the apartment and from tehre told me they would be back in 30 minutes. i rushed into the apartment telling chris i had met some students and the we were going to dinner with them. I got my after soccer shower and he got dressed and we sat around watching discovery channel waiting for them to show up. i was so hungry i started to eat my ritz crackers that i had bought. buying a jor of peanut butter and a box of ritz probably was the best idea for power food. Chris and i waited watching our new favorite show on discovery channel called 5th gear. which is an all about cars show and makes me wish i was rich and had an aston martin. "f" arrived on his motor bike and at this point Chris and i had our first 3 people on a motor scooter experience.. it was cramped to say the least. but we arrived safely at a restuarant where our new friends began to order copious amounts of food. rice and chicken pork and some kind of omlette. after we had finished the first large rounde a second was delivered. i had no room to put any of the new food but i watched the thai students make all of the food that was in front of me dissapear in a matter of minutes. by the time the dinner was over and the news theat they had made new foreign friends had spread through their phone contacts list, there were many new faces sitting at the table. there were teh originals the two "f"s and chuan and with that we had the captain, mr mr, om, sin, and tat. all of which were very friendly and welcoming. we talked for a good two hours before deciding it was time to return to the room. before we were given rides home we had to promise to return to see them next saturday and to our knowledge we would be here then so we did. we were returned to our apartment and we said our goodbyes as a good number of our new friends has followed our rides to simply say goodbye. we said our goodbyes and with that went to bed. we woke up the next morning at around 8 and from there packed our bags to go to a place called chaing rai that Lek had promised to take us to. we were picked up that morning to make the drive to chian rai. we got in the car and started the drive only to find out the whole reason Lek was taking us to Chiang rai to complete some buisness, but the night before the client said she didnt need to come and that the deal would be fine the way it was. so now Lek was purely taking us to take us and show us the city. i really dont know how far away chaing rai was but aparently it was a two day trip by car. so on the way we stopped at a town to spend the night where one of chelumchai's brothers lived. i believe there are three brothers in total but i am not sure. but this one took us out to dinner with his family and showed us around town for the rest of the night. our original plan was to go to chiang rai and then return but sicne we now had no specific time to be there Lek planned a few day trip in the mountains with a travel company while we stayed in the town that night. to get to where we would be staying we would have to wake up at 4 in the morning and be ready to go by 5. we got to sleep as early as we could and then before we knew it we were piled in the car. the company that we traveled with provided a driver for our car since the roads we would travel were very curvy. the total drive time through the mountains was 5 hours. the drive itself was miserable if i had eaten before we got into the car i would have definitely gotten car sick but after a couple hours of sleep and alot of ipod jamz we finally arrived. we got out of the car and walked around what appeared to be a camp with counsellors for adults. the camp was called you and me(in thai of course), and was very simple and beautiful. our cabin type deals we like stand alone apartment rooms that had been done in wood furnishing all around. even the bathrooms were done in the whole nature idea. the sink stand was a tree stump and the shower had the appearance of a mountain stream with river rocks and everything all over the floor. after exploring our rooms and the surrounding we went to what would have been the camp cafeteria and were served a late breakfast early lunch. which had eggs toast vegetables and fruit. from there we were told to pack our bags to go on an over night trip they also told us we should pack light since we would be hiking 5 miles. they gave us plastic bags to put our things in before we put our stuff in our packs. this was to protect our belongings from rain if it did indeed come. after we had finished packing we were told to wait out at the front of the small complex and our ride would pick us up. our ride was a pickup truck that had dashed off down the road with a white water raft 5 minutes before. it returned with no raft and we jumped in the bed of the truck and rode to the river where they had large water tight buckets for our things. we hopped in our boat thinking we would have to paddle to the path that would take us to the path that would start our long walk. to my suprize 3 men jumped in our boat and began to paddle us to our destination. we didnt do anythign but take pictures the whole ride. it was probably a two hour ride but the whole ride was very serene and peaceful. halfway through the ride we stopped at a point where i thouhgt we would be spending the night. bamboo shacks were the scenery and i was as happy as ever to see hammocks on the front porch of each of the buildings. but we had merely stopped to enjoy a natural hotspring. the hotspint looked like a simple ditch with some water coming out of a mud wall but unlike the rest of the river the water was crystal clear. Bill was the first to get in and after he had told us that is was fine i lost my shirt and jumped straight off the bamboo bridge that was above the shallow pool. the water felt likea hot tub(minus that wierd chemical smell you get somtimes). the bottom of the pool had been lined with smooth river stones so after i had gotten in and felt comfortable enough to lay down in it i even took my shoes off and just floated for a while. the pool itself was probably no more than two feet deep. we spent about a half an hour there and moved back to the boat to continue our journey. i was wrong we would not be staying at the houses with the hammocks, or the wonderful hotspring for that matter. we got back in the boat took more pictures and simply floated down the river on our raft. we arrived at our starting point which was no more than a section of muddy beach on the river. before we started our walk they passed out our lunch which was simply rice and some vegetables. and after that we began our long hike from the dock point to the campsite. the guide said that the complete walk would take about 3 hours. we walked for about and hr and it began to rain. luckily i had packed my rain jacket and didnt get wet at all. chris, a guide, and I led the way with both Bill and Lek no where in site. the rain stopped about 2 hours into the trip and at 2 hours and 45 minutes we had arrived at a camp site which had the look of a childrens summer camp with cabins and what looked to be a mess hall and surrounding hiking trails. by the time we had reached the camp site it was about 6 or so. Bill and Lek rolled in a good 45 minutes behind us. but for Lek this was a great victory. she is very small with very short legs and was tired after the first 30 minutes of the hike. but she made it the whole way without have to take the motor scooter help up the mountain. by the time we were all located at the campsite tehre really was nothing to do because the rest of the trip would continue tomorrow. so we sat around patiently doing nothing of any real importance while our guides set up a tent for each of us to use. After the tents had been fully set up i picked a red one and put all mythings in it as quicly as i could. the place where we had set up camp was miserably infested with mosquitoes and i stayed in my tent as long as i could. i spent the next hour writing in my journal and litening to my ipod. i have made it my complete task of listening to every song on my ipod all the way through at least once while i am on this trip. For those of you who dont know i dont download individual songs only full albums to the ipod so as of right now i have 4684 songs, all of which have come from albums either i own, my friends own, or my father has given me. it is an 80 gb ipod with no movies on it so i simply put music on it whenever i can, and as of now i finally get to listen to all of it and decide whether the things i havent listen you yet are any good. but with that said i was in my tent writing about the past days experience when our guides brought us out our dinner which consisted of rice, mixed vegetables and pork, a fish cooked whole, fruit, and some kind of soup. all of which was good but i must say that i have had enough fresh water fish from thailand. i have been here for a short time and i am tired of picking fish bones out of what i am eating. that being said the whole meal was delicious minus the fish which i didnt believe was worth the hassle of fightign with. after the dinner was over the guitar brought us out cups that he had made for us out of bamboo shoots behind his cabin. since bamboo has the natural sections he simply used a machete to cut the bamboo in the correct places and viola you have a cup. these were to be our water cups while we were here and we could also use them to make hot tea or cofee when he brought out the hot water. with the cups he had made for us he also made bamboo stirs in the shapes of raft paddles which was as far as im concerned a sweet added bonus since we were alloweed to keep them. the rest of the night i spent my time taking a shower in the sink of the mens room since there was no hot water. i simply washed my face and that was pretty much it. i went back to my tent and spent the rest of my evening writing untill the lights in the structure that i had been using to write to shut off. when the lights in the building went out i used the only light source i had to write which was my digital camera screen but i soon realized that is was a huge waste of my camera battery and my patience. i closed my journal and turned off the camera rolling over in my supplied sleeping back and tried to sleep. the only problem with this was that the company did not supply pillows. the only thing that i could even use as a pillow was my backpack so i put all the thinks i had packed into it and tried once more to sleep. my sleep that night was very very light as i woke up many times trying to get comfortable. but morning finally came and with that another well prepared breakfast from our guides. eggs, fruit, vegetables, and toast with strawberry jelly. it was a small breakfast but it was nonetheless filling. after breakfast had concluded we were told that we would go visit the waterfall on the trip and it was then that i learned that this is from what the guide told me the 6th most beautiful waterfall in the world. after doing some research it didnt even show up in the top 10 but i must say i dont have any idea what could have beaten it. it was a 20 minute walk to the waterfall on a cement path that the park it was in had paid for. the path started out with open trees and grass and by the time we got to the waterfall the surrounding greenery had become that of what you would see in a jungle edition of a natural geographic. we heard the waterfall long before we could see it but upon seeing it, it towered over us with beautiful cascading white water and foam that could only be described as incredible. after we had taken many pictures of the waterfall from a safe distance the guide said it was alright that we walk around the railing and play in the smaller waterfalls nearby, and that we could also play in the lowest pool of the largest part of the waterfall. i immidiately jumped out of my shirt and left my socks off putting back on my shoes that i had gotten specifically for hiking and luckily their second purpose was water shoes. i spent the better part of two hours climbing up and down crashing waterfalls and playing in their wake. many pictures were taken of us in the waterfalls themselves, and with us near and the mighty forces of nature in the back ground. the last hour was spent playing in the lowest pool which was suprisingly very safe. the current was strong next to where the water crashed but if you got tired you could simply let the water carry you to a large rock where you could grab on, climb up, and rest until you jumped back in again. even though we were in the lowest of the large waterfall's crash pool. right below where we were there were many smaller waterfalls of ten feetor so right in a row. Leaving the place was the saddest i have been since i arrived. I was happy simply enjoying the nature that was an escape from the concrete jungles we had been spending most of our time in. But with all good things coming to an end we return ed to the area where we had camped and the guide who had not gone to the waterfall with us, had stayed behind to prepare lunch so when we returned lunch was served. it was a combination of rice, soup, pork, and chicken. the soup today was bomboo soup which i could speak well about but it really isnt that great. the rest of the food was simply prepared nothing really special. after lunch was over we had another 3 hour hike ahead of us and with this being the case Lek had to rent a motor bike to get to the checkpoint this time. she was sore from the past day and something i believe was hurting in one of her knees. but with this being said we lost one of our hiking companions on the way back to another section of the river where we would once again be picked up by the raft and taken to the home base which i described as a summer camp for adults. we departed from our campsite with our packs on our backs and our bamboo cups safe as well. the hike that ensued was much steeper, much more slippery, and the path was very over grown. so over grown infact we had to have a guide lead us today to cut through at points with his machete. the path was much more difficult and i must say that it was miserably hot that day and if we hadnt been in such a dense jungle it would have been 10 times more miserable. at one point we walked through a section that as owned by a elephant trainer or owner. but the land that he had his elephants on was dengerous to walk through because if you saw one you would have to freeze and make sure there was a trainer near by to control it. if there was no trainer however it was a wild elephant which sometimes did wander into that territory. I know some of you may be thinking if this jumgle is so dense how did the elephants get through it. well the answer is simple my freinds they left a huge wake of brokwen bamboo, giant foot prints, destroyed(or eaten) plants, and huge piles of poo. sadly we didnt run into any elephants that day although our guide was extremely relieved. with the last 40 meters of the hike being completely muddy at a terrible downhill slant it was tough going. but when we reached the river we found the raft safe and sound with Lek asleep in it. when she woke she told us that she had been there for at least two hours and the mad who had paddled the boat there had walked down stream to fish. the fisherman upon hearing us had returned with his catch that looked to be somekind of small catfish that of which he had about 9. Bill arrived shortly after this and began to tell us how he had slipped 6 times on the last muddy part which really isnt that suprising as i slipped once and caught myself on some bamboo at least 3 times. we takend for a short time and chris, washed the mudd from our shoes, our guides packed the bags in the water tight containers and we were off again. this section of the trip was very flat and very lazy. i did not take nearly as many pictures as the first section of the rafting. this second time through i really just laid back and watched everything just pass by. it was an amazing sight. we got to the end of our trip and exited the boat only to sit around and enjoy the scenery some more. walked 50 yards downstream to explore a very rickety bamboo bridge that crossed the river. from the ground it really looked like a good idea to cross is but i must stay when i got up there i realized this was a terrible idea. we had to have been 30ft up and nothing was stopping us from plummating into the river other than a few pieces of bamboo. we caustiously left the bridge and loaded into our ride back to grown up summer camp. we ended up back at summer camp and then before we could even get out of the truck they said that we had missed a stop while rafting because we didnt have enough time but it was alrigh to take us back to it now. the side was large cave which we explored for 30 minutes or so. the cave itself was very large and interesting but the coolest part of the cave was within the first 50 feet. there were hundreds of bats that were visibly moving when we shined our lights on them. the ceiling of the cave was very open and you could make out many features of each of the bats. it was very cool i only wish we had had some more powerful flashlights to get better pictures with. after we were done caving we went back to camp and took showers. we were separated with chris and i in one cabin bill in one and Lek in another. in our cabin i took the first shower and couldnt figure out how to get the hot water to come on. chris took the next one and figured it out but aparently took him a while to figure it out. we showered and sat in out rooms for a short time and then went to dinner in the open mess hall of the camp. once again the mosquitoes were great in number but the ones at dinner had to be twice the size of the ones we had seen the night before. dinner was delicious though consisting of fruit, rice, shika bobs, 2 kinds of soup, another whole fish, and chocolate chip ice cream. we ate our meal and had the ice cream surpise afterwards. aparently after Lek had finished her shower she got one of the campcounsellors to drive her into the small village nearby and get it. we started eating it but there was no need to save any cause we ate it in a matter of minutes. after dinner i had two cups of hot tea and went back to the room to get a hot shower. i got out and read for a while, i wrote very little simply cause i was too tired to recolect the day's events. i fell asleep quickly since i had not hada very good sleep the night before. i woke up pretty early and really didnt do anything other than read until chris got up. we walked over to breakfast at the open mess hall and luckily most of the mosquitoes had vanished from the area. we ate breakfast quickly and returned to our rooms to pack our bags and begin the long 5 hour trip out of the mountains. i made the great mistake of eating alot before we got into the car and because of this i was sick the whole was out of the mountains. i never fully got sick but i my head was spinning as i tried to lay on my makeshift pillow in the packed Bmw that was our ride. we made it back to the business of the trval company and dropped off the driver there. after that point we had another few hours to go. the plan from there changed from going to chaing rai to going back to Khon kaen. Another one of Leks business friends would be in Khon Kaen and needed ehr there or wanted to see her or somthign like that. so from where we were we jumped to a town a few hours away to where Lek's family lived. we met them for dinner and then stayed in a very nice hotel while she stayed with her family. we woke the next morning to return to Khon kaen but made some interesting side trips along the way. we stopped at a aquarium. the aquarium was in the shape of a great ark and the inside was just as fun. while we were there a whole section of an elementary school was visiting for a field trip so many of the kids were more interested in the white kids than the fish. after we left the aquarium we stopped at a little place that basically had little sideshow oddities. the first show we attended was a monkey show. they had the monkeys dress up, use props, do cammands, and jump through flaming hoops. by the time itw as over i had understood none of it since it was all in thai but had enjoyed it thuroughly. then we attended a crocodile show where the performer did many feats with the crocodile which was 10 yrs old and had to have weighed at least 250lbs i even got to go in the crocodile ring and sit right on the croc. it was a wild experience. quite a rush for the system. after that we jumped back in the car and headed home. it as still pretty early by the time we got back but we really did not end up doing anything at all. and now on to today which i have finally caught up on once again. today we were all traveled out but we managed to get into Khon Kaen to find some things that we would bring back to the U.S. with us. those things being flags and books and things of that nature. after we were done i walked around one of the more popular places for people in KHon Kaen to shop and spend time. it was the same thing as a mall with all the smae features. stores, food, movie theatre, arcade. after i had thuroughly walked around fairy plaza(the name of that mall type place). i made my way back to the outer bus station to catch a #8 home. i stopped at the computer use place to use some high speed for a short while and then i left back to the apartment. Chris was already back having not stayed with me at fairy plaza. when i got back he told me that bill still wanted to try to put all 3 of us on the scooter and go somewhere. so we gathered ourselves for a while and then wen tover to bill room to ask him where he wanted to go for dinner. he decided that the all you can eat buffet would be a good choice and with that we took off down the street all 3 of us on a 2 person motor scooter. we got pretty far about a mile and a half and were about to get on the main highway to the restuarant when our back tire blew out. we fish tailed and we really almost bit the pavement hard but bill managed to keep us up and slowly moved us over to the shoulder of the road. with that we had to walk the rest of the way to the restuarant which was a mile and a half or so. but bill parked the scooted close to the main highway saying that he would ride it home from that point upon returning. so we took off walking down the highway to the restuarant. it really wasnt a bed walk. but by the time we had gotten there we were ready to eat. we ate plate after plate of food and after we were done with real food we moved on to ice cream which was included in the all you can eat. upon finishing our meal we began the much more difficult return journey back to the KKu main street. when we got to the main road of KKU (for everyone who doesnt know KKU - Khon Kaen university) i decided that i was gonna try and ride on that back of the scooted with bill back but chris said he would play it safe and walk. i must say that i was still very scared to get on the back with it sliding occasisonally but we made it home with no problems and from there i have been in the room just kinda doing nothing since. but now i will explain what will happen the next few days. you all wont hear from me because once again we are taking off on another adventure. this time Bill has decided to take us to laos untill thursday or so i believe. but the way our journeys have turned out so far we may be gone for a day or tow more than that. we will be departing from the train staion of Khon Kaen to the border at 9am tomorrow which in knoxville would be 10pm for anyone who is wondering. i really dont know what we are going to be doing overall but right now i know bill has a plan in his head..... somewhere. until my next post i hope you all are safe and having a good summer. and i willt ry to add more pictures early tomorrow before i leave. whew i can finally sleep...........