Dec 2006

Nadine and I are back together here in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam after my week of running around Angkor Wat and Cambodia solo. We are glad to be back together again.

My bus from Cambodia chugged a little faster across the border than Nadine's plane, so I was the first to touch Vietnamese ground, and thus I had the responsibility of checking into and finding our hostel. After a diverted taxi ride around central HCMC to simply go two blocks, I was in our hostel. But as soon as I dropped my bags in our room, I was back in another taxi to pick up Nadine at the airport.

I was at the airport an hour early so I took advantage of the time to eat and talk with people outside the airport exit. Because my banter impeded my ability to watch consistenly the exit, Nadine exited and I never noticed. As she walked around 5 minutes looking for me, I then decided to walk around looking for her, and just as I began walking, Nadine rounded the corner with an instantaneous relieved look. Back together again at least. Just imagine two folks running across a wheat field in a made for t.v. movie in slow motion, except Nadine was lugging her backpack and a little peanut sized baby.

Your first impressions of HCMC right off of the plane and bus are not going to be "this is a beautiful, quiet, relaxed place with a couple of scooters and cars." Heck no, you are hit upside your head that this place has either began cloning scooters with great efficiency or all 6 million people here own 2 of them. HCMC doesn't have alot of green space so I can't say that this place is way too green, no, I might say that it's way to gray in contrast.

As you walk around HCMC trying to avoid being hit by scooters or cars, you realize this place is just plain chaotic. But, a big but here, there are a few parks that provide refuge. Just jump in one of these and the pollution, bleeps from horns, and passing vecichles are now 400 meters away, and you are in your little land of bliss. Momentarily.

Crossing the street is a true adventure!

During our time here, we have spent a good amount of time looking for temp teaching jobs, but we did go visit one place of interest, the Reunification Palace. This was the presidential palace until Viet Comm took over the palace in April 1975. What really makes this place interesting other than the fact that it was once a presidential palace was all the great furniture, carpet, and styles directly from the 70's. Shaggadelic baby! Oh yea!

***New Photo*** Did he read the sign?

As the two videos illustrate, crossing the road here is truly an adventure in itself. There is a proven method to successfully crossing the street even if it does go against everything your mind and body tell you to do at the same moment. You begin walking across the street very slowly, but always keeping your eye contact with oncoming traffic and the drivers. They will slyly and very closely pass you, but not hit you. And if there are two and a half of you crossing, you hold hands just like you are in kindgergarden and stay shoulder to shoulder. The one thing you don't want to do is just stand there, that would throw them for a loop, and they would have no choice other than running over you for this bad decision.

***New Photo*** View of Royalty from the Royal Palace, HCMC

Everywhere you go in HCMC, you are approached to buy something, fruit, watches, tours, illegal substances, small children, individual cities, and coconuts. We have grown to love coconuts during our trip. After we walked out of the Reunification Palace, I figured we should take some video of me crossing the street safely over to the other side were two boys selling coconuts stood. Of note, they carry the coconuts with a bamboo stick over their shoulders attached to a pan with coconuts on one end and a cooler on the other. I figured I would have some fun with them, and I would help sell some coconuts for them. Maybe the novelty of a white westerner selling them would drum up some more business. A group of Japanese tourists did walk by amused and asked me how much they cost, but never bought any. They did laugh though. So I need to work on my coconut selling skills for the future.

My strategy from the street corner was to yell, "Buy your fresh coconut juice, only 10,000 dong!" Not only was this a surprise to tourists, but it was a big surprise to locals driving their scooters. Taking their eyes off of the road and focusing them on to me, I caused a scooter on car accident. As people cranned their necks around to look at me, they forgot about the immediate intimacy of each other. Fortunately noone was hurt in the scooter-car pileup, but the three people on the scooter were a little shaken, not stirred. I guess I have to find another corner to work on my coconut juice selling skills for the safety of us all.

Coconut seller and sellee

To properly celebrate Christmas, we decided to attend Christmas Eve night Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. As we walked towards the centrally located church, we found it more and more difficult to walk through thousands of people. Never expecting it, the Vietnamese were celebrating Christmas full throttle around the church. We had to walk through thousands upon thousands of people dancing, throwing firecrackers, spraying each other with shaving cream and silly string and the occasional tourist, and this was just to reach the front gates of the church.

Upon reaching the front gates with only glitter on our cheeks, we sat there with hundreds of people pushing up against the front gates. I felt like a piece of meat in a burrito, but I was a big piece of meat, so I could watch everything happen over the heads of the short Vietnamese squished around me. After 30 minutes of not being able to get into church, we used our "whiteness" to learn why we couldn't get in. They told us that the entrance was on the other side of the cathedral via a side door. Just like that, we were in church without the pressing crowd surrounding us. Once inside, we sat among a couple thousand Vietnamese and a few Westerners sitting down in pews, directly behind a pillar. So we sat and listened to Mass in Vietnamese staring at a big piece of concrete. Half way into service, the ushers opened the front gates, and a wave of people waiting outside rushed in. As the pews were already completely full, the crowd filled up the vacant aisles, and as we sat there, we were among at least 5,000 people. Without a doubt, this was the craziest Mass we had ever attended. Merry Christmas to all 5,000 of y'all, or at least the thousand of you within 20 feet of me!

To complete our Christmas week celebrations, we went bowling again just for the heck of it. We were both equally astonished as I started off our game with 4 strikes, that's a turkey plus a turkey leg. I was one pin away from 5 strikes in a row. After a weak middle section of the game, I finished off with two more strikes, and a total score of 191. Personal high score. Who knew we would realize our bowling prowess on this trip. Anybody from New Mexico want a game and think they can keep their bowling ball out of the arroyas?

Dancing. That is something we both like to do. During our travels we have created a new dance, the Under Budget Dance. Anytime we stay under our budget for the day, we end the day with our dance. Simply put both arms out like the macareina, do the cabbage patch, and sing "We're under budget," and you have successfully done the Under Budget Dance. Why is this of importance? We have stayed under budget everyday in Vietnam, so we've been dancing alot at night. So when you are sitting at work at 10 a.m. and feel like joining us, just stand up and do the dance.

Life is good for all two and a half of us. Our checkup with the doctor in Bangkok went well and all of the tests came back, and Nadine is in good health. We set up a two week stint teaching English to a group of nuns over at their nunery.

Enjoy your holiday break and have a great New Years. Have a drink for us and Nadine will have a juice and I will have Saigon Red for y'all.

Peace and Love
J.W.

A bus stop favorite, fried tarantula

Nadine and I are back together here in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam after 6 days apart. I was busy running around Cambodia while Nadine remained in our home away from home Thailand.

There were several reasons that I wanted to go to Cambodia. The first reason was the simple fact of Angkor Wat itself and all of the other temples. The second reason was learning about the horrible regime of the Khmer Rouge. The first reason was happy-go-lucky, and the second making you ponder why humans do what they do to each other.

Waking up at 4 a.m., Nadine and I caught a taxi with a talkative San Diegoan, as we made our way to the airport. And just like that, I was on a plane to Phnom Pehn, the capital of Cambodia. At the same time that I touched down and passed through Khmer immigration, Nadine was just returning back to the hostel. Great woman that Nadine accompanying me to the airport. My entire time of travelling in Cambodia included early rises and running around at a frantic pace.

Having the gift and approval of visiting Cambodia while my beautiful pregnant wife stayed back in Bangkok, I had to make the most of the limited time there. Outside the airport, a deluxe tuk-tuk carried me away to my guesthouse past poverty, smiling Cambodians, and dirty roads and sidewalks.

I dropped off my bags and hired another tuk-tuk driver for the day to carry me to all of the must-see sites of Phnom Pehn. Today was going to be a busy day of visiting the dark past of Cambodia.

Back during the very complicated Vietnam War, Vietnamese communist guerilla soldiers crossed the borders over into Cambodia and promoted Communism as they fled American bombs. The Vietanmese communists joined sympathetic Khmer communists which transformed into the group known as Khmer Rouge. Having conquered the capital of Phnom Pehn, the Khmer Rouge began to promote a society, errily familiar to what is happening in Burma, where the educated were considered to be "parasites," and needed extermination. Thus, over the next 5 years, the Khmer Rouge carried out the systematic imprisonment, torture, and extermination of educated folks. 2 million people died over this short amount of time. And of the most famous prisons was S-21, and that was my first stop.

S-21 Entrance

S-21 was a school turned into a prison housing thousands of prisoners by the Pol Pot regime. It was here in this centralized location that prisoners lived in horrible conditions and hopeless life. I walked around S-21 and past floors that still had blood stains on tiles from only 30 years ago.

The facts are horrible. 50 prisoners would sleep in a classroom with their ankles chained together. They weren't allowed to move, go to the restroom, or talk without permission or risk being beaten. Prisoners were required to write daily that they opposed the the country and its' regime, even if it wasn't true. Prisoners were beaten, guarded over, and tortured by guards, and sometimes the guards themselves were only 10 years old. Horrible things happened here. When prisoners were notified they were being relocated, they knew that they were going to be killed in the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, my next stop.

S-21 and the photos of prisoners who stayed and were murdered, including Westerners

The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, 14 kilometers outside of Phnom Pehn, are reached by a dusty road. Reaching the fields, which are more like the size of a single field, are cratered with holes where prisoners were buried in mass. Prisoners would arrive by truck, be blindfolded, and be required to kneel down. It was at this point that they would either be shot or clubbed in the back of the neck to death. Khmer Rouge soldiers would then dump the bodies into mass unmarked graves.

One of many mass graves

It is amazing what humans are able to do to each other for the sake of power, wealth, or even over personal philosophy. Something like this forces me to sit back and examine what causes people to do these things to other humans, and want to fight to insure that it doesn't happen again. It still does though. But there is hope. We have to learn to treat each other as a gift of God and respect and lean on one another. After this, I was ready for something a little less grave and little lighter.

As I was leaving the Killing Fields, some workers noticed a snake dart into a pipe under a walkway. "Oh, it's a dangerous one. Alright, let's take a little look." The workers grabbed a waterhose and flooded the pipe which forced the snake to flee. As soon as he got to the "fl" of flee, he was a snake pancake. He was clubbed to death by a stick.

Me - "Really, what's so dangerous about this snake with a flat head?"
Worker - "It's very dangerous. Can kill you."
M - "What? It's not really that big. What type of snake is it?"
W - "It's a cobra."
M - "Oh, I guess that is the reason for the flat head. I'll stay away from those now on."

That was my first sight of a cobra in the wild. The rest of the day I kept one eye on the scooters darting everywhere around me and any rustling in tall grass. Fortunately it was the only cobra I saw.

After cleaning off all the dirt and evil from the morning, I quickly visited the official residence of King Sihamoni at the Royal Palace. In addition to paying a $3 entry fee for this place, if you wanted to carry a camera and take pictures, you had to pay an extra $2. Being the penny pincher I am, I kept my camera firmly in my pack, and avoided paying the stupid "camera" fee. But once I reached the Silver Pagoda and the guard asked to see my ticket, he spotted the camera case hanging out of my pocket. I was forced to leave my camera with him AND pay the stupid camera fee. But, I did get some decent photos for you to enjoy and put one on this entry. So if you would like to look at it, you will need to send us a check for 20 cents for the following photo. If you don't want to avoid paying the 20 cents like me, keep your money in your pocket, and look away as you scroll down the page. Honor system y'all.

That is a 20 cent photo of the Royal Palace

After a busy day in Phnom Pehn, I was on an early bus to Siem Reap, closest town to the Angkor Wat temples. Fortunately on the way, I started talking with Rhonda from Australia who lives in Cambodia. She informed me of several things going on at Angkor Wat this weekend, a 40K bike race, a half marathon, and a ballet inside of Angkor Wat put on by the French Cultural Association. If I had my pick, it wouldn't be any New Mexican's choice of seeing guys jump around in pink tights. Either riding or running was more preferable to me.

Touching down in Siem Reap armed with Rhonda's great advice, I dropped off my stuff in my new home for the next 4 days, rented a bike, and made my way to the Temples of Angkor. Being that it was close to sunset, my only goal for the Temples of Angkor were to enjoy a nice sunset atop Phnom Bakheng.

Phnom Bakheng was one of the first temples built in Angkor, but is now famous for being the best spot to watch the sunset. Upon arrival, I was greeted with thousands of people fighting their way up stairs for a secluded Angkor sunset. I was more in awe of the number of people balancing on top of this temple than the actual sunset. After that sunsetting experience, that would be the last time I'd try to watch one there. For a secluded sunset at Angkor, Pre Rup is the place to visit.

Cycling home, I stopped at a local conveniece store to pick up some water for a long day of cycling the following day, but to my surprise, there sat cans of Dr. Pepper. What the heck?!? Of all the places you would expect to see Dr. Pepper, it would not be in one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, but there in a fridge sat cans of cold Dr. Pepper. That would be one of my Christmas gifts to Nadine when we met up in Vietnam.

After riding to the Temples of Angkor the previous night, there would be no way that I could spend a day riding around in a crappy ol' bike. I found a quality mountain bike the next day that actually fit my long legs and I could easily rent it for 3 days for debtful price of $5. I was set for another 3 days of exploration.

My second full day among the Temples of Angkor, I planned on riding to 15 different temples in a 26K "Big Circuit." My riding carried me away from Angkor Wat so that Angkor would be my final stop of the day. My third stop of note was Ta Prohm. This is a temple that has been overrun by fig trees and vines sitting on top of temples, breaking through walls, and climbing on anything in its' way. This was a perfect photo op.

Massive fig trees among massive temple ruins

I followed Ta Prohm with a visit to Pre Rup, another temple off the beaten path. What made Pre Rup special for me other than being able to climb to the top of it was that from the top, you could see Angkor Wat in the horizon.

One of Preah Kahn's fig tree roots looks like an elephant trunk

I started the morning at 7 and at 4:30 I arrived to a sunset among the well preserved ruins of Angkor Wat. Similar to the previous evening, I was joined by thousands of neighbors. It was a great way to end a day of riding 26 kilometers through the Temples of Angkor.

By the end of the day, I had rode a bike 45 kilometers over 11 hours, and by the time I left Siem Reap I had rode 115 plus kilometers and ran another 10 kilometers. I was tired, and that made the decision whether or not to sign up for the half marathon that night being run the next morning at 6:30 in the morning through the UNESCO temples of Angkor Wat that much more difficult. But in the end, the experience overruled fatigue and I signed up for the shorter 10K race starting at 6:50.

***New Photo*** I never quite figured out what this elephant was looking at

Race day, I was once again up at 5:20, on my mountain bike and riding out to the Temples of Angkor and the Angkor Wat Half Marathon warm up for a nice little run around ruins. The run itself benefited the amputee victims of landmines. You can't go anywhere in Cambodia without seeing someone with an amputated leg, arm, foot.

I ran the race. I finished. I wasn't the last one. I did not puke. I did survive. In the end, I used a method of run/walk in that I would run one kilometer, walk 40 seconds, run another kilometer. This is a method I learned from Nadine and Nate Roller, another friend expecting a baby in the next couple of months, and it allowed me to finish without injuring myself. My final time was 49:31. My goal was to be under an hour having only run 6 times in the last 6 months. I was happy with my finishing time, but happier to have been able to do the run through Angkor Wat.

***New Photo*** Great photo of Angkor Wat at sunrise

My last day in Siem Reap, I woke up at 5:10 to go and watch the sunrise among the ruins of Angkor Wat, the perfect way to finish my time there. I was only joined by a couple of hundred people this time, rather than the thousands you encounter in the evening. As people stood by the pond, I took this chance to escape to Angkor Wat by myself. So for the next 20 minutes, I was practically the only person walking in Angkor Wat, as I perched myself on a ledge to watch the sun come over the horizon. Sweet!

Sunset at Angkor Wat

To complete a very eventful time in Cambodia, my bus from Siem Reap back to Phnom Pehn made it a little more interesting. Two hours into our trip, our bus broke down. We were stranded on the side of the road for 2 hours watching cows munch on grass. Fortunately, I didn't have to be anywhere pressing. Once a replacement arrived, we were back en route to Phnom Pehn, but as soon as we hit the next city, high government officials were present, causing a roadblock. As a result, we had to find a small, random road to get around the city. 7 1/2 hours later, my feet touched Phnom Pehn soil.

Last note, driving in Cambodia had to be the worse I have seen, and I have had the honor of visiting a few countries. Khmer drivers and scooter kamikazie pilots never felt it necessary to actually look when pulling out into any road. Include the fact that scooters use the wrong side of the road to drive, you are constantly keeping your head on a swivel watching for traffic. The lesson is, be careful driving in Cambodia or you might meet a Cambodian up close and personal.

Life is always good. We are now here in the land of a zillion scooters looking to teach Texan English for a month. If we don't find any, we will move north.

Have a very Merry Christmas and have some egg nog for us. We'll have a Dr. Pepper for you.

Peace and Love from all two and a half of us in Vietnam.
J.W.

So after our short time in Laos, we headed back into our home away from home, Thailand. We took 3 forms of transportation and 6 different vehicles to get to Khon Kaen, our next destination. We took 4 different buses, a tuk tuk and a very full share-taxi. After quite a bit of searching on foot, we found a lovely hotel for two nights.

We had just missed the culmination of the silk festival, but a full day in Khon Kaen was on the way. One thing we have found throughout our travelling in Thailand is that we are attracted to malls. I know this sounds really weird, but it's true. I think it is a little bit of the comfort of feeling like we "could" be at home with some familiar shops, the lure of the air-conditioning, and the prospect of being able to see a movie.

Well, this particular mall had something a bit different of offer: cosmic bowling! We decided to give it a try as it was cheap entertainment. We thoroughly enjoyed laughing at ourselves demonstrating our poor bowling abilities. But, I was in for quite the surprise at in the ninth frame of our last game. All of a sudden, I bowled a strike...yippee! Then...another...what the heck? Next, I bowled a third strike, and I got a turkey! For those of you who are not bowling experts, this means you got three strikes in a row, something I had never done before. As a bonus, a turkey appeared on the screen after the third strike is complete. Later on I pondered, maybe the little bambino was giving me some good luck.

After the highlight of cosmic bowling, we headed to yet another temple. We were pleasantly surprised by this glowing gold Wat. We were not able to enter the temple grounds, but were happy just gazing at this beautiful architectural wonder.

We also got a glimpse of some young monks having fun staring at the white people gawking at their temple. They were glad to share some genuine smiles with us from a classroom upstairs. The actual name of the school was a little hard to pronounce, see below.

Try to write this on your resume!

The next day we headed back to Bangkok on the most luxurious VIP bus we had been on since the start of our travels in Thailand. We were in heaven with loads of leg space, a surplus of cool air rushing out of the vents, and even some decent food. The highlight was a seat that had built-in back massage! The hours passed quickly.

One thing on the list to accomplish while we were back in Bangkok was to see a doctor. We correctly assumed they had more up-to-date facilities compared to some of the smaller places in Thailand. I was very nervous for this appointment, but John calmed me. I was very happy after the visit with the doctor. It went extremely smoothly, and he gave me some good recommendations about the pregnancy. To boot, it was very cheap. I was glad to have that over with, for now at least!

The next day, before the crack of dawn, John left for Cambodia, while I stayed in Bangkok. I was unable to travel there because one of the areas is at high risk for malaria. So I was on my own for 5 days, until we met up in Vietnam. Well during this time, I didn't do a whole lot. I rested a lot, saw some movies, visited a few sights we had missed during our previous visits in Bangkok, read everyday, and realized how much I missed my other half.

Well now we are in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, soaking up the culture of a new people and country. We are excited to travel and possibly do some volunteering or work here for a short period of time. All is well and we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Peace and love,
Nadine

We never take off our helmets. You can never be too safe when writing a blog entry!

Greetings all! Another update from our great adventure around the world with a little joke about New Mexico carefully placed in the middle for everyone to enjoy. This time we are coming from Vientiane, Laos, and not Thailand surprisingly.

Wat Phra Kaew, Chiang Mai

Finishing up our time in Chiang Mai and strolling around at night, we crossed a stall selling baby clothes. "Who would need baby clothes? Oh wait, we would now." So just like that, we bought the first set of clothes for the new baby. A yellow shirt and shorts with the words Thailand and a picture of a tuk-tuk. The baby won't fit in the outfit until Cletus or Dolly is at least a year old. Maybe I could let my small New Mexican friends wear them for a year, and enjoy some clothes that will fit them well.

Floral art by a Belgium dude, but can you imagine cutting the grass inside the cone?

We also went to the Royal Flora Expo in Chiang Mai. This was an expo celebrating different types of flora and other green things that grow out of the ground in addition to different technologies used to help use less natural resources in Thailand. This all originated from the King's initiative to reduce reliance on foreign countries for energy and have a healthy environment. Progressive King that man.

Nadine smelling the roses, while . . .

I emit toxic gases next to Toyota's Eco-Man

We both looked at each other in astonishment with the fact that we were actually going to leave Thailand for more than a couple of hours on a visa run. But in order to do that, we had to jump on an overnight bus to the city of Udon Thani, where we would pick up another local bus to the border, where we would jump on another bus, and travel to the capital of Vientiane.

Our overnight bus to Udon Thani proved to be the most eventful. After a compulsory Jackie Chan movie, the lights went out, but the moon continued shining brightly outside. In our best attempt to sleep, we got in the fetal position on our seats. It wasn't long until at 1 in the morning, we pulled up to a gas station with adjoined restaurant. This was the V.I.P. meal included with the bus ticket and the meal was atrocious. We spent more time guessing what we were eating rather than eating it.

To conclude our overnight ride and middle of the night meal, we were serenaded by a farang and a Thai guy. The farang was practicing his Thai with the Thai guy and he was happy to conversate. I'm all for learning, practicing, and sharing with local people in your travels, BUT NOT at 2 in the morning while the rest of the bus is trying to sleep, especially the two people directly in front of them being Nadine and myself. We eventually arrived to Udon Thani sleepy and dragging swollen feet. My legs are too long for the seats, thus they hang over the edge, and swelling ensues. Result, large feet.

Our plans had previously included entering northern Laos and tracking our way down south to the border of Cambodia, but that all changed with a little peanut baby deciding to join us on the trip. Since we already possessed two expensive Laos visas, we were going to use them and visit the only place that was malaria free, the Lao capital.

After a team of buses from Udon Thani, we had crossed the border and were in downtown Vientiane, the unassuming capital of Laos. Automatically you think of a capital of any country, U.S., Peru, Texas, or even Morocco, they are going to be large. That is and is not the case for Vientiane. It is one of the top 3 largest cities of Laos, a country of only 6 million inhabitants, but the capital only has 200,000 laid back folks. Driving from our hostel to the Vietnam consulate to apply for another visa, you feel like you have been placed in the middle of a large farming village trying to avoid hitting a grazing dog along the way.

Laos is a communist country but the winds of change are on the horizon. You notice that there are not any Western fast food restaurants dotting streets, just local vendors, but that may not last long. Laos is slowly making its way on the backpackers radar. Even then, the number of tourists are few.

With only 5 days to explore this "captial," we rented bikes and made our way around the city. You can't visit and not see That Dam Stupa. Not quite sure why we needed to see that stupa other than it has a cool name and it was one of very few places to actually visit.

Nadine is standing under That Dam Stupa again with a smirk on her face

Situated directly downtown, and similar to Paris, Vientiane has their own version of the Arc de Triomphe, Patuxai. It is impressive in a city that doesn't have much to impress, but comically, it was built with the donations from an American cement company to help build an airport. Instead of using it for the airport, they used it for some downtown grandeur. It is referred to as the "vertical runway."

Views from the top and at the base of Patuxai. No airplanes landing or taking off

After seeing a few sites, we began our way towards towards the golden Pha That Luang, a national symbol of Laos. But before we had the opportunity to run around the site, we had to get there on our bikes. Along the way, we had come to a traffic stop with a couple of cars and scooters manuveuring for position and to turn. In the process, and very slowly, Nadine peeked her head out from behind a car just at the time that a scooter was turning. Nadine and the scooter collided. I turned around to see it happen in slow motion. I ran over immediately to check on Nadine and her belly. Fortunately, both were moving at the speed of grandmothers in a wheelchair race. Neither Nadine, nor the other guy were injured, but Nadine's bike was hurting. Fearful of having to buy a new bike, we presented the bike to the hotel, rode in a tuk-tuk with the injured bike to a bike shop, and had it repaired for $10.

For the first time on our trip, I was approached by tuk-tuk drivers for rides around the city. That is not what is unusual. As always, I didn't accept, but as soon as I said no, they countered with "you smoke? Weed, marijuana, opium?" I responded with a firm "winners don't use drugs, and I am a winner. So no!"

Honestly in all of my travels around the world, it's not uncommon to be walking and have someone ask you if you want some weed, but to be propositioned for opium, that's a first. We are in the heart of the former opium trade.

It reached the point where the tuk-tuk drivers would look at me, raise their eyebrows several times at me as if saying, "you want some? I got some 'you know what' to smoke." I guess since the distaces in Vientiane aren't that large and you can really walk anywhere, tuk-tuk drivers have to find a way to diversify their income with tourists.

Pha That Luang smiling for the camera

With the little accident with Nadine's front tire and a scooter, we never made it to Pha That Luang that second day. The following day, we did make it without any traffic accidents, but to throw a kink into our running around, we arrived at lunch hour when it was closed, so we had to wait. Nothing wrong with this, it left ample time to take some silly pictures outside That Luang and play with some local kids.

How many differences can you see in these two photos?

As a rule, we never give money to kids in that, in our opinion, it promotes parents to push their kids to ask for and earn money when they should be in school. But we do play with kids. So Bun, Lou, and I played our own rendition of shoe badminton. One shoe or sandal off as a racquet, and just knock the birdie as hard as possible. We all had a good time and proudly, one Texan beat two Lao girls in a tough match of shoe badminton. When they began protesting my scoring system, I looked away, quickly yelled "I have to go visit Pha That Luang. Bye!", and ran away.

Winning shot

As a result of Nadine being pregnant, her body is going through changes we like to call the "Thai winter of change." She has been feeling nauseous every other morning and needing a little more rest than usual. Good thing we aren't back at school working and we have the freedom to sleep in a little. We've changed the way we travel a bit. We are taking things slower and act according to how Nadine feels that morning. Every time I tell her to just suck it up, she just punches me. That works well. We did find one thing to help alleviate what ails her. We took her to get a massage. That morning having felt pretty miserable from morning sickness, that afternoon after the massage, miracously, she felt like a new woman. A new woman with a little baby growing inside of her.

To end on that point, life is good for both of us. We are super excited about being pregnant, but it has changed our focus and ferociousness that we travel with. We are heading back to Bangkok for a doctor's visit in a couple of days. From there, I will travel to Cambodia for 5 days in a whirlwind tour to see Ankor Wat and anything else I can catch in that time, while Nadine rests. We will then meet up in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam where we will spend, my mom's birthday, Christmas, and probably New Years over a one month period. We may look for a job for a month and take a break from our constant moving. That is the freedom that long term travel has allowed us to make easy changes as needed.

This weeks question: Insert your own quote for this picture.

We hope all is well and enjoying the Christmas season. Don't hold your breath waiting for Christmas presents from us.

Peace and love

JW

After talking about biochemistry, we went on, by mutual consent, to topographical anatomy. I hope I didn't get as far as embryology.
- Alberto Granado

Leaving elephants behind, Nadine and I left the belly of Thailand and entered the northern shoulder region with all of its wats (temples).

As we departed from Surin where all of the elephants outnumbered people, we jumped on a bus headed back to Bangkok. What made the bus trip back interesting was the fact that it was completely full as we had to stand over an hour wedged between tiny Thai people until we reached a point to switch buses. We did however survive and lived to tell the tale.

Now is the fee more than the price for one night?

From the capital of Bangkok, we headed west to the town of Kanchanaburi. From the beaches and elephants, we were ready for something a little more serious. Kanchanaburi was made famous, or infamous, by the forced labor of Australian, English, Canadian, Dutch and American soldiers, as well as Malaysians and Burmese to build the Thailand-Burma Railroad for the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. In the span of one year, these prisoners of war built a railroad spanning from Nong Pladuk, Thailand all the way to Thanbuyuzayat, Burma. Over this time, tens of thousands of soldiers were malnourished, tortured, and died. It was a dark testimate of what people are capable of doing to each other at times.

Bridge AND Nadine over the River Kwai

We spent a couple of hours rummaging through the very thorough and interesting museum commerating the railway as well as the Bridge over the River Kwai. From there, we walked over to the actual bridge as they were prepping for a light and sound show. How the times have changed over 60 years for this little bridge.

Nadine is up to some elephant business in Sukhothai

Not wasting any time, we were again on the road heading north to Phitsanlouk, a great place to spend Thanksgiving in addition to its proximity to the historical Sukhothai. Thanksgiving morning, we jumped on a bus with the more than generous help of locals and headed west to Sukhothai. Our reason for visiting the World Heritage site were the ruins sprawling all over the historical park. We hired (rented) two bikes styled like those from the 50's and began peddaling around. Everywhere we looked, we were riding under a set of stupas. In addition to all of the great sites, we ran into two Texans, sorry, no New Mexicans, I think they are trying to exit all those arroyos, running around Wat Mahathat.

What's that? Wat Si Sawai

A busy day of riding bikes around 700 year old stupas, wats, and left us hungry. Instead of our regular cuisine of Thai food, we ventured out for some steak, something ressembling turkey day food. This meat feast proved elusive to our growling stomachs as we couldn't find the steak restaurant. We walked around downtown Phitsanlouk an hour trying to find this specific place. Once we found it, and yes we had passed it twice already, we settled in to our Thai Thanksgiving. We ordered up steak, pork, garlic bread, blueberry shake (turkey day staple), soup, salad, and veggies. The meal was abundant and filling, but the steak on the other hand was pancake thin and not the taste sensation one would expect from a steak. It was actually a tenth the size of a regular steak back home in the States. Thais defintiely know how to do rice, veggies, curries, chicken, and awesome pork, however with the lack of practice on cow meats, they have a bit to learn. Finishing our Thai Thanksgiving with ice cream sundaes, we waddled back to our place happy.

Who knew that Bubbha had been to Thailand, much less have a statue made of him?

From Sukhathai, we continued north to the city of Chiang Mai. It was here where we stayed with my cousin Jeannie's husband, Tim. Before the trip, we never knew that we had family in Thailand. We had the pleasure to meet up with Tim, while Jeannie was back in the States with her kids. Tim and Jeannie are doing some great work in Chiang Mai. They are working with local tribes to grow, produce, and sell bio-diesel. This is something that is great for the tribes in that they earn an honest wage, support themselves, and helps the environment with clean fuel at the same time. They are also dabbling in organic coffee and education.

Can you find the moon?

Another big day we celebrated here in Thailand was our third anniversary and (regular joke) I have to say it has felt like 6. To celebrate, we moved from Tim and Jeannie's factory to the four star Duangtawan Hotel. Without a doubt, this was the nicest hotel we've stayed in the entire trip and all for only $40. We could have stayed in our hotel the entire day, but we had some very important things to do. Following a great lunch, we wandered around the night bazaar to pick up two more seasons of the official t.v. show of our around the world trip, Scrubs. And we are absolutely sure that they are genuine copies since we only paid $10 for both of them. Yeah, definitely genuine copies.

What's that ringing in our ears? Me ringing all 91 bells.

Following our shopping, we laid down for another Thai massage, but this time, it was an oil Thai relaxation massage. Not the "make-you-tense-and-grimace massage" that we had on Koh Lanta. After this hour massage, I had to admit that I was pretty relaxed as I ran into several people and signs back out on the street.

To complete the evening, we sat down to a nice dinner at Giorgio's Italian Restaurant. It was a great dinner talking about what was to come in the next year. But the first thing to come after dinner was ice cream. No celebratory meal is complete until you finish it up with a little ice cream. The rest of the night, we layed on our bed in the hotel like beached whales with bloated bellies of Italian pasta and creamy ice cream.

Wat Chedi Luang. Only one of those elephants is the original.

We are currently here in Chiang Rai, even further north from Chiang Mai. We have taken the time to walk the massive night bazaar and hit golf balls at the driving range here. We've also taken the time to revise our planned travel itinerary.

During our trip, Nadine and I have been filtering water anywhere the water may be a little suspicious. When we reached the areas of Koh Tao and Bangkok, we stopped filtering and began buying regular bottled water, and that is where everthing changed. There must have been something in the water that we were drinking. Nadine started feeling that she was a little more fatigued and sore than usual. We had been wondering what it could have be that was causing her to feel this way. We began to wonder if we could be pregnant.

After an early morning pregnancy test the morning before our anniversary in Chiang Mai, we learned the results. I wasn't pregnant. What a relief and waste of a particulary good pregnancy test that was. After purchasing another one for Nadine, two purple lines appeared within 3 minutes which changed everything. I wasn't pregnant, but the glowing Nadine was! We have been excited since that moment. As soon as we could get to a phone, we called both of our folks. Both of our mothers were extremely estatic, giggling, smiling, and yelling. Life is good.

Millions of thoughts have been running through our heads. Can this really be true? Does Nadine know the father? Are we going to have to cut this trip short? What will we name the children? The one thing we do know is that our children are going to be intelligent, athletic, popular in school, nice to their grandparents, and Noble prize winners. Truly, we want to have a healthy kid with only two legs and arms. No more, no less. Depending on the sex of the baby, the baby will either be named Cletus or Dolly Parton. We were thinking of He-Man, but kids at school might make fun of him. Not with the other two names though.

Concerning plans for our trip. They have now changed with our little addition. We are now only going to visit the capital of Laos, Vientianne, instead of the entire country. The rest of the country happens to be malaria endemic, so no risking the little bambino. As a result, we are going to see a little more of Thailand than expected. Following a visit to northeast Thailand, we will return to Bangkok so that Nadine can get her necessary check ups. From Bangkok, I will fly to Cambodia, another malaria endemic area, to visit Ankor Wat, and then fly or bus it to Ho Chi Mihn City in Vietnam. The same day, December 19th, that I am traveling to Vietnam, Nadine will fly over the malaria to Ho Chi Mihn City. Thanksgiving was in Thailand, Christmas and New Year's will be in Vietnam.

Life is good. We had planned on having kids after the trip, but being pregnant in the middle of the trip is still a gift and we are thankful.

This is another non-wikipedia question, but all are encouraged to participate. You will know if you are the winner in 8 months time. (Jack Johnson White has already been vetoed by Nadine.)

Question: If you became pregnant during an around the world trip, what would you name your kid?

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Make sure that you root for the Tulsa Hurricane in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Peace and love from Chiang Rai
JW, NW, and/or Cletus