"Have you met anyone yet?"

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Before the trip: "Are you going alone?" And my standard answer, "There are a couple billion people over there..."

But what is it really like? Well, Philip, the Dutch fellow I went trekking with a few days ago said, "Americans here are not like the Americans in Costa Rica. There, they were the ones you hear about, the loud, overweight ones. Americans here are different." Philip hit it right on. I call it the 'sieve effect' combined with the 'gumption factor', the result is that the farther a-field the finer grained the fallout. And not just Americans, lots of interesting folks from all over the world. Here’s a sampling:

Robert - a consultant in the biotechnology world. One of the most diversely traveled fellows I ever talked with. We searched out the best wicker chairs in Luang Prabang for a beer and eats. Lounged back he told great stories of elephant-rhino encounters in Nepal, climbing in Borneo, the markets of Morocco. But when we asked him about the bio tech business the air charged... he started to sit straighter, his voice became more projected, his hair seemed to lie flatter. I will never be in a room discussing expenditures of tens of millions of dollars with folks who represent hundreds of millions, but for a brief time there with Robert, I got the idea...

Emily - "taking a year off from corporate America" and "there are 40 suits back at home in storage." Really different from my usual travel acquaintance... an information gatherer and processor extraordinaire, you could almost see her brain dissecting the world into n-dimensional space for efficient storage and later use. I wanted to buy a share of Emily's future absolutely certain it would make me rich someday, but alas, as she said, "I'm not cheap."

And many more, met on treks, in cafes, walking the streets. Great folks, Ragnar, Ben, Matt, Lisette, Ushi, Bill, Phong, Ne and more. As Robert said while discussing meeting folks, "I find 'Hello' works quite well."

Overheard in the internet cafe just now: "I started traveling when my dog passed away." Odd, I know some else who has the same intention. Kind of like when children come of age but happens sooner.

I’ve been here too long - time to go read by the Mekong and watch the boats float by!!!!

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