Thanks! Thanks for the apology in the P.S... I do believe it is warranted :) It definitely sounds like a trip that would've left me and Anita frustrated even though we would've seen plenty of local things. Have fun in Laos!
Helloooooo? Just checking on you, hoping to see a new update on your blog. You are in my thoughts almost daily (because I am, after all, getting older and honestly I can't remember everything I need to every day!). I hope you are doing well.
So...it's now October. I realize that your memory is not like mine--you actually remember stuff, other than updating your blog, it seems--but I'd think the sooner you write it, the more you'll recall.
Just thought I would let you know that I downloaded a China theme for my laptop in honor of your trip. Now every time my computer makes noise it sounds like Urkel has been let loose in the percussion section of a Chinese orchestra.
Hong Kong The weekend before you left, Dad and I watched a travel show on PBS that just happened to be in Hong Kong. I briefly considered calling you, but figured that there was no guarantee that it was scheduled at the same time on your local PBS station, and it was after midnight, anyway. I'm glad that you've gotten to where you're going so far, and pray that your travel continues to be smooth. And I hope that you packed some Immodium for that "gastric transition process."
Apparently, when I said, "Make sure you go to the right train station," I should have also added, "...and get off at the correct bus stop." I'm glad that you made it through your little adventure, and hope that that's the only glitch during your trip.
Eat a Frog Andy, I once read that if you eat a frog first thing in the morning, it will be the worst thing that will happen to you all day. I think you already ate your frog for this trip. Safe travels, sound sleep (when you can finally get some), and God Bless.
Inglewood Heather and I stayed at a "hotel" in Inglewood a few years ago when we went down there to see my grandparents. I knew it was a "bad" part of the greater LA area to stay but... the price was great. Security guard watching the parking lot was complimentary, the little single use shampoos and soap type things were not (although readily available for a handful of change in the vending machine at the end of a dark damp spooky corridor.) When I talked with my parents and they asked were we stayed I "forgot" the name of the town and just said it was some hotel a couple minutes outside of Long Beach - an answer that a mother enjoys hearing much more than Inglewood.
I live in Montana, USA, and have traveled around the USA, as well as to Canada and China. I set up this blog so people can keep track of me while I am in China, summer 2010. I obviously failed at keeping up with it, but I hope to fill in the gaps.
I returned to Asia in May/June of 2011. I started in Shanghai, spent a few weeks in Suzhou, moved across China, and down into Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia, before ending up in Singapore and spending a day each in Macau/Hong Kong and Seoul on the way home.
I went back to China, and also to Taiwan, in May/June 2012.
... full info
AndoChina
Andy Bouwman
Thanks for all the comments, Christa/Chrsta/Churst and Crin, but they are moderated so nobody's first until I say so :p