“Sabaidee, Lah-korn”

Hello, Sabaidee. This will be my last email from Lao and perhaps my last email from Asia. This evening, Nate and I are hopping on a pickup to the Lao/Thai border, walking across it, hopping on a night train to Bangkok (12 hours), arriving at 8am, going to the airport, and grabbing a flight to Yangon, Burma that afternoon.

As some of you may know, Burma is not the most free country. In fact, it’s down right repressive. The government controls every aspect of Burmese life with an iron fist. So, as you would expect, internet is banned from the country. I have been told that in the most touristy parts of the country, you can get online for a dollar a minute, but access to yahoomail or hotmail is impossible. Thus, I will be out of comission for a few weeks. We fly back from Burma on June 14th and meet my cousin Sean in the Bangkok airport and immediately go to the gorgeous Thai islands of Ko Samui and Ko Pha-Ngan. After more than two weeks of repression and soul cleansing at all of the monestaries, we will most likely be in dire need of a drink and some scantily clad Scandinavians and there is no better place than Ko Pha-Ngan. After five days of baking in the sun, we return to Bangkok and before you know it, I will be arriving Dulles Internatioal Airport in the morning on June 22nd.

I will wait to summarize the trip, what I have learned, and how I have grown until I have had time to reflect while sitting in the air conditioning of my parents house, eating delicious, bacteria free food, and watching TV in English. So, to your disappointment, the long, dense email of self-reflection will have to wait a month. Oh darn.

If you are interested, I have posted about 30 pictures from Lao online. Here is the link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=879333293205&page=1&sort_order=0 .

The fact that I will not be reading or responding to your emails for two weeks should not discourage you from updating me about your lives. I expect a full inbox when I first check mail on the beach. I can’t wait to see you all, and I look forward to hanging out with many of you soon. You have all been missed. I wish everyone a happy summer. Enjoy.

Goodbye, Lah-korn.