Hi. Wanted to let everyone know what I have been up to. I left Chiang Mai a while ago to take a slow boat to Luang Prabang, Laos. We had a ride to the border, and then were supposed to get on the boat on the Mekong to Luang Prabang. I said supposed to, because apparently the boat was not running that day. Even though a boat had left at 10am??? We never found out what really happened, but we think we missed the boat. We were convinced we were getting ripped off, but who knows. Instead, we had to take a 13 hour local bus, that actually was not too bad. The Lao countryside is beautiful, lush green forests and rolling hills. The roads are terrible, pretty much one lane gravel roads full of potholes, but we still had fun on the ride.

Luang Prabang was a beautiful small city. It was very touristy, but for a good reason. The city sits right along the Mekong, with many historic buildings. There was also a really nice waterfall nearby.

After Luang Prabang, I took a bus to the backpacker town of Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is a small town set in a beautiful valley, along the Nam Song River. Vang Vieng is known for tubbing down the river, climbing and watching re-runs of "Friends" at the cafe's. I managed to do all three. Our first day there, we met some Canadian guys I had originally met almost 3 months ago crossing the China-Vietnam border. They were running a bar in town. The next day we had a big group to go tubbing. Tubbing on the Nam Song has become so popular, that in a few mile stretch of the river there are dozens of bars. You pretty much float down the river for a hundred yards, stop at a bar, get a few drinks, take a zip line, or swing into the river and then continue to the next bar. It was quite an experience, and lots of fun with a big group.

After tubbing, I managed to be semi-productive by going rock climbing. The climbing was pretty good, but now quite as scenic as when I climbed in Railay, Thailand. Other than that, my mission in Vang Vieng was to find a cafe playing "The Simpsons." Don't worry...I was successful.

After Vang Vieng, it was off to the sleepy, boring capital of Laos, Vientiane. I only spent one day in Vientiane, and that was enough. After that, I flew to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

In KL, I stayed at the worst/weirdest guesthouse that I stayed at on the whole trip. It was dirty, unwelcoming and full of odd people. It seemed like most other people staying there were older, like in their 50's. If I am in my 50's, and staying at a place that crappy, something has went wrong in my life. They also made you take your shoes off (very very common in SE Asia), but most places that make you do this have clean floors, not dirty, nasty floors. Don't worry, I didn't listen to them and just wore shoes or sandals. And to top it off, after using the shared toilet, I came to the shared sink to wash my hands, but guess what? There was an old guy washing his clothes in the sink. When I asked to use the sink to wash my hands, he said "Isn't there a bucket in the toliet you can use?" Yes, there is, it is the same one some people use to wipe their asses, but sure I can use that so you can do your laundry. What a cheap b******, laundry is about $1 per kilo.

Anyway, after a day in KL, it was off to the super clean, very nice city of Singapore. Singapore is too perfect to visit. Everything is perfect. It seemed a little boring, but probably a really nice place to live.

Ok, if you have read this far, I have some news. I actually flew home to Chicago on Thursday. That's right, I am home now. I know, it is a little early. I was supposed to meet Wes in Tibet in Mid April, but if you have followed he news, Tibet may not be the best place to be at the moment. Our back-up plan of Nepal was not looking good either. Nepal is having elections on April 10 that could turn violent. On top of all this, I started to get a little burned out on travel. I was still having fun, but not as much fun as I should have been having. With Tibet and Nepal falling through, and me burning out a little bit, it seemed like a good time to come home. But don't worry, Wes and I are still planning on heading to Nepal in about a year. I still love traveling, and had an amazing time on this trip.

Anyway, I will try to post at least one more entry in the next few days. Thanks everyone for reading this and supporting me. I really appreciate what everyone has done for me. I look forward to seieng everyone and sharing stories and pictures.