Here are the last few emails I sent from Thailand:

Hello all, I'm in Laos, and it's pretty darn cool. But let's get a

recap of the last few stops first.
I was just in Chiang Mai, the second largest city of Thailand for
about 3 days. A great place, if I was ever to come back to Thailand I
would want to live around there. We just hung out, walked around the
city walls and ate some great food. I took a Thai cooking course with
my friend Ed and that was probably the best investment I've made in
Thailand. We walked thru a market and our teacher, Kay, told us about
all the thai spices, peppers, and vegetables that we'd be using, I
also sampled some pan-fried grasshoppers and pickled duck eggs,
delicious.
We then went back to her cooking school and cooked some amazing food.
We started off with springrolls, then a little Khao Soi, which is a
noodle soup specific to Chiang mai. Then finished off the course with
some Papaya "puck-puck", a salad, and some green and masaman curry.
I was suprised how easy it was and how fast we cooked everything.
Thai food is simple when you have the right ingredients. I'll be
cooking some food when I get back so be ready!
We then took a 4 hour van ride to the Laos border (Laos is pronounced
with a silent 's', just so you know) and stayed a night at a
guesthouse, waiting for the boat the next morning.
My first encounter with Laos was a little disenchanting, my tour guide
asked if I could break a 50 dollar bill in US currency, which I did,
only to discover the border guards wouldn't accept it for my Laos visa
because it was counterfeit. I grabbed that tour guide and gave him a
little shake-down to get my money back and nearly spat in his face.
We then watched as the immigration official overcharged us for a visa,
while blatantly pocketing half the cash. Welcome to the poorest
country in SE Asia.
Taking the slow boat down the Mekong river is fun, beautiful,
uncomfortable, and the most touristy thing I've done in SE Asia.
You're literally herded into a long-boat like cattle and given a
wooden bench to sit on, or you get a plastic lawn chair if they
over-booked the boat, which I'm sure they always do.
We floated the first day for about 5 hours, and the scenery was
absolutely stunning. There's not much to Laos other than agriculture,
and the hills were dotted with little huts that people sat in as the
buffulos grazed the hill-sides.
We arrived in a small town that is completly dedicated to guesthouses
that serve the tourist slow boats, and this was a lawless town. No
police, no hospital, and the power only worked from 10am to Midnight.
Everyone I met offered me Opium, and by the end of the night the girls
we were hanging out with were getting groped by Laos teenagers jumping
out of the bushes at night. It was the sketchy-est place I've ever
been and I was sure not to leave my valuables in my room.

The next day was longer and just as beautiful, but we got an even
smaller boat and the second day was ridiculously uncomfortable. I
drank beer and ate buffulo jerky in the back of the boat.
We then arrived to actual Laos, which was a gorgeous city called Luang
Phra Bang. The french infuence in this town was obvious and I've
never seen so many bottles of wine or Baguettes in Asia. We loved
this city so much we stayed and extra night and went to a gigantic
waterfall the next day. See Facebook for video.
We then took a "VIP" bus the next day to Vangvien, and that bus ride
was the most intense one I've had in Asia. The mountains and turns
that we went thru were surreal, not to mention the bus driver was
hauling ass. The bus was literally rocking from wheel to wheel as we
tore ass thru little bamboo villages perched on the tops of mountains.
Our bus stewardess was also packing a handgun, so I felt extra safe
about that ride.

Vang Vien. A town dedicated to backpackers getting drunk. A small
river flows by the town and a massive series of bars have been built
along its banks to accomodate a huge inner-tubing industry that has
sparked up on the river. We rented a tube and slowly floated the
river, grabbing a beer at every bar and having a great time. There
were zip-lines and massive rope swings into the water, all with the
highest quality of Laos safety standards, those consisting of bamboo.

I'm now in Vientien, the capitol, and I love this town. Laos is very
relaxed and soooo quiet when compared to Thailand. There are less
cars, people drive slower, and it just has a nice feel all around.

Will write more when it happens, but I thought you guys could use an
update. I'm catching a night train to Bangkok tomorrow, then I'll be
returning to the beaches this week. Only a little over a week left in
asia, it's crunch time! Will be landing on Nov. 1st, hope to see you
all soon!!

Ciao Tutti,

The weeks are winding down, but at the same time speeding up. Only 4
more weeks of teaching, 8 more in Thailand, how the time flies. I
won't be teaching many, if any, classes for my last couple weeks as
the kids prepare for their final exams in all their business,
accounting, and computer classes. This school was nice, it allowed me
to teach however I wanted, and pretty much do whatever I wanted, but
being the only foreign teacher has gotten quite annoying, as the hours
drag by on slow days with no one to talk to.

I've also grown a short beard, which absolutely terrifies these kids,
I've stopped students dead in their tracks as I walk by them in the
hall. At times I find this amusing, but after the 1000th time I've
had to grow quite a thick skin to the laughing, pointing, and
ridiculous behavior of children that grew up in a homogeneous culture.
Even as I write this I have kids trying to see what the foreigner is
writing in his crazy English language.

I've finally cracked the unreal dance club scene that Bangkok has to
offer. We went to a district called RCA that's just loaded with clubs
and university students. Had a blast, danced the night away.
But I truly like the dance bars in smaller Thai towns. It's set up
like a german beer garden, tables lined up in a huge open space, beer
towers, bottles of whiskey everywhere. There's always a stage with a
live band, usually an eight to twelve person band, with several
singers and if it's big enough, some dancers. Thai dancers are
hilarious, It's a combination of the backstreet boys and epilepsy.

Today at my school is presentation day for all of the student clubs,
along with the final games of the football tournament that's been
happening everyday for the last 3 weeks or so. So I'm not teaching
many classes and the kids are going nuts. There are about 3 dance
clubs, from traditional thai dancing to hip hop. There's also
supposed to be a rock band playing in a little bit. I heard them the
other day and frankly Thai rock bands can play amazing Red Hot Chili
Pepper covers. Also I've found nothing cooler than a twenty minute
rendition of "little wing" by Jimi Hendrix played by a 15 year old
thai student.

I have several weeks in October to travel and I'm just not sure where
to go. Either north to Laos or south to Malaysia. Both would be fun.
Suggestions are welcome.

Hope you're all well and that you're having fun.

Hey everybody,

Stephen is doing well over here in Thailand. Two weeks ago I
visited my friends up in a small town called Chaiyaphum. We had quite
a bit of fun and I enjoyed myself immensely. There are only like 10
foreigners there so I received plenty of stares cruising around town.
We went to the only bar in town and had a blast. Every Thai that
could speak any English bought us a drink and we danced the night away
with Isaan girls and ladyboys. My friend Jeff has a house with a
backyard and we dug a fire pit and had ourselves a campfire for most
of the weekend. Mostly it was good just to get out of Bangkok and to
see a little of rural Thailand.
This past weekend I took a little adventure down to Ko Tao, one
of the three famous tourist islands in the bay of Thailand, Ko Phangan
and Ko Samui being the other two. It was fun, I caught an overnight
bus to Chumpon, where the ferry docks to take us to the island.
Unfortunately we got the crappy bus, my seat didn't recline and it
arrived at 2am, when we were planning on sleeping all night on the
bus. We arrived at a bus station with mats on the floor and very firm
pillows, where we caught a little shut eye. The ferry took about two
hours and was uneventful, but it was a beautiful blue ocean and I got
a little sun.
Ko Tao is completely dedicated to diving. There's a dive shop
there called Ban's that certifies more divers than anywhere else in
the world. Everyone we met was going diving, I just wanted to chill
on the beach. We rented ATVs and cruised around the island for a bit,
finding small beaches to swim in and rough dirt roads to plow thru.
Unfortunately I almost died on the back of an ATV. My friend didn't
know the basic reactions one should make when getting into an
emergency-type situation on a four-wheeler. She decided that when we
got too close to a cliff it would be better to scream and hit the gas
than to hit the brakes. Luckily I grabbed the handlebars and a visit
to the hospital/morgue was avoided.
Later that night we enjoyed a half moon and stars on the beach
with a lovely bottle of whiskey at a cool bar called Lotus. By the
end we were dancing and having quite a time. The next day I got quite
a sunburn and decided to relax in the shade and read a book. I saw
some windsurfers out on the water and tried to find the rental place,
but as soon as I got there the wind died and my hopes for windsurfing
Thailand disappeared. I'll find a spot one of these days.
The trip back was long and tiresome, but I'm back here in
Bangkok getting ready for testing next week. I have tamed my worst
class by giving them a seating chart, making it so they aren't sitting
next to their friends anymore.

Observations of Thailand:

7-Eleven owns Thailand, literally. There are more 7-11s here
than anywhere else in the world, I guarantee it.

The Thai people don't swim or like the water what-so-ever.
Which is really too bad because they have some of the greatest beaches
in the world. I am told it's because of an ancient Buddhist/Hindu
story of a person being taken into the "great darkness", which has
manifested itself over the centuries in Thai culture to a fear of
water and being trapped in this darkness.
This is a good and a bad thing for us travellers. It means that
on the weekends the beaches aren't crowded with locals, as they would
be anywhere else in the world. It also means that every island or
famous beach is completely dedicated to tourists, which means that
prices get jacked up and you have to fight against getting ripped off
at every turn. It really affected me this weekend at Ko Tao because
I've come accustomed to paying the Thai price for everything, not the
tourist price. It was just annoying.
The only beach I've found in Thailand not dedicated to tourists
was in Ban Phe, where I studied to become an ESL teacher. And man it
was a good beach, I'm thinking of heading back there just to get away
from all the backpackers.


Well everyone, 6 weeks left for me. Then I'll be travelling
around, hopefully into Laos via the MeKong river. I should be back
for the holidays, and hope to see as many of you as I can while in
Oregon. Take care and send me some emails/pictures.

Here's what's happening in the life of Stephen:

This past weekend was a Buddhist holiday and I had a four day
vacation, plus I skipped school on friday, so it was a 5 day. I flew
to Phuket island in the Indian Ocean, in the south of Thailand. I
have a few friends that teach there and we had an awesome night
partying on the infamous Patong beach. Unfortunately it is low
season, and the beachfront is packed with prostitutes and ladyboys who
are desperate for money. It was quite a sight, and difficult to get a
beer with dozens of hands trying to pull you away for your money. All
in all we had fun, it was good to see my friends again.
The next day we caught a bus to Ao Nang, a small town on the beach in
Krabi, a southern province of Thailand. Krabi is known as the
Yosemite of SE Asia, and rightly so, there were spectacular limestone
cliffs all along the beach that look just like El Capitan and Half
Dome, just not quite as big. Ao Nang was a great town and one of my
favorites thus far, because it has an awesome beachfront promenade and
I saw the best sunset of my entire life walking on the beach. It was
like the Sun God decided to paint his own Vanilla Sky, and sprinkle
some thunder caps in there with lightening, for more effect.
The following day we caught a small boat to Rai Lay, a ridiculously
beautiful and incredibly small beach in Thailand that you can only get
to by boat. The boats are also quite fun, there's literally a car
engine strapped to a long pole with a propeller at one end to push
this wooden deathtrap across the sea. But hey, it's Thailand, just
remember to always know where your towel is, and most importantly,
Don't Panic.
In Railay we took a hike to a hidden lagoon in the center of this
peninsula. This was by far the most dangerous thing I have done in
Thailand. The trail to this lagoon was a sheer limestone cliff with
makeshift ropes and slippery footholds all the way up for about 300
feet. Not to say is was 300 of vertical feet, just obnoxiously steep
to a point of certain death if you slipped. We then saw the lagoon
after climbing down another steep trail, only to be disappointed to
find an actual vertical drop of about 10 meters, which required either
climbing equipment or the courage of a drunken monkey. We decided to
head back, because throughout our entire adventure it was pouring rain
and limestone can be slippery. My friend Jordan also dislocated his
shoulder climbing over a fallen tree, and we had to make sure he
didn't die as he climbed down that 300 feet of death without his left
arm.
All things considered, it was really awesome.
We then rented sea kayaks and checked out the cliffs from the sea,
which was even better. That night I had some amazing Masaman curry
and a lovely bottle of rum on the beach, to end an awesome little
vacation.

Now I'm back in the Big Mango, wishing I was on the beach again. But
oh well, I shall return.

Also, I think I'll be returning on October 31st, just so you all know.***

I miss you guys and feel free to send me some emails to let me know
how you're doing. If you like reading my emails, I enjoy yours just
as much.

Take care all, will be seeing you soon.