CAPTAIN'S LOG. SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA. SUNDAY APRIL 18 2010, 2030 HRS.

As a Captain, tough decisions have to be made sometimes… and this was one of them. I have decided to head back to Thailand, and leave Vietnam and Laos for the next time.

I'm lacking time and money, and this decision saves me both. My flight to India from Bangkok is leaving already in less than two weeks, so it wouldn't make any sense to travel all the way from Saigon to Hanoi, and from there to Laos. There would be no time to rest or to experience anything else than hurry. Curse those scurvy scallywags at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport who forced me buy a ticket to India so soon! Damn their eyes!

Another reason why I have to pull off something impulsive is because I'm finding myself going these ready-made, easy-to-follow travel routes... conveniently drifting from one traveller ghetto to another, going where everyone else is going too, without getting any real interaction with the local life and culture.

So I've been here for a couple of days now, thinking about this from the safety of my jacuzzi, feeling very eager to start with my new, self-made travel path. The place I'm staying at allows a very low daily budget with almost too many comforts: for 2 USD per night I get a jacuzzi, swimming pool, free Wi-Fi Internet connection. For another 8 USD I could drink beer as much as I could. There are fire dance shows & toga parties every night (I'm not kidding)… I wrote earlier that I wanted to live more ascetically, but ironically this extremely hedonistic place is much cheaper than a more modest guesthouse! But the staff here is very cool, cheerz guys!

I've tried to find a random spot on the map, somewhere unplanned, somewhere where no tourist has gone before. With no other Westerners nearby. It just so happens that Thailand brings me the solution. I'll fly to Bangkok - I have no idea of what's the current situation there, if there has there been any more shootings, how many more people have died etc. - and from there I'll take a night train to Ubon province, close to the border of Laos. I've been invited as a guest to a local family's house, and I'm very honoured to accept this kind invitation. From there I can visit the real countryside of Thailand, and now there's plenty of time.

At last, time to weigh anchor and hoist the sails... Keep her steady as she goes!

Yours Truly,
The Cap'n

PS. I've also heard that in Ubon province I can get those rum bottles with serpents and scorpions etc. inside of them...