Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand!

Chris was getting a few messages ahead of me, so I thought I'd better try to catch up. I've been taking it a bit slower here, so I don't have anything so exciting as he did to report.

I arrived safe and sound if an hour late, and was graciously picked up at the airport by my cousin Owen and his girlfriend Top (sorry if I spelt that wrong, Owen). Unfortunately, Owen did not get the message I'd left him prior to my late flight and, to make matters worse, some confusion between departure and arrival times had occurred, ending up with the two of them waiting over 3 hours! Amazingly, no one was surly when I finally arrived.

Owen has a great apartment on the 22nd floor of a highrise next to the Chao Phraya river, which runs through the middle of Bangkok, and he's been kind enough to let me stay there all week. Between intermittent rain, I've ventured out to explore the fantastically impressive structures at the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaow, and Wat Pho (a Wat being a Buddhist temple compound), shop around the hectic market places of Khao San Road (Bangkok's backpacker ghetto, very reminiscent of Kathmandu's) and Patpong (an amazing juxtaposition of a general Asian market with, uh, gentlemen's clubs). Owen and his friends have introduced me to some exquisite restaurants (an incredible Thai seafood place last night, featuring a delicious crab curry) and some entertaining bars (we visited a brew pub last night, set up like an enormous barn with german beerhall style seating and an enormous stage with live performers singing popular American and Thai rock tunes).

In the meanwhile, I've been busy making onward plans. This weekend, we're going to visit Kanchanaburi, a nearby touristy town and site of the Bridge on the River Kwai (no, we're not planning to blow it up). On Sunday, I head south to a small island in the Gulf of Thailand renowned for its SCUBA diving. I plan to spend a few days soaking in the sun and swimming with the fishes before continuing south into Malaysia, where I meet up with my friend from Houston and fellow world traveler, Matt. We're flying out to Sabah in East Malaysia (on the island of Borneo) to climb a mountain (Mt. Kinabalu), returning to Peninsular Malaysia at the end of June to meet some other Houston friends in Kuala Lumpur.

After 10 months together, it sure is odd to be traveling without Chris, and I already miss his company. I imagine it will really strike home when I leave Owen's and find myself truly on my own. Nevertheless, I look forward to the continuing adventure before me with great anticipation. For me, the end is already looming, a fact made real by the purchase of tickets back to the U. S. A. I fly out of Bali, Indonesia into San Francisco on July 26 to visit relatives and friends there, then stop in Denver on July 30 (more relatives and house-hunting), and return to Houston on August 3. Shortly thereafter, I'll be headed back up to Colorado to a new home in Boulder and then an adventure of a different sort commences - studying Planetary Geophysics at the University of Colorado.

That's all the news for now. I'll send another update probably from Malaysia.

Live large,

Than