Below are the email updates sent out during the August to December, 2000 travels. First are my updates (in order), then are Erik Strom’s.  In my opinion both Erik’s and my updates get more entertaining as the trip went on. I think Erik’s last update is especially entertaining, and it actually covers different material since we were traveling independently by that time (scroll to the bottom to read it). 

Hint: print this out for easier reading.

P.J!'s updates from Eurasia trip

Hello all,

This is a mass email to keep some of my friends (that would be y'all) posted on my happenings, and also to ask for a bit of help. After spending the summer looking for bombs in the South Dakota Badlands, risking life in the Colorado mountains, and visiting New Mexico, I am taking a hiatus from conventional employment to travel the world. So I will spend the next 5 months traveling in Europe, Asia, and a little in the Carribean. I will be accompanied with Erik Strom, Joe Scionti, Michael Scionti and my brother Pammi, in various combinations during the trip.

Here is the request for help:
If you know someone who can offer a floor to sleep on in the following places, please let me know: Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China (incl. HK), Japan, S. Korea, Mongolia, Russia, and all of Europe (including Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltics). I would assume, if anything, someone could suggest some contacts in Europe.

My work in Denver has offered to accept me back when I return. My house near Denver (aka the phat pad) is currently occupied by some cool people, namely Avery Kong, Chad Klein and Steve Cox, and as always it is open for anyone for a visit or for a free place to sleep, even if I am not there. In the couple years I have lived there it has seen quite a few visitors.

I hope to stay healthy throughout the upcoming adventures, and I hope you all do the same.

Take care,
P.J!

"These modern times could do with more adventure, but as always, if we want it, we have to make it happen."- Peter Kalmus

"Work was getting in the way of my vacation plans."- Pat Custodio

"Why you picking on the Asian? We built the god*$%& railroads!" - Avery Kong

Hello all,

This is the first installment of the worldwide travel report... I tried to limit the distribution list to people who I thought would be interested. I do manage to find internet access often, so drop me a line if you wish.  -P.J!

"An insecure life is a fruitful one" - Michael Barth

815-823 Grand Cayman Island (that is in the Carribean, west of Jamaica), East End, Scuba Diving and doing nothing with former roommate Rico Elvina (who works at Cayman Dive Lodge) and current roommate Chad Klein (who took vacation at the same time)

824 meet up with traveling partners Erik and Bonnie Strom and Joe and Michael Scionti at Big Ben in London. Five of us traveling together for following week.

825 bus and ferry to Dublin

826 rental car to Waterford, Cork, Blarney, Tralee, Ardfert (in southwest Ireland), visit one of Joe's past roommates.

827 tour the Dingle Pinensula, meadow crash near Limerick

828 drive to Dublin, bus to Belfast, tour the "Troubles" areas.

829 ferry and bus to Glasgow (Scotland). rental car to Edinburgh, check out castle, drive up to Inverness, meadow crash at Loch Ness

830 fail to find the monster, drive around the highlands, to northern end of Scotland, meadow crash near Fort Williams.

831 drive to Glasgow, bus to London, bus to Dover

901 night ferry to Calais, get leased car, drive to Paris, drop off Joe and Mike- they will use Eurail for the following month (to meet them 1002 in Rome). Continue driving adventures with Erik and Bonnie. Stay with Erik's past coworker near Versailles

902 Palace of Versailles, Eiffel Tower, coincidentally show up on time for mass at Notre Dame, stay near Versailles.

903 1st sunday of each month is free admittance to the Louvre (conicidental tming), drive to Luxembourg City, meadow crash in northern Luxembourg

904 check out Brussels (Belgium), The Hague (Netherlands), and Amsterdam. meadow crash in northern Holland

905 check out Hamburg (Germany) and stay in Copenhagen (Denmark)

906 check out Copenhagen, drive (over newly completed Oresund link bridge) to Stockholm (Sweden), stay with Strom's relatives.

907 tour Stockholm

908 tour island archipelago east of Stockholm (east coast of sweden)

Subject: Update #2

Dear all,

The mission is still going well, especially since Erik and I have decided we will visit places based on their prominence in James Bond or Indiana Jones movies. The Pugeot 106 is getting over 40mpg, gas averages 3.5 US dollars per gallon, and the US dollar is particularly strong currently. The only problem we have encountered is that the only American music on the radio is Brittney Spears. We are so unlucky. These car radios have a digital display, which in addition to giving the station number, also gives you advertisements, the song's name, weather reports, and traffic updates. Whenever there is a traffic update, it automatically switches your radio to that station (and even stops your tape). So we often end up listening to French rap.

Below is the continued journal. Please let me know if you do not wish to recieve these updates. Upon request, I have added a little more detail than the last one. - P.J!

Fr908 slept in a cabin on an island in the archipelago east of Stockholm. Cabin/land owned by Erik's relatives.

Sa909 caught sunrise over the islands and took a boat back to mainland. Left Bonnie Strom in Sweden (her part of the journey was done, leaving Erik and I for remainder of September). Drove past Stockholm and across Sweden's lake country (resembled boundary waters in Minnesota) to Oslo, Norway. Saturday night scene in Oslo was very acive. Slept in car on hill overlooking Oslo.

Su910 checked out the Fort and some museums in Oslo, drove north to see some fjords, then down the west coast of Sweden, and back across the new bridge over the Oresund Sound to Copenhagen. David Bansemer (high school friend of Erik and myself) was coincidentally on assignment for work in Copenhagen, so we showed up at his hotel at 1am for the night.

Mo911 roamed Copenhagen with David, then drove back through Denmark and Hamburg, and down to Berlin. Checked out Checkpoint Charlie and the west side gallery (longest remaining segment of the Wall- turned art). Drove out of town to meadow crash (m.c.) in a forest southeast of Berlin.

Tu912 awoken by a german man out collecting mushrooms (or something edible). Roamed Berlin, visited the Russian Embassy to deal with our Russia visas, got some groceries at the German version of Aldi, drove south through Meissen and Dresden across into Czech Republic. m.c. in farm in hils of northern Bohemia.

We913 Arrived in Prague to meet up with Pat Custodio (Philmont phriend), who showed us around town. Spent the evening at Pat's hostel, then at a club until about 3am. There were 4 floors of different styles, with much American music. I couldn't figure out why the place was so full on a Wed. night. Stayed with Pat in his hostel in Prague.

Th914 Manged to get our sideview mirror knocked apart in Pilsen by a trucker (who perhaps had too much of the town's famous drink). Drove to Munich and checked out Dachau concentration camp. Got stopped by German Poliezi for a random check (or perhaps because we had French plates). Drove to Bad Aibling (village southeast of Munich) to meet Paul Backus (Philmont phriend) who works there. Spent the night at Paul's place.

Fr915 Returned to Munich to see the town. Roamed the Oktoberfest grounds where the beer halls were ready for the annual festivities to start that evening (with some drinking already underway). Witnessed the natural sunbathing culture in the gardens. Got stopped by Poliezi again. Drove to Salzburg (Austria) and on to Halstatt (in the Austrian Alps). m.c. just west of Vienna.

Sa916 Vienna Poliezi stop us to demand 1,100 shilling (like 70 US Dollars) for using their roads (curious law). Checked out Vienna, and then passed into Slovakia to Bratislava. Saturday night in the main square in Bratislava featured numerous bands playing some good "classical" music. Returned across Border to crash just east of Vienna.

Su917 through Graz into Slovenia, and then into Croatia to Zagreb. Roamed the city for a while, then drove south. Crossed into Bosnia Hercegovina briefly, but decided not to stay there long (something about land mine warnings and UN posts). Did not manage to market any UXO work for Parsons. Crossed over Croatia's Dalmatian mountains in the night rain, and slept on the west coast.

Mo918 drove up Croatia's beautiful adriatic coast (including stop for swim) and along the coast of the Istra pinensula. Crossed into Slovenia and into Italy to check out Trieste, then back into Slovenia (for the third time) and over to Ljubljana... a city with a large university population and a big castle perched above the town. Drove back into Italy to show up at 1am at the house of Erik's friend Michelle near Pordenone (just northeast of Venice).

Tu919 Roamed Venice, returned to Pordenone for the night.

We920 drove north into Italy's Alps- the Dolomite mountains...very dramatic mountains. Picked up a young couple- students from Poland who just finished 10 days backpacking. They could have been Philmont Rangers on US 64. Drove them into Austria to Innsbruck. Proceeded west to Feldkirch, Austria (on the border with Liechtenstien) to meet with Cortland Bolles (Philmont friend), who is there with his current program. We missed meeting Cortland, but we slept in the building which houses his program office.

Th921 Met Cortland briefly when he returned in the morning. Drove through Liechtenstien into Switzerland. Encountered a few blizzards in the Alps, and shared the roadway with numerous Swiss Army convoys driving slowly through whiteout conditions. Dropped down out of the snow to Interlaken, and south of Interlaken to Grindelwald and Gimmewald. Getting to Gimmewald required a few hours of hiking. The area is much like heading south from Aspen to the Maroon Bells or Castle Peak, except these peaks are Jungfrau and the Eiger... which rise from about 4,000 ft. to 13,000 ft rather abruptly. Drove to Bern, and toured the city (including Einstein's pad). m.c. just outside of Zurich.

today to Geneva, Chamonix and to French mediterranian coast.
tomorrow to Andorra and into Spain.

Hello all

Erik and I finished the month with the car in Europe, and met back with Joe
Scionti. Final stats for month of September, total costs for car $1870, my
part $870. total miles 9,775 in one month. Average 40mpg and $4 per gallon
gas. The program we were on can be seen on http://www.europebycar.com.
Average lodging for Sept.=20 cents per day.
Email access is now less frequent, but I will continue to try to find it.
Next few weeks involve the middle east, which should be easy since between
Joe and I we have already been mistaken for Arabian and Kurdish, among other
things.
Below is the journal.
P.J!

Fr922 roamed Zurich, Bern, and Geneva, with a scenic hour overlooking Lake
Geneva from Loussance while the Polezi attempted to ticket me for turning
right on red. language barrier worked well. Checked out Chamonix area (Mt.
Blanc), and made it to southern France for random meadow crash (m.c.)

Sa923 through Carcassone France, across the Pyrennes into the country of
Andorra, then into Spain, m.c. in Spanish desert west of Zaragoza. Pyrennes
are just like New Mexico mountains, and Philmont is actually larger than the
country of Andorra.

Su924 roamed Madrid (including the Prado), continued across desert into
Portugal. Spent evening in Evora Portugal with traditional Portuguese
dancing and music cultural night. m.c. in farm near Evora.

Mo925 Awoken by flock of sheep, with dog and herder passing through our
bedroom. Roamed Lisbon then headed down the Portuguese coast to the
southwest. m.c. on beach

Tu926 out of Portugal to Seville then down to m.c. near Algeciera Spain

We927 took a boat to Morocco and spent the day in Tangier. rocked the
kasbah. (that is a hill in tangier where the rock stars used to hang out).
returned to m.c. near Algeciera in Spain. Funny thing about the boat was the
repeating Tori Amos music in the background.

Th928 checked out Gibraltar (little slice off Britain in Spain), Malaga, and
Granada. Made it north of Valencia for the c.c. (car crash...like m.c. but
in car due to rain).

Fr929 roamed Barcelona, then made it to the French Riviera for the c.c.
(near Cannes)

Sa930 dropped the car off in Nice, and caught a train out of Ventimiglia
Italy. That process required driving across the Riviera twice, running down
the highway from the Italian border for a few miles, and visiting the
country of Monaco, with a random stop in Monte Carlo. night train (=sleep)
to Pisa. Erik and I split a $100 ticket good for 3000 km total rail travel
in Italy, exactly amount we needed for few days.

Su1001 roamed Pisa, then Florence, then Siena, and took night train to Rome

Mo1002 Roamed (sic) Rome, including Vatican City and saw the Pope cruise up
in on a 4WD landrover type vehicle to talk. Met back up with Joe and Mike
Scionti, caught night train to Brindisi.

Tu1003 spent the day in Brindisi Italy (in the heel of Italy's boot), ships
to Greece were on strike, caught night ferry to Ignoumentsa Greece
(northwest, near Albania). We were deck class, which is taken literally, so
the m.c. took place in the ships lounge (lounge crash?)

We1004 Bus from Ignoumentsa, ferry to Patras on the Peloponnesian peninsula,
bus to Athens. Roamed Athens and got a hostel for the night.

Th1005 more Athens, then subway to a ship which took all night to Rhodes
(one of westernmost Greek islands). Mike Scionti left the crew to spend more
time in Italy, leaving Joe, Erik and I. Joe noticed the two men sitting next
to us on the ship were handcuffed to each other, and the person with them
told us they were drug traffickers being taken to the court in Rhodes. So we
decided to l.c. again.

Fr1006 Arrived in Rhodes, caught a bus down island and kicked it on the
beach (along with a beach crash).

Sa1007 Bus back to Rhodes city, hydrofoil to Marmaris Turkey, and loooooong
day to night bus to Istanbul.

today Istanbul
tomorrow Ankara
this week Syria, Lebanon, Jordan

Hello again,

We have spent last two weeks basically doing the Istanbul to Cairo route, and have thus encoutered dirt cheap food (1 Jordanian Dinar for Dinner!), cheap hotels (like $1 to sleep on rooftop or with roaches), and ubiquitous falafel. We take turns getting the runs. Our original thought was to go overland through Iran to Pakistan, but having gotten rejected twice from Iran, we were forced to fly to keep our schedule (and yes we do have a schedule believe it or not). I apologize for the last update having some foreign characters in it...if you would like me to resend it I can (Mr. Custodio has graciously cleaned it up). Below is the journal.
P.J!

Su1008 Crossed Sea of Marmaris on boat and Arrived in Istanbul on train early. Spent day in Istanbul (at the Bosphorous straits), then caught night train to Ankara. They fit 9 people in a compartment designed for 6... some people sleep in the luggage racks near the roof.

Mo1009 Attempted to get Iran and Pakistan visas, got denied by both. We had previously been denied for Iran when we tried from home. Met Gurkan Ozel, friend of Philmont friend Mary Zimmerman. Gurkan was very kind to show us around Ankara. Stayed with Gurkan and his friend Newroz.

Tu1010 Roamed Ankara with Gurkan, including trying for Pakistan and Kuwait visas (denied on both). Caught night bus to Antakaya in southern Turkey on Mediterranean coast.

We1011 from Antakaya, caught bus through Syrian border (we had obtained visas from home months before). Bus broke down and 14 people were put on a minivan to Aleppo. In Aleppo met Tijon, cousin of ex husband of Joe's sister (we are getting creative in the connections). Tijon works for the International Food Policy Research Institute throughout Africa and Asia. Stayed at housing sponsored by the university in Aleppo.

Th1012 Roamed Aleppo's souqs, then caught evening bus to Homs (in middle Syria). Stayed at cheesy hotel in Homs.

Fr1013 caught overpacked minibus east into Syrian desert to Palmyra, ancient desert oasis. Spent day at Palmyra then caught evening bus to Damascus. Slept on a hotel rooftop in Damascus.

Sa1014 Roamed Damascus, slept on rooftop again (rooftops are the thing to do around there).

Su1015 caught early bus to Lebanon (visa at border) (you have to go over some mountains called the anti Lebanon range). Roamed Beirut for the day and caught evening bus back to sleep on the rooftop in Damascus.

Mo1016 caught early bus into Jordan (visa at border) to Amman. Roamed Amman and got rather sick from something. Spent the night in cheap hotel.

Tu1017 rode out to the Dead Sea, lowest point on earth (about 1,000 feet below sea level and 33 percent solids). Floated quite high in the water. Back to Amman, then "service taxi" down to Wadi Musa (gateway to Petra), where we found another rooftop to sleep on.

We1018 spent day at Petra. Petra is the place featured at end of Indiana Jones and Last Crusade. Slept on rooftop again.

Th1019 Caught early bus from Wadi Musa to Aqaba, bought an Egyptian visa, then caught boat to Egypt, arriving at 6pm. Bartered a taxi to drive us to St. Katherine's monastary. Played our Tribe called Quest tape in his deck as we croseed the Sinai desert at night. Arrived at the Monastary at 10...the location being the site of the burning bush and the base of Mt. Sinai. Attempted to bushwack up Sinai (burning bushwack?), but then bright half moon came out and we found the trail up. Made it to the top (with full packs) by 1am. meadow crash on Mt. Sinai (I think that is where moses recieved the commandments...thou shalt not meadow crash?)

Fr1020 caught sunrise on Sinai, then climbed down mountain on the "3,000 steps of repentance". Bartered taxi to Suez, then caught bus to Cairo. found a hotel with a cockroach infested room to sleep in. Slept with lights on to keep roaches at bay.

Sa1021 Roamed Cairo to buy flight to Kirachi, kicked it on the Nile. Stayed in cheaper yet better hotel.

Su1022 Checked out the Pyramids and Sphinx at Giza, including shimmying inside a couple pyramids. headed to airport late.

Mo1023 3am flight from Cairo to Kirachi Pakistan.

Next week to Karakoram region then into India.

Hello again,

Erik, Joe and I have made it out of the Middle East and across south Asia. In doing so, we hit progressively deteriorating modes of transport. We managed to travel much of Pakistan, although the only reference we saw to such a journey was in the 80's movie Spies Like Us. We also spent much time in India with my family. In leaving Pakistan, we also left behind Arabic writing and the Muslim religion. That means we were no longer awoken at 4am by loudspeakers blaring from every mosque in town. Below are the details, hopefully not too lengthy to preclude reading.
P.J!

Mo1023
3am caught a plane from Cairo, Egypt (US$320). 7am sat around in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for an hour. Noon landed in Kirachi, Pakistan (city is on the ocean). Kirachi was rather unpleasant, so by 4pm we were on a train headed north to Rawalipindi, near the capital Islamabad. This train took 27 hours.

Tu1024
so we arrived there at 7pm the next night. The train cars were intended for 40 persons, but had about 250 each, making for a bumpy, hot, dusty, smelly and generally unpleasant ride. If that wasn't enough for us, we immediately got on a bus from Rawalipindi to Gilgit, Pakistan. This bus went up the Karakoram highway, and took 18 hours.

We1025
so we arrived in Gilgit the following afternoon. The bus ride was as bad as the previous train, except that now it was so bumpy that my earplugs kept falling out. (Earplugs are a vital tool in the world travel business.)

Gilgit is in the mountains, western Himalays/ Hindukush ranges, and while it is only at 5,000 ft, there are views of 26ers from the town. That is, 26,000+ ft peaks like Nanga Parbat. The town calls itself the gateway to central Asia, and it is therefore full of Afghans, Tajiks, Krgzyg, Tibetan, and Pakistani people, all wearing what Americans would call pajamas, and all telling me that I could pass for a local in their country. We watched a polo game and found a very nice $1 hotel, next to which was a stand making fresh tandoori chapati (i.e. India style bread). That is about all I could eat in the town, since I was witnessing chickens getting heads chopped off all over the main street (the resulting blood draining out of the neck into the open city sewer while the head continues chirping). At that point I emailed my mom and told her to send some peanut butter with my brother who would be meeting us in a week.

Th1026
spent the day in Gilgit, hiking in surrounding areas with phat mountain views. Caught the 7pm 18 hour night return bus to Rawalipindi. It was just as rough as the ride up, except that now the windows kept shaking open, letting the frigid night air in.

Fr1027
Arrived back in 'Pindi in the afternoon, and caught a bus to Lahore. This bus managed to get even worse than the previous experiences. It had at least three times as many people as necessary, and had persons climbing onto the roof to manage luggage while the bus moved about 50mph. We even achieved chicken status, that is there were chickens on board. Lahore hotels are known for thieving employees who magically get your money, are in cahoots with the cops, and even have secret trapdoors to enter your room. So we splurged on a nicer hotel than usual, and managed to spend $2 per person.

Sa1028
Got out of Lahore as quick as possible and made it across the border to teh state of Punjab in India. (As a note, my family is 100% from Punjab, which is also the state of the Sikh religion.) We got to the town of Amritsar, and checked out the Golden Temple, the seat (eg Jerusalem, Mecca) of the Sikh religion. Then we caught a terrible 8 hour bus to Chandigarh, in north central India, where I have family. Although we arrived in India a day late for Diwali, the festival of lights, there were still plenty of lights around.

Su1029
Spent the day in and around Chandigarh with relatives. The car we were in managed to break down no less than 4 times in a few hours. Joe was happy because we started seeing wild monkeys in the road (in addition to the standard cows, water buffalos, donkeys, etc).

Mo1030
more of Chandigarh. Erik decided to try some Pan, an India chewing-tobacco type thing which can be quite potent, and sometimes is made with questionable substances. About 10 minutes after spitting the stuff out, Erik passed out and had some seizures, giving us all a good scare. I think they mixed him up the white-boy variety.

Tu1031
more of Chandigarh. In the evening, a car and driver took us all to Delhi (my grandfather rented a car, but in India you actually rent the driver also)...

We1101
arrived at Delhi airport 2am and recieved my brother Pammi... he will join Joe, Erik and I for the remainder of the travels. Joe and Erik took the train to Agra for a daytrip to see the Taj Mahal, while Pammi was driven up to Chandigarh to visit the relatives. Having seen both of those places, I stayed in Delhi and rented a car/driver to drive me to visit the parents (both of them) of my friend, the late and great Sanjay Guha. Spent the night with relatives of mine in Delhi.

Th1102
Joe, Erik and I hired a car/driver to see Delhi's sights. Delhi's pollution is equal to one-pack-a-day, and the city is full of amazing poverty. Did lunch with Ms. Guha, and spent the night with the relatives again.

Fr1103
Pammi appeared up at 6am with a driver, having done the Chandigarh-Delhi night drive. The four of us (Pammi, Erik, Joe and I) caught a night bus to the Nepal border. We took the "Super Deluxe" bus, which was about half as comfortable as an American Greyhound bus, and the ride lasted 12 hours...

Sa1104
Arrived near the western Nepal border at 7am, walked three hours, hung off the back of a pickup for 10 minutes, rode a cycle rickshaw for 15 minutes, exited India, walked one km in no mans land, entered Nepal, took a motor rickshaw 10 minutes to Mahendrenagar (Nepal), and got on a 15 hour bus to Kathmandu. The bus was full, so we literally got aisle seats, in which case I sat/slept in my crazy creek chair on the floor (not much sleep).

Su1105
at about 6am, I managed to make the bus ride a little entertaining by sticking my Natalie Merchant tape in the buses' tape deck and watching the reaction of the 50 Nepalese passengers. She lasted about two songs before getting re-jected. Arrived in Kathmandu about 10am and found a $2 hotel in the Thamel area.

Mo1106
Roamed Kathmandu.
As a note, original plan was to travel overland to Calcutta and Dhaka (Bangladesh), then fly to Rangoon (Burma) and then Singapore. But we were tired of overland travel, and we found a good flight deal. Also, Burma visa requirements are too troublesome, so we skipped that country.

Tu1107
Roamed more of Kathmandu.

We1108
Got a China Visa in morning. Caught afternoon plane from Kathmandu to Singapore, which included a 7 hour layover in Dhaka. The expected bonus turned out to be one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen: as the plane rose above Kathmandu's smog, an amazing panaroma appeared of the Himalays, from Ama Dablan to Annapurna, including Everest, standing as high as the plane.
In Dhaka, we decided the Bangladesh visa fee was too much since we only had 7 hours, so instead we waited in the airport watching "Who wants to be a Crorepatti", the India version of the "Millionaire" show. We watched this to avoid watching CNN repeatedly talk about Florida recounts. People around the world care more about the US president than their own.
The flight to Singapore from Dhaka was full with about 200 identically dressed youth (age 16-20ish) who were hired by Panasonic to work in a factory in Singapore, 9hr/day 7d/wk for $100/wk (so one of the kids told us). Panasonic told him if he gets killed on the job they cover burial expenses. These fellows apparently took up all of the Economy class, so we got moved to First class, which involved eating multiple courses of airplane Indian food. Arrived in Singapore 8am.

Th 1109 Singapore and Batam, Indonesia
Fr 1110 Kuala Lampur Malaysia
Next Week Thailand, Laos, Cambodia.

Hello again,

Since the last update, the four of us made it through some of southeast asia, then realized that our intended travel time was growing short. Joe decided to go back to the U.S. My brother Pammi and Erik decided to spend time with some contacts in Thailand, while I decided to visit Japan. Below is the journal

P.J!

"I know I know for sure, that life is beautiful around the world..." -Red Hot Chili Peppers

Th1109 7am arrived from Nepal (via Bangladesh) in Singapore, perhaps the cleanest city/country in the world. Chewing gum and spitting are not allowed. It is a small first world country in the middle of the third world, and arriving there from Bangladesh was a change of 180 degrees, which is also about how hot it was there (it is near the equator). Air conditioning flows onto the streets from the open storefronts. I even ate at a Taco Bell. In the afternoon, I took a one hour speed boat into the Indonesia archipelago south of Singapore, and hung out on the island of Batam (in Indonesia) for a while before returning (by myself). Fuond a cheap hotel in Singapore.

Fr1110 We caught an afternoon 6 hour train into Malaysia and to Kuala Lumpur (aka KL), the capital city. Found a cheap hotel in Chinatown.

Sa1111 Roamed KL. Went up the Petronas towers, which are debated to be the tallest buildings in the world (I still vote for Chitown's Sears Tower). KL is a mix between western and eastern cultures, and the people are Malay, Chinese, and Indian. We missed catching a night train out, and fortuitously made contact with friends of Erik who teach at an international school in KL. Caught some of the KL night scene with them, then spent the night at their place.

Su1112 afternoon train to Butterworth, Malaysia, short ferry to the city of Georgetown on the Island of Penang, found a cheap backpacking travellers style hotel.

Mo1113 Roamed Georgetown and some of Penang (saw some huge Buddhas), then caught the boat back to the mainland, and a train into Thailand to the city of Hat Yai. Yet another cheap backpacker hotel.

Tu1114 train to Nakhon Si Thammarat, where we made contact with James Lejune, friend of Bob and Liz (Philmont phriends). James teaches english at a school there and competes in Thai traiathlons. We spent the evening roaming Nakhon, where 90% of the vehicles are small pickups, including the taxis. Spent the night at James place.

We1115 Caught a bus from Nakhon to Krabi, and then a boat to Phi Phi island (pronounced and sometimes written "Pee Pee"), where we spent the night in a bungalow. Thai islands and beaches are world famous (due to for example James Bond and Leonardo Di Caprio movies), and while some may be pristine, the one we were at was quite developed for western tourism.

Th1116 Caught a boat from Phi Phi island to Phuket island. Pammi and Erik decided to visit some Phuket beaches, then Northern Thailand, Joe decided to go home, and I decided to devote some of my dwindling travel time to see Japan. So three of us agreed to meet again later, then Joe and I caught a night bus from Phuket to Bangkok.

Fr1117 Arrived in Bangkok early, and found the local student travel agency, where Joe bought a ticket to LA ($300 one way) and I bought a ticket to Tokyo ($300 round trip), both for the next day. I also procured a Cambodia visa in a few hours. Roamed Bangkok checking out some temples (wats), and spent the night in a cheap hotel.

Sa1118 Joe and I went to the airport, and he flew out to L.A., while I flew via Hong Kong to Tokyo. Arrived in Tokyo's Narita Airport 8pm. Where Thailand was hot and cheap, Japan was much colder, and is a very expensive country to travel in. Therefore I had to reinstate first world cheapness skills...so I spent the night at the airport.

Su1119 Roamed Tokyo, saw the Imperial Palace, a dog show, and an Asian festival (where they were selling the same naan for $1.50 that I got for 5 cents in Pakistan). Also saw part of the Tokyo Womens marathon. It was the first marathon I ever watched...watching them run is hard work. I failed to make contact with any of my Japan friends, so I meadow crashed outside the train station, which was equivalent to sleeping next to the homeless/bums, except that I had a zero degree sleeping bag whereas they had cardboard.

Mo1120 Caught an early train heading west along the Pacific Coast to just south of Mt. Fuji, getting some fabulous views of coast and hills. It was a commuter train, and apparently these people commute from 2 hours away. I caught the reverse train right back and exited at the same station I entered, which resulted in getting about $50 worth of train travel (sightseeing to me) for $3. Made contact with Mary Zimmerman (Philmont friend), who is on a scholarship to study art at a women's college in Kofu. Caught a train to Kofu and spent the evening with Mary and a friend of hers.

Tu1121 Roamed Kofu. The town is surrounded by mountains, and Mary has a phat view of Mt. Fuji off her balcony. Attended an evening class where Mary teaches english to Japanese businessmen. She had us all playing the human knot.

We1122 Attended class with Mary... a class on Tenikiling. I don't know how to spell that, and I am not sure how there can be a whole course on the subject, which is game involving jumping and singing with bamboo. Attended the annual dinner of the Kofu North Rotary club with Mary and her international housemates. It was actually a rather high class affair, which included pounding rice into a paste with a hammer, watching Japanese businessmen eat meaty Japanese food (Mary is also vegetarian), playing Bingo (fixed such that we won), and singing the Japanese Rotary song.

Th1123 With Mary, attended her college's annual Labor day (curiously same date as Thanksgiving in U.S.) barbecue, which was at a winery overlooking Kofu. That involved watching Japanese girls with high platform shoes eat barbecued meats. Told Mary "domoarigato" for a wonderful stay in Japan, and caught an evening train back to Tokyo and to near the airport. Meadow crashed in a train station again, still like a bum, except there were no bums in this station.

Fr1124 Flew Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bangkok. That involved reversing from cold weather, high prices, safe tap water, introverted white people, and high tech to hot weather, cheap prices, cholera, cold showers, and extroverted brown people. Caught a night sleeper train in Bangkok north to Nong Khai, the border town with Laos...

Sa1125 ...where I arrived in the morning. Crossed the Mekong River into Laos and to the capital city of Vientiane. Roamed Vientiane and met briefly with Pammi and Erik. We talked schedules and then split again, planning to meet in Bangkok in a couple more days. Vientiane was ruled by the French for a long time, which is apparent in that it is the only city in this region selling French Bread. Here is my analysis:

The price of a similar loaf of French Bread which I ate in:

Vientiane, capital of Laos = 2000 kip = 24 U.S. cents

Tokyo, capital of Japan = 231 Yen = $2.12

Ankara, capital of Turkey = 150,000 Lira = 23 cents

Andorra La Vella, capital of Andorra = 110 Spanish Pesetas = 60 cents

Paris, capital of France = 5 Francs = 70 cents

Denver, capital of Colorado = 90 cents?

For next update: Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China

Hello again,

In the past couple week I have met back up with my brother Pammi and Erik for a while, then left them again for the remainder of the travels. I have also had some border troubles resulting from travelling with two passports. As for sleeping, whereas the standard lodging in Europe was the meadow crash (m.c.), the standard in these areas has been cheap hotels (c.h.), which are sometimes very nice and never more than $3. Currently I am stranded in Beijing screwing around with Russian red tape. The specifics are below

P.J!

Sa1125 Met with Pammi and Erik in Vientiane, Laos, and agreed to meet them back in Bangkok in 2 days. Caught a tuk tuk back to the Thai border and a night sleeper train...

Su1126 arriving Bangkok 6am. On a bus by 8am to arrive in Kachanburi, a couple hours west of Bangkok. Walked west out of Kachanburi and over the bridge on the River Kwai. This bridge was built by Allied POWs during WWII to create a land link to Burma (see the movie for the rest of the history). During the last week of November is the yearly "Bridge on the River Kwai" week, and the area was full of cheesy war kitsch. I caught another bus further west to Sangklaburi, near the Myanmar (formerly Burma) border. Stayed in a hut on stilts in a mosquito-full lake (the mosquito netting I borrowed from Joe came in handy).

Mo1127 Went through some red tape to visit Myanmar briefly. Myanmar is quite a screwed up country (involuntary civil service to the state is still practiced), and can only be visited if you enter or leave by air...except at Three Pagodas Pass where I entered. Caught an afternoon bus back to Bangkok. Sat at the Bangkok train station in sweltering night heat....

Tu1128 ...waiting for Pammi and Erik, who showed up at 4am. Caught a 5am train east to Cambodia border. After some border troubles, caught a pickup east to Siem Reap. The small pickup had 16 people barely hanging on in it, and the bumpy dusty road took 8 hours. It was basically playing Twister with a bunch of twenty something backpacking travellers. The only redeeming factor was that we didn't get held up by bandits, as is common on the route at night. Arrived Siem Reap at midnight and found a c.h.

We1129 toured the ancient Khmer temples at Angkor, a lost city of massive ornately carved structures hidden in and overgrown by the jungle, described by some as humanitiy's most significant architectural achievement. Stayed at Siem Reap again.

Cambodia: The Khmer (Cambodian) people ruled much of southeast asia 1,000 years ago, and the French ruled much of the same area 100 years ago (including all of Cambodia until 1953). From 1975 (just after communism won in Vietnam) to 1979 (not that long ago) a group called the Khmer Rouge (led by Pol Pot) took over Cambodia, killed all educated people (eg if you wear glasses), and forced the remainder to be peasant farmers. That involved killing about half of the 7 million population. (eg bludgeoning was used to save bullets, children aged 11 were brainwashed to be the extortionists, babies thrown in the air and caught on bayonets, nipples ripped off to torture...). This history is the basis of the movie "The Killing Fields".

Th1130 caught a boat from Siem Reap down the length of the Tonle Sap Lake and River to the Mekong River and the capital city of Phnom Penh. Toured a school turned torture prison turned museum about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. In typical third-world museum style, this one was not as well funded as a similar museum in the first world would be. The significance of this was the human bones and skulls still freely lying around the place. found a c.h. in Phnom Penh.

Today the young Cambodians speak the most English I have seen in the region. The U.S. Dollar is like the countries first currency, and since foreign coins are never accepted in other countries, change is given in the Cambodian Riel. It all works somehow, although I passed along alot of counterfit greenbacks.

Fr1201 caught a bus to the Vietnam Border, put up with some passport problems, and got another bus to Ho Chi Minh City (specifically to the district called Saigon in HCM). Roamed Saigon, found a c.h.

Sa1202 toured a museum on the history of wars in Vietnam (biased against the French and U.S.). By evening the time had come when I needed to leave to make it to Russia in time, so Pammi and Erik decided to spend more time in Vietnam while I caught a night train north.

Su1203 the 32 hour train went the length of the country, along the coast, over the mountains, and through the jungle. While buying some french bread at a stop in Da Nang, I made friends with a hearty Italian man named Gino (from Bolzano near the Dolomites). I bribed the train official a few (counterfit) dollars so I could sleep in the extra bunk in his compartment (first class- lined with lace) rather than my in my seat for a second night. Passed the former DMZ at about 9pm.

Mo1204 arrived in Hanoi at 5am. Gino gave me a room at his house. He owns two very nice Italian restaurants in Hanoi. Roamed Hanoi, and spent the evening eating Italian food with a classic group of Italian men...went with them to a Hanoi night club. Although I'm not a club junkie, this Vietnamese one seemed a little different (eg a body builder show, girls in space suits breakdancing, tom and jerry cartoons). Stayed at Gino's place.

Tu1205 started at 4am and caught a motorcycle to a bus to a minibus to a motorcycle to the China border, then a taxi to a bus to Nanning. That bus had a TV showing Chinese Karate movies, and the sound still didn't correlate with the picture. Caught a night sleeper bus to Guangzhou. A Chinese sleeper bus is a concept which alots you a space of 5.5 ft by 3 ft by 2 ft high... to share with another person.

We1206 Arrived in Guangzhou and caught a bus to Macau. Macau was a Portugese colony until one year ago, so Spanish speaking skills were in effect. Caught a hover craft across the harbor to Hong Kong, then met with Trevor, a friend of a friend (John) of a friend, P.J. Saliterman, a grad school friend of mine. took the world's longest escalator (half mile) to his place, which is in the Midlevels, so called because they are on the side of Victoria peak. Took a tram the rest of the way up the mountain to catch the view of the city. Stayed at Trevor's.

Th1207 Roamed Hong Kong (and Kowloon), procured a China visa, and caught a train through the New Territories to the border, and a bus to Guangzhou. Missed the train to Shanghai so spent the night in the Shamin Dao (past British colonial) district of Guangzhou.

Fr1208 caught a night sleeper train to Shanghai

Sa1209 arriving at noon. Roamed Shanghai. I think the weather was rather mild for that Saturday afternoon because the Bund was so packed with people that it was not fun. That city is all about shopping, bright lights, and a large goofy monument with stacked spheres which dominates the skyline. Caught a night train out...

Su1210 Arrived Beijing in the morning, where it was freezing cold. I think something I ate in Shanghai had some meat in it, because I spent the majority of the day praising the porcelean. Ciproflaxin to the rescue (had not used it since Jordan). Found a nice hostel in Beijing.

Mo1211 The Russian embassy was closed for festivities, forcing me to cancel plans to go to Mongolia. Met some cool people at the hostel and toured the Forbidden City with them.

Tu1212 Toured the Great Wall at Simitai. Had dinner with my new friends. I could not eat anything there, while their meal included ants.

We1213 Stood outside Russian embassy for 3 hours in the freezing weather, did not even make it inside.

Thursday: will try Russia again and decide next move based on that. Ideal plan: Omsk, Moscow, The Baltics

Hello once again,

I have spent the last couple weeks mostly in Russia and the former Russian areas known as the Baltics. The new theme has been getting harassed by border police. Also, I have made it back home to Denver. Algthough I accomplished most of what I set out to do, the adventure itself whill never actually be finished. The details are below

P.J!

We1213 Attempted to get a Russia visa in Beijing. They are open from 9 to 11:30 (excluding a 45 minute break), and before you can talk to them you have to get past a Chinese speaking armed guard at the gate, and mobs of Chinese people who are also trying to get in (while standing out in the cold). I met a few other westerners trying to get in also, and it took us until 11 to realize that the guard was telling the Chinese people to sign up on a list, and he was calling names off the list. Even the english bilingual Chinese people would not tell us this fact (I found the Chinese rude in general). Failed to get in that day (for lack of speaking Chinese).

Th1214 Returned to Russian embassy at 7am, armed with Mandarin text explaining to the guard that he better let us in. He showed us the list which somehow magically had 25 new Chinese names on it already (not the same from previous day), and I flagrantly wrote my name in English at the top. He got the point and let our group of westerners in. I paid way too much for a visa (including express fee to avoid dealing with the place again, and a special fee just for Americans). Also, although I had special invitation papers from my friend Sasha Eryomin (Philmont Ranger 94), who lives in Omsk, they did not give me a normal visa. I was forced to change my train ticket direct to Moscow (not stopping at Omsk) just so I could get a transit visa.

Fr1215 Roamed the Beijing silk market, where you can get imitation North Face gear. Stood around on Tianamen square amazed at why the Chinese are so proud of such a large amount of concrete. Tried laying down on the square but was quickly persuaded otherwise by Chinese police ever present on site. I think the only other things you can do there are take pictures of the Forbidden City, queue to see Mao's carcasss, and fly kites.

Sa1216 Boarded the number 19 train from Beijing to Moscow at 11pm.

This train is known as the trans-Siberian (more specifically, the trans-Manchurian). I would have preferred the trans-Mongolian one, but I would have had to wait in Beijing even longer. The trans-Manchurian I was on heads north east out of Beijing towards the N. Korea border, then to Harbin, before heading north and west into Russia (around Mongolia). The total journey was 19,000 km (~11,500 miles) long and took 6 days. It being low season, I had an entire four berth cabin to myself. The cabins are quite toasty, and a very comfortable way to watch winter in Siberia roll by your window while in bed. The other westerners I met at the embassy (5 Swedes and one Australian) were also on the train, and we had social events in each other's compartments to pass time. Time itself is an issue, since the train passes 6 time zones in 6 days, resulting in almost a week of 25-hour days (most of which are night in those latitudes, especially at the winter solstice). The schedules are always based on Moscow time, which adds another dimension of confusion.

Su1217 passed through Harbin in northeast China

Mo1218 spent about 8 hours at the Russia-China border. While exiting China, the Chinese immigration people decided to pick their victim of the day to be the Swedish girl in the compartment next to me. Her name was Gerda (pronounced "yedda") and she spoke seven languages (which has inspired me to learn some more). Despite her fluency in Chinese and Russian, they wanted 50,000 yuan (US$650) from her, threatening to pull her off the train (in was subzero, middle of nowhere and middle of the night). Although they had no basis for such extortion (corruption), she persuaded them down to four benjamins, a couple of which I loaned her.

At the Russian border started my adventures. They singled me out to go through every inch of my luggage, which I didn't mind, and they paid particular attention to my vitamin, malaria, and Cipro pills. They also played some game with holding my passport for a couple hours, which didn't matter because the train had to change wheels anyway (Russia has different guage tracks).

Tu1219 at about 3am the train was at Chita, which I knew because I was awoken by three large Russian FSB (some military KGB type thing) agents searching every ounce of my possessions for narcotics. Again they were particularly interested in my vitamins. For most of the afternoon the tracks ran along beautiful Lake Baikal. In the evening, in the town of Irkutsk (where it was rather cold), Gerda and I were roaming on the platform outside the train when a Russian man approached me with a badge in hand. Tired of playing their games I ignored him and went around him and went in the train. I noticed that four of them were following me, so I turned around and excused myself past a couple of them as I tried to re-exit the train. The third one formed a strong-arm-barrier and would not let me pass, and one on my other side was suddenly doing the same. They closed in on me and pushed me into my compartment and made me sit, and asked me "You have drugs?" ("No"), "You have medications" ("No"), "You have vitta-min?" ("Yes"). Again I showed them my pill collection, and when they asked what they were, I explained quickly and technically the purpose of doxycycline antibiotic malaria pills (as well as the other pills). Their response was "Uhh, slower English please". Eventually they left me alone, at which point I asked them whey they kept bothering me (since someone was obviously radioing ahead for them to harass me each time). They suddenly got polite and promised it wouldn't happen again.

We1220 The train passed through Novosibirsk.

Th1221 At 3am (local time...midnight in Moscow) the train stopped in the western Siberian town of Omsk, where my friend Sasha lives. I had tried persuading Sasha on email to at least meet me at the train, but I think email travels slow in Siberia. I ran around in the sub-zero cold for 15 minutes only to find a waiting room full of sleeping Russians in the train station. In the evening, the train passed through the Ural mountains, marking entry into Europe. Meanwhile we were having a birthday party for one of the Swedes, using whatever props and foods we could acquire on the platforms.

Interestingly, two of the Swedes (a couple) brought up that they remembered seeing me on a bench at a lake in Hanoi (long before I met them in Beijing), and I confirmed that I was there at the same time and now remembered them too. Strange...........

Fr1222 arrived Moscow at 6pm. All the other westerners and I stayed at the one cheap hostel, which was not very cheap (Moscow is expensive for tourists).

Sa1223 Roamed Moscow, including Red Square (St Basils Cathedral), and Gorky Park (yes took a walk and listened for the winds of change). In the evening three of us went to have some food with Gerda's sisters (one of whom works at the Swedish embassy in Moscow, the others who were visiting for Christmas, and all of whom spoke at least four languages each making me feel rather dumb). In the evening, two of the Swedes and myself caught the night train....

Su1224 through St Petersburg, into Finland to Helsinki. Actually, although I exited Russia easily, I was pulled off the train by the Finnish border guards and put in a small room for like an hour. They made up some garbage about Americans needing special treatment when entering the European Union. Met back up the the other two in Helsinki and roamed the town for a while (including happening in on Christmas mass in the church on the main square in town). The Swedes departed on a boat for Stockholm, while I got on a boat to Tallinn. Actually whlie exiting to board the ferry, I was again detained by the Finnish immigration and put in a small room for like an hour while they examined my passport (resulting in me missing my ship and having to take a later one). They made up some garbage about a bubble in my passport photo. If that wasn't enough, I was detained upon entering Estonia by immigration, who made up some garbage about my passport being too full (there was a page clearly empty). By that point I decided there was some type of racism going on, either against brown people, Americans, or brown Americans. Arrived in Estonia at about 8pm, walked into Tallinn (capital city), and roamed the fairy-tale like old city. The people were out and about celebrating Christmas eve. Caught a very late night bus....

Mo1225 entering Latvia and arriving in the capital city, Riga, at 5am. Santa Claus came on the bus at 3am in the form of the Latvian border guard, who quickly stamped me in. Toured Riga's beautiful old city in the early Christmas morning. Some people were out and about heading to church. I decided that I didn't mind seeing all these cities in the dark because it was dark all the time up there anyway (grey light only from about 10 to 2). Caught a bus which took most of the day... into Lithuania and to the capital city of Vilnius. Roamed the extremely beautiful old city, one of the most enchanting cities in Europe. Every Lithuanian in town was out.. the old ones were at the service in the church on the main square, the parents had their kids at a carnival, and the young people were setting off fireworks which are too big to be safe (the kind you have to go to Indiana to buy). Stayed at a great, somewhat cheap, youth hostel, where the goofy owner saw my OA sweatshirt (a Boy Scout/Native American thing)... he got excited about American Indians and insisted I watch his Shanghai Noon DVD.

Tu1226 Caught a morning bus out of town and into Poland (minimal border fuss), arriving in Warsaw in the evening. Roamed Warsaw, including the old city...again festive with Christmas spirit. Caught a night train at 11pm heading to Krakow. The train was full of college kids piled on top of each other, with beer, cigarettes, and loud music. Their music included repeating ad nauseum Brittney Spears' Lucky and that Freestyler song (which isn't bad but actually has no freestyling in it). The whole scene wasn't much different than a packed train in Pakistan (in terms of number of people), although rather than sad and disturbing, this one was somewhat fun and silly. I layed on my bag in the corridor and got no sleep.

We1227 ... arrived in Krakow at 4am, and hung at the train station with the bums for a few hours. Roamed Krakow's old town, Wawel castle, and part of the (mostly former) Jewish sector (see Schindler's List). Found a phat very cheap "Wegetarianski" Polish food restaurant, which I patronized until I couldn't move. Caught a night bus out...

Th1228 arriving at the German border at midnight. It took four hours (way too long) to search every person's luggage. At about 6am we passed through Dresden, which was significant to me because I had been there before (in August with Erik Strom and the Pugeot 106)... and I felt like I had reached one of my goals of overland travel (effectively linking Cairo to Singapore, via e.g. Lisbon and Siberia). Arrived at Frankfurt Hauptbanhof at about noon, roamed town slightly, and headed to the airport 24 hours early for my flight. Not that I was ready to go home so quick, but that I wanted to be sure not to miss the flight which I had booked 6 months ago (and I wanted to alot time for any delayed busses, police harrassments, etc). Slept in the chairs at the flughafen (airport).

Fr1229 flew Frankfurt to Charlotte, where the U.S. customs inspected my stuff because I listed 51 countries in the line on the form which said "Which countries have you visited on this trip away from the U.S.?". Connected to Denver, where I was met by my friends Avery K. and Don C.

Sa1230 going to New Mexico for annual Philmont Staff New Years gathering.

Strom's updates from Eurasia trip

Hello

I writing this email as an update to my family and friends about my travels
in Europe. I’m using a computer in Istanbul Turkey and many of the buttons
are different so excuse any bad notation.

I started this trip on August 23 and it’s currently October 8 so I have been
traveling for 46 days. My trip is broke up in to four parts; Europe, Middle
East, Souteast Asia and East Asia and I will try to update by email at the
end of each area.

The European leg of my trip was quite amazing. It started in London with
Bonnie, PJ!(Good friend from High School), Joe(PJ!’s friend and now mind),
Mike(Joe’s brother) and myself. London was interesting looking the wrong way
to cross a street as a double decker bus whooshes by inches from your nose
and you look down to read "look left" and think oh thats why they write that
in paint on the street.

We bused to Ireland which was a fun place looking at the country through the
view of a pint of Guniess was interesting, very nice people.

We next bused to Belfast where we walked the streets that are known as a
battle zone between the IRA and the English. Interesting murials and british
soldiers in the area.

Next was Scotland with Edinburgh castle and the highlands both places I
would like to spend more time in the future. Scotish people seem to be very
friendly but a bit hard to understand.

We headed back to London and caught a late ferry over to Calais France just
missing the striking fisherman for outrageous disel prices.
From Calais we picked up our rented car which we would drive for approx.
9000 miles in 30 days around Europe and also call home for the next month.

We drove directly to Paris which was one of my favorite cities visited a
friend who now lives outside of Paris Frederic. We saw the Effiel tower,
Versalies and the Louvre which was a worth while experience.

We drove from Paris through Luxembourg city and Brussels to Amsterdam where
we strolled around the red light district for about 5 hours and left.

We passed through Hamburg and Copenhagen on our way to Stockholm Sweden
where we met Ingall, Filip, Lassa and other relatives. They showed us a
wonderfull time in Mala Stan and at the cottage in the Archipeligo. We
talked and had great food for three days. Sweden is a beautiful country and
I felt at home for the entire time I was there.

We next drove across to Oslo Norway which was peppy town with a good
nightlife and great museums. The free art museum houses many great works
from Scandianvian, on exapmle is the scream by Edvard Munch one of my
favorites. We saw a few nearby fjords and headed for a late night drive back
to Copehagen. We stayed at a friends hotel who was traveling then drove on
to Berlin

We say Checkpoint Charlie and part of the Berlin wall that was still
standing and headed for Prague.

Oh Prague what an awsome city. Everything is very cheap and there is so much
to see. We ate hearty meals for $3 a person and some pre ww2 architecture.
After a night of party’s in Prague we headed for Munich.

We saw a disturbing musuem about a Nazi concentration camp and then spent
the day touring around Munich.

From Munich we went through Salzburg to Vienna and Bratislava. Vienna is a
quaint town with a a lot of CO CO clocks for sale. Bratis is a eastern
european country which had many people drain to Prague upon the seperation
of the Czech and Slovak republics. It was a nice town and the people where
great.

We next drove down to Zagreb Croatia and after a quick stint in Bosnia
Herzegovnia we headed for the warm Croatian coast where we spent some time
in Pula and Senji.

After a dip in the Adriatic we headed for Michelles place in Pordenone where
we met with soft beds and great food. We saw Venice the next day which is a
city I could spend a month in a still not see everything. The ice
cream(gelato) is incredible here. We headed through the Italian Dolomities
to Bern Switzerland where Einstein thought up his theory of relativity to
Geneva.

Geneva reminds me of Lake Tahoe lots of sweeping mountains and a clear lake.
Also lots of swiss bankers running around.

We geared up for a long ride across France and part of Spain to Madrid hit
the Prado and headed for Portugol.

We stayed at a town near Lisbon called Evora it is a wonderfully preserved
town with very little tourism. Roman aquaducts and a walled city with small
streets one of the highlights of the trip.

We traveled through Lisbon to the southern tip of Port then over to Sevilla
Spain. I believe this the home of tight pant cuz every girl here had them on
great town!

We went down to Gibralter and took a ferry over to Morroco briefly visiting
Tangier. We ate some cous cous and rocked the kasbah and where back in Spain
in time for dinner.

Next we drove the coast to Barcelona all the way to Monte Carlo home of car
racing and casinos. It seems to be a tax haven cuz there were lots of bmw,s
and ferraris.

We dropped the car in Nice france and took trains to Pisa Florence Siena
Rome and Brindisi. Ferry over to Greece athens then on to Rodos. Ferry from
Rodos to Marmaris Turkey then here now in Istanbul the gate to the Middle
east. I’m running out of time.

If anyone is interested in any specific part of the trip please write and I
will elaborate.

I hope everyone is doing great,

Erik

I found a good computer at cheap rates (40 Baht per hour, 43.97B = $1) and
it has been some time since I last updated on my trip so I thought I'd
write.

I am in Bangkok Thailand now. When I last wrote I believe I was leaving
Pakistan heading for India so I will pick up from there. It has been a crazy
time since we left Gilget Pakistan which is a northern area just inside the
Himalayas. We took a 17 hour bus ride back to Rwalandpindi(don't ask me to
pronounce that even the locals call it 'pinde') and jumped a train to
Lahore. Lahore is a town which is situated on the way to India. Our guides
books pointed out that this town is notorious for leaving your backpack
lighter when you leave then when you arrive. It read "some of these
hotels.....are like magicians stealing from even the most precautious
traveler". When we arrived in Lahore we went directly for a hotel to get off
the street which was an absolute mess. I saw two motorcycles crash directly
in front of me, people relieving themselves everywhere and anywhere they
felt like it and the pollution was only rivaled by the likes of India
needless to say eyes watering constantly. We had a restless night then
headed for the border of India. After much walking and waiting(the Indian
officials could not believe a guy named Paminder that looked Indian could
not speak Hinde and was American) we made it into India and off to Pammi and
PJ's relatives.

India at first was not as bad as Lahore/Pakistan. We stayed with PJ's Aunt,
Uncle and Grandfather in Chandgarh. It ends up Chandigarh is the most
affluent city in India. Our main host was "Papa G", papa meaning father or
grandfather and G meaning respectful elder. Papa G sat me down and taught me
a few of life's lessons("because we might not see each other again young
man") and PJ's uncle kicked some flavor about the meaning of life(he called
me "yellow fellow"), and lastly PJ's aunt served up 3 delicious meals a day.
One amazing thing about India is the livestock roaming around, this is due
to the fact that certain animals are considered sacred. It's not uncommon to
see a bull or cow hanging out in your yard or in the park or even in the
airport, no kidding I saw on roaming around in there. From Chandigarh we
went to Dehli which is a step up in pollution and poverty. Next we hit Agra
where Taj Mahal is located.... simply amazing place. Heaps of white marble
sculpted to perfection. Agra also happens to be the most polluted city we
visited right up there with Lahore. The people seem to be more desperate
here also; a rickshaw driver pestered us for 40 minutes for 5 rupees the
equivalent of 9 cents. We went back to Dehli then head out for Nepal.

We took a train from Dehli to the border then a 15 hour "grueling" bus ride
from the border to Katmandu. This particular bus only had one seat for 4 of
us so 2 got stools in the isle and 2 others switched back and forth every
hour. This particular bus ride had some interesting moments as the staff on
the bus seemed very odd. Once the sun went down this ride to Katmandu became
more interesting. As usual the bus was packed stopping every mile to pick
more people up or just to stop for Chia(Tea). What made the bus so
interesting was the staff on the bus which consisted of 5-6 youngsters about
15-19 who were very touchy feely. Grabbing, poking even kissing Pammi once.
Always asking "you want to go roof" then winking. At one point we were doing
our hourly switch and one guy tried to get into the seat as we were switch
after some "physical" manipulation we got our seat back but this friggin bus
was a war zone. I decided to park myself in the isle putting down my ground
cloth and my sleeping bag when someone woke me by stepping on my head then
my stomach this problem ended by more "physical" manipulation as English
profanity is not understood too well in these parts. That night I thought
the sun would never come up.......but finally we made it to Katmandu.
Katmandu is basically the portal to Mt Everest and other trekking areas I
hadn't seen so many white people in so long I actually felt uncomfortable
for a while. We ended up finding a $200 ticket to Singapore so we went.

Singapore was not only a jump to 1st world but it seemed to be even more
advanced then most of American it was amazing. Clean and technically
advanced although it was quite spread out so you have to walk a lot to see
the city. From Singapore we headed for Kuala Lumpur(KL) where we went in the
tallest building in the world(the Sears tower is actually bigger if you
don't count antennas). We also had a chance to hang out with Jake who is
teaching in KL. We had a good night of partying, dancing on tables at
believe it or not an Irish bar, these guys are everywhere!!!!! The next
morning we headed to Southern Thailand to visit James a friend of PJ who is
also teaching. We spent a night there and headed for Phi Phi Island in
Thailand (pronounced PP)

PP was awesome it was near James Bond island and the island where "The
Beach" was filmed. Amazing cliffs dropping into crystal clear water. We say
a Thai boxing match which caught me off guard. These guys basically kick,
punch, knee and elbow each other as hard as they can for 5 rounds it's much
better then any boxing in American there is none of this rest on each other
crap just full throttle the entire round sweat flying. After the match they
come around and shake your hand and bow. Oh by the way the only way you can
win is  a knockout or make the other guy bleed and they almost never bleed.
From PP we hit Phuket which was a party beach, sunburned and tired we
traveled to Bangkok where we met Carl Sund and Hongphet Bandith. We have had
some "crazy" times with these 2 in Bangkok and we are heading up to Laos and
north Thailand then Cambodia and Vietnam.

The trip has been going for about 3 months now and at this point it almost
seems "normal" to have no home, wear close for 5-6 days at a time and
usually spend less then $5 day even if that means going to bed hungary(sorry
Mom). For this reason and others namely Christmas I think I will be flying
home from Hanoi Vietnam around the 15th of December making the trip a bit
under 4 months. Given this I will send one more e around Decy 15. I hope
everyone is doing well and keeping warm(Chicago) and cool(SD).

Erik

Happy Holidays-

I'm writing this part of my tales from Hanoi Vietnam. The Internet deal is as good as I've seen it 150 VD (Vietnam Dong) per minute. $1 = 14,500 dong. I will pick up where I left off in Bangkok Thailand.

"Get the F... Outta Dodge"
I was nearing the end of my stay in the spagatti bowl of a tout infested and light polluted capitol of Thailand; Bangkok. I was ready to go it had been days since I was on the road traveling in a bus or train and I almost longed for the hardships of traveling third class. I contacted a friend of a friend in a remote part of NE Thailand and arranged to meet him in a couple days.

"Sawat"
I arrived in Phong Khan(I pronounced it wrong over 20 times and I still don't know how to say it) at around 10am. I found what I think was the only telephone booth in the town. The town was made up of a crossing of two medium sized roads which were heading to larger cities. The voice on the other line rang out with enthusiasm "Heallo", luckily it was Sawat a long time friend of King a good friend of mine in the states. I told him I was on 'the corner' and he arrived within 45 seconds on a battered moped. He smiled incessantly and I was happy to have someone I knew I could trust on my side. We spent 2 days living the simple life in Sawats grass hut that had a patched in water line from the city (I don’t think they knew about it). It was great fun and he had plenty of mosquito nets and smiles so I felt very comfortable. He cooked us a home cooked me with pigs and cows squeling in the back round. His property backed up to the local slaughter house/meat market. We set off for Laos early the third morning. Sawat sent me off with a smile and 6 Thai version hard-boiled eggs (eggs with a wooden squewer through them cooked on a bar b q).

"Laos"
We made it to the border of Laos (pronounced simply Lao) at about 2. Good thing too I read the sign "Laos visa $30, -smaller writing- $1 extra sat, sun and 11:30-13:00 everyday". I thought to myself 'well I guess if the guys trying to eat lunch its worth and extra buck to get through'. We entered Laos, which immediately felt different. The people were frowning and ever weary of what we were doing. In Thailand people were smiling and selling in Laos you could tell the tourist industry was nearly non-existent compared to Thailand. We jumped on a bus "no 7" as the guidebook informed us to. The driver said no, but we got on anyway. The bus was supposed to be heading to Vientiane (Pronounced Wang chean). After going the wrong way for a long time we ended up in the city. I wrote it off as a free tour and checked into the local cheapest hostel possible as usual. Vientiane was a scene straight out of 1930 the roads were barely paved and everything was old and dusty no bright signs no touts selling fake Rolexes nothing. There was a heavy presence of NGO’s seemingly there to "help" Lao. They seemed distant from the people they were there to help, driving their $40000 Land Rovers and Mercedes with symbols of different aid organizations from Japan-Germany, France to the US it seemed as everyone was trying to "help". Canada had provided garbage cans on the street that were mostly overflowing but it seemed to me this helped the city more then sending army's of French wine drinking aid workers driving there high and mighty Land Rovers around.

"Back to the Land of Smiles"
We headed back to Thailand and took a long bus ride out of the NE and into the North to a larger city called Chang Mai. It was a great city with a moat surrounding it presumably to fend off the never-ending Thai-Laos battles of the past. The cities tourist industry seemed to be budding and seemed outright crazy compared to limited Laos. We spent a few days touring the pagodas and markets even going to Lunger in a Sikh Gudujara. Lunger is a free feast that happens every Sunday at Sikh temples everywhere in the world. This particular Lunger was huge and it held me off until the middle of the next day. We also visited a Pagoda late at night when no one was around and I noticed fruit and other food items littered around the feet of a Buddha statue. I pointed at the food while speaking "offerings" to a small medium set lady with no hair or eyebrows. She bowed in my direction with an air of compliance and returned with an apple and orange for both Pammi and I. I took the fruit walked up to the Buddha, bowed, and put it at his feet. Behind me I heard a light crisp voice bounce off the walls and high ceilings 10 times before it got to me and say "no,no....for yu, Buda gifffft". "OH" I said with a smile and a bow "Cap Chai" which is thank you in north Thai. We left Chang Mai headed for the mess of Bangkok to meet with PJ! and "do" Cambodia.

"Back into the fire"
-wrote this section at a different internet cafe in Hanoi later the same day-
Continued from previous email. We arrived in Bangkok late at about 2 in the morning to catch a 5:55 am train to Poi Pet the border of Cambodia. We arrived at the border in the afternoon. The border was a maze of half-finished brick buildings and small statues of Angor Wat. Touts were scattered everywhere selling French baguettes or at least the Cambodian version of it. I looked up and imagined a baguette factory tucked deep in the Cambodian rice field country with a willy wonka looking machine spitting out French bread while a mad Frenchman looked on from above. The bubbled popped as a small Cambodian boy dressed in a tattered Chicago Bulls shirt started to polish my shoes while making sounds that sounded like they would come off a large acoustic bass with its strings loosened “Wongchongbongzong-shoezshaunesia” he spurted slowly. I pulled my foot away and made a gesture with my hand that seemed to work in Thailand. I started realizing and my travels would confirm that the French influence was still about in its former colonies of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It seemed as though the baguette was the symbol of France everywhere in these third world countries. We made it through the border after many hassles and jumped in the back of a Nissan pickup truck headed for Siem Reap, which is right outside Angor Wat. The ride was of the grueling sort, there where 11 of us in the back of a mini Nissan and the road, well there was no road just a pothole infested border between different peoples rice fields. Welcome to Cambodia we don't have roads but can I offer you some French bread? Some 10 hours later we arrived tucked most of the way in my ball position which I have actually become quite fond of at this point. We pulled into the Siem Riep village and I could not believe what I say, It looked like a spread out 5th Ave one after another glamorous hotels riddled with glass and perfect woodwork. I dreamed of home for a minute but was rudely snapped out of it by a bigger then usual pothole. How could this be? Angor Wat is at the fringe of a booming tourist business. Right now it's still a bit unstable in the area so you only get a handful of the older European "Air-Con Bus crowd" as I call them. I give these folks credit for the stay here cuz the natives can still be restless from time to time.

"WAT?, Angor Wat"
We got in late, and stayed at a guesthouse, the charge was 3 people for $4 not bad. Do the usual push the beds together and sleep the other way maneuver and it's all good. Woke up early got into the Angor Wat area before 8. It was amazing, the deal is you hire a moped driver (a guide is a state mandate, presumably so he can talk your way out if any bandits show up) and he shows you around. We hired 2 between the 3 of us and gave them a full day, past sunset. We saw the main Wat's and many off the beaten path. The Wat's are eery many of the stone cut faces are quite life like something out of Indiana Jones. Some of the Wat's we visited had no tourists at all only people working on restoration projects. Some hadn't been touched for 1000 years these were the most interesting to me. It was quite an experience walking through the mangled ruins that had been untouched. Jungle-esque trees rapping their roots firmly around the huge stones usually wining the never-ending race of longevity. Images of Indiana Jones and his Whip and Fedora raced through my mind as I walked the long abandon hallways riddled with carved faces. At one of the out of the way Wats I saw a man with a large expensive camera "Hmmmmm", later I found out they are filming a new movie called Tomb Raider there should be a good one. At another point I latched on to a Frenchman leading a British populated tour in English and learned that a head of one of the more prominent sculptures had been stole last week. WOW this place is still at that level, amazing.

"Phnom -HOT- Phen Cambodia"
We decided after that grueling Cambodian road experience we would take a boat to the capitol Phnom Phen. It was much smoother and quicker plus we got to see some people living in huts on stilts along the river. It seemed they were surviving on the nothing more the what the river had to offer. We arrived in Phnom Phen 4 hours later and jumped off onto a hand made bamboo dock. As soon as I hit the dock I felt the sting of the chili pepper hot sun blazing down, ‘bad as Karachi’ I thought. I looked around at the touts 5 and 6 deep on the solid land waited screaming and yelling. Their faces dark and hard as if leather. “Same same but different” they would yell. A trick I learned over the months was to get free rides into town on the mopeds. The reason I knew to negotiate to $0 was the idea that the moped drivers get kickbacks from the hotels if we stay there. So the idea is to say ya we will look at your hotel and get a ride from them, but once you get down there it’s up to you where you want to stay, another way to save money. We found a cheap hotel and booked a room with a opening that occupied no glass and a ceiling measuring 5’11”. Went around Phnom Phen which was surprisingly comfortable. We had heard stories of people being mugged at gunpoint after sundown so we were a bit weary of being out, but it turned out ok. We saw the museum K21 which depicted much of the violence between 1975-79 at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. We skipped the killing field’s museum after a few other backpackers said the movie is better then the actual location. Also I decided that museum was enough death for the next couple of days. We set out for Vietnam the next morning on a “$12 Phnom Phen to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)” Ticket. On the way land mind sweep operation could be watched a mere 2 feet from the roads we were driving on. Handicapped men with one leg or no legs is a common sight in Cambodia. We made it too the border in the late morning.

“GOOOOOOD Morning Vietnam”
Vietnam’s Socialist/Communist government was immediately recognizable at the border. I believe one word to size it up is MICROMANAGEMENT. As I was taking a picture of the huge “Socialist Republic of Vietnam” sign at the border I noticed a sign with a circle and line through it that said “Picture Taking” Before I even made it to the border control a man in a 70’s-green uniform with red lines here and there took a loooooong look at my passport finally grumbling “how high” I asked “how high is what” he looked at me raising his hand above his head and repeated how high. At this I became annoyed and shook my head and said nothing I was determined not to let this buercry play games with me. He looked at me laughed and gave me my passport at the same time a Vietnamese lady on a old moped rammed into my leg and laughed along with the guard I thought ‘this country is not going to be easy’. Even at this stage not even in Vietnam yet I could see these people were going to be physical I was ready to be physical right back. Time passed and the guard stamped my passport with a smirk and pointed to the next desk. I went over to the next desk where people were shelling out money. It was a health paperwork desk and I had my paperwork. I gave it to the guard and he proceeded to tell me I owed money. I said “No I don’t that is all my health related paper work” he retorted with a glare “no Cholera” I grabbed the paper from his had and…wow he was right there was no Cholera but I had got all my shots I couldn’t figure it out. I decide what I had was good enough. After putting up a fuss for 4 minutes he kept saying “2000 dong” and pointed to a random sign that said 2000 dong. Eventually someone else came and I just walked on with him yelling at me, it was done I had made my descion. I went up to the next desk where they inspect your stuff and the guy rummaged through my pack asking questions. He eventually let me go out and just as I expected the health guy was to lazy to chase me, so for the first time I was in Vietnam.

“Miss Saigon”
We made it to Ho Chi Min City around nightfall. Ho Chi Min City formerly known as Saigon before the socialist party led by Ho Chi Min rolled in around 1975. What a surprise he named the city after himself. Saigon seemed more capitalist then communist but besides that it was nothing more then average. We met an Australian fellow who was retracing many of his father’s steps through Vietnam and we swapped stories about where our fathers spent time. We then visited a museum centered around the American War (What we refer to as the Vietnam war) which had quite a different perspective then a museum about the war you might see in the states. The touts around Saigon were very physical grabbing, scratching; one little girl punched me in the cheek because I wouldn’t buy her Wrigley spearmint chewing gum. Not much force behind it but it still hurt! I learned early to take someone selling me something grab them and throw them out of my way this usually worked. They would swear at me in Vietnamese but I didn’t know what they were saying and this was the only way to keep control of the situation in many cases. We took a beat up train to Da Nang. Paying of course the tourist, price which is much more then the local price. They have to do this because of the extensive poverty in Vietnam.

“D to the A     Da Nang”
We took the 24 hour train north to Da Nang which lies approximately half way up the Vietnam coast, to walk where many American soldiers before us had been. The town was medium sized with relatively no tourist industry. There were more then the usual quota of army Jeeps and “Deuce and halfs” 2 ½ ton US military trucks riding around. We drove by the base my Father served at and the moped driver said “American Military Base” in what seemed perfect English. We walked China beach with its uncountable sturdy concrete bunkers ever present. We then climbed Marble Mountain, after a game of chess using one of the tout’s boards. They seemed amazed by the way the pieces moved around the board. Marble mountains these days is known for its Pagodas and it’s marble carving industry. Huge statues of lions and elephants can be seen at all the shops as you drive down the road to enter the Marble mountain area. After 15 or more pictures of the Da Nang area at Dad’s request we set off for Dong Ha which is the closest train station to the Vinh Moc tunnels.

“The Vinh Moc Situation”
The tiny village of Vinh Moc is situated in the DMZ, an area that America bombed heavily during the war. We hired a pair of older moped drivers and set off 42 km in the misty weather. We toured the tunnels, which were a 15 to 28 m in depth and set near the beach. Many of the openings opened up right to the beach but America never discovered them during the war. The guy kept repeating “There were 17 babies born down here” in his game show host voice. I think he learned these words from TV and was confidant using them. We jumped a bus set up by the moped drivers, which turned out to be a nightmare.

“The final grueling bus ride”
The bus was a junkyard piece that had been welded back together by some crafty Vietnamese. It had a crew of 5, 2 drivers, 1 mechanic, 1 cook and 2 hands. It constantly went between Saigon and Hanoi, which is about a 3-day drive. We jumped the bus later in the evening and set out for Hanoi seated in the backbench seat. A rumble broke out between the 2 hands as they wrestled around on the floor they were sleeping on at our feet. The mechanic took a liking to Pammi grabbing his leg and leaning on him. He was trying to wear his hat and even asked him to go to the roof. What’s with these gay bus guys, terrible memories of Nepal were surfacing and we had a long way to go. We made it through the night and I only had to put the mechanic down once for being over aggressive, as the hands laughed then challenged Pammi to a fight. At about the 11am four hours out of Hanoi the bus stopped and the entire crew took part in a clutch job. It seemed all to routine as the cook cooked rice and the hands unbolted parts while smoking cigarettes and drinking “chia”(tea). Three hours later after an amazing feat that inspired me to do a clutch job on my jeep we were up and running. We made it into Hanoi at once.

“Hanoi-The incident”
We jumped some younger moped drivers to town, which seemed all too normal by this time. We got to the area where we were staying and I jumped off and paid the moped driver anxious to explore Hanoi, before I could think he raced off with my smaller bag with all my valuables (except my money). So I had lost everything that was important except my money which was not that extensive at this point. I felt helpless. I wanted to pound every one of the young touts that was talking to me into a oblivion. I went immediately across the street where a policeman with the usually green outfit was standing. I ask through a translator for help. He looked at me and told the kid translator he didn’t see anything and I was to go to the police station. I proceed to write down his badge number and name and he proceeded to cover it so I couldn’t. I thought this “Bureaucracy bs is finally going to catch up with me”. And it did in a big way. I went to the US Embassy, which proceed to tell me I needed a police report. I went to one police station after help from a local and they passed me onto a further station stating through a translator “that’s not our jurisdiction”. Went to the other station and they said the same thing. After a couple of days of this nonsense and not being able to leave the country without a police report and consequently a US passport I decided that was a enough.  I picked one station and went in and they yelled words and signaled me to leave. I wasn’t going anywhere. Five of them took turns yelling at me, it didn’t matter I decided I was going to do a silent protest, what else could I do? Hours passed and the yelling came and went. The sun went down and the yelling came and went as another guy was booked and shackled at the feet for stealing a bike. His paperwork was extensive then he left as I sat there. Once in while they would yell at me and I would point to a police report. Finally a plain closed man came from the back and pointed at me. The guy in green pointed at me laughed and said some nonsense. The inspector told me to come back later, I figured he would probably help me so I did. I returned later and my police report was ready. As they handed it to me they all laughed, once again my tolerance levels were pushed to the limit and further. I dealt with more buercracy getting a new Vietnam visa so I could leave the country and the nightmare was over. I lost no money to the moped driver who stole my bag. I did lose 2 credit cards, my passport, a camera with ¾ film and most importantly my journal. It gave me some sense of satisfaction to know that the guy didn’t get anything of value. They can’t sell the passport cuz’ it’s useless and the credit cards had nothing on them.

“Back to the ‘Real’ world”
I flew through Seoul Korea where I stayed a day then direct to Chicago. Seoul was COLD! It seemed a rather vacant city with endless dark suit wearing businessmen in a state of run/walk lighting a Marlboro light. The museums were fantastic especially the war museum which had the excellent info about the Korean War.

“Home Sweet Home”
Made it back and scarfed sandwich after sandwich and bowl of chili after bowl of chili, the moment I had been waiting for, for months.

-I hope everyone enjoyed reading my trip chronicles and I wish a wonderful holiday season to all my family and friends.


Erik Strom