Jan 26 - Rented a Bicycle again today. Made plans to take a two day hill tribe trip with Green Discovery while cruising around. Leave tomorrow @8:30am. Got interested in going to a good ride to get some much needed exercise so I headed to the mountains near by the city. Found a dirt road that looked like fun and took the little fixed gear bike to the top. I must look funny on it since all the bikes here are designed for shorter people. The views were not spectacular but I had fun. The wheels were so out of true going down the mountain that they looked like they might just fall apart. Oh and the brakes didn't barely work. Oh and the road was under construction. The Beer Laos I got at Tee's restaurant afterwards was spectacular. Took some pictures of the night market and the sun setting behind clouds over the Mekong river.

Jan 25 - Rented a bike looking for a waterfall that Lee told me about. Ended up not able to find it. Something got lost in the language barrier and no maps show it. Ended up getting sick of drunk college student and left for Luang Prabang by mini bus. Meet a Laos guy on the bus Bodnthanh. He claimed to be a teacher and headed to his house in Luang Prabang. He spoke some English so he practiced and taught me some Laos. He invited me to dinner at his house. I figured it could either be awful or a great experience with some Laos people. Turns out he wanted a free tuc tuc ride to his Sisters place. Who apparently didn't want him there because he's a rice whisky drunk. When he started asking me for money I high tailed wave down a taxi. Got to town and found a guest house with the help of Tee a local kid who runs a restaurant in town.

Jan 24 - Rented a bicycle to be mobile while checking out some local caves. On my way around I got to see the surrounding mountains better. Also got to check off seeing rice patties from my list of things to do. Turns out this is a bad time of year to go rice patty watching. Since they dry up and brown this time of year. The caves are great here. You can walk every where with out restriction. No safety measures at all. I had fun exploring with other cavers first time I've meet people I couldn't see first. On my ride back to town I meet Lee a nice Laos girl that invited me to lunch with her and friends. My first taste of truly Laos food. Much spicyer & more lively then the Laos food at restaurants in town. Lee got to practice her English skills for a while. I tried to pick up some Laos word and phrases. Spent the rest of the night on the Internet updating this blog - 40,000 Kip -

Also found out what the happy menu is all about. The rumors are true...

Jan 23 - Vientiane appeared not to have to much to do so I didn't stay long. For some reason I didn't feel like touring the typical sights there. Took a taxi to the bus station and headed to Vang Vieng. It took 4 hours. The road was not bad but no foreigners wanted to chat. After arrival I headed into town to find a guesthouse. Which was easy since people seem to come and go from here often. All I've heard about Vang Vieng is tubing tubing tubing. All the traveler i talked to are right. Buckets of rice whiskey for a 1$, 20oz Beer Laos 1$, zip lines, slides and swings. How it works is you rent a tube and get a ride to the "start" of the river trip. Then you stop at all the bars along the way. 6 or 8 bars I think. I went to the ones with the best activity. I liked the swings. After you pass the bars that are all in the first 1km the river trip goes for another 2km down the river. I found it to be cold, slow and shallow. The first km was much better. Afterward I got dinner and watched friends episodes. Most restaurants in town have a TV show playing non stop all day. Later checked out the local scene at Smile Bar.

Jan 22 - Woke up after a tough night of sleep. All I could dream about was someone stealing my stuff so I kept waking up. One of the guys who worked on the train didn't help. He had police tearing through peoples packs looking for his hat. Which he ended up having misplaced. When I got off the train I headed for an ATM for one last try. No luck. So I went to a Bangkok bank and got cash from my credit card. I had to sign my life away and give them a copy of everything but a birth certificate and finger prints. It didn't help that I was sweaty from the long search for the bank and nervous that they wouldn't do it. I finally got to the boarder with Laos just across the friendship bridge. Got there just in time for the Laos border police lunch break. So I chatted with every foreigner I could find to pass the time. Short taxi ride to Vientiane. Nice little city. The people seem super friendly. The food was great and cheap. And Beer Laos is one of the best beers I've had! Its the only choice in Laos for a reason. Had a long talk with a Buddhist monk while wandering the city. Also got a hold of USAA and my debit card is working! Thanks for the help Mom.

Jan 21 - In the morning I took a bus to the train station and left my baggage with the left baggage people. Whom tried to get in my bag at some point during the day with no success. Due to my nifty pack safe device. I recommend a pack safe to anyone traveling with valuable gear (camera's, climbing gear, etc). One of the experiences I wanted to have in Bangkok was to ride the Subway and Sky train system around the city. So I went to a couple different park close to the train stops. On the way I stopped at MBK a hug shopping mall. I wanted to get a polarizing lens for my camera. Turned out my debit card still wasn't working and i hadn't brought my credit card with me. In the end I got a polarizer but the cheapest one I could find.

Got on the sleeper train to Nong Khai headed for Loas. First time on a sleeper train riding second class. Got the top bunk with very unsocial lady below me. A few Aussie got drunk into the night. I had to conserve baht till the debit thing got worked out.

Jan 20 - Took the early morning slow boat to Ranong with Jit and Rob. The island has spotty internet access and no ATM just a money exchange with hefty fees. I didn't bring enough dough so Rob loaned me a few baht. When we got to Ranong I found out my debit card no longer worked. So I exchanged some US dollars to pay rob back and get me on by a few days while I work this out. Before I left for South East Asia I warned USAA (my bank) that I would be in Thailand, Loas and Cambodia. Then before I left I called again just to make sure. Didn't work. The important part is decided to stay in Bangkok for the night to deal with the bank thing. Initally I was to catch the night train Loas direct from the airport.

Caught a plane to Bangkok and got a room near Th Khao San. Played some ping-pong and had a few drinks at Khao San the world famous backpacker hangout. When the 13 hour time difference from my bank enabled me to call I did so(9:30pm here). Which did not end up working for my debit card but I found out later that my credit card worked.

Jan 19 - Morning run and swim. Got done just in time for American football. This is when all the Americans on the island gather at the one bar in town with satellite TV and watch a replay of the 3am game around noon. Turned out three of the fans are from upstate New York like myself. Good game, I've already forgot who played. But they are going to the super bowl. Good for them. Went to dinner with some more of Robs's friends. Had fresh caught fish with Thai food at a private party. Afterwards jungle party on the beach where we play volleyball. I think everyone on the island turned out. It was great.

Jan 18 - Went with Rob on a morning beach run. Finally realized how out of shape I've gotten traveling. Going to have to hit it hard when I get back to the states. Later after some morning yogart and muesli I cruised the island looking for more beaches and some landscape photo's. Hangout with Robs girlfriend a bit Jit (means spirit) is great. Thai's tend to have names with similar types of meanings are Native Americans. She was nice enough to do my laundry. Thanks Jit! In the evening I played volleyball with the local pro's. I had no idea I was that bad at volleyball. Beach bums take it seriously.

Jan 17 - Moved into Rob's place. He's house sitting for a friend and has plenty of floor space. Rob took me around on his motor bike and showed me the high lights of town. Lots of great hidden coves with small beaches and great snorkeling. I found out that you can't breath salt water today. First time snorkeling in a long while. Today I got to meet some more of Rob's friends. One of whom is Rich a bar owner in need of some pirate flags from the states. The one flying over his bar was brought over by a Gila hotshot a few years back and is in need of replacement. I've emailed Alex who's headed to Phayam in February about acquiring a new flag or two. After the island tour I rented a motor bike for the next three days so I can cruise the beaches on my own.

Jan 16 - Ko Phayam - First things first you can spell Ko Payam any way you want. It seems to not matter. I got a free ride from the hotel owner who was so happy to have his first customer. Got a morning ferry ticket on the slow boat. When they say slow they mean sllooooooooooowwww. First we got shuttled via Toyota hilux truck bed to the ship yards due to low tide. The dock workers were cleaning shell fish which was great to take pictures of. Waited several hours here for the boat. Then road the boat for a good 3 hours. Took almost all day to get to an island that is reached via speed boat in 30 minutes. Met a guy on the boat who recommended the Joker bar as place to stay. While at the bar that night I met a guy who is friends with Rob and called Rob's girlfriends cell phone. Since I didn't bother to tell Rob I was coming he was caught off guard. Rob came down to the bar for a few minutes and I got to meet his girlfriend Jit.

Jan 15 - Ranonge Province - Good time to leave Tan Sai. I figure I can recover during the bus ride north to visit fellow Gila hotshot Rob in Ko Phayam. I didn't want to leave since I meet good people and was having a blast climbing, kayaking and sun bathing. One thing I noticed is small wounds heal very slowly here and tend to get infected fast. Climbing is a great way to get cut up. Anyways, long boat to Ao Nang, Bus to Krabi, Bus to Ranonge. Meet some great people on the bus rides. Wish I had meet them while still around Railey. Found a brand new hotel that just opened. I was their first guest. Only 250 Baht I got AC, my own bathroom, great bed and a TV. At night I explored the streets. Not much of a night life.

Jan 14 - sick as a dog - Rock climbed again with a different guide "Dee". Out of Tansai Rock. He seemed a bit hungover or maybe high. But he let me climb challenging routes all day. Which is hard for the guide since I'm not a lead climber they have to go up first. I cut my day short. Something with my guts wasn't right. By dark I was puking in my bungalow. As I was laying around trying to rest it off I could hear other people puking. I figure it was bad food at the resort.

Jan 13 - Long boat adventures - Got coffee at the best shop in Railey. Made plans with Ten to rent a long boat for the day and beach hop. Due to the full moon tides are extreme and beaches get bigger. Some even have sand bars that connect only during the full moon. Rough seas today rumors of a storm out at sea. Hit up Chicken island among others. Swam off the boat out at sea which was fun. Lots of fish swimming with me. Also found a tree hammock which was a good chill spot for a while. Waited to long to get back to the boat and had to walk on sharp rocks due to low tide.

Jan 12 - Climbing - Tried out a new climbing guide since Joe was booked. Wee Climbing School and guide Nan. Fellow climbers included a guy from Spain who had a good amount of experience. He ended up teaching me more then the guide. We climbed Panange Beach wall and crawled through a cave and belayed down to Railey East. Worked on getting up 6a and 6b climbs. Got dinner & drinks with Mel and Ten.

Jan 11 - Railey - Explored the Lagoon in Railey today that is hidden down a rough trail in the center of the island. Took 3 hours down and back. With some stops for view points and chill time at the lagoon. Meet some people on the hike but very few. Most wouldn't brave the tough hike. Turns out I'll run into one of the people I meet a week later on Phayam. Walked a jungle trail from Railey to Hat Tan Sai. and spent a couple hours with a book on the beach.

Jan 10 - Full Moon Party - Kayaked all day with Mellisa and Ten (Austin TX). Ten is part Thai so everywhere he goes locals ask "are you from Thai?". During the Kayak trip we checked out island caves and a beach called Poda. Poda is few km away but seems farther then the sea are rough! Mellisa stepped on a Sea Erchant(sp?). The Thai solution was to pee in a bottle for her and pour it on the wound. Mel said it worked and the Thai's got a good laugh. Meet some fellow kayakers who took a long boat back from Poda. Turns out they had no water or money and were afraid to ask us for help. Bummer. Full moon tonight so everyone was out partying. Live music, dancing and fire!

Jan 9 - Hat Tan Sai - Left from Ao Nang beach on a long boat. Long search for a room on Tan Sai. Everything was booked solid until people left around 11am. I found a place that would hold my bags and a room if one opened up. That freed me for some rock climbing. I got a signed up for a class with On The Rocks. My guide was Joe with fellow climbers Melissa(Spain) and Guro(Singapore). Climbed two walls "1,2,3" and Railay west. When to dinner and drinks with my new climbing buddies. I'm finding slack rope walking and fire dancing very popular on the beach @ night.

Jan 8 - Krabi - Only took an hour to fly into town. Took a bus to Ao Nang. I figured that last boats to my final destination Tan Sai beach had left for the night. Little did I know you can charter a long boat at anytime... Anyways, I got a room in Ao Nang which is a very touristy beach packed full of European vacationers. I took pictures of moneys as the sun set over the ocean.

Jan 7 - Ko Kret - I found a little island with no cars in my guide book. It looked like a nice break from the city so I took a local bus for 5 baht to Pak Kret and a 5 minute ferry to the island. Ko Kret is known for its Mon people who in turn are know for their pottery. The island had cement walk ways that encircled the perimeter of the island. Lots of cool Wat's. Let in the afternoon for Bangkok. Decided to hit up Wat Pho which is home to the famous reclining Buddha. Took my first Tuc Tuc ride (three wheeler). It was great! Purchased a plan ticket to Krabi for the 8th. Only 2300 baht last minute! Krabi is in the south of the country on the Andaman Sea or West side of the country.

Jan 6 - Bangkok - Didn't sleep well last night. Still dealing with 12 hours of jet lag. Did a little calisthenics in my hotel room to wake up. Nice rooms for the equivalent of 13USD$. Shared bathroom with a fan in the room. Today I did some sight seeing. Saw the Emerald Buddha and Grand Palace. Checked out the famous backpacker ghetto Th Khao San. Walked a ton and in the process picked up a knock off Lowe Pro bag for my camera and to act as a day pack.

Bubba, a fellow Gila hotshot recommended that I buy everything when I get to Bangkok. He is right, do it! Cloths and everything else are cheap. You can get anything you need and its fun to bargain with the Thai people. Next time its just me and my camera.

I'm slowly learning some Thai words and phrases like hello and thank you. I can think in terms of Baht most of the time. Also, I'm figuring out the toilets here...

First impressions? Smoggy, noisy, touristy at times and I think I'm going to get sick of Wat's (Buddhist temples).

Jan 5th? - I think this day got lost in the Pacific Ocean somewhere. I get it back on my way home Feb 26. 54 days later? Something like that...

Jan 4 - Stayed up all night and got to see Chris and Fiona for a few hours before I took a late night train from Queens to JFK airport. When I arrived at the airport there was a quarter mile line at the security screener... I didn't panic since I had too hours until my departure. Then American Air lines informed me that I was staying in Thailand too long without the proper visa. Which is true but shouldn't be a problem or so I thought. They refused to issue my tickets. At this point I got pushed to the back of another line and I started to panic a little. They decided to issue my ticket to LAX and let Asiaona Air deal with me. Situation getting better. I arrived at LAX and had to got through security again. No problems with getting my tickets this time. However, I set my watch back 2 hours instead of 3. So I rushed to the departing gates with only minutes to spare. I got this strange look from the representative before we realized my mistake. On the flight to Soul, South Korea I meet a Dylan from LA. He's been going to Thailand for a while and gave me some tips. One of which was to get a room in Bangkok during the layover in Soul. Arriving at around 2am and looking for a room is no fun. On arrival in Bangkok I split a cab with Dylan. He showed me how to bargain with cab drivers and Thai people in general. Proved to be very important! Now I'm in a world where 1 US dollar = 35.2 Thai Baht. BRILLIANT!

Jan 3 - I'm in NYC planning my travels. The idea is to stay vague with just a few set plans. By doing that I have the flexibility to stay in one place the whole trip or just travel everyday to a new town. I have a feeling that I'll do a combination and be drawn to places other travelers recommend. I'm bringing two Lonely Plant guide books "Thailand" & "Vietnam, Cambodia, Loas & Greater Mekong". Another must do during my travels is pack light and stay light. Here is my inventory. All of which fit into a day pack size bag.

Inventory: Passport & copies of important documents, notebook, security wallet, 3 zip lock baggies, Compass, ImodiumA-D, Floss, Q-tips, nail clippers, tooth brush & paste, eye drops (no more contacts!), first aid, iodine, bug spray, sunglasses, pack towel, 2 pair socks, 1 shirt, 1 shorts, 1 pants, 2 trash bags, head lamp, tons of camera gear(canon 5D, 24-70L F/2.8), shoes, flip flops, novel, stuff sack, dry bag, pen.

I had decided not to keep my blog while traveling. Yet here I am changing my mind. Pictures will still have to wait. Its just to time consuming and I don't have my computer with photoshop and stuff to edit images. Here it goes! When I'm done I'll post how mush Kip (Laos$$$) this cost.

Crab Camp 2008. The legendary event that takes place in Newport OR. Home to the Rogue brewery and temporarily a bunch Gila IHC's, Hotshots, friends and girlfriends. Unfortunately the seas were to rough while I was there for crabbing off the boat. Instead we opted for crabbing off the pier. If you want to know more about Crab Camp you'll just have to go next year and find out!

Brief visit to the North Cascades. Thanks to Andy who picked me up in Seattle and put me up. We tried a hike but ran into snow deeper than we wanted to post hole through. The clouds rolled in and very fully burned off during the day. However, Andy knows the area well enough to still find some good views. Next time I'll visit in the summer or fall and bag some peaks in the national park.

Seattle city streets.

Recently I traveled to Seattle to visit friends Laura and Rob. Thanks for putting me up! I walked the city for a couple days getting used to my new camera and figuring out what I need to bring to Thailand.

The cider lives on! With only one gallon of hard cider left from batch one its time to consume for Christmas. Luckily another 5 gallons are in the works. You can see in the one picture how clear the cider gets once the solids settle out.

More turning! Two more bowls complete. Just yesterday I cracked a walnut bowl in half just as I was getting ready to sand. Grandpa thinks we can fix it. I'm not as optimistic but its worth a try.

Its snowing in New York. I'm still thawing out from a jog to the YMCA.

Check out this link about President Elect Obama's stance on wildfire management.

www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/Fact_Sheet_Wildfire.pdf

Bubbles are rising! The yeast is working on making alcohol after only two days. Hard cider is almost ready to be racked. That is when I get the sludge out of the bottom of the jugs. I guess that will be time for a first taste test. With luck it will be ready for thanksgiving.

In other news... My new thing is splitting wood. Its fun and I get to use my chainsaw on occasion. Also a great time to listen to bluegrass. Its just fitting.

Other new thing: Rowing at the Pittsford rowing club. They have indoor tanks for rowing practice. Dad and I go Tuesday and Saturday.

Keep up the PT. Fire season is never far away. Run, lift, Row, bike, chop and swim.

First wood bowl! Thanks to Grandpa Feather's instruction/lathe and Dad's finishing technique its complete. It took a few hours but here it is. You can see the worm holes which create some character. The wood type is Cherry. Images of my next bowl will be posted shortly!

Hard Cider. My friends at BFA brewery inspired me to do some food science. After awkwardly buying 5 gallons of apple cider in old glass jugs I've began my own brewery. Mom Passmore who conveniently has a BS in food science has helped me get started. Thus far 2 pounds of sugar and a small amount of wine yeast have been added and mixed in too assist in the fermentation process. Will it be drinkable???

Indian Summer! The weather has been unseasonably warm so I took a ride on the Erie canal into the city. Did half day around 50 miles. I brought my camera in hopes that some subject matter would jump out. This picture was the only thing to catch my interest. Very much current event hippie graffiti.

Ian just sent me this link along with the photographs bellow. Another fire blog had a write up on this one. Check it out. Thanks calfire.blogspot.com!

http://calfire.blogspot.com/2008/10/great-blogs-gila-hotshots-wildfire.html

Short update of what I've been doing. Running to the YMCA, Taking dead trees out from the Bushnells Basin FD, turning my first wood bowl, getting a free TRD suspension on my truck, wine tasting at the Finger Lakes and riding the road bike.

Negrito fire base's new building! Hopefully I'll get one of the guys to send me pictures of the completed building. Photo credit goes to Ian Morgan. Thanks!

Cutting Room. Hit up the Union Square area to see Marye Lobb play a show at the Cutting Room. Mary's got a great voice!

E. Manhattan. Took my first Yoga class. It was awesome! Bikram Yoga is like swimming laps in a hot tub. I have a ton to learn about form still. After I get good enough at yoga it'll be time to learn how to dance...

Went to Comic Strip in E. Manhattan this evening. Great comedians there I strongly recommend it to anyone. Well, I'm off to another Yoga class, get some wings and end at Big Lebowski bowling night. Ummmm... White Russians.

Queens, NY. Fire juggling in the streets of NYC?

I'm pretty sure Jay liked our suits. How couldn't you?

Jay & Jenn's Wedding. Dan, Fiona and Chris at the reception dinner in Albany, NY

Dad on a completed walk way. I ripped logs in half to set the scrap wood beams and cross boards on.

I made Mom pose for me with Dads chainsaw.