I loved every minute of it

"Life's a journey, not a destination."

              -Aerosmith, the immortal words of Steven Tyler.

Well, he's right, a life worth living isn't about arriving somewhere.  I learned that lesson long ago, and I've been living according to it for years.  

Even though I try to live my life without a destination in mind, once in a while its good to arrive at a place and just remain there.  That is where I am now, my journey (at least my most recent one) is now at an end.  I have arrived at the place I call home.  

In truth though, its not really home to me.  For me, home is a place I have not found yet.  This place is where my family calls home, and for the moment, that is home enough.

But enough of my bleeding heart, on to happier things.

My latest journey is now officially at an end.  I arrived back in the United States 3 days ago and, after spending 2 days with my sister, I am back in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  My trip through Southeast Asia and England is over.  I'm due to stay here for about 2 months but then I head back to Korea.

I realize the updates are now out of order, but I wanted to let you all know that I was back safe and sound.  The rest of the updates will continue in a few days.

My trip was out-of-this-world spectacular.  I had the time of my life, met some of the most amazing people ever, and fell in love with the sights, sounds, and smells of yet another part of the world.  

On my latest journey I rode an elephant

zip-lined through the jungle

explored a rainforest

saw the sunrise over 2 different oceans

ate street food in 7 different countries

swam with an elephant

took a balloon ride

explored the ruins of an ancient civilization

danced from dusk to dawn (more then once)

sunned myself on a tropical beach

climbed a rock wall

and saw some of the Earth's true wonders - both natural and man-made.

But in the end, all of that was meaningless next to the most important thing to happen to me.  

On my trip I met some truly wonderful souls from all over the world.  In all I met people from 37 countries (according to my log).  

Some were transient (meet, talk, and say bye) and others were lifers (meet, talk, keep talking, say bye, keep talking more, and never truly grow apart).  They all taught me something and all effected me in some way.  I will treasure all of them and never forget any.  

Me and my Danish mates; Elizabeth, Amalie, and Rie

Me and Inka, my German mate and travel buddy

Jenny and Jacqui, my Irish tubing buddies.

Me and Emma, one of my best friends in the world.

Me, Leigh Ann, and John; my Singapore mates and fellow English teachers

Laura, Canadian mate met in Thailand

Me, Stacey, and Joel; my New Zealand mates and fellow zip-liners

Ania and Aleksandra; my two favorite Poles.

Ania, Aleksandra, Ajsa, and Patti, my Polish mates and Bangkok buddies

Emma and Becky, my English mates and Ko Tao buddies

Tyler and Lydia, my two favorite Americans in Thailand

Loren and Nikki, Koh Pha Ngan mates and dancing buddies

Maria, Peter, Joan, and Josh; some of the best mates on my entire trip

Me, Jessica, and Thom; The Koh Phi Phi crew.

My Mekong Delta mates, we spent the whole day on the river together

When you're on the road, the people you meet are the true treasures, the places are just the backdrops.  

The unfortunate truth of traveling alone is that sometimes you get very lonely.  When I get lonely, I am inspired to write and that's when I write my best stuff.

So this is how I will end this epilogue, with one of my compositions.  Enjoy.

                                                              I Loved Every Minute

If they ever write my story, have them say this:

When I roamed; I went too far, stayed too long, spent too much... and I loved every minute of it.

When I loved; I fell too fast, stayed down too long, recovered too slow... and I loved every minute of it.

When I jumped; the height was too high, the sky too dark, the bottom too shallow... and I loved every minute of it.

When I danced; the music was too loud, the floor too hard, my feet too sore... and I loved every minute of it.

...Just have them say this...

My mind was too pliable, my body too breakable, my heart too vulnerable...

And I Loved Every Minute Of It.

                 - Lucas Franchi

Koh Pha Ngan

Greetings all,

Sorry for the delay, but to be honest, this past month has been really wonderful in so many ways that I really couldn't bring myself to spend a few hours on the computer.  Its been a great time down here and I'll try to bring you all up to speed in the next few days.

I'm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia currently and its great.  However, I am desperately short of cash, so my days are being spent doing the cheapest thing I can find.  Namely hanging out in my hostel and chilling.  

Anyway, first things first, Koh Pha Ngan.

Koh Pha Ngan is a big island just off the East coast of the Thai peninsula.  Its right near Koh Tao, but its nothing like it.  Where Ko Tao is heavily set up for diving and nothing else, Koh Pha Ngan branches out a bit.  I originally was only going to spend a few days there and it ended up being a whole 2 weeks.  The place was stunning and I didn't want to leave.

I went straight to the island after my 2nd stop in Bangkok, on the way in the only thing I knew about the place was for a resort called "The Sanctuary."  A girl I met in Bangkok worked there and said I should go there and apply for a job.  She recommended me to her boss and I decided to check it out.  In the mean time though, I had no idea where to go or what to see on the island.  However, fate intervened and sent me 2 sages.

My two sages; my Koh Pha Ngan saviors.

-Tyler, awesome teacher friend from Texas.  My pharmacist, absolutely saved me when I got Pink-Eye.

Lydia, another awesome teacher who actually was born on March 30th as well.

While I was walking through a shop, just looking for nothing in particular, I started talking to two other travelers.  Turns out they were locals, sort of.  

Lydia and Tyler, two English teachers from America.  They're both working in Thailand and were on a short holiday.  After we talked for a few minutes they told me about an amazing place on the next beach where they were staying.  Turns out they stay there all the time and love it.  I was sold so I followed like a lost puppy.  Turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made on my trip.

The place they showed me was called Eden Resort and it was on a small beach called Haad Yuan.  The people were amazing, the room was cheap, the view was spectacular, and I loved the place.  I ended up staying nearly 2 weeks.

Most of my time was spent chilling on the island and just relaxing.  But not all of it was good.

My first day on the island, I got sick, very sick.  I got the dreaded Southeast Asian backpacker disease.....Pink Eye!!

My first day on the island I started getting the feeling that there was gravel in my eyes.  I was in the middle of an interview at The Sanctuary so I couldn't take a look.  Finally after it was finished I looked at myself in the mirror...good god I looked horrible.

Both my eyes were completely red, I literally couldn't see any white at all.  If I was storming Bunker Hill I would have been the only one left alive (yes I just made a geeky history reference, deal with it).

My eyes were in really lousy shape but luckily one of my sages saved me.  Tyler had had the dreaded disease before and was a saint. She gave me the leftover drops she had and really helped me out in the first few days when things were really bad.  She was an absolute doll about everything.  

The drops took forever to work, but eventually my eyes returned to normal.  But during those few days some people were honestly afraid to even look at me.  It made for an auspicious beginning to my time on the island, but at least it got better. 

The other things that happened during my time on Koh Pha Ngan were a lot more fun though.  

Koh Pha Ngan is a party island and I had a great time going to all night dances and raves with all my new mates.  I met some great people while I was out there as well.  

Loren and Nikki, two awesome ladies.

Laura, another teacher and an amazing dancer.

Karyn and Kaitlyn, Canadian mates

Wednesday night rave at Eden Resort

Hannah on the left, but I never got the other girl's name.

The only other thing of note that happened was something I had been looking forward to for months...a Full Moon Party.

Once a month Haad Rin beach on Koh Pha Ngan turns into the center of the partying universe.  The Full Moon Party is an all night rave that lasts as long as it lasts.  People stay out on the beach dancing, drinking, etc. for hours and hours.  I went to the party just to go and say I've been there.  

I have to be honest, it didn't do much for me.  Most of the place was overrun with people who were already drunk as a skunk or high as a kite.  Its never easy being the only sober one at a party.

I only ended up staying a couple hours and then I went back to my hostel to sleep.  The night before I'd been dancing at an all night rave and was really tired.  I missed out on a lot of the craziness, but I wasn't too fussed.  I enjoyed it, but I don't think I'd ever go back again.

However, after 2 weeks most of my new friends had gone, and Koh Pha Ngan entered the monsoon season.  At that point I knew it was time to leave so I packed up and headed to Koh Phi Phi.  But that's for next time.

Greetings again everyone,

I know you just heard from me about my passport, but you haven't yet heard about my time spent in Bangkok and Ko Tao.  Since I've got some free time I figured I'd kill 2 birds with one stone and do both.  Enjoy.

I got into Bangkok a while ago on the night train.  After being here (twice now) I have to say this place is nuts.  I've seen a lot of the city, but still almost nothing; its huge.

I've spent most of my time on Khao San Road, which is the main backpacker district.  During the day its filled with touts trying to sell me everything from tailor made silk suits to little wooden frogs that sound like a real frog when you hit the ridges on their back correctly. 

I've been doing my best to avoid most of these tourist traps but I've seen plenty of newbies who walk into every store to find something new.  Its hilarious.

At night though, Khao San's darker side comes out.

My two favorite Poles, Ania and Aleksandra

The Polish Connection; Ania, Aleksandra, Joanna, and Patrycia

Walking down Khao San in the daytime is an exercise in patience.  Walking the street at night is an exercise in avoidance.  Over the course of my time here I've been offered a "Beautiful Thai girl" about 15 times.  Eww.

You run into these problems being a solo traveler, especially a guy.  Luckily though, I was able to meet up with a few on the road who I could hang out with.

My favorite group to hang with was definitely my Polish connection.  (as I call them).

When I was up in Chiang Mai I met two Polish girls in my hostel.  We talked for a little while and hit it off.  After they left for Phuket we got together on facebook and they told me they were coming to Bangkok.  I offered to stay and show them around.  When we finally met up it was like walking around with a bunch of my best friends.  They're great fun and their English is excellent, so I didn't even have to speak slowly around them.  They even taught me a great trick.

Whenever I walk around Khao San I get asked where I'm from.  Normally, I answer "America" very quickly and try to keep walking.  When I do this they follow me and say the prices are very good for Americans.  Even when I say nothing they just follow me, which makes me feel worse. 

When I was walking with the Poles they told me to just say Poland.  Ola, one of the girls said; "They think we're poor so they leave us alone."  I didn't really believe them but I tried it.  When the next tout asked, I said "Poland" in the best bad accent voice I could come up with. 

Damned if it didn't work like a charm.

The guy walked away from me like I smelled.  It was fantastic.  Since then I've been saying it all the time, and it keeps working.  It was wonderful.

After my Polish connection left I went down to the island of Ko Tao.  Its a small island down in the Pacific Ocean and I'd been looking forward to going there for a while now.  Honestly, I just wanted some sun, surf, and some relaxation. 

The problem is that Ko Tao is so set up for scuba divers that non-divers (like me) get shafted.  My room was the most expensive in all of Thailand so far (Bangkok was half the price for a better room) and even the food was pricey.  I spent all my time just trying to not destroy my budget.  On the bright side I met some great people, they made the place bearable.

Anais, cool French backpacker from my hostel

Emma and Becky, met them on the boat to Ko Tao.

I got to go all around the island and even do a little snorkeling.

Honestly though , I was really disappointed with Ko Tao, the entire island felt like a tourist trap.  I really doubt I'll ever go back.

But, now its on to newer and better things.  As we speak I'm on the island of Koh Pha Ngan and loving every minute of it.  I've run into some great people who showed me an awesome (and CHEAP) place right on the beach.  But, I'll save that story for next time.

The last thing I want to say is to a special girl I met recently.  You know who you are, and I wanted to say that it was truly special meeting you and I really hope we can meet again sometime. 

Muah, that's just for you.