Thursday, May 17, 2007

and the winner is...

really, we're ALL winners at heart. except for a handful of losers. but you gotta love those guys, too. or pretend to.
anyhow, just a handful of highlights (and lowlights) of our 6 months in southeast asia...

best mutton: burma, thailand a close second
best teeth cleaning: northern thailand, chang mai
things they called joren: "hey mister!", "hey boss!", "hey joe!", "mister america"
things they called beth: "missus", "mr", "sir"
cheapest beer: lao, 80 cents for a 40 ouncer
least expensive digs: monastery in burma $1 pp, hut in rice terraces in philippines $2 pp
most whale sightings: indonesia (1)
best diving: borneo
best spelunking: philippines, nothern luzon
smelliest island: nusa lumbongen, off the coast of bali (98% of the people are seaweed farmers)
most jellyfish snorkelling: bali, about one zillion
most potentially blinding whiskey consumed: lao, wedding under a US parachute
scratchiest monkeys: thailand
best travel companions: sarah and aaron tobaben, jesus (although i think he abandoned us somewhere in malaysia)
lost: 1 swimsuit top, dive shirt, about half my hair
most commonly seen kids toys: plastic sack on head, string tied to a nail in a board, coconuts
most typhoons: 4 (philippines)
best purchases: wood carvings from borneo, textiles from northern thailand, indonesian baby
cheapest/priciest massage: $3 per hr, $7 per hr
whispered offers: black gold (opium), mushrooms, sexy dates for joren
most leeches: borneo
hardest visa to get: myanmar/burma
prettiest postcard beach: boracay (philippines)
most mosquito coils burned: philippines
worst roads: cambodia, burma a close second
most common road obstructions: small children, goats, duck herds, ox carts
least western influence: myanmar
grossest thing eaten: raw chicken (sashimi in tokyo), fish eyeball that got lodged in my throat (also tokyo)
best shipwreck diving: coron, philippines
longest river trip: mekong (thailand into laos)
worst thing to permeate my backpack: vomit (not mine), a close tie for second: fire ants and gasoline
best things i brought on the trip: headlamp, joren
most notably missed: cheese, wine, flush toilets, too many people to mention