Back on U.S. Soil

Hello!  I'm home!  Been home since Sunday, Sept. 2nd.  Sorry I haven't updated my blog since I arrived in Thailand, but it's been tough trying to write while traveling on vacation with family.  First of all, there's no time, and secondly I didn't bring my laptop.  I figure if I wanted to blog I would simply find an internet cafe, but I should have known better.  I didn't see a whole lot of readily available internet cafes as I did when I was in Panama City, Panama, and these kind of cafes normally charge by the hour, time I just didn't have to myself during the day.  Some of the hotels we did stay at had a computer or two, but the ones that had more than one more computer had awfully slow internet, and the hotels that had relatively fast connection only had one computer.  Surely I couldn't hog it all to myself.  Next time I travel I'm bringing a laptop.  I didn't this time because it was one less thing to worry about.  

Another reason I haven't jumped onto my blog right away is because I'm sick with the cold.  I have just gotten over a stomach flu (details of this to come in later posts), and now I'm sick again.  Lucky me.   I'm also still very jet-lagged.  I must stop sleeping during the day. 

Anyway, it's nice to be back in the comfort of my own home -- I missed my bed, and my CLEAN, Western toilet with ample toilet paper.  Toilet paper is a commodity in Asia, and there were many times we had to go without this essential item.  Umm ... yuck.  

Despite this, however, a part of me is still in Asia ... more specifically Bali.  Bali is so different from the rest of Indonesia -- more beautiful, spiritual, and relaxed.  It feels like a totally different world from the rest of Asia.  More on Bali later.

Time to catch you up on where I've been, what I've seen, what I've done, who I've met, and what I've eaten.  Brace yourself ... it's going to be one hell of a read!  :)

Fresh flowers on the hotel fountains in Bali