Thanks for the compliment! But I think you might be incorrect in one detail... You can't always count on me! I do give out some incorrect IDs occasionally.

What an amazing photo!

Thank you, Bill. Thank you for always adding so much to our journals. You are the greatest identifier ever! We can always count on you.

And thank you for faithfully posting! Outstanding journal. Great narratives. Incisive insights. Oh, and the nature shots! Most cycle journals seem to ignore nature, so for a frustrated zoologist like me, it was wonderful!

Yes, I'm glad we spent more time in Chumphon and especially at a very different hotel than the one we were at eight years ago. If you need to refresh your memory of my account of that time you can read it here: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/chindwin1415/a-night-in-chumphon-thailand/

I'm hanging on to this thought for future reference:

"We should all be so lucky as to be able to adjust some distasteful time in our lives."

What a great opportunity this was to shift perspective!

My teenagers bought those too, maybe from the same guy.

Well, you were busy with your own adventures! I haven't read every word of yours either, but we all sure know how to have fun, don't we? And it's good that we all came home safely, I don't take that for granted at all. Thank you for the lovely compliment.

I have to confess to not having read every word of this blog, but I have read a lot. Certainly enough to rate it totally excellent. I have been able through the writing and photos to share the intense experience of it. Yes, like Ron Suchanek says, book quality. Thanks!

That actually was not a typical toilet room, it was a special one for those with physical handicaps. The sink is specifically for ostomy patients to empty their bags into. The "do not squat" signs are seen on occasion in Asia since many older folks have squat toilets at home and in some places you'll see the toilet seat kind of grimy looking from people climbing up on them to squat. Most bus stations have squat toilets with maybe one sit-down in the stall line-up. But the squatties have gotten much rarer in the last 20 years since I first came to SE Asia.

It feels like that to us, too! But honestly, thinking back about the beginning of the trip, well, that seems like a thousand years ago. The twists and spirals of time.

So scary! How do you work this stuff?? Thank goodness for the signs advising not to squat atop the toilet or take a shower in the sink!

You guys should write a book.

One time while in New York, I bought a Rolex in Chinatown from a guy in a subway stairwell. It's a story.
It lasted upwards of 3 weeks.

What a poetic description of a long journey home!