This trip really blew expectations out of the water.  I went in with the development of a life philosophy and a plan to cycle through Laos and Thailand.  What happened was far more.

Laos blew my mind in terms of how great a cycle touring experience it was.  This is not an easy country to cycle in by any means, you really have to work for it.   Even the 'main roads' such as Route 13 have their fair share of challenges.  Guesthouses are basic, food is hard to come by, and the roads are not in great condition.  What makes up for all that is the authenticity of the experience.  Practically everyone I met was all smiles and they treated me like a celebrity.  Despite how little they had to live on, they showed a genuine exuberance and happiness.  The welcome wagon was off the chain.  

Everyone from the tubing operators at Vang Vieng to the local kids waving on the side of the road in villages were warm and frendly.  While it is only normal that some would criticize the tubing parties, even those backpacker scenes are all part and parcel of the Laos experience where having a good time is the order of the day.  As always, foreigners do things that are very similar as what the locals do.  For example there were countless scenes of locals partying, singing, dancing, and drinking alcohol on the roadside.  The tubing is just a different variation of that.  It was actually quite astonishing as to how readily alcohol was available and how much I found myself drinking in Laos, but the cycling still caused me to work it off and lose weight.

Thailand was another epic adventure, but in a slightly different form as Laos.  For one it was more developed and a little more subdued but adventure could be found in different ways.  The biggest eye opener was how many people enjoyed natural conversation and spending time outdoors in Pattaya away from their phones.

Besides the biking adventure, there was an enormous amount delayed business that needed to be caught on.  I had to work quite hard and fast to make up for it, and am quite astonished at what I was able to pull off in a limited amount of time.  There were a lot of other people in the same boat.  Perhaps the worst thing about the pandemic was being forced to sit around in lockdown or quarantine and watch all your businesses go to waste.  There is still no guarantee you can make them all up, but thankfully it's looking a lot better now than even last year.

In general, this trip was intended to take back control of what covid had taken from me.   To that end I developed a philosophy with aim to get rid of that which is toxic, thus freeing up space and time for really having a life and being better prepared for future emergencies.