Another week has finished here at ASU, and we're one week closer to the end of the school year. I hadn't imagined it looming so quickly, but yet here it is. There are only 8 weeks now, and I feel on schedule with the studies needed to be covered.

Due to the Olympics in Beijing this next summer, travelling back here will be difficult. We are going to be routed through Tokyo. Colin, the 2nd grade teacher here, put a little bug in my brain about staying there for a few days. I thought "Well, h-e-double hockey sticks, when am I going to be there again?" So, I have arranged to stay for about 3 days there too. It's an exciting prospect to me.

It's hard to believe that only a week ago, I was lounging on the beach and feeding crocodiles raw chicken. Well, here's more of Thailand!

I have decided that travelling alone is just perfect. If it's swim o'clock, that's what time it is. If it's food o'clock, if it's beer o'clock, doesn't matter. I was happy in my haze of hedonism and selfishness.

I believe I was on day 3. This was jungle trek day. And what a trek it was! It was so humid and rainy that morning. There were only 3 of us on the trek, this German couple I met on the Monday elephant riding. Our guide told us he usually has 15 to 20 people. Anong was our tour guide that day and was a wonderful man. He lived in the forests of Cambodia for 20 years searching for rubies. He showed me some. He had the baggie of many small, uncut rubies. He told me what a dangerous place it is to live. He lived in a cave or slept outside. He also is very much into meditation, and I have you say, you can tell. He was a very measured man in his movements and a quiet, but deep, presence. I told him I was no good at meditation because I can never quiet my brain.

Anong had been doing this tour for 4 years. He said that he'd trekked into the jungle alone one day, and sat on a rock. He meditated about what to do since he'd returned from Cambodia, and the idea of being a tour guide came to him. I'm glad it did! He was wonderful. I did tell him he could be famous since I'd mention him on my blog. He laughed!

I was a complete spaz on the trek. I fell down a few times and was all over the place. I must have a limited sense of balance. Maybe that's why I've never been good at sports.

Anong asked me how old I was, because we were hiking up this very steep mountain, him barely breathing and me wheezing away, and I said, "I'm old!" I told him I was 32. He asked me to guess how old he was and I figured him to be about 40. Not so! He was 59!

The actual trek itself was incredible. The forest is so amazingly beautiful. To begin the day it was humid and rainy. The air is just so heavy, you sweat. I have a greater appreciation for soldiers sent to places like Vietnam. Walking all day in those shoes. By the end of the day, I looked like I had trench foot! It's not like a "oh, I'm glistening" kind of sweat. It's an all over body, huge drops are falling off my face kind of sweat. My clothes were soaked. We also had to change our shoes into these flashback 1980's kind of jelly shoes. Apparently they are better on the rocks.

Anong had mapped out the route over time for us, and strung up heavy ropes along the route. We were scaling rocks up and down! For someone who's afraid of heights, I think I did pretty well. I may have been a bit of a spaz, but I held my own. I also figured out where camouflage comes from. My pants matched the trees! I had no lower half! We were like a bunch of mountain climbers though, and it was an impressive hike. Toward the end he gave us the option of the short or long way home. The German's, probably in their late 40's, and I gleefully accepted the short way. We were tired. We were hiking for about 6 hours, climbing up and down giant boulders and just plain being hot.

I have to admit, I was a bit dumbfounded when Anong, upon hearing that I live in Mongolia, told me it was his dream to go to Mongolia. "What? Really?" I asked. We talked about the physical nature of Mongolia, and I told him there is no forest and not really any water, at least not any you'd go swimming in. Mostly sand and wind. I hope I didn't disappoint him. We did talk about the culture and he told me that Thai people originally came from Mongolia. We also talked about Chingis. How can you not?

There wasn't much in the way of wildlife, due to the weather, but there was a wild boar running away from us, and a money also seen running away. There were these land leeches. They were kind of like caterpillars, but they sucked your blood if they could. We did see a bat as well, but the younger guide poked him with a stick and I didn't get a chance to see him. Thankfully, no spiders!

This is one of the many waterfall pools I got to swim in. Cool water, refreshing, and filled with fish. Anong brought along this packet of Ramen noodles. He broke it up and fed it to the fish. They went into a frenzy over it! I was surprised to learn the fish would eat that, but he said they'd eat anything put into the water.

Anong taught us much in the ways of the rain forest. You can eat leaves, "like a monkey", and fed us fruit and such. You could tell where the monkeys had been due to the fruit rinds left behind. He even caught an iguana for us!

I'll just leave you with this, as I'm exhausted even though I went to bed at 8:30 last night. Once again, Ahhh!