My Travels: a hindsight perspective

I can now view my travels of the past three months in the past tense. The trip was designed for me to see my old friends again: Jeff on Maui, Buz in Singapore, Kevin on Bali, Gus at Krabbi and Steve on Phuket. (And Henry Voris who's on the road in Asia the same time I was).

The highs of the trip were:

1. The Sunday Brunch at the Raffels in Singapore, at (Buz) Teach's expense!
2. The vision of the vast emptiness of Khao Lak after the tsunami.
3. The magnificance of Ankor Wat near Siem Reap in Cambodia.

The worst part of the trip has to be getting rolled in Phnom Penh. A close second is all the mornings I had to get up before 5am to get a bus or flight somewhere. My love of airports has vanished, as a result.

In my 20's I loved traveling alone. I'd be sure to meet up with some interesting people. But in my 50's it's not so easy to make new friends so quickly. As I result, I don't look forward to traveling alone unless it's to venture to an area where I have a friend.

It's no secret that S.E. Asia is getting more modern and with that comes more expensive. Years ago one could travel for $10/day, max. Now $30-$50/ day is more like it. Mass tourism is not attractive whatsoever, so one has to travel farther and wider to uncover new spots not yet overrun with tourism.

But I enjoyed my visit with fellow bandmate Steve Anderson in my old hometown Phuket, despite Phuket's intense growth over the past four years. Let's hope they all have a good high season there next year. It's still a great place and the beaches have never looked better.

Cambodia is like the wild west. Lots of potential there for businesses. But is the government stable? And...is it safe?...

I had a great time staying in Villa Santai with my college buddy Kevin McPherrin. I felt Ubud, like so many other tourist destinations, is overrun with commercialism compared to years ago. But Kevin's villa was the real gem there and I'll always treasure my time spent there.

I've been offered a job in Krabbi (thailand) by my friend Gus Reynolds to run his nightclub next high season but I have to give this some thought.

Surprisingly enough, it seems that even after all this exotic travel that I'll remain in Rockford--at least for a while. OK, the winters ARE terrible, but there's some stability there for me and the prices are reasonable on food and other goods.

If anything, I do appreciate the Midwest more than I used to.