home again

Hey yall


So as S has already stated, we had a little snag in Vang Vieng, Laos... Its all good now, but at the time we seriously thought we had met our watery deaths... and then wandered through the jungle with no clothes or shoes and subjected ourselved to thousands of mesquitte bites. My legs are so nasty!! red and swollen. But lets not dwell on the bad. We met up with our friends Sean and Jorg again in Vientiane.. the city with the most beautiful name ended up being the most shitty. Seriously, the city was without water for most of our stay and there was nothing redeeming architecturally or scenically. So we made our time there very short.

Our final stop on the journey was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A place I have always dreamed of going to but never thought we would actually make it. The city is the beacon of modernization in the far east. It was gorgeous! Killer buildings, mad traffic, hustle and bustle, everything that makes a modern city exciting, plus all the character and ambience of southeast asia. Outdoor markets and foodstalls, colors everywhere, bright lights, a mishmosh of cultures. Malaysia was the only muslim country we visited and the difference was incredibly apparent, but not overwhelming or intimidating. We ate indian food with our hands just like all the muslim business men for lunch. We ate malay food with our hands for dinner with all the drunk kids. It was great. Also, we just happened to visit on their independence day!! The city was crazy busy with excitement and revelry. We got to see the fireworks show over the skyline of downtown KL, which was incredible. The next day we visited the Patronus Towers, the east's twin towers. They were spectacular and represented the rise of the east.. watch out America! We are not going to be the most affluent country in the world for long.. Malaysia is rising.

So after 24 hours of being on airplanes we are home again. I have killer jet lag and the beginnings of culture shock. We ate chicagos pizza as soon as we arrived. It was spectacular. I didnt know I was addicted to pizza until I began dreaming of it almost everynight since the third day of the trip. Fall is here and i am cold for the first time in 5 weeks. I am back to waiting tables as of two hours from now. The adventure is over... and I am only beginning to process what i have experienced. It is good to be home.. but the US is different to me now. I have seen the other side of the world and seen many ways to live and be. So lucky to have been able to go on this trip. Thanks to my parents for helping this happen for me. Love you all and cant wait to see you!!

i have presents..

signing out.

J

to all our new friends we met along the way, expect pictures soon. We have some crazy ones!