Chris' most awesome journey

Bangkok - Beijing - Toronto - Chicago:

 (I couldn’t resist the Trekkie pun)

Well…all good things must come to an end.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this journey and I want to thank all of you that left comments – all 132 of them.  It made me feel connected to home while traveling solo.  I am sitting in my hotel room, procrastinating a bit – I don’t want to pack my bags for that last final trip home and some random thoughts have come to mind so please don’t mind me as I ramble on.

“The numbers”

When this trip is over and done, I will have logged 23,525 miles which is only 1,376 miles short of the circumference of the earth.  It was done with 13 air segments, 6 long bus rides, 3 private car trips and one way too long train ride.  I feel that we did the journey together since you had to suffer through 38 stories and look at 496 vacation photos.  I know I get a bit bleary eyed after seeing only a dozen photos of someone else’s vacation.  The blog to date has been viewed 1,258 times.  I think anything over 40 means I have gone “viral”. 

Could have, would have, should have…

Here are some tidbits that I learned from this trip.  Looking back, some of them seem pretty elementary now. 

1.  Don’t judge a book by its cover.  Many of the hotels I stayed at were down some pretty dodgy streets but inside they were gorgeous.  TripAdvisor.com always steered me right.
2. Don’t sweat the small animals…ants and geckos.  They are all over so you might as well accept them as friends.
3. Watch where you walk in the Elephant Park.  You can literally trip over those “deposits”.  Elephants eat over 500 kgs (1100 lbs) of food daily.  That is 10% of their body weight every day!
4. It only costs .70 cents to have your clothes washed so take that into consideration when packing.
5. SIM cards work here on your smart phones and talk is cheap!  A 52 minute call home cost me 180 baht ($6 USD).
6. Try on new cargo pants BEFORE leaving on your trip.
7. WiFi is literally available everywhere in SE Asia.
8. Always get a business card from the hotel prior to leaving.  It helps coming home at night and you don’t know how to say the name of your hotel in Khmer.  Also after staying in so many hotels, they begin to blur together and you just plum forget the name.
9. Learn about those new gadgets you bought for the trip BEFORE you actually leave.
10. Sidewalks are NOT made for pedestrians.  They are for food vendors and parking motorcycles.  Come to think of it, pedestrian crossings are not meant for pedestrians either since cars tend to fly through them from all directions.
11. Things I packed but never used: umbrella, rain coat (even though it did drizzle), 4 of the 8 pairs of underwear, 1 of the 3 cargo pants and 12 of the 16 UV protection mini samples my dermatologist gave me.  (Please note I did change clothes daily but had them washed since it was so inexpensive).

Prizes

I know some of you read this blog just to see what I was up to while others might have been influenced by the “prizes”.  Here are just a few winners:

1. Most blatant puns for winning a Rolex watch:  Joe Craig, “I am WATCHing you”.
2. Winner of every contest question posted:  Maureen Craig.  Who else in the world besides my sister knows what a “Klong Put” is?  I bet that is going to be one of her words at her next scrabble game).
3. Most sympathetic to the plight of the Karen Long neck tribe: Bob Kraft, “Didn't you date Long Neck Karen in high school?  Or was that Short-Thumb Sharon?”
4. Most insightful question posted: Rachel & Zach “How much did you tip for a 95-cent haircut?”
5. Most politically correct: Scott Winslow “WAIT!, isn't that the ghost of RONALD REGAN??!! (Me standing next to Ronald McDonald in Chaing Mai)
6. For just complimenting my cooking: Xavier Winslow “Best briskets in the World”
7. For “dissing” my latest fashion trend…the 11 pocket cargo pants: Ivan Winslow “Chris, I know it was the "fiesta waistband" that made you buy these pants. It had nothing to do with the number of pockets”
8. For sounding the most worried when I had the near death experience while filming the train coming through the market: Kitty Craig “That was definitely suck in the gut and don't breath close!”
9. For sounding the 2^nd most worried after me scaling the temples: Frank & Cathy Craig, “I would like to have seen you after or during you climb”.  That is concern and not just morbid curiosity, right? 
10. Best backhanded compliment when I climbed the Mt. Everest of Temples: Pete Sampogna.  “What an adventure!  I'm getting a new respect for you, Chris.  And a ton of respect for your tuk-tuk driver that transported your butt.”
11. For a real compliment on my photography and writing skills from a professional photographer: Dave Fish.  “What a great trip.  Enjoying the journalism and the photos”.
12. To a nephew that actually looks up to me: Justin Craig “Uncle!  I will definitely be following your journey as I hope to one day follow in your travels to SE Asia.”
13. To a brother that says what he wants, John Craig “I want one.  I want one.  I want one”.
14. To those that believed in my climbing capabilities, Kevin Jordan: "Chris glad to hear you have joined the climbing ranks.  Jen and I will be sure to send you an invite for our next adventure climbing trip.  We still need to break in some of our wedding presents..."
15. Finally…to the person most worried about performance quality of the postal services worldwide: Marie Craig “Still playing "how low can you go?"   A motorcycle wouldn't be as hard to push as a car...btw, I haven't gotten a postcard yet.”

I just realized that I gave out 14 prizes…and I am not sure I have that many.  Some of you may have to rotate the DVDs and take turns wearing the watches.  Once again, thanks for your witty comments.