Our SE Asia trip had been quite an adventure. Three countries, four sets of bikes, four different guides and four support crews helped give us a varied perspective of each country we visited from their local customs,  economy, religious views and political outlooks.

All of ones senses are challenged here. The sounds, sights, tastes and environment conditions all remind you that, ‘We’re not in Kansas anymore, Todo!!!’

Our touring company Spice Roads did a fantastic job handling all the logistics behind the scenes and providing such great staff, including Bo, our ‘travel concierge’ from the headquarters office in Bangkok that we all dealt with so much before and leading up to the trip.

It was also great having Daniel from Spice Roads along for part of the trip sharing his experiences of living in Thailand for the last 10 years.

From urban to suburban to rural to jungle we had seen it all . . . but it was now time to head home. I missed Smoochie and the pup and it will be great to see them again . . . no more long trips without her. Of course, she will need to retire some year down the road first!!!

. . . another reason I knew it was time to head home was that my fellow Wisconsinite, TommyH, was ‘going native’ on me. He has REALLY enjoyed the cuisine along the way but the last morning when he had this deep fried crawdad, that look like it was crawling out of his breakfast bowl, I knew it was time to leave . . .

. . . and this letter from the manager of the Novotel, really cemented our leaving when we found there would be no liquor served today because of a Buddhist holy day!!