A final hour in Bangkok wraps up phase 4 (or is it phase 5?) of Hitched and Away. Too bad we had to spend it around Kao San road, a place which seems perfectly designed to suck the soul out of a travel experience, but such are the vagaries of Bangkok. In that hour we wrap up a final grasping attempt to shop for ridiculously cheap clothes and momentos on the dregs of our travel budget - the finale to five days spent doing little else here in SE Asia's First City. We will then get on a minibus for the one and a half hour cruise out to the airport, walk through its doors (and into the air conditioned terminal, which will be pleasant. This place is STINKY HOT) and then board a plane for Paris.

Still processing leaving asia. half of me wants to stay and continue on our trail. Half of me is very ready to move on, and the other half of me (?) is ready to just be done with it, get home, start focusing on something other than where we are going to stay that night and where we are going to eat and what museum we are going to see next. But that part of me is going to lose out, and that is for the best. Europe awaits, neither of as has been, and, with the exception of trying to manage Europe's higher travel costs, we are both very excited about being there.

For those of you that don't know, next and final stage is in France and Spain. We arrive in Paris, where we've made arrangements throught he on-line travel network www.couchsurfing.com to stay with a few different people in their houses or apartments - saving us the euros for a hotel AND hopefully providing us with a pre-primed system for meeting "the locals". We will then be able to ask some real "locals" things like, "Do you really still call them "French Fries? That is SOOO 1990's". We explore the city for a few days, maybe look at some some paintings, maybe eat a baguette or two. We've arranged to borrow some bikes from some of those people and will use them to travel, via pedal and train, from Paris, south along the atlantic coast of france and into the Basque country of spain (or, I should say that that is our most likely route. we are still researching options. Reseaching, researching, researching. always researching the options...). Then we turn around and take the train back up to paris, take a shower, clean the bikes, return them, maybe have another baguette, and then board a plane bound for portland, oregon. and then, dear reader, hitched and away will officially draw to a close. what ever will you read then?

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that this is also the section where our travel budget gives out completely. it is europe after all. Anyone have a short term high wage job for two people who have completely forgotten whatever professional skills we might have once possessed? Boy can we ever bargain, though! And christine can spot an ant in her food before its even been set on the table. That has to get us somewhere, right?

we've gotten a lot of really cool comments about posting videos, which is nice. We really like doing it and will continue to do so whenever the band-width opportunities present themselves!

ian