This log runs through September 24, 2001

September 19, 2001 back in Thailand
Although the little Fokker finally showed up, for once, eighteen of the 42 passengers on the flight from Maumere to Bali were bumped in favor of freight. The unlucky ones were given "top priority" on the next flight -- two days later!

We were lucky, doubly so because once in Bali, Garuda Airlines put us on a flight later in the evening to Bangkok. It was row 10,000 on a 747, but what the heck? By 2 am, looking for a place for us to spend the night, Don found himself wandering Bangkok's infamous Khao San Road in the rain, armies of transvestites and various other of Bangkok's nightlife cheerfully offering their services.

By mid morning, we had purchased airline tickets for a flight September 26
from Bangkok to Kathmandu, Nepal. We'll have a week in Kanchanaburi to unpack, repack, FINALLY update the website, and repack for cooler weather (hopefully) in Nepal. With any luck, leech season will be over.

We calculate that enroute, probably over Bangladesh, we'll pass the Expedition's 100,000 mile mark. How many people say they'll someday do this kind of thing? How many actually do it? To the people who said we'd never do this, people who remained chained to their desks to this day....pfffft!

September 20, 2001 in Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Talk about lousy timing. We went to Indonesia just after a 26% slide in the value of the dollar against the Rupiah. Today, now that we're back in Thailand, we notice the dollar has improved 15% in Indonesia in the past few days. Of course this loss is child's play compared to the terrific beating we've taken on the American stock market. We can't bear to look up the balance.

It's good that we left Indonesia when we did. A report today says Muslim extremists in Indonesia have promised an all out assault on Americans and American interests if the US takes military action in Afghanistan. We feel much safer here in Thailand, as we will in Nepal. The only serious violence there recently involved the Crown Prince shooting the entire Royal Family.

September 21, 2001 in Kanchanaburi, Thailand
We received tragic news from "Dr. Phil" at the mission hospital on the Thailand-Burma border where we sometimes volunteer. Readers may recall our visit to the nearby tiny jungle village of Molakai. Most of the people there have illegally crossed the border, fleeing the Burmese Army.

The night we were there, a medical team from the mission hospital several miles away played Charlie Chaplain movies on a TV in the back of a truck parked in a jungle clearing. After it people were lured out of the jungle, the TV was switched off and a nurse explained how to avoid Malaria, TB and other diseases rampant in the area. It was quite a scene. Children and adults who live in desperation on the jungle floor paid rapt attention.

A few days ago a village dog killed someone's duck. A fight developed between two families. Someone had a hand grenade, likely a remnant of earlier fighting between the Karen people and the Burmese Army. It went off. Three people were killed and three others are now in guarded condition in the mission hospital.

It is tragic. These people don't have a country. They are members of minority cultures who are hunted and killed by the Burmese Army, unless they agree to make illegal narcotics and share the profits with the Army. Those who escape to Thailand end up in a grim refugee camp or huddling in the jungle, hoping their lives will improve. They have so few possession and are so desperate that the death of a single duck can lead to human tragedy. Worst of all, few people know about this situation, and fewer still care. Thank God for American doctor Phil McDaniel and his loyal staff, who work in difficult conditions in that tiny facility near the Burma border.

September 22, 2001 Becky's birthday
We’re starting to have concerns about the situation now developing in Nepal.

September 24, 2001 -- back in America
The decision to return to America built up slowly, but came quickly. It was a combination of things, beginning with our premature departure from Indonesia (the world's most populous Muslim country) in the wake of the terrorist attacks in America, and continuing with a deadly incident in a Thai village near the hospital where we have been volunteering (see above). We considered Maoist attacks on schools and the police in Nepal, and the concerns about our safety expressed by our families in light of the coming military conflict in Asia.

When we decided to return to America and rethink our travel options, our departure from Kanchanaburi was almost immediate -- and the trip endless. For us, because we crossed the International Date line while flying between Tokyo and Los Angeles, September 23 was 37 hours long.

We hired a guy with a car to drive us to the Bangkok airport and left the Luxury Hotel at 2:30 am. After very extensive security checks and hurried money changing, our Thai Airlines flight to Tokyo and on to California departed at 8:00 am, arriving in L.A., 8,350 miles later at 10:30 am the same day, due to the Date Line. We rented a car and less than 12 hours later arrive in Salt Lake City, Utah, 710 miles distant.

We had never seen such airport security as found when checking in for our Thai Airlines flight in Bangkok. Our checked baggage was searched before it went through electronic screening. In fact, everything was repeatedly checked by hand everywhere we went. During the flight, knives in the silverware set had been replaced with plastic.

We hit Expedition Mile 100,000 at 37,000 feet just NE of northern Vietnam and SE of Hong Kong at 9:30 am Bangkok time September 23.

In Tokyo, we got off the plane, passed through metal detectors, had our carry-on bags scanned and hand-checked, and when we got back to the departure gate everything was checked again. We had no complaints and were relieved to see security taken seriously.

Where will the expedition go next? We don't know. First, we'll excise the GMC Denali from storage and drive to Belle Fourche, SD, where the rest of our things are stored.

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