Action In Relaxation

Well-rested/Chipotle-eating friends,


We (Tyler, Jason, Ryan + Yuuki + Ben + Matt) are currently on a swaggering double-decker bus commuting between towns in Laos, I’ll tell you all about it later…I just wanted you to know that if there are any long pauses ____ and/or weird symbols #####, it was because I’m getting motion sickness and have to take a little time out _____ or am emptying the breakfast from my stomach #####. Lets hope for the _____ best.


So we now have a crew of 6 travelers with the addition of Yuuki (my elementary school friend from Japan who I haven’t seen in over a decade) joining us for 2 weeks, as well as Ben Watson (old friend from Littleton) and Matt Matteson (new friend from Colorado somewhere *I’ll ask him where later) who are joining us for 3 weeks. With new “wolf-pack” members comes new excitement, new energy, new jokes, and increased organized chaos in general; which is awesome!


Yuuki met us 3 “old wolfs” in Kuala Lumpur for a couple days where we relaxed, internetted, and wrote really really boring email blasts about boring Indonesia. We also ate amazing food in KL and had some great but seemingly uneventful (or at least not noteworthy) times. One thing to note: I bought a much much much needed new computer (a 10” dell minilaptop for $400) and after a long night of loading applications and fine tuning this beautiful new machine, I spilled a 2 liter jug of water straight on the keyboard and totally fried it, bummer, serious bummer. #####. It still makes me a little sick (obviously).


Our growing pack of 4 young strapping scruffly wolfs met Ben and Matt in the KL airport and we surprisingly had time to sample every snack in the airport candy story (6 times over) and hack the airport internet (Matt the Mac Guy). We arrived in Bangkok and sang with crazy annoying exitement on the hour bus ride from the airport to the city (don’t worry fellow Americans, anytime we do something annoying, we tell people we’re from Canada….seriously though, we actually do).


….enough intro junk, now to the good stuff. We’ve been pretty consistently on the fly/wheel/float/street beat since our friends have a limited time to see ALL of Asia. Because so much has happened, I’m going to refer to my favorite email blast format (no it’s not bullet points, that’s a close 2nd), PICTURES!


We arrived in Bangkok the evening of the 8th, took an evening bus to Kanchanaburi on the 9th, returned to Bangkok on a late afternoon bus on the 10th followed by a night train to Chang Mai (that we cut really close and almost missed) an hour later. This makes the 1st set of pictures.

We arrived in Chang Mai the morning of the 11th and had an executive committee meeting while riding in a Tuk Tuk to our potential hotel; we quickly decided to bus straight to Chang Rai because Chang Mai wasn’t quite the amenity-packed noisy Bangkok and also wasn’t quite the lush jungle-country Northern Thailand that we were expecting; this was a great choice and gave us more time to “settle down and relax” in Chang Rai for the 11th-13th. I had one of the top 5 days of my life here, thanks to Kwan and Mamaban.


I spilled the beans already and let you know we’re in Laos right now, but you’re going to have to be patient for the next email (always leave ‘em wanting more).


Much love from the howling wolf-pack,


Yuuki, Matt, Ben, Ryan, Jason, and Tyler


Ps. I know many of you (especially parents and family members) are plan oriented and wonder what’s next on our super-official, stone-inscribed itinerary. Well today is your lucky day/night. We’re spending the next week in Laos August 14th – August 21st, followed by Vietnam (traveling North to South). I hope that’s enough because it’s pretty much all we know right now…

Text-based Travel Mates,


Indonesia part 2, so much to write about…All I can write to (re)introduce this place is…wow, this country really has a place in my heart/mind/future.


After the boat trip, us “Colorado Boyz” returned with the rest of the STN crew to Kuta Beach, Bali. Kuta is the biggest tourist town in Bali and amidst the chaos of scooters, surfers, tourists, and American restaurant chains (Pizza Hut, Hard Rock Café, McDonalds), Kuta felt like home. This homeliness was largely based on the relationships with local people that were built through consistent interaction including: morning fruit purchases of Mangosteen and Passionfruit (Pudu and Pudri), surf hoots and hollers followed by soccer kickaround sessions, bizaar/fun/loving/smartass comments to local vendors, and chickenfighting/airplane/jungle gym/wrestle sessions with local rascalmonkey kids. Kuta highlights include:


* Circus on The Beach night that included a 5 level human pyramid that consequently inspired a $5, 1.5 hour, full body massage


* STN banquet with local cuisine, friendly guests, and Balinese dancers how loved to pose for 2+ hours of photos with kooky surfer tourists


* Day trip to Ubud monkey temple, where Kevin “young hercules” Sweeny got his bag of 30 Bananas snatched by a 2.5 foot tall 35 pound toothy snarly gremlin (a mere 2 minutes after purchasing them outside the temple) to which he responded in pure fear and prancing excitement


* Incredible 5 star, $8 dinners at TJ’s Mexican food and The Balcony where favorite dishes were sampled, loved, shared, and repeated following nights…Chili’s eat your heart out (and then charge me $15).


* Scooter chaos: picture thousands of people playing a game of transportation charades, who have just pulled the action card of “fish swimming through a tunnel”


You have now earned the right to look at our pictures from Kuta, thanks for reading!

From Kuta, 8 of us stragglers stayed in Bali while our friends returned to Hawaii, Sweden, Bangladesh, California, and Florida. We decided to take our show on the road and head to Uluwatu (30 minutes south of Kuta), soon to be known as Paradise or Shangri-La or El Dorado or Nirvana or Heaven (depending on your religion/ethinic background/cultural upbringing/sensitivity level). All of you who weren’t completely offended and are actually still reading, Uluwatu is indescribable, it is __________.


We stayed at a homestay called Thomas’ that fed us meals of our choosing and gave us a temporary palace (without a/c, or warm water) overlooking completely transparent water, 3 world-class surf breaks (Uluwatu, Pedang Pedang, and Bingin), and a local laidback vibe where worries (and Blackberries) have never existed. At night, this view lost nothing with an unadultured night sky mirrored by hundreds of gleaming fishing boats, and our lovely addition of night-time festivites that included: a guitar and water jug jam session, freestyle battle, freestyle game of “Sit Down!”, and of course the game of Farkle.


That should be enough to introduce these photos, please enjoy (if you don’t you should probably go to the doctor)


Colorado Island Boyz,
Tyler, Ryan, and Jason