(Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of travel correspondence from Dan as he travels around southeast Asia. Click the “continued” link to read the full message.)

July 12, 2005

Hello from Chiang Khong, home of the 650 pound catfish!

After a few drinks, I wander into an internet cafe. Nature calls, and I ask for the bathroom. In the back is the owner’s home. Pictures of family, a couch, a teakwood carved dog. And his own bathroom. Amazing. I’ve never seen hospitality like this. It was also my first full encounter with a country-style toilet, if you know what I mean.

(You don’t? A country-style, or squat, toilet is a toilet bowl embedded in the ground, with no seat, but some porcelain footrests on each side. You drop your pants and - hope that you don’t dip the pants in the toilet - pray that your cheapo sandals have enough grip to keep you from slipping and landing in the bowl - wish that your knees had a few less miles on them

To a man, pissing in a hole is quite natural. My full experience tonight was much more difficult. Conversely, my female tour guide remarked that she prefers squatting over a country-style toilet to squatting over a Western toilet.)

Today was a transit day, where I slept in a van while we drove across some remarkable terrain. Northern Thailand has many of these abrupt hills, rocketing up from the valley floors, and covered in jungle scrub. The hills and mountains are amazing.
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