June

17:00- My head still feels like someone stuffed it with watermelon or something. I've never been this congested in my life. On top of that, the back of my neck feels like I pulled every muscle in it. Not sure why, but mz theory is that it's from a combination of lifting heavy boxes Sunday (though not that many- otherwise, I'd blame it all on that), sleeping on uncomfortable pillows, congestion, and the fact that I'm getting older and those things bother me more than they used to. I've taken a decongestant- of course that's done nothing, along with the apirin-type stuff and the nasal spray. Between all that, the vitamins, allergy medicine, and anti-anxiety medicine, I feel like a walking pharmacy. Of course I'm not taking it all at once (noted for anyone reading this and worried I'll OD). Oh, and on top of everything, I got an ocular migraine for 20 minutes about an hour ago- fortunately, it wasn't that bad.

Silvia made me leave early today (left about 15:30) since I'm feeling crappy. I feel badly about that though since the shipping's going so slowly- so many issues- nothing horrible but they do slow down the process. And the time difference doesn't help when you have questions for people in North America (especially on the west coast). But it's nice working in the Lugano office- quiet, don't have to work with anyone arrogant and/or condescending, and it's in a nice little area.

Now I'm back at the hotel. Took a shower in hopes that it would make me feel a little better. Nope. Hopefully I can get to sleep early tonight since last night was another short night of sleep. Turned off the lights at 23:00. Turned them back on at 1:30. Read til 3:00. Fell asleep somewhere around 4:00 and got up at 7:30. And this is with drowsy formula medications. But drowsy formula only made me drowsy once in my life, so I'm not surprised. I wish i could figure out my sleeping habits. Or maybe I should say, I wish I could have sleeping habits.

Today I learned that Silvia, Sonia, and I are all Pisces who are involved with Geminis. Not that I find horoscope stuff terribly interesting, but they did- especially Sonia.

Today I also reminded myself that I really can be handy with software-related things. At least I could be there to help with that, as it doesn't come naturally for Silvia.

21:00- Finished "Curse of the Singles Table" while having dinner. Some of the last bits were laugh-out-loud funny. Loud enough to attract the attention of a French woman at the table next to me. She asked to see the book so she could get it for her next holiday. I offered to give it to her since i was done with it, but she didn't have room to carry it around now. Oh well. Maybe I'll find someone else who wants it. Maybe Kristin will want it. She's coming here tomorrow, and I'm meeting up with her after work.

23:30- Met up with Kristin tonight. We had a nice dinner and then walked around the lake and sat and talked there for a while. I love hanging out with Kristin' talk of travel and growing up with our respective homesteading parents and our irritation with the American government and most of its people and our preference for travelling alone... I've never known someone so similar to myself- it's an interesting dynamic for conversations.

Tomorrow we're going to attempt to take a boat to Monte Generoso. Not sure how the boat works, but if we can't figure it out tomorrow, we can take the bus there, but of course we'd both rather be on the water, so hopefully the boat schedule will work. And hopefully it'll be a clear day (or at least not rain). It would be nice to have a good view from the top of the mountain. The other things I'm worried about is my congestion. It would be nice not to feel miserable on my 1st day off. I also hope I can fall asleep at a decent-ish hour tonight. So far, I'm not tired. Really wish I knew how to make myself tired- that would make things a lot easier.

Random question: does World CNN have sports on a ton or do I just have bad luck when turning on the TV? Although even watching "real news" is awful. I'm not an expert, but I remember thinking World CNN was a bit better than CNN in the States. But I've watched a few nights now, and it's been useless. Headline, 3 sentences. Headline, 3 sentences. No isnight, no analysis. Same 3 stories over and over with no new information. What a waste.

9:00- Yesterday was great. Kristin and I took the boat to Capolago and then the finicular up to Monte Generoso. Everything worked easily. It was very hazy, but at least it didn't rain. It was cold and windy for the last 2 hours, and stupidly I forgot a jacket, but oh well. We had a nice hike, and my knees behaved for the most part. Took lots of pictures, but I'm sure they won't do justice to the landscape. Hopefully one or two will be decent enough. I do love mountains, and these are amazing. Looking forward to Mt. Titlus tomorrow, although the weather^s not supposed to be great.

After our hike, we took the finicular and boat back to Lugano and hung out for a while before dinner. We had dinner at an upscale place on the other side of town. We were one of 2 filled tables, so service was overly attentive. We both hate people watching us eat, and the 2 servers there were like hawks. But dinner was nice. Both on the boat and at dinner, we talked a lot about religion and science fiction (and more about travel and our childhoods). Kristin's definitelz one of my favourite people to spend time with.

Now I'm at the train station and have about 1.5 hours before the train leaves. I could take a train that leaves in 30 minutes, but that one's not direct and I decided I'd rather wait another hour here than change trains with my heavy luggage (I'll be doing that enough later in the trip).

Still being congested was not fun going up in the mountains yesterday, and even though it's a little better todaz, I'm still not looking forward to the train through the Alpes today since there'll be greater changes in altitude than yesterday. At least my illness is heading in the right direction. Just wish it wasn't so painful during my favourite mountain experiences.

14:30- Had a painful ride through the Alpes (it would be nice if the congestion was mostlz gone tomorrow for mz last day in the mountains) and arrived in Luyern right on time. I impressed myself with finding my hotel right awaz- figured out where to come up from the underpass and followed the street right to the hotel- very quick walk from the train station. I don't expect every hotel finding to be so easy.

Now I'm having a late lunch bz the water (fortunately it stopped raining). From what I can tell so far, Luyern is charming- the unique architecture, cobblestone streets, peaceful water... I wish I could live in a place as beautiful as this.

There are more English speaking tourists here than in Lugano. In the 6 days in Lugano, I only ran into 1 English speaking couple and KRistin told me she talked to 3 Canadians at her hotel there. Here, I've already heard several people passing by me speaking English.

What I can never get used to is how expensive everything is and the state of our dollar reallz doesn't help. I greatly look forward to Cambodia, where my entire stay (room, meals, activities, transportation) will be less than 1 night in a hotel room here. I try to convince myself the expenses of Europe are okaz by telling myself I'm paying for atmosphere and experiences. I love this part of Europe and am lucky to have this time here. My bank account will be almost completely depleted when I get home and my credit cards won't be in great shape (imagine if I enjoyed shopping- I'd surely be in gfreat debt- I'm really spending almost nothing compared to many people), but my mind and "soul" will be much wealthier than when I left. And on that note, I think I'll get another too expensive coffee so I can be more awake to take in my experiences (I'm exhausted right now).

17:30- Okay, the caffeine did nothing. I was hoping to enjoy the afternoon/evening by wandering around, but I have a screaming headache. What is wrong with me? I think I've had about 10 headaches in my life. Why do I need one now? I feel like crap. I just took some of the stuff I bought in Zurich- maybe I'll have a miracle and it'll help a bit.

8:30- Well, the headache did go away after a few hours, but the rest of the night was a mess. My stomach started feeling queasy, maybe because of the medicine on a somewhat empty stomach (didn't have much to eat yesterday). So even though I was exhausted and my head still hurt, I went out to dinner around 18:00. Sat down at a table and started feeling faint. I didn't want to take the Lorazepam since you're not supposed to mix it with anything. I started feeling bad enough to call a doctor. While waiting, I tried to breathe as slowly as possible, but I guess I hyperventilated since my arms went numb. The paramedics showed up quickly, thez did the usual, and everything looked normal. They took me to the medical facility to make sure. There, they did the usual tests and everything looked normal. I was feeling mostly better by this point. Every part of the medical adventure was easy. The paramedics were efficient, competent, and friendly. The doctor saw me right away (no waiting for 4 hours like at home). The doctor was efficient and friendly (he liked to talk- asked me about living in NEw York, told me good places to go in Germany, and told me about his experience trying to tear down the Berlin Wall- said it was impossible to hammer out even a little chip of the wall). The blood test was done on my finger. Why don't we do that at home? All those people who have to be stuck with needles 3-4 times because the nurse can^t find a vein? That could be easily eliminated. This woman got plentz of blood out of my finger- I even watched since it's not as disgusting/creepy like when it comes out of your arm. It was all very expensive (everyone working there kept reminding me that "everything's more expensive in Switzerland"), so I charged it to the business card since my personal card couldn't handle the amount. Hopefully it'll be easy to get reimbursed by the insurance company

After I left, I started feeling a bit faint again, so I took the Loryzepam and hoped it wouldn't mess me up more. I also got some cheese and juice for dinner at a market to take back to my room. Got back to the hotel and didnt' feel better (and at times felt worse). I tried to force myself to fall asleep, and I eventually did. But then I woke up every 15 minutes to 1 hour the whole night. Decided to get out of bed at 7:00 and start my day. Last night, I was going to cancel mz plans for today since I didn't want to be hiking the Alpes and have any issues. Today, I changed my mind. I'm going to a popular area, so there will be plenty of people around (bad for enjoyment of nature, good in case I feel sick). I won't take any medicine even if I get another headache (I shouldn't- that's not usually a problem for me), so I can take the Lorazepam if I need it. I won't do anything too strenuous (I'll stick with the lazy, out of shape people who want to see the views but not strain themselves). And I'll at least have the experience of the rotating cable car. This is my last daz in the Alpes, and I'd like to enjoy it as much as I can.

Last night I also thought about Cambodia. Can I get through 4 days there without an incident? I think I'll get a 3rd and 4th opinion about that. Not going to think about today though. Today is for mountains. On the train to Engelberg now and should be there in less than an hour.

13:00- I did it. Yes, I felt faint and/or dizzy on and off, but I got to Engelberg and took the various cable cars up into the clouds (unfortunately, the rotating cable car was completely surrounded by clouds, so you couldnn't tell what was going on). It was too cloudy to see anything at all at the top, but I did walk through the glacier cave (very cold and very crowded). Going up and going back down was more clear and extremely beautiful. If I felt better, I would have done some hiking, but I was good (safe) and stuck to the cable cars. At least I had a hike the other day.

Now I'm back in the village and having some lunch. Nice to be having something warm (grilled ham and cheese- much better than anything I've had in the States)- it was really cold up at the top of Mt. Titlus, especially in the cave. Also nice to be away from the tour groups- they were pushy and in the way. THey all took the cable cars up, flew through the cave, snapped a few pictures of the clouds, and went on to their next destination- all in about 1.5 hours. Why bother?

I'll take the 14:15 train back to Luzern, and if I'm not too tired, I'll check out the rest of the town. If I'm too tired, I'll just go back to my room and read. I'm about 100 pages into "Blue Flower" and am enjoying it for the most part. I should also check my email at some point today.

Tomorrow I head into Germany. Hopefuly I can use up most of my francs at dinner tonight. Can't think of anything else I particularly feel like buying, but maybe I can find something tomorrow at the train station (English reading material would be nice, but I'm not hopeful about that).

14:30- I'm now on the train. We did't get very far when the train stopped and they made an announcement. I asked the lady next to me what they said and she translated, "There is no electricity, but we are in Switzerland and no on the moon so it shouldn't be long." Sure enough, after 2-3 minutes, we started moving again. Electric problems in the northeast U.S. stops rush hour for the entire afternoon/evening. Another plus for Switzerland. Kristin told me about a friend of hers that teaches high school in Boston. She asked her class why they like living in America, and they said because they are free. She asked how they are free, but they just repeated, "we are free". She said, "but people are free in France, and Switzerland, and the UK..." The students just stared at her with blank faces. Yes, we are more free than those in China, Nigeria, Afghanistan, but we are losing some of our freedom while the Swiss are not.

9;30- I wasn�t feeling great when I got back to Luzern, but I made myself go to dinner anyway. I felt lightheaded and tired through dinner and finished as quickly as possible. Then I checked my email and updated my journal as quickly as possible (was lightheaded throughout that too). I did manage to get to sleep fairly easily (somewhere around 22;30), but I woke up several times (23:00, 2:30, 4:00...), each time feeling wide awake.

Now I�m at the train station awaiting a train to Basel (then from there, a train to Frankfort, and finally, a train to Weimar). Can�t find anything to buy here (they had about 6 English books, all the John Grisham type- no thanks), so I still have about 35 francs. I�ll buy a snack on the train and then do the poor exchange to Euros for the rest.

In a way, I wishI had a couple months for this trip. I wish I could have gone to Bern and Schwyz, see more of Germany, and spend more time in Denmark. Also wish I could travel around Thailand and Laos as well as do a real river journey in Cambodia )I�m hoping I can do a little sunset boat thing in Phnom Penh- of course I�m hoping to feel well enough to go there at all). But I don�t want to be away for 3 months even if I could afford the time. Travel is tiring and I�d like to spend some free time in NYC before I move (hoping to take a few days in July and August to spend some time in Williamsburg, West Village, LES, Bed-Sty, a day trip somewhere upstate...). I knew this would be a highlights trip, and i know I decided highlights of several places seemed like a better alternative to more time in 1 country since who knows when I�ll be able to travel again and I wanted to see as much as I could, so I jut need to stop looking at maps and train schedules to avoid reminding myself of everything I�m missing.

11:15- On the train now. The train is fairly empty and would be a quiet ride other than this woman behind me. She�s been on her phone since the journey began and she�s talking NON-STOP. The longest pause she�s had was 2 seconds- it�s a running monologue. She�s not loud, but it�s still really irritating because of how fast and how much she�s talking. I�d love to ask her to fermez la bouche. Lovely, we just stopped and another woman just got on with a phone attached to her ear. This one�s speaking English- also non-stop. She�s talking about her crazy night of drinking vodka and like how drunk she was and like how she can�t ever drink again. Personallz, I hate having conversations in public and can�t believe more people don�t mind the world listening to their problems.

14:00- I�m stuck with more francs than I thought I�d have. German trains don�t take francs even though the train left from Switzerland. Too bad because I�m kind of hungry. And no chance of using an ATM at the Frankfort station since I only have 5 minutes to change trains. Guess I�ll fill up on mints and water. Should have had a bigger breakfast or bought something at the Luzern station. I�ll be sure to do that the morning I leave Germany, although I have a feeling it�ll be a German train going from Hamburg to Copenhagen.

15:30- After a lightning-fast change of trains (still can�t believe I made it with my luggage), I�m on the last leg of my journey to Weimar. So far it�s been a gloomy day (raining here and there) with gloomy scenery- this part of Germany doesn�t look particulary nice- non-descript farms and non-descript housing. Frankfort has some typical modern city architecture, but that quickly went away and we�re now back to farms and trees. This part of the ride reminds me a bit of the train ride through Delaware and Jersey on Amtrak- ther�s more nature here though. The difference in vibe between Germany and Switzerland was almost instant. So far, Germany feels more plain. Looking forward to seeing what Weimar will be like though.

Still congested, still tired, and still only about 70% of my usual self (if I remember what that was- I don�t think I�ve really been my usual self for over a year). And writing on the train is definitely not making me feel any better, so I�ll stop now.

Oh, but one thing: as soon as I stopped writing, the scenery got more interesting- some pretty hills with cute towns, and now I�m looking at a river.

16:45- Another difference between Switzerland and Germany, on a train in Switzerland, they check people�s tickets once. So far on this train from Frankfort, they�ve checked 3 times, even though there has no been a stop for more people to get on. It�s pouring now. Hopefully tomorrow won�t be too bad as I plan to spend the day sightseeing.

19:00- This was the hotel-finding experience I expected. Asked directions at the train station- stay straight on the main road, go left, and it�s right there about 10 minutes. Did that, didn�t fnid the hotel. Asked a man at a bus stop- go straight, and it�s on the right in about 10 minutes. Did that, didn�t find the hotel. Went into a bar to ask directions- go straight, past the big building, and it�s on the right in about 10 minutes. Did that, didn�t find the hotel, but I did find another hotel. Decided it wasn�t rude to ask one hotel where another one was. Turns out I was right near my hotel, and the woman gave perfectly clear directions. At least it stopped raining. Still, the hotel did not have the name on it. It said "Hotel gatshaus". Went in, and it was the right place. The room is slightly larger than my bedroom closet, but it is cheaper than where I stayed in Luzern.

Now I�m having dinner at the first place I found- I�m too hungry to wander around anymore. I specifically asked for "mineralwasser without gas", but they gave me with gas. Too tired to care. Hopefully the bratwurst will be okay, but maybe I�ll be too hungry to care.

It�s fine. Rather tasty, actually. There�s only one other table occupied other than mine, so I guess other people know of tastier places. I�ll find them tomorrow. Tonight after dinner, I�m just going to take a shower, read, and go to sleep. I finished "Blue Flower", so I�ll have to start something else. I picked up "Catcher in the Rye" at that bookstore in Lugano on my last day there since it�s one of those books I can�t believe I�ve never read. So maybe I�ll start that tonight. Or maybe I�ll watch CNN and get irritated with that station. Or maybe I�ll do both if I have one of my can�t-fall-asleep-easily nights.

9:30- I did get to sleep fairly quickly, but I did the wake-up-100-times-through-the-night thing. I got out of bed at 6:45, had breakfast, and then took a walk in the park. It�s cold and windy but not raining. The park is pretty and I got to see lots of locals (I�m assuming they�re locals) out for their morning walk or bike ride. Everyone�s so no-nonsense, matter-of-fact here. And sturdy. Everyone looks like they could walk 20 miles with no fatigue.

Now I�m taking a coffee break before going to the Schiller Museum. I got my physical exercise for the day, now it�s time for mental exercise. I�ll probably check out another museum or 2 before the day�s over. If I could stay here one more night, I could see a performance of Schiller�s "Menage a Trois". But that�s on the 9th and I head to Bremerhaven on the 9th. Maybe there will be some other type of performance I could see tonight. I�ll check with the tourist centre. I dno�t think I�ve ever been to a tourist bureau in my life, but that seems to be the easiest way to find out about available shows.

12:30- I�m exhausted, for a change, so I�m back at the hotel to read and rest for a while. The Schiller Museum was closed today (good thing I still have tomorrow), but I did find the Lizst House. Went to the National Museum, but it was beyond crowded, so I�ll save that for tomorrow (and just deal with it even if it�s crowded). I also got a ticket for a perforamnce at the National Theatre tnight. Not exactly sure what it is- the woman at the tourist centre described it as a play with music. Got a good seat- 8th row in the stalls (or whatever they call it here), so at least I�l be able to see well. Oh, and I also spent a few minutes with email. didn�t have too much patience today to learn a new keyboard (tired of constantly searching for backslash, dash, question mark, is it just the regular keystroke or do I need "Shift" or "Alt"...) in every city I go to, so I did�t bother updating my journal. Maybe I�ll take the time tomorrow.

16:00- Read for a while and then actually took a nap. I feel drugged. Now I have to hope I don�t still feel groggy for the show tonight. I really don�t do well with naps.

Just got a bratwurst from a streetstand. Not at all like NYC stands- this had flavour (quite spicy, actualy). Now I�m gonna try the National Museum again in hopes that it�s less crowded.

18:30- Didn�t make it to the museum- got a massive headache instead. Didn�t take anything since I had taken a Lorazepam already. Instead I drank a lot of tea and water and have been eating a lot of mints. I feel about 25% better now and am determined to enjoy this performance. If I don�t and/or I feel worse, hopefully there will be an intermission and I can head back to the hotel early. This illness nonsense is realy getting old.

21:00- My interest in theatre has been restored. First of all, my headache was weakening right before the performance and went away completely 10 minutes into it. he show was probably the best thing I could have seen. It was a day in the life of secretaries, so there was no real plot to follow, and they sang several songs (many in English, like: "Dream a Little Dream", "Sitting by the Dock of the Bay", and my favourite, "I Know Him So Well" from "Chess"). They did a bunch more too, in English and German. The actors were a real ensemble, not like in the States where they try to hard to be cutesy or sexy and try to outdo one another. Sets, lights, and costumes were standard for a comedy. The audience was made up of mostly couples in their 50s-70s. My seat was close and no one was in front of me, so I could see everything perfectly. It lasted 1.5 hours, no intermission. So, so glad I went. Now I want to see more. Definitely will have to look into what�s going on in Copenhagen when I�m there.

9:00- I keep forgetting to mention the weird dreams I�ve been having in between waking up 100 imes a night. I don�t remember details now (other than the last part of my last dream: talking on the phone at Matt & Sylvia�s apartment to Eytan- he was telling me about eating pot brownies, then Terry kept showing up in various places, then I was walking ont he NRV fun roads and singing opera and operetta-type stuff), but they�ve all had some sort of adventure.

I�ve amazingly fallen asleep before midnight for the past few nights. And each time I wake up through the night, I feel like I�ve slept a full night even if it�s only been an hour.

I like Weimar. I like al the old and unusual buildings )this Internet cafe has a cave/tomb-like experience to get to the bathrooms- very macabre, and the modern bakery I went to yesterday has a little seating section behind an arched stone wall- the rest of the place is bright and modern). And not a chain in sight. The cobblestone streets though are killing my knees (although that could also be in combination with the uncomfortable sleeping options I�ve been having at all the hotels). But the main part of town is small and easy to get around (even though it is maze-like).

Today I hope to do the museums, update my journal, and look into a performance for tonight (there are a few options- I�ll check with the tourist centre to see what they�re al about and then make a decision).

9:45- I�m torn between seeing a performance of "Alice in Wonderland" and going to a cabaret. I�m leaning toward the cabaret even though it�s later and kind of far (near the train station). But the cabaret was one of the things I originally really wanted to do here. Yes, I�ll do that. And not that I love taking advice from tourist centre employees, but the woman there said it was good- everything else she skimmed over like they weren�t worth it. Just hope it doesn�t go too late (where did my night-owlness go?).

Now I�m just waiting for things to open- everything opens at 10:00. I�ll hit the Internet first and then go to the Schiller Museum.

17:00- The museums were okay. I just wish more of the furnishings in the houses could ahve been original (this they couldn�t do much about) and that there were more plaques discussing the history of various things- there were a few in multiple languages, a few only in German, and many things without any plaques (this thy could do something about).

After the museums, I went back to the hotel for a rest (fortunately didn�t fall asleep this time). Now I�m having a bite to eat at the restaurant attached to the hotel, and then will leave early for the cabaret, giving myself time to get lost. The waitress brought me the bubbly water- don�t know why I even try to get still water anymore. I am getting used to this stuff, but I certainly wouldnever order it by choice.

Still having sinus issues. Don�t have a heacache today, but I can feel the pressure on my nose. I keep hping it�ll go away completely without having to get something for it. I don�t want to not be able to take the Lorazepam if I need it. I know it�s not getting worse, which I hope means it�ll go away by itself. Fortuantelz, I still have 7 days before I have to get on a plane. I did talk to Paula today, and she said that she, Harvey and Jeffrey all got what I had and it does come with headaches. So at least I know what these headaches are. I�ve never had sinus problems and almost never get heacaches, so I wasn�t sure. This is definitely the year of health problems for me.

20:00- Okay, so the cabaret didn�t work out. I found it with no problem, but they were having a private party tonight (or I think that�s what she said when I got there), so no cabaret for me. I ran down to the theatre to see if it was too late for the 19:30 performance (it was 19:25), but the performance was cancelled due to an ill actor, so they were giving a talk on Edgar Allen Poe instead (would have gone if I could understand any of it). So no entertainment tonight. Instead, I�m having some tea at a quiet Italian cafe playing Sinatra and I�ll continue reading "Hitchhiker�s Guide". Finished "Catcher in the Rye" this afternoon. I wanted to read "Hitchhiker" again before seeing the movie, so when I saw it on the shelf - one of 20 English books at the bookstore here - I decided to get it even though I think I have it at home. Don�t remember the last time I read it, but it feels like yesterday. Still a fun read.

Turned on CNN for a few minutes during my rest this afternoon and found out that Ann Bancroft died. I think I�ve mentioned this before but it seems like all the greats (actors, writers, scientists...) are gone or very old. Why aren�t there young greats rising up? It seems like all the "greats" are in business, which is depressing.

I�m at the Internet cafe right now, which is a comfy place to be. In a minute, I�ll go back to the hotel to do some reading. Can�t believe how much I�ve read already on this trip.

10:30- Finding the train station was no trouble. And I see now that if I left the train station the other day from the front of the building, I wouldn�t have had trouble finding my hotel.

Not feeling too great today. I�m groggy and weak and am contemplating trying to sleep a little bit on the train. If I do sleep, I doubt I�ll feel worse than I do now when I wake up. Train should be here in 30 minutes. Just need to stay conscious til then. Today�s a 3 train day. Tired just thinking about changing trains twice. I really miss my healthy, energetic self.

19:00- This hasn�t been a good day. I was in a daze through the whole train journey (still amazed I can make those 5 minute connections with all my luggage). Got to Bremerhaven, found my hotel quickly, went to get a bit to eat (the woman saw I didn�t speak German and tried to trick me out of some of the change she owed me- hey, I�m linguistically challenged, not stupid), and have been in bed for the past few hours, resting, reading, and watching CNN (it would be nice if there were other English channels or at least a subtitled movie [dubbed Cosby Show doesn�t do it for me, although it is sort of amusing seeing Bill Cosby and hearing German dialogue], but no such luck- it�s either CNN or a German program, which I�m too tired to deal with).

I�m hoping tomorrow�s better. I don�t plan on doing much during the day, so I can save my energy for the Tull show. I�ll be pissed if I still feel this way at the show. The whole reason I came to this part of Germany was for Tull and I�d like to enjoy it.

9:00- Happy Birthday, Andy!

Feeling better today, so far. The hotel is on a street with traffic and the walls are thin, so I had trouble falling and staying asleep. Hopefully I got enough sleep, and if not, hopefully coffee will work so I�m awake for the show tonight. I�m assuming the excitement of being there will wake me up too.

Not sure what I�m doing today exactly, but I�d like to go out on a boat and maybe go to the Historic Museum. Bremerhaven�s definitely a tourist town- lots of shopping, McDonalds, and plenty of tourists.

The front zipper on my purse is breaking. Really irritated about that. I like this bag since there�s a good place for everything. Not sure if I�ll keep it and put everything currently in the front pocket in the main section or if I�ll go to this dreaded shopping mall here in Bremerhaven and look for a new bag.

10:00- Today�s a good day. I went into the dreaded mall and found a shoe repair shop. Managed to communicate "ze zipper caput", and he fixed it for me, free of charge. Now I can keep my user-friendly bag!

Now I�m at a casino using the computer and will soon go find the harbour for a boating experience.

12:30- The weather keeps getting nastier, so I'll skip the boat thing. There's so much construction going on here, mainly by the water. It took me a while to figure out how to get around all of it. And the walk signs for crossing busy streets last for, literally, 2 seconds- not a pedestrian-friendly town, which I find odd. If Tull wasn't here, I definitely wouldn't be here either.

I think I'll get done a lot of reading today. Finished "Hitchhiker" last night- started O'Neill's short "Emperor Jones" (easily will finish that today). Maybe I'll go to the dreaded mall and see if the bookstore has any English books. Wish I could continue with "Restaurant at the Enf of the Universe", but I know I'll never find that. I'll be happy if I can find anything in English. This mall is as bad as U.S. malls- tacky stores encouraging way too many useless purchases. And the clothes are even uglier than at home (although I haven't looked around a mall at home in a while so maybe it's just as bad there now too). Everything looks like it would fit a 12 year old, yet it's for adults.

Interested to see what type of people are at the Tull show. Hopefully I won't sit next to a "Play Aqualung" person or anyone who wants to fight (I sit next to fighters quite often). I also hope they play at least one interesting song, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I'm getting exhausted now, so I think I'll go check out the bookstore and then find my way back to the hotel.

Oh, but one more thing: I don't know why people think it's only the U.S. that does large food portions. In my experience, other than France and the Netherlands, I've seen huge portions everywhere I go. I rarely finish anything. Last night I had fish with carrots, zucchini, and potatoes. Rather than have the veggies on the plate with the fish, the plate had 3 pieces of fish and then a bowl of carrots and zucchini, and a bowl of potatoes. Every bowl of pasta I had in Lugano was twice the size of orders I have at home. Wish I could order a half portion.

16:30- Finished "Emperor Jones". Picked up a book of short stories by the woman who wrote "Chocolat". That seemed better than all the books with Death or Murder in the title. The bookstore did have most of Douglas Adams' books in German, but I didn't think it was a good idea to get those. I wouldn�t know if a word was German or an Adams' word. I wonder if there's a term for Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster in German ;)

I'd write about my health but don't want to jinx anything for tonight. So I think I'll just watch CNN for a few minutes, catch up on today's news, and then figure out how to get over to the Stadhalle. Then I'�� just wander around there for a while. I'd rather get there early and wander than worry about not getting there in time.

18:00. Took a taxi to Stadhalle and there is nothing around here. It's freezing and extremely windy, so I kept walking until I found a warm place to go. A bar. A tiny bar with 4 men speaking passionately about something. I thought ahead and grabbed a Snickers before I left in case there was nothing around here. I'll eat it on the way back to Stadhalle. Having a coffee right now. Hope it doesn't keep me up. Pretty damn tired right now. And am having a little trouble breathing but am hoping it'll go away. Trying not to take a Lorazepam today. If I can make it til the concert I'm sure I'll be fine. But the longer I sit here, the more I'm ready to take one. The really passionate man is talking about America, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua... Maybe they're talking about CAFTRA. Now he's mentioning Africa. I'm sure it's something about economics. Wish I could understand German. Wish it wasn't so windy so I could sit outside and be alone for a bit. It's really cold. Yesterday was so beautiful, what happened? Guess a cold front came in. I'm feeling a little better now. Just don't know what to do with myself until the show starts. I was going to bring a book but didn't want the extra weight. But I'm not going to sit here and write the whole time because I refuse to type too much drivel.

19:00- Inside now. My breathing is normal and all is good (other than the fact that I know I'll have to pee 10 minutes in - even though I just went - but hopefully I can ignore it). Very excited to be here. Made friends with one of the guys selling merchandise- very nice bloke. It's general admission, so I took a seat in the 1st row. Sounds great other than the fact that the stage is 50-some yards away. There's a whole floor in between. Many people are standing in front of the stage but my weary, old self thought sitting sounded perferable. Just remembered there's an opening act. Hopefully I can pee in between and ask the guy next to me to save my seat again. No clue how to say that in German, so I just asked in English. The security woman said something to me when I went through the checkpoint. I said, "Nein sprechen de deutsche. English?" She couldn�t speak English and just let me through. I'd be tempted to try, "No speak English. Deutsche?" at home, but I'm sure they'd arrest me rather than let me through. Anyway. I'm excited. And one more quick thing: the strangest thing I've ever been handed at a concert by people working there- a chewable vitamin C tablet. They were handing them out as we came in. Do they think we're all going to drop acid or something? ;)

20:00- Opening act, Kat, was generic rock with boring lyrics but wasn't awful. I really have nothing else to say but wanted to write to see if it will keep my mind off my breathing difficulties- just started back a few minutes ago. Hope the setup goes quickly. It looks like they�re moving along but hard to tell. The crowd looks like a typical American Tull crowd but slightly calmer (so far). It's really a packed house. All the seats are filled and about 90% of the football-sized floor. Damn it. Thought I could make do without a Lorazepam today, but I just took one. I feel myself getting worse and even though it might go away when Tull starts up, I didn't want to chance it. I'd rather enjoy the show. Wow, I really feel awful. I hope this only takes 20-30 minutes to kick in.

10:30- Well, it took until almost the end of the show, but I eventually felt better. I tried to enjoy surprises like "Beggar's Farm" and "Weathercock", but it was hard while having trouble breathing and feeling like I was going to faint. BEYOND frustrating. About 2 minutes into "Budapest" (2nd to last song before the 5 minute encore), I felt better. They played a lot from Aqualung (since they had done the live Aqualung radio show a few months ago), which was okay but not too exciting. My highlights were (besides "Beggar's Farm" and "Weathercock" were: "Budapest", "Farm on the Freeway", and "A New Day Yesterday". I used "Bouree" as another Pibroch (too much coffee and tea before the show). Of course the crowd clapped along to "Bouree". Something about a German audience clapping in unison... Had the same thought when they clapped in unison during the curtain call at the theatre the other night... Silly thoughts, I know. So of course I'm glad I went, but irritated with myself for not taking a Lorazepam earlier. I know it's a chemical thing, but for some reason I can't stop thinking that I can talk myself out of an anxiety attack. I always thought the words "chemical imbalance" was just clever marketing for pharmaceutical companies to make you buy their pills. And even with psych classes and individual research, plus my own experiences of never having medicine work, I still thought you can have more mental control over mental illnesses. But I finally full realised last night that chemicals are really the only thing that helps in this case. I thought the show would make me forget that I couldn't breathe and was feeling faint, but no. It was the Lorazepam that, when it kicked in (whihc took about an hour, probably because I waited so long to take it), helped me feel better. I really want to talk to my doctor and do more research when I get home, but for now when I'm feeling crappy, I'll take the medicine as I need it.

This morning, it was pouring on my way to the train station and has been raining on and off since. I took an earlier train to Bremen, so I have about an hour here before my train to Hamburg (from there, I have a 5 minute change of trains and then the long [4.5 hour] ride to Copenhagen). Looking forward to being in antoher country.

Talked to Andy last night, and he said he read my journal and that I gushed about Kristin. I didn't mean to gush. I love spending time with her, but I didn't want to sound gushy. Just wanted to mention that in case anyone else thought what I wrote was a bit much.

Bremen seems to have a lot of chains (at least in and around the train station). McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Body Shop... Yuck. I'm sure Copenhagen will have its share of chains, but hopefully it won't be overwhelming.

13:30- On the train to Copenhagen now. The train to Hamburg was 8 minutes late, which made me nervous since the train to Copenhagen required a reservation (of which I had a non-refundable one). I asked a man working on board the train to Hamburg, and he said the train will wait. So the train to Cophenhagen just left 8 minutes late with me on it (barely). Very cool.

I'm exhausted, for a change. Even though I want to spend most of the time looking at scenery, I think I might fall asleep.

14:30- The problem with train reservations here is you're stuck with the same people for the whole long ride. The guy next to me (took my window seat, but whatever) is snoring loudly and taking up part of my seat. There's an English couple across the aisle talking loudly non-stop. The guy behind me has a mobile phone ringing constantly. There is no cafe car. There is a coffee machine, but it only takes Kroner (I did bring some crackers and water though). This is going to be a long ride.

16:00- Okay, that was cool. I knew the train crossed the water on some kind of ferry, but I didn't realise we could go out on the boat. I was able to get a bite to eat and be out on the water. The rain and gloom turned to sunshine as we crossed toward Denmark. Very pretty. Still tired and not feeling too great, but I guess that�s becoming a way of life. Back on the train now. In about 2 hours, we should arrive in Copenhagen.

17:30- The rain is back. Extremely dark stratonimbus clouds and heavy rain. It would be nice not to have to try to find my hotel in this waether, but I�m not holding my breath. But we are still 30-45 minutes away (not sure how many kms), so who knows? I rested for an hour. Those loud English people found some free seats near the rest of their tour group and the guy with the mobile phone got off at another stop, so it�s quiet in my car now! I'm feeling a bit better since the rest, but unless I get a real second (or first) wind, I might just go to the hotel and stay there for the night. What a swell vacation this is.

11:00- Last night I tried to walk around a bit after checking into my hotel (which I found quickly by a stroke of luck- just stumbled onto the street after a few minutes of walking around), but I quickly started feeling lightheaded (took a Lorazepam). I wasn't feeling good to begin with, but I was determined to go out. Went about 2 blocks and thne turned around and went back to the hotel. Got in bed around 21:00 and got out of bed at 9:00. I didn't sleep the entire 12 hours but maybe slept about 9-10 hours. I feel about 50% better today, which doesn't feel better enough.

This hotel and the last hotel at which I stayed are chains. And you can tell. They're just not as nice as individual hotels. Newer buildings, which means thinner walls, which means more noise. This hotel (the Ibis Star) has one of those showers without a step up into it. It's just the floor in the bathroom with a showerhead, drain, and a curtain separating it from the toilet. The floor isn't even slanted toward the drain, so the water goes everywhere. And the room is the smallest yet. I don't mind small rooms, but the shower thing is irritating- keeping the shampoo and stuff on the floor and having to bend down for it- with my lightheadedness, not fun.

Today it's raining on and off. Currently, it's pouring, so I found a little coffee shop to hang out for a bit. Toko a while to find it (about 30 minutes). Plan on going to the National Museum soon. I also want to ask at the tourist info about a day trip that isn't Helsinore or Malmo. I want something quaint and off the beaten path. I tried looking into it at home but ran out of time. I looked into theatre options here but didn't see anything of interest.

Still pouring. Fortunately, I don't think the National Museum is very far. This is an easy city to get around. There are a million tourists here- I can see why I had trouble getting a hotel room. Hopefully the museum won't be too crowded.

13:00- The National Museum was the best museum so far on this trip. The plaques were simple but fairly informative (although most information was obvious) and the exhibit pieces were interesting and extensive. And the museum wasn't too crowded, which was nice.

I seem to only be lightheaded when I'm walking or standing today, so I thought I'�d take a little rest and sit for a bit. I'm contemplating going to the Tivoli. It's not cheap- just to get in is $15- and then you can pay for more things inside, like rides (which I'll defintiely be avoiding in my current state). But from what I can see from the barred gates around it, it does look pretty. So I might go in an hour or 2 if I�m feeeling up to it. I know Neil (and other tourist-oriented people) will be disappointed if I don't go. But as I�m sitting here, I'm feeling worse and worse. What the hell's wrong with me? I'm lightheaded and tired and just generally feel awful. I'll talk to my doctor when I get home but dont have much hope. He already ruled out everything and the Lorazepam does help when I'm having trouble breathing but what is this just not feeling good in general? He probably won't have anything useful to tell me.

At an Internet terminal in the train station now. There are some loud French people behind me, talking non-stop. I feel about the same, so I think I'll skip Tivoli for now. I could always go tomorrow ro whichever day I don't do a day trip. For now, I'll go back to my hotel room for a rest. This is getting old.

20:30- Took a rest at the hotel, took a Lorazepam, had some tea, and started feeling a bit better around 19:00. So I went out to dinner even though I wasn't hungry (thought some real food would be a good idea). While I was there, I heard someone arguing with the waitress about their order- they kept repeating it and the poor waitress was trying to understand their rapid shouting. I looked over and saw it was the English couple fr�m the train. They really were a couple of idiots. Actually I've been irritated with most of the tourists here. They're the kind that won't get out of your way and walk in large packs so you can�t get around them, and slowly, of course. That's why tomorrow, I'm going to try a day trip to somewhere less touristy. Hopefully someone at the tourist info centre will be able to point me in the right direction. If not, I'll just get aon a train to a random, decent-sized town. Or maybe I�ll use the Internet at the train station for a few minutes to see if I can quickly find something on Virtual Tourist- don't think I ever finished looking around that site at home. And I talked myself out of Tivoli. I'll spend my tourist money on a canal tour, day after tomorrow. And I want to check out Christiana as well (and if weed's available and I'm not feeling horrible, I may take a toke or 2- definitely no more than that though). But mainly I'm interested to see the Free Town and its people and seeing how things work there. So hopefully I won't feel awful and I can have 2 long days of sightseeing. On that note, I'll read for a little bit and then try to start falling asleep.

7:30- Not an easy night of falling asleep. I wasn't particularly tired, but tried to fall asleep around 21:30. For 2 hours, there was a guy outside in the courtyard (which my room overlooks) laughing like the laugh on the last track of Better than Ezra's "Deluxe". He did that every 3-4 minutes for 5-15 seconds each time. Very annoying. I eventually fell asleep around 1:30 and was up at 6:30 with no real possibility of getting back to sleep. Mornings are better for me anyway, so I got up and headed over to the train station.

Oh, I meant to mention that I've been getting the "Are you at University" question here a lot. And I think I forgot to mention that Kristin and I got asked that 3 times while we were together last week (we're about the same age- I think she's a year or 2 older). I don't mind strangers asking. It's when a client says it in a condescending tone that it bothers me. The "You're too young to know anything" really bothers me, especially when I probably know a lot more about a lot of things that they do.

11:00- The tourist info didn't open until 10:00, so I got online and checked out Virtual Tourist for day trips. A couple of interesting towns were too far (3-4 hours), so I decided on Roskilde, even though it seemed a little too short of a trip- 20 minutes. But first I took the train 1 stop past that just to see something random. Hvals�E Not very exciting. So I got back on the train to Roskilde. Found my way to the Viking Museum (love my sense of direction), and that's where I am now. The weather's nasty (currently sleeting and extremely windy), so I doubt I'll do a boat here. If I get back to Copenhagen by 15:00 or 16:00 and am feeling okay, maybe I'll do the canal tour.

There are a lot of very loud children on a field trip here. They're really obnoxious. More obnoxious than the 50 kids on the boat Kristin and I took to Capolago (those kids got off at another stop, so we didn't have to deal with them in the Alpes). But I'll have to deal with these screaming kids all over the museum. I can't believe how loud they are and that no one seems to care that they�re running all over the place.

12:30- Nice museum. Amazing how they reconstructed the Viking ships from the ruins under the sea. Very impressive 25 year project.

Had a wet walk back to the centre of town and was hungry, so I picked one of the 3 restaurants. It's pretty awful but really wanted a warm meal (grilled chicken). I think it's a Danish chain (saw one of these near my hotel)- Jensen's B�lfhus. After lunch, I'll head back to Copenhagen. I sort of wanted to visit the Hospitals Museum here (since I read they have a lot on psychiatry), but it was another mile or so in the wrong direction, and I didn't feel like walking anymore in the pouring rain (2 miles was enough). This weather�s really nasty. Don't want to complain about how cold it is though since Hong Kong and Phnom Penh will be horribly hot and humid, and it�s always worse being hot than cold.

Oh, this was the 1st restaurant where they asked, "smoking or non". Strange to hear that over here.

13:30- After an EXTREMELY windy walk back to the train station (� felt like I was walking on the outskirts of a tornado), I'm now on the train and almost in Copenhagen. I keep forgetting to mention dogs. They're allowed most places that people are- trains, malls... Not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of my day other than check the weather for the next 2 days. If the weather will be as bad as today, I might as well do the canal tour this afternoon. I should have brought warmer clothes. But it wasn't supposed to be this cold. Supposedly, this is one of the coldest summers here in a long time.

16:00- I'm at the Internet area of the train station now. It's supposed to be nicer tomorrow, so I'll save the canal tour and Christiana for tomorrow.

Just lost my purse- write more later.

20:30- Well that was a mess which ended mostly okay. Somehow someone took my purse off of my lap with the strap still attached to my shoulder without me noticing. The Internet area is very cramped, so I guess when I thought someone was trying to get by me, he (or she) really was stealing my purse. Went to the police station in the train station and filled out a report. Then I cancelled my 2 personal credit cards but was having trouble with the American Express phone system to cancel my business card and didn't know the number to cancel my bank card. The guy at the police station gave me a return ticket so I could get to the U.S. Embassy to deal with my lost passport. They were closed (they have ridiculous hours: 9-12, 3 days a week), but I told the guard my story and he decided it was an emergency and let me in. The 2 women at the Embassy who helped me were a pleasure. One was kind and efficient, the other was kind and comforting. They helped me with a few things and then told me what I needed to bring tomorrow to get a new passport. I got Paula to Western Union me some money (convenient, it was 2 hours before her flight to Boston- if I needed her a little later, I would have been out of luck) since I didn't have enough money for the passport and changing plane tickets, and the guy at Western Union was NASTY!!! He eventually got on the phone with someone (after telling me he was not authorised to give me money without ID even though I had the police report which I was told would be fine). After 20 minutes, he came back and told me how lucky I was that they decided to make an exception. Got back to the hotel, told the woman at reception that I lost the key, and she told me an architech delivered my purse- he found it in the garbage at the train station. I called to thank him and he said he figured out where to deliver the purse because of a map of Copenhagen inside the purse with the hotel circled (from when the woman at the hotel was giving me directions to the National Museum). CLEVER guy. He said he would have gone to the police but after seeing the copy of my travel itinerary, decided if the police saw that, they might get suspicious and put me on the "no fly" list. Again, clever man. If I find a flower shop tomorrow, I may send him some flowers to thank him again. Or is that too flirty_ I don't want to flirt, I just want to give him something for his kindness. Then again, he could have been the one who stole �my purse, so maybe I won�t do anything. Anyway, my purse was returned with credit cards (good thing I didn't cancel the business card and my bank card), empty wallet, driver's license, passport!, plane tickets!, book, gum, and pens. No camera and no medication. I'm not as upset about the 289 pictures I lost as I thought I would be. I woudn't mind the Weimar pictures and Engelberg pictures, but I don't need to remember Copenhagen or Bremerhaven. And Kristin can send me some of her pictures from our hike. The medicine is a different story. I called my doctor today and talked to the receptionist and she said because it's a narcotic and I just filled a prescription a few weeks ago, she couldn't call a pharmacy to let me get any more. But I could call back on Wednesday (which is Wednesday night here- about 48 hours from now) and talk to the doctor. Needing those things once a day, this presents a problem. I may go to a doctor here tomorrow and see if they can do anything (not sure what their laws are like here). So I�m very lucky about the passport and plane tickets. Yes, I could get new ones, but that wasn't going to be cheap and I'd be sad not to have my almost fully stamped passport. Oh, and they left my keys and Metro Card as well (not a big deal but thought I'd mention it), I'm glad I took a Lorazepam at 14:00. I've been needing them about every 20 hours this week, so maybe if a doctor is helpful, I could take one by early afternoon tomorrow.

Now I'm walking around with my "don't mess with me, I'm a New Yorker" look, which I tend to do anyway- but I guess not when I'm sitting. Everyone around the train station looks like they could mug someone.

I might buy a new camera (didn�t love the other one anyway) in Hong Kong, home of electronics. Maybe Jeffrey will know of a cheap but good place to go or know someone who does. I'd love to have pictures of Cambodia.

So now I'll have more free time tomorrow than I would have if I had to go to the Embassy (I will be calling them in the morning to gush about their wonderful kindness- maybe I'll send them flowers). After doing the doctor thing, hopefully I'll do a canal tour, see the Rosenborg Slot, and go to Christiana. If I can't do all that tomorrow, there's always Wednesday. I wanted a lot of time in Denmark. Now, I'm not upset that I leave on Thursday. Not my favourite place (even without the purse incident)

Forgot to mention that 2 nights ago, I had a brief thought that I've never had my purse stolen. I immediately put the thought out of my mind since I didn't want to jinx anything. Too late, I guess.

9:30- I called the woman at the Embassy to thank her, made a 13:00 appointment for a doctor, and am now waiting for the 10:00 canal tour. Nice weather at the moment- added bonus. I keep trying to take pictures and then remember, no camera. Oh well. Still surprised I don�t care too much about that. I care more about the medicine, which I'm now doubtful the doctor will give me. Maybe they�ll give me something else. MAybe they'll think I'm a drug addict just trying to get pills. I won't think about it now. Nothing I can do until 13:00.

Yes, it's a nice day. Just realised they stole my sunglasses too. At least they weren't my prescription ones.

13:30- Well, that was easy. I told the doctor my story, and he wrote me a prescription. That cost $60. The medicine, he said, should cost about $5- I'll find out soon. Just wanted to grab some lunch first since I haven't eaten yet today.

The canal tour was okay. More school trips, and the loudspeaker didn't work so well, so I missed some of the commentary, but it was nice being out on the water.

Okay, time to go to the pharmacy. Then I'll take a brief rest and then go to Christiana.

17:30- The brief rest lasted for the whole afternoon. I'm still tired but decided to go get a bite to eat since I didn't really eat lunch. The food was crappy. I've had bad luck with food here. Everything I've found is junk and I've seen many areas of the city, between sightseeing and emergency things like the doctor and the U.S. Embassy. So I'll go to Christiana tomorrow, along with Rosenborg Slot. Then the day after, I fly to Hong Kong, via London.

20:00- Just discovered the hotel has a computer to use, so I didn't have to go back to the train station for the Internet. Much more comfortable here.

11:30- Had an early start this morning. First, I received my Mastercard. nice to know I have it even though I don't really need it with my bank card, but now I can pay for something on credit if necessary (like a camera, if I find one). Then I navigated my way to Christiana (have to mention it again- navigating is really one of my strong points, other than in DC or Bethesda). I like Christiana, even though it probably would have been better to go a few years ago. Love the concept of it though. It still looked like a peaceful place even with the cops all over the place. Lots of friendly people and friendly dogs. Then I took the Metro back to N�rreport and plan on going to Rosenborg Slot after breakfast (at a comfortable cafe now- finally, a pleasant place to sit and have a bite to eat- although I could live without the "light rock" music).

They have some English TV stations at the hotel (actually more English stations than anything else), so I watched some TV last night. Watched The L Word- not too impressed, and a British sitcom. TV saved the last play I have to read for later- plan on going to a bookstore later today. Finished Joanne Harris' book of short stories yesterday. I liked most of them.

Okay, breakfast done, time to sightsee. Oh, and it's another warm and sunny day- getting me partially prepared for Phnom Penh (oh look at my nice alliteration).

15:30- Rosenborg Slot was nice as were the gardens (very pretty). After I left there, I found the bookstore I saw on my first day here. Much better store than any others I've seen on this trip. Still, typical fiction, but more extensive. They also had a whole section for sci-fi, in which there were all the Douglas Adams books. So I got "Restaurant" and "Life, Universe & Everything". Happy about that, and I'll try to read slowly so I don't need to buy any more books.

Now I'm back at the hotel for a rest. Will check email and update site in an hour or two.

16:30- At the computer now. Meant to mention traffic. There was a lot of traffic in Lugano and a fair amount other places (quite a bit here in Copenhagen), and yet not once have I heard someone honk. Very much appreciated.

Tomorrow I'm off to Hong Kong for a night and then onto Phnom Penh.

14:00- At the airport now. Had a little difficulty at security. They took my purse when it went through and gave it to a man to check. He went through it and gave it back to the x-ray person. She still didn't like it, so he went through it again, pulling out more things. Gave it back to the x-ray person, she still didn't like it, he took it back and pulled out more things. They went through this 5 times. The final culprit? A battery (that the thief took from my camera and put it in the purse). Not sure why the security guy couldn't figure that out the first time. I mean, surely he knew the problem wasn't my book or gum.

Anyway, I was able to get a seat near the front of the plane, so I can get off reasonably quickly- I only have a little over an hour to make my connection, and I have to change terminals (which, at Heathrow, is like changing cities). Now I just have to hope the flight's on time. The important thing is that my bags are checked through to Hong Kong, so I don't have to take the time to collect them, which also means not going through passport control (which, at Heathrow, would have me taking a flight the next day). So I can avoid all that.

I'm exhausted and not feeling well but still managed to finished "Restaurant at the End of the Universe" this morning. Oh, I didn't mind finishing it since, on my walk to find dinner last night (a difficult and irritating task), I walked by the bookstore, so I picked up "Thanks for all the Fish". I'll try not to read too much of "Life, the Universe and Everything" while waiting for my 16:00 flight. I'd like to save some reading for Cambodia, and these are such quick reads. I also have Durang's "Laughing Wild", but that's short too. Can't believe how much I've read on this trip. I'd put reading 2nd on my list of highlights for this trip, after hiking in the Alps. Sad, really. I could read at home. Just haven't been feeling well enough to do more out-and-about things. I'm used to filling 17-19 hour days when I travel. Oh well, nothing I can do about it.

18:30 (London time)- The plane was 25 minutes late. It took 5 minutes to walk/jog to the bus that goes to Terminal 3. The bus took 10 minutes to arrive. It took 15 minutes to get to Terminal 3. Then it was a short walk to security (at least that went quickly this time). Then it was a 25 minute walk (more of a run, actually) to the gate. Got to the gate 5 minutes before the doors closed. I was the last one on the plane. If I happened to be injured or couldn't run for some reason, I wouldn't have made it. Now we seem to be running late. They haven't made any announcement as to when we will take off. The person next to me isn't huge but is taking up a bit of my seat. At least he's quiet. This is going to be a long flight (~12 hours).

Later on the flight- We took off about an hour late. The movie options on this flight are crappy, but there are individual screens so I can at least choose which crappy movie I want to watch.

Later on the flight- I am so pissed off right now. The guy next to me is taking up half of my leg and arm room. The guy behind me keeps pulling on my seat. People keep walking up and down the aisle, grabbing my seat and pulling on my arm or hair. And there's a baby in front of me screaming the ENTIRE time. Oh, and the person video screens for watching movies? That would be great if their system worked. THey apologised for the inconvenience. The only thing that works is the map and the time/speed/temperature info. So I know that I have 5.5 hours left of this miserable flight. And the flight attendants are nasty. One yelled at me when I asked for some water and they've been completely unorganised through everything. This seems to be a repeat of the Virgin Atlantic flight I took from Heathrow to Hong Kong 4 years ago (almost exactly to the day): nasty flight attendants, uncomfortable seats, and non-working movies. Maybe it's the route that has problems. Or maybe it's just me. Five hours and 25 minutes left.

18:00- That baby screamed and cried the rest of the flight- amazing he had any voice left. I managed to sleep about 45 minutes before they woke us up for breakfast (which looked nasty, so I skipped it). The flight attendants yelled at everyone- if someone was in the bathroom when the seatbelt sign went on, on the way back to their seat the flight attendant yelled at them to get in their seats. Several people got yelled at for having their seat reclined during meal time. And they checked everyone's seatbelt 3 times before landing. And they really were not organised at all. The announcements were like "Noises Off": "Please prepare for landing by fastening your seatbelts, putting your seat back in the upright position..." and 2 minutes later, someone else came on, "Please prepare for landing by fastening your seatbelts...". And when the captain came on for, "Flight attendants, please take your seats for arrival," they were running around, scrambling to finish making sure everyone had on their seatbelt and every bag was stowed in the correct place. They barely made it to their seats before landing. Went through the long passport control line (why don't Chinese citizens have their own line rather than be in the "foreign visitors" line?) and then decided to take the shuttle bus to the hotel, rather than the train (about the same time and price, and this way I could go door-to-door).

Now I'm at the hotel. Had a bite to eat, took a shower, a confirmed tomorrow's flight to Phnom Penh. Speaking of Cambodia, just read in the paper that there was an incident yesterday of local men trying to kidnap kids at a school so their foreign-born parents would give them money. That was in Siem Reap, and they mentioned security would be stepped up there. Wonder if there will also be more security in Phnom Penh?

While confirming my flight, I realised I won't have as much time here tomorrow as I thought (flight's at 17:40, not 19:40 that I thought for some reason). So hopefully there's somewhere close to buy a camera. And hopefully I can find a relatively inexpensive one but still takes good pictures. Tonight I'm going to take care of a few more things and then hopefully go to bed early.

14:30- At the airport now after a morning of tiredness. I fell asleep somewhat early, woke up every hjour or 30 minutes, and eventually got out of bed (around 7:00) because even though I was still tired, I was restless. I'd been either sitting or lying down for most of 35 or so hours. Was too tired to take a walk though. So I had some breakfast at the hotel (while listening to some businessmen talk about investing in a new hotel: "You'll put in $100,000,000HK, they'll put in $200,000,000HK, it will open in time for the 2006 Christmas season..."), checked out, and then asked about getting a camera. They pointed me toward a shop very close to the hotel. Including an extra memory card, I paid about $100 less than I would at home, I think, so I'm happy. And so far, it looks far superior to my old one. It has a hundred different settings that I'll check out after I get home, but for now, I can take easy pictures. It's such a tiny thing. Hopefully the battery will last long enough to take a lot of pictures before recharging. And hopefully the hotel in Phnom Penh will have an outlet suitable for charging- not sure how that works there. And then what about at home? I'll deal with that when I'm home.

Then I went back to the hotel and dozed on and off for an hour in the lobby. Then took the train to the airport and now have about 2.5 hours to deal with security, passport control, and taking the train to the gate area and then walking the mile to the gate- not quite as bad as Heathrow but still a big airport. That's why I thought a quick cup of coffee and a journal update was a good idea- plenty of time (unless security's a hassle- knock on wood).

16:00- Yep, plenty early. Passport control was quick and security gave me no problems. There's a neat view out the window by the gate of mountains and clouds. If there wasn't such a horrible glare, I'd take a picture. Maybe I'll try anyway.

Nope, too much glare. Flight boards in about an hour. Feeling much better now after the coffee about an hour ago and the Lorazepam earlier this morning.

Between taking the Lorazepam and my state when not taking it (plus my experiences in the past year), I haven't been able to sample any alcohol. Wish I could have had some local German wines and a drink last night would have been nice (I remember enjoying many yummy drinks last time I was in Hong Kong). And of course no Happy Pizza (or anything else "happy") in Phnom Penh :(

20:00- After an uneventful flight and a taxi ride where the driver wanted to take me to every hotel but mine (finally I told him I was meeting someone at mine and needed to stay there), I'm at my hotel. There's a double bed in the room as well as a single bed, but I have no idea if anyone else will be staying in this room while I'm here (I had asked for a single). Met the guy running the place (Jim) and he told me there's a birthday party going on, hence, all the people (too tired and not feeling sociable to check it out). When I asked if I could "check in", he said, "No, you're good," and he had a girl show me to the room. Very laid back here. Not knowing I wouldn't be in a single room (or maybe I am in a single and this was the only room they had available and no one else will be in it?), I didn't bring anything to sleep in. Guess I'll be sleeping in my clothes in this hot room. Oh well, I'll just (hopefully) get into my "backpacker" mode. I remember when I first heard the word "backpacker". I was about 10 and heard that Lisa Schaeffer was going to backpack across Europe. I thought that meant hiking with a backpack, and I was wondering how much of Europe she could cover in a month. Sounded like she was planning on quite a few countries and I thought either the countries were very small or she was in terrific shape and would be jogging with the backpack the whole way.

14:00- Happy birthday, Sylvia.

Had trouble falling asleep last night- got in bed at 21:00 and fell asleep around 2:00. Woke up at 6:30- it was noisy.

After a quick breakfast, I went to the National Museum and the Royal Palace/Silver Pagoda. As I was leaving, the guard asked me if I went to the Silver Pagoda. I said I did, and he said, "Okay, you can go then." Didn't realise it was a requirement ;) Then I found a quiet Internet spot and checked my email- will go back there tomorrow to update my journal (definitely felt safe there). Then I went to watch a movie on the recent history of Cambodia- interesting and informative. Then I had lunch, where I bought a small boy something to eat as well (rather give food than money). During the movie, I took a Lorazepam, which took about an hour to kick in (so I felt awful during lunch, which was tasty pumpkin soup).

The weather is sunny and HOT!!!! I don't think I've ever been so sweaty in my life (even more than when in Hanoi). Wondering when it will rain.

The local people are friendly and offer moto rides and books very often but are quick to leave when you say no.

The zipper on the front pocket of my purse is breaking again. Decided to go to the post office to see if they had some tape I could use. They did, but it's not really working. I keep holding the tape to the bag as I walk, so it doesn't fall off. I plan to go back to the post office to mail some post cards tomorrow, so maybe I'll try some more tape. Not sure what more tape will do, but it can't hurt. I can't think of any other options, other than to just leave it hanging open (already took everything out of that pocket), but I don't want it to look like a target- someone who doesn't bother closing her bag probably is ditzy and easy to steal from.

Back at the hotel now for a rest. Still no one else in my room. I'm feeling better than I was an hour ago, but I don't want to push it. Think I'll finish "Life, Univerise, & Everything" and then, if I'm hungry, I'll go out for an early dinner (maybe I'll try some local soup).

10:30- The rest of yesterday was a bit of a mess. I started feeling worse as the afternoon went on. Too tired to read, not tired enough to fall asleep. I stayed in bed from 14:00-18:00, trying to fall asleep and being really congested and having trouble breathing. Slept from about 18:00-20:00, and then again from about 21:00-2:00. Then I was up from 2:00-6:00, trying to fall back to sleep and getting really irritated at the non-stop chirping from some bird. Slept from 6:00-8:00, and then got out of bed and started my day.

Still not feeling great- really groggy and having a little trouble breathing. Plan on going to the post office in a few minutes and then have no idea what I'll do with the rest of the day. Maybe I'll do a 2 hour boat thing, if I can figure out how all that works.

11:30- Took a moto to the post office- love that way of travel. Decided to skip the tape and just deal with a partially broken zipper- it's not too bad yet.

Now I'm back at the hotel for a cold drink (and a Lorazepam) and to think about what to do with my day. It doesn't seem like many people are staying at this hotel (or any other hotel for that matter- haven't seen many tourists around at all), so I'll probably have the room to myself the rest of the time.

While trying to fall asleep yesterday, I thought a lot about local people in a place like Phnom Penh (or any city in a developing nation where tourists visit). So many locals spend their days trying to get money from tourists in various ways. How tourists have completely changed their lives, and how, if tourist numbers dwindle, they'll have to find other ways of survival. I also thought about "religious experiences"- how if someone has a hullicination or something, they spend the rest of their lives as a religious person. I can understand being a more religious person for a little while after the experience, but I'm surprised that they can have that effect for the rest of their lives rather than going back to their non-religious ways. And I thought about chemistry and how chemicals work with the other chemicals in your brain and how some chemicals mix well with other chemicals and some mixing causes terrible reactions. And I thought about what it would be like to see some Cambodian people who have little to no experience with tourists. And I thought about whether or not my insect repellant was working and the 15 or so bites are there because it's not working or it is working and I'd have 50 bites if I didn't use it.

I'm still having trouble breathing, which is really bothering me. Maybe I'll go to my room for a while and read. Hopefully I'll feel better later and can go out for a bit. When looking back on this trip, I'm sure I'll be glad I went, but right now, it feels like a bit of a waste. But even though the details aren't great, I'm sure the big picture will seem okay. I hope so, anyway.

Haven't taken many pictures- partly because I forget and partly because I feel uncomfortable taking pictures of people, especially when no other toursits are around taking pictures. Maybe when (if) I'm feeling better later, I'll go out with my camera and try to take some interesting pictures.

16:00- Still haven't been able to take many pictures, partly because I haven't seen much that has caught my eye and partly because I still feel uncomfortable taking pictures of people.

I decided to go to a fancy hotel for a snack (prices weren't more expensive than anything else I've encountered), mostly so I could be in some real A/C for a bit (although the wind has kicked in this afternoon, which makes it more comfortable). While there, I showed my problem zipper to the woman at reception, and she got a guy to do the wax trick on it (can't believe they had a piece of wax handy). So I should be good to go for a few more days- don't care if it's a problem in Hong Kong, since I won't be going anywhere besides the office. I also picked up a souvenir for Abby and a birthday present for Maxine (glad I got the shopping over with quickly) before taking a moto back to my hotel.

I'm feeling mostly better now, but I still think I'd rather rest than go out anymore today. If I get hungry for dinner, I'll go somewhere close. Otherwise, I'll just stay in my room, read, and get another round of bug bites.

I hope I feel well enough tomorrow for the 2 hour boat thing. And I hope someone here can point me in the right direction. If they can't, there's a tour-booking place a few doors down that would be able to help. I'd really like to be out on the water. Bet I'll take a lot of pictures then.

Forgot to mention the local people working at the hotel. When sitting in the "lobby", the girls look at me, giggle, talk, look at me again, and giggle. Wonder what about me causes them to giggle. Haven't seen Jim since I checked in. Maybe he's not around much or is around at night but I'm always in my room already.

10:00- Happy birthday, Harvey!

There are crickets (at least I think they're crickets) that chirp non-stop through the night/early morning. They're louder than any I've ever heard before (maybe they're not crickets but something I've never seen). Difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep with them around. I did get more constant sleep last night though. I slept from about midnight-6:00, and then dozed on and off for another 2-3 hours.

I checked into the boat thing, and it's too expensive- not worth it. So much for a planned activity today. Not sure what I'll do now. I'll finish checking my email and then think about it after.

11:30- Walked over to the fancy hotel again for some A/C. Really not feeling well right now I took a Lorazepam about 30 minutes ago- still waiting for it to kick in. I think I feel better when I'm distracted enough (reading doesn't help but typing up a journal entry does- maybe I have to be active doing something). Hopefuly the theory will hold true while working the few days in Hong Kong. I sure hope so, since if I get ill enough that I can't work, no one else will be available to do what I do. The actual auction will be long, but should be distracting. Still feel awful right now, so I guess writing doesn't help. Maybe the "doing something distracting" theory is completely wrong. Maybe I just have to wait a little longer for the drug to start working. I can't wait to get home and read more about anxiety- see why my troubles have nothing to do with events in my day and how to feel better consistently without medication. I'd like to refuse to be on medication on a regular basis. I'd like to think there are other options.

In the meantime, I still don't kno what to do today or tomorrow (especially tomorrow, since I have to check out but don't have to leave for the airport until about 17:00- maybe I can keep the room until I have to leave). Right now, I'm happy sitting in this hotel's air conditioned lobby while I'm feeling crappy. I'm still really congested too, which doesn't help. Maybe I'll read here for a while, until I feel better. Then I can take a moto back to my hotel and rest, read, and watch TV until I go to sleep. What a waste.

14:00- I feel about 50% better now, perhaps now I'm just tired and congested with occasional neck pains and breathing difficulties. I'm over half way through "Thanks for all the Fish" now- this one's my favourite (still is, although I like the 1st book a lot too), so I'm trying to read as slowly as possible, without losing enjoyment, to prolong the ending. I think I'll head back to my hotel now, although it's very comfortable here in the air conditioned lobby too. Wish I felt better for a day trip today. That would have been much more exciting than all this sitting around. But I'll just sit here and fondly remember my hike at Monte Generoso and the performance at the National Theatre in Weimar- my 2 highlights from this trip. I'd love to include the Tull show as a highlight, but I was just feeling too awful to really enjoy it. And I guess Engleberg was a partial highlight since I felt okay part of the time and when I wasn't surrounded by clouds, the scenery was pretty.

I'm wondering why every time I order tea somewhere here, I get Lipton. Do they not have local tea or do they assume Westerners want Lipton? Whenever I'm in a country and order something local, they seem surprised ("Chinese tea? You had before? You like?" Yes, yes, and yes.). They also seem surprised (depending on where I am) that New York has authentic food of their country available (sometimes there are many choices). And I didn't realise there'd be so much Western cuisine here. Fortunately, at least some of the restaurants have both Western and Khmer food. And I haven't been hungry enough to eat much of anything.

16:00- Still not feeling great, after a shower and some reading at the hotel, but I decided to go out and get a bite to eat anyway, since I haven't eaten since breakfast. I picked a French restaurant and just ordered an asparagus salad and some escargots. Maybe I'll do some Khmer food tomorrow.

It's been a little while since I've had an entire day of feeling awful. Usually I at least have an hour or 2 of peace here and there, but not today. Today I've been constantly aware of my breathing, have difficulty breathing, congestion, tired, and just a general malaise. Maybe things will get better later this evening, or if not, maybe I can at least fall asleep somewhat quickly.

I like this place. Even though I'm the only one here, the people working here aren't watching me eat. And it's fairly cool in here. And through the plants, I can sort of watch life go by outside- motos, tuk-tuks, cars, trucks, strolling vendors... I think I've seen a total of 15 tourists this whole time, and that's including at the hotel and the sightseeing places and the Internet shops. It's fine with me, but probably very not fine for the locals- fewer people to give them money.

I think my French has gotten a tad better on this trip. I read the signs in French in Switzerland before reading in English to see how much I could understand. Just had a brief conversation en Francais with a woman working here- that went well. And earlier this afternoon, I skimmed through a French magazine- read the humour page- understood the blonde jokes- didn't find them funny. One day, I hope to go to France before I lose what little grasp on the language I have left. No clue how or when I'll go though. This is probably my last by trip for a while, and I 'd like to spend 3-4weeks in France- a week in Paris and then a few days in various other towns (including a day in Luxembourg and a day in Andorra, just for a quick taste of what those little countries are like- yes, I know the distance between them isn't small).

Seventeen tourists now- a French couple just walked in the restaurant. And I'm about to head out. Think I'll stop by the Internet shop just to do something ith my evening that's not reading more of "Thanks for all the Fish"- I'm about 75% through it, and I'd like to save some for tomorrow. And using the Internet is cheap here- $1.00/hr.

20:30- I was feeling okay (and still hungry- that happens when I finally eat something- I'm hungrier than before I ate) when I finished up online, so I decided to pop in a nearby restaurant for some seriously spicy squid (another nice alliteration). Good thing I like the heat in my food- this place knew how to use the spices! So it was good, and now I'm full.

Saw Jim when coming back to the hotel and asked him about when I could check out. He said he wasn't busy and could keep the room until 13:00. So I can have breakfast, come up here and rest for a bit, and then leave my bag in the locked area from 13:00-17:00 (and I'll probably come back here earlier than 17:00 to rest some more in the "lobby" before taking a taxi to the airport).

8:30- Happy birthday Kim & Brian (since I probably won't write entries on their birthdays- the 24th and 27th, respectively).

I woke up at 6:00, went back to sleep, and had this dream: First I was moving back in with Brie (and Matt, since they were now married). The apartment had some stuff from when we lived there before, but we had to get a lot of stuff. The place was a complete mess. I was coming back to the apartment after buying some carrots, opened the fridge (the kitchen looked like Sylvia's, not like our old kitchen in Phoenix), and saw there were already carrots. Then Brie came in- she had just bought some carrots. Then we were looking around at the rest of the place, seeing how we could make it less of a mess. There were a few more details to this part of the dream- phone calls, weed, Brie liking what I did with my new bathroom... Then the dream jumped to a Jethro Tull concert. They were playing on a stage with a big fence around it, like a cage. The audience was sitting on the grass in front of the stage. I was right up in front with Andy. Then Andy disappeared. Turns out he was one of ten audience members to be playing the flute onstage during "A Week of Moments". I went over to talk to someone, leaving my purse where I was sitting. A few minutes later, I realised I left my purse and ran back over to where I was sitting. Looking in the purse and saw they didn't take anything. Paula was there and saw they left 3 notes on Japanese, Hello Kitty paper. She said the notes said to meet them at some intersection. I had no idea where it was (they looked like Japanese addresses), but Paula said it was right there in Bethesda (guess the Tull show was in Bethesda). Knowing my mental block of that area, Paula offered to take me to the meeting spot. We were going to walk, but when we got to the main road, we saw a blizzard was taking place- snow all over the ground and it was still coming down. Neil and Maxine were there and Paula asked if Neil could drive us. We started walking up the hill to his car, when the dream jumped. I was driving on York Rd. and it changed a lot. Now there was nothing original on it at all- everything was a chain. I was trying to take pictures while navigating through lots of traffic- that wasn't going too well. Then there were 2 cars parked horizontally, taking up both lanes, so you had to go around them on the other side of the road. I wanted to get a picture of it to give to the police so they would get a ticket, but I wasn't at a good angle. But then I was "driving" a cardboard box car, so I walked the box around to the other direction of the intersection so I could get a good shot of the cars. I don't think that's when I woke up, but that's all I remember.

Still have "A Week of Moments" in my head.

I love the smell of Phnom Penh. Since walking off the plane, the air has smelled like incense and/or hash. I think it's lovely.

My hair's getting long- can't want to cut it when I get home. Don't know why it's grown so much- I cut it a few days before I left.

13:00- Had some kind of fruit thing from a street vendor and am now having some chicken at the fancy hotel (can't believe the food prices here are the same as other less fancy restaurants- though neither are as cheap as the food stalls at the markets and on the streets). I'll probably get a snack near my hotel before I leave so I can full up before the flight and not have to eat the nasty airline food. Wish I remembered to take a picture of it on the way over to submit to that airline food website. I haven't taken pictures of any of the plane food (not that it would have mattered since they would have been on the chip that was stolen). I'll try to remember to take a picture of the Cathay food on my way home from Hong Kong.

I'm feeling okay right now. Maybe because I took a Lorazepam right away this morning rather than wait until it got bad. Or maybe I'm just feeling better today. Wish there was a way to know. But I'll just enjoy my alsmot-back-to-normal health for as long as it lasts.

15:00- I'm now at a French restaurant having a crepe. After, I will take a short stroll to see if I can take anymore pictures, and then head back to the hotel for my 17:00 taxi to the airport.

I finished "Thank for all the Fish" (which left more things hanging than I remember). I can read "Laughing Wild" if I have time while waiting for the taxi and probably read most of it at the airport (and finish it up on the plane). No time to read in Hong Kong. Then I can get a book at the Hong Kong airport for the LONG flight (16 hours) home. Their in-flight entertainment better be working this time. And maybe I could even sleep more than 15 minutes.

17:45- At the airport now (there's actually a Dairy Queen here- yuck). I tried to take some pictures today by standing far away and zooming- hopefully at least a couple of them will be okay. There were so many beautiful children I wish I had the nerve to take pictures of, but I don't know the protocol and am not really comfortable taking people pictures. Maybe one day I'll get good at that. Got to the airport quickly. They said to allow 45 minutes- it took 15. Plenty of time to read.

19:30- My flight's delayed 30 minutes. Lovely. Maybe if it's delayed even more, I can just check into the hotel to get my suit and then go straight to the office. Wish I could sleep now- I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll still be tired when we get on the plane and I'll actually be able to sleep for some of the 2 hour and 40 minute flight.

I'm leaving Phnom Penh with 49 pictures (hopefully a few decent ones), about half as many bug bites, and some incense (probably not as nice as the stuff I smelled everywhere and way more expensive- $3.00 for a pack at the airport- this airport's very expensive- $5.00 sandwiches, $20.00 books...).

I have a seat near the front of the plane. Hopefully the Hong Kong airport will be quiet (or at least many Hong Kong residents, so it doesn't take forever to go through passport control). And I don't have checked baggage, so that'll save a little time. I just want to be able to sleep as much as possible before the long work day tomorrow. I really miss my old energy-filled self, and when I get home, I'm going to work very hard to see if there's any way to get it back.

In flight- I think we left about an hour late due to nasty weather in Hong Kong. Forgot to mention 2 things:
1. I enjoyed the ride to the airport- getting to look at city life without being stopped every 2 seconds by every man, woman, and child (moto bike, postcards, some just holding out their hands...). I wanted to take some pictures but kept missing the shots due to traffic (like in last night's dream). It was nice seeing kids on their way from school and men playing games and more shops and vendors and, once out of the city centre area, more modern things (traffic lights, gas stations...) and of course all the people on motos, vans, cars, trucks...- wonder where they're all going.
2. I actually used an airplane bathroom. Along with all my other issues, my bladder's not what it used to be. No more 20 hours between pees for me. Fortunately, the plane bathrooms have been clean (cleaner than many other public restrooms I've come across in my life).

I decided to get the plane meal and just eat the bread, fruit, and rice (really nutritious, I know). Took a picture of it. I'm sure the website doesn't have many pictures from Dragon Air flights.

There are 2 creepy-looking guys across from me who keep looking at me and laughing and taking to each other and looking back at me... It was cute when the girls at the hotel did it, on this plane, it's kind of creepy. One of them has an evil laight, which doesn't help.

Later in the flight- No way can I sleep. The Chinese seem to like to get up and down and rattle around as much as possible on flights (I'm basing this on 6-7 flights). I sually like aisle seats since sometimes you can get a tad more leg room, and more importantly, get off the plane faster. But maybe on my flight home, I can ask for a window so if people in my row have to get up 20 times during the flight, they won't bother me as much. But I have to get to the airport around 8:00, which means leaving the hotel around 6:30, so I probably be too tired to remember to ask for a window seat. After working until some ridiculous hour the night before (I'm hoping not later than midnight), sleeping a few hours, and dragging myself out of the hotel, I'll be lucky if I remember the answer to the question, "Have your bags been in your sight at all times since packing?" or do they not ask that anymore? Don't think I've heard it in a while.

We're descending now. My ears are completely clogged. I've been so congested this afternoon/evening/night and I started coughing an hour ago. Telling myself it's allergies. I will not be sick for another auction. I can't.

The guys across the aisle keep staring at me. It's freaking me out. Hopefully I can lose them somewhere in the airport.

I have Tori's "China" in my head. It would be more appropriate when I'm flying home: "China, all the way to New York...".

3:00- My flight got in too late for the shuttle bus to the hotel and took late for the last train. So I took a taxi. The driver was like a Chinese Mr. Bean who looked like he hadn't slept for a while. Made me a little nervous, especially in the pouring rain. I tried to keep moving around, making noise, to hopefully keep him awake (he didn't speak any English, so I couldn't talk to him to keep him awake). Really didn't like his yawning or spastic turning of the wheel. But we made it. It's late. Have to get up in a few hours.

20:30- Not enough sleep. Had a quick breakfast (where the server remembered me from when I was here last week- remembered where I sat and what I ordered- impressive, but I guess I should expect that at the Mandarin). Work was good, but I was so tired through most of it (coffee did nothing). It is nice ot be working here in Hong Kong. It makes business less obnoxious somehow, even though the way of business is just as obnoxious if not more so. So I'm not sure what I mean. Maybe it's because people are more polite and the people working for us are more responsible. Plus technology works better. Speaking of technology, Cecilia gave me a mobile phone to use while I'm here. Wish I was here for a week or two- I could use it all over the place. Of course I don't really want to be here a week or two- I'd like to go home. But I actually don't have a strong desire to be home like I sometimes do when I've been away for so long. The main reason I want to be home is so I can feel ill at home instead of all over the world. But other than being sick, if someone told me I had to go work in Singapore after this, I wouldn't mind. Although I'd prefer Bangkok, so I could take an excursion to northern Thailand and into Laos more easily.

Oh, I figured out what I didn't like about Phnom Penh- you couldn't learn much about their way of life. There wasn't a museum where you could learn about their rituals (funerals, weddings, rites of passage...) and you couldn't really see their daily way of life (other than the people making money from tourists). At least on the way to the airport I saw a litle of the non-tourist life.

I'm tired but don't feel like I can fall asleep yet. Wish I could go down to one of the bars and have a drink. Then I could enjoy not only a fruity concoction but some of those SPICY wasabi peas I loved so much last time I was here. Maybe I will. I had the Lorazepam around 11:00. Maybe 1 drink won't be a bad idea. What the hell. If I start feeling badly, I won't finish the drink and go back to my room.

21:00- At the bar now. Actually, I'm in the quiet mezzanine area- the bar on the ground floor (where I spent a lot of time in 2001) was completely full. I'm having a Monster Mike- lychee liqueur, Malibu, pineapple juice, and lemon juice. It's quite good. And it's wasabi-coated peanuts, not peas. And they're yummy. I've had half of the drink now and still feel okay. I'll be sure to drink a whole bottle of water when I get upstairs to hopefully flush out much of the drink in the middle of the night. I've been waking up to pee almost every night for the past few months, so I'll be used to the middle of the night bathroom run. Like I said earlier, my bladder's no longer mega-bladder. Just had a flashback of drinking here with George. Not here in the mezzanine but at the downstairs bar and at Vongs (great view from the 35th floor)- they didn't want to let me in with my sandals, but it was a quiet night so they decided to break a rule. George was often fun to hang out with. In some ways, I could really relate to him. The real him, not the guy he put on. 75% through the drink now. Actually feel better than I did when I came down here. Can't believe it's working (knock on wood). Andy's coming up for a visit July 21 (Mike's birthday). Looking forward to that. Drink is finished. Going up to the room now. Hopefully will fall asleep before 23:00.

But one more thing: I just asked if the wasabi-coated peanuts were available for purchase. They are. I purchased. So my total (personal) purchases to bring home for the month are: Copenhagen magnet (either irritated that I didn't look hard enough for magnets in the other places I travelled or irritated that Copenhagen's the only one I have since it was my least favourite place), incense from Phnom Penh (hope the smell is even partially like the air there), and spicy wasabi peanuts (yummy). And to recount other purchases: souvenir for Abby, birthday present for Maxine, souvenir-ish thing for Josh, and something for Andy. And postcards sent from various places to various people.

Okay, bedtime for me.

22:00- Oops, one more thing: I was thinking about the magnet thing and realised I'm okay with just one from Copenhagen. I already have a Switzerland and a Hong Kong, Cambodia I didn't expect to find one, Paula got me one when she was in Germany- although it's from Berlin, but that's okay- I don't want to be too anal with the magnet thing- and I'm really not- I didn't start "collecting" until a few years ago, I never look very hard for them so I either miss some places or go to places where they don't have them (like Cambodia or Morocco) and I always forget if I'm "collecting" cities or countries- so I have Copenhagen and Switzerland and an "Underground" one from London... So I'm definitely not anal- I'm just not a collector (like all the people I'm around this week).

Okay, now time for bed.

June 27 7:00 AM
Listening to: Richard Thompson- "Mirror Blue"
Site of the Day: International Freedom of Expression Exchange
Interesting News Story of the Day: 'Watch Your Step' vs. 'Step Right In'
When the Allowance Falls Short
The original gay ghetto
Wachovia plans to branch out
Second helicopter crash this week in East River
It Was a Hole So Deep and Wide That People Stopped and Stared
Another Hit and Run in the Big Apple
_______________________________________________________________

Didn't get to sleep until almost 1:00 on the 23rd (24th), so again, I didn't get enough sleep. Work was another tiring day (and longer than the previous day). Jeffrey's son, Phillippe, was there since he's going to mainland China for work next week, so he came to help out. Talked to him a while on the 24th- nice guy. We talked about his work (researching economics in China for a book that someone important in the UK is writing), family, travel... I met him before, but he never seemed interested in talking- he kind of seemed snobby. Not at all. Nice to know. It rained almost the entire time I was in Hong Kong, but there was a particularly huge storm the morning of the 24th.

The 25th was an extremely LONG AND EXHAUSTING day (6:30 until 1:30 the next morning with only a 15 minute break around 16:00- I took my own quick pee breaks and just accepted that Ebay was missing a few lots- couldn't be helped- can't believe Jeffrey didn't need any breaks- he really got into a zone). Got 2 ocular migraines and had trouble seeing almost the whole day. That was a mess. And I had cramps too, to add to the mess. But the auction did really well. I got about 2.5 hours of sleep before having to check out and head to the airport.

The flight was uncomfortable, and I didn't sleep at all except for 10 minutes about 2 hours before landing. The guy next to me ordered orange juice every 30-45 minutes (wish they just gave him a few cartons)- he had about 25 cups during the 16 hour flight, along with a few coffees and cokes. He took up some of my leg and arm room. I was sitting next to the bathroom, and the flush of the toilet every 2 minutes was irritating- can't believe how often someone used the bathroom. And after 4 hours, there was a disgusting smell, so I tried to face the other way as much as possible (which meant facing the obnoxious guy next to me). And there were 2 boys in front of me fighting much of the time. Why am I always sitting around kids on planes? It's not like all the flights are full of kids- I just keep getting stuck near them. And before takeoff and landing, there were a bunch of announcements when they told us something involving "complying with the U.S. government" or "the Department of Homeland Security demands" something. No other country had all that nonsense- one of the reasons I wasn't looking forward to being home.

Had an unusually smooth experience with immigration, as well as customs and baggage claim. Then I had a chatty taxi driver on the way home. I asked him if I missed anything important in the past month, and he said it had been quiet but Billy Graham was in town this weekend. Then he went on a rampage about the stupidity of the Bush administration and religious extremists like born-again Christians- very logical and intelligent guy from Bangladesh. He also reminded me that it was Gay Pride. So I left during Fleet Week and came home for Gay Pride. I hope the Billy Graham people had to see some of the Gay Pride people- see, look at all the people having fun and not hurting anyone.

Got my mail- doesn't look too bad, for a month. I actually got a good start on it last night and also cleaned up most of my email too and did a few hours of work. I was pretty tired but just kind of got in a zone and took care of a lot. I'm impressed with myself.

Today I'll finish up dealing with mail and email and maybe unpack. Still not thrilled with being home but that's okay. I'm leaving on the 5th to go to Maine for a week.

Yesterday and the day before turned out to be technology days: fool with my computer, get new CD ROM working, install various things (driver for new camera, Photoshop...), start dealing with new website (more details on that when I finish getting it all set up), start editing some pictures (between the better camera and Photoshop, this batch of pictures is better than the ones from my old camera)... This stuff was fun since it all went smoothly. I also ordered groceries, talked to a few people, did some work, and did some music stuff. I did not unpack. Maybe I'll just wait until I need to pack for Maine. I don't think I need to launder anything currently in my suitcase.

Yesterday was going okay until I got a massive headache and major congestion around 15:00 (I'm sticking with the 24 hour clock- I like it better). I decided to get in bed for a bit. That turned into 7 hours. I have a lot to do today, so I'm just staying up now for the day.

They were doing some work on my floor the day before yesterday. No clue what they were doing, but it was noisy. But traffic wasn't too bad, so at least that didn't add to the noise. Traffic hasn't been too bad since I got back (even with all the storms). Is everyone out of town? The lack of a lot of noise is amazing.

The building going up where the Sutton Theatre was is coming along slowly. Later today, I'll be out and about and will see some of the other construction sites.

After I finish up some work and organising this morning, I have a bunch of things to do out and about: go to the bank, doctor's appointment, go to the post office, get a transformer for my camera charger, get a few things at the drug store, come home to put away everything and then go back out to meet David for dinner and then a Julia Darling show at some LES venue.

My trip in numbers:
1 month
5 countries
5 currencies (the Euro didn't help me out on this trip)
12 cities/towns
9 new passport stamps
6 flight legs
6 train rides- all with at least 1 transfer
2 boat trips
1 car ride
2 auctions
10+ days of work
2 performances (1 theatre, 1 music)
368 pictures
79 pictures in my possession when returning home
55 decent pictures
3 cheap souvenirs
1 exhausted person returning home but always looking to plan more trips

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