Rabbit rabbit!

Happy Halloween! My Jamaican cab driver, leaving New York, said the most frightening costume he could think to dress up as would be the US Economy. I wonder if mrc will do it... I hope so! Even thought it's the first here, I didn't want to pass up the chance to wish you all a good time tonight. AND, I might add to cdr: I totally beat you this month, even if time is on my side :0)

I'm trying to absorb the tranquility offered here in Bor Sang today, since I know the rest of the trip will be much more action packed. Amongst the myriad birds and jungle sounds I can't help but indulge in some Wordsworth, I'll share the two I enjoy here and here.

Leaving here also means that I won't have easy or free internet access, so I will be on more sparsely... probably not until after the election! We will be in Laos by then, and are hoping to be up early Wednesday morning to watch it live. I've been reading a few papers, usually a day late, including The Bangkok Post, and the Herald Tribune. Yesterday, in the latter, there was an article about an anti-pornography bill passed in Indonesia that limits any act that could be interpreted as arousing, including public gestures, poetry, and drawings.

Also, in the same issue, an article noted that this week in South Korea a bill passed making adultery a jailable offense; on the same day a bill passed upholding the current law that only the legally blind can be practising masseuers. These two articles, while not surprising, made me think about how fortunate we are in the United States to have our freedoms, to speech and pursuit of happiness without the governement dictating what that can mean. It also made me all the more concerned about certain laws posing a threat to our freedoms as American citizens, and the importance of the seperation between church and state. We are so fortunate to have these rights, and the right to say we want a change is priceless in itself. Nothing new, but continually resonant, regardless.

Happy November, be safe tonight, and I'll be thinking of you on the Mekong.