Wow, time spent in Europe was a whirlwind even though it lasted several months. On top of that Internet time was expensive (as with everything else) so writing blogs on Tribe pretty much got cut.

Another set of family issues cut our time in Spain short by a couple of weeks, nevertheless the whole wander through northern Europe and then into Bavaria and Switzerland, followed by some Mediterranean goodness in Greece, Italy and Spain went so very well. Rene sez that she'll finish her blog, so the details will likely show up there.

As for being home, I'm so happy to be here; the homesickness was becoming frequent even though the times were wonderful. We have so much we want to go back to.

I start work again on December 3, this time at Yahoo! It's a really cool position (doing my normal release engineering work) literally under The Demon rollercoaster at Great America. Yahoo is likely to experience some really interesting changes, so I imagine this might be quite a ride.

In the meantime, I've been able to spend some time working on stuff around the house and cooking. Rene found a contract with a former co-worker in Campbell, so I've been relishing the domestic role.

Some family issues saw us with a slightly hastier-than-expected exit from Thailand. We left a week or so early in order to head back to California.

Well-missed visits with friends and family occured and then off we left again for Europe. First stop was London for visits with some friends, some fish and chips, Spamalot show, and other great touristy goodness.

After a visit in Northwich (between Manchester and Liverpool) and my friend Richard (and his sister who bakes a mean last-minute shortbread and cake) we jumped on a train to Belgium and then to the Netherlands and have settled in Haarlem - a gorgeous town not too far from Amsterdam.

We'll hang here for a few days before continuing on to Hamburg, then Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I've not seen this part of Europe before, so I'm looking forward to all the new stuff.

There's just something about this place. There's nothing particularly Thai about Pai, but there's nothing that really isn't if you discount the large community of backpackers and western expats, but it's got a groove, and a cool one at that. There's this cool mix of typical backpacker stuff, cool rivers, beautiful hills, fascinating caves, some hot springs, and a complete lack of touts, discos, karaoke lounges, and "where you go" tuk-tuk jockeys.

It's a place to get stuck; in fact, I think we might just. Our mildly ambitious schedule that takes us from here to Chiang Dao, into Chiang Rai might have just turned into "fuck it, let's stay here and head back to Chiang Mai when we're done". There's still stuff to do -- wats to see, rivers to gaze at, walks to take, elephants to ride, and some amazingly good food (both Thai and western) to sample.

It's nice and warm here, about 36 - 39 Celsius during the day but pleasantly down to mid-20s at night, with rainstorms frequent in the afternoon.

We rented bikes a couple days ago to ride up to the hot springs. The ride was somewhat uphill but turned into a beautiful, if truly sweaty affair. Some disappointment occurred at the hot springs due to the outrageous 400 baht admission followed by the slightly hotter than bearable temperature of the springs. During the rainy season, the hot springs mix with the cold stuff to make a nice mixture, but now the cold stuff just isn't there. Even still, the ride itself was quite nice, especially when we were turned around and coming back into town downhill.

We've made a beautiful run up from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Song; a lovely town in the hills of the northwest of Thailand. This is sortof just a rest stop on our way to Pai, where I expect that we'll be doing all sorts of lovely things, if the weather holds out.

It's the very beginning of the rainy season here. Today, for instance, it has been raining off-and-on, sometimes kindof hard. When its not raining, its been hot-sticky-humid, tapping most of our ambitions. Our guesthouse has complimentary internet with the room, so blogging, travel planning & whatnot has been taking place, which is good since we've been neglecting it for a while now.

It really is a nice town, but the weather and laidback atmosphere really invites laziness, which comes easily to me under normal circumstances.

Rene and I are starting to see the end to our time in Bali. Our Indonesian visas are finished on June 15 and our ticket to Thailand is on June 12. We've walked, walked, walked, our way around this gorgeous isle with friends Holly and Heather, ate, drank, and indulged in wonderful merriment.

That didn't stop us from getting a little bit sick. Last few days it was me, now it's Rene. However, after nearly 7 months on the road, getting sick twice (for me) and three times (for Rene) isn't really a bad track record. We'll be in Ubud for the next 10 days, then we have a flight to Chiang Mai for some northern Thai goodness, before heading back to Mountain View, for some family-and-friend-time, regrouping, repacking and then heading off to Europe until our funds send us home desperate for income.

I'm looking forward to seeing home again but it seems so scary in some ways. The return of the normal life of a working-guy isn't synching with the love of being a total bum. But I must, so I must. Fortunately, I have a great person with whom and a nice house with which to conduct the process of "normalcy". In truth, I really don't dislike normalcy, I just like to leave it on occasion.

Fortunately, that time is still far and we still have many miles to go. I'm just thrilled about what a great time it has been so far.