I am a LUCKY Man

Sawadee!

I don't even know where to start this one. In a matter of 14 days I have lost an epic travel companion, gained 7 new friends for life, almost lost my "snake" to a cobra, said a bittersweet farewell to a faithful friend, and lost my heart not just once, but TWICE in Northern Thailand. Its been a wild ride...

As always a quick summary. I left you guys in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since then Ive been travelling north through Laos( Vientienne, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang) and then back over into Northen Thailand, Chiang Mai. I am currently sitting in Stuttgart Germany, a funny story I will touch on later...

So Mica and I left Phnom Penh in the early morning after our farwell to Karen. We embarked on our nonstop journey up into Laos. We minibused and overnighted our way up through the Cambodia\Laos border, through Pakse, and up to Vientiane( the capitol of Laos.) 24 hours of straight travel was worth it. We reached Vientianne in the pouring rain, which weve been experiencing all the way into Laos, but I was getting to the point of checking flights to the coast of Thailand to run from the rain, skip the rest of Laos, and just GET TO THE BEACH. But like always, my intelligent sister persuaded me to to stick with it a bit longer and see how it went.

REASON #1 I am a LUCKY man.

Literally within minutes of hanging up the phone with my sis( ps Mom..excuse the long distance charge from Laos to California, it had to be done) the weather cleared up and the sun was shining. I spent the rest of the day exploring the city. Seeing the Laos versions of the Champs Elysees and the Arc Di Triumph was awesome. To be honest though, neither were ANY comparison to the original, but it was neat to see the french influence in the Capitol.

OOOO Champs Elysees!!!

Vientiane is located right on the Mekong river that creates the border with Thailand, so for the evening I spent sometime just sitting on the bank looking over the river into Thailand, crazy cool. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but the Mekong River and I would be spending A LOT of time together in the next couple days.

For dinner Mica and I tried to take a Tuk Tuk to a bar famous for its sunsets. We got dropped off on a muddy road along the bank and were pointed down the road...shoulda been a hint of what was to come. We ended up being the only white kids at a Korean BBQ house. Quite a strange feeling, BUT an awesome sunset. We were given menus in nothing but Korean at first and were served by a waiter that spoke zero English. Good thing my travel book had how to say " Beer Please" in Lao. We finally made a break through with our waiter and got the English menu. This then lead to the most expense meal I've had on this trip. 4 dishes each, including crocodile( check that off the list) and then arguing about the incorrect bill. Turned out to be a very memorable night. After searching for a tuktuk home, the one time there wasnt a tuktuk when I wanted one, and capturing this GREAT shot for Otter, we headed back to our riverside hotel and I headed out to explore the night market.

Night Market

Keep Walking Otter,  Ill be back soon.

I think Im hooked on bartering for things. I was buying things I didn't need at all just for the fun of price slashing. At the same time I also bought some MUCH needed things....

The BEST Slippers known to mankind

I take my random souvenir shopping as another sign why I am a LUCKY man. I went back to the hotel early( because I ran out of money) and if it wasnt for that I wouldn't have met the girls,Becky, Gemma, and Joanne...I was downstairs when I overheard the girls getting ripped off for a bus ride the next morning up to Vang Vieng. So of course I piped up, I couldnt break the travellers code, any penny counts. I told them they could get the same ride cheaper just around the corner, which happened to be the same bus Mica and I were on the next day. We ended up kicking it a bit after they bought theyre tickets, saying goodnight early and heading up for our early bus ride the next day. And what a ride it was.

This was my first taste of Laos country side and travel and I LOVED it. We drove through floods, were 3 hours late, saw incredible country side. One of the guys on the bus said it best, " There`s too much Beautiful for one country."

We finally got to Vang Vieng well after dark and our mini convoy( that grew from just Mica and I now into 8 after the bus ride) began wandering the streets looking for Spicy Laos. It was a hostel recommended to us by someone in a coffeeshop in Luang Prabang and sounded nice. She mentioned it was "rugged." It was wicked. Living in a giant Bamboo shed with a maze of bunk beds throughout it. Mica was instantly in love with the place, and Im sure I would have been too if it wasnt for the fact I was starting to feel a bit under then weather. Keep in mind I havent really been sick in well over 2 years, so when I had goosebumps in 90 degree weather while everyone else was seweating bullets I didnt have the best feeling for what was ahead. Going to bed in a cold sweat in a bamboo shed probably wasnt the best idea either, but Ill take the rough night and waking up with a 101 temperature the next morning as just another sign as why I am a LUCKY man. Jo, Becky, and Gemma werent totally impressed with Spicy Laos accomodations( the number of spiders ) and given my current state I was more than willing to move to a nicer guesthouse with the girls. We packed up and moved down the road a lil closer to the river.

I should explain what Vang Vieng is all about...TUBING. An all day riverside party at multiple bars along the shore. You start by taking a tuktuk up river and then floating down from bar to bar on big tractor tires. Each bar has kids that through ropes out to tubers to pull them into their bar. An all day event of drinking, sun, whiskey, women, and just an all out goodtime. Ive been REALLY looking forward to this my whole trip, so after popping some pills and getting my temp down to a moderate level I decided to take advantage of the sunny day and join everyone else on the river. See what this tubng experience was all about. UNREAL

Mica STOKED on life

I do admit I did try and take it easy, I didnt want to get wicked sick and miss the next couple days, but I couldnt resist. From the first bar they were pouring bottles of moonshine at you, beerpong, sunshine, then BOOM monsoon. Tubing, free liquor, and dancing in the pouring rain. How could it get any better?

Wait...it can. A GIANT SLIDE.

The best was still yet to come. Tubing back to the village in the monsoon was a blast. Getting back to town jsut after sunset wasnt an ideal situation, but it all worked out in the end. After a quick dinner and a few hours of Friends, yes Friends. All the bars play reruns of Friends and Family Guy ALL DAY everyday. My kind of spot for sure. We were all wiped from tubing so called it an early night.

I woke up feeling alright...or so I thought. I looked down at my foot and it was like this..

Ya..Kept this pic from my Mom for the time being.

A good explanation of my fever and obviously a small infection. With my good judgment I decided to take the day off or partying, start a lil cycle of antiobiotics, and hangout around town for the day. I walked around the city for the afternoon and it was like a ghost town. The city thrives on how drunk the tourists get, so during the day while everyone is upriver partying, NOONE is in town but the locals. I ended up at Namsong Garden rocking beers with the Norwegian man that owned the guesthouse. Just sitting back, watching the day go by and assesing life. I met back up with Mica and the girls for dinner after they got back from tubing and this is where my rough night in Spicy Lao payed off. The girls met 3 MORE English girls that night in the bamboo hut and met up with them again tubing today. So now with the addition of Hannah, Tiffany, and Jasmine we all quickly became one big family. We attempted a night out after dinner, but I was still pretty tired and infected and called it an early night..well tried. I stopped off at Jaidees Bar on the walk home and was stuck there for a bit and came home just in time to witness WWIII, the battle of the Sharpe sisters.

NOTE: Gemma and Joanne are sisters

Not a fight by their standards, but either way I was assured it wouldnt happen again for atleast another 2 weeks. So it looked like I was in the clear. All the girls and I had similar travel plans, heading north and into Thailand, so plans were made for one more EPIC day of tubing then off to Luang Prabang. It all sounded like fun and games until we heard rumors about the 5 hour trip north taking 18 hours due to landslides. These rumors were enough for Mica to leave a day ahead of all of us in fear of missing his flight to Bangkok. So I had to say farewell to my partner in crime since the beginning and now I was stuck with 6 girls all by myself...rough life right?

So off we all went tubing and what a day it was. Bright and sunny ALL day AND the first day in Vang Vieng I actually felt 100%. Tubing couldn't have gone better; rope swings, buckets of whiskey, the giant slide, and a nice 2 hour float down the river to cap it off. Too good to be true.

This should be on the cover of a Movie....

Races..

Look Ma! No Hands!!!

Just Floating Home...

One of the best parts of the day wasn't till we got back to town and I grabbed a snack on the walk home...

BANANA CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER PANCAKE

We all had a quick shower, went for dinner, booked a bus up North for the morning, and called it an early night.

We all met up for breakfast before our ride to Luang Prabang. Wow, did we not know what was in store for us. This ride was a PERFECT example of the "goodtimes" traveling through Laos. With an overpacked Minivan we headed off to tackle mountain passes, landslides, and GORGEOUS views.

Washed out the night before

7 hours and many good memories later we made it to Luang Prabang! We decided to give another Spicy Lao a try, this time it worked out WAY better. With a group of 7 when you check into a dorm you get the ENTIRE dorm room to yourself. Well let me restate this, I as the one guy got a small section around my bed, while the girls got the entire dorm. It was like a bomb went off of clothes and bags the second we walked in. I began to realize that traveling with all girls would be a little different than with Mica...speaking of Mica, he was still in Luang Prabang for another night. So we all had a mini-reunion and headed for the night market for a bit, cane home, watched a movie and said our goodbyes again. The girls and I headed to bed in preparation for our waterfall exploring the next morning. We hired a minibus and headed to Koung Si waterfalls with hopes of swimming areas and crystal blue waters. Instead, we were given flooded trails, muddy waters, CRAZY river currents, and spicy lunch. Think that stopped us from having a good day? No chance.

After the waterfalls we all came back to the hostel and made plans to head to Chiangmai the following morning. The decision between a 19 hour bus ride without reclining seats, a speed boat, or a "slow" boat up to the border had to be made. We were all bussed out so that option was out. The speed was a 6 hour nonstop ride on a race boat with a supplied helmet and life jacket crouched into a ball hanging in for dear life...so that is obviously out. That left us with the slow boat. A 2 day, 1 night trip up the Mekong River stopping halfway in Pak Beng. Sounds nice and relaxing right? Good views, good company, space to walk around, all sounded perfect...too perfect. All the "horror" stories of traveling in Laos did not prepare us for this...The slow boat meant slooooooww. We should have taken it as a sign when our boat broke down in the first 20 minutes after leaving 45 min late, but we were already booked in. We transferred boats and continued on. The views were INCREDIBLE. I've never seen a landscape like that before in my life.

But back to reality. The delay of the late departure and boat issues caused us to be so far behind schedule that we didn't make it to Pak Beng, our overnight stop, before it got dark. So instead our Captain casually pulled the boat to the shore, tied us up and started settling in for night. It was quite a shock. The girls weren't really too keen on spending the night on the hardwood floor, I thought it was funny, but MY main concern, which I found a common ground with Hannah on was FOOD. I have never seen a girl get SO serious about food so fast! It was awesome. All I remember was, " Ty, if we dont get food...they're going to have issues." In the best English accent I've ever heard! Becky was the saviour with Mars bars, and the captains wife ended up cooking dinner in the back for all of us. Things were starting to look up. We rigged up a couple mosquito nets, all snuggled up and settled in for a goodnights sleep. Youd think sleeping in the middle of 6 girks would be a dream right? But between Tiffs "sighs" to get comfortable and Jas' "ARE YOU GOING TO THE LOO?" you could imagine the sleep I got. Right around 5 am we were all rudely woken to the sounds of the ferry motor starting up. This impromptu "campout" on the river turned into one of the most memorable nights of my trip.

With a great rest behind us we started our second day of 10 hours on the boat. We all napped for a good couple hours then filled the rest of the day with Rummy tournaments and shithead( a great card game.) We made it up to Houxyai, the Lao border town with no issues and some great views.

Just me and the Mekong, No Big D.

We checked into a decent hostel with one of the funniest old ladies that Ive met on this trip. After dinner I was once again reminded that I was travelling with 6 girls as the evening plans turned into haircuts and girl talk....awesome.

We got up the next morning and headed out early for our "ferry" over to Thailand and had a nice uneventful ride, for once, into Chiang Mai. Ahh...Chiang Mai, the city I left my heart in...TWICE. It was love at first sight when we walked into Namkong Guesthouse and I set eyes on  Noo. She was the manager at the place and the sweetest and nicest lady ever. Gave us room discounts, free A/C, hand drawn maps with all the best spots, hooked us up with a great jungle trek, and even called me Tyguy...too cool. Our first night in Chiang Mai the girls and I headed out for a nice dinner along the river. Great spot, good food, and even better company. A great start to the night. After dinner we headed over to a jungle bar with the Flinstones as the house band and ended up racing tuktuks to the nearest Karaoke parlor. Which we soon found out was just a front for a...how do I say this? Whorehouse? Ya, thatll work. I think we were the only people who ever actually requested a song there and ROCKED OUT. We all sang a couple, but there was one standout act....Tiff. She showed a side I dont think anyone had scene before. Give that girl a few and she is a Rockstar!  Capped off the night with a songthaew home among "rabid" dogs and passed right out. The next day in Chiang Mai was a HUGE turning point in the trip. The arrival of James. James is a friend of Hannah and Jas's that came to meet up with them. This guy and I were on the same page from the first second, street beers, street food, and sexy pants. Yes, all in ONE DAY. Quite a casual day and night, we had to be up EARLY for our 3 day 2 night jungle trek.

While starting this blog I planned on including all the way up to where I was now...but seeing how LONG this part has been and the fact that the Jungle Trek deserves a blog in itself....I will leave you all here for now. Much love,

Ciao

Tyler

Elephants, waterfalls, ancient ruins, and river boats....just another day in the life.

Well well well,
As always, heres a quick little rundown of what Ive been up to the past couple weeks. I know my Uncle Ryan hates blogs, I think "scared" was the chosen words, so Ill make this as quick and painless as possible. After Bangkok I headed with Mica to Kanchanaburi in Western Thailand. AWESOME, after a big city like Bangkok it was exactly what I needed. The town was small with the river front focused on backpackers and travellers. The main focus here was HellFire Pass, the bridge over the river kwai, and a national park filled with waterfalls. Had a blast. We moved onto Cambodia after back tracking through Bangkok, and started out in Siem Reap. The 4 days spent there was focused on Angkor Wat. The ruins were incredible. After Siem Reap, we headed down to Phnom Penh, where I am currently writing this. Tonight headed into Laos.

ps...this may look long at first, but do not worry. Its just lots of pictures. Lets be serious..me write? HA

Kanchanaburi......What can I say. It is an ABSOLUTLEY amazing spot. After 4 days on Koh San Road Bangkok, I was more than burnt out of the city. Heading to Kanchanaburi was exactly what I needed. It was the SE Asia I wanted this trip to be. Lush mountain hills, back country roads, and the cheapest and tastiest Pad Thai ever. The first day Mica and I got there we did the unthinkable...signed up for an organized tour. I usually try to stay away from this kinda thing, but it seemed like a killer deal. Cheap and hit all the places. Why not right?

Soi Nok Waterfall

WOW!! Was I glad that I signed up.We headed straight to the Bridge Over the River Kwai, famous from a movie filmed here about the Japanese forces during WWII and what they used the POW for. Ive never seen the movie, but the bridge was nice.After that the real fun for me began. We went to a mini waterfall first thing in the morning and our guide basically said go play. Well Im sure he was explaining the significance of the area, but that went in one ear and out the other. I saw what I had been waiting for. The water was well, "refreshing" to say the least and of course I didnt bring a towel, but it was WAAYYY worth it. From the waterfall we headed to the HellFire Pass musuem and exhibit. It was a great museum and display. I knew nothing about the area and walked away with a new respect and understanding of what went on. Hellfire Pass is a specific location on the Japanese built railroad from Bangkok to Burma. During the war they built it to run supplies, but used POW for manual labor. The Japanese knew nothing of tunnel design, so instead the just blew large chunks out of the side of cliffs to make the way through. Living conditions for the workers was very dangerous. Mistreatment from the Japanese and horrible living conditions caused many many deaths. Walking away from the museum you leave with an appreciation for the struggles these people went through to build the railway.

HellFire Pass

Bridge over the River Kwai

The first of many waterfall poses....

After the museum we stopped for lunch at a local restuarant. Thai food is outstanding, but Im still gonna have to go with the best food Ive had was in Japan....Hands down. From lunch we headed to the next stop.ELEPHANT TREKKING. So much fun. Mika and I hopped onto our lil seat on the back of Full Moon, our 37 year old beast. She was too cool. Elephants are A LOT bigger than I thought. Just massive animals. After a couple seconds on our ride I jokingly asked our driver if him and I could switch. Within a split second he was off the elephants neck and helping me onto it....WHAT THE HELL? I didnt think that was going to work at all, but it did and all of a sudden I was "driving" my first elephant. Check that off the list!

After driving an elephant I didnt think the day could get any better. Boy was I wrong. Our next stop was the Death Railway site. Another section of the same railroad but this area took a tremendous death toll for such a small section. Over 800 workers died within a month of building. Harsh weather, cruel treatment, and accidents. Wow....going back over what I just wrote makes me sound quite scary. The best part wasnt the horrible history of the area. Lets just get that straight now. The best part was the train itself. Our tour ended with a ride on the local train all the way back into the city. A nice 2 hour ride. But this wasnt your ordinary Amtrak, Bullettrain, or EuroRail. No No. This was an oldschool out in the country of Thailand train. Mom, Im sorry but it was AWESOME. And look...Im still here!!!!!!!

Death Railway

We rode the train all the way and returned to our hostel to eat dinner, shower and get ready for the next day. Our orignial plan was to get up early and head to Erawan National Park, home of a famous 7 tier waterfall, but waking up at 12 and finding out the park was 65 km away, and closed at 4....caused a change in plans that couldnt have turned out any cooler. We ended up renting bikes and heading out into the country looking for a famous cave temple. We found the temple right before a storm came in, great timing. The cave was cool, not gonna lie with all the bats...lil freaky too. I never thought I was scared of bats, but in all honesty...I am no Batman. Those lil buggers scared the hell out of me as the dive bombed and attacked. Not cool.

Spulunking...

We got out of the cave and found the rain had cleared up so we got back on our bikes and headed back to the city. We took our time exploring the back roads and I found myself in the perfect SE Asian adventure. This was exactly what I wanted on this trip, what I pictured. Rice fields on one side, green mountains all around, unreal. We ending up biking A LOT farther than we planned on, but this lil bike trip seemed to be just the start of our bicycle adventures.

Thai country side

We got back home and just hung out the rest of the night, had to get a good nights rest for the early morning wake up for the waterfalls. I cant explain to you how excited I was for this day. A 7 tier waterfall with pools, man eating fish, and awesomeness....I was STOKED. We got up early and got our rides...yes rides. Mica and I rented mopeds to make the 65 km trek up to the park. What a long and awesome ride it was. Once we got to the waterfalls I instantly was in the water exlporing these "man eating fish."

Dont feed the monkeys, but let the fish eat you....

Man Eating Fish

So these fish are usually small little things that nibble at your dead skin...kinda gross right? They have tanks of these things in Bangkok as fish feet massages. In the wild though...A) theyre HUGE B) they dont just nibble. I jumped in the first pool I could find and was soon surrounded. But enough of the fish, who by the way, were EVERYWHERE, you kinda just got used to it after awhile. The waterfalls...ABSOLUTELY breathtaking. I cant even begin to explain how nice the place was. Huge waterfalls that you could explore anywhere and everywhere. Running through the jungle, jumping from ledge to ledge, slidding down rock faces. Perfect.

SIDENOTE: If anyone has ever questioned my purchase of my FiveFinger shoes( yes my dorky aquaman looking shoes)..the answer was found in this national park. Everyone is trying to hike in sandals and slipping and sliding in the mud but not this kid...running circles around them.







I could spend hours trying to describe how much fun I had in this park and on the drive, but I couldnt do it any justice. Ill let a couple pics do the work...

Mica and I met a couple people at the waterfalls and decided to meet up with them at the local bar..

And that is exactly what I did.

for a couple drinks. Which turned into one hell of last night in Kanchanaburi. Playing Blitz for shots, riding my new favorite bike, and a new way to open a bottle is the perfect summary of the night.

The infamous MASH game.

First steps into Cambodia!

We headed back to Bangkok the next day with a new addition to our travel squad. Karen, an AWESOME Irish girl, we met at the waterfalls was on her way to Cambodia as well and we all started the trek. We stayed a night in bangkok just to get the early bus to Siem Reap the day. It was a LONG day of travelling. Best part of the whole day was getting my Cambodian Visa done at a cafe on the side of the road. Sketchy? Yes, but hey I made it across haha. My first impression of Cambodia was great. I thought the Thai people were friendly, but nothing compared to Cambodians. The whole vibe here is great. Very touristy though and the endless touts for "tuk tuks" or "boom boom" get a little old, but you learn to ignore it. We crossed the border and got back onto another bus and headed to Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat. We all got up early and rented bicycles to make the 20km + to and around the temples. The day started off great. Sun shining. Me rocking my new pirate look, biking along through ancient ruins then BOOM. Popped tire. AWESOME. I was pretty rattled at first. Ok, Very rattled, but I just tried to laugh it off and just kept going. Popped tire or not I was seeing these temples. Right as it was getting to a point of no return, I got lucky..REAL lucky. There was a small fmaily business on the side of the road that did tire repair. THANK YOU!! This 12 year old kid changed the tire in about 3 seconds and we were back on the road.

Failed tire...

My Love for Coconuts is indescribable.

The temples were truly mind blowing. Massive structures that were built soooo long ago and done soooo well. The stone carvings were beautiful and so intricate. The thing that blew my mind was how nature has started to take back the land. We saw temple after temple after temple, so a detailed rundown of all I saw would be impossible, but my favorite temple was Ta Prohm Temple. This is where nature really took over. HUGE trees coming up through giant stone walls, roots running everywhere. So crazy. I added a couple of my favorite pictures below, but they dont so the area any justice.

Angkor Wat at sunrise

Siem Reap was a lot of fun, biked all day everyday and saw soooo many ancient ruins. Our last day we all got up EARLY to see the famous sunrise over Angkor Wat, the areas largest complex. Well, I came to Cambodia during monsoon season. Monsoons mean rain, rain means clouds, and clouds mean no sunrise. The view wasnt as breathtaking as the photos, but it was neat to see the hundreds of people who like us, came to see it. The positive note was while all these people were outside of the complex taking pictures of nothing, we got to tour the temple complex in silence. No huge crowds nothing.

Angkor Wat

Our last day in Siem Reap, NOTE: this day is also Bobbi-Jos BIRTHDAY!!, was pouring!!! Which didnt really bug any of us, we were all tired and a bit rundown after biking all day for 3 days and none of us wanted anything to do with another temple. So...what better way to wait out a monsoon( we had a nightbus to Phnom Pehn later the evening) than to post up in a Mexican restuarant, the closest thing to Las Margiritas I could find, and play Blitz for beers and margiritas for 10 hours. GREAT goodbye to Siem Reap, but made for a SHITTY night bus ride. The bus was neat, it was all mini bunkbeds down the aisles. Kinda cool, but not for me. Small lil beds that I didnt like to begin with, and I got the middle row, right over the rear axle. Any corner I felt like Id spill out of the bed, and bump...I thought I was going through the roof. Needless to say, a nap once we got to Phnom Penh was in order.

After a LONG night.

 Sleep till midday then got my game face on for a house party with Karen's friend of a friend of a friend..that she knew in the city. We ended up partying with this group of kids the entire weekend. Best part was the river boat cruise Saturday night. Unreal. It was just a 2 story party boat. Music, tables, chairs, and a ton of booze. Had a great time haha. How could I not? But the best part...the moto taxi on the way home. Got the fair down to .50$ for the ride home, AND stopping at the gas station for an icecream cone. Perfect night.

Riverside view

My guest house is the yellow/white building.

But besides the partying...Phnom Penh is a great city. Its the capitol of Cambodia, but not too large yet. Only 2 million people and LOTS of development going on. Actually kinda sad. The hostel were staying at, Lakeside Guesthouse, used to be the center of the backpacker ghetto of the city. All backpackers, all locals, just a big chill scene. But the first thing you notice about the Lakeside is.....theres no lake. The whole area used to be a mix of cheap guesthouses, locals homes, and cheap restaurants until the "development" started. a few large Korean investment companies decided to make a new city center for phnom Penh. Giant highrises, casinos, new downtown business area. The chosen site...the lake. The literally FILLED IN the lake. Its a strange feeling. Walking around the area where Im staying and you start to see the effect that a plan like that has. Its an uncomfortble feeling. People are getting kicked out of their homes just to allow more office buildings. Yes, I know this happens all over the world, I just usually dont see it first hand. They sand filled lake is quite a site. Theres still a fishing boat sitting in the middle, just left there. In evenings tons of local kids use the big sand park for soccer or other games. Which Mica and I actually got into one night, got beaten by 7 year olds...not cool. But its just a sad sight in general. The buildings are torn down, people are moving, or barely surviving under new rent costs and zoning permits. Crazy.

I had blast through Cambodia, but its now time to move on. Im heading up into Laos tonight on a night bus. Lets hope this one goes a bit better...Wish me luck and I miss all you guys!!!

Tyler