Hey, Hey Girls,

   I got your e-mails (the missing walkman and the send off to Julz).  The   send off was very sweet you all.  Thank you very much, that means a lot to   me.  Does this mean that you were being sarcastic the whole time and you   didn't mean a single cruel word you said?..... doubt it.  Well my "Booo   Hooo" e-mail bragged about my success at finding accommodations, but I must fess up and admit that when I got home at about 11pm exhausted and ready to crash into a deep, deep sleep --- it suddenly became very obvious that my plush room with bathroom on the fourth floor was in fact directly above an all-night night club with music blarring so loudly that a walkman with Nine Inches Nails at full blast would have been more comforting and easy to doze off to.  Seriously, I have been to quieter concerts.  So I stubbornly stood it for a good half hour and then finally went down stairs to ask for a room without quite ssooo much atmosphere. Unfortunately, all they had left was a room at twice the price with air conditioning and CNN (you know I was crushed at the thought of moments of luxury) - so I jumped right at it and booked 2 nights.  Granted my life is CONSIDERABLY more boring and sadder with out you two, but having an excuse to pamper poor sad me once in awhile does have its perks.  Believe it or not, I bought three more sundresses and 2 sarongs today (the threat of laundry was rearing its ugly head, so I figured I would save money and buy new dresses rather than spend time and money washing the old --- gotta love blonde logic -- I think I'll write a book:  "How to Backpack in Bangkok for over a $100" -- I am sure that book has yet to be written (or believed) - I think it has potential.  Another B   it or Not..... Guess what I had for dinner tonight?...... a.) a salad, b.) vegee soup, c.) vegetable curry, d.) a mixed fruit shake, and e.)yes, you guessed it - a fruit salad.  Five course meals will definitely be a chapter in my "how to live for over $100 a day" book.  I polished off the meal with my typical deep breath and an "oh, Stuff Me", so don't be surprised if suddenly this e-mail goes bizurk (--Scotty, how the heck do you spell that word?), it is just me slipping into a food coma and passing out on the keyboard.

So........ I saw Monta today....... now if I were a smart girl   who didn't want to be teased in the future by Larry and Mo, I would just   leave it at that, but seeing as I am overly honest and somewhat of a   glutton for punishment (as long as it doesn't entail sunburns and mosquitos bites) ---- the means to the end were not easy......  Turns out that today (Monday) is a Thai Holiday and seeing as I have already bought an 8am ticket to leave for Kho Samet tomorrow and then I go straight to the airport hotel and leave soon there after --- today was my only day to find Monta.  Problem is -- all I had was her work number and "psych" -- nobody is there because it is some kind of "Buddha Day" around here so I finally decided to hire a cabbie and hunt her down.  Just so you know, all of our follies ARE my fault, because even when Frik is no where to be found, my days are still surrounded by a series of disasters and near misses.  So back to the story-- I called from every single phone booth, box and Buddhist monument in all of Bangkok every hour until about 3pm today when I decided to jump in a cab with her work address and get to the bottom of this.  So I asked around for how long it will take and how much it should cost and I found this small cab driver (aka "I could take him")   showed him the address and made him a deal.  Of course when I asked him if  he knew where it was, he said "sure, sure, no problem, no problem" -- well  about a half hour out of town, he fessed up and admitted that he had no   idea where it was and no idea how to find it --- surprise, surprise --   that's a new trick.  So we get to the general facinity (however the heck do you spell that?) of where it MIGHT be and pull into a police station for more details which is the first time that I am told that today is "Buddha Day" and that there is no way a.) that I am going to find this place and b.) that anyone will be there when I do.  So the Cabbie is ready to chicken out and take me back to town, but Hark, letters and "a surprise" await from Terry so I persist and insist that the cabbie drops me off.  Long, long, long story short -- I am going door to door with address in hand when some "English-speaking guy" (that's always a perk)  gets on his cellular, calls the exact same number that I had been calling all day to reach someone who had come in on the holiday (must be protestant) who then gives us Monta's home number. My new friend then calls her home number to find out that she is at her friend's house, he then calls her friend's house and talks to a very confused Monta explaining that he has a "foreigner" in his office looking for her.  The moral of this not-so-short-story is that Monta is an exceptionally nice and cool gal.  She and her friend met me at the shopping center I had been dropped off at and had the gal that had answered the phone at her office bring down our stack of mail. I know, I know this reaks of "high maintenance" and under almost any other circumstances I would not have performed so desperately and selfishly -- but love letters do crazy   things to the brain.  I hate to have been so high maintenance with a friend of your father's Scotty, but as you will see when you meet her, she is very cool and seems to be able to go with the flow and didn't seem offended or bothered by my S.O.S..  We all had coffee together and then shopped for awhile then I headed back here to my home away from home, the "Hello Internet Cafe."  Geez, I am going to end up in "Internet Anonymous" for this new little habit.

About the returning the walkman idea ---eeekkk -- that could be a little   tough to see Monta again, but tell you what, if I have it in my possession   I will send it to you c/o Monta so  you will in fact get a package from   someone who loves you after all.  I know you're thrilled!  The suspense   must be killing you.

So here I am at another crowded night at an Internet Cafe still daydreaming at the idea of a chain of Internet Cafes and pretending like I am not alone -- when I am SO alone.  No kidding, going solo SUCKS!!  I hardly slept at all last night for fear of the Boogy Man.  Bangkok is definitely not the best neighborhood.  Just to give you a little background on my suspicions about this area, on the back of my hotel room is a 12 point check list of "don'ts" which includes (no exaggeration): "please do not stay here with an infectious disease," "no prostitutes allowed," "no drug use allowed" and a few others.  It is a comforting thing to go to sleep with, really.

So anyway, I know that I have just consumed at least 10 minutes of your   precious e-mail time reading this so I will sign off.... but stay tune, I   am sure that I will have more "days in the life of Julz" stories to remind   you all of how much you miss being a victim of my contagious blondness.

So as you know,..... I love you girls!

Take Care, Happy Trails and as our parents would say: "Be Safe".

-The Other J.P.

   P.S. The surprise was a picture that Terry had painted of us vacationing together where I had never gone before ===== to the Moon. No kidding, he took one of the pictures of us together and turned it into a postcard of us on the moon.  It is really cute.  The Moon? Now there is one we hadn't added to our list of places to go -- maybe we should make that our travel goal for Year 2010. Family vacations in outerspace..... The saga continues: "Three Broads Above".