Final days with Carrie

I'm sitting on the balcony of our little $10 a night guesthouse, which is located down one of the small alleyways in Hanoi. Carrie and each have a single bed with a sky blue comforter and pillow. We've made a small mess of the room in our last days together, filling all the empty space with Chinese lanterns, Vietnamese coffee filters, made-to-order clothing, Keen sandals, a wine bottle and various other treasures.

I know that Carrie's getting ready mentally to be going home to Portland, as things are piling up that need to be addressed by her, so she'll be busy when she gets back. I'll be on another path.

We're flying back together to Bangkok on Tuesday. She'll continue on through Korea to Portland. I'll get off and jump on the rails overland through Northern Thailand to Laos. I don't really fancy getting into another border crossing like our Thailand-to-Cambodia adventure and the easiest crossing is the Friendship bridge from Nong Khai in Thailand with Vientiane in Laos, so I'm going to take my time getting there. After that, I'm not sure what'll be next.