Because it's a holiday and because we're at a beach town but can't visit the beach, we've decided to spoil ourselves. We have spent the grossly extravagant sum of $54 for our room, a ridiculous figure when you consider the last two months we've slept only in rooms that cost $10 or less per night.

Fifty-four dollars has bought us the best room at Bao Dai Villas, an old compound on a steep promontory south of town. The Villas used to be the private retreat of Vietnam's last empororer, then served the Communist leaders before being converted into a hotel. It's an old place and a bit run down, but you can't beat the view. We have long, tall windows rising the full length of our high ceilings. When we swing open the shutters we can see all of Nha Trang layed out to the north and a small fishing port to our south.

As I listen to the rain beating against our windows and look out through the palm trees to the beach below, it's a good time to think about where I am.

A few months ago, we met an amazing German couple. They were an older couple, maybe 65 or 70, and were from Berlin.

We were on a particularly uncomfortable bus ride through Guanxi province, China. Sarah and the Germans were jammed onto a two person bench seat at the back of the bus, and I was standing in the aisle. People and animals were packed onto the bus. As things got bumpier and the road twistier several of the locals threw up, creating quite a memorable aroma inside the bus.

Making matters worse, I was subjecting this innocent couple to some of my horrible German. I was trying to explain to them something about my family's roots in northern Germany. They could have ended the whole thing with a quick question in their perfect English, but they were polite enough to sit there patiently while I slaughtered their language.

Despite all this misery, the couple sat with big grins on their faces. They were looking around, devouring the landscape, enjoying every second. In talking with them, it sounded like they had crammed 3 weeks of activities into their 2 days in Yangshou, and they were now on their way to Hong Kong and couldn't wait to see more.

We talked about the places they had been and places they wanted to go. They were so excited to tell us about adventures they had had. Strangely, though, their list of places yet to go was longer than the list of places they had been. Most Germans their age have pretty much traveled the world, seen every continent, and were now on "round 2," re-visiting some of their favorites. It was strange that they were so excited about travel, but hadn't been more places.

Near the end of our journey, the German man looked at Sarah and I. He was more serious now. He looked at us and he said,

"We come from East Berlin. We were fifty-five when the wall came down. Fifty-five! We were old and suddenly the world opened up to us. But there is too much to see! There is so much in the world and so little time."

It's Thankgiving Day and I have a lot to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for great parents, great wife, great sister, great friends. I'm thankful for my dog. I'm thankful for John Madden.

I'm thankful for my co-workers who let me take this trip and for the new friends I've met along the way.

I'm thankful for lip balm, sun screen, my shortwave radio, and Immodium AD. I'm thankful China sells Oreos.