My new tent, which I got through a friend in California. Not a true field test, but it will have to do for now.

As expected, nothing unexpected so far at the conference. It's been great. So many great ideas, and technologies that are are will soon be. It kind of boggles the mind a bit, and leaves one a bit overwhelmed. But the schedule is predictable, and calm, and I think I'm catching up a bit on my rest.

I'm tired, I have a headache, and my butt is sore from what is now literally days of sitting on planes. You might have noted that I just got back from Burma a few days ago. That was followed by a weekend at home in bed with travellers diarrhea. I did manage to get my laundry done, and throw a few things back into my luggage and pile into another plane this morning. After the doors closed I discovered that the Toronto airport as part of their 'noise abatement' strategy, does not allow planes to take off before 6:30 am. But my flight was still scheduled for 6 am? How does that make any sense? So we sit there for a half hour until the pilot can get permission to take off. This made me even grumpier thinking about how I had to get up at 2:15 this morning so I could sit on the runway for the sake of noise abatement. Every so often I run into someone who tells me how they love what I do, and really wish they had a job like mine. And true, in the grand scheme of things, I love my job, and appreciate very much the privilege it is to do and see the things I get to do and see, but this is one of those days folks. One of those days. At least I'm going to a conference, where there will be nothing unexpected. No crazy third world schedule changes, no failures of electricity, no menacing microbes in the water, no scary unstable governments, no threat of mugging or car-jacking, no deadly mosquitoes floating around in the dead of night. The worst thing I will have to deal with will probably be too much air-conditioning.

Watershed training was the main activity that I was here for although there was plenty else going on during the week. This is a workshop participant sketching a map of his watershed. Everyone was divided into groups by watershed and worked the entire time together. In the end each group came up with a plan for their area as a practical exercise. So much could and can happen in this country in the next few years. It's kind of chaotic and a bit scary to me, but hopefully when everything settles out things will end up in the plus column.

Gold mining has become a big deal apparently in the past 5 years or so. Mostly companies although some local prospecting also takes place. Local folk get little benefit, and only seem to have to cope with the ensuing evironmental fall-out.

A village in Mon State on the eastern side of the country. Just one year ago or so, this was a restricted area due to fighting between local rebel groups and the army. One of my Thai colleagues said it's like Thailand 40 or 50 years ago. It's kind of like this place has been frozen in time and now they're thawing out in the summer heat. Speaking of heat, did I mention how hot it has been here? 35-40 degrees. I've been drinking water like crazy, litres and litres.

Close call this morning. When I  went to grab  my toothbrush, I knocked the toothbrush holder out and it started to fall into the toilet. I thought, "Oh man, that's the end of that holder." But then it bounced off the edge of the seat, and bounced across to the other seat, and then miraculously bounced back up into the air where I was able to snag it. Phew.

Early day today. Up at 4. Will be on the road at 5. I am told it is a 5 or 6 hour drive to our destination and I'm warned that part of the road will be quite bad. "Jungle road" was the exact term used. I don't get much occasion to travel jungle road, but I've had numerous trips where I was warned about the road, and it turned out to be not so bad. I've seen a lot of terrible roads. My standard is still a road in the central plateau of Haiti where every time I drove it, there was a point where I would stop, get out of the vehicle, look at the rocks in front of me and ask myself if I had ever driven over this before and why. Still I'm excited about jungle road.

I am here! Didn't think it was going to happen this morning. Long story. Anyhow lots of exciting things happening here. This I think is really the place to be right now as this calender in my hotel attests to. For lack of a better way to put it, it's a great time to be alive I think.

Two great things about Thailand (there are many): chillis and ice coffee.

If you haven't been here, chilis appear in just about everything. You know how in Toronto if you ask for something spicy they might put maybe a half a green pepper in something and you still have to add hot sauce? If you're a pepper addict you know what I'm talking about. Well here, spicy is just about regular and if you ask for something spicy it might put it over the top. Plus on every table in every restaurant there's a container with chopped green chilis in vinegar, chopped green chilis in fish sauce, crushed dried chilis. Really it's a dream come true.

The other thing is iced coffee. I know that in the past few years iced coffee has become a thing, but it was a thing here long before it was a thing everywhere else. Plus it's dispensed on almost every corner. Between capsaicin and  caffeine, I spend most of my time here in a state of over-stimulation.

Last night I went the the famous 'night bazaar' here, which is one the biggest and best craft markets I have seen anywhere.  You can get just about anything you want from cheesy  t-shirts, to exquisite wood carvings. This time I also noticed a booth selling real estate. I barely buy souvenirs anymore unless I see something really great.

Well today is a  big travel day. To an uncertain destination. I suppose I am speaking metaphorically, but I also mean this geographically. If I was speaking metaphorically I could probably say that every day.

It's hot. So hot locals are saying it's hot. So hot the water coming out of the tap is hot. Not desert hot I suppose, but warmer than I would like it. Luckily I'm staying in a place for the next couple of nights with some sort of A/C which is bringing the temperature down from 'sauna' to 'just-slightly-more-than-comfortable'.

I'm in an airline airport lounge drinking free espresso and working on my laptop. Which pretty much everyone else around me is either on their smartphone or some kind of tablet device. Just 2 or 3 years ago, most would have been on laptops with a handful on phones in a similar scenario. Now I feel like some sort of brontosaurus pounding away on my keyboard with large hoof-like appendages.

I'm a little bit nervous about this trip, for reasons that I can't get into in much detail. If I tell you it's a question of paperwork I hope that will suffice and that I am  hoping it is favourably resolved soon. I will keep you posted as much as I can.

On a different note, when I was passing through customs in Europe, the officer said very little except,
 "Travel a lot?"
"Yes." my somewhat weary answer.
And  that was the entire sum of our conversation.