Excited? Yes, Siam

It's been a splendidly uneventful couple of days, and I'm really enjoying it. The most productive thing I've done is purchase a Lonely Planet guidebook for Southeast Asia (those Lonely Planet books are FANTASTIC). John and I are planning to make a whirlwind trip through the region this winter, as he has a break between semesters and I get time off from my research schedule for the holy festival of Eid. I'll be glad to get out of the country that week, as it is the annual mass cow slaughter in the middle of Dhaka city. I was in the country last year on Eid, and it was far from vegan-friendly. Anyway, this travel opportunity is like a dream come to for me, since John and I both have great appreciation for and fascination with Southeast Asian political, social, and cultural history. In fact, we first met in a Southeast Asian politics class in college (awwwww). I think we're planning on hitting up Thailand (hopefully we'll get out of the heavily-Western influenced city of Bangkok and out into the countryside), Cambodia to see the great temples of Angkor Wat, and hopefully some part of Indonesia...we'll have to decide which one of the country's 14,000 islands to check out. Here's a useful trivia fact by the way: Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population on earth. The second? You'll never guess. Hint: It's the home of the Taj Mahal.

Well enough IR 101 for now. Champagne wishes...