08-01-08 LA CA: 0740 hrs. I got back to LA two days ago. It was interesting living in SE Asia for a month. It’s different than being here but not at all bad, just different. The last several days of the trip, I was in Burma, or the Union of Myanmar, according to the Junta that rules the country. The flight from Bangkok to Rangoon, or Yangon as it’s now called, is not very long but as soon as you land, you know that you’re in a totally different place. It’s interesting and sad to be in a country that endures sanctions. I don’t believe they are an effective way of dealing with political problems because ultimately, the wrong people are targeted. Once you get out of Yangon and head north, the roads disintegrate. We shook rattled and rolled all day, every day. The people couldn’t have been more friendly and regarded us with no small degree of curiosity but were generous and civil nonetheless. I have spent about a month and a half of this year in Southeast Asia and I must say, I really like it there. In the last two days, I have gotten at least 9 hours of sleep so things are a little strange and I am finding comedy in the strangest of moments but I’ll even out over the weekend. I can’t believe it’s August already.