[This is a bit out of chronological order, apologies. Will transcribe Day's 3-4 of the Nepal Tour in a while]

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I could not run back here fast enough. Out of the penthouse room I – not 30 minutes ago – laughed in my diary about in that, ‘the more expensive the place, the more trust they seem to lend to you’ (seeing how I was living on Nepalese credit for the next few days until my payment came in), past the motorcycle that summed up the tattoo on my left arm, past the hotel employee who is simply so sweet – his zest for getting to America almost bringing me to tears – past….everything.

I ran – kid you not.

The reason being in that somewhere between the beer I didn’t pay for and Kerouac’s ‘On The Road’* it hit me. My constantly growing dread about having to recall – seeing how I didn’t keep a diary, nor did I blog (!) – the early China years of mine for the book were finally put to rest.

‘The Shanghai [Exile] Diaries’ will be coming first. It’s basically written here, and if not here in my diary. And if not in my diary it’s told in the shows. And if not the shows, then the photos. Meaning all I have to do is fill in the blanks. ‘What the fuck has taken me so long to think of this is beyond me’ I wrote in my diary, an entry that holds more CAPITAL letters and underlines (sometimes twice) that anyone who’s not a 13-year old girl should be ashamed to admit.

I’ll write it and self-publish it. Who cares if it doesn’t sell, it’ll be a helluva lot easier than ‘The Shanghai Diaries’, which was to come first. I’ll find out if I actually like doing it. Learn from it. Have something to show if/when some publisher raises more than one eyebrow at my overuse of hyphens.

I’m excited. I sat on the balcony excited. I have good photos, I have funny stories and it’s all travel-based. Never mind that I tend to go on a bit sometimes.

Chapters? Sure – you could probably name them anyway.

1. Fare-fucking-Well China

2. Thailand

3. Bali/Lombok

4. Indonesia

5. Myanmar [Burma]

6. Thailand #2

7. Cambodia

8. Laos

9. Thailand #3 and Pierre

10. India

11. Nepal

12. Back to the States

…with a preview of Mexico.

I’m serious when I say this will be done before 2010.

My previous epiphany, while good – in that, I still was passionate about writing the China Tale – lacked. It was, as my author-friend, Frank, helped ‘You need to decipher ‘mood’ from ‘style”. Well, the style I have. I think. Maybe I have an impression of another style I like and I’ll find a way to work with it. Said Beat Writer called it ‘spontaneous prose’, which, to anyone who’s followed my drivel can tell you is right up my alley. Sometimes it’s dialog, sometimes sad attempts at being poetic, some basic recollections, – a shitload of random entries.

Whew.

Okay.

*A book that, although I love, refuse to take out in public when traveling, at it makes me feel cliche. And I hate feeling like that. Perhaps that’s why I’m here.