One dozen Asia snippets

Things we have learned about Erin and her trip to Asia.

1. She seems to magnetically attract airborne geckos and other lizardy things.
2. It takes a few nights to learn to sleep restfully in a hammock.
3. I am not the only person who finds Erin difficult to go shopping with!
4. She can handle a whitewater kayak through Class 3 rapids after just a bit of coaching.
5. While she's not a fastidious packer (what? fold clothes? what for?), she's also not big on unpacking, so she's a reasonably tidy traveller.
6. A 14-year-old from a town of 600 in Canada can explore Bangkok, a city of 9 million, on her own without incident.
7. "No meat please" is a useful phrase to learn in Burmese, Thai and Laotian.
8. Four thousand stupas near Bagan make a wonderful playground.
9. A travelling companion falling out of a hammock or a kayak can trigger at least 24 hours of gut-splitting laughter explosions, and aftershocks that carry over even to Canada.
10. Our girl now has a taste for beer. And mushrooms. Though not together.
11. There's an Italian restaurant in Chiang Mai that serves the world's best pizza.
12. You can give a girl a camera but you can't make her take photos. Good things her buddies took lots!