So on the left is Mark Thornburg, in a kick-ass yellow Beer Lao t-shirt that had me green with envy all day long. Where can I get one of those?

Anyway, Mark is on a 1-year tour in Islamabad, Pakistan and is on a 2 week R&R in Thailand. However, given the one flight per week from Islamabad to Bangkok, he arrived 3 days before his friend he's meeting up with, so he headed to Vientiane. Wow, that was long and unnecessary.

Suffice it to say that Mark was in the 121st A-100 (I was 119, so he was two behind me, but we were at FSI at the same time) and I got to know him somewhat during our regular poker games back in DC. I would say he was an acquaintence before, but after his very short visit here, I would definitely call him a friend. Great guy, Mark. He will attest to the fact that a monkey was riding a weiner dog, so he gets extra marks for that.

So today Mark, Jon (on the right, Health Frontiers volunteer Pediatrician) his wife Rose (HF, internal medicine) and Erin went on yet another fantastic bike ride. Basically the same as we did before. Behind us is a tobacco field and a village in the distance. 3.5 hours this time. It was great. If you look closely, you can see the man tending his field between Jon and me.