The count down continues . . .

Chiang Mai, Thailand. I smile dreamily at the blank computer screen. Even the sound of its name is musical -- "Chiang Mai" -- conjuring up visions of saffron-clad monks and monasteries, peasant markets, riverside beer gardens, hidden opium dens and Eastern bandits. Just three weeks from today, Denny and I descend into Chiang Mai, flying in by quick hop from Bangkok. At the hotel, we'll meet and become acquainted with a local guide and twelve other excited travelers, our friends for the following two weeks as we wander bug-eyed through the ancient kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. (Actually, Laos is now a "People's Democratic Republic," but never mind.)

I've visited Chiang Mai once before, five years ago. It's a beautiful and fascinating city. Chiang Mai's exotic enough, certainly, in its own right. I'm excited to sense how we're now treating it as the last outpost of 21st century civilization, a mere gathering place of convenience, before we boat across the Mekong River into Laos, pressing thence into the unknown.

I exaggerate, of course. Virtually no place in the world, sadly, is today untouristed. Apparently, even the camel caravans and souks of forbidden Timbuktu today witness trans-Sahara auto races. Thousands of Westerners visit Laos, and especially Cambodia, every year. The ruins at Angkor Wat, where we spend our final days of the trip, are a major magnet for tourists visiting Southeast Asia. Nevertheless, we will thankfully be away from those destinations -- the cruise ship ports, the casinos, the beach resorts -- that attract the great bulk of the world's tourist dollar. I deem us, therefore, to be "adventurers."

We'll travel by boat, occasionally by bicycle, on foot along forest trails and over towering ruins, by van on back roads. We'll stay in huts with ethnic tribal families and in river-bank eco-lodges, as well as in small hotels. Admittedly, I dream of weirder and more adventurous travel. I fantasize over Lonely Planet guides. I read nineteenth century explorers' journals. If Denny and I had the time, we'd visit these countries by ourselves, without guides. We'd hitch rides or buy motor bikes, sleep in hostels and tents. But we have two weeks. Life is full of compromises. I'm satisfied that we'll find this compromise to be worth every moment.

Meanwhile, my assignments at work seem to increase exponentially as the date for departure draws closer. The ever-malicious Cosmos seems determined to break my spirit, to exhaust me before I can escape Seattle. Hah! I am indomitable! I may find myself crushed beneath a stack of the accumulated detritus of two weeks of legal practice upon my return, but I am so out of here on the morning of November 16.

My loyal readers can expect a report on my return. Hopefully, you'll be spared a slide show. Meanwhile, however, I hope to find time to fire off a few more postings on subjects of more general interest before I leave.

Photo: Buddhist monk at Angkor Wat, Cambodia