when in Korea...

Well, I survived the first flight! I:m now hanging out in Seoul, Korea... Currently 16 hours ahead of those back home. Weird. I have some time to kill but unfortunately they wont let me out of the airport... Browsing duty free shops gets realllly old after a while and I haven:t found anyone who speaks English yet, besides the crazy guy sitting next to me... I:m pretending I don:t understand him, I:ll be French for now... Also, sorry about the lack of a real hyphen, this Korean keyboard is really throwing me off. The keys aren:t what they say they are.

It was sad leaving Thailand. I:m really going to miss it. Levi was kind enough to take the bus to the airport with me before he jetted back to Phuket Town. I:m gonna miss him!

Well... I think I still have like 9 hours left... off to find something to do...

Don't make me go!

This is the longest we've stayed in any town so far, which is kind of nice but it was totally by default! We actually tried to leave yesterday morning. packed up and caught a minibus at the local market headed for Thaland, north of Phuket Town and closer to the airport. We selected the town for no real reason, other than it was a medium sized dot on the map which made us think there would be some entertainment and places to stay. Got dropped off on the side of the road, the sun blazing overhead and set off with our backpacks... Not much in Thalang it turns out. Walked up one side of the road, back down the other, got picked up by some guy who tried to help but the language barrier was just to hard to communicate, got dropped off on the side of the road again and ended up catching the next minibus that pulled over all the way back to Phuket Town where we checked BACK in to the hotel we'd left that morning! All in all, I suppose it was nice to wander through a different town for the morning... Checked out a new part of town, explored, went on a search for Thai spices at the market and enjoyed the night :)

Today's my last day in Thailand :( SAD! I'm not ready to leave yet... It's going to be so odd being home, everything's different here, and I like it. I hope I don't try and drive on the "wrong side" of the road like I've gotten used to doing over here... If all goes well I'll be in Seattle tomorrow around noon...

Set off to explore the town of Patong today on the west side of Phuket Island (it really doesn't seem like an island at all, just a big peninsula really...) on motorbike. Man, I'm going to miss those things! The roads here are crazy so it makes it that much more fun - super steep hills and really sharp corners. Patong was definitely catered to farangs (tourists) but seemed to have a slightly different vibe than some of the other places we've been... I kind of liked it! The streets are packed with vendors and shops that get up in your face trying to sell you Armani suits, massages, Thai boxing gear, neon clothes, fake watches, sunglasses... you name it, and it's annoying, but the vibe seemed fun. There were bars galore, more than I could count, and the beach was sparkling white and stretched on forever with hundreds of chairs and umbrellas set up for those trying to escape the sun, for a price of course. It almost seemed like Miami but not... Generally I'm not a big fan of the places overrun with tourists and vendors. Anyways, explored there for a while and then headed back to the east side... Not sure of the plan tonight, I need to live it up, my time's coming to an end :( Tomorrow I think we're heading a bit north, I don't know where, so I'm closer to the airport for the next day...

I want a burger,,,

First things first, I saw a baby elephant! And I held a Golden Thai Python. And we played on motorbikes again :) 3 things that make me happy! I also ate a burger... verrrry disappointing! Note to self- don't order Western food when in Thailand... I was just sick of rice and noodles though! When I get back I want a burger, lots of cheese, a salad and a Widmer Hefewiezen. And my comfy bed.... Ahhh yes. But anyways, good day all in all. Explored more of Phuket Town, interesting place. I really like the architecture... Really different from most of the other towns we've been in. Tried really hard to go souvenir shopping today but really just no luck, sorry guys! You wouldn't want any of the worthless trinkets for sale anyways, they don't even represent Thailand! Umm... yeah, other than that, not much to report at the moment! I think I'll go look for some dessert....

Left Phang-Nga bound for Phuket Town this morning... arrived about 1pm. Seems like a nice place all in all though I haven't seen much of it so far! I'm hanging out in an internet cafe right now since I don't feel to well but I'm talking to Dave on skype which makes me happy :) Miss everyone back home!!! Be back Thursday...

The name's Bond, James Bond.

Umm... I don't know where to begin! My times coming to an end sadly... I don't want to leave Thailand. If it wasn't for those back home I don't know that I would! At least not quite yet... I think I left off after our most recent kayaking adventure... The next morning, yesterday, we caught a long tail back to Ao Nang to figure out a plan. The New Years festivites were in full swing, it was amazing! Families loaded into the back of pick up trucks and drove up and down the streets armed with super soakers, buckets, water bottles and gallons upon gallons of water soaking anyone and everyone :) We jumped in the back of a sorng tao headed to Krabi but the traffic was so backed up from the festivites, vendors and people running through the streets that we were sitting ducks :) We eventually made it to Krabi soaking from head to toe :) Caught a bus up to Phrang-Nga, a small Thai town (kinda nice to get away from the tourists...). Found a super cheap place to stay and started exploring, after dropping off some laundry- WOOHOO! Ahh, the simple joys in life, clean clothes :) Not terribly much to explore but found a good roadside place to eat, really authentic which I love! Everything shuts down pretty early around here... This morning we got up early in hopes of jumping on a tour to Phrang-Nga National Park. Got on a long tail with a couple from Germany and took off into the bay through huge areas of mangroves. We passed dozens of crazy islands eventually coming to James Bond Island! (We were definitely tourists today! I just had to see it, I love 007!) It really wasn't as impressive as I was hoping I suppose... Kinda small. It's where the movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun' was filmed, James Bond's nemisis Scaramanga hid out here. Next we checked out a beautiful desereted beach where we explored a cave, similar to the one in Pranburi, went for a swim, ate lunch and relaxed for a bit. Chugged around some more islands and then over to a Muslim sea gypsy village built on stilts off the side of an island... It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere! Then saw some cave paintings and came back to Phrang Nga. Sorry if this just seems like the bear essentials as to what we're doing but this computer sucks and I'm doing a bunch of things at once so I figured I'd just give a quick update :) I've also been trying to do souvenier shopping but that's not looking like a possibility... there's just not stuff like that in Thailand which is actually kinda nice, means it's less touristy!!! so, if there's something that someone really wants, let me know! Otherwise, you get to enjoy my pictures :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Quick update... Ended up leaving Ao Nang yesterday and caught a long tail boat to Hat Ton Sai in the Railay province, home of the best rock climbing in the world, so I hear :) Limestone karsts jut up in every direction making this truly seem unreal. It's astoundingly beautiful. There's not to many people here but that's almost the beauty of it... Yesterday we explored our beach which didn't take to long and then discovered a trail leading over the rock to Railay East, a more ritzy resort type of place... Neat to explore. Headed back over to Ton Sai to enjoy some delicious food and beer (I do love the Thai beer...) and just chilled for a while.

This morning we woke early, to go kayaking! (I should mention that the place we're staying in is pretty primative, I kinda like it. It's a thatched hut with parts of a metal roof, yes parts, and grass sides. The shower's half open to the outside and we only have electricity from dusk until dawn.) Met a guy at breakfast from Denver and he tagged along with us... Kayaked all along the peninsula to the West side of Railay which was so beautiful the whole way. We discovered uninhabited beached without a soul in sight and amazing rock islands with the top being twice the size as the bottom. Can you say paradise?! Stopped at one beach that had an abundance of long tails and people flocking at one end... had to see what the big deal was. Apparently it was a shrine to the princess and the shrine was made up of hundreds of statues of male genitalia. To funny :) Anyways... I forgot to mention the biggest point of the day...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! It's now 2555!!!

In Thailand they start their years with the Age of Buddha... In celebration they throw water on everyone. Squirt guns are sold EVERYWHERE and you WILL get wet :) It's kinda fun! The kids are so cute running around trying to coyly squirt you.

After returning from kayaking we've honestly just been relaxing for the rest of the day... sitting down on the water at a little restaurant people watching, reading, trying to figure out our next move and running for cover when a monsoon desides to dump :)

Off to dinner soon... I'm a bottomless pit and need fed constantly :) Hope all's well back home! My trips coming to an end soon... be back the 21st... It will be weird, I'll be going back in time... I leave here right after midnight (my time) on the 21st and arrive in Seattle around noon on the 21st but will have been traveling for well over 24 hours... crazy...