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...

Day 20

Well we never actually ended up leaving Ao Nang... Levi did end up finding me finally and we checked into a nice guesthouse right off the beach. Did so wandering around when I decided that I wanted to spend my afternoon at a King Cobra show... Levi wasn't thrilled so he wandered off to check out a mosque and go for a run. Meanwhile I was enjoying the thrill of sitting 3 feet away from deadly snakes while some crazy guy (whos been bit FIVE times by the King Cobras and is somehow still alive!!! Though missing a finger and has some terrible scars...) teased the snakes in the pit (and by pit I mean a foot tall wall...) making them strike at him. He started out with one about 3/4 feet long... then three... then put them away only to replace them with a 7ish foot long one... then a FIFTEEN FOOT LONG one! When that thing lunged it lunged up and over the barrier toward the audience, YIKES. It's funny, this would never happen back home... I love that about traveling... Most of the things we end up doing/seeing would be illegal or just never even thought of in the states. Afterwards I met up with Levi who had flooded our room (the shower smartly points right at the bathroom door) and got some delicious dinner. Then the power went out, go figure! Seems to be a common occurrence around here!

Today was lovely though (I can't believe I just used the word lovely... you pick up a strange assortment of words/languages while traveling...) We went to a geothermal hot springs which was pretty cool. It was like a series of tiered pools all about 42 degrees Celsius (aka hotter than hell) that drained into a river which was sooo refreshing to jump into from the springs! Then we went to a place called the Emerald Pool. After a walk through the jungle it was like a little oasis lagoon of turquoise water with a sandy bottom and a board walk around the edge to hang out on. A small stream lead to it and a small stream lead out keeping the water fresh and clean. There were a lot of Thai families there, the kids are so cute! A nice family that Levi met the day before invited us to go with them which was soo much cheaper than a tour! We came back up to Ao Nang and were debating about whether or not to catch a long tail boat tonight to Railay when we decided to just stay here for the night and THANK GOODNESS we did because MONSOOOOON!!!! It's crazy! In the last hour we've probably gotten about 4 inches of rain and it's so loud you can barely hear the person next to you talking! The nice lady at our guesthouse lent us an umbrella :) And the thunder and lightening is intense... I love storms :) We'll see how the weather is in the morning before really decided on our next move!

Caught an early taxi/bus/truck (think pick-up truck with an open back and canopy with bleacher seats) to the nearby town of Ao Nang. Levi wandered off to a church and I'm hangin' out drinking coffee and hoping he finds me again :) Next, off to Railay so Levi can climb rocks - he can't wait, it's kinda funny :) I don't blame him though, we're in the rock climbing capital of the world nearly and he's been lugging around a bag full of gear!

Krabi

Stuck around Krabi for the day... Think we'll head out of here tomorrow... Maybe Ao Nang or Railay... not sure yet! Did a lot of walking around the city in search of a rock climbing book for Levi... being in the rock climbing capital of the world practically you would think that something like that would be easier to find but nope! I'm going to try and convince Levi to go check out James Bond Island with me... Man with a Golden Gun was filmed there :) It's only 5pm here so I'm not sure what we're up to tonight... I had to escape the heat for a while so I figured I'd write on here... not sure if anyone (desides you Dad! Thanks!) is actually reading this though... tata for now...

Hm...

Speedy update... took a ferry from Ko Phangan to Donsok on the mainland. Then caught a bus to Surat Thani and another bus to Krabi where we currently sit! Long day traveling! Checked out a night market where a fun concert was playing and ate some good food... I ate a silk worm... crunchy...

I'm melting...

Still on the island... It was so blessed hot today I was forced to spend the better half of the day in the sea, bummer ;) The water here is so wonderful though, you can walk out forever on white sandy beaches and see the bottom forever. Before retiring to the beach we walked around town for a while before realizing that the power EVERYWHERE was out, hence no fans (which are very much needed!) Same thing happened last night actually... we were walking around town late at night and all of a sudden everything went black. So we did what everyone else did, went to the nearest store (which is on every corner) to get a beer before they got warm and then wandered the streets some more! Gotta love Thailand. Not much to report, just a lovely relaxing day... heading back to the mainland tomorrow morning... I can't take to much of the islands, I don't like feeling cooped up!

Party for the moon!

Made it to the land of partying for any reason that has to do with the moon... The birthplace of the full moon party, Ko Phangan - Thailand's 5th largest island. These people like to party when there's a full moon, a half moon, a black moon, a silver moon or really just a moon in general, it's crazy! Everywhere there's neon colors intermixed with tourist shops. Sadly there's not to much of the Thai culture showing through, Westernization and drunk tourists have taken over. We actually won't be here the night of the full moon party (probably a good thing!) but it's a great place for relaxing on white sandy beaches and taking a dip in the serene turquoise waters. The 'people watching' is also at an all time high as far as interesting goes :) Oh, and our ferry didn't break down at sea this time, thankfully! I think we'll stay here tomorrow night too, we're in the main section of the island, a thin peninsula on the southeastern corner called Haad Rin. Maybe some exploring tomorrow... Not much to write for now, just a quick update!

BEAUTIFUL Ko Tao

Off roading, sunsets and squid.

Who ever said that motorbikes aren't meant for off road adventures was wrong! Good thing they don't take them for a test drive when you bring them back... we pretty much exhausted ours and there may not be brakes or a clutch left! With only a few minor scratches and a pretty bruise on my leg we had quite the adventure. The roads on Ko Tao really suck due to the recent flooding. Most have washed away leaving deep ruts of sand with fallen palms, rubble and the occasional sandbag. Not that the roads would have been that great regardless but at least they would have been in one piece! They're also incredibly narrow - about the width of my car, and I have a tiny car. So, we explored the majority of the island on two wheels today. Discovered the entire island is run on diesel generators which is crazy to think... these people need solar power! You should see the power station, I can't believe it supports the whole island. No wonder the fan and lights in our room seem to have a mind of their own. I'll try and upload some pictures when I have more time and I'm not being charged a ton by the minute. Just finished dinner at a delicious seaside deck and watched the sun set. Stunning. In the distance you can see the squid fisherman with their bright lights on the horizon and a lightening storm over the mainland behind that. The squid fisherman cheat, I think. They use bright green lights at night to shine into the water which makes the phytoplankton come to the surface which then bring the squid because they eat the plankton. Not legal in the U.S. but there don't seem to be many laws here, if any. Anyways, we're off to a nearby island called Ko Phangyan tomorrow... hopefully we don't break down at sea again!

Didn't stick around Chumpon long. Caught a last minute ferry to the island of Ko Tao - paradise. We arrived yesterday, after breaking down at sea, to white sandy beaches, lush jungle, HOT temperatures and a snorkeling/diving paradise. Went snorkeling today which was incredible! I felt like I was in the movie 'Finding Nemo'. They fed the fish pineapple while I was in the middle of them and let me tell you, I'm way to tickelish for that! It was an amazing day on the water all in all. Just relaxing tonight and sticking around tomorrow to explore more of the island I believe. We're staying in Mae Haad and there's another huge beach called Sairee. Oh, and the TV show LOST was filmed here! Look Ko Tao up online, it really is stunning! Internet's to expensive to write more so this is just a quick update :)

Goin' south

Got a train south to Chumphon today, about half way down the Gulf of Thailand... it's an interesting town, sort of meant for a transit place to and from the islands. We're hoping tomorrow we can go check out Koh Tao and go snorkling!

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

You haven't really lived until you've been charged by an elephant while on a motorbike. Let me preface this with the fact that Levi and I reallllly like the motorbikes and felt the need to rent one again today. This time we took off for the Koeng Krachen National Park, aka, the jungle. We filled up with petrol and took off full speed. Just as a side note, I DID put on suncreen, SPF 55 to be exact and STILL got burned. Anyways, my goal for the day was to see and elephant in the wild and a waterfall. Pala U waterfall seemed to be pretty well noted and in the park so that seemed a reasonable destination. Flying through fields of pineapples, bananas, papayas, mangos and sugar cane we eventually reached our destination. The waterfall however, not impressive. Should have known, its the "dry" season afterall. We did get in a nice hike through the hotter than hell jungle though! Crusin' back cars kept flashing their lights at us... were ours not on? Stopped to check. They worked... Hm. Kept going. Apparently the flashing lights meant that there were wild elephants in the road! YES! I had to take a picture so we stopped. As I pulled out my camera, it charged! Maybe it doesn't sound to scary but when you're in the open, in the jungle, on a flimsy motorbike and a 2 ton animal with tusks runs toward you, it's a little different. Still way cool :) Again ahead, more elephants. Same deal :) Running out of petrol we stopped to fuel up and I spotted the sign for Hua Hin Hills Vineyard with ELEPHANTS! I made Levi go. Winding through rough roads, poor villages and roadside stands we eventually arrived at the vineyard. SO pretty... and there were elephants :) They actually use the elephants to help with the picking of the grapes and keep the barrels on the backs of them. Headed back to Hua Hin where I currently site in an internet cafe with Levi, stuffed from Singha beer and delicious food :) Tomorrow I believe we're catching the train south to Chumphon, a city made for transit to and from the islands in the gulf. Gotta check the weather and see how the flooding situation's going down there which will determine our plans for the rest of my trip... Hope all's well back home!! xxoo