It's not goodbye, just see ya later!

My last day in Thailand went pretty well. I started the day off bright and early and went to a floating market. I once again felt like I was a adopted kid no one cared about because I was passed off to different vans before finding the right one who wanted the solo traveler. Perfect. So after our hour and a half drive we made it and drove around on a long tail speed boat. It was like walking down a normal market except on a boat, the vendors still yelled at you to buy their souvenirs. I enjoyed it though, it was cool and there were plenty of boats selling food and produce which was interesting. After my tour I walked around a bit and stumbled upon two baby elephants! They had some owners of course but they were so cute and the baby elephant grabbed a bag of whatever it was their owners had to feed them and passed me it. She/he was so cute I couldn't resist buying a bag and feeding it. I loved every second of it, probably one of my most favorite moments of my trip! I love elephants. After I went to a cobra show and it was amazing. They showed how dangerous the python is, I never knew its teeth were so sharp. Also they demonstrated how the mongoose is a danger to snakes, he kills them and eats them. Finally for the finale they had one man vs. 3 poisonous snakes. I can't remember what their names were but they were striped black and yellow and just looked straight up dangerous. He caught two with his hands and one with his mouth! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, I hate snakes. I was worried one would get bored with the show and slither over to the wall and climb over. Thankfully that didn't happen.

It's now 330 in the morning and I am going to grab some food and weigh my bag. Oh oh. Its madness, the music is still pumping and drunks are stumbling throughout the streets. The morning I arrived, at 5 am, people were still partying. No one sleeps until the sun comes up. I am sad to leave my adventure here in Asia, although it isn't quite done yet. I have to make my forty minute layover in Tokyo! Going to be an interesting day, if I don't sleep until I get home it will make for over 24 hours awake. Hopefully I make the layover and all goes well and the airplane food is decent..

Shop till you drop!

I crashed pretty early last night on account of being up nearly the entire night because of the wild ride. I woke up bright and early and enjoyed my free breakfast and lounged by the pool and read my book for a while. Finally I decided I should do something other then be a bag of lazy bones. So what do I do? Grab my wallet and a cab and head to the local weekend market of course!

I completely underestimated everything I had heard about this market. It had to be at least 3 city blocks in size and i managed to cruise through one third of it I think. I went at 12 and left at 530. My feet are exhausted. Here is a interesting tid bit. I have gone through 4 pairs of sandals on this trip so far. The first pair completely wore out and the next pair got stolen. The pair after that just vanished, I doubt anyone would have wanted to steal them, and my last most recent pair wore down to nothing pretty  much. The sole of one of them had fallen off completely regardless of my attempts to super glue it back on. But that was an excuse to purchase another pair today, right?

Once I had my fill of the market and wall to wall people I just started walking in one direction hoping to come to a road so I could catch a cab. I came across a man selling puppies in a cage in the middle of the walkway. He had so many puppies in this cage and of all shapes and sizes. There was a little baby pug that I nearly bought, 6000 baht. Which happens to be only 200 dollars! He stole my heart right then and there. I decided against it because once back in Canada both the dog and I would most likely be without a home.

20 minutes later I managed to find a road but no cab driver seemed interesting in taking me to my destination. Every car I approached and asked to take me to Khaosan road, said no. Finally one guy agreed to take me. Although he almost forgot to start the meter. And then made me cough up 45 baht for a highway fee. And then, he took me to the wrong place. I really managed to find a winner of a cab driver. My total cab fee was 125 baht and I didn't have that so I gave him 525 and said change. He grabbed the money, stuffed it in his shirt and told me Khaosan road! I looked down the street and back at him and just thought wow you are crazy. He was not giving me my 400 baht change! I was not budging from his car and I told him that. He started out by giving me 300 back and I said no I want my money back and I will get change! Finally he coughed up another 90 and just kept pretending he magically knew no more English. What a guy.

It turns out I was only a ten minute walk from my hotel after a friendly local directed me in the right way to Khaosan road. Now I plan to investigate my inventory and pack it all up. Tomorrow I have to get up bright and early and we go on a tour to the local floating market. It is more of a tourist sight than a shopping sight, which I am thankful for because I doubt my bag can handle much more. It will be interesting to see what it weighs at the airport. It is only a 55 liter backpack and if I managed to overfill it enough to make it overweight I will almost be impressed with myself. Because only I, the queen of shopping, would be able to manage that. Although I think my mother could give me a run for my money. But like they say, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Rooftop pool, free breakfast, great location - life is good :)

I made it to Bangkok in one piece! The bus ride was interesting, my day started out great though. I enjoyed the beach one last day and then hung out at the hotel waiting for my shuttle to the bus station. While I was waiting I met a young kid who didn't look much older than me. We started talking and he turned out to be from London but he left home when he was 15. He has been to over 20 countries and that blew my mind! He then told me he just came from China, where he had been living for 1 year. Well of course I am curious how he supports himself and all this traveling, and I got a interesting answer. It turns out he is a "hustler". I didn't ask anymore about that. Then he told me he is a DJ as well and got paid a ton of money in the UK but blew it all. He only worked illegal clubs too, no legal normal clubs, the kind where you can get every drug imaginable. I took this as my cue to discontinue conversation with the kid and put some space between us.

I met another dude who was Irish and living in Australia. He had been traveling for 3 weeks and had a bag the size of my carry on backpack. Speaking of backpacks, mine might actually be close to overweight. He even agreed and nearly fell over when he offered to carry it to the van and I gladly let him. Along with my 100 pound backpack I have a bag of Aspen's too, which isn't the lightest thing either. I am going to be jacked if I keep carrying these bags around. Anyway it made the bus trip more enjoyable knowing someone on it. We stopped at 8 for some supper and I tried some random pork mixture with rice that turned out to be quite good. But I was midway eating it and the bus driver is already rounding people up to get back on the bus! I shoveled as much rice as I could in my mouth and had to leave my half eaten plate. I was choked, but there was a super cute dog hanging around the place so I hope he got my leftovers.

I think I may have slept a total of 2 hours on the 12 hour bus ride so I am sure I will crash tonight. It wasn't too bad I just cannot sleep with the bus swaying all over the place and slowing down and speeding up like we are off roading or something. It was easy to grab a taxi and get to my destination when we arrived to the bus station, which was lovely. He took me to a interesting hotel though. It was pretty run down and after a quick evaluation I decided to head up the street to find a new place. Luckily it wasn't too far to find a beautiful place.

My hotel I ended up getting is fabulous! I am totally spoiling myself for the last three days here. There is a rooftop pool that has a bar and massages offered. My room has all the great perks like TV, fridge, AC, etc.  And did I mention breakfast is included? Perfect, I am planning to take full advantage of that one! Today is going to be a laid back day since my lack of sleep the night before. I am going to check the streets out and probably hit the pool up for awhile. Tomorrow I want to go to the Chatuchak weekend market. Its this massive market that locals put on every weekend and it is so large it takes a day to get through. My kind of place, imagine all the goodies I can find in there. Although I have to remind myself not to overdo it since I am already lacking in the space department. Sunday I plan to go to the Bang Nampheung market. Its a floating market where local Thai farmers sell their produce and it is a authentic experience. It will be a great way to spend my last day.

Shake it baby, shake it!

So its been a while since I have updated this good ol blog of mine, but i don't even know where to start. I ended up staying in Patong right up until I leave to go to Bangkok tomorrow. Aspen, that lucky devil, got to fly out to Bali this morning for a extended two week vacation. I would have loved to join but I think my mother would have turned into a crazy woman and actually flown over to Asia and dragged me home. I didn't want to take my chances so here I am sitting in a internet cafe and about to head to our local street stand for supper. Phuket is a beautiful island although it has rained a ton.

One day we rented scooters and drove all over again and found some beautiful waterfalls. I really enjoy driving around on scooters, its quite the adrenaline rush here weaving in and out of traffic. That took us an entire day nearly looking for these things and finally finding them. At the first waterfall we had to hike way up to find the top of it and i didn't wear the best shoes for hiking. I almost fell a few times. Thats why they call me grace back at home.

Another day was interesting when we walked around the town and Aspen did some last minute shopping to send home with me. The street vendors were ridiculous! They seemed so much more obnoxious than usual. One guy took a notice that I have a unique walk and shouted after me, SHAKE IT BABY SHAKE IT! I wanted to turn around and go give him a peice of my mind but luckly for him I kept walking. Another lady insisted Aspen and I were so beautiful that she should massage us. Uh, no thank you cause if you think we are THAT beautiful i am not sure where your hands will wander to. On a separate day she yelled at us, Ausie Ausie Ausie, Oye Oye Oye!! I think every Thai individual thinks were are Australians. I just agree now, not even correcting them.

Yesterday we went swimming on the beach and two guys started talking to us. They asked our ages and we told them to guess and they thought 21, we didn't correct them. And we didn't correct them when they asked where we went and aspen told them everywhere in Thailand. They asked how we liked this random town I never even heard of and aspen said we loved it. I was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

Today was good too, considering aspen left to Bali, i wasn't even lonely. I couldn't fall asleep after she left at 3 this morning so i watched some movies and then went to the mall and did a little shopping. After i had my very first facial! I am not sure i enjoyed it though, or maybe next time i'll let them know they don't need to remove the blackheads on my face. It felt like she was digging in there with a knife! But the massage portion was lovely and i could suffer through that again. I walked around a bit because the sun was out and now that brings us full circle with me sitting in the internet cafe. I'll have to get a couple more blogs in about my solo traveling experience and the flight home, which will be interesting. I have a 40 minute layover in Tokyo (the largest airport in the world) to switch flights. Wish me luck in making it! Back to Bangkok tomorrow, oh the craziness of the big city again!

Be the change you want to see in the world

Recently i have started to catch myself up on worldly affairs since i began my travels just over 2 months ago. I read an article discusing the famine in somalia and it hit home for me. I am not quite sure why to be honest. Maybe it has to do with a book i read earlier on my trip discusing somalia in the early 90's and the political unrest along with droughts killed many people. The us and the un were working in the country to keep peace and help the starvin people but after two black hawk helicopters were shot down, the groups withdrew from the country. Now somalia is suffering from one of the worst hungery emergency of the generation and the un is affraid to go in and help the starving people out of fear for their safety.

Last year i went to nairobi kenya and i volunteered 6 weeks in an orphanage. I don't think i had a large epiphany after leaving or a real life changing experience but after reading about somalia i realized something has to be done. The UN needs 300 million dollars within the next two months. Thats a large chunk of change but really if everyone helped a little, that would really spread the cost out. I am well aware that there are problems here in north america but unlike third world countries, we have many tools available to help us get on our feet. I am not trying to downplay the problems here though i just feel like somalia really needs the world right now.

A famine is offcially declared when 2 adults or 4 children out of 10 000 people die every day. Now medicine hat has around 70 000 people, give or take a few thousand. Thats 14 adulta dying every day or 28 children. Mortality rates in somalia are 3 times the level of the emergency ceiling. So many people are dying everyday and they are fleeing to neighbouring countries where refugee camps are overflowing.

In my personal opinion you can't just give a starving man a bunch of food, because sooner or later that food will run out. You need to give him te tools he needs to keep sustaining himself after the food you have given him has run out. But right now enormous amounts of people are dying and lanourished and they need food to get on their feet and then they will be healthy enough to learn skills or the methods to sustain themselves.

I want to do something to help. I am just one person but everyone is just one person but if everyone in the world thought that way nothing would ever change in the world. I just want to ask anyone out there who is reading this for ideas. Ideas to help, most likely raise money. Ideas to help make a change. I feel like i am stumbling around in the darkness but its te first step to bring awareness of this issue and my plan. If you want to read more about the famine you can on this website:
http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110720/ap_on_re_af/af_east_africa_drought

If you guys have any comments or suggestions, leave them on my page or email me them. My email is crembowski@hotmail.com. Thanks everyone!

Sunburnt with two weeks to go!

Thats right, weather took a turn for the better finally! It was a beautiful sunny day and we rented scooter and explored the island. Hense, being outside all day and my body was not used to all that vitamin D again so i have a nice red tinge to my brown skin. I had a hard time at first remembering that you need to drive on the left side but I got used to it and had a great time with no accidents!

We drove down to some small towns down the coast, karen and kata. Kata is known for its surfing and i was eager to try. I have been surfing once in mexico but the waves were pretty small. These waves were close to four or five feet tall. I managed to get up once but other than that i just got worked over in the waves. It was exhausting and my body was getting so sore so i finally called it quits. Right then a huge wave came and dragged me into shore, i got tossed around in the water so bad. I finally get out of the water and headed in to drop of my rented surf board. Well turns out when i was being dragged in and tossed around in the waves my knee connected with my surfboard, rather forcefully and went right through. My five dollar surfboard turned into a 35 dollar surfboard just like that. As well, i have the evidence on my banged up knees. It should have been obvious something happened when i walked out of the water and my knee was split open. I didn't put thetwo together though.

So all my surfboard demolishing gave me a appetite and we drove around looking for food. There was a great little restaurant on the side of a hill with a great view that we stopped at. I had some of the best pad thai i have had on this trip.

When we left we decided to head back to patong because the sunburn was setting in. We ended up going on quite the drive and got a little lost. Eventually we found patong again and our hotel. I took a lovely cold shower to ease the pain of my crispy skin and then we found out vin diesal was in town! And not just in town but down the road getting a tatoo! We went searching for him but got side tracked by a few bars and ended up going there instead. It was an interesting night to say the least. Its sunny again today! And my poor body is so sore so it will be a great day to take it easy on the beach or drive the scooters around some more!

So Phuket has really lived up to the rainy season standard

I have been in Patong on Phuket island for nearly four days and sadly the rain hasn't let up. A rainy day isn't so bad and I knew we had our trip planned for the rainy season but so far at any of the other stops along the way it rains for a hour or two in te afternoon and passes so you can continue to enjoy outdoor activities. Not so much here, as a result i have resorted to shopping to keep me busy. Not a good alternative let me tell ya. My bag is full already and now i have a bag of goodies next to it and i have to attempt to fit them in!

I may have a addiction to shoes, thanks mom for that, and those suckers are the hardest thing to compact down in your bag! And you can't layer them on like clothes! Its all worth it though, even if i have to tell my kids one day the reason i am humpback is from my shoe addiction weighing my bag down while i backpacked through southeast asia.

I had the opportunity the other night to meet a very nice old couple from Bali and try a new thai fruit! I was waiting at a fruit stand to grab my daily dose of watermelon and this old asian man grabs a random fruit off the cart and insists i eat it. Well first i dont even know what part of this fruit is edible, it looks like a plum with green rubbery leaves attached, almost like a mini eggplant. I just politely refused telling him i was sticking to my watermelon. He was very pushy and insisted i would like it and if i didn't he would eat it. I eventually gave in, for this guys sake. He stuck his thumb into it and ripped it in half and told me to try the white middle that looked like a mini orange. It was actually very sweet and i enjoyed it! The old man was throughly pleased and then his wife told me to come to Bali. Perfect, now i have connections in indonesia!

Today as i was shopping in the various street vendors tents it started downpouring, like buckets, and i was trapped under a tent. I started talking with a couple of ladies from australia and they were so interesting! The one lady just had her retirement party and here she is traveling around thailand! The other lady was traveling for three months, going to ireland and iceland as well as thailand. Couple of gems, and they insisted i try a facial because they apparently are the most wonderful things. As well as a foot massage. I could give the foot massage a try as long as they stay at my feet and don't go wandering up my leg like previous massages. But a facial could be right up my ally.

Then tonight in an effort to kill my bordomness i headed to the mall to find the local movie theater. What a maze. Their malls are just strangely laid out and by the time i found the theater all the movies had started. I walked around and found a asian supermarket and got some fruits and veggies. I saw cherries and almost bought them but they were on a tiny little plate and nearly 30 dollars! Talk about expensive imported fruit. I wandered over to imported foods and found so much stuff you can find back home. Priced outragiously of course. Cheese strings were a dollar each! I gave up on finding any american food but settled for some fresh baked banana muffins, almost gave my mom a run for her homemade banana bread. Just kidding gail ;)

That brings us full circle with me now planning to get off this island. I plan to leave in a couple days and most likely head back to koh samui or down to railay. I found some decent priced guesthouses and bungalows in railay and really want to go down and see it. It is known for its rock climbing as well as kayaking and great scenery. There is one place where you can go climbing that has super deep water below the cliffs so people just climb without ropes and if you lose your footing you just get a little wet. That sounds totally cool! Or the hiking sounds great too. So that is my plan of action because i do not want to spend my last two weeks in thailand in a hotel room watching tv hoping for the rain to pass.

Vodka redbulls = late nights

So after a nice couple relaxing days in koh lanta we headed to patong on phuket island. A nice little 4 hour bus ride later we arrived in phuket town and had to grab a taxi to patong. He drove like crazy! He had a fake police siren he would play so he could fly in and out of cars. Also he playe the most pumping beats i have heard in a long time ( for you old timers out there i mean he played good music ). It was awesome though because he dropped us off at a nice cheap guesthouse that has very nice rooms! More air conditioning and tv! But thats no important, i want to go down to a little town south of here and go surfing.

Anyways last night we walked around and then were told by a dude who was promoting a bar that their bar had a special, buy a ticket and arrive at ten and get free drinks till 12! It was too hard to refuse that offer so we got a ticket and went to our hotel and got ready. It was a crazy night, i was trying a few different drinks since i could order whatever i wanted but ended up drinking vodka redbulls and wow i was up till 5 am and woke up at 8 just wired still! No more of that nonsense, we met some great people though and i imagine we will meet more here. Today i am going to check the beach out and work on my tan! Maybe look into diving one more time, but the bank is getting low so that might not be an option. It is hard to believe i have been away from home for almost 8 weeks! I am going to be sad to leave thailand, there was so many places we didn't have a chance to see. Oh well, next trip ;)

Ghost island

Thats exactly the vibe i get on this island! We went from koh phi phi to its neighbour koh lanta. Since its low season they don't even have a big boat running from island to island, only a speedboat that runs every second day. Aspen and i got lucky and the day we wanted to leave there was a boat running. I swear our driver looked about 14 though, he needed a cushion to sit on while he drove the boat in order to see over the steering wheel. No need to fret though, we made it to koh lanta perfectly fine!

The fun part was the drive to the hotel. They had only sent one van to the dock and we all couldn't fit so aspen and i jump into the first one, just jacked we don't have to wait outside for a new van. So we are driving along and we turn a corner and something smashes around in the back of the van. The driver pulla over and runs to the back to put a jerry can of gas upright. You would think after it fell over once he might think it would be a good idea to actually secure the gas down. Oh no he just puts it upright and takes off once again, although he did try to take corners at a slower speed. This just wasn't good enough though and next turn he takes we hear the gas tip over and people in the back yell out that its leaking and then someone yells, its petrol!!! Luckly the driver had pulled over because the lady next to me threw open the door and we all jumped out in a hurry. I nearly rolled my ankles sprinting out and then down the road, its a running vehicle with spilled gas all over inside! They tell you to turn your car off at the gas station while you fill for a reason. I would have continues running down the road and away from the ticking bomb but no one else seemed concerned and the driver was so calm about the situation he insisted we all get back in to the van and drive with the door open. Um, no thanks i will walk from here. Everyone agreed and so he sent for another van. He left all of us stabding on te side of the road and the second van passed by us. I'm sure they were laughing.

Finally a new van pulled up and took us to our destination. And wow, we are in a resort. Our bungalow is beautiful. We spoiled ourselves. It comes complete with tv, AC, a outdoor rain shower, and our own beds! Which is pretty awesome because we have been sharing beds fir awhile. Oh and it has a beautiful pool! I love it, its like a total getaway. Once you step off the resort though you get that deserted town feeling. Its currently low season so not much is open, thankfully there is a 7-11 a little bit aways for us to grab water and snacks.

Things are pretty mellow around here which will be nice because patong is going to be absolute craziness. We head over to that area on tuesday, so until then i am going to enjoy being a complete loaf on this island. There is a 6km viewpoint hike that i think i will check out so i am not completely useless. Anyway, probably won't have too much to update everyone on until phuket, but if that changes i'll be sure to throw an update on here!

The road not taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I have come to love this poem by robbert frost through my travels and i wanted to share it with everyone :)

Sharks, turtles, monkeys :)

Well our night on the town turned out to be a lot of fun. This one little bar was playing the movie the beach on its roof top so since i hadn't seen it yet aspen and i went and had a few drinks and watched the film. It was a strange movie but the beach was lovely and i was that much more pumped to go to the beach. After we ended up running into our friends friends back home and we danced the night away.

The next day was a lazy beach day and we used it to book a snorkling trip to maya bay, the beach from the movie. The snorkling\boat trip was awesome. We stopped at monkey beach which is a little secluded beach that is over run by monkeys. You can go right up and feed them even. We didn't have any food but went and got up close an personal with the monkeys anyways. There were tiny little monkeys who would grab your finger if you held it up to them! Their little monkey hands were so soft! There was a huge scary looking monkey who everyone was feeding but i was a little freaked out by him to get close. He had big ol teeth and i didn't want those things anywhere near me.

After monkey beach we stopped in a beautiful bay and went snorkling. I didn't see anything too exciting but it was beautiful non the less. Then finally our next stop was the beach. It was awesome but totally different looking than from the movie. My guess it was the 100 of people on the beach compared to the 5 of the movie. We hung out on it for awhile though and then headed back to our main island. On the way back our driver offered us the chance to sit and watch the sunset. We would have to sit on the long tail boat for an hour to wait for it though. After a group vote we decided to go back without watching the sunset. I wasn't too choked because at this time i was starving! So we went to the rooftop bar again and grabbed some food and watched toy story 3. Solid finish to the evening.

Our diving was booked for this morning at 7 so we crashed early. But at 1 in the morning there happened to be a crazy party going on outside our room. I have no idea what game these drunks were playing but it consisted of stampeding around the guesthouse and screaming at the top of their lungs. I had to pop my ipod in to attempt to fall asleep. Then at 4 there was more screaming and banging and aspen opened the door to investigate. Turned out a girl was going crazy and fighting and hitting everyone! Then some guys said they needed to get out of here before the cops came and aspen overheard someone saying how this girl went through a wall or punched a hole in a wall.

At 600 am when we headed out to go diving, people were still up. I almost wiahed i could have seen the aftermath of what happened last night. But diving was amazing!

At our first site we saw a bunch of fish, including this huge trevallys that swam right next to me! We went down to 21 meters and then at the end of our dive we saw a black tip shark! They are more scared of us though and he swam away in a hurry. After we saw him our instructor spotted 4 more sharks but by the time i looked they were gone. So sharka got crossed off the to see list!

Then at our second dive site as soon as we descended down we saw a sea turtle! They are so cool, they look like such laid back creatures. Just floating along minding their own business. We also saw 2 more sea turtles, one of them was massive! And then aome cool looking fish including a scorpion fish and a lion fish. It was cool seeing the scorpion fish because it was dangerous so that added thrill to the dive!

So that was our dive experience on koh phi phi, amazing! Tonight we plan to hike to a viewpoint to watch the sunset and then take it easy. Tomorrow we go to koh lanta and we have the nicest place booked! We got a awesome deal on a little beach bungalow that has a pool. Pools are always a nice treat because there is no salt water to make you all sticky. Time for a shower and a hike!

I hate bugs!!!!!!

Okay, you go away to a foreign country its a given there will be some pretty big bugs. But its getting ridiculous. Last night a monster of a beetle was hanging out near my feet and a kicked it off the balcony and when it landed on the ground below i swear it caused a small earthquake. Then there are mosquitos. My legs look like i have some strange disease all over from the amount of bites i have recieved. Punishment for not wearing bug spray one day! And if apparently biting my legs has not become sufficient enough for them and they have moved up to my butt. Some bug has had a fine meal out of my butt and now i have some massive bites! And they itch so i look like a total hick if i scratch them so i guess i will suffer through that. Its not as bad as the one day i put on a pair of shorts and felt like something was biting my bum so finally i pulled them off and investigated my shorts just to find red ants in my pants! The saying having ants in your pants has taken on a whole new meaning to me now and its no fun let me say. And finally to top it off, tonight aspen and i arrive at our room and are getting ready for bed when i notice my snack (a bag of popcorn) is actually full on infested with ants!! I grab the bag and throw it outaide and aspen checks hers and has to do the same. Then we started a ant killing hunt with shoes and books. Now our floor is covered with dead ants which will probably just attract more of them to come get their dead and to seek revenge. I feel like there are bugs all over me as i write this, how am i supposed to get any sleep for scuba diving tomorrow at 6 am!??

Too many stairs for me and my 100 pound backpack

The trip to koh phi phi went super smoothly, i was shocked on the boat over to the island just how dirty the ocean was though. Garbage everywhere, it was almost sad. They don't push a green style of living on this island like they did on koh tao and it shows. Of course the 2004 tsunami caused enormous amounts of damage that is still being cleaned up too. But hands down this island is the most beautiful. It is like a island out of the movies! Huge rock cliffs with jungle all over and crystal clear blue water and white sand.

Our hotel on the other hand is very interesting. Its at the top of a nice hike of stairs, which is great, i haven't had any real exercise in awhile! Our window doesn't quite shut all the way though and has no screen. Prime opportunities for hungry little bugs to crawl in. The blinds for the window don't cover much and that made for some funny stories last night about people sneaking looks in our room. It was funny at the time but at 2 in the morning when you have to go pee, you really lay there thinking if its worth it to look over at that window and see a pair of eyes looking back at you. Yeah, you think your probably good till the morning to use the bathroom then. And finally one more lovely feature of this room is the bathroom, it truly is a nice bathroom. Has the coldest shower of them all yet. The door fails to have a handle on the inside though so if you close it the entire way it makes for an interesting escape. So you have to leave it open a crack, perfect for the creepers.

We woke up bright and early in our lovely room today and decided to head to long beach. We were told it wasn't far from our hotel so we had breakfast and went on our search for the beach. We got pointed in one direction and walked down a cobblestone path for about ten minutes and came to a beach we already had been on. Again, we asked the direction of long beach and one dude pointed us down the end of the beach we were on and through the jungle. Perfect, i enjoy a challenge, i just wished i would have brought my runners! It turned out to be quite the trek! At one point they had ropes to help you descend down one portion because it was so steep. Our 20 minute hike brought us to a beautiful beach though! There were minimal people and water so clear you could fool yourself into thinking your in a swimming pool. I loved it and we decided that we will spend the majority of our beach days at this beautiful location. After we hiked back to grab some grub and lounge on a different beach. The water at this beach reminded me of echo dale water, not the most clear water we saw for sure.

Tonight we are going to explore night life around the island and hopefully make some more new friends! I am excited for the next few days too, they have diving and apparently they saw sharks and turtles so hopefully we see them too! And we plan to go to the beach from the movie the beach. I guess it beautiful and there is an island nearby that is full of wild monkeys and a total must see too. We have plenty to see and do here and we just got here, great!

Crazy jungle rides on the island

Tours always seem to be the best way to see the islands we go to so yesterday we went on a tour all over. The day started at 9 and eight of us piled into the back of a truck and started our adventure. Our first stop were the grandmother and grandfather rocks. Aspen just filled me in that the story behind the rocks was there were two lovers and they went sailing but it stormed and they died. And then from their love these rocks were created, now these were the most interesting rocks i have ever seen. There were huge rocks all over resembling male and female genitilia! They crazy! I have some great photos from that stop. After we went and stopped at a monistary and saw a mummified monk. I found it strange though, the monk was sitting in an upright position and was wearing the classic orange robe but then he had a pair of black ray bans on as well, which seemed completely out of place for a dead monk!

Next we went to the islanda animal sanctuary, and rode elephants! As well we saw little 4 month old baby tigers, so adorable although it wasn't cute that they were tied up. I find elephants to be extraordinary animals, they are so smart! And they live to be 80 to 100, so their life spans are similar to humans. Our elephants name was apple and she was pregnant! After our ride we went to a elephant and monkey show. I didn't enjoy either. They use violence to get the animals to preform and that just makes me sick. I only found the elephant show somewhat fascinating because the show truly displayed how intelligant the animals are. It made me curious to how they love in the wild and i would fully love to go and watch elephants in their natural habitat!

The monkey show was not any better though and it was funny because the monkeys did not want to do anything their trainers were attempting to get them to do. It was that much more interesting that the man doing the commentary had to have been on drugs. He even kept talking about smoking drugs and where to find them, i was shocked cause their was kids in the audience! Only in thailand.

Our tour group was starving so we went to a little restaurant on the mountain with a great view and enjoyed some traditional thai dishes. It was one of the best meals i have had in a while! Well other than the night aspen and i went and had a fancy dinner thst consisted of enough food a 3 families for a entire week!

The highlight of the day had to be the drive to the island viewpoint, a hour of driving up a bike path pretty much that was so windy and steep in places i thought for sure we wouldn't make it! The viewpoint was totally worth it, although photos don't do it any justice. We also saw wild pineapple growing and a massive spider! I hate spiders.

We finished the tour with a trip to a big massive budDha, which have lost their appeal to me in all honesty. All the buddhas and religious stuff starts to look similar.

Today consisted of laying out on the beach and getting our fortunes told. I guess i willdie at a long life of 86 and have 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl. Fabulous. Oh and i am supposed to have two more lovers and i have a big heart and love everyone. The reason i even let him tell my fortune is he came up to me and said i have a big love right now and that caught my curiosity. He told aspen he could tell her her moms name, if we paid him. He may be a scam but it was interesting non the less. He was somewhat accurate for me but aspen found him more accurate for herself. I guess we will see what happens!

Tomorrow we leave for koh phi phi bright and early st 6 am. I am excited to see the other coast, hopefully the weather is good there too so we can do some surfing and some more diving!

Onto koh samui!

On koh tao we finished our last couple days exploring the island next to koh tao and had the opportunity to spend our second last night on a small pubcrawl around the island! The island right next to koh tao is beautiful and is actually made up of three islands all connected to the same beach, apparently it is one of a kind! White sand and bright blue waters made it paradise and in the bay you can see small black tip sharks on a good day! I was feeling under the weather the day we went so i hung out in the shade while Aspen explored the waters. She didn't see any sharks but she saw a turtle. I was sad i missed that!

After we finished on the island we were supposed to be picked up by our taxi boat driver at 4 so we hung out on the dock at about 345 waiting. And waiting. And some more waiting! Finally at 435 another driver told us that our driver probably wasn't coming if he hadn't arrived yet and that he informed us that he was the last taxi boat leaving the island at 5 or we would have to spend the night on the island!

We were not impressed our taxi forgot about us, especially since we paid for a round trip to the island! Our new taxi boat driver couldn't drop us off in our town either and dropped us off one town over. It wasn't a bad walk but we were trucking it to get the company which sold us the ticket for a return ride.

Turns out they were super cool about it and gave us our money for the new taxi boat we had to take. I was impressed.

The next night we went on the crazy pub crawl, we started at a little bar way up in the hills that overlooked everything and had a drink at sunset. It was so pretty I could have spent all night hanging out there! Then we went back to town and had dinner and games. They split us up into teams and we played games for prizes(shots).

After that we went to another special lady boy show put on just for us, it was funny because at the end of the show the ladies or boys however you want to put it, grabbed some girls from our pub crawl and pulled them up on stage. They were asking the girls their names and the lady boy doing it had a really high voice, fake obviously. Ahe kept asking the girl her name but the girl on stage didn't here and kept asking what? Finally the frustrated lady boy dropped her fake voice and in his real deep voice was like, " what's your name!?" it was the funniest thing ever!

The rest of the night was more mellow after that, some great local music at one bar(they were doing mash ups of songs on acoustic guitar and it was unreal!) and finished the night at a dancing bar, the boys were having a little dance of breaking down moves and such and one guy jumped in and did the worm. I turned to Aspen and said I can do that too! So i went in the circle and did the worm! It was so fun and everyone cheered!

The next day we laid on the beach and took our last day easy. We ended up getting different boat tickets because I was too cheap to buy a fast boat ticket. Her boat ended up arriving a few hours ahead of me giving her time to find a cheap hotel. when I finally arrived to the island of koh samui I told my cabi our hotel and we began the hour ride to the hotel. We dropped off everyone in the van slowely and finally all that was left was me and another couple. The driver stopped at their stop and they looked at me and said do you wanna get off here and we can find your hotel cause it doesnt seem like he knows where he is going. I looked at the cabi and asked him if he knew where my hotel was one more time and e said yes yes its right up here! So i trusted him and hopped back in, my brain was thinking though this could be a replay of taken. But lone and behold we found it and i met aspen!

We explored our new area and ended up getting thai massages, which ended up being similar to the vietnamese massage. Their hands got too close to certain areas and they massaged our stomachs which was weird. Never again although it did feel great on my sore feet and calves which have been used to full extent in cheap flip flops.

Today we went shopping and tonight we are going to have a nice dinner! I love shopping and especially finding the perfect gifts for people back, so fun although my bank account disagrees. Tomorrow we take an island tour so I'm sure i will have plenty of stories and information to share with you all!

Things that are missed the most on my travels

Flushing toilet - At almost every place we have been in Thailand, including restaurants and such, every single place has a toilet and then a bucket of water beside with a cup to fill up after you use it. Now that was all fine and dandy for the first few days but its really starting to wear a girl down! For example, you wake up in the middle of the night and you need to use the washroom. Well you do your business, at 4 in the morning, and go to fill the toilet up only to notice that the bucket of toilet water is empty! So now you have to be all noisy and wake your half asleep self up and fill the bucket with water and then proceed to fill the toilet. And to make things that much better you are now wide awake at 4 in the morning from your little bathroom run.

Drinkable water - You don't want to drink any water here unless it comes from a bottle, only of course if you want to catch malaria or typhoid or maybe both. Brushing your teeth is a real chore and you have to waste your precious bottled water on your teeth. I now have developed a way to brush my teeth without any water what so ever, although it does create plenty of extra pasties in your mouth. Just do your business with the toothbrush and then at the end when you would rinse, just suck all the excess toothpaste of the brush and spit. Everyone should actually do this and we all could be a little more green by saving water! Try it out, I dare ya.

My bed! - Its always a little exciting moving to a new hostel or hotel because there is always that possibility you can get a super comfy bed or who will luck out between Aspen and I and score the better bed. Its safe to say that throughout the trip so far we haven't had too many terrible beds. Actually the worst one would have to be one of the recent places we stayed at. It was a dorm style room that we got to stay for free at because it was the company that we were diving through. There were 3 bunk beds in this room and I managed to get stuck with the top bunk. Normally I don't mind the top bunk either, but because hot air rises and its already hot as hell here I think I sweated off ten pounds there. And the bunk bed didn't feel so sturdy so everytime I would turn I would shake the entire bed and make enough noise to wake my fellow room mates. Once again this made bathroom runs in the middle of the night super fun. I only managed to fall of the bunk bed a few times and bruise my elbows minimally. At one point in the middle of the night I woke up and I was facing a dude who was just sleeping in his tidy whities and from then on I made a effort to always face the wall.

My dog - There are the cutest dogs hanging around everywhere we have been! The only issue is that most of them are infested with a ton of fleas. That means you can't exactly pet them or cuddle them unless you want to catch the friendly little critters too. I'm going to snuggle my dog for a full 24 hours when I get back home! And right here on Koh Tao island they have this adorable beagle running around, I'm certain he is fleas free so I might sneak the buddy on the flight home with me...

A fridge - It's just a great peice of equipment to have at your leisure anytime! Mostly its great when the tempurature rises above 30 and your water goes warm before you have the chance to finish the bottle. Or to store some yummy ice cream treats, which by the way I feel I have been deprived of. It's nice to have a fully stocked fridge back at home as well, with snacks magically waiting all the time for me to munch on. It's great how that works back home.

Ok and yes I miss all you folks back home too, although I might just stay on Koh Tao forever and give you all a reason to come for a nice vacation here and visit me! I can just become a scuba instructor and swim with the fishies and sharks and whales and turtles allllll day. Sound like a good plan? I don't think flights are too expensive here..

Certified Scuba Diver!

Yup, that is exactly what has consumed our days on the island of Koh Tao so far! Our friends ended up talking us into taking our scuba certification with them so we did and it was the best decision of the trip. I'm getting a little ahead of myelf though because our first day on the island was an adventure in itself.

Aspen and I decided to rent ATV's to explore the island. We were going to rent scooters but there are dirt roads all over the place here and a scooter probably wouldn't be the best idea on a dirt road. After picking up our ATV's we hit up a 7-11 and got a map of the island. On the map we noticed there was a site that had a whale skeleton inland and we wanted to see that. Our first try to find the whale was a fail because we took off in the totally wrong direction. Whoops. After we got our location figured out we took off and were driving for about 15 minute when we got to the north end of the island and the road ended. We pulled out our map and checked our new location only to find we somehow passed the turn and had to back track. This is where things get interesting. When we rented our ATV's the sale lady told us we both had enough gas to go for awhile so we didn't fill up. The ATV's don't have gas gauges either. When we had stopped to find out where the whale skeleton was, both Aspen and I turned our ATV' off. When we went to start them back up again, Aspens didn't start. We tried and tried to get it to turn on but it wouldn't and the only solution to the problem we figured would be to find more gas. I had seen some gas on our way so I went back to find it. I was a little worried I would run out of gas too so I kept my fingers crossed that I would make it. I did and I saved the day by returning and giving Aspen the gas. But after she filled up her tank with this little water bottle full of gas I bought, her ATV still didn't start!

We had to go meet up with the other girls to book our diving too and now we were stuck way at the north end of the island with only one ATV. We ended up ditching the broken one and took of to book diving. When we stopped at the place where we rented the ATV from we informed them it was not starting and we didn't do anything to it. Luckly they said they would send someone up there to check it out. We ended up getting diving booked and had to start class that night as well! After booking diving we went back to the ATV and were told it wasn't starting because it was out of gas. Which was stupid because we had already put gas in but we put more in and it started fine. I thought I had seen the turn when I was looking for gas so we went back and went up this random road which wasn't the right one again. It just happened to be the most steep and twisty road ever. We stopped halfway to get directions and once again Aspen's ATV wouldn't start. A nice guy pulled up and helped her try and start it and when that didn't work he helped her turn it around so she could coast down the hill. I hate going down steep hills and I had the breaks pumped the entire way down this puppy. When we got to the bottom the guy helped Aspen start it and we realized it wasn't out of gas, it just wouldn't start if it was on a hill because the gas would all go to one side. The man also informed us of where to go to find the whale skeleton. I noticed the clouds were looking pretty mean that were coming in our direction but we continued on, determined to find this site we had been searching for all day. We were halfway up the right road when the down pour began. We were so close to our destination! But the rain was coming down too hard so we turned around and went back to town. I was soaked right to the bone and freezing. The rain wan't letting up anytime soon and we didn't want our rented ATV's to go to waste so we drove around in the rain for awhile but I couldn't handle how cold I was so I went back to take a hot shower. On the way to the room I bumped into one of the girls we were diving with and she said my lip were blue! So needless to say the hot shower felt like the best thing ever.

After the craziness of the ATV's we just took it easy until the scuba course started. It was pretty interesting, we watched some videos introducing us to diving and had to sign some forms. After we finished that stuff we had to take the ATV's back. and when we did they inspected them to see if we crashed them or anything. Luckly all the jumps and backflips I was doing didn't wreck it. We hit the sack pretty early because scuba school started at 8 the next morning.

In the am we started with more classroom stuff to help prepare us for a written exam we had to take the following day. I am on summer break and not in test mode anymore so that was intimidating! After going through the gear and how to wear it and what it was for we jumped on a boat and went to a little cove to start learning skills. It was an awesome day and our group aced all the skills. Some of the skills included clearing your mask, taking your mask off completely underwater and putting it back on, taking your scuba gear off and putting it back on underwater, emergency ascents, and a couple other important things to know how to do under the water. It was awesome because our group consisted of Aspen and I and then our three friends from Vancouver. Our instructor was awesome too and I'm going to have to say the best one we could have gotten.

We were in the water all afternoon and by the end of the day I was exhausted. We swam to the boat and we had to practice one more skill before we could get on. As we were floating there someone on the boat yelled shark!! I nearly died, I was trying to scramble up the side of the boat and other people were jumping off and trying to swim toward them! It turned out they were just baby black tip sharks and completely harmless to people. But really anytime someone says shark all I can picture is a big great white in my head!

So that was day one of scuba and then day two we did more classroom stuff and finished the morning with the test, which I aced. We were totally stressing out for the test too and it was super easy. After the classroom stuff we had our first dive to 12 m. It is absolutly beautiful under the water. So much life and the colors are vibrant. It's a lot of fun just swimming around and checking everything out.

We were under for about 50 minutes for our first dive and then we hit up a second dive site and practised some more skills and then explored a bit. Diving really takes a lot out of you though and when we got back to the hotel we went straight to bed.

Day three started bright and early at 6 am for our big 18 m dive. It was insane! The waters were really rough though so when you were on the surface you were just being tossed around but under the water its a completely different world. We ended up seeing a large school of barracuda! We saw plenty of fish and after a dive we wrote everything we saw in a log book. On our 18 m dive we also had someone following us around taking a video! After the big dive we did another shallower dive and then came back and I took a long power nap all afternoon. In the evening we got to watch our video which turned out awesome! Both Aspen and I got copies of it to show everyone back home.

We went out to celebrate being fully certified and we ended up making it to a lady boy show. Apparently they still have male parts and then most of them get implants. It was insane though, they just dance around and lip sang to music and the entire time I was trying to figure out how they could wear such tiny costumes while still being a dude. It blew my mind! And they were all so gorgeous too! It was a great experience though and it was funny. The night was a ton of fun with everyone from diving including our instructor.

Today is a sad day because our friend from Vancouver are leaving and continuing their travels outside Thailand so its goodbye. So I better go now so I don't miss out on seeing them before they leave! More to come soon though!

Full Moon Mayhem

Partying on a beach is ten million times better than any other location. Especially when you pack 15 000 crazy individuals onto one to celebrate the full moon once a month. There were parties every night on the beach leading up to the big one though, and to be honest they were more enjoyable than the full moon party itself. Just for the fact that it wasn't as packed and pure crazyness.

On the night of our friend Stephs birthday we went down and hung out on the beach and it was a great time. They had a giant skipping rope lit on fire going and anyone could jump in so Aspen and I tried it out! It was strange because if you got hit by the rope you didn't get burnt. It was a lot of fun except when I was jumping in the rope the guys didn't speed it up like they had been doing for the guys so I jumped out cause it was getting boring.

The night ended well and the following day we caught some rays and took it easy until the night hit and once again went to the beach. I don't understand how people don't drown at this massive parties because so many drunk people were swimming in the ocean. The street food at night is top notch, probably some of the best stuff we have had. All out there for the hungry drunk people. I was walking home from the beach and one guy was so drunk he couldn't speak english anymore and he was trying to ask me something and I had no clue what he was saying. He then pointed to his head and said I had nice hair. I think he was attempting to hit on me regardless of the fact he couldn't even speak.

The day of full moon was even crazy, boats of people from the neighboring islands came and the shop owners were setting out their buckets for the thirsty individuals. A bucket here consists of a little sand castle bucket, a micky of alcohol, a red bull, a pop, and a ton of straws. It is the universal drink of choice for the full moon parties. Although you do have to be careful who you buy from because sometimes you can get "Thai" alcohol which is normal alcohol just watered down. I love the clothing worn for the party. Everything was day glow colored and then body paint that was neon as well. It would be pretty awesome to fly over the beach during a full moon just to see the massive amount of people all in neon colored clothing. So bright.

Aspen and I managed to dance until the sun came up and then hit the hay. It was fun attending the legendary full moon party but I'm about ready for some down time and maybe some treking through a jungle or riding an elephant. Our Vancouver friends are heading to Kho Tao tomorrow to get certified in diving and we are joining them. It sounds like lots of people are leaving this island for that one so hopefully it won't be too hard to find a place to stay.

Oh and by the way our Vancouver friends have said I have such a funny accent! I even can hear my accent now and I laugh everytime I say words like toast and oh no because apparently I over pronounce my "o". Everyone usually has a pretty good laugh when I order toast at restaurants.

Tonight will be an early one and tomorrow the ferry leaves at 830, bright and early. I'm sure we will do a few more exciting things on the next island so all you reading this don't think I'm turning into a raging alcoholic!

Back to the beaches!

We left Bangkok pretty soon after we arrived but we figured we can spend more time there on our way back right before we catch our flight. The beaches are calling our name too loudly. So we hit the road for Ko Phangan, where the legendary full moon party takes place. It was a good idea we decided to leave soon too because places to stay were filling up fast with the full moon party of June happening on the 16.

Overnight buses are usually the way to go because you don't have to pay accommodation and you arrive in the morning to your destination with the entire day to burn. Wow, were we wrong. The overnight bus first of all was freezing! I am so acclimatized to warm weather everything below 30 feels freezing though. So I couldn't exactly fall asleep while I felt like an ice cube so I popped my ipod in and tried to get comfortable. The driver decided to keep all the lights on in the bus as well so it was nice and bright and freezing. Finally I grabbed a bandana and threw it over my eyes and snuggled under my blanket and maybe got a hour of rest before the bus stopped for a food break. After the food break I was nearly wide awake the entire trip to the bus station before we caught a ferry over to the island.

It was 6 am so we had to stop at the bus station and hang out there for a bit until our next bus arrived to take us to the ferry, which was scheduled to leave at 930. I had to run to the bathroom so Aspen got on and was saving a seat for me. I guess I was too slow because the bus filled up and I didn't make the cut to be on it. Luckily we had made some friends already and I hung out with them for 45 minutes till the next bus came for us. Our new friends turned out to be from Vancouver and we decided it would be smart for all of us to find a bungalow and split the cost. The cheaper the better! I was a little nervous as the bus left to go to the ferry though because it was already 830 and the drive was supposed to take an hour so we were cutting it close to making the ferry to the island!

Thankfully we arrived at the dock and the ferry hadn't left, so I found Aspen and we all jumped on the boat. Aspen and I sat at the front on the deck to catch some rays as we went sailing across the ocean. When we were sitting on the front waiting to go we noticed bus after bus arriving and the ferry was continueing to cram people aboard. I actually was starting to get nervous it was going to sink, so Aspen and I made a plan of action in case it did. Grab the life ring and hold the camera memory card above water until we swam to land. I didn't say it was a good plan, but it was a plan. Thankfully we didn't have to use it, we made it to the island in one piece. Although I did manage to get burnt to a crisp, again.

Some cute little bungalows right near the beach were calling our name so we ended grabbing a room for 5 nights there. It even had AC, something Aspen and I haven't had in a long time! The night ended pretty early for us because of all our sun and traveling so we crashed pretty early. Today started out great with breakfast on the beach and then some shopping in the local town. They have awesome neon colored clothing here, I love it all! So i picked up some new stuff for myself and a few gifts and then we decided to get pedicures. It was lovely and now my toes don't look so dirty and mangled from all the walking we do.

The full moon beach is the happening place so Aspen and I grabbed some supper there and had a drink. One of the girls we are staying with is lucky enough to be celebrating her birthday today so we have some plans to hit a pool party up tonight and possibly a beach party. It should be an interesting night for sure! More sunburns and stories to come soon for you all!

Bangkok!

Cambodian cooking class was a success! Apsen didn't blow anything up and I still have all 10 of my fingers! We learnt how to make a spicy shrimp salad and some traditional Khmer food for our main course. It was a lot of fun doing the shopping before the meal as well. Aspen and I had the opportunity to try crickets! They tasted decent but the texture threw me off and I had a hard time swallowing it. I don't think bugs are exactly my forte of food. When we prepared our meals we had to make little bowls from banana leaves and my bowl was special. It didn't turn out so well and everyone was having a time and a half making fun of me. But in the end my bowl held my food without leaking while Aspens leaked all over the place. So I like to think of my bowl as a success.

Afterwards we were stuffed from all the food we ate so we did some shopping in the market and then went back to our hotel and showered and went out for our last night in Siem Reap. We went for supper and then to a little place that gave you free popcorn when you ordered a drink! Now that hit the spot. After we hit up a little club and danced the night away. We met a Contiki tour and the guy in charge of the tour remembered two of our friends that did a tour through Europe last year! What a small world.

The next morning was a rough one though. The grand finale of a night dancing and drinking seemed like a fun idea the night before but it made for a rough one in the morning. Luckly I slept the entire way to the boarder and then almost all the way to Bangkok after as well! By the time we arrived I was starving though because I didn't eat a single thing all day and we found a Subway. They have fastfood places on every corner here! It was pretty crazy though, people everywhere and stores all over the place. The shopping is unreal here, its very hard to hold myself back until we come back here to fly out. My bag has already begun to way more than I do and I don't think I could lug anymore extra stuff around with me.

After an early night we got up and went to one of the temples. It has this massive statue of a Budha lying down and its covered in gold! As well, at these temples a young boy was becoming a monk. That was interesting to see. All the buildings here are beautiful, so much detail put into them. And they are very colorful. When we finished at the temple we were walking back to our hotel and saw two of our friends from back home! They are on a tour trip right now and we hung out with them all morning and planned to meet up for the full moon party.

The full moon party happens this week and it made getting a bus down to the islands hard because all the tourists are migrating down for it. Luckly we found a night bus for tonight and will get there a few days early to find a good hotel to stay at. Time to try and find some hotels that are available online, more stories to come soon!

Angkor Wat?

With a 4 am wake up call, Aspen and I headed to the Temples of Angkor to catch a sunrise behind the beatuiful temples of Angkor Wat. It was very beautiful in the town of Siem Reap even at 430 in the morning as we drove through, so quiet and peaceful.

There The name Angkor Wat means "City Temple" and the temples of Angkor Wat were built for a king back in the 12th century as his state temple and capital city. Now it stands to be the largest religious building in the world. And wow this temple is massive, all I could think as we wandered through is how more people don't go missing in these giant ruins.  Just the entire area that encloses all these ruins is over 100 square km.

After we finished wandering around Ankor Wat, we headed out to find our tuk tuk driver we hired for the day to head to another ruin. The entire temple of Angkor Wat is surrounded by walls and outside those walls is a giant moat! So to enter and leave the area you have to cross an old stone bridge. We headed outside and were about to cross this bridge when we saw a monkey. And it wasn't the cute kind either, it had a scary looking face with sharp teeth and a bright pink butt. Both Aspen and I grabbed our video cameras and took pictures and what not, when a Asian boy went to get a closer picture with the monkey. The monkey ran away at first and then finally let the kid get close to him. He opened his mouth and it looked like he was yawning but no, he was not an impressed monkey. When the boy sat down to take a picture the monkey jumped at him! He got out of the way fast enough and was just laughing. I was just thinking wow, you are stupid. Aspen and I got out of there pretty fast after that because we both haven't recieved our rabies shot, and we didn't want any close calls with monkeys.

Once we got outside it turned out every tuk tuk driver in the area of Siem Reap was waiting outside the ruins to offer rides to the tourists exiting. We walked around for 25 minutes trying to find our driver. All I could remember is that he had a white helmet and Aspen remembered he was wearing blue. Finally we found him surrounded by other tuk tuk drivers playing a game of chess. The day has already begun to feel long at this point and its only 630 in the morning!

We went to Angkor Tom and explored some more and had to walk to another area to meet our tuk tuk driver. We were walking there when I saw an old ruin that looked like you could climb it, and I wanted to go to the top for some great photo opportunities. Aspen was pooped so she sat down and waited for me while i treked over to the ruins. It turned out to be another old castle for a king. This king was very lucky or dirty whichever way you want to look at it. Every night he got to sleep with a different woman that represented the nine headed snake that was the god of the kingdom. Anyway the stairs for this thing were totally worn out and they rebuilt some wooden ones to take up. They were steep and by the time I got to the top I was sweating enormous amounts. It turned out to be pretty boring at the top, not even any good photo opportunities! I was climbing back down when I saw a girl who was obviously thinking of doing the climb up. She asked me if it was worth it and I bluntly told her no, unless you want to nearly die from the heat and sweating so much!

After we headed to a another huge temple that you could climb. I don't know where all my energy came from but I wanted to climb this one too. Aspen took a seat at the bottom and I began my adventure up. These stairs were the old original stairs, so they were very narrow and steap rock ones that had worn out edges. After the first level I ditched my shoes and climbed up barefoot. I was halfway up and looked down and nearly died, I don't like heights and I began to think I got myself into a situation. How was I going to get back down? I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and kept climbing anyway. I finally got to the top and was walking around taking some pictures and trying to cool down. I was about to trek back down the side I came up when a man came up to me and told me that side was hard and showed me an easier side. It was a ton easier and I didn't have to worry about my death when I went down that side. Thankfully.

After a few more temples and ruins, Aspen and I were tuckered out. It was only ten in the morning but we had been going non stop since 4 am! We decided to head back to the hotel. We had only done a mini tour of all the temples but that was good enough for me. After awhile it felt like we were looking at the same thing over and over. Pretty soon all I was looking for was big spiders hiding in the shadows of the hallways of the ruins. I was ready for a power nap when we got back to the hotel but I ended up chatting with some friends from back home all afternoon and then we went to a little Mexican restaurant and I grabbed some nachos. They were pretty tasty for being Cambodian/Mexican nachos.

A cold shower was calling my name so we went back to the hotel. I had my beautiful shower and crashed for a little bit. After we got up for our nap we were going to head back to the market and pub street to wander around. It started to pour though and a massive thunderstorm. The power went out and we just sat there and watched the streets fill with water and turn into mini rivers! People were trying to drive through them with their bikes and scooters and most of the time ended up having to push them. We thought we would wait until the rain let up to go to the market but it never did. It continued all night and we fell asleep so early, probably as a result of our 4am wake up.

Today we have a Cambodian cooking class lined up! So that will be interesting, hopefully Aspen doesn't blow the place up or something. Time for some breakfast now!

You think your getting a deal with a 5 dollar bus ride...

Wow, 5 dollars from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap? Why not, right? Wrong. Firstly there were two busses, one was more expensive (8$) and was for the tourists and went directly to your destination while the 5$ bus was the local bus and apparently stopped in every tiny town, random road, and even the middle of no where to pick people up and drop them off. The ride started out okay enough, although we were told we were leaving at 745 and never did pull out of Phnom Penh till closer to nine. The bus then decided the best music to play was some Cambodian style of music videos at the top level of their speakers. Thats when things started to go downhill. I was lucky enough to grab the window seat so I sealed myself off from the rest of the bus and popped my earphones in, crossing my fingers that my ipod wouldn't die by the time we arrived at Siem Reap. The language barrier stopped us from finding out how long the bus would be so we had to sit there and hope every town we pulled into was finally our destination. The roads we were traveling along were terrible. For a accurate comparison, these roads made Saskatchewan roads back home seem like perfectly paved, smooth sailing highways. About a half an hour into the ride Aspen informed the lady next to us was throwing up and needed the plastic bag that was stuffed into the seat in front of me. Perfect. I was just thanking god the bus was AC and hoping no funky smells would waft over to our side of the bus.

We made a stop in a little town for a bathroom break. I went into the bathroom only to discover it was my personal favorite of foreign toilettes. The hole in the ground style. I go into the first stall and shut the door. I look up and sitting in the corner waiting to eat me is a GIANT spider. I got out of that stall pretty quickly and found a new one that didn't have too many critters inside.

Afterwards while we waited for the bus to leave Aspen pointed out the giant basket full of tarantulas to eat. I should have told them about the one in the bathroom, I'm sure they would have caught it and ate that one too. Eventually before we leave Cambodia I'll try to get my courage up enough to try a tarantula (dead and cooked).

Another couple hours into our a bus ride we ended up having some tire troubles so we all got off and walked around in the middle of no where for a bit. There was no wind at all, so it made it very hot and I didn't want to drink any water because I wasn't sure when our next bathroom break would be! I was nearly dying. The AC bus was very nice, even with the pumping Cambodian music and cookie throwing guests.

Finally we made it to Siem Reap! The bus station was mayhem. Every tuk tuk driver was there and trying to offer anyone a ride for cheap cheap, no scam! But we had a driver picking us up already, one we had arranged from our last hotel. We ended up scoring a nice hotel for 4 dollars a night each with wifi and a real shower! A nice little walk away is a market and a street full of great looking restaurants, we just grabbed some street food for a dollar though.

Wake up call is bright and early tomorrow for the Temples of Angkor Wat to catch a sunrise! I'm excited it's going to be a long day but a good one as always!

Big city life in Cambodia and big rats

I am pre warning you all that this is a long post, do not feel the need to read the entire thing right away, pause and have an intermission in-between, grab a coffee or pop or whatever floats your boat and return for the rest of my story!

We arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday and walked around and became familiar with the place. Its quite crazy here, and although the population is less than that of Ho Chi Minh city, I found it more congested and busy. It's a nice change of pace from the beach town though. After exploring around the streets a bit, we headed to the local shopping mall and got our first taste of Asian malls. Insanity if you ask me. The mall consisted of about 7 levels and each floor was dedicated to something different. First floor was some clothes and a grocery store, second was perfumes and clothes, third was a food court, fourth was shoes (my personal favorite ), fifth was electronics, sixth was household items, and finally seventh was an arcade and a rollerblade rink! It was pretty neat watching the people rollerblade because there were jumps and stuff for them to go off, I definitely would break a bone attempting some of the things we saw them doing.

We headed back to our hotel with empty stomachs and ended up grabbing grub from a vendor on the street. Stir fry and an egg for 50 cents. Not too shabby, and it was delicious. At 630 at our hotel they were playing a film called the killing fields, and since today we went to the actual killing fields we decided to watch it. I recommend everyone who reads this blog to watch it. It actually was such an educational film about a reporter and his assistant who were in Phnom Penh in 19767 when the Khmer Rouge had briefly taken over the government and committed genocide on a mass scale of anyone they believed to be going against their style of government. Millions of people died during this stage of Cambodia's history whether they had been Cambodian or foreign individuals. The movie lasted two hours and afterwards we just crashed from our day of walking in the heat.

Today my day started out fabulous. A little facetime back home to the family, the entire family at that one, and then our tour. Our first stop had been the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. This was once a high school but once the Khmer Rouge took over the city, and mass evacuated the entire population of Phnom Penh to the countryside, they turned this school in a torture facility designed for detention, interrogation, torture, and finally the killing of the individuals they kept imprisoned there. The name they gave the detention facility was S-21 to prevent suspicion about what occurred there. The facility held up to nearly 6 000 prisoners at one time. When the government put an end to the Khmer Rouge rule, and collected what was left in the Tuol Sleng facility, they found 14 victims corpses, photographs of all the prisoners that had been held there, films, prisoner confession archives, shackles, and torture tools.

Every single prisoners photo was up for display around the museum. As well they still had torture tools up for display, ropes, shovels, hammers, nearly anything was used as a torture device. There were pictures that displayed victims that had died from their injuries as well as torture victims. Three stories from survivors of the torture facility were also up for individuals to read. It sounded terrible, one man arrived at the facility with his wife, only to never see her again afterwards. He went on to describe how when he arrived he had hope it would be OK but after being thrown into the cells his hope vanished instantly. It was sad, there were tiny children's pictures all around that held been held there and tortured. There were four different buildings for the prisoners, each with various uses. Building A was constructed for individuals who were thought to have been leading an uprising against the Pol Pot revolution (Khmer Rouge rule) and were thrown into rooms that were 6 by 4 meters with glass on the windows to prevent outsiders from hearing the screams of the prisoners while they were tortured. The other three buildings had smaller cells made of brick where more people were stuffed into the cells all together. S-21 had employed 1684 staff to maintain the facilities, security, torture, etc. In the very last room of the museum, they held remains from the torture victims. Mostly skulls, all of which had suffered injuries to the head. Some of the skulls were torn apart, others had tiny holes in the top, most likely caused by some sharp object smashing them on the head. It definitely made the entire tour sink in that much more.

After leaving the museum we headed to the Choeung Ek killing field just outside Phnom Penh. There were numbers of killing fields in Phnom Penh at the time of Pol Pot revolution, this was a place where individuals were taken and murdered on a mass scale. They would arrive blind folded and arms tied behind their backs usually at night, to prevent anyone around the area from knowing what was actually going on. Previous to be taking to a killing field an individual would be told they were being forgiven for their crimes and their slate was being wiped clean. Sadly, they were just one of the many who created some of the mass grave cites that are all around the area. When the grave sites were excavated after the revolution they found 400 skulls and remains in the largest mass site. At another site they found over 150 headless corpses and another site consisted of naked women and babies. They would tear the babies away from their mothers and smash them against trees. One eyewitness who managed to survive the fields said that the trees had hair and brains all over them from the guards doing this. At the center of the killing fields today, they have a beautiful monument built to preserve the skulls and remains that have been found of the victims of the killing fields. There were over 20 000 people killed there and within the monument they have 8000 skulls of the victims. They are arranged on levels depending on age and gender.  As well they have various other bones they had found. Many of the skulls they found were lacking jaws or teeth because as torture they would pull teeth and blunt force would remove the jaw. Its almost sickening the things the people went through during these dark times in Cambodia.

So after some dark war and genocide history we headed to the local market. That definitely picked my mood up! I love shopping, and the shopping there was great! I picked some gifts up and some things for myself and had a time just walking around and checking their stuff out. We ended our tour by heading to the Royal Palace only to be turned away because both Aspen and I were wearing tank tops and shorts. Apparently you needed clothing that covered your shoulders and your knees.

We headed back to our hotel to drop our loot off and search for some food. We wanted to find the street vendor that we stumbled upon last night but he wasn't out yet so we grabbed some food from the mall. After we decided we want to shoot some guns, yes after all the war and terror we saw all day we decided that was a good idea. Since tuk tuks are so readily available we hopped in one and took off to the other side of town where the shooting range was. It absolutely blew my mind, not literally. You could shoot nearly any gun you wanted including a grenade launcher AND a rocket launcher! The grenade launcher was 60 dollars and for the cheap price of 350 dollars you could shoot a rocket launcher at the side of a mountain. Also you could throw grenades and shoot hand guns. Aspen and I decided to go with the AK-47, the M6 did have our attention too but it was the same price as the AK-47 and you got less bullets. Wow, talk about adrenaline rushes. My first pull of the trigger on that Ak-47 shocked me, it had quite the kick back. After shooting it one at a time, I'm not sure what that is called, the guy watching came over and switched my gun to automatic. He held my back while I laid on the trigger. It made it all happen so fast! I managed to hit the target quite a bit though, so that was nice. Afterwards we had a nice little photo shoot with all the different artillery they had laid out for display. Aspen managed to pose with the grenade launcher going the wrong way, good thing she didn't pay to do that today!

Our tuk tuk driver dropped us off at the Royal Palace because after we dropped our stuff off at the hotel we changed into proper attire. I was sweating twice as much in capris and a t shirt though. The Royal Palace was massive, we didn't even have the opportunity to go through the entire thing because the clouds were looking dangerous and we decided to head back to the hotel. Sorry my history knowledge of the palace is not up to speed, but I do have some pretty pictures!

Aspen and I power walked back to our hotel where we made it seconds before the rain started to pour. And wow it was the biggest rain I have seen in awhile. Currently the streets are nearly flooded with water right now, making me happy our room is three floors up. Although at first the stair climb was going to be the death of me. All the rain was scaring the critters inside our little internet cafe too, and as I was sitting here a big old rat ran in, right up to my bag. I pulled my feet up so fast and nearly drew blood from biting my tongue so hard to prevent myself from screaming, it noticed me moving and scampered off under the fridge. I'm sure its still hiding there along with the mouse that ran in right by me too! I guess I was asking for it by picking the computer right by the open door. So that was our fabulous day in Cambodia's capital city, one of the most exciting ones so far. Heading to Siem Reap tomorrow to check out Angkor Wat. Going to be really cool, anyways its getting to be supper time and the rain is slowing so we can search for some cheap street food. Hopefully no mice/rats come near me again cause I might let a scream out, those rodents really gross me out not going to lie. Dinner time, later skaters.

Last of Sunny Sihanoukville!

So last time I was in touch, our game plan had been a Mexican fiesta night with our newfound friends. Well we were supposed to meet them at 7 and we showed up a tad late, 730 and still no one was there. So we did what any starving individuals would do, and went for grub without them. We hit up a little restaurant that served us the best meal ever. For the great price of 3 dollars, we got to eat a type of meat BBQ'd and a salad and either french fries or garlic bread. Needless to say, we went there for supper the following night as well because it was that amazing. Although the first night we sat back in the corner of this outdoor restaurant and Aspen spotted a rat hiding under a chair. We moved locations and ate near the road the next night.

After our fantastic meal, we headed to Monkey Republic for a drink.  We ended up seeing our friends and it turned out they had a work thing for supper anyway and couldn't make it either. We hung out at the bar for a bit and then went down to the beach bar, JJ's to see how it was. It was amazing. So crazy and the music was pumping and not to mention they were doing limbo. It was the crazy Cambodian style though which consisted of the limbo stick being lit on fire and then attempting to go as many rounds as you could while they lowered the bar each round. Normal limbo I guess with an added thrill. Aspen and I had a go at it though because if you made it you got a free shot! We only went the first round though because after that the stick was getting pretty low and I didn't want any eyebrows being burnt off.

After JJ's we just went and played some rounds of pool at our newfound friends hotel and after kicking some butt a few rounds we headed back to our place to crash. Solid night all in all, the beach bar was definitely my favorite bar of them all at Sihanoukville.

Our last day consisted of finally making it to Otre's beach and lounging in the sun for awhile. I went walking down the beach for a bit looking for shells and found some interesting ones, as well as sand dollars! But I wasn't thinking and threw them in my backpack and well once we got to Phnom Penh, my sand dollars had turned into sand powder. Too bad. After nearly getting burnt to a crisp for the second time on this trip we headed back to our hotel to have a cold shower and water. The cold showers are great but it sucks when you dry off because you immediately start sweating again!

After our short lived cool down, we went back down to the beach by our hotel and had the opportunity to have fish "massage"our feet! You put your feet in water about half a foot deep filled with all sorts of fishes, some were pretty large actually, and they would come up and nibble o your feet! It felt so weird at first I almost pulled my feet out, it tickled! Especially when those little guys would nibble the ends of your toes or the bottom of your feet. After awhile it started to feel like a light vibration all over my feet. We got to do that for 20 minutes and when I pulled my feet out they felt strange. I guess they did help out and make my sore feet feel a little better. Obviously smelly feet didn't scare them away from munching on my feet either.

Along the way to Cambodia we had met a couple who were from Australia that had been at a resort called Cloud 9 in Sihanoukville and had taken pictures when they went there last year. They didn't have the time to go there again this year so they asked us to drop some pictures off for them at the resort. Obviously we agreed and so after fish feet fest (try saying that ten times really fast) we took the photos down there. The resort was beautiful, little bungalows built into the hillside right at the ocean front. Almost tempted us to stay another night..But we had our bus ticket already booked. So the next morning we hopped a bus and headed to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh!

Shark soup, tuk tuk's, and rain!

Shark soup is fantastic for those of you wondering. Although we did play the clueless tourists when they brought out a pot to the table that consisted of broth and some strange looking bones floating in it and was sitting on a little gas burner. We actually almost dug into it too, but then the waitress came out with a plate heaping with vegetables and then another plate with what we believed to be the shark meat and a egg on top of it. She then proceeded to throw it all into this pot of broth Aspen and I had almost started to eat, thinking that was our soup.  Pretty much this waitress was our savior when it came to our shark soup. She kept coming to our table and stiring it and turning the burner up and down. I think she was scared of what we would do if she left so she kept a permanent post right behind me throughout our entire dinner experience. It was a great experience though, and the soup was fantastic, but we threw a couple too many chillis in it. It was mighty spicy! The chillis here are a whole different league of hot compared to what I have had back home.

After our meal they brought us desert too! It was 4 random looking fruits that were red and green. We had seen these outside at fruit markets already but we didn't have the slightest clue how to eat them so we never bought them to try. Now we had our opportunity to! The outer peel was very tough and there were no knives at our table, I was just about to use my teeth when our savior waitress grabbed a knife and cut them open for us. I enjoyed them a lot, very sweet little guys with a strange pit in the middle. The pit resembled a almond but deffinetly didn't taste like one!

With bellys full of shark soup we headed to monkey republic for some beverages and ended up meeting a crew of construction workers that travel to third world countries and build schools and hospitals for the poorer communities. They are away from their homes for 9 months at a time! Real funny group of guys though, they had Aspen and I laughing all night.

A couple of them actually asked us to go to a Mexican restaurant tonight once they head Aspen is part Mexican. A Mexican restaurant in Cambodia, hmm interesting. The food around here is great though so I have no worries it won't be tasty.

Today started out on a lazy foot. We originally had planned a beach day at a beach called Etres beach. But after waking up and grabbing a bite to eat, we crashed and took a giant nap! It was raining anyways so not too much to do and I probably shouldn't become any darker shades of red or I'll create a new race of skin color. Then we picked up our laundry, which smells great and is awesome to have clean clothes once again. Sadly, no surprises in either or our bags.

Finally after having a nice lunch, steamed rice and fried veggies with pineapple :), we caught a tuk tuk ( a motercycle with a little buggy attached) to Etres beach. Only we weren't thinking at all, and when we turned a corner we noticed we were heading right into a giant rainstorm. Perfect.

Just as we arrived at the beach, which is lovely by the way, it started to torrential downpour. Luckly the buggy had little roll down walls and we took cover and got to meet our driver. He was a real friendly man, 38 years old and no family though. He said he doesn't have lots of money so no women want him, poor dude. Aftr chatting a bit he pointed out if Aspen and I were girlfriends! We said no, no, just friends. Aspen told him I have a boyfriend and he took that as I WAS the boy in the relationship! Finally he understood that we were just friends and my boyfriend is back in Canada. After some serious convincing though. Finally the rain cleared up enough to leave and the man hopped on his bike and tried to start it. It didn't start, just our luck.

We ended up getting some other Cambodian men, that had taken cover in the same area as us from the rain, to push us up to a hill so we could coast down and pick up some more gas. We safely made it down the hill and refueled. There was a little hut of people watching us and pointing. We are just so strange and interesting to them, or something. They had little pigs running around though and they were adorable! I want a little pig.

So that's a little taste of some of the adventures we go through daily. Tomorrow we plan to actually get up and hit the beach up before the rain, hopefully the plan falls through. I'll keep you all informed for sure, fiesta time now!

How about that ride in...

Well the trip from Vietnam to Cambodia went smoothly! We took a little van across the boarder and stopped in Kep and Kampot to drop people off, and ended witb Sihanoukville for Aspen and I! It rained the entire trip but thats okay because we drove all day and didn't feel like we missed out on nice weather. Our van was full of interesting people, lots of people have recommended us to go to the north of Thailand. I guess we will see how much time we have!
As soon as we got into Cambodia you could tell it was different than Vietnam. Firstly there are lots of hills and mountains! The scenery was beautiful. Secondly, the roads seem like less care is taken to up keep them. I was riding in the very back and more than once I caught air and thought I would smash the roof. We drove by lots of pigs just chilling in peoples yards and one town we drove through, a little boy threw a rock at the van! He missed though, he was just a little guy, I don't really know what he would have against a van of white people!
We arrived just before dark and ended up with a room for 3.50 a night at Utopia. It was not a very nice place to be honest. The lights didn't work and the room smelled like pee! It turned out though that Utopia is party central at night so that was convenient having our room right there.
We hung out at the bar for the night because drinks were cheaper than water! During happy hour, beer was 25 cents a glass! After happy hour was over the bar tender was feeling generous and kept giving us free shots, he was taking them with us even! What a tough job. Aspen ended up sitting next to a gentleman who was overly friendly and talked her ear off all night! Apparently his english wasn't very good and she only understood he was studying in Australia. I don't know if that studying is paying off.
The next day we found a new place to stay, a little bit away from the party scene. We got a great room with a pool for 5 dollars a night! Its absolutly beautiful. Wthe pool called our name all day yesterday so we hung out there and took a dip to escape the heat. In the evening we got to go see a movie! The hangover two, it was okay but my favorite part was that it was filmed in Bangkok, one of our next destinations! It was a different experience in the area where we watched the movie. All sorts of snacks and substances were available to the movie goers. And once the movie started the air in the room became a little hazy and not from cigerrete smoke, if you know what I mean. So that was interesting.
Today we spent the day at the beach and the pool. The beach is nice but the locals swarm you to buy stuff or use their services. One lady was persistantly trying to get me to let her use her technique to wax my legs! They though Aspen and I were such hairy people!
Another girl tried selling me braclets, and ended up sitting down and chatting with me. She was interesting to chat with. I think she is quite a story teller. She told me she was 18 and wants to study in Canada next year to be a teacher. She hated men though and told me boyfriends were stinky and a waste of time. Whoops. After her rant about boys she told me a man from canada once asked her how old she was and she made up an elaborate story that she was 20 with two kids and a dead husband! Quite a personality on her. Also she mentioned she hated american accents, I then asked her if I had a thick canadian accent and she said no, she though I was american. Ouch.
After chatting with the girl, we went back to the pool and swam to cool of and beat the heat! It started to rain, which turned out to be a blessing because I am slightly burnt. Actually thats an understatement, I am a tomatoe! I think I sweated all my sunscreen off within the first 2 minutes of putting it on. So my gameplan is now going to be avoiding the sun, until tomorrow that is! Lunch time now and shark soup for supper later! I'll let you all know how that one goes..

A little surprise in the laundry

Recently at one of our hotels, Aspen and I got some laundry done. The thing is you have to be certain about what you throw in your laundry bag and then check it after you get it back because sometimes items of clothing go MIA (missing in action). Luckly for us this time nothing of ours went missing. But I had an extra gift waiting for me in my bag of laundry. Some dude out there is now short a pair of boxers.

Rain, rain go away come again some other day, preferably after we leave!

So its probably the first lazy day we have had on our trip. Its raining buckets outside right now, but the temperature is still warm. It's too bad though, we can't enjoy the beautiful beach we found the other day. There will be plenty to enjoy in Thailand, on the bright side. I'm just sitting on the computer in our local hotel looking information up about the different islands we go to in Thailand. Hopefully the wet season doesn't hit us too hard there and prevent us from going to snorkeling and diving!

Yesterday was interesting enough too. We had a big beach day planned out and we arrived at the beach around noon. Aspen and I got settled in and rented some kayaks to paddle around the bay with. I'm surprised my arms aren't sore today, because that was a work out! At one side of the bay, we went right though a large school of jelly fish! Blue ones and clear ones, I was very happy I was in a kayak at this point. We tried finding information out about the various jellyfish we saw but couldn't find anything too useful. So after seeing all those jellyfish we changed direction and went to the other side of the bay. The clouds at one side of the island were getting very dark with rain but it didn't bother us much because rain usually lasts a hour or so at the longest and then the sun comes out. Although Aspen was worried once the rain started, her kayak would fill with rain water and sink. Interesting analogy Marty party.

The kayak held my interest longer than Aspens, and while she loafed in the water and drooled over the local boys playing volleyball, I paddled around for awhile longer until the rain hit. Once it hit, we took cover under a little beach umbrella, but then decided to go swimming in the rain. The water felt so much warmer in the rain and it was relaxing just hanging out in the ocean while it poured. That is until the loudest boom of thunder erupted and we took that as our cue to get out of the water. The rain didn't let up. We got some grub at a local restaurant on the beach, and although I didn't try something very crazy, my meal turned out to be very good. Very spicy.

Our moto's had just hung out at the beach too and when we went looking for them earlier than we had planned, they had no issue leaving too. It was still drizzling when we drove back, which made for a messy trip and a longer one because extra care had to be taken while driving down the muddy roads.  Both Aspen and I were covered in red mud by the time we made it back to our hotel. For the first time on this trip, I took a hot shower. I was so chilly from the rain and being wet the entire drive back to our hotel. It felt fabulous.

We finished the night with a beer and some Thai soup on the beach at a little local restaurant. It was beautiful, so many people came right before sunset and were snapping pictures of the beautiful scenery. Right behind us were two rainbows too, I didn't even know which way to turn to snap pictures! After the sun went down they put little gas lit lamps on the table, dinner by candle light! I loved it.

Hopefully the rain dies off and tonight we can hang out there again. Although I have heard back at home, in little old Medicine Hat, it has been rainy weather too. So when it comes down to it, I much rather would be stuck in the rain here than there. The beaches and warm weather make it like paradise. Maybe I'll "miss" my flight home, not on purpose of course...