Farewell to the land of yellow shirts

All good things must come to an end I suppose. Here I am at the Bangkok airport waiting to board carrying MUCH more than I came with. I took all these last shots of Khao San but then got distracted and now I am forced to use an airport computer where you cant upload pictures. Sigh.
It has been a thoroughly wonderful trip- minor setbacks never took away from the thrill of traveling in this crazy country. Thanks to all you who have been avid readers of this- its made me feel connected to home and to you all. I look forward to seeing everyone very soon! And as for Thailand---- I have a feeling I'll be back...

Warning: confused motorists

Hey everyone- sorry its been a few days but I've been a little under the weather. I haven't been doing very much except lying on the beach(pretending the sun is out), reading, and watching movies. Not very exciting stuff. Except that those pics are of where I've been doing these things... :)Today, though, on my last day in the islands, Sian and I went on an adventure of sorts. Originally headed for the Haad Yao beach, we got a little lost on the motorbike and ended up in the Koh Phangan National Park. Since it was overcast as hell(all day), we stayed and hiked up a waterfall to a beautiful viewpoint where we could see the whole western part of the island. Or the north. We didn't actually work that part out. But it was pretty nonetheless. Then took the bike towards the north coast of the island and followed the "road" west. Got VERY stuck on a path that was intended for motorbikes only and had to turn around. Picture of Sian trying to get the damn thing unstuck. :)
So now we're back here at her bungalow and probably going to call it an early night- got to be up at 7 tomorrow to start the trek back to Bangkok. In the mean time trying to eat as much thai food as possible before I head back off for the states. MORE RICE! MORE CURRY!

Big Fish

Hi everyone! I decided to do a few more dives here before I head off this little island, and it has been COMPLETELY worth it. Last night we did a night dive - pretty damn scary but still wicked good fun. It is really dark down there.
Then today...(dun dun dun) I saw a WHALE SHARK!!!! wow. They're what this area is known for but still really rare. The one we saw (on both dives) was a juvenile but still about 5 meters long. wow again. Whale sharks are technically just really big fish, so they eat plankton and aren't dangerous at all. We also saw reef sharks, huge schools of baracuda, and tons of the little pretty fish. And last night we saw some blue spotted rays. The pics: one of me(obviously) after the night dive, then one of most of my open water class at 6:30am. And to kill time between dives we jump off the top of the dive boat- so thats some of em. Yes, its high up. I've moved rooms at the resort into a beach bungalow, complete with hammock, so obviously the days here are getting better all the time. This is the fourth place on my trip that I've simply not wanted to leave. Amazing. But alas, the day after tomorrow I will head to Koh Phangan to hang out with Sian in HER beach bungalow there. I think this is, as they say, the life. The last pics are a stock one of a whale shark, and then one of a Canadian named Brad and I doing the underwater symble for SHARK! See you all very soon!

Turtle Island

Hi everyone- not much to say just a test to see if my pics will load...
Had my first real dive today to 16 meters- absolutely AMAZING! It's like flying down there- you can do somersaults and go whereever you want. Those of you who have dived know this already but hey, I'm new. :) The diving class I am in is pretty cool- its six students, an instructor in training, and a real instructor. The Big Blue Diving Resort is absolutely FULL of divers, and it can get a bit crowded down there. The upside though is that at the end of the day, there are at least fifty people who have dived somewhere or another that day, and everyone is relaxing with dinner and drinks. Its a great atmosphere. The first pic is the view from the resort (resort or no, there are still bugs in my room...). Pretty incredible, aint it? Then one of the main road from the day I got here right after the big storm. And finally of the sunset last night. Pics of me all geared up coming soon...

You don't take a trip.

A trip takes you. Thank you Kenny for that brilliant passage- I read it all the time.
So I am here on Koh Tao, happily settled into the Big Blue Diving Resort, where I will start learning how to dive with a class tonight and then in the water tomorrow morn. Not going to lie, its been a rough couple of days. Traveling in Thailand is about my least favorite thing to do in the world- the folks in the transportation of tourists field tend to be a little bit of a bunch of liars. They seem to know JUST enough english to swindle you out of money but not enough to reason or bargain. Blechh. So my eventful travels: I bought a new camera in Krabi before getting to the bus station 30 min after the last bus to Surat Thani left. Got a bus farther north to Chumphon, where I arrived at 10pm and had to put myself in a seriously sketchy situation to get the midnight ferry to Koh Tao. Got there- it wasn't running. Turns out that big Typhoon(or whatever) that wrecked the Phillipines and Vietnam now is making a friendly stopover here in eastern Thailand. So not only was I rerouted to Chumphon, but when I got there, every guest house was full because of the inclement weather and stranded travellers. Ended up rooming with some RANDOM friendly travellers that had a spare bed. This was 11:30pm. Until 4:30am, when I was getting up for the morning ferry, some loud assholes decided that RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR DOOR was a good place to loudly talk until they caught the same ferry. So no sleep. Then this morning onto a stomach churning catamaran ride through the storm to Koh Tao. But alas, I am here, and hopefully will not have to travel for several days...
That said, this is a really nice little place, and thunderstorms keep rolling through every hour or so. Kinda cool. And some things I forgot to mention from Tonsai- Viki and I were fortunate enough to happen on two wild langurs during one of our jungle hikes! Really, REALLY cool. She's got the pics so none here. See earlier posts for photos. And I wanted to give a shoutout to the crew at the Membo bar, where I spent my last four nights on Tonsai throwing back Chang, listening to reggae, and learning the subtle art of fire twirling. Path, Che-Tee, Plong- thanks and good times.
Well, the pics wont load on this computer- I hope its not my new camera, but we'll see. Can't to see you all soon!

Membo!

Thank you Mikey- thats all I need. THANKFULLY I was able to rescue my memory card from my camera, and although i only have pics from the first day or so, its better than nothing. So this is where I was- one from the snorkeling boat and the sunset from shore. And also one of the crazy reggae guys playing with fire.
I had a wonderful week with Brandy, packing in a TON of stuff for a week, but still somehow finding the chillers capital of the world. We ran into four people from the center, somehow, down here, and since miss brandywine left I have been staying with my friend Viki from South Africa. Her camera was stolen, but she bought a new one, so hopefully eventually I will have pics from my last few days in Tonsai/Railey. Yesterday we climbed this "trail" to a lagoon within one of the cliffs. Because this is climbers paradise, some of the "trails" here are a bit on the sheer-rock-face side, and actually just have ropes so that you can go up and down. We made it most of the way to the lagoon and then there were four straight drops(about 20 feet each) in a row, so we opted out. It was getting dark, and the prospect of getting stuck down there was a bit too much to gamble with. Good fun though. Oh- the last pic is of the easiest pass between Ton Sai and Railey beach, where Vicki and I were staying. I did this twice a day for five days. Cant you see the trail? Its between the two little rocks on the right side and that big cliff on the left...

So now I'm in Ao Nang, then a bus to Krabi, bus to Surat Thani on the other coast, and then a looooong ferry to Koh Tao for some diving. Here we go again.

Oh sweet irony

So I've been lost in Paradise the last few days- very cut off electronically. I'm at Tonsai Beach, about 10 miles from Ko Phi Phi, where they filmed the movie "The Beach". I'm certainly no expert, but I've never seen a place at beautiful as this. We're in a sheltered cove with giant climber covered cliffs on three sides. The water is bluegreen with reefs all around and about the temperature of a cool bath. Wild macaques try and steal food. There are swim through caves that fill up in high tide. Every night is a party with reggae and fire shows and tight rope walking. The reason I am simply explaining this instead of showing you pictures is that my camera is on(permanent) hiatus. Yes, now not only am I broke and have lost my speakers and ipod charger, but most recently, my camera got water damage and no longer works. Being in this place and not able to take pictures is a small tragedy for me. That said, with all that going on I continue to have a wonderful time. I have somehow managed to accidently run into a friend of mine from the center, and we are having a fabulous time in this haven. I will leave for Ko Tao in two days for the island/diving experience. HOWEVER, the blog I fear must end, since I can no longer illustrate where I am. Comment if you want me to continue....
Always, Becks