Off-Line In Burma

In Burma now until April 28Th. Not known for good outside communication via Internet or phone. Will be back in touch when in Nepal.

Koh phangan is an incredible relaxing and beautiful island. We stayed at a wonderful place in a modest bungalow. The sun sets are breath taking, as I watched them they made me feel so good so peaceful. It was probably around 100 degrees the whole time, even the locals mentioned that it was too hot. There was no ac in the bungalow so I was always covered in sweat. Ten minutes after I took a shower I felt like I needed another but eventually i got used to insanity and now I am much more comfortable in it. The beaches were shallow and muddy so we spent a lot of time in the pool, I learned how to blow rings under water and became pretty obsessed. Erin ans I both got burned a few times but never that badly. The gas here is so expensive and taxi rides cost about the same as the would in the states. Everyone rents or owns a motorbike so we thought we might give it a go. We knew it would be hard since we never had been on one before and that you drive on the opposite side of the road here. When I first tried it I took off out of control and almost hit a tree, I dont know how I stopped. We decided it would be best to rent bicycles instead.

The food in Thailand is better than I could have ever imagined, it really blew my mind and tongue into smithereens. Any curry of fried rice or noodle dish would satisfy your hunger in a way that you have never experienced. We had a couple favorite restaurants, the owners were very nice and funny and it cost us less than 3 dollars for a meal and a shake of some sort. I hope the food will be as good in Burma and Nepal but I highly doubt it, this could easily be the very best food in the world.
We went to see a Thai boxing match, actually 8. I really enjoyed it, it was so intense and violent yet also very zen cool. Some fights were very evenly matched and went on for all 5 rounds and 2 were over in less than 30 seconds. There were European fighters and Thai fighters. The champion of the island is now a Swiss who defeated a Fin in the 5th round.

We found a nice hike with a vista point and took a long bike ride to it. It was nice to get out if the sun and be in the forest hills of the island. Near the top was a waterfall but it was the dry season and the flow was minimal although we did find a great pool. It was so nice to swim and sun bath in such a beautiful place. At the top you could see the entire western side of the island all the way to the sea.

The half moon party was just about what I expected. Hundreds and hundreds of blasted Europeans with non stop techno music. It was in the forest and there were lots of cool decorations. There were fire dancers that were really cool but dangerously close to the crowd. I had a great time and even got into the dance. We hung out with a couple British girls that we met on the ride over there for almost all the night. Later I found a guy that we saw earlier on our hike and a fun time with him he showed me how to dance to the techno in a British style. They had lots of glow in the dark paint and many people had really cool designs all over their bodies. They also had buckets which were sand buckets with a pint of alcohol and a liter of soda. They were awesome!:) We met a friend that told us that on an island called Phi Phi you could do some crazy shit for free buckets. There was jump rope, limbo and a hoop that were on fire, she had a pretty bad burn on her foot from the jump rope but she said by then she was 3 buckets deep and it didnt hurt. The party went on and on and it seemed like for each person that passed out or went home another came. We finally left at 4:30 denying an invitation to a after party from 8am to 2 pm. Shit those people can party! We took a motorbike ride back which was much less expensive and a fun experience.

We spent our last 2 days just chilling around the area our hotel was in. We met these 3 little girls that were so cute. They were 8, 9, and 12, they knew little english were very silly and fun to hang out with. We got pizza and ate it with them on their fathers boat he does not speak much english either . We took turns with a translating dictionary talking to each other. They loved our cameras and were really quite good with them. They were all so nice and friendly. After we finished eating the dad took us out on his boat. He catches squid and says he brings in 35 kilos of squid per night. From our bungalow we see the squid boats light up the ocean all night and wanted to see what it was like and why the lights are so bright. The squid are attracted to the lights and literally flock to them. I had so much fun, we all did. we caught squid under the moonlight for about 2 hours. The squid were small translucent slimy things and when you took them out of the water they squirted ink. It was such a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience and I will never forget it. We had breakfast with the girls before we left foe koh samui. Koh phangan is a very special place many people go there and never leave and I can see why.

Koh samui seems like a much bigger version of koh phangan. The roads are busier the buildings bigger and the streets are louder. We have a bungalow similar to our last except that it is about 30 feet away from the water. The beaches here are great I love to swim in the ocean. Our bungalow is on the northern side and it is right along with a bunch of fancy 5 star resorts. I think this must be the best beach. When i first got here i went for a walk, l was flabbergasted by all the fat bright red European and American losers that were cooking on the beach. We are the only place on the beach that is cheep and for real travelers. I woke up to a storm it was dark cloudy skies with high winds. It was so tight! I was hangin outside in my hammock early in the morning and could see a wave of rain make its way along the coast and slam into our bungalow. When the rain got to me I went inside. Within seconds I was already pretty wet. We had to block the bottom of the door with my towel because there was so much water coming in. The storm only lasted about an hour but the clouds stayed all day which for me was good since I had had enough sun the day before.

We met this girl named Kelly, shes 28 and is traveling on her own around Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. A lot of travelers we have met have told us great things about that area and I would really like to go there some day. Kelly came off as quite a spaz and she is. I thought she was going to be really annoying and was angry when Erin invited her to hang out with us the next day, but it turns out shes really funny. I liked having her around. we only had one full day in koh samui so we decided to see a couple highlights of the island.

We first went to big Buda. It is a temple with a giant 3 story Buda on it. It is on its own small little island that is connected by a sand bridge. There are many other Budas there as well. A monk gave me a bracelet and with it good luck. I think I agree a lot with the Buddist religion and look forward to learning more about it.

We then went to grandmother and grandfather rock, you might be able to see why it is called that from my pictures. It was very cool to be thre on such a stormy day because the waves were crashing on and over the unique rock formations. Then we went to tesco lutus which is a great big super duper market where you can get anything. We got some snacks for our long way back to Bangkok and I went to kfc which was finger lickin good even in Thailand. It was a good day.

I am starting to become much more comfortable here, and more confident as a traveler. I am loving every minute of this.

So far my trip has been great, our flight to Seoul was only 10 hours and was smooth sailing. Despite taking all those pills I had and running pretty low on sleep I stayed awake the whole time. I watched 3 movies and played a lot of games. The stewardess were so cute and nice. In Seoul Erin and I did some traditional Korean painting in the airport, it was free. The flight to Bangkok was over before I knew it, it was 4 hours but I was so tired by that point that it seemed to be 20 minutes. when we landed it was 1130 and it was 86 degrees.

We stayed at a nice hotel with very nice staff. I had pod see IE for breakfast it was great. We took a taxi to Bangkok and we were very overwhelmed, but for only a matter of seconds. On our way to the hotel we were dropped off at we ran into a man named Sem. He seemed very nice and also seemed to be able to speak good English. We had a great time with him. He seemed to take our worries away. He drove us to a tourist center where we planed our trip to the islands and booked hotels for the next week. We ended up stopping at a few tailors because the tuk tuk drivers are sponsored by them and if they bring tourists to the shops they get a coupon for gas.

We met a man named peter he was the seamstress and designer. He was born in Nepal, raised in Burma, and moved to Thailand when he was 10. He gave himself an incredible tattoo of a tiger when he was just 9 years old. We spent the rest of the day trying to get tickets for a My Thai fight but could not get seats for less than 2000 baht (like 70 dollars.) After we gave up on that we made hopefully the worst mistake on this trip. We told Sem to take us to eat, the bill some how ended up being near 60 dollars. Fucking ridiculous!

Our first hotel in Bangkok was great cheep and air conditioned. It was on the 10th floor and the view was amazing. Bangkok is the biggest city I have ever imagined, the buildings and skyscrapers are everywhere and disappear hazily out of site. After a nap we went to the lumpini bazaar night market. You can get anything there seriously, I plan on stocking up the day before I leave. In the middle of the market there was food and drinking and live pop music. They played American music but didn't know all the words. The song 1 2 3 by Britney was great. The next morning we went to the lotus market, its kinda like a wall mart. We decided to look for a nice park to eat at but on the way were stopped by another tuk tuk driver. We were hesitant to go with him but he persuaded us to see the temples. His name was Yo We told him his name was a kind of greeting in America and he did not believe us. Everyone finds my name to be very funny and always points to their cloths to confirm. Yo was very cool and we told him that he could not trick us and he didn't try.

The temples were so beautiful and gave off a special relaxing vibe. He showed us a closed temple where we were the only ones, we had lunch there and took many pictures. He wanted us to help us get him gas coupons but we did not want to go to any more tailors so he took us to a jewelry factory. The pieces were very beautiful and seemed to be priced unbelievably low, I want to go back there sometime.

We then went for a swim and had a good time throwing a Frisbee around in the pool at our hotel. Right now I am on a bus to KO phangan an island where the best parties in the country are known be on the half and full moon. Ahooooooooooooo.

I am already in love with this place, 100 time a day I get this feeling of euphoria and take in my surroundings with a smile on my face.


I will write more sorry for the long wait. I can not start a blog on gmail, probably just because I am computer illiterate but I hope I can figure something out. I love you and miss you a lot sometimes too much