This evening we’re leaving from Bangkok to return to the US. I’m really looking forward to seeing all my friends and especially my boyfriend Petey. It’s going to be great to be back at home, but I’ll always be happy that Eoin and I made this trip together and managed to see so much.

To all of you who have ordered prints, I promise I’ll be processing all the orders this weekend. Thank you so much for your patience!!

We went on a snorkeling trip two days ago in Phi Phi. It was really awesome! We took a long tailed boat (so named for the long propeller extending from the back) out on the Andaman Sea to take a look at the surrounding islands and see some really extraordinary sights below the surface.

Our trip started out great, but between the storm we got caught in and the bunch of complaining sticks-in-the-mud we were stuck with, there were definitely some negative aspects. Eoin and I were basically the only people who wanted to snorkel after the first attempt that everyone gave it. We got out at every stop and wanted to make the most of the trip, but all the other people just lay around in the boat whining about wanting to go to the beach. This was a SNORKELING trip, guys!! Geez!

We saw Monkey Bay (there are actually monkeys on the shore!), Maya Bay (where the lame movie, The Beach, was filmed), and several other gorgeous locations. However, looking back, getting caught in the storm in transit was probably the most adventurous part of the whole thing. It made me want to whip out some piratey songs: “Sixteen men on a dead man’s chest/ Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum…”

We went snorkeling yesterday and swam all the way out to a group of rocks jutting out of the sea. The night before, since low tide is very very low, we had been stepping all over coral that had been out of our reach during the day. We saw all of that in detail and much more when we swam out to the rocks with our snorkeling equipment (pretty good masks, but really small sore fins - ouch!)

When we arrived out in the deeper parts of the bay, it was like swimming in an aquarium! There were all kinds of large and small tropical fish - angelfish, parrotfish, a pufferfish or two, and sometimes there are even sharks out that way though we didn’t see any.

Today, we’re taking a full day snorkeling trip by boat to the islands surrounding Phi Phi Don (where we’re staying right now.) It will no doubt be really cool to get a chance to see what sorts of animals are out in the deeper waters.

Koh Phi Phi (pronounced co-pee-pee) is an island off Phuket that lures tourists with its white sand shores and turquoise waters. We caught a ferry over from Phuket this morning and after we put our bags in the bamboo hut we rented for the night, we dove right in to the sea. It’s totally gorgeous here!

I’m still feeling a bit sick, so the timing is bad, but I’m doing my best to enjoy this island paradise!

Phang Nga (Pan-nyah) is one of the natural wonders that we wanted to see on this trip; it’s a bay full of dramatically shaped limestone mountains that rise from the water. The journey takes an hour by bus from Phuket, so that wasn’t too bad, but once we arrived we discovered that the only way to get to the bay if you don’t have a rental car is by motorcycle-taxi. The harbor we arrived at was pretty bleak for the middle of the day, but we didn’t consider this much and went ahead on the ride. We were taken around by boat to see the mountains and after about an hour arrived at “James Bond Island” the most dramatic grouping of limestone forms where The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed.

On the way back to the dock I started feeling a bit sea sick and dizzy, but I didn’t think much of it. Much worse luck was still ahead - we couldn’t find a ride back into town to get our bus! After we were entering panic mode, a silver car sent from heaven arrived with a friendly family who ended up taking us all the way to Phuket since they were headed that way too.

My dizziness got worse and worse, and finally, I threw up! Luckily the little girl sitting in the back seat with me was quick enough to open the window for me in time. I heaved a few more rounds and felt a lot better. Later I got a fever and Eoin played nursemaid to his sick sister. I’m just glad that I wasn’t on a nasty bus when all that happened. Eww.

This evening on our walk to dinner in Phuket we were surprised to see a dumpster rat-tropolis. I think they’re cute individually, but a squirming swarm of dirty little rats is pretty gross. Phuket town is a filthy place anyway, so it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. I snuck in close and braved the horde to get these nasty shots!

Eoin and I decided to do like the locals and rented a motorcycle for our stay here in Phuket. It’s not as scary as I thought it would be, and Eoin is a very good driver. He’s a natural!

Phuket is a bit of a disappointment. After seeing the Phuket episode of LOST (Jack gets his lame tattoo from Atchura, remember?) I thought it would be a tourist-free haven with very little commerce, but I’m wrong! It’s over-touristy, very built up and spread out, and there are none of those little island huts I had fantasized about.

The water is beautiful, though. It’s very warm and mostly pretty clear. Apparenlty, Ko Phi Phi, where we’re going tomorrow, is lovely. That’s where the stupid flick, The Beach, was filmed.

Sorry for the lack of entries for the past days. Two days ago we embarked on a trek into the bamboo forests of Chiang Mai. We had signed up for a tour package (total ripoff, unfortunately!) that included accomodation, the trek itself, food, and transportation to and from. It ended up that we could have booked it all ourselves for half the price!

We started off in the back of a truck that got sloshed to bits (still Songkran - the splashing festival). We all got totally wet several times over. The truck stopped at several key points so we could spend money (a theme that became too obvious early on in the trek) and got us to our first activity in about 2 hours.

The bamboo raft part of the trip was pretty cool, but our captain was a drunk maniac (he at one point called himself “mr. professional” - it must have been opposite day) and the Songkran festival brought everyone in the vicinity to the water’s edge to drench the tourists on display floating down the river. I started out with a good attitude, but that turned sour for a while when I fell off the back of the raft (I had been rowing in the rear) and hit my knee kind of hard on the rocky riverbed, then got a loose contact lens from all the water being thrown at me, and realized just how drunk “mr.professional” was.

After a soggy lunchtime we started on our way to a waterfall. This first part of the trek went fine and the waterfall was really beautiful. We got to cool down with a swim in the river, so that was a high point for sure.

The next part of the trek was uphill for about another hour, which was fine, and then we arrived at the hut that would be our home overnight. Things got a little awkward when some of the “locals” (I’m not sure how authentic this whole deal was) came out with baskets full of touristy gifts for us to buy. I didn’t really want anything that they were selling, but I felt really guilty when one of them told us that he had spent 5 days weaving a handbag that he then shoved at me and said “please, lady, you buy?” I mananged to turn him down (yikes!!) and then an old man came out with some bracelets and the offer of a weird “good luck blessing.” I think it was probably a load of s**t, but I kept my mouth shut.

We met a lot of really nice people on the trek; that was a high point of the experience. After dinner, we whiled away our time posing stupid “mind puzzles” to each other. Take this for example: “two men go into a bar. They’re exactly the same in every way and even order the same drink. The bartender poisons both drinks. One man drinks his drink and is fine, but the other waits 10 minutes and dies. How?” I’ll post the answer later…

We slept on crappy, thin mattresses covered in mosquito nets. The bathroom was basically a hole in the ground without the bottom cleaning spray gun I’ve begun to love, and in the middle of the night, I could’nt get up the nerve to go all the way there in the dark, so I peed in the bushes and covered it up like a cat. I slept okay after that, but I woke up a bit sore and headachey. Breakfast was very toast heavy - four pieces per person with a pile of extra, and we all ate up before trekking back the way we came.

The elephant ride at the end of the trek was really great. Definitely my favorite part. Since there was an odd number of people to fill up the saddles, I got to ride on the elephant’s neck!! It was great fun even with all the trunk spray that was lovingly sent our way.

Tomorrow: off to Phuket!!

We took the overnight sleeper bus up to Chiang Mai to see the Songkran (Thai New Year) celebration in it’s original home. We’re gonna get SOAKED today. I’m sure of it. Already we’ve gotten a few splashes, but I want some wet t-shirt contest style drenchings. Fingers crossed…

Yesterday we hid from the heat in the Bangkok Mall. It’s pretty gigantic with 7 storeys of shops and restaurants. It took us most of the day to make it around with several stops for treats. Since we were waiting on our train from Bangkok in the evening it was a good choice to pass time in the A/C.

Tomorrow: Trekking through the forests of Northern Thailand on Elephant back!

UPDATE: Songkran was totally fun!! We embraced it and splashed at least half the population. They squirted and splashed us back and we got drenched to the bone. We got some great photos, but I had to be careful in-between shots that I didn’t put the camera in the “line of water;” luckily Eoin thought ahead and brought a ziplock. We got so into this holiday that at one point I even dove into the brownish river with the locals at one point (I dropped my weapon of choice, the traditional plastic bucket so I had to go in after it!) I’m waterlogged as I write!! We had a really great time.

This morning we woke up early again to squeeze every drop from the day. We had met a really cute little tuk-tuk driver last evening on a walk who was so persistent and so charming (he was wearing ray-bans!) that we asked him if he’d come to pick us up for the next morning. He was waiting for us at 6:30!

We went downtown to the Russian Market (I still don’t really know what’s so Russian about it) where I was pretty disgusted by some very strong smells. Steamy heat and unrefrigerated meat don’t make the best pair. Whew!!

Eoin and I had been a bit over-eager and forgot that though we were up early, businesses don’t usually open until 8 or so. So we were turned away at the Royal Palace and the Museum. We delayed a bit and then tried the Genocide Museum.

Not so long ago (the 70s), the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian Communists) killed about 1.5 million Cambodian people (basically anyone who opposed them) in a genocidal 4 year regime. Thousands of people were tortured and put in prison for minor “faults.” One of these prisons, called “Tuol Sleng”(translates to: “poisonous mound of the guilty”) or S-21 still exists and has been turned into a museum. The building was originally a school, so it has a lot of rooms that were converted into cells. Some of these cells have not changed much at all from the end of the regime; they even have the beds in which the prisoners lay shackled along with the shackles themselves (so scary looking!) and each room has a black and white photograph of what the rooms looked like when the prisoners were found there. It’s horrific and ghostly. I’ve never been to a place where such things ACTUALLY happened. It’s the weirdest feeling - very, very haunting. Adding to the atmosphere of dread and sorrow are scratches on the walls, blood stains, and the fact that the buildings haven’t really been touched (in terms of updates) since the regime.

We made sure to take a lot of breaks today since it was so very hot and we didn’t really have a strict itinerary to follow. We basically “chillaxed” for most of the day after our busy morning. In between chill-sessions we took a look at the Royal Palace. Once again, I did something wrong and didn’t remember my sleeves, so I had to buy a crummy x-large t-shirt to cover up my disrespectful shoulders. We walked around for a while and then it hit me - the whole place looks like a compound of Chinese restaurants! I think it’s because all the buildings are made of concrete. The Thai palace looks a lot more legit.

Off to Bangkok again tomorrow and then on to Chiang Mai…