The next day, after breakfast and spying a couple porpoises off the shore, the English speaking woman in the restaurant informed us of the prices of the ferry back to Banpu and taxi prices (250 and 500 respectively) so we packed up a bit early to trek back over the mountain hoping to save a few baht and manage to catch a songthaew back to Pran Buri. On the other side we came to realize the Songthaews truly were the morning food trucks and taxi was the only means for us. We managed 350 to get us back to the train station. But once there we were informed that no trains would arrive for the rest of the day. our only option was to take the bus from the station at Huli (I think it was pronounced). Estimates of 26 kilometers were luckily grossly exaggerated to get us there but we found ourselves utilizing yet another unique means to get there – motorcycle.

Sounds simple enough but remember Rick and I had four bags between us (one of which was my decent sized roller) and a large jug of water. The Cyclist tried in vain for a period to give us instructions and eventually motioned for us to sit down on the seat behind the driver with one backpack on and our other bag on our lap. My suitcase kept me from seeing much of anything for the trip yet kept me from holding on to much of anything else. I hoped powerfully that he would not make any sudden starts, stops, or turns.

Got to the station around 2:30 I imagine and bought our tickets from yet another hole in the wall shop – no station to be seen. A native bought a ticket at the desk before us which reassured us considerably but by now we’d come to realize most every leg of transportation required a certain leap of faith. The bus was considerably more comfortable and speedier than most of our other modes so far. We had originally expected to wait around the train station for a train that would put us in in the morning sparing us a night’s lodging and giving us a shorter period to wait for our flight in Bangkok. But this bus got us in just as it was starting to get dark on the 10th. It also did not stop at any station but literally alongside a highway on the outskirts of Bangkok. A number of cabs waited by for us including a deceptively friendly on who spoke excellent English and claimed to have family in New York. After more than 3 U-turns along the main street nearby Silom Soi we got out and found ourselves a 30 Baht skytrain ride away from where we asked to be left off. The worst part is I recognized the area one stop away from our destination much earlier so it seemed as if he took us there then drove away to tick up the meter some more. Rather saddeningly sobering realization that the more someone speaks English in Bangkok, the more like they are to scam you.

We eventually returned to the hostel where we started our journey but found our room full with only the uncomfortable bed in the 800 room we spent our first night in left. After talking to the manager over the phone we were directed to a nearby Hostel International where we found a fairer 240 a piece room. By the time we checked in we were starving and Rick offered to pay for dinner. Turns out I had been coming down with a pretty bad fever and it was hitting its hardest around this time so the evening consisted mainly of tiredly walking around looking around for a suitable restaurant settling only on a Pizza Hut several blocks away with a combination of cheeses and sauces that hardly sat well, and a bee-line directly back to our room where I promptly fell asleep (I slept the whole bus ride as well).

Happily enough, by morning my fever had broke and my bitter “everyone in Thailand is out to rob us” mood had passed so Rick and I wandered the streets to pick up some last minute souvenirs and a reasonably priced full-body Thai massage that left us both looser and tenser than when we started. After our wanderings we caught a taxi to the airport, checked in smoothly, and caught the shuttle and taxi leg back to apartment equally smoothly. We even had time to grab a some good jiaozi and an episode of the Wire before going to sleep. Our last day felt like a victory, and I drifted off into sleep with a sweet taste on my mouth from the experience. Thailand hadn’t broken us. It hadn’t bankrupted us. It hadn’t even given me a (lasting) disease. Rather we’d seen beaches, national parks, gigantic caves, rode most every form of public transportation, learned a bit of Thai, had our muscles contorted in true Thai style, and soaked up the spirit of something both tumultous and tranquil at the same time. The only bad part about it all was that we had to go back to work two days later. Oh well – need some contrast to make a vacation a vacation, no?

I’ll remember the trip for much more than the 460 photos I took or the entries here. What I’ll remember most is the feeling of peace listening to the waves crash at Laem Thien, and wiping the sweat from my brow under tower palms, and evergreens, finding fellow travelers, and trading stories, the feel of cool sea water lapping at my skin, and the adventure that was simply surviving in a foreign country for two weeks. No regrets. Far, far from it.

And you may find yourself in a beautiful bungalow in a National Park. And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

We arrived at Chumphon at 6:30 yesterday. (A little late) and hopped the shuttle to a rather sketchy back of the truck ride promising to drop us off at the train station. We had very vague and undetailed directions from Lonenlyplanet.com to take the train to a place called Pran Buri. The train was schedule to leave at 10:20 (though it was an hour late) so Rick and I set out to look around the main strip off the station. After one pass we decided to stop into a back alley karaoke bar. Overpriced but an awesome idea. Rick and I belted out Queen, YMCA, Final Countdown, and a surprising hit – Candyman. I do mean belted. Every song was a metal remix to us.

After we paid our tab we wondered the streets grabbing interesting and exotic street snacks plus a corner shop drink refill on the way back to the station. Took a bit for the train to arrive. When it did we found we’d purchased third class tickets consisting of double-sided benches with little foot room, and no reclining. It was a rather uncomfortable trip but I’m still grateful for the experience.

We got into Pran Buri a hair after 3 AM. Lonely Planet said we should be looking for something called a Songthaew heading to Banpu. Sounded easy enough. But at 3 not even the ticket office was open. Someone who was trying to sleep in said office managed to communicate with us that the taxis start arriving around 5 so we relaxed on the benches pulling out our toothbrushes until then figuring that around 5 we’d be able to figure out better where we can get a ride from a Songthaew, whatever it was. Eventually that taxis arrived immediately offering to give us a ride direct to Banpu for 400. We insisted on a Songthaew and couldn’t figure out why they laughed so much when we did so. In the end we settled on a 60 Baht ride to the Songthaew. At probably 5:30 or so we arrived in an unremarkable looking street with markets and nothing resembling a public transportation booth. Our taxi driver found a shrewd looking lady and spoke a bit before driving off into the night. The woman came up and inquired, “You speak Thailand?” I shook my head no. She let out a massive sigh and disappeared for a few minutes. Rick and I waited in the middle of the dark street in small town not big enough to make most maps hoping she’d return soon with some good news. We looked around and all there was to see were the average hole int he wall shop and some vegetable trucks. After a while she returned. “You go Banpu?” Yes I replied. “Ok. 100 Baht. Lonely Planet said 50 I surmised it was a piece. It added up. That was hopeful at least. She motioned to get on to one of the vegetable trucks. Ahhh… Cheapest way to travel in Thailand was the morning food truck. We got in and waited for a while as four other women all wrapped in thin looking wraps with large baskets of produce to pack tightly in and around us. They stared quizzocally at us and cracked jokes I could only guess whether they were about us or not. Over all, it was a tight squeeze with some surprisingly cold morning wind and, my suit case balancing precariously untied down at the back of the truck. Rick managed to catch a few Zs. I was wired and stared off into the slowly brightening countryside.

Four stops and about 2 hours later we found ourselves pretty far away from what was already the middle of bumfuck nowhere in a dusty parking lot that did not look much like our Park. Looking around I saw that last bit of our brief Lonely Planet note saying to walk to Laem Sala. We saw a sign pointing up a mountain with Laem Sala in English. We began our trek suitcases and all thinking that the resort could not be far up at all. Near the top of the mountain we guess the resort had to be at the top, but only when we reached the top did we realize that the small resort was on the other side of the mountain at sea level. By the time we got down, we were very tired but proud of reaching our destination through such backwoods instructions and modes of transportation.

An American who spoke perfect Thai greet us at the bottom and informed us that we were supposed to book a reservation on the other side of the mountain… Lucky for us there would be a security guard in a few hours who we could book with at the guard tower by the water. We brought our bags to the sea side crashed onto some lawn chairs and let ourselves drift off hoping our bags were close enough to not warrant hypervigilance.

When the guard eventually arrived, turned out the bungalow on hand was 700 a night. We only planned on one night so we ate the expense, set our stuff down inside the place and laid down to catch a few more Zs.

Awaking around 11:30 or so we got up and headed to the restaurant for a tasty and relatively cheap peanut fried noodle dish and set off for the sites – the main one being Phraya Nakkon Cave at the top of another small mountain. Massive and gorgeous but much less a gave than a forested courtyard surrounded by high rock walls on sides with a small Buddhist temple paying homage to King Rama the 5th… 6th… Not quite sure, and several active shrines stashed into dark corners corridors escaping back into the mountain. After the cave we walked some of the trails and the beach finding a couple choice shells.

At a certain point we found ourselves relaxing on the porch of our bungalow when several small Thai children came up and began hosing down the porch and sweeping it with straw brushes (dirtying more than cleaning). The scene was extremely curious and humorous as one grabbed my water bottle and dumped it out into the mop water bin, followed by a series of skirmishes punctuated by brief interest in Rick and my cameras before all out water war broke out between each other. Rick and I watched on smiling and a little confused through it all but enjoying the front row seats to the show. After a good ten minutes a rather stern fatherly looking man came and shooed the children away but only after giving the eldest boy a good thrashing with a branch with some pretty painful looking snap-back. Rick and my expression afterwards was an odd mix of puzzlement, regret, and hilarity. My face wasn’t sure what state it should settle in.

We had dinner at the restaurant and headed back to our bungalow to talk and share Rick’s DS before heading to bed. I was pretty tired so I did not write, though I wanted to. I publish this entry timestamped for the 9th through the magic of retroactive online formatting.

No boat Trip again ’cause of the rain the previous night. So we threw our hands up and said “Fuck it, that’s seven days of consecutive cancellations, let’s find somewhere more interesting to go. After checking out and packing up our things (as well as getting back Rick’s passport for the snorkel, we grabbed an indulgent burger a piece from the restaurant and awaited our chariot at 1:30.

Awesome ride. When we got in, did some research at the internet cafe, bought a 40 B six-pack of water we immediately lost, and decided to buy a ferry ticket back to Chumphon where we would decide about a national Park called Khao Sam Roi. If it’s cheap enough we’ll stay there tonight and head out in the even the next day for Bangkok for the conclusion of our journey.

I write to you now from a catamaran heading towards Chumphon while watching Max Payne. I finished Red Dust and Rick is already a few chapters in.

The trip has been for the most part awesome. Bangkok, a beach in the Thailand Gulf with beautiful scenery, good food, good people, cool water, high cliffs, and some very good conversations. I’ve gotten rather philosophical and find myself wondering how long I’ll be abroad, where I’ll go, and how I’ll continue to live with my loved ones in my life. It’s very difficult to everyday see the world, watch myself grow, see who I am in the world – all extremely important things – while everyday justifying why I put half a world between myself and my most loved-ones to myself and to those included (AKA – Ansley). I feel like this trip has indeed tempered my fear of the unknown, and more – the uncontrollable. After I swam ashore yesterday battered, cut up, tired, and a touch blind from losing my contact lenses, I still enjoyed a calm victory for making it back from the rocks I repelled down to. I don’t know where I’m sleeping tonight, what I’ll see today, where I’m going. But I know I got base cash and knowledge, a passport, and the determination to get me through the rest. Control some things – the important things, only as much as you can. The rest is sand between our fingers.

But when you have the basics down, your mind turns to bigger problems – who do I want to grow old with? What kind of person do I want to be? How can I die with a smile of satisfaction on my lips and what is the best path to such a fate? Is there such an ideal path? Where is my home? Right now it still feels like Minnesota. How does on live in a place that is not home? Will where I am become home? Do I want it to become so?

They keep saying I’m still young but as someone once told me, “When you’ve found the rest of your life, you want to start is as soon as possible.” Tonight I’ll sleep. Tomorrow I’ll wake up and I suppose I’ll have the rest of my life to ponder the rest of my life.

Been a couple days and if it hadn’t been for today there wouldn’t have been much to report. Rick and I have done a fair amount of swimming, cliff diving, reading, writing, and when a helpful guest loaned us a snorkel or two a bit of that as well. It’s been very chill around here… a little bit much for our tastes as of late. We’d been trying to get a group together for the day boat and snorkel trip to no avail, and in general we’ve just gotten a bit bored. Don’t get me wrong – the beach has been great and relaxing, but after the same daily routine for some odd days in a row we’re ready for something new.

We checked out Ko Samui and Ko Phangan for bookings and travel, but we’ve found them all booked or way to expensive. none of our plans for making the Full moon Festival work so we’ve resigned ourselves to finding our excitement where we can.

In the meantime, a series of unfortunate events has got us whimpering a bit. First a storm last night made the waves yet another disqualification for a day boat trip, then to pass the time some other Americans cliff-jumped with us and in the process of getting slammed against a rock lost a snorkel set of their’s obligating me to cover the difference (though Rick offered to split what ended up being 1500 Baht), then later with them we went to repel down a rock on the other side of the cove. Repelling went fine but getting back up proved too difficult and I had to swim back. once more, not a problem but that i was wearing contact lenses, which I subsequently lost. The American – Joey – offered me a pair at -2 magnification which will hold me until i get back to China. But the combination of events has left me feeling a little beaten and mopey. Though each individual occurrence is no biggy by itself, together (particularly the snorkel and the day trip) they push some control buttons and something else I’ve never been able to understand. It’s not that I need to be in control of everything but that when I am particularly out of control I feel not just a bit beaten, but a bit affronted; as if I could have been more to anticipate the unanticipateable but instead I am something less. I wish I didn’t have such feelings and I hate inadvertently dumping them on Rick but I don’t know what to do to keep from such self-denigration. Just wait, I guess – or do something active to regain our sense of empowerment. (To an extent the repelling and subsequent swimming was such an end, but alas – it did not end well either) For tonight, I think the former.

It’s better to have your heart pulled in too many ways than too few.
To think of the faces from all too-distant places
Better to weep than to refuse

The other night while I was checking my email I K had sent me a message on Facebook. It said.
“Hi how are you. Looks like Moreau Heights educated not one transexual but two.”

He apologized for not always being there for me and he asked if I could be a supporter.

“Of course,” I respond. It’s not an easy way to grow, but if I can help i will help in everyway that I know.”

I remember the last times I’d seen him- the last rendeveau before my family moved. I couldn’t speak and he couldn’t speak – nothing to do and nothing to prove. So we held each other with the knowledge of two children about how the world spun and who it is we lose. And we hoped with the power of a child’s forever that it would spin us back to the other’s refuge.

His mother said I’d marry him, and I only half-disbelieved for there was something each other’s embrace; a trace; a taste, that we together had mroe than just this life to grieve.

I remember in Minnesota, I’d sleep pretending he was there besdie me. And at BU we’d cought each other but for a new girlfriend’s jealousy.

But now the space between us is all the skies and the seas. i wonder if the world ever spun or if that was jus him and that was just me. I wonder if he’s alright now and if life brings light to his eyes, or if like me from grad two to grade three an end of life was my only prize.

I’m sorry for my silence, and compliance in violence against myself and your memory. I’m sorry if you missed me when i said what I felt when you kissed me, cause each trance was my lst chance to look into your eyes and realize the impossibility of what you meant to me.

(2/1) Ah the insantiy. Believe me the Thai alphabet is no simple undertaking.

Skipped writing last night because we had a couple drinks. The moment finds me again not completely clear-headed. But hey, it’s ok.

We started yesterday in search of a cliff to jump off of. We eventually found it with the hlp of one of the hosts. There was a 5 meter one and an 8 meter one. We jumped the later three times. It’s long enough to give us time mid-air to say, “Wait, shouldn’t there be water by now?” Intense – wow.

After, we hosed off and took a nap ’til later afternoon. We’ve been really enjoying the food served here but due to the higher price we’ve been spacing them out as much as we can. I feel bad because I am my father’s daughter and I’ve taken on more than a few of his bargain buying ways. Rick seems to have good humor about it – in that he seems to humor such tendencies a bit.

…When we got up we had another nice dinner and convos with a Dutch woman named Willemyn. Very cool and has been more friendly than most of the guests here. Taught each other a few card games and drank a beer or two. After that we ambled about on the rocks and on the roof of our building stargazing. It’d been such a long time since I’d been able to really see them.

After a bit we headed to the bar and ordered this fruit juice and whisky concoction in a small bucket for 250. Very good and we found another American to talk to about our travels, about the islands, and about his 5-star hotel loving Korean wife who had apparently been complaining a fair amount this trip about “roughing it” out here. I met her yesterday (2/2) – nice woman. After our drink we turned in.

The next day we got up, split a curry-fried rice between us and set out swimming. I still had a pretty bad swimmer’s ear from the cliff diving the day before but swimming seemed to help a little bit.

We sun-bathed, we read. Rick from A Storm of Swords, me from Red Dust. Still working on it but it’s getting good. Ma Jian has seemed to become a deeper and deeper person as he continues his travels and subsequently has more and more meaningful things to say. As the sun began to wane we found one of the German girls we met before playign with a mini Diablo. We played around for a bit then she was nice enough to loan us her snorkling gear and we set off for the next hour or two snorkles donned. Gorgeous stuff out there that we had only seen a glimpse of floating around the shallows. Silver and black striped ones, camouflage suckers, schools of brilliant neon blues, reds, greens, yellows, and purples, big silver ones, flat, round, big, small, a ton of sea cucumbers and coral of many different types. We may have to do the day cruise that includes several snorkling stops (and lunch), but we’re not sure yet. it’s 650 a piece and stuff like that certainly adds up. Once we returned the gear we washed up, smoked up, and headed out to eat up.

More dinner, cards, and convo after with everyone heading to bed a bit early.

Today (2/3) is still young so I’ll have some more for you later. but I can guarantee lounging, swimming, munching, conversing, reading, and the like. Such is the life of an islander.

The morning still found me in the passenger train from Bangkok feeling a bit dirty, scruffy, with icky teeth, without getting much sleep but by 6 AM we’d reached our stop and were on our bus to the ferry.

The next two lengths were pretty equidistant between a tour style bus riding through the countryside of Chumphon listening to catchy island sounding beats of the early 90s, and our ferry boat servicing Ko Tao, Ko Phagnan, Ko Samui, and one other i can’t remember. The ferry has a below and above deck, the lower with a long wide roome with seating with the snack bar on one end and the Dark Knight playing on the other, the upper with windy open air seating to sit and squint into the sun at the beautiful coastlines amid a single flat blue. Along both lengths we found people from many different countryies – Canada, France, Germany, the US, Ireland, China, Japan, Thailand and many others all nice, all happy to be here, and all oddly tranquil on the whole – as if they’d been let in on a secret that no one else knew about. With so many languages in one room language barriers were high and you start to realize that people have come to the island for very different reasons.

We arrived at Ko Tao at about 9:30 to be hailed by countless “Hello? Taxi?”s and a host of touristy shops, internet cafes, street food venders and other touristaphanalia as the odd cornucopia of saris, sarongs, beach shorts, boy shorts, tattoos, swimsuits, and pretty bodies rushed upon them.

Our free shuttle to Laem Thien left at 10:30. By then we’d bought ourselves soem swimsuits and introduced ourselves to a couple of pretty German women heading to the same resort villa before bucking into the flatbed as best we could with our luggage, and rumbled off to the hostel dirt roads. All in all a 40/45 minute cross between a rodeo machine and a roller coaster gripping the rail tightly in oen hand and snapping pictures of the awesome scenary zooming past. The palm trees, the rocky and sandy shores, cliffs, roadside restaurants and huts and houses of the locals rushed upon us and by us like lightnight and we held our breath when we neared our tiny village of a hostel.

Got checked in mostly without incident (thought they still have yet to find our reservation). After we dropped our stuff off in our room and looked over the activities board and the menu we rock scrambled over the cliffs to find several killer look out points and views then headed off aroudn teh rest of the area before changing into our suits and diving in. Felt fantastic and it was the first blue water I’d seen in a long time. Large crabs crowded the rocks and scurried away as we neared, red and white coral lay strewn across the floor and schools of bold fishes paid us no heed and even gave us a little cleaning. After playing around in the water for a while we got out, washed up, changed, and took a nap. We needed it.

We woke up around six, went down to the main area/restaurant and ordered a 70 B Chicken fried rice and an 80 B coconut veggie, chicken curry between us. It was definitely more expensive than in the city, but we were paying 300 B a night for both of us, and we’ve also resigned ourselves to sacrificing a little chunk of cash to the vacation paradise dreamland gods.

I beat Rick at a game of chess while we ate but only after a long and epic battle. Afterwards we looked around some more, drank a beer, and made a few German Friends. Zayanpi?… fuck… I’m forgetting the phrase they taught me. Something like “the frosting on the cake.”

He shared some a couple smokes another good convo before we all split to our separate beds where I find you now. I’ll catch you tomorrow for another episode of “Stop pinching yourself it’s real… No really stop it.”

Simply being able to share stories with fellow travelers the night before and waking up with a group of friendly faces really went a long way towards ameliorating my unease. We had been able to swap tips and consequently learned of some much cheaper places to eat on the street and did so for lunch and dinner (Silom Soi 10 – about 30 Baht). Otherwise we spent the day wandering up and down Silom Soi looking for a park that ended up beign a closed gated community. Not sure. But got some ice cream, stopped by a couple of shops including one of the nicer “antique” stores, played some Spades over an A & W in a nice western deli overhearing what appeared to be a business meeting between a Brit, a pimp, and perhaps a prostitute. We thought this particularly because the Brit spoke with another man about with the girl who was not talking. Who knows, but we had a good conversation with him and his later arriving American friend for a bit.

Though we had already checked out, the lady at the desk let us keep our bigger bags at the hostel station until we left for the train station. Around 8:30 we did so and eventually found our way by duk duk (an honest one for a change and a nice attitude too) for 50 Baht to the train station. Then…

We hadn’t made reservations for the tickets and by the time we got there, the trip we wanted was apparently booked for weeks and weeks and weeks due to the upcoming Full Moon Festival at Koh Phangan. We were told to wait for last calls for cancellations with no luck. Eventually after checking back enough times at the information desk we were informed of another train stopping by Chumphon instead of Sawathani that could ferry us to Koh Tao. A long line and 2060 Baht later we figured things out. But we sat for a good long period sipping on our vodka orange drink mix on the floor of the station not knowing if we’d be able to get to the islands this trip or even if we had a place to stay tonight. I’m telling you – the power of intention…

Now I write in the dim cabin light with Rick and three other travelers who had similar trouble despite already having a reservation. Cool people and cool convos. All of them university teachers in math, English, and Antrho respectively. Minnie, Tara, and… I’ll have to ask for their names again in the morning. We’ll be getting off sometime around 5:30 AM I think. I’ll have to figure out a way to make sure we don’t miss our stop. For now signing off to try and catch some Zs here on this rather bumpy track

Thailand, huh? So far – brief moments of exceeding niceness surrounded by piles of… something or other. We got in at about 3:30/4 AM this morning and after getting ripped off slightly by the helpful airport meter-taxi we just wanted to crash. But…

We reserved the hostel space for the 29th, and we said we’d be in around 3 AM. Would not have been a problem but apparently 3AM on the 29th still counted as the night of the 28th. Miscommunication error sure, but they didn’t have our room. Instead they set us up with a room with a double bed (Rick’s a close friend but not that close) costing nearly double the room we originally booked and hostel policy said we had to ckeck out by Noon. The woman at the desk later talked to her boss and gave us until 6 PM. She’s been very helpful all cosnidering. But we’ve been pretty massively stressed. (We were left with almost 0 Baht by then)

It took a while to get to sleep with all we had on our minds: Strange country where neither of us spoke a word of the language with hardly any exchanged currency in a place that did not quite meet the standards of the photos online with two weeks left to go. Would we have enough money for food, where were we sleeping tomorrow, and what happens when we fall victim to one of the many ploys going on around here, etc. And the bed sucked… Mama Bear would be pleased.

When we got up we counted our money, wrote a shopping and to-do list and set out. Changed cash, ate at a nearby Mexican Plan, picked up some essentials, booked the rest of tonight (what we had the reservation for), and headed out to explore. Munched some street food, bought a phrase book, hopped the sky train and bought a couple tickets for the public boat (13 Baht was LOTS better than the tour boat rates.

We didn’t really have much of a plan (or most of our planned items closed shortly) so we rode and got off when we felt like it. This ended up being by a bunch of touristy temples and one in particular had a meditational training where we met several really nice monks, soaked up the atmostphere and partook of their space for meditation. When the monk came and found us he said, “Oh, I see you’ve found peace by yourself.” Awesome experience even without an instructor or class, and we had Reverend Phra Methi and his American cat Sammy.

After Wat Arun, things went cosniderably downhill. Did I mention we don’t speak Thai? Finding our way home was a nightmare of scam artist after scam artist all intent on taking us to their store front where tehy could earn some commission, duk-duks who asked too much, didn’t understand me, or also wanted to take us to a couple places before our hostel. We also tried vainly to walk close enough to catch the subway home squinting fruitlessly at Thai Road signs and askign many people for directions and getting just as many answers. Eventually we settled on the reliable metered taxi at 83 to get us back.

We still didn’t know the area and all the street food vendors had disappeared by the time we got back so frustrated as we were we settled for some expensive but tasty Italian pizza nearby. After a beer and water run to 711, we came back to our new room where we had a pretty awesome conversation with three Irishmen and women and a Chinese born Australian with a British accent. Some now are sleeping. Some are reading. And me – I’m thinking about what tomorrow will bring: Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Pipi, more Bangkok? Who the fuck knows? This is my crash course in learning to deal with the unknown. I can feel the hair growing on my chest already…

The day before Thailand and the excitement is growing. Bought a sweet backpack for 59 kuai yesterday, a new gig memory card for my camera with a spare a few days before, and I’ve got my i’s dotted with a friend coming over to water my plants. Crazy. I’m looking forward to meditating in a Buddhist Temple, seeing lady boy performances, doing research for my book, enjoying the surf and amazing scenery, and of course attending the largest party in South East Asia, the Full Moon Festival.

I’ve had more than a few precautionary tales to help prepare me, but I’m not too worried. I’ll be carrying a minimal amount of cash on me along with my ATM card and traveler’s checks. Yes I’ll be staying away from live poultry. Yes I’ll be staying away from rallies and potentially politically charged areas. And I’ve heard stories about the number of questionable ethical police officers looking for bribes and extortion. Some of them from close friends. I’m not taking my laptop. In fact the only electronics I’ll be taking will be my phone and my camera. I’ve planned on stopping at internet cafes to give updates to those on the other side of the world. Feeling pretty raring. Hope I have better luck than Dirk… (Don’t ask)

It sucks I can’t transfer the cash I’ve been trying to for a while. The banks have all been closed for New Years and I may not be able to do the transfer until I get back.

I’ll be going with my friend Rick and meeting up with everyone for the party in Koh Phangan, but at another traveler’s recommendation we may stay in Koh Tao for he majority of the time. (I hear Koh Phangan has become pretty touristy for the remote secluded beach scene)

Elsewise I’ve been writing a bit due to some inspiration. Rick is writing a fan-fic of Heroes too, we had a creative writing workshop where I shared what I had written so far, and I recently watched an amazing movie: Battle Royal. I enjoy your action bloodfest on occasion, but this one possesses so much more. The psychological development of all the characters is astounding and the environmental set up is perfect. I’ve gotten several new ideas for stories from it. Don’t judge until you’ve seen it.

I needs to eat and make one more stab at the banks before doing a little cleanup and packing so for now I bid you fairwell. If you want more than my words, those who know me can look up my photos on FB. I update everything there.

差不多。。。泰国。