Koh Phangan

2/5/12:

After a sweet overnight train from Bangkok to Surat Thani, an hour long bus ride to some other tiny town and a 2 hour ferry ride, we're finally on Koh Phagnan. This place is crazy beautiful ... Giant limestone mountains, several random mountains (or small islands) in the surrounding sea and beaches everywhere. We rented a scooter and did some exploring, walked around the market and had some tasty food and grabbed a couple beers to complete the night.

Tomorrow we're gonna brave a waterfall hike and then get lost on some beach.

Interesting note: if someone tells you you don't need a room with A/C in Bangkok or Koh Phangan immediately punch them in the stomach cause they're liars.

Harry Potter?

2/4 - In this relationship we consider ourselves partners but inevitably in life some things don't come out 50/50. Generally for us this is with cleaning (Michael tries his best and still after all this time offers to help but I'm a little particular) and for Michael it's vacation planning which includes tour guide and navigational expert (he hasn't been living up to this title but getting lost is part of the fun). That said although he told me time and time again our plans for this trip I wasn't actually listening, instead I was making sure our shots were good, coordinating storage, forwarding mail, etc.
I paid enough attention to know that we were taking an overnight train and that he got second class so we could sleep. I've been very excited about it although I'm not sure why since I grew up on Long Island and am familiar enough with trains. The whole time I'm picturing scenes from Harry Potter or Sherlock Holmes 2 and today when I discussed this with Michael he laughed at me, saying it wasn't going to be like either. The steward came and put down our beds, we get a fluffy pillow, a softer bed then we've slept on in days, sheets, a blanket and a curtain for privacy. Michael likes pretending he's really in the Navy so he took the top bunk. I'm in my little nestle of goodness and although it's no train for track 9 3/4 it's still pretty cool!

Breakfast

2/4/12

The Mrs and I are sitting here having a fabulous breakfast on rambuttri road surfing the web and loving life. Had toast and scrambled eggs, iced cappuccino and a water all for the exorbitant price of 100 baht or about $3.00!!!! We've discovered that Bangkok isn't exactly cheap but if you're careful and look hard enough there are great deals everywhere. Our hotel last night was pretty nice and only cost 800 baht (about $26.00).

Today we're going to visit the grand palace and then make our way to the train station for the overnight trip to koh phagnan. Luckily there are showers at the train station cause it's inevitable that we'll be gamey and disgusting in about 2 hours.

Oh I almost forgot ... Yesterday Carolyn got a foot massage and I got a fish spa. I'll talk more about the fish spa later but in the mean time I'll post a picture to give an idea of what it is.

Why Michael gets to post more!

Michael is rockin the iPhone 4S which allows him to get wifi, take pictures and it's available since he carries it around. Unfortunately my circa 2008 blackberry curve doesn't allow me such luxuries. I'm trying to join 2012 and have started carrying around an iPod touch so when opportunity presents itself I can be ready.

In other news there are sooooo many rastafarian folks here with there kids, babies, non walking type kids. I'm all about traveling but the places we've been the last few days aren't for children.

Bangkok taxi adventure

Last night we experienced a ride most people would call thrilling. Carolyn and I called it 'finding our zen place'. It was harrowing to say the least. Traffic was ridonkulous, there were approximately 3.2 million cars on the road and it was pitch black out.

Basically the cabs here are like Chuck Norris on 4 wheels. You say this road has 4 lanes and they're all packed? Mr taxi-Norris says 'F you! I'll make my own lane here in this little 7 inch swath of concrete!' Oh you mean there are 15 cars waiting to make a u-turn? Mr taxi-Norris says 'F you! I'll just cut these lazy douche's off and complete my u-turn at no less than 64 MPH sucka's!!'

But we made it to our room safe and sound and found some zen along the way :)

Bangkok

We're here!!!! The flight to Tokyo was fabulous (remember the business class stuff). Had a short layover in Tokyo but did have a quick look around the airport. Flight to Bangkok was ok at best. After business class you just can't go back. Not to mention it was a 6:30 flight!!!! Carolyn and I were zombies during the flight but we're tough and came through just fine.

Customs and immigration in Bangkok could not be easier. The airport is fabulous and the people all seem super nice. We went to the basement and grabbed a bite to eat from a seven-11 (which are all over the place here -- hooray coffee!) which consisted of a donut and some sort of coconut croissant and 2 bottles of water ... All for a grand total of 49 baht (about $1.50).

We're at the hotel now and it's like 1:45AM on Feb 2nd. The room seems really nice so far. We've got AC a small kitchen and running water. Oh and the toilet has a garden hose attached! Isn't that exciting!

Time for bed. Hopefully we'll find WiFi tomorrow so I can post to the blog.

Interesting notes:
- There were about 10 times more westerners on our flight to Bangkok as there were locals.
- Saw our first trophy Thai wife. The guy had to be atleast 70 an his Gucci Thai wife was probably around 25.

Jet setter

Allow me to slip into something a little more ... Coma.