3/19/03 - Day unknown: Ko Pa Ngan was heaven on earth. It was like stepping back several hundred years and enjoying pristine beauty without the hotels, tourists, etc. I think it's still pristine because you can only get to the island by boat. Our beach at Haat Salad was beautiful. There were hammocks to relax in on our bungalow and tied between palm trees on the beach. We would walk down to out favorite restaurant, the "Dubble Duke". We are greeted by Pong and his wife and they make us the best dishes of noodles and fresh seafood. The restaurant, as all are on this island, is really a small deck on the beach with low end tables with cushions and pillows. You pick a table to sit at, maybe have a couple beers with dinner, relax and maybe fall asleep. Dinner tab for both of us costs about 150 Baht (~ $3 US). Things work at a different speed here. A french guy we met says a day here is like an hour at home. It makes perfect sense. He's been on holiday here for 2 months.
Tonight is the Full Moon Party in Haat Rin. Haat Rin is the town at the end of the island, full of backpackers and beach bars. Once a month on the full moon, they have DJ's come from around the world and spin trance and techno music all night long. Farangs (foreigners) like us come from all over the island as well as Thais from Samui to partake in the Full Moon Party. The party is really wild. They say there are 5000 people that come to the party. The large beach is so full with dancing people in body paint that we have to wade into the water to walk the length of the beach. There are probably 10 different beach bars pumping music onto the beach. Similar to Spundae in LA, but instead of swinging glowsticks, they juggle and perform with actual fire. The place is surreal. Heather orders a "Joy in a bucket". It's a fifth of Thai whiskey, a coke, a Red Bull, and ice poured into a small plastic bucket with a bunch of straws. We were warned about the Thai whiskey days ago, but we've forgotten the warning tonight. Bad for us the next morning.

Now we have to leave Ko Pa Ngan. We are really sad to go. This is the best place so far. Some of the tourists we've met have been here for months. We are trying to get to Phuket, on the other coast. So we take a big catamaran back to Samui, and a taxi to the airport. All the flights are full. We have to crash one night in Samui, and leave in the morning.

We get out of Samui airport and on to Phuket. Some guy at the airport in Phuket has mistaken one of our bags for his and takes off with on of our bags. His bag is still rotating around the baggage carousel. Luckily there's nothing in that bag but clothes we weren't planning on wearing. It's ridiculous what we packed. With the heat, all I'm wearing is boardshorts and rotating three shirts. We take off for Ao Nang on a public bus, with the airport promising that that guy will be back to switch bags.

Ao Nang is nice, but very developed. Hotels everywhere. After Ko Pha Ngan it's a culture shock. Prices are double or triple (still a good deal but we are dissapointed). The airport says our bag will be at our place by tonight. Tomorrow we head off to the island of Phi Phi. It's just a day trip but we're packing a daypack and if we like the island we will crash there in a bungalow for the night.

3/15/03 - Sat: - Big Update. Last day in Bankok, and we're dying for some real food. The street vendors food smells ansty. We found Hard Rock Cafe and thought we were in heaven. On the way in they had secuirty check our bags. Very unnerving. They indicated that this was something to do with "America and Iraq". It brought us back to realitry quick. Obviously they felt that any hard Rock was a potential terrorist target. One thing I have noticed is that there are very few americans travelling here. Lots of Eurpeans, some of them having been travelling around asia for 6 months. We left Bankok on the "super vip" bus. If that's VIP, I'd hate to see the regular bus. The bus was way oversold so if you were the last dozen on the bus you got to sit in the isle.The toilet on the bus, and in much of thailand, consists of a spot to squat, and a bucket and a spicket. When you're done, you fill the bucket with water and pour it in the toilet and it flushes down. The bus left at night and Heather and I slept most of the 12 hours. That was no problem. At Surat Thani, we caught a ferry to the island of Ko Samui. The boat ride was a nightmare. Hot and stuffy inside, and the ocean swells were huge. I could see the whole boat flex with each swell. I made a mental note of the nearest exits and two life jackets above us. A number of people were getting seasick. 2 1/2 hrs later we landed. Word of advice: spend the money and fly from bankok to samui.
Samui was a welcome change from the big city. It would be closest to going to an early Maui or Kaui. We stayed at Smile House. Nice air conditioned bungalow in the small town of Bo Phut. We rented a motorbike for 150 Baht ($3.50) for the day. We were a little nervous at first and it was heather's job as passenger to remind me to drive on the left side.

The scooter worked out great and we cruised all over the island. We visited some waterfalls, and took a ride on an elephant. At one waterfall, there was a monkey/elephant/crockadile show. Before the show we went up to a monkey swinging around a tree. He was chained with a long chain so he could play around and swing. Heather got out the camera and I walked up to him. He put his hand out and when I put my hand out, he was on me climbing up over my head and onto my back. He was fascinated with my daypack, pullnig at all the zippers. The scooter key was clipped to the outside with a yellow rubber cord. Then I heard a snap and saw the monkey chewing on the yellow cord, minus the key. Oh great. How do I explain this? We are stuck on the far side of the island because a monkey at the scooter key. A nearby Thai found the key on the ground. The crock and monkey and elephant shows were pretty good. The Thai handler said the elephant would show you what a real Thai massage was and asked for volunteers from the audience. Heather volunteered and she layed on the ground and the elephant tapped his foot on her back. Pretty good, but I was nervous. That evening we took a Yoga class in town; my first one. It was really really good. Very relaxing both physically and mentally. And I had the best sleep in months that night. The last night on Samui we went into Chaweng. This is where the nightlife was, and it was bumping. Bars as far as you could see. At a little street bar, a Thai girl behind the bar pulled out Jenga. Apparently Jenga and Connect Four (remember that game?) are really popular, and they transcend the language barrier. We stayed there late, playing games and talking with some french guys.
It's Friday and I'm already done with Samui, and we're going to Ko Pa Ngan. Learning from our mistakes, we paid for a speedboat. A smooth 30 minutes later we arrived. One thing we've noticed is that we are not packed right. The wheeled luggage doesn't work when you're movnig alot, especially in far off places like this. The "euro trash" have the right idea. Pack light and use a backpack.Ko Pa Ngan is awesome. The best place so far. The only way to describe it is it must be like arriving on Hawaii 100 years ago. The Thais are really friendly and so are the other tourists. We've made friends with three different sets of travellers here already. Three american law students from Tokyo, a couple from London, and another american couple living in Singapore. Th food is awesome. Restaurants in our part of the island are one low table and two cushions. Nothing else. I guess if there's someone at the table you have to wait unitl they are done before you come in the restaurant? At "The Dubble Duke" this little old lady came out and asked if we wanted some squid they had just caught. We agreed and she brougth out the dish and had me try it to see if it was too spicy. This place is too cool.

I finished a book I picked up before the bus left Bankok. It's called "Damage Done" about an Aussie busted in Bankok smuggling drugs, and the 12 years he spent in a Thailand prison. What happens in those prisons is so disturbing I had to put it down a few times and take a break. Today we got a cab and visited Haat Rin, the big party place on the island. Another beautiful beach with litle bungalows dotting the jungle sides. Almost all european backpackers here. The beach was topless, and heather obliged. Unlike most topless beaches, this one actually had good looking people on it. Everyone here is young. Younger than us. We opted not to get a scooter here. The roads are really rough and we've read that it's very dangerous. We've seen at least a dozen people with bandages covering them. We asked and it was always from a motorbike crash. I would be worried taking these roads on my atv. we are here a few moer days before going to Krabi. I'm looking forward to staying here.

3/11/03 - Tues: Jim - So much has happened, I better write some of this down before I forget things. We got into Thailand after a couple hours from Hong Kong. When we were finally settled into the hotel room, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. What do we do, where do we go? It seemed like we needed to maximize our time here and yet i didn't know anything. Of course it all worked out. We just got up and walked around.

We wandered around for a while soaking it all up. Then we ran into Yam. Yam is about our age. Every Thai is really friendly. They all want to talk to you or tell you where the best shopping is. Yam stopped us and asked us where we were from. we chatted for a while and he drew us directions to the money exchange place and a place to book bus tickets to the southern part of the country. Then he told us that he was also a taxi (everyone with a car in Bankok is a taxi) and he would take us everywhere we wanted to go for 300 Bat (about $7). Yam turned out to be a great resource for us. We travelled to all the big attractions, the Grand Palace and the temple, a water taxi around the city canals and lots of other places. Bankok is definately a thriving metropolis, if you can put up with ridiclous pollution. about 20% of the population walk or drive around with dust masks on their faces, and the smog blurs the city skyline. And yet there's no smoking allowed in all restaurants. Ironic.
Our hotel would rate about a 2 star from AAA. But that was offset by the fact that it was literally next door to the infamous Patpong area. IPatpong is like Burbon Street in Tijuana. Every manner of entertainment and the people are very eager to show you. We enjoyed the first night exploring the bars of Patpong. Someone came up to us and asked us "What you want? Girls, beer, party? You want ping pong show?" I knew what the ping pong show was so I said no thanks, but heather says "What's a ping pong show? I want to see it." So we went to an upstairs bar to watch the "show" along with a few other talented performers. We sat at the bar and all of a sudden balloons start popping about our heads. Some girl on stage is shooting darts out of a tube stuck in her "privates" and popping balloons. We move a few barstools down. I don't want to lose an eye from some Bankok stripper blowing darts from her you-know-what. There were more "shows" that night. No need to write about them here.

Monday we woke feeling a bit more confident. We toured the city a bit more, and bought Muai Thai kickboxing tickets for that night. The kickboxing was really cool. We were the foreigner high rollers and sat ringside. We got some good pics also. We finished off the night at a nice restaurant on the 60th floor of the Westin hotel. It's an open air spot on the top of the building. Really scenic and I highly recommend. This morning (Tuesday) we ran into Yam's wife on the street and she said she saw us on TV at the kickboxing event the previous night. She was able to describe our clothes that night perfectly. How funny. I will say that Heather stands out in a crowd here. A tall blonde in a sea of shorter people with dark hair. She gets lots of stares. Pretty funny.

Prostitution is very open and obvious in Thailand. We see many western men escorting young Thai girls around town. But what was an interesting side note is starting to make me sick when I see it.

We are pretty over Bankok. I can't wait to get out of the big city. The only thing worse than the pollution is the traffic. Constant gridlock. We've found that taking the tuk-tuk's around is the fastest and most fun. A tuk-tuk is a 3-wheel ATV that has a backseat and a low roof. The motorcycles and tuk-tuks get around where cars are stuck because the lanes and traffic rules must be "recommended". Nobody obeys traffic lanes. Often they jump into the oncoming traffic lanes if there's room to pass. Tonight we get on the "Super VIP" bus to the southern islands. Super VIP means it has air-conditioning. The country is really hot and humid. And any place that has a/c likes to show it off by setting the thermostat past freezing. Next update will be from the islands to the south.

3/7/03 - Friday: Jim- Well we lift off from LAX on Cathay Pacific. We appreciated the LAX first class lounge (the first time either of us have been in one) but it was small and crowded. I'm looking forward to the trip, but Heather is bouncing off the walls, butterflys-in-the-stomach excited. Sitting in Business Class on an international flight is very nice indeed! The seat reclines almost to a full flat bed and the meals are a full three courses. The personal tv screen has more movies/tv/music than directv at home and this stewardess keeps coming by to ask if she can refill my drink (of course I say yes, I don't want to be rude). This is too cool. The initial excitement wears off and we actually sleep more than half of the 14 hours to Hong Kong. The wierd thing is that we left in the dark, and it was dark outside the whole flight. We land in Hong Kong and it's still dark outside at 6am. Now it's Sunday morning, even though back home it's Saturday afternoon. We've got a 5 hr. layover in Hong Kong. The Cathay first class lounge here is ridiculous. At least 50K sq ft. with 2 full bars, library, 2 internet cafes, couches, showers and cafeteria. The enormity of what we are doing is starting to sink in on me. We have a loosely based itinerary, in a far off country where we don't speak the language or know the customs. This is a little wacky, but I'm confident we'll have a blast just pioneering it on our own.