Long Overdue

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Again I apologize for not being better about keeping people up to date on our travels. There has just been so much to do and see since we have gotten to Thailand.

Mark and I got into Thailand on August 4 and went to Kho San Road which is the main tourist/backpacker area in Bangkok. People here are moving a million miles a minute nonstop. It was quite a culture shock for both of us. But we really enjoyed being there and seeing everything, but once we went outside of the tourist/backpacker area, we were shocked to see what Bangkok is really like. There is a lot of garbage on the street and the poverty very noticeable. But the people are incredibly nice and very hospitable.

After about 4 days in Bangkok, we caught a cheap flight to Phuket on the southwest coast and spent about 4 days there as well. This was beautiful. The beach was incredible and we were amazed to see how much was rebuilt since the tsunami. It appears as if it is almost back to 100%. We met a lot of other people backpacking and travelling around southeast Asia and we were able to see what they thought of Thailand.

From there we went to Koh Phi Phi which was hit hardest by the tsumani and again we were amazed to see the progress they have made. We were shocked though to learn that the Thai government gave each citizen affected by the tsunami 1500 baht, which is the equivalent of $375. This was all the money they were given to rebuild their homes and to use on food and other necessities. If you owned a shop, you were given 10,000 baht to rebuild your shop and restore damages. We took a snorkelling trip to a nearby island one day and our quide told us since the tsunami he has been travelling trying to collect money for people on his island and the day he took us out was only his third day back at work. The people here have faced incredible hardships and have taken them in stride and moved on.

After spending about 5 days on Koh Phi Phi, we took a boat to Krabi and then a bus to Suratthani where we caught a sleeper boat to Koh Tao, which is where we are now. Koh Tao is much quieter than the other places we have been to and we are glad it is. It was nice to get a chance to lay on the beach all day and go to sleep at 9pm. Mark took a SCUBA class while we were here and got certified to dive anywhere he wants now. I pretty much just layed on the beach all day and listened to my ipod and read my books. We had a great bungalow here which consisted of one double bed with a misquito canopy over it and a foot long lizard living in our bathroom.

Other than that, life is great here. We leave here in a few hours and head south to two more islands before heading back to Bangkok on Thursday, Hong Kong on Saturday and finally home, after 2 months, on Monday.

We hope everyone is doing well and cannot wait to see everyone in a few short weeks.

Take care

Will & Mark

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