http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/BradyMSU/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from BradyMSU en-us Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:54:04 UTC Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:54:04 UTC My early worries before the trip were baseless. While my usual planning was as helpful as always Thailand was more than ready to open its arms to Colin and me. Perhaps even more than western Ireland the Thai people displayed true hospitality and showed us that they were very happy to have us in their country. Thailand is a wonderful place.Before we began planning this trip Thailand Bangkok http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Michigan/East-Lansing/blog-28273.html I'm finally back in East Lansing although I'm only mentally half here. I forced myself to stay up until midnight yesterday but then woke up at 4 a.m. I've been unpacking sorting gifts talking with Joel and working on the Thailand photos this morning. I think I'm going to take a nap now and then get up again in the afternoon. The jet lag has been severe for me coming home although I hardly http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Michigan/East-Lansing/blog-28187.html We'll we're back in Michigan although I'm not quite home yet. Things in Chicago went very smoothly and I escaped U.S. Customs without losing anything. I had checked a box saying I was bringing in food although it was only commercially packaged curry spices and as soon as the customs officers saw that he sent me over to U.S. Agriculture and decided to pull apart the suitcases of some other vic http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Michigan/Kalamazoo/blog-28085.html Happy Sunday morning to everyone from Korea. Although it looks like an unhappy Sunday afternoon in East Lansing as the Spartans are behind in both their currently in progess football game and basketball game. Hopefully we can pull out a winWe're back in Seoul Incheon Airport for a 2 12 hour layover. Both the flight from Samui to Bangkok and Bangkok to Seoul went very quickly. We still have http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/South-Korea/Incheon/blog-27966.html We spent a quiet final day in Thailand. I got my hair cut and an oldfashioned shave in the morning. Then we finished shopping. The hard rain got worse through the day but has cleared up now in the evening. We went swimming during one of the breaks in the rain but otherwise stayed in our hotel room packing and reading. Tonight we went for a final Thai massage best one yet. Then we went o http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27926.html Most of Thailand has three seasons. The hot season is in America's spring months. Then the rainy season lasts until the end of October or early November. Finally from midNovember until March there is the cool season although cool means 85F. Ko Samui and the islands in the Gulf of Siam have two seasons. The cool season last from our late summer until early spring and the hot season the res http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27859.html The trip is winding down now just as the climate is changing here on Koh Samui. It started to rain this evening and likely will rain almost every day for the next month. We lucked out on the weather. The other odd thing is after a week of not seeing any Americans they now seem to be poping up all over the place. We even met two guys who graduated from MSU with Colin in 2003. The island is b http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27782.html I'm feeling a lot better this afternoon. The hangover is gone and I've spent a good hour at the beach followed by a lunch of chicken with cashew spicy Thai salad with beef sweet sour chicken and basil beef. The dishes are smaller and much cheaper here allowing us to try a number of different things for lunch rather than one huge dish like in the USA.The travel agent refunded our entire cost http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27604.html Matt after your email I was afraid your post would be too dirty to accept for the blog but it looked tame enough. Opium is very big in northern Thailand's Golden Triangle but not down here in the south. The drug here is YangBa and it often puts users in a zombie coma for three days or more where they wander the streets like stray dogs. Sounds like fun but I would rather stay on the beac http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27584.html Despite November being the rainy monsoon month in Ko Samui we awoke to another very sunny and beautiful morning on the island. Today is Loy Krathong one of the most important holidays in the kingdom. This evening at dusk Colin and I will travel to Big Buddha Beach at the northeast end of the island to watch as Thais and tourists launch krathongs into the ocean. Krathongs are small floating o http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27466.html So much to do on this island and so little time. After I last wrote Colin and I left for our island safari. It was fun but not worth the 30 cost either here or in America. I got some good photos out of it though. First we saw an elephant show and did elephant trekking that I'm sorry to say probably wasn't PETA approved. The elephants seem like very intelligent animals probably more so th http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27381.html There's no way to write about all we have experienced in the past day. Ko Samui is paradise on Earth certainly the most beautiful place I have ever visited. Imagine the photos of a Caribbean beach and multiply that by 10.Our flight arrived safely and on time yesterday. The trip was very fast lasting only about 40 minutes yet it is certainly a whole world away from Bangkok. We came in over t http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/South/Ko-Samui/blog-27346.html It's going on noon on Monday and Colin and I have arrived at the airport and checked in. The domestic terminal at Bangkok Airport is a crazy place people running all. Barley organized chaos. I wasn't going to write again before we arrived on Ko Samui but after checkin Bangkok Air keeps passengers entertained with free Internet. After Ping Pong Pussy Show free internet seems to be the bi http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-27221.html For those of you who have seen the movie The Beach with Leonardo DeCaprio Khao San Road is the scene at the beginning of the movie where Leo is walking down a croweded street and is solicited by touts to drink cobra blood and then checks into a very cheap hotel.While these first few minutes of the movie contribute to the exaggeration about the exotic dangers of Bangkok that show up in western m http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-27195.html Today was a mixture of high and lows. We left this morning for the Chatuckuck Weekend Market. We spent three hours there and saw an amazing number of things for very very low prices. I got a Buddha amulet a small toy for Ian and Alyssa nephew and niece some plates and a Thai flag. Colin did more shopping than I although we both did a lot of eating. We spent three hours at the market. http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-27113.html Had a great evening. Pat Pong lived up to its infamous reputation. When we got there we browsed the night market. I bought a copy of the DVD for Jarhead for 2US. This price is already low but it's even more remarkable when you understand this movie just began at US theatres last weekend We then walked the sois alleys of Pat Pong. Come in here mista ping pong girls super pussy sexy http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-27087.html It's Saturday evening now and we are taking a rest between our day's activities and our first evening out at Pat Pong the red light district of Bangkok made famous by U.S. GIs during the Vietnam War. Colin is sleeping. Even though I got far less sleep last night he seems to have more jet lag. I just finished watching a show of decortated river boats go down the river next to our hotel. Now http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-27038.html We are in Bangkok The flight from Seoul was uneventful. We flew over the South China Sea and other than the lights of Hanoi as we passed over Viet Nam there was nothing to see until we descended into Bangkok.We arrrived in Bangkok this morning shortly past midnight noon Friday EST. Everything went well at the airport with immigration and customs. Our driver was there to pick us up as expec http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/Thailand/Central/Bangkok/blog-26986.html Colin and I arrived in South Korea an hour ago. The flight did not seem like it lasted 14 hours. It seemed as short as the trip to Ireland. It was light out the entire time so that helped. It was cloudy over much of northern Canada and the Artic Ocean. However we had a great view of the snowly desolation of Siberia. Korea is much more mountainous that I expected. The Koreans are very frien http://www.travelblog.org//Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-26909.html The first stage of our journey has begun. We're in Chicago now the Windy City that is living up to it's name tonight. It feels like winter began this afternoon. After a long night of thunderstorms in East Lansing the morning was warm and pleasant. Leaving work though the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees. With the newly cold weather and the Legislature in marathon sessions the rest http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Illinois/Chicago/blog-26680.html