Yo, I'm back in Chiang Mai after the jungle trek. Man, that's something you gotta do if you are here. It was a great time. They did a really good job of putting a group together, which made it fun for everyone. Everyobody was around the same age and the guides were freakin hilarious. There was a couple from Chile, some Brits, some Canadians, some Germans, and an Australian and Swedish dude. There were 15 of us in total. The actual hike wasn't too extreme but the first day we walked uphill the whole time and it was super hot. I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok I made it to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Lucky for me I got my passport sent to Bangkok in a day so it was all cool. And of course I had to purchase another camera. Man someday I'll have pictures all over the world with all of the cameras I'm sure I will lose. Chiang Mai is such a relief from the hell I call Bangkok. Nobody seems to really like Bangkok except for the American students who are just on a short holiday. I think they are more interested in the sleazy side of Bangkok though. So far [View Full Entry]

---

---

I never cease to amaze myself. Koh Tao took me for all I am worth. It seems that I left my passport there. You have to keep your passport at the guesthouse office while you stay there, and the office broad forgot to give it back to me when I checked out this morning. Now here I am in Bangkok: no camera, no passport, and no excuses for my stupidity. It shouldn't be a big deal. I'll phone the place tomorrow and they should be able to mail it to me I hope. It's 4:00 in the morning and I think [View Full Entry]

---

---

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from Ko Phangan because I lost camera #2 a couple days ago. I think I left it at a restaraunt but they said they never found it. So it's too bad but I'm not buying another goddamn camera. No more pictures I guess. Anyway, I finished my advanced open water diving course. It was so much better than the beginner course. I really don't think your diving experience is complete until you are allowed to go down to 30 meters. That was awesome! There were so many more fish. And last night our last [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well I'm all done dive school. It was awesome! We go to do 5 dives (and some homework and a no-brainer final exam)and our instructor was a young Danish guy who was lots of fun. The first day we just watched a video but on the second day we went out for a shallow dive to practise some skills. It was a really neat feeling being weightless and breathing underwater. We were just in about 4-5 feet of water at first but we went down to 8 meters on the swim back to the boat....I was real thrilled and at the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today I start my open water scuba diving course....I'm pretty excited. Koh Tao is a world class place to dive. I guess last week some groups saw whale sharks so if I'm real lucky I may get to as well. It is expensive to dive but I had to work it in to my budget. Who would have thought I'd ever be scuba diving in Koh Tao? Rotem is diving too but she's already certified. The course costs 9000 baht (about $225 U.S. I think) and each dive costs 1000 baht after that. There's a tiny island called Shark Island nearby [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all! I'm back to the island life and it's great. There's nothing but white sandy beaches and crystal clear turquoise waters. Actually Ko Phan Ngan is really quite large. I rented a motorbike so I could tour around and see all the sights. Two nights ago there was a full moon party on the south beach. I had no idea the magnitude of these parties. There were 8-10,000 tourists partying there. Of course there was crappy dance music and I didn't seem to have as much fun as most people. I was feeling a little sick actually and the [View Full Entry]

---

---

Man I got to Bangkok the day before yesterday. I hadn't slept the night before because I took a night bus and I can't ever sleep on the bus. Now I'm travelling with a cute Israeli girl named Rotem that I met on Don Det Island. She's a lot of fun and I'm kinda trying to learn some basic Hebrew but its so hard! Rotem goes home at the beginning of April so I'll be on my own again after that I guess. Bangkok is huge! It was a lot to take in, being all tired from no sleep and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Forgive the briefness of this entry but the service here is very expensive. Man I've been on the Island of Don Det for just shy of a week. It's really cool and laid back...no cars, no eletricity except for some generators that restaraunts use (so cold beer is always calling out your name). I have done nearly the same thing every day: Eating, swimming, eating, swimming, drinking beer, swimming, playing guitar, reading, and drinking beer. It's great. My mp3 player stopped working though so now I have no camera and no tunes. You know what that means? It's off to Bangkok, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey I'm in Vang Vieng again....I might kayak back to Vientiane tomorrow because it's the only place with an ATM and I need some bucks to get me by until Cambodia. I've been hanging out with all kinds of interesting people and I've been sharing a room with a gal from Colorado named Erin here in Vang Vieng. Anyways, in Phonsavon I had the craziest experience ever. I stayed at a guesthouse in the shittiest room so far, but it was cheap. The owner was an educated Lao man and he had some interesting things to say. He actually spent [View Full Entry]

---

---