First, I went to Australia where the weather could change in an instant and you could see the huge storm clouds coming on the horizon and watch them sweep over you. I immediately thought the old expression "if you don't like the weather on the west coast, wait five minutes and it will change," no longer rang very true. THEN I came to the Gulf Islands here in Thailand, and I realized I hadn't seen anything! We can go from completely calm weather with no wind whatsoever to a huge gale with massive downpour (like, MASSIVE) complete with thunder and lightening, [View Full Entry]

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Well, now that I've got all you your attention... haha! OK, Derek doesn't actually have a new Thai girlfriend, but he got quite an offer for a good one night relationship =) We were just walking down this strip of outdoor bars at party central, Chaweng Beach, when this Thai prostitute started singing along (very VERY badly) to whatever song was coming out of the nearest bar. We tried to ignore her (or him??? you can never quite be sure here) and keep walking, but she grabbed on to Derek's arm and wouldn't let go, moaning in a whiny voice things [View Full Entry]

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Despite "Reet's" recent warning that I just got hardcore scammed (who are you, Reet? Do I know you?) things seem to be going well. Maybe we did get scammed into going to the particular agent that we did, but I'm glad that we did because everything is going really well. The bus we took was not a government bus, it was private, which did slightly concern me because I have heard lots of warnings about people going through the baggage and stealing from it during long bus rides (just as Reet said). However we kept all valuables on us as a [View Full Entry]

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First of all, thank you to everyone who's been writing and telling me tips and "hang in there" and such. Hehe, I'm sure I sounded quite woeful (and maybe I was) but from what I've heard that's the way everyone is when they first arrive in Bangkok. Already I'm really getting used to things, and the thought of eating at street stalls has almost reached a level of appeal. Since we've been spending so much time in malls, I've actually been eating pretty well. We didn't PLAN to come to malls again today, but it just kind of happened that way. [View Full Entry]

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So, here we are in Thailand. Quite a contrast from Sydney, that's for sure! I have less than 15 minutes so this update won't be as extensive as most, but I'm sure some people are wondering if I got eaten by a dog or something, so I thought I'd better post. We almost didn't make it here! When we got to our check in desk (with plenty of time, thank goodness) we were told we couldn't check in because we didn't have proof that we would be leaving Thailand within 30days. We WERE going to leave Thailand in 30 days by [View Full Entry]

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Well, I finally have some time and money for a good blog update, but I don't really know what to say. It would be way too hard right now to describe all the different sights we've seen and crazy things we've been experiencing, so I suppose I'll keep this mostly to a run down of the days events. I think most people have an idea of what Bangkok is like. Since it's so varied, probably whatever you picture Bangkok to be in correct, at least somewhere in this city. Just go with your vision, and pretend I explained it to you [View Full Entry]

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Sadly, our much loved Travelpasses, giving us unlimited access to most buses, trains, and ferries, expired yesterday. Soooo that meant a ton of walking for us. Derek and I walked all the way to downtown so that we only had to pay a $4 return train fare, while Mark just walked everywhere he went. I don't really have much to say in this entry, but since updates might become sparse after tomorrow, I felt obligated to post something. Derek and I met up with Troy and Mark S. at a huge mall in Bondi Junction. The Quicksilver store had a massive [View Full Entry]

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Happy Halloween! It seems to be kind of a non-event here, but you still see the odd kid with a witch's hat or a broom or something. Derek and I are planning on dressing up tonight when we go to the bar for another fooseball tournament, anyway. We bought $1 masks from a grocery store. I'm going to be a pig and he's going to be a bear. There's a cow mask for Mark but he seems less willing to play along, so we'll see what happens. Yesterday we too the ferry to Manly Beach with Erich, Troy, Mark S., and [View Full Entry]

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Alrighty, time for a quicky update of our activities over the past few days... On Thursday (WOW I can't believe that was so long ago. Time flies!) the three of us planned to go to take the train to an area outside of Sydney known as the Blue Mountains. My guide book says the name comes from the blue haze in the air caused by the eucalyptus oil in the lower atmosphere. Eucalyptus? Koalas? We hoped so! The train ride was 2 hours on the Sydney train. When we got to the station we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the [View Full Entry]

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OK, this had better be the last installment! I'm getting behind in current blog updates, but I don't want the Surfaris Saga to go untold. My last update kind of sucked due to time constraints, and I'm barely talking about the actual surfing at all, but what can ya do, I guess? So, after squeezing in the last possible moments of surfing we could on Friday morning, packing up all our individual and group gear, loading up the bus/trailer, and posing for a bunch of group shots, we piled into the Captain Good Vibes for our final journey. *tear* When we [View Full Entry]

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