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 that way =) Today we took the subway (No taxis today! YES!) to Chatoochuk (no idea how to spell that) market, which was unbelievably big and sprawling. It's hard to get an idea of just ... read more

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 sale section, which we descovered on Sunday, so we went back for a second look. I resisted temptation (NOT easy!) but Derek decided to buy a longsleeved rash guard. I think it was a really ... read more

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 week-long transit passed we'd purchased earlier entitled us to a savings of $10, so that the trip only cost $14 return. Score!!! We've recently discovered that we've been waaaay over spending and are now incredibly ... read more

Derek and Mark are getting angry with me for spending so much time at internet cafes so I'm going to try to finish my Surfaris story today. We'll see.... My memories of Sandy Beach are getting really jumbled up, but I'll do my best to sort them out. When we last left our heros, we were just settling down to bed in preparation for an early wakeup. At 5am on Thursday morning Rosco came around and (apparantly) woke everyone up. Somehow I missed that wakeup call, but the sound of Derek's glasses case snapping shut woke me up. That's kind of my wakeup call these days. Smartly I had slept in my clothes so all I had to do was brush my hair and roll out the front door of the tent into my sandles. The ... read more

Alright, time for some more Surfaris action. I've got to get going on this because the details are slipping away from memory...... So, now it's Wednesday morning--Day 3. Pat came in to Animal House around... 7am, maybe, to complain that he thought we'd be more keen to get up and surf (he really just wanted to bug us, though). So he teased and harrassed us for a bit until we finally got out of bed. No one was particularly in to going surfing (except Lukas, who was eager!) because the waves sucked again, so we just headed to the cook shelter for some breakfast. Eventually, the posh condo crew emerged from their cushy abode, as well. Pat told us that the northerly wind (which was REALLY strong and had blown down all our wetsuits in the ... read more