Winter is finally here for the new year!

Last semester flew by so fast. I swear, time keeps going more and more quickly the older I get. Time is funny that way, sometimes dragging on and sometimes slipping away much too quickly. Anyway, the semester went really well for both Scott and I. We got to work with some wonderful couples and families and learned a lot. I (Ashley) had some challenging classes and I while I enjoyed them, I have been loving winter vacation. Scott and I made a trip to Oklahoma in mid December to see Jake and Nana Branson. It was very enjoyable and we found out a lot about Scott's ancestors. We also got to see Susan and Thad, which was great. We headed up to Leadville a few days before Christmas and it was beautiful. There was snow everywhere and it snowed on and off up until Christmas eve. Scott went snowboarding for two days at Copper with Will and my dad and had a ton of fun in the fresh powder. The snow was a welcome relief from Greeley where up until yesterday we have gotten NO moisture. It has been extremely warm and dry... I mean warm and dry to the point that we were watering our plants up until a week ago (December 22). We had to keep watering them because we haven't had a hard enough freeze for them to go dormant and they were starting to die from lack of water. I've heard all kinds of explanations for this weather, but if you ask me it is weird and concerning to see flowers in bloom in the middle of December in Colorado (It was 65 degrees on Dec. 14th). Also, why was there a tornado in Oregon in the middle of December? Moving on from that tangent, Christmas was a lot of fun and I was happy to spend a few days with my family in Leadville. Since we have been so busy with school I haven't gotten to see them as often and I have really missed them. We got some awesome Christmas gifts from my fam and packed up Christmas morning to head down to Greenwood Village to see Scott's family. I was glad to see Bruce, Patsy, Spencer, and Karina as well as to meet Karina's mom and dad. We shared a really delicious meal and exchanged some amazing gifts. We especially enjoyed the books! Then Karina and her dad played some instruments while we all sang Christmas carols, it was a lot of fun. Bud, Lynn, and Lorraine stopped by and we got to visit for a little. Scott was so glad to see them and I was sorry that we couldn't stay longer but we had to drive back up to Greeley before it got too late. Since Christmas we have been getting the basement cleaned out (we ripped out an old closet and some other drywall and floor tiles) so that we can convert it into a more usable space over the next couple months. We have also been enjoying the snow that finally came yesterday. It seems it snowed on and off all last night as we have about 6 inches of snow! We are excited for the moisture. Tonight I think we will stay home, make some tasty food, and watch a movie for New Years Eve. It might sound boring but I love cuddling up when it is snowy outside in our house that we have worked so hard on.

Last Day in Thailand

Today is our last day in Thailand. We leave for the airport around 5:00 tomorrow morning. We are going to try to do a little sight seeing around BKK today. We are also going to have dinner with our friend Anne (finally, we have missed eachother several times thus far). We are not excited for the long flight back, but we are excited to be home again. We will miss you Thailand!

Back in BKK

We arrived in BKK today. Will write more tomorrow as I am really tired right now and there are a ton of people in this little room using the internet.

Recap

It is pouring rain at the moment so we are blogging it up to allow for the rain to slow. It is always very nice in Thailand after a hard rain as it smells great and is much cooler. I can't believe that Scott and I only have four days left here. It is bittersweet as we are missing home, our family, friends, and especially our babies.

We have done so many amazing things here! We have:

• explored the jungle
• found the most beautiful and deserted beach I have ever seen
• played in the ocean
• drank from a coconut
• learned to cook Thai food
• did yoga in the jungle
• got soaked with rain
  
• visited a Rasta bar
  
• saw some beautiful temples
  
• got the best massages in the world (almost daily for about $5 an hour)
  
• were blessed by monks
  
• ate delicious Thai food
  
• saw beautiful hand painted umbrellas being made
• saw silk being spun
  
• made friends with Pakistanis
  
• watched amazing Muay Thai fights
• commissioned an artist
  
• rolled in the mud with elephants
  
• ate rice out of a banana leaf
  
• played in a river with elephants
  
• visited an organic farm
  
• shopped at a bustling night market
  
• slept on a train going through the beautiful mountains
  

I am sure there are many things that were wonderful that I forgot to mention because there have been so many awesome things! Best of all I got to share this amazing journey with the love of my life who has been my husband now for nearly a month.

Back in Chiang Mai

We just got done eating our mid-morning meal. Since we have been here we have taken to eating a large meal mid-morning and another mid-afternoon. It feels right. If I eat too close to bed I get hot and cannot sleep. We are trying to figure out how to keep entertained in Chiang Mai for another few days. We are thinking about visiting the zoo and a park here in town. It would be nice to find an activity outside of town as the mountains are so nice up here. They are so lush and also much cooler than it is in the city. We are still a little bummed (and worried) that the Chinnaworn stay didn't work out as he seemed like an amazing person. Maybe someday everyone can move over here with us and we can start the farm back up...

Ashley would like to hear from her family. They have been quiet for several days. Mom, dad, Bud, Lynne, and everyone else who has commented we really appreciate hearing from you all. Oh yeah, I hope that everyone who went to Pitkin had a nice trip.

An interesting thing happened the other day. We decided to try to buy Ashley's birth control pills over here because when she was sick she had trouble keeping them down and so she was a few pills short. Anyways we went into the pharmacy with out a prescription and they found some that had the same ingredients (we compared her old pack to the new one and they are identical). They cost us a whopping 50 cents/month here. In the states they are $20 with insurance. WTF!? If anyone needs meds it might be cheaper to fly over here to get them if they are particularly expensive... Does anyone need more evidence that our healthcare system in the US might be a little corrupt? This really raises questions for me as there are so many people paying thousands of dollars per year for AIDS medicine, cancer drugs, insulin, cholesterol medication, and other lifesaving drugs. Further, I am left to wonder why it is illegal for one to purchase these drugs overseas and bring them back into the United States, even if one has a valid prescription? It seems that this is "copyright infringement". Do the drug companies care so little about health and so much about making a few (billion) dollars that they are willing to sacrifice human life for profits? According to Fortune 500, Pfizer was the ninth most profitable company globally in 2007. Merck is fourteenth thus far in 2010. Merck has made almost $13 billion in profits thus far this year.

Well some guy that looks really sick just came into the computer place so we are out of here! Love to all!

Chinnaworn is in trouble!

After five hours, 2,000 baht, and help from several helpful locals we figured out that Chinnaworn got into trouble and is now in Lampang. His homestead has been abandoned for the last three or four months. After all of that we were able to track down his sister who told us that we were welcome to move into the old homestead, however, it would require quite a lot of cleaning. We decided to pass and we are now back in Chiang Mai. One of the people that knew him, Ben, told us that we were absolutely not to go to the homestead or to the mountain on which it is located.

The good news is that the mountains around Chiang Mai are beautiful! Seriously it is paridise. There are a lot of small farms and I felt very encouraged seeing the villagers working them. We got some spectacular pictures (if they turn out... the light was a bit funny) of the mountains and valleys. There are giant clumps of bamboo, some of which must be at least thirty or fourty feet high! It was nice and cool up in the high country and overall seemed a great place to have a farm...

Happy Birthday Dad!

I know it is not your birthday yet in the US but it is here in Thailand so Happy Birthday Dad! Scott and I are going to go eat and then check out from the hotel. We are planning to take a taxi to Samoeng and then hopefully another taxi into Pang Term Village. If nothing else we will spend the night in a guesthouse in Samoeng but we are hoping to make it all the way to Chinnaworn's tonight. I love you Dad and I hope your birthday is amazing!

Elephants

Today Ashley and I went to visit the elephants at the Thai Elephant Home. It was amazing getting to spend an entire day with elephants! We rode up a mountain and gave the elephants a bath in the mud and then went back down and washed/played with them in the river. Also, we had the most delicious fried rice for lunch. It was cooked over a fire in a banana leaf. It is a little sad because the elephants are not kept in the most humane conditions. Specifically, the elephants are kept on 5 foot long chains when they are not on treks and they strain and strain to move around to visit each other. The trainers also use sharp hooks to control them at times. However, it is clear that the trainers love the animals as they dedicate their entire lives to them.

It should also be noted that this park does not make the elephants carry more than one person per elephant. Other parks will put three people and one heavy bench on the elephants and make them work for seven or eight hours per day.

While this was an amazing once in a lifetime experience, I left with a great sense that these animals are NOT meant to be kept in captivity (they are also super smart and clearly have similar emotions to humans).

Ashley got to ride a very horny young man. He kept trying to mount the girl that was in front of him while they were playing in the river. I think that elephant sex looks very dangerous as they weigh in between two and three tons.

I was on a giant female who was 44 years old. Her name was Boonsi. She was super scared of cars and noise in general she would cower any time a vehicle was in the area and refused to let her back to a car. This resulted in me having to ride up one hill going backwards/sideways.

Tomorrow we are going to try to visit Chinnaworn. We have not been able to reach him by phone and we don't have his email so he doesn't know we are coming. Hopefully Karina will be able to get us in touch with him tonight...

I am feeling better!

After a case of nasty food poisoning, I am finally feeling better. Ashley is feeling better as well. Also, for all of you looking for the secret to speedy weight loss, I have found the answer. It is a restaurant called Dada in Chiang Mai! Mom - Ashley and I have commissioned the painting of Karina and Spencer that we talked about - it was a little expensive, but I think it is well worth it. We went to watch the artist work on it day before yesterday (I couldn't leave the room to check on it yesterday). It takes the artist several days so we will go visit later tonight.

We are going to take it easy today to make sure we are completely over the Dada plague. All of Ashley's joints still ache from it. Tomorrow we are going to visit the elephants at the same place Spencer and Karina went. It looks like it will be such an amazing experience. Once we do this we will have done everything we really wanted to do in Thailand (except visit Chinnaworn, which we will go do the day after tomorrow). Right now we are off to get some food as we couldn't really eat yesterday.

Scott is sick

Yesterday Scott and I tried a new restaurant and I could tell right away that the food did not sit right. An hour or two later I was feeling pretty bad and Scott was also starting to feel sick. We lied down for a little and then went and got a later dinner around 8 pm when Scott said he felt like he needed to eat something. After dinner we walked around a little and then went back to the guest house as Scott was feeling worse. We tried to lie down and go to sleep but Scott got progressively more and more sick. He started throwing up around 10 pm and didn't stop until 3 or 4 am. He must have thrown up 20 or 30 times. I kept trying to get him to drink water but he would just throw it right back up. At 3 am I found the nearest hospital in the lonely planet and got all the travel insurance documents ready. I thought for sure I would have to take him to the hospital as he was starting to throw up a little blood. I got him to take a pill that stops you from throwing up that I got from my doctor before we left in case of severe illness. He was able to keep it down for a few minutes and I think enough got in his system to stop him from throwing up because he was able to lie down and sleep. I stayed up the rest of the night because I was still afraid I was going to need to take him to the hospital as he was freezing cold but he felt burning hot to the touch and I still couldn't get him to drink very much water. At 8 am I went down stairs and waited for the Thai elephant home to arrive to tell them we would have to reschedule. Scott seemed to be doing a little better but I was still very worried. I went back upstairs around 8:30 am and slept until 11 am. Then I got up and walked down the road to get him some water, ginger soup, and brown rice. He was able to eat some of it and most importantly drink water, however, he is still very sick. He cannot stand for more than a minute or two at a time and he has been sleeping all day. I am not feeling very well myself but I have tried my best to fight it off so I can take care of him. He says he is feeling better but I have been waking him up every hour or so to get him to drink water. I was able to get him to sit outside the room for a few minutes so they could clean it. If he is not doing better by tomorrow morning I will take him to the hospital and get us both checked out. Hopefully we will both be feeling better and back to normal by then...

We are going to see the elephants tomorrow

Scott and I are very excited because we are going to go see the elephants tomorrow. Last night we went to Muay Thai and it was a lot of fun. We wish we brought the camera... oh well. We will probably get a massage and then take a nap as the fights went late and we didn't get home until one in the morning. I am so excited to play with the elephants and I want to be well rested for tomorrow. They will come get us first thing in the morning and we are going to spend the day with them. There should be some excellent photos to come :)

Scott's Thoughts on Muay Thai
Muay Thai was awesome. It was a little annoying because only one of the fighters realized he could make the situation much more entertaining and speedy by dropping his opponents face on his knee... Oh well. There were several spectacular fights, one of which involved a Canadian who was chiseled like a Greek god fighting a fat Thai man. That one did not last very long. Also, the night ended with a drunk Irishboy deciding he would take on one of the professional fighters. He held his own for about one round, however, that took everything that he had. After that there was one more hit and the match was over - at least for a few minutes. Then the drunk kid came to and decided he needed to fight more. No one was willing to take him on as he was clearly suffering from a concussion. There were some very convincing ladyboys at the fight as well. It was hard to decide what was more entertaining the fight or watching several European and American men get turned on by/check out the ladyboys only to realize.... This generally ended with the men leaving with a Thai bar girl, which helped everyone involved feel secure in their sexuality. There were also a number of adorable kids at the fight selling roses. I got Ashley a rose for a mere ฿10. After that the kids kept coming up to me trying to get more money. Lucky Ashley was holding onto the cash that night otherwise we would have been out as they were very persistant. It was hard not to give them money as they were clearly hungry. Their mom was there as well. She was from one of the hill tribes. Ultimately, last night lead to my deciding that I need to start a fight club in Greeley as watching people fight is really super entertaining - especially if they remember that a healthy knee to the face is always a great choice!

Muay Thai

We just got done having dinner at a new veg. resturaunt. Pretty much all of their food comes from their own organic farm. If we spend ฿500 at the resturaunt we get a free night at the farm! We might just take the free veggie burger though as we most likely won't have time to go to the farm. We are going to go the the fight tonight here in Chiang Mai. Apparently one of the fighters is quite well known and hopefully very adept at throwin 'bows. We are looking into booking a day at the Thai Elephant home where Spencer and Karina went when they were up this way. I am going to email them after this as I cannot figure out how to book on their website and wellsfargo charges me between $10 and $30 for making international debit card purchases. That's what I call service! We moved guest houses today to a way nicer place that is in a much better location. It is also less than half the price as we didn't book it through the T.A.T. office. We are having a lot of fun and really enjoy being in Chiang Mai. It is a great atmosphere and is very laid back. Also, pretty much everyone is in bed by 10 or 11 at night, which suits us very well.

Oh yeah...Today I had a wheat grass shot with Ashley so we can finally say that we took shots in Thailand! Everyone here drinks crazy cheap whiskey that you can smell from about two city blocks away. We have avoided drinking everything except water, smoothies, and thai iced tea with coco milk.

Chiang Mai

Hello. All is well in Chiang Mai. We are getting used to the city and have decided to stay for a few more days. We are going to move guesthouses tomorrow to one that is way cheaper and nicer. We got scammed a little bit on this one because we booked through the T.A.T. office as recommended by lonely planet. They were way off. Guest houses are a dime a dozen here and the T.A.T. charges several hundred dollars in commision! We found a new vegetarian resturaunt today. They make their own vegetarian burgers. Yum! We are always excited about good food. We also just got done getting massages. I got a foot massage and Ashley got an oil massage. I was amazed at how much stress I store in my feet. We are all relaxed now so we are going to wander back to the guesthouse for some rest by the pool. We are going to return our motorbike today as we walk most places.

More from Chiang Mai

Scott and I had a pretty fun day yesterday. We managed to find the umbrella factory about 10 km outside of town. The way that they make them is absolutely fascinating, they are very skilled. They also had many painters that did amazingly intricate work. They offer to paint on your shirt or your pants in addition to the umbrellas and fans that they paint. Scott and I each got a hand painted velvet fan for a mere ฿200 or about $3 each. They are beautiful and they help to keep you cool as it is very warm here. We also saw how they make paper which is a quite extensive process. After that we stopped in at a silk factory and saw how the silk was made. It starts with these little eggs that grow into worms that eat mulberry leafs. As the worms gorge on mulberry leaves they get quite large and then make a cocoon which is yellow or white. Then the cocoon is boiled in water and silk thread is made from it. They said they got 500 meters of silk thread from one cocoon. They then filter you into their silk shop which is quite over priced. We skipped buying anything as we saw the same pillows that they wanted ฿1450 for ฿100 at the night bazaar. Then we had the best Indian food I have ever had at a restaurant (of course I prefer home made) for dinner. It was fantastically tasty. Today we are going in search of a bra. The first week we were here we got laundry done and the only bra that I brought went missing. Since then I have been wearing my bathing suit top and looking everywhere for a store that sells bras. I have found a couple stores and even bought one bra for a dollar which I have been cramming into... but none of them have really fit... all of the bras are tiny. Today I was told they sell western bras at the mall so we are going to give that a go. We are also going to look at the Baan Tawai centre where many of the wood carved items and furniture are made. Scott and I love watching the artists at work.

Chiang Mai Has No Street Signs

Chiang Mai seriously has no street signs. This makes navigating quite difficult. We have been walking most everywhere to avoid taking tuk tuks as they get expensive fast (at least if you are white...). We rented a motorbike which is nice for long distances, however, it is still nearly impossible to navigate the city. This is coming from someone who is generally a proficient navigator. I had no problems getting around BKK, Koh Phangon, and a number of other places I have been. This city is just super confusing. There are a ton of back alleys and streets that curve in random directions. We spend several hours every day trying to get to one place. The upside of this is that we get to see a lot of cool little shops and resturaunts that are hidden on cobbled back alleys. The old city is beautiful and quite fun to walk around. There is an infinite amount of stuff to see and do tucked into a small square that is the old city. We are thinking about taking an elephant trek, however, these are really expensive at a few hundred US dollars per person. Today we are going to attempt to find the craft market so we can see how all of the silk items, umbrellas, teak carvings, etc. are made. Yesterday I got a haircut and a shave. It was only $6 US and it looks really nice. Now I can come back and look credible for the families I will be seeing next semester. I am also going to aquire a new suit so that I can have two for the practicum. There is something about walking into a room with a family, taking off a nice jacket, and hanging it over a chair that just screams "I am credible". This makes a big difference as older people can have a hard time working with a young buck such as myself.

Also, Ashley is highly proficient at chop stick use. She is able to tackle difficult foods such as brown rice and vegetables. There is great vegetarian food in Chiang Mai at a cheap price. I do have a hard time as I feel that we haven't been able to do any cooking or other work since we have been here, which miffs me a little.

Chiang Mai is a beautiful place and we are really excited to be here. Going with the flow can be a struggle, but it is a good learning experience.

here are a few pics. there are some that have been added to prior posts as well.

Chiang Mai

Scott and I finally made it to Chiang Mai yesterday after an eight hour bus ride to Bangkok and a fifteen hour train ride to Chiang Mai... it was so long and I am so happy to not be traveling around again for a while. Chiang Mai is different than I expected I think I thought it would be a lot smaller with a lot less people. It is quite a bit warmer here than it was in Koh Phagnan which really surprised me. I think we must have hit that island at just the perfect time because the weather was awesome the whole time we were there. It was cooler (less humid and hot then Flordia even). Despite the heat Chiang Mai is a really cool place. It has a lot of really good food and shopping that my mom would die for. Mom you would love it here there are so many things to buy and everyone is willing to barter. It is quite a bit cheaper than BKK or Koh Phagnan and there are temples on every street. We rented a motor bike but we have been mostly walking as it is difficult to navigate the streets (most of them are not marked) and there are alleys that branch into other alleys that can be a bit confusing. We are settling in and I think we are finally almost caught up on sleep. It was so funny because we got here on July 5th (July 4th in the US) and there are signs everywhere that say Happy New Year and even a Merry Christmas one at our hotel... they are a little fuzzy on what July 4th is but they know it involves fire works and they put up the New Years banners for the Americans (ha ha). We love and miss you guys!

Made it to BKK

Made it safe to BKK. Will be on the train to Chiang Mai tonight.

Farewell Bottle Beach

Today was our last day on the island. We went to the beach and we are going to have an Indian buffet tonight at the yoga retreat. The beach was perfect because it was overcast and cool. The air temp. was probably around 80 degrees Fahrenheit and the water was probably a bit warmer than that. We are sad to leave the island, however, we are looking forward to seeing Chiang Mai as it is one of the most vegetarian friendly cities on the planet (Dana take note). We are glad that we got to see the island when we did as it seems that they are in the process of potentially becoming a huge tourist hot spot. Mom and dad (Branson) I have not heard from you at all. Are you reading the blog? You all should comment or email me. I miss you.

Second to last day in Koh Phangnan

Today Scott and I got up and did a yoga class. It was nice to open our muscles as they get very tight from the motor bike riding. Then we did a cooking class which was rather fun. My favorite things that we learned to cook were Tom Yum a spicy soup with tofu and vegetables and Pad Thai which are rice noodles with veg and peanuts (we added cashews). We decided to take a break from the motor bike and the beach for the day. Bottle Beach is gorgeous but it is a bit of a rough go getting there... a little bumpy to say the least. Also, no matter how much sun block I put on I still end up a little burnt because the humidity melts the sunblock right off. It has been a little warmer the past two days. I am hoping we get a good hard rain tonight so that it will be cool in the morning. When it rains here it pours. Scott and I were out on the motor bike a few nights ago and we thought that a little rain would feel nice.... we were completely drenched. I have never gotten so soaked in my whole life. It was crazy! We will try to post pictures soon... it has been difficult to find the correct cord to get them from the camera to computer.

Will and Sarah- you guys would love it here. The beaches are sort of like Maui with white sand and blue green water but there are way less people. The Thai people on this island are very friendly (most of them at least) and they live a peaceful slow paced life. Yesterday we saw two monkeys holding on to the back of a truck that was driving through town. You see many tropical birds, monkeys, elephants and water buffalo around the island. This morning I was feeling a little home sick and laying in a hammock when this ginger colored cat came and lied with me. I think he knew I was missing my kitties and he had a cuddle and a knead. I miss you all very much and I wish you were here.

Tomorrow we are going to get up and head to Bottle Beach in the morning and then have a massage in the afternoon. Then the next day (July 3rd) we will get up in the morning and take the ferry then the bus to Bangkok. We are hoping to meet up with our friend Dr. Anne for lunch before heading to Chiang Mai. I am not looking forward to all the traveling as it takes forever but I am looking forward to being in Chiang Mai. I love you all.

Three More Days in Koh Phangan

We are staying three extra days on the island. This morning we moved to a nice little bungalow that is in a yoga center. They have great veg food. Ashley's birthday was really nice. We got some nice pictures of the island this morning and we are going to have a steam sauna this afternoon. Yesterday we found Bottle Beach. It was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful place I have been in my life. We will spend more time there soon. We got pictures of it today, however, there is no doing this place justice. The water and sand are perfect and there were only eight other people there!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Today is Ashley's birthday. We are going to celebrate by going to the beach this morning. Then we are going to go get massages and coconut ice cream (it's vegan!) this afternoon. We explored the island a bunch yesterday in search of a beach that is hidden from the non-Thai population. No luck. We still ended up on a really nice beach on the south end of the island though. It has been cooler as it is the rainy season and everyone has been leaving the island over the last day or so. It is really nice. The temperature is perfect. This place is paradise. Mom and dad: there is a place for rent for 6000 baht a month. It is a huge house. I'm just saying... We love everyone and we are off to the beach now.

First Day On Koh Phangan

Today is our first day on the island (that we are actually awake...). There was a giant party last night, which Ashley and I selected to sleep through. The aftermath looks like the worst war zone. Interestingly, many of the white people on the island also look as though they have survived a fire fight last night. We rented a motor bike and have been driving through the jungle looking around. It is beautiful. Everything is so lush and green. It is overcast today and nice and cool (relatively speaking). This afternoon we are going to do more exploring of the island and we might get a massage. We got one before we left BKK at Wat Pho and it was amazing (although quite expensive at 480 baht/hour/person). We need to scope out a nice beach for Ashley's birthday one the 29th. The water is the perfect shade of greenish blue around the island. We took a little dip on the beach in front of the guesthouse last night and it felt like a hot tub. Our beach isn't that prime for swimming though as a lot of the whites litter alcohol bottles. There are less visited areas that we will find over the next day or so. The island is small so we should be able to see everything here.

Also, day before yesterday Ashley and I were randomly blessed by a monk. We were at the temple and we were taken back to his private home where he gave us 'good luck' bracelets and blessed us with holy water. He had the biggest DVD collection I have seen in my life. Now I know where all the temple donations go...

We finally made it to Koh Pha Nga

So we left for the train station at 5:00 pm last night and we didn't get off the train until 8 am this morning. The train broke down and we had to switch trains in the middle of the jungle at 5 am. It was crazy everyone was yelling in Thai and Scott and I had no idea what was going on. Luckily we found someone who spoke english. It was pretty much impossible to sleep on the train as they don't turn out the lights. Once we finally got off the train we had to take a bus for an hour and then a ferry for two and half hours to finally get here. Scott and I are both exhausted and I don't imagine we will be up past 9 pm tonight... i didn't really want to go to the full moon party anyway. Even though today has been a very long and frustrating day it is gorgeous here. It is also nice that the beach off of our guest house is fairly deserted because everyone is going to the party (about 25 min from here). I will write more tomorrow when my brain is working properly (lack of sleep makes it difficult to write).

Leaving Bangkok

Scott and I are leaving Bangkok tonight at 5:00 pm for the islands. So much for it being a quiet get a way... there is a full moon party. The locals have told us this means there will be 40,000 people there. Luckily we got a guest house away from the party. We will be there until June 30th as I didn't want to be traveling on my birthday. Then we will head to the north to Chiang Mai which I am really looking foreward to. I've seen pictures of the island we are going to stay and it is paridise. I was informed that it is right by the island where Leonardo Decapro shot the movie the island. I don't think I've ever seen the movie but I thought I would share in case any of you have...

I am really happy to be leaving Bangkok. The city reminds me in some ways of New York City. There are people everywhere and they all want to sell you something. Yesterday Scott and I went and saw three of the Buddhist temples which were very pretty. We also saw a lot of extreme poverty which wasn't very pretty. In fact, it was extremely depressing. The worst is seeing children living in filth and squalor picking through it and eating it. There is always a party in Bankok until around four or five in the morning. Scott and I headed in early last night we were in bed by nine as I am still having a little trouble adjusting fully to Bangkok time. I perfer Bangkok in the morning when there is a slight bustle instead of a ongoing roar. We are off to have breakfast now and it is sure to include another pineapple, mango, coconut milk smootie which Scott and I really enjoy. Thus far we have been able to eat completly vegan which has been lovely. However, this may not be the case once we leave Bankok as I researched resturaunts before coming that serve vegan food. There were not specifics about these resturaunts around the islands so we will just have to try our best. We miss you all very much. I especially miss my cats and my fam... I love you guys very much. I don't know if we will have internet on the island but I am pretty sure we will be able to find a place in Chiang Mai. Bon voyage...

We Made It!

Ashley and I arrived safely last night. We stayed a night in Bangkok off Kaho San Road. We flew in around 10:30 last night and it was a crazy street party when we got here. The last thing that we wanted to do was to party after 24 hours on an airplane, so we found a nice place to stay (with a bathroom and A/C - Classy) and went to sleep. This morning we got up and ate at the local vegetarian resturaunt. Ashley and I ate a ton! We were starved after spending a day on an airplane. We had the best smoothies as well as pad thai and a ginger dish. It was delisious. We are going to try to take a cooking class from the resturant when we get back into Bangkok.

For now, we are going to look into going to Koh Pha Nga, an island with beautiful beaches that tends to have a bit fewer tourists. We will be in touch again soon.

P.S. Dana, Abby, and Katy, email us to let us know how our kitties are doing. We miss them terribly and it has only been one day.

Mom and Dad,
I tried to email you all, but UNCO's email is down for now so thank you for sending us on a beautiful honeymoon. We love you.

Just Married

The wedding was amazing! The weather was perfect and we enjoyed every second of it. The food was tasty and the company was fantastic. We are a little overwhelmed because we leave for the honeymoon Tuesday morning super early. We are also more than a little overwhelmed by all the lovely gifts we were given.