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.