Valentines Day

After our last blog and before the bus ride, Marc and I got the oh so famous thai massage. Wow, it was $10 per person for the whole hour in a beautiful spa, for the whole body. The massage is pretty painful but i felt sooo much better afterwards, highly recommended if they have them in Toronto. The bus ride from Bangkok to Krabi and then to Koh Lanta which is where we are now, lasted more than 18 hours. It was really bad, its the kind of bus ride that really tests what a person is made of, and also teaches you that saving $80 per person on a plane ride is not worth it at all. I will not go over how bad the ride was and why, but I will mention that I was really missing my mommy and home at that point.

On the bus ride it wasn't all bad, we met a lot of new people from all over the world. We met a couple from Switzerland their names were something like Pretzel and Gretzel i cant really remember but they were lovely, we also made friends with two other couples. One couple from Vancouver that were in thailand and surrounding area for 4.5 months whose brain I was picking and another couple from England (they are originally from New Zealand and South Africa crazy Europeans) whom we followed to Koh Lanta. The 6 of us are now staying in one beautifu resort on the beach. I was not expecting how beautiful it would be. It reminds me of a Jamaican resort but 20 times smaller. It has about 50 rooms and bungalows, oceanfront, a swimming pool, two bars and 2 restaurants, internet and laundry services. After a bargained price we are paying $22 per night, it has ac, hot and cold shower, tv with remote control a king size bed, towels and a fridge. Its made up of a bunch of huts, palm trees, flowers and the pool overlooks the rocky ocean. For valentines day we watched the sunset over the ocean, had a real Thai dinner with Pad Thai, Curry and Calamari, did some dancing and had bucket drinks at the beach bar. The Island is 10 km long and we had to take two ferries to get here. The people are really really nice, both tourists and Thai. Everyone drives around in scooters. Marc really wants to rent one to drive around town. I was hesitant before I saw 2 ten year olds flying by, i figured if they can do it so can we.

There are plenty of activities waiting for us, we just have to pick. In the next few days we will rent a speedboat (we need 2 more volunteers for now we just have 6) and drive over to Koh Pi Pi island where they filmed the movie The Beach with Leonardo Dicaprio for some snorkeling. There is a beautiful rainforest at the bottom of the island and a lot of tourists go elephant Trekking (we were saving that for Chiang Mai at the end of the trip), and also they have dinner cruises. Basically those of you reading this who are getting really excited, leave whatever it is you are doing, hop on a plane and come here, you will not regret it!!!

I cannot express how much I miss every one of you. Like I said I miss my mom and dad, and Bennichka the most. I miss my family, grandparents and friends very very much. We keep saying what if so and so were here or do you remember when Rocco did this. We really miss you guys and I know that I am home sick, Marc keeps saying that this is part of the experience to test what you are made of. Unfortunately, internet and phone calls are overpriced on this island and with the 12 hour time difference it makes it even harder. I wish everyone a very happy Valentines Day. Helen please feel better and recover from your cold as soon as possible. I will go make new friends with the English grandmas the only people up at this hour and wait for Marc to wake up. Please let us know how you are doing, on the blog or email, it feels really great to hear from you and read your messages.