Were Alive and Well

I know it has been a long time and i apologize for worrying people (my mom and dad) but we are alive and well, just been away from the internet and traveling for a while, didnt realize how much time has passed. Mom and dad there is no need to call the police!!!

Cronological order is my strong suit, so i will start with that. On the island of Koh Tao, as we mentioned in our previous blog, the nice Thai guy slammed us for booking a dive course. In the morning we met with an English guide name Ben who told us that we were waiting for another couple to begin the training in the pool. We waited for about 15 minutes but no one else showed up. What happened was we were the ones they were waiting for, at the begining we had a problem with our room so we moved, the hotel had our old room booked and the new room booked for diving, so we actually got them back!!! The course was really nice beacause it was only the two of us with a private instructor. We learend how to do 4 very very basic exercices in the pool and then repeated them in the ocean. I told the guide that i would only take pictures and not go in the ocean because i was too scared. Ben and Marc would not listen to that and I was forced to go in the water. I did really well, it took about 10 minutes to get down to 12 m but after that we followed the guide and stayed under for an hour. We saw many different fish, corals and other sea creatures that i cant remember, i was really focused on my breathing the whole time. Overall im glad i did it because i conquered a fear and can say that i can dive anywhere in the world and we got a certifcate woo hooo, but i really like snorkeling a lot better :)

The next day we rented a scooter to tour the island. This one was really bumpy with a lot of hills, so the scooter ride was not my favourite. But the island definately was our favourite. It was very laid back, a healthy mix of backapckers and tourists. Many beautiful beaches and forests, monkey farm, elephant farm, shark farm even a gator farm. The island had diving, climbing, English pub, Irish pub, Australian pub and so on and on... While on tour of the island we got lost. So we had to stop for direction at a monkey farm... This is where I fell in love with Peter... Hes a little thai monkey that was chained so he couldnt bite everyone in site or run away. The owners were very nice they gave us directions and also allowed us to play with Peter. He was very interested in my pink camera case, he kept jumping on me to pull it away while i carefully pet him. Marc was doing his favourite job of taking the pictures.

On the last night before we left we decided to go to our favourite restaurant by the ocean and then go out for drinks and a show. During dinner we ran into our favourite swedish couple Gretzel and Pretzel that we met on the bus from Bangkok but both parties pretended that we didnt know each other (they were sitting at the next table) lets just say dinner was a bit awkward. On our way over for drinks we saw 3 girl boys dressed in show outfits with a lot of make up, they were really focused on getting Marc to go se their show. I didnt mind so we gave in to the street beggers and walked in. They were real nice to let us in for free, but of course to sit down we had to have a drink. We would have bought a drink but we spent all of our money on drinks at a bar accross the street while we were waiting for the show to start. The atmosphere was pleasant a lot of tables, big lights, a lot of sketchy people not sure boy girls, gays, straight girls... The show started: about 8 dancers came out, they were wearing very skimpy outfits, with feathers, heavy make up and jewellery. They were going for the Vegas theme and it would have worked if I didn't know that they were all boys before they became girls and if maybe more than one person knew the steps. I mean the leader knew what he was doing, but the other 7 kept staring at him and trying to follow suit. It was a mess. At this point the waiter came up to us and told us that yes the entrance is free but we had to buy a drink. Marc checked his pockets and didnt have enough for even one beer. We were very relieved that we had to be escorted out. It was good timing.

The next day we left to Bangkok. This time the bus was much more comfortable and we are more used to the hussle and bustle of travel that we didnt mind it at all. In Bangkok we already knew our way around and even helped a few fop (fresh of the plane) tourists. We checked in to an already established good hotel and went for dinner. On Friday night Bangkok is even busier than it is during the week. Vendors are so rude that they park their carts in the middle of the street. Marc keeps getting hastled by short Thai man to have a suit made. Everyone wants to not only braid my hair but give me Dreds. I dont know what it is with tourists when they get here, they all have dreds in their hair. I think it looks dirty as if you didnt wash your hair for years and you have 8 legged critter friends that live in you hair. Unless youre Bob Marley, or a Reggae performer, Dreds are not your friends. In the morning we went to the Israeli travel agency exchanged our tickets and got on a bus to Pataya.

Marcs father Lui works for a company called ADT and they have offices all over the world. One of his colleagues named Alan, lives in Pataya. When he heard that we were coming to Thailand we was nice enough to offer to meet with us and have us stay with him and his family for a few days. Pataya is only two hours by bus away from Bangkok and it went by quick. We were so excited to live in a house not a hotel, to have a home cooked meal and to speak with other people who live in Thailand. Alan was wearing an ADT hat, smart, so we easily recognized him. He met us with his wife Joy and their adorable little daughter Ciarie. At this point I have to abonden the blog, as our ride is here. We promise to return in a few days as we settle in our next destination of Koh Chang.

Kissess