Thailand was an amazing vacation. Very relaxing, self pampering, and a couple of days of partying. It was hard to come back and get into the routine of things again. Also it is fall weather in Korea now, so to come back from the hot sun in Thailand was a bit depressing.

On Friday we arrived in Bangkok early evening and made our way to Khao San Road. This is a street full of shopping, eating, and partying. It also has a tone of hotels, so we checked into a great spot right on the main street called D&D. It still amazes me when traveling in Asia how cheap accommodations are. For a standard room with a king size bed, bathroom, and free breakfast it only cost 800 baht ($25 Cdn) a night. We were exhausted after the day of traveling, so we made our way to supper where we enjoyed some Pad Thai served by a lady-boy, and back home to sleep. The lady-boys in Thailand are an interesting sight. Some of them you second guess yourself because they are truly beautiful. The give away for most of them are the hands, although some are well manicured its hard to hide. They keep themselves very clean, with their hair and makeup done. They also have very feminine shapes, which most would be jealous of. It is also strange to think that in Thailand they really are accepted as a third gender. After being in Korea and visiting Thailand I know see how narrow minded the culture in Korea really is.

On Saturday we wanted to do some shopping in Bangkok, so we made our way by local bus to MBK which is a shopping district. We didnt have much luck at MBK so we decided to head back to Khao San road for lunch and shopping. While we were eating lunch we met a couple of guys from England who were pretty entertaining, so instead of shopping we spent the afternoon drinking with them. Saturday night we took an over night bus to the ferry pier where we caught the ferry in the morning to Koh Samui. If I were to do it again, I would probably fly to Koh Samui, the 14 hour bus ride was no comfortable and very long. Although we did meet a lot of people who are on traveling adventures, and later spent time with throughout the week it was just a long trip. There were a ton of people from Europe who were in Thailand for a short period before heading to Australia.

When we arrived in Koh Samui we checked into our hotel which was located on Chaweng Beach. The beach and water were beautiful. White sand, and teal blue warm water. We were again exhausted from traveling so we spent most of Sunday napping. Monday - Thursday we stayed in Koh Samui and just spent time relaxing on the beach, enjoying massages, and eating delicious food. We got to meet up with some of Caitlin's friends from home (South Africa) for some drinks. A couple of people we met on the bus were staying in the same area so we spent our evenings having a few drinks and dinner with them. The people you meet while traveling are very interesting. Even just to learn about different cultures and countries was very entertaining. For people we only met a short time ago there ever seemed to be a lull in conversation. Thai food is much better than Korean food, and the variety is massive. I ate on average 4 meals a day, just so I could fit in all the things I wanted to try. Pad Thai is by far my favorite dish, but even the selection of western food excited me.

On Thursday we took the ferry to Koh Phangan. Thursday night was the Full Moon Party which is said to be the world's largest full moon party. It is an all night beach party and it was pretty wild. There were different dance areas, a load of drink vendors, and swarms of forgieners who come for the event. We had planned to stay in Koh Phangan for two nights, but we didn't like the beach or accomadations as much as in Koh Samui so we went back early.

Friday afternoon we made our way back by ferry to Koh Samui, where we relaxed after a wild night of partying. Saturday was our last day on the beach so I laid pool/ beach side while Caitlin did some shopping. Before we left we enjoyed some Thai massages, which is more like a stretching process then a massage. I enjoyed it, to me it felt like yoga without having to put in much effort. We decided we would fly to Bangkok from Koh Samui instead of taking the overnight bus back which was a great plan seeing as we still had a long trip back to Gumi from Bangkok. All in all a very relaxing trip. Thailand is really cheap to eat and sleep. It is a great beach getaway in Asia. Also another successful trip weather wise for me. I seem to go to locations during rain season, but it only seemed to rain at night while we were sleeping so it was perfect.