Live Update

So I will of COURSE finish my much anticipated "Into the Wild" series, with lots of pictures to boot. But, I figured I'd give you an update on what I'm doing RIGHT NOW.

Right now, I'm sitting on a beach in Railay---one of the most beautiful beaches in Krabi, Thailand. We got here yesterday afternoon, and spent the day relaxing at the beach. We found a nice restaurant with a view of the beach. We saw the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen seen----the whole sky just filled with different different shades of blue, pin and orange. The texture was the glistening I see in pictures of the Northern lights. All this was framed by the jungle-covered limestone cliff that jut out of the water around this later.

I'll post pictures later.

Today, I spent the morning playing at the beach, and then we chartered a longboat to take us on an island adventure. I snorkeled for the first time in my life. I was told it was "self-explanatory," and started out a little rough, trying to get used to the mask. Every time I went out under, I got a mouthful of salt water.....all this while furiously treading water with my flippers (I still wasn't accustomed to the ease with which you can use your flippers). It was especially frustrating because I kept catching glimpses of the clear water, and beautiful fish.

It took me about twenty minutes to master the art of floating on top of the water, with my eyes IN the water, and my snorkel OUT. I finally did though, and it was AMAZING. We snorkeled at two different coral reefs, and saw a ton of "tiger fish," colorful fish with tigerfish. I was also able to some mini-swordfish, and other fish you only see in fish tanks in the states.
What was especially amazing was the coral. It came in call shapes, colors, and sizes, with menacing, black sea urchins thrown in.

After snorkeling we relaxed on a tropical island. We were the only ones on the white and beach. Everywhere we turned deserved a picture. The water was five different shades of natural blue---the kind you can only appreciate in person--not through paintings and pictures. We were surrounded, at various distances, by limestone, cliffs, islands, and on the horizon, it seemed like mountains. Our guide brought us shrimp-green curry from the mainland. We watched the sunset, and were off to our final adventure: Phosphorescent swimming.

It was night, and our guide took us to a secluded corner of a limestone cliff. I thought it was a bit odd, as we drew near, that the waves from the boat appeared white. The white was from the luminous plankton. We leaped into the water, and and our jump created a splash of white. We glowed. Every movement we made created a white, glowing wave of white. We made snow angels in the water. We'd throw our hands out of the water, and their would be little, fleeting white dots. It was like we were creating millions of mini-fireflies. And sorry, but the camera couldn't capture ANY of this amazingness.

You will just have to come. After all, this whole snorkeling-deserted island-phosphorescent swimming- cost me a whopping $25 USD. So seriously. Come.

Into the wild, part 1

The first half of the school year has come to an end, which means........VACATION! My plan was basically divided into three parts: 1. Go to Laos to visit a sustainable coffee farm. 2. Go to Isaan Thailand, and tear down, then build a new house. 3. Beach.

Of course, the first step was actually leaving Bangkok. I was trying to work on law school applications, and figured I should get my ulcer taken care of before I went off on my own in the third world....

So Finally, at 10:30 PM, I got on the BTS (Sky train), hoping there would be a bus waiting for me at the bus station....that I thought was at the Mo Chit BTS station. As I walked around the BTS station, I soon realized that the bus station was not AT the Mo Chit stop. I didn't see any taxis around, and figured I would take a moto-cy. Midway through the longer than expected ride.

Usually moto-cy's disregard speed limits, stop-lights, the direction of traffic, sidewalks, and physics. Midway through this ride, I found myself thinking that this was an extra-exciting moto-cy ride. Then I remembered the 50 lb. bag I had on my back.

Since I am alive and writing this, you already know I survived the moto-cy ride. I also managed to catch both the bus and some z's, and got into Ubonratchathani (Thai border city with Laos) at 9:30 the next morning.

In Ubon, I met a very friendly Tuk-Tuk driver, who spoke a decent ammount of english....he showed me an internet cafe, good place to eat, then drove me to a Tesco so I could buy a jacket (I was told Laos might be cold). At the bus station i gave 25% more than the price he gave me....he then asked for a 50% increase....but it left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth after what had been a positive experience, but regardless--it wasn't much money, and I was off to Laos!

mosquito

So I've generally been pretty positive about Bangkok. After all, I'm a positive person. One of the downsides though, is the mosquitos. They're everywhere, and sneaky little buggers. I swear the bugs here are higher evolved than in the states. Both mosquitos and ants seem faster, and have these crazy, unpredictable patterns of movement that makes them hard to kill.

Oh yeah, and by everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. I have a room on the 3rd floor of an apartment complex. I never open the windows, and maybe walk outside on my "balcony," two or three times a week. And yes, I periodically see mosquitos in my room--my domain. And it's so frustrating...I just see this floating insect, and all of a sudden, it's gone, camoflauged among the many background colors my room provides.

I happen to have an egg-boiler in my room. It's rather small, and can fit about three eggs in it. I boiled some eggs in it, but left the lid off, and water in it for a couple of days.

You guessed it, I found a mosquito larvae IN MY egg-boiler. I'm declaring war on mosquitos, which makes me totally empathize with America's war on terrorists. You can kill so many, but they always seem to be even more. The buggers know how to hide too.