After a weeks worth of flight delays due to bad weather in Mizoram and overbooked flights, we finally arrived to Bangkok on Feb. 14th. We were quickly impressed with the newness and orderliness of the Bangkok airport and how modern the city of Bangkok is. Beautifully paved roads where people actually drive in lanes, clean side walks, Seven Elevens, and pickup trucks galore, we felt like we were back in the USA.

Within minutes of landing on the busiest backpacker road in Bangkok, Khao San Rd, we were spotted by our couchsurfing friends, Blaine and Bethany Franger (they were our first experience couchsurfing directly prior to leaving the USA on our travels, check out their websites and blog spots since these guys are AMAZING photographers and are on a round the world trip themselves. Check out their two sites here and here. We were now a group of 5, with the addition of Karin, our close Swedish friend, who also decided to travel with us in Thailand for about a week to renew her Indian Visa. The quote "The more The merrier" is definitely true. For the 2 men, who were decidedly VERY homesick, the male bonding proved to be just the remedy for the next 2 weeks (there was no end to the bodily fluid jokes).

During our brief stay in Bangkok we decided as a group to visit the Red Light district of Thailand, Patpong, (we all agreed a walk by was enough for us). It became quite apparent that there are as many male prostitutes (dressed as women) as there are women. This maybe a slight exaggeration, but it is VERY difficult at times to figure out if a pretty, scantily clad individual is a man or a women. Walking by shop after shop selling human flesh (and ping pong shows - which I will let the reader research what this is on their own), we decided we definitely weren't missing anything by not getting a closer look into this side of Bangkok.

Our other tourist stop in Bangkok was to visit the world's largest reclining Buddha (46m long & 15m high) displayed at Wat Pho (a Wat is a Buddhist temple/monastery ). The temple complex was extravagantly beautiful with numerous ornate buildings housing countless smaller images of Buddha.

Further observations about Thailand upon arrival is the cheap street food, Thais are obsessed with their king since every where we turned there are pictures of him, shopping is fantastic, and there are plenty of opportunities to challenge the taste buds with an array of fried critters (ones Mike tried are grasshoppers, grubs, and cockroaches, I could only brave the smallest of grasshoppers).

After 7 months of traveling we were getting pretty cocky about having stomachs of steel (not referring to our muscle tone which has decidedly started sagging), but I (Andrea) was finally done in by the rice porridge with egg. Within 12 hours of our arrival to Thailand, I was getting the best work out that I have had in months (pucking all morning and then frequent trips to the bathroom in the evening) and officially diagnosed my self with "Bangkok belly." (My dad called it staph). So while I was laid up, Mike and Karin ran errands (getting visas) and toured the city on foot. They were able to watch a free break dancing show on the side walk and visit some markets. After 24 hours I felt able to travel again, and we all headed to the south, anticipating a vacation from a vacation to Thailand's world famous beaches and islands.

A 12 hour train ride and a 3 hour bus landed us in what the guidebook described as "the most beautiful province in Thailand", Krabi. With jungle clad, jagged limestone cliffs that drop vertically into the ocean, this was definitely a visually aesthetically pleasing spot. However, it was quite apparent that every other vacationer thinks so too, as the atmosphere felt more like Florida during spring break. We did get sucked into a full day tour of 4 popular beaches in the region, which made us glad that we weren't spending the money to overnight in these popular locations. Breaking away from the crowds we rented scooters and explored the coastline for 2 days and had a great time together. Highlights were; Mike's first attempt at using a scooter during which he completely biffed performing a U turn (and then being so nervous after righting the scooter promptly dropped it again - sadly only Blaine witnessed this hysterical event, but it was enough for me to decide that I should share a scooter with Karin for the next 2 days), cliff jumping, crab catching, and just watching the amazing scenery whiz by.

We were also introduced to the joys of a Thai night market which sports some of the best foods (at great prices of .50 - $1 USD), great sweet tea drink stalls (the milky, sugary sweetness is due to the added sweetened condensed milk) and exotic fruits Durian (which has such a bad smell that it is banned from airlines, aircon buses, and some hotels), Custard apple, Jack fruit, Guava, green mangoes, Dragon fruit, and a load of others that I don't know the names).

After 3 days in Krabi we decided to head yet further south to Ko Tarutao Marine National Park, which borders Malaysia, in an attempt to find the not quite so developed island experience. Saying goodbye to Karin (who needed to head home to her husband back in Mizoram), Blaine, Bethany, Mike and I spent 4 days exploring and laughing our time away on the islands. Highlights were:

• capturing wildlife which inevitably ended up taking a chunk of skin from Blaine's hand
• hiking to natural freshwater swimming holes in the jungle
• sleeping on the beach with makeshift tents from mosquito nets
• a day of snorkeling from a long tailed boat, which at one point the boat towed us around clinging to a rope while watching the coral and fish whiz by.

Heading North to Chiang Mai. From the extreme south to the far north, we arrived in Chiang Mai after 29 hours of train travel and a brief layover in Bangkok (where we bid Blaine and Bethany farewell as they headed next to India). Famed for great food, cultural classes, and a happening night market, we didn't waste any time setting out to experience these things for ourselves.

Travel provides an opportunity to educate oneself in unique ways, like refining our culinary skills. We took a full day Thai cooking course in hopes to learn how to make the perfect Pad Thai and the Chiang Mai specialty, Kao-Soi, which is a new comer to the list of our favorite foods. Other than great food, Thailand is also famous for Thai massages. We decided to sample this delightful experience in a unique way - by going to the local prison. Here the money goes to the inmates where it is saved until they are released.

Our new favorite way to travel, renting a scooter, dedicated a whole day to exploring the the country side. Chiang Mai is at the edge of small, jungle clad mountains, which makes for a great day of just driving around. We also stopped at the botanical gardens to walk around for a couple hours as means to allow blood flow back into our bums. The day was idyllically ended on top of a mountain visiting one of the most holy Buddhist temples, Doi Suthep ,which also provided fantastic views of the city below.

Febuary 14th - 29th
Thailand