Posted a few pics for those of you who are not on Facebook. I've posted a few hundred on Facebook... but this is a wee snapshot of some of the things I've seen and done so far. I'll have lots and lots of photo organizing to do when I return home. I'm up over 1,000 photos so far and I'm only 1/2 way through my trip but I expect the photo-ops will thin out now that I'm staying put for 6 days and then 4 days in Bangkok.

The shuttle from Trat arrives on Koh Chang and within a minute we are chugging up a huge mountainous switchback behind a bunch of tourist vans. I can't believe the roads, thinking surely there could be no other road worse for hills and switchbacks than that between Pai to Mae Hon Son. I'm mistaken! Now I know why I had read that if you are not highly experienced riding a motorcycle or scooter, Koh Chang is not the island to attempt it. The road looked so smoo...

In five hours time it will be 2014 here in Thailand. I've moved to the south end of the Island (not the north end as I was thinking... still don't have the lay of the land). Pretty sure the taxi driver ripped me off when he charged me 100 BHT to come here because there are some big resorts in the area and I'm sure all these patrons didn't pay 100 BHT a person to come this far. I've read that at night, it's like extortion as taxis don't want to come this far so...

Flight from Chiang Mai arrives in Bangkok at 4:00 PM. It's 4:30 by the time I am headed to the basement of the airport for the train. I stop at the tourist booth and ask about the train and how much it costs. 150 BHT for the express train, I'm told. The express train only runs every 15 minutes but I'm told it's much better than the city line train which will stop at every station. I push "English" on the pay station and punch in the final station as that is ...

It's a really strange feeling to find yourself in a strange city not know the lay of the land at all. Chiang Mai has proven very difficult to figure out because of all the "sois", which are similar to side streets or alleys. There is no rhyme or reason to them here. They are illogical, they don't run congruent to the main streets, they curve, and come to sudden stops, one soi turning into another soi. Very easy to get turned around here. Upon checking in to ...